It's encouraging to hear you say you are self taught. I have been interested in Maya or 3ds Max for sometime, but the $3500 plus price tag has been a bit much to get past (although spending 10k plus on camera gear wasn't....lol). Since I started learning about this indie filmmaking hobby, I've learned i like the VFX side of things, and am interested in doing VFX heavy projects. I figured if I could teach myself blender, and do some things that look pretty decent, it would be worth the money for me to upgrade to Maya or 3ds Max. Also hopefully a more lateral learning move, as opposed to starting from scratch.
I see YouTube videos of people just repurposing Internet tutorials. While I'm doing these same tutorials, I've also planned a few small projects, to take what be learned,,and put them to use. I run a restaurant, and am currently creating a model of front of the building. I've filmed a short 30sec segment of outside of my work. And want to convincingly blow out the front doors and pillars, which will create a reaction that ends in a big tower crashing to the ground. I plan to use the areas I've modeled, replace them in the live action shot, use a combination of blender game engine, smoke sim, and some prekeyed footage to create the explosion. It's my winter project, since I have to find the time around my day jobs schedule.
What part of Michigan are you from? I was raised in Midland, lived there until I was 15.
Thanks again for the reply. Look forward to seeing more of your work.
Jeff