The training provider 3Dbuzz has just closed its doors, but has kindly made all its online courses free to download. Of most interest to readers of this blog will likely be training videos that are not software version-specific, such as…
* A four-hour course on making chibi artwork. Chibis being the cute stubby little characters from Japan. The single .ZIP file has all four parts. Poser 11 ‘Comic Book mode’ users interested in getting a quick-start with such art should also see Hivewire’s excellent-but-expensive Universal Chibi Head.
* Creating Compelling Character Concepts, in seven parts. Shows the step-by-step design and making of a fantasy mage character.
* Developing Modular Rigging Systems with Python, offering “over 50 hours of in-depth lectures”. Python being the much-in-demand scripting and programming language.
* Plus a small variety of introductory courses on hand-drawing, and lots of student-y 3DS Max and Maya and ZBrush stuff that now looks outdated.
And… I noted a three lesson course introducing level design and mods for the classic Unreal Tournament 2004. Still a very fine videogame, even now, and a good learning experience if making your first showcase game level.
Given the weight of all these video files, I’d guess that the server providing them may not be around forever and that they may not be archived to YouTube or Archive.org. If you want a course you should probably download it now.