Introducing Mudbox Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book designed to get you working in Mudbox fast. Not only does it teach you the most important aspects of the program but also has extensive information on working with scan data and integration into 3D pipelines using maya and other software. Ara is a great teacher and gets the concepts across clearly. The projects are engaging and fun. Ara has examples of both organic sculpting (female figure) and hard surface modeling (robot character). If you need to get up and running fast this is the place to start!

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One of the first books on Autodesk's new Mudbox 3D modeling and sculpting tool!
Autodesk's Mudbox was used to create photorealistic creatures for The Dark Knight, The Mist, and others films. Now you can join the crowd interested in learning this exciting new digital modeling and sculpting tool with this complete guide. Get up to speed on all of Mudbox's features and functions, learn how sculpt and paint, and master the art of using effective workflows to make it all go easier.
Introduces Autodesk's Mudbox, an exciting 3D modeling and sculpting tool that enables you to create photorealistic creatures for film or games; it is interoperable with Autodesk's 3ds Max and Maya products
Explains what digital sculpting is—and what it isn't—and how to fit it into the pipeline when creating assets for film, television, games, and advertising
Shows you how sculpt and paint a model in Mudbox; breaks down the complexities and gets you started right away with interesting projects
Helps you set up workflows to cut the time you spend on the technology, freeing you to focus on the creative aspects
Includes case studies and examples from industry leaders as well as a DVD with movies, sample project files, MELscripts, and more

Develop skills as a digital content creator or visual effects or CG artist with a good understanding of Mudbox and this valuable guide.

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Introducing ZBrush Review

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(More customer reviews)As a fellow author, I have bookshelf upon bookshelf of 3D books. Most of these don't get much use. "Introducing ZBrush," however, will get a good workout. Although I've always been impressed by the work produced by ZBrush, I've never been a fan of the interface or workflow and thus have used it relatively little to date. Eric Keller's book makes it all less intimidating. His book covers all the basics, plus includes ample step-by-step guides. The illustrations and example models are a step above many 3D books. I'm also happy to see instructions for importing from and exporting to Maya (ZBrush displacement maps look fantastic in Maya). The DVD includes models, materials, textures, movies, tools, and macros, plus a trial of ZBrush 3. Admittedly, there is a wealth of ZBrush information on the web. However, if you prefer to have a book at your fingertips and would rather not slog through forums for quick answers, this book is a good investment. (If I had a wish, it would be that more of the illustrations were in color, and not black-and-white.)

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If you want to take advantage of one of the hottest CG tools available, Introducing ZBrush is the perfect place to start.
Introducing ZBrush helps you jump into this exciting drawing and sculpting software without fear. Learn ZBrush 3.1 basics inside and out and get comfortable sculpting in a digital environment with this relaxed, friendly, and thorough guide. Master these practical techniques and soon you'll be creating realistic, cartoon, and organic models with flair.
Introduces you to ZBrush 3.1, the sculpting software that lets you create digital art with a fine-art feel, which you can transfer into Maya or other 3D applicationsCovers painting, meshes, organic sculpting, hard surface sculpting, textures, lighting, rendering, working with other 3D applications, and scriptingWalks you through a series of fun and engaging tutorials where you can start creating your own work, including human, cartoon, and organic models

Learn to create lush, beautiful digital art with ZBrush and this detailed guide.

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2D Artwork and 3D Modeling for Game Artists (The Premier Press Game Development Software) Review

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(More customer reviews)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?

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There are many 2D and 3D books in the market that focus entirely upon the beginning to advanced usage of one particular program. This book encompasses the world of 2D and 3D software and game artwork techniques in one volume. 2D Artwork and 3D Modeling for Game Artists will focus on 3 programs, Photoshop, trueSpace and 3D Studio Max.

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3ds Max Modeling for Games, Second Edition: Insider's Guide to Game Character, Vehicle, and Environment Modeling: Volume I Review

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(More customer reviews)I've played around with 3ds max for a few years but never really got to grips with it until now.
3ds Max Modelling for Games has taught me more in a month than every other book and DVD I've wasted my money on all together.
The book is extremely simple to begin with, taking you through modelling a box, step by step.
Now I thought that this was a joke initially until I realised that the tutorial was not about modelling a box, but about setting 3ds max up properly with automatic backups, units, scale and the core principles of mapping and unwrapping textures. It even shows how to get a great looking render out of the simplest of models - something I had struggled with in the past.

The book moves on teaching more complex modelling techniques, more complex mapping and even how to take your own photographs and turn them into great looking texture maps - I didn't expect a number of great Photoshop lessons in a 3ds Max book.

Again the tutorials get more complex and cover normal mapping, dirt maps, ambient occlusion, scratch maps, specular maps, and complex lighting and rendering.
But the best thing about the book is that all of the tutorials grow all fit together as pieces of the final finished scene which is an abandoned warehouse. The models, the vehicle, the character - everything all fits together to make a scene with lots of rendering advice to put a good portfolio together.

Finally the book ends with some of the best advice I've ever seen on putting a portfolio together and how to act in an interview.

I haven't been able to put this book down since I got hold of it and I'm now looking forward to the massive character modelling tutorial.

5 stars from me.

p.s. The book has an accompanying website with extra content promised too.


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The2nd edition of Andy Gahan's 3ds Max Modeling for Games, covering the latest version of 3ds Max is here. This book features the realistic style of art that the 1st edition covered, with six completely new chapters for the new version of the software.These newly added sections including: an Intro to 3ds Max, a new normal maps tutorial, expanded portfolio section, LOD's, a brand new environment and muchmore - as well as updates throughout covering latest version of Max.

The gallery will consist of a mix of inspirational concept art, and orthographics for the reader to build various models from. The book comes to us directly from successful game artists within commercial game development circles (Gahan + contributors) and consists of tutorials that start with simpler models and gradually move up to more complex builds.The strength of this book is that it teaches all of the important game modeling elements: character& environment modeling, mapping, texturing, basic animating of credible game characters and levels - using latest version of 3ds Max. As readers move from tutorial to tutorial, they build their own portfolio of high quality work.

Website (www.3d-for-games.com)is unique-an online forum where readers can post and answer questions about their work. In terms of developing a portfolio, online peer critiques are invaluable, and current readers have made use of this feature, in fact some have happily become the forum responders (along with Andy) to coach anddevelop new artists at work. Alsoincluded: step-by-step project files for each chapter; all the relevant texture files and source photos; panoramic skies, small scene objects, bonus texture maps& models so that artists can create whole scenes very quickly without starting from scratch each time; countless examples of what's hot and what's not in 3D modeling and also enough support images and photos to keep the budding artist busy for months. Unrivalled support in over 10,000 currentposts- backing up the book with a lively forum and community of readers from all over the world, ready to help your work.

* New, expanded tutorials (with the time they take indicated) lead readers through a character and environment from beginning to end and become more complex as the book progresses * Companion website features a robust and supportive forum where readers can get commentary on new work, develop their skills and network with games professionals--currently has over 10,000 posts * Companion website also offers all project files for tutorials and source images and photos to keep the budding artist busy for months

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