games

This is the first book I've seen to cover almost everything a 2D/3D beginner game artist would need to get going. The author uses a great stepwise approach for all tutorials: modeling, uv unwrapping, texturing, and setting up models for a game engine. There's a huge section on basic texturing techniques as well that could even be used for web pages. My only wish was to see animation techniques, but the author covers Max biped rigging and adjusting, nodal arrangements, etc, and the game engine handles the rest. Still very inclusive and great read! I thought the CD for the book was cool and packed with everything I needed to get started.

Here, let me give a decent review: I'm a web designer turned game artist, so I've recently been in search of books on modeling, animation, and whatnot. My experience is with Photoshop, GoLive, etc, so texturing comes fairly easy. 2D Artwork/3D Modeling for game artists (despite the long title) enticed me to buy it because it covers so much of what I need to know, and become familiar with for modeling/texturing. There's no animation, which was a bummer, but I saw other books on character animation and they're over 1000 pages, so I suppose the auther couln't fit it all in. The first part of the book introduces the reader to modeling a weapon (which was very cool) in Truespace 6 using what is called boolean and point editing modeling techniques, which I had no idea of and was very quick and easy. Then, the author shows how to model a game character using NURBS, which is modeling with digital clay and VERY cool. The tutorials are stepwise, clear, and concise. Plus, he shows optimizaiton techniques for games, and I never thought these were things I had to do, so that's a plus.
Moving on, the reader is introduced to U_V mapping techniques, and I had always wondered how models were textured, using DeepUV and DeepPaint. 3D Studio Max 5 is used for preparing the models for the torque game engine. I think the downside is the price of the software that the author demonstrates, Max is like [alot of money], and I know Photoshop for texturing is [a little bit of money], but truespace is not bad, under [money] or less for prior versions. DeepUV is pricey at around [money], but these programs are top-of-the-line, but if you're a collage kid you might have to get hacked versions if you can't afford it :) I assume if you work for a game company as an artist you'll need these programs anyway, so it's good to read this book. A large portion of the book is basic texturing techniques as well, and I learned some stuff from it too, things you'd never think to do. I was hoping for some level design stuff in there too, but all in all the author covered a lot of critical material, so 4 stars.

I agree with the majority of other reviewers on the content of this book, especially the sections of texturing. Very in depth and covers a whole lot of topics on inorganic and organic textures and how to use them. He also takes you step by step through the modeling process of a gun and a big ugly monster.

But instead of spending too much time repeating what everyone else is saying good about the book, I am going to tell you what I think isn't so good about the book because there are a few not-so-good things about the book you should know before spending half-a-hundred dollars on it. Though, I still give the book 4 stars because it has many more good points than bad.

The most depressing thing is that you really need full versions of all the software programs used to be able to follow along with the book the way you need to in order to learn what your reading. Sure, you get some experience working with a bunch of programs like 3d studio max 5 (very heavily used in 3d game model production) but you don't even do 3d modeling it. Instead, you follow along with the modeling process in TrueSpace 4 or 6. What you'll find REALLY frustrating about that is, unless you have $595.00 to spend on the full, legal copy of version 6.6, you won't be able to save any of your work using the DEMO version that comes with the book! So, you may spend an hour or more modeling your gun, and then have to close the program down and load the model that the author made on the book's CD in order to continue to the UV mapping, texture painting, optimizing and triangulating which is done in 3ds max 5 (of which the demo version is also included on the book's cd-rom). The modeling process could have been done just as easily in 3ds max 5 which is much more powerful than TrueSpace anyways. Why switch between the two programs when one can do both tasks? 3ds max 5 costs an arm and a leg (around $3,105.00), but can do EVERYTHING that TrueSpace & DeepUV combined can do. The full, retail (useable) version of DeepUV costs $795.00.

If you don't believe me about UV mapping for characters in video games using 3ds max, then check out the book "Mastering 3DS MAX 4" which has a section on modeling a character then UV mapping it just like it is done in DeepUV. DeepUV is a complete waist of money if you own a copy of 3ds max 4 or higher.

Now when texturing you use two different programs, Deep Paint 3D 2.0 and Adobe Photoshop 6. Both programs are equally good and equally powerful, though Photoshop is much more popular. I do not understand why he spreads tasks out across the two programs when he could have done just about everything in one program or another without using both programs. Deep Paint 3D 2.1 costs $995.00! Adobe Photoshop 7 costs you about $609.00!

See what I'm getting at? You gotta have a fortune to spend on graphics production software in order to fully and completely follow along with this book and to be able to do ANYTHING productive with the information you've learned after reading the book, especially if you are a game programmer like me who has to make 3d models, then texture them and plug them into a 3d rendering engine.

You can do anything and everything this book covers by having a full version of just two peices of software, Adobe Photoshop 7 and 3ds max 4 or higher. That's it...that's all you need. Buying two 3D modelers, a program for UV mapping, and two texture paint programs is a waist of a whole lotta money. I understand the good it can do because one program can essentially be better at one task than a similar program can, but how many of us hobbiests have over $6099.00 to spend on software to follow in the footsteps of the book author? Not me, certainly.

If the book was designed with the hobbiest or budding superstar in mind then it would have focused all it's attention on production software that doesn't require you to be a zillionare. In fact another software program out there, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 can also be used for making game quality textures and 2D sprite art very much like Photoshop 7 or Deep Paint 3D 2.1 but it only costs about $100.00 for the full retail version. And then there's 3D modeling software like Milkshape 3D which is also VERY cheap in comparison to 3ds max, Maya, Lightwave, TrueSpace, Cinema 4DL, etc. And the best thing about Milkshape 3D is that it was made specifically for making game-only 3D models (originally made for the game Half-Life).

Don't get me wrong, I do like a lot of things about this book. The book does a good job of showing you how to use an array of different programs and how to effectively use them for making game art such as 2D textures and 3D models and how to prepare those models for use in a game engine, and it even includes a demo game engine to plug your models into. But just be warned that owning those programs isn't necessary to make quality 2D and 3D artwork for games, but IS required to follow along with the book completely. You can "work around" with the book using the demos that comes with the CD, but don't get too excited because you can't even save your TrueSpace 3D models anyways, so how are you going to get the models into 3ds max 5 for further manipulation and game prep?