3D Modelling

I am completely unable to create anything in 3D.
Seriously.

I have even tried the trial version of milkshape and the demo of Quill3D and I am at a loss as to how to create anything useful. I know the software is not at fault, as some of the stuff I have seen is just fantastic.

Can anyone point me to tutorials or advise me at all?

Also, I have real difficulty understanding the terms:

Surface
UV
Vertex
Bones

Any assistance at all will be really really really well appreciated ;-)

Try this:

Lesson 110 - Getting Under the Hood - Part 1

And these:

http://webreference.com/3d/

Surface - A group of polygons which have only one texture and set of material properties.

UV - Exactly the same as X and Y coordinates. They're used on a texture to define exactly how the texture will map onto your model. Each vertex ( see next explanation ) is a U coordinate and a V coordinate which represents where on the texture that point is. For example, if you just have a quad poly, you would have one corner in the top left of your UV grid, one in the top right, one bottom left and one bottom right. That way the quad gets everything between those four points on the texture.

Vertex - A point. A dot. Call it what you will. Think of them as elements when it comes to 3d. There is no lower level than a vertex. Three make a poly.


Bones - An element which is included with your mesh, but is NOT rendered. You attach vertices to one and only one bone and then move or rotate the bone to animate. The vertices move or rotate with the bone they are attached to. It's just like parenting something to a pivot really.