You're welcome - hey I understand tight budgets - with 2 kids under 2 most of my spare money goes to diapers and formula! But it's pretty normal to pay a freelancer a couple hundred bucks for a project like a detailed flash animation video - and that's if they are working from India or E. Europe.

I've found the iClone forums to be very friendly - you might find somebody that would not mind giving you a little Skype tutoring for less than that - or even in exchange for help with something else that you may know. Helps to think outside the box a bit!

What kind of videos are you hoping to create?

Good luck and I hope we both post some cool videos in the showcase or on cloneclips.com soon.

Thanks Stacey for your reply.

What kind of video? Oh I am only starting to play with this iClone as a hobby. It will be a long time before I have the courage and know how to do anything like that?

Mind you seemed to have got straight into the community saying you are such a newbie as they call us LOL. I have used skype before with my children as one lives quite a few miles away. My computer skills are limited so I would not be able to offer much :D

No I will plod on with the manual. I need some reading at night :D

Thanks again

Hey FlyBy,

You seem to "FlyBy" quite often where my training courses are concerned. Funny, you never have contacted me directly about any of these services, or my rates, or anything of that nature, only random comments. My rates are as they are stated on the iClone Certified Training blog and are very reasonable. No one that has ever taken a class from me has raised any concern about the rate of pay, you should give it a try and see what your $25 bucks saves you in time. I strongly encourage all users to reference the manuals and online beta index provided by Reallusion because everything technical aspect I teach can be found there. It is the suggested use of these features and the demystification of the tools that give real value to my training sessions, but the functionality of iClone remains the same for us all. Stacey is right, give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him and he'll never go hungry, but as a retired teacher I'm sure you already knew that.:P

Thanks,
James C. Martin

James C. Martin

Reallusion Certified Trainer
iClone, CT and CTA Specialist
cell: 786-380-3339
skype: JamesCMartin
email: JimmyiClone@gmail.com
www.iCloneTraining.com

I think you are completely missing the point that Flybynight is making. Some people take longer to digest and absorb things than others. What it may take one person 10 seconds to absorb it may take someone else 20 mins. As Flybynight has stated being they are newbie, and people have to walk before they can run. I find Iclone 3 very daunting still and I have just kept plodding on with 1.5 , 2.5. What Flybynight is essentially saying is that it would work out very expensive for him/her to have sessions at $25 per half hour especially in this day of global recession. Here in the UK pensioners are on a pittance and their heating and food cost come first
before anything.



"Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with the tongue will not hesitate to do the same with the pen"

System Specs:

Apple Core with Banana Bits + 4 strings
Double Whopper with triple cheeseboard
1 x Mega huge Ram and a couple of sheep
HDD 2 x TerrraBurgers

You know it also matters a lot what you are doing with iClone. In my case, this is a business investment - because cool looking videos can help sell my product (a Spanish learning online membership) - as well as my physical products, which also teach Spanish. I figure that creating some awesome iClone vids will help keep me a bit cutting edge - and even though I've been selling online for 10 years, it's gotten a lot harder now that there are hundreds of websites offering to teach you for free. You need a better mousetrap, to be sure!

So for me spending a few hundred here or there is really just good business - even though I can't say I'm flush right now, and it's a calculated decision to put resources on these videos. I just think they will be super fun and impressive.

But for people doing iClone as a hobby - sure - spending anything may seem like too much. Geez I have had people quit our $10 a month service in recent months because of economic hardship. While it's a bit off topic, when food inflation is as high as it's been in the past year - $10 can make a difference!

Forums are often the best free resource you'll ever find - it never ceases to amaze me how generous people can be with their time and knowledge, and the RL forums are a great example of this spirit.

and of course there are a couple of ther kinds of folks - those like me who learn by seeing not by reading instructions where a class is very beneficial

and those who are quick studys where an hour class would convey more than a week's worth of self instruction -

Oh I "Flyby" 3 times in a thread and again get singled out about this. I simply struck struck up a conversation with Stacey. Is this not a forum? What a a place I finally despair. :sick:

Hi,

I don't think anybody is trying to single you out. Your comments were well made and fair and so were the responses. Remember words on a page don't always convey the smile on the face of the person writing them. I'm sure no one was having a go at you. :)

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Ah that is the problem with forums, writing is not the same as speaking and it's easy to misinterpret people!

All is good - I hope flybynight knows that he'll find lots of help here - no reason to despair :D

Hey azknrdude - you have exceeded your messages so I cannot reply to you - but I certainly plan to join your site, not sure if I did already either. Any sites with free iclone content are already bookmarked, lol.

Hi James
I have been mulling the idea of paying for freelance training to boost my understanding of certain areas of 3D modelling and animation, not necessarily restricted to iClone but more of a collective.
I have been browsing through Pinterest & ODesk.com site to see what it available and what rates might be.

In short a way possible to explain:
I am looking for an online trainer (Skype etc.) to walk me through end to end basics on all things 3D and 3D Animation (not gaming, more for film and commerfcials).
I wish to learn basically by Q&A sessions.
I explain what I'm trying to understand about a particular topic and you offer your best knowledge to help me grasp the concepts. Show & tell style :-)
Having dabbled with this stuff I have in the past done some animations & web commercials but my skills are still infantile in comparison to professionals like yourself.
There's plenty of youtubing and such to learn from and I have already done so. But I still need the specifics and for that I am prepared to pay for.

I am mildly versed and use the following products.
iClone 5.4 pro (basic knowledge)
CTA (Basic knowledge)
3DExchange (very limited)
Avatar Studio & Toon Maker (not used yet)
DAZ 3D (baby steps)
I cannot afford MAYA nor 3DS MAX :-/
ZBrush R5 (learning)
Adobe Phototshop (OK)
Cinema4D (basic)
Adobe After effects (I learn as i go)
Final Cut (mildly accomplished)
Adobe Premiere (learning)
Logic Pro (savvy, also dabbling in music area for fun)

I have also aquired the iClone training videos etc. but these dont provide the human element of asking questions.

I use both MAC & Windows (20+ years IT professional) and have done a lot of self study in various areas of graphics & animation.
Predominatly my IT career has been progression from technical sys admin to Project management, BUT I have also done web development and programming! MANY years of it :-)


My Objective here is based on several factors:
1. Keen Hobby interests in film & animation
2. To eventually develop some short films/animations. Ideas from over my years.
3. Long term to make minimal revenue as my full time career and transition away from IT. (long way off yet). Animation & Web Commercial type stuff

To give you an example of my intial requirement.
Gain knowledge and undersdtanding of custom character design, including rigging and porting into iClone. Preferred tools are, ZBrush, DAZ3D, 3DExch, iClone
Within this stream I also need to better understand, mapping and textures, (displacement, bumps etc).
It really is a loaded question but willing to pay for the hours it takes, IF the knowledge can be conveyed and you have the broad skills of 3D modellling etc. I would assume so.

I am also looking into a degree course but that would not kick off until September therefore I would like to use the time before that constructively.

Best regards
Archie.