Whether woodworking, programming, or 3d modelling, it’s important to have the right tools for the job at hand. The tools an artist or trades person collects and learns how to use, directly affect the quality of their work, and speed at which they do their job.

In my area of knowledge, 3d & 2d software packages are my tools, but also the shortcuts, scripts, and workarounds used to do a job

Anyone creating art for games will have experience with some of the big packages, Maya, 3dsmax, XSI, Z-brush, Mudbox, Photoshop, Painter,
and probably with some of the smaller applications like Modo, Silo, Rhino, Sketchup etc.

To a new user, any software package can be confusing, learning new software firstly you become accustomed to the layout, finding where all the tools are, how they work together. From this point, using keyboard shortcuts or assigning your own is the first step in customising your tool, allowing you to work faster, and every click counts.

The next step is to find, or create scripts – plugins or actions to further speed up a task, something you do often, or something you miss from a different package. This is the area that I believe can really make a difference to productivity. I really appreciate in Maya that I can assign absolutely any command, or sequence of commands to a hotkey or shelf button.

Some artists will have the benefit of working at a large studio with their own tools team, who’s job is to create this type of modification or new software tools to do a specific task. Sometimes unique to that studio, but often solving a problem that other artists must tackle. These tools are generally considered Intellectual Property and so may only be used by the employees or partners of such the studio. To have the toolbox available to artists at Pixar or Valve !

I feel the effort spent searching for a better way to do something is well spent, reducing the mouse clicks required for a common task. When looking for a better way to do something, often a google search will turn up an answer, though I will usually check creativecrash.com first. This site has just been renamed from ‘Highend 3D’ and has a large collection of user submitted scripts to tackle all types of problems encountered in 3D work.