We're dealing with hours/weeks for one/few models and for some scenes, even months. Short cg films can take many months as well. Most people spend ratios similar to 5hrs Modelling / 2.5 hrs Texturing / 1.5 hr other (Anim etc) / 1 hr (lighting etc). Renders can take minutes for low poly projects, to several hours, and even a day++. This is just how things are for me; I'm pretty slow at some things, faster at others. Also, my processor is the worst, so renders take an eternity.

Quote:Original post by D Shankar
We're dealing with hours/weeks for one/few models and for some scenes, even months. Short cg films can take many months as well. Most people spend ratios similar to 5hrs Modelling / 2.5 hrs Texturing / 1.5 hr other (Anim etc) / 1 hr (lighting etc). Renders can take minutes for low poly projects, to several hours, and even a day++. This is just how things are for me; I'm pretty slow at some things, faster at others. Also, my processor is the worst, so renders take an eternity.

if those are your ratios then i would be surprised if you ever cameout with any model that looked descent.
one thing to mention is that it highly depends on the model and the complexity of that model. here is how it goes for next-gen (or current gen really) characters.
1.)make low poly outline mesh, perhaps an hour.
2.)import into z-brush, make high poly model alogn with trweak proportions and muscle detail, could range from 5-20 hours depending on the detail needed.
3.)import high poly mesh into 3ds max. then build a new low poly mesh around the high poly one. could be anyhere from 5-15 or 25 hours depending on the mesh complexity again.
5.)generate normal map using 3ds max projection/baking, a side from cage tweaking this should take too long, may an hour at the most.
6.)create the texture in photoshop using uvw unwrapping as a guide. for a good texture around 2-6 hours, or again more depending on the complexity.
7.)animation time depends highly on how many and what type of animations, but for just proper rigging alone maybe 3-4 hours (painting weights, setting up animation helpers...etc). then for a simple animation maybe 2-3 hours to perfect it, again depending highly on the complexity and lentgth of the animation, more complex animations will be a lot higher than that to get jsut right. although i could open up a character and rig and make a walk animation in about 30 min, you won't get high quality results then.

now you can also do a loew poly mesh in 3ds max as mostly quads, import into zbrush to do the details export back to 3ds max and use the old low poly mesh, but it works better to build your low poly mesh around the high poly.

Jarrod is mostly correct. However his time estimations are on the lower end of the spectrum, IMO. The higher the resolution and detail, the longer the time needed... if you are creating an entirely unique detailed character, you can figure a couple weeks at minimum. A generic enemy (that is requisite to not have TOO much detail) can take a week. Texturing will take as long as modelling, especially if you are not using photos (which becomes difficult with normal mapping).

On the other hand, something like a sword or shield can be done in a few hours, entirely outside of ZBrush in fact.

yes, i know my estimates were a little on the low side. i was merly trying to give the minimum time needed for a next/current-gen character and then said that it may (and more than likly will) take more time for high complexity models. he was not specific enough so i couldn't be specific either.
i mainly under estimated the texturing, this can take anywhere from a minimum of 2 to many many more hours depending on the method and complexity.
well,myintkt, i hope you have all of the answers you need ;-)

p.s. i am at this moment typing this from my new 200 inch lcd projector! :-)

Well the only reason my time scales were lower than Jarrod's (even though my stuff might not be that great), is that I modelled in low poly. I modelled a weapon (800 polys, another 1080 poly) a few weeks ago, and total time take to model was 3 hours. Unwrap, texture in photoshop what not took me 4 hours (I'm not very good at texturing).
As for lighting and animation, yes that is far off, but this is all very dependent on what project one is working on. Whether its a small room render, or a little object, to a massive level, time scales vary by huge proportions.

Generally, the lower the polycount, the higher the time needed to texture... for example, a unit in Rome: Total War can take an hour or two to model (less if you are only slightly modifying a base model), 10 minutes to rig, but a few days to texture.

Quote:Original post by D Shankar
As for lighting and animation, yes that is far off, but this is all very dependent on what project one is working on. Whether its a small room render, or a little object, to a massive level, time scales vary by huge proportions.

not to grill you too much, but lighting will take a ton of time even for a small room. lighting never really behaves the way it does in reality in a realtime game.... and so because of this simply taking a single light and placing it in a room will not produce good results. a good level lighter will lower the brightness of each light and meticulously place them to replicate real world lighting to the best of thier skill and technology (technology as in the type of lights you have at your disposal). so even lighting a single room, if done right, will take a fair amount of time.
i can tell from your comments that you haven't taken the professor's or my advice, learn your theory.