Seeking advice from 3D pros

[=UW=DEATHICIDE]

Years ago, I was trying to learn 3D studio and Maya to get suitable meshes into my maps, however I didn't made it past a horrible looking door before my free time was gone.

So today I am wondering what method you mappers who get all those sweet custom meshes into your work would recommend to an aspiring but school-less designer like myself...(If school is the way I have to go then I will, but I'm hoping I can do it on my own)

I am pretty good with UED and Photoshop, its just that even though there are so many meshes included in the UT3 box, the included ones can't cater to my ideas most of the time, so I'm looking for a way around that.

Is there a database of meshes somewhere people use that I don't know about? or is learning something like Maya the best way to go? if so, what program is the most friendly when it comes to modeling for UED in your opinion?

Thanks for any input

[CrysAk]

just learn maya, start simple and go from there, plenty of tutorials on the net (keep to basic polygon modelling, dont bother getting into nurbs for the time being)

if you can read and follow instructions youl pretty much be set, you DO NOT need to goto any college or uni to learn this stuff nor get a job in the industry (idd it helps but so does knowing what your doing and having a good portfolio)

if your not sure where to look, google it :P (maya forums, maya tutorials, maya modeling) etc

[Nawrot]

You need to learn modeling program there is no database, best mesh database so far is UT3. There are some free meshes (for maya and 3ds) on internet, but you need to work a bit on them before importing to unreal.

And there is that big collection of 3d objects DE-Espona, but they pricey (750eruo) and cannot recalculate course of US dollar to Euros, for them still 1euro=1usd.

[=UW=DEATHICIDE]

Thanks for the help,
So Maya is the way to go eh...
I have been hearing "get sandbox" but do I really need anything other than maya and photoshop to make my own textured meshes?

[Morphine]

You can't really work around this problem, if you want custom meshes, find a modeler, or learn to model. www.3dbuzz.com (these are the guys that epic commissioned to make the video training dvd that comes with unreal 3 collectors edition) Have a large collection of 3d package based Video tutorials starting from the basic levels and going into some, somewhat advanced topics.

You want to model, get a modeling package, each one has it's own learning curve, I prefer Maya because I took the time to learn it (mastered the basics in a few months, and that was before i found 3d buzz). There are several packages out there, but there is no 3d package designed to be usable without any training or ability, you have to learn. The sooner you stop looking and pick a platform the sooner you will master it.