I’ve been working in IT all my life, so being a programmer, system analyst and web designer, I am self taught in a lot of things and it is easier for me than most to learn new software.

I started 3D art about a year ago and started with Daz Studio and later switched to Poser. However, I realized I was getting stuck and wasn’t improving much using the lights and was getting frustrated. I had never learned the basics. I had also skipped a few of the basics using the software. I was always thinking of asking a more experienced artist for some coaching and to help me understand the lights.

So when I saw Walle’s ad on his web site, looking for someone to test pilot his course, I volunteered right away. I learned more than expected, as I was only expecting to learn about lights. When you don’t have time or the patience to read the manuals, you don’t always learn the tool right, so the first thing that really helped me was to learn how to move the lights around and the different views. That helped a lot already.

With Walle, I learned the basics about light, how it works in real life and also how to apply that in my 3D renders. Through the lessons and practical exercises, I also learned more advanced techniques and tricks. I learned about composition, bump maps to improve my textures and how to create them,  and postwork to improve the final look of my renders.

Challenges would present themselves from the scenes I had chosen to render, so Walle would teach me tricks and techniques from the more advanced lessons, as I needed them. He coached me and accompanied me through every picture I did for practice and my skills improved in the process.  The fun part was that he let me choose the scenes I wanted to do for practice and I could later post them in my gallery at Renderosity.

The comments I was getting in my gallery were testimony to how I was improving. While our lessons were done on Skype (voice) and with video (his webcam on MSN), he would either show me a technique on his own computer or coach me while I was trying it on my own computer and sending him the results via email. That is what worked best for me and in between lessons, he would instruct me through email at every step of the renders I did for practice.

During the lessons, I was also able to learn how to simulate outdoors light. I still use this technique today in my Poser renders. I was also able to create the Basic Studio Light set for Poser that Walle had previously developed in Daz Studio. We offered both sets as freebies. 

His offer was finally a better deal than I ever expected as I learned much more than the basic lights. 

Louise Choquette (aka louly at Renderosity)