Creating the Art of the Game

Name: Creating the Art of the Game
Price: 5.95 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780735714090

ISBN-10: 0735714096

ISBN-13: 9780735714090

Edition: 2004

Authors: Matthew Omernick

List price: $49.99

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Description:

Written by an experienced 3D game artist and instructor, this book provides readers with the opportunity to explore the workflow, tools, and techniquesused to create the 3D art used for today's most advanced and creative videogames. Instead of providing point and click tutorials on how to implement 3Dcreation applications like 3ds max and Maya, this book provides carefullychosen software agnostic tutorials that will enable readers to understand theconceptual underpinnings of creating dynamic 3D art: planning, modeling,texturing, lighting, creation of common effects, creating user interfaces, andputting all of the pieces together for a complete art package. Special attention ispaid to…

Book details

List price: $49.99
Copyright year: 2004
Publisher: Pearson Education
Publication date: 3/23/2004
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 320
Size: 8.25" wide x 10.00" long x 0.75" tall
Weight: 1.892
Language: English



Foreword: Making Games


Turning Lead into Gold, Plastic, Wood, etc.


Embrace the Constraints


Introduction


Who Should Read This Book?


A True Artist First


What to Expect from This Book


What This Book Covers


Making the Game


Themes



Preparing to Create


How and Where to Collect Reference


Seek the Best


Concept Art


Setting the Quality Bar


Blocking Out Your Scene


Conclusion



Modeling Theory


Primitives


Components


Transformation Tools


Polygons and Memory


Polygon Limits


Displaying Polygon Count


Normals


Backface Culling


Polygon Reduction


Modeling Techniques


Extrude


The Line Tool


Common Mistakes


Overlapping Faces


T-Junctions


Stray Vertices


Star-Like Faces


Conclusion



Introduction to Texturing


Game Texturing Theory


Detail in Texture


How to Choose and Create Textures


File Formats


Color Depth


Resolution (Texture Size)


What Is Resolution?


Photoshop


Image Resizing


Where Do I Use My Pixels?


Changing Color Depth


More About Color


Digital Photography


Digital Photos for Reference


Digital Photos for Textures


Making a Texture Tilable


Actions


Conclusion



Advanced Texturing


The Power of Layers


Creating Layers


Photoshop Tools


Image Menu


Layer Menu


Filters


Alpha Channels


What Is an Alpha Channel?


What Can Alpha Do?


How Do We Bring the Alpha Channel into the 3D Package?


How to Make Alpha Channels


Game Engines and Alpha


Conclusion



Applying Textures


Assigning Materials


Maya's Hypershade


3ds max Material Editor


What Are UVs?


Projection Mapping


Editing UVs


Composite Textures and UVs


Assigning UVs


Multiple UV Sets


Tiling


How Do You Tile?


Conclusion



Advanced Modeling


Organic Versus Inorganic Models


Organic Modeling Methods


Smoothing


The Sculpt Polygons Tool


Soft Selection


Subdivision Surfaces


Vertex Normals and Smoothing Groups


Modeling with Triangles


Cleaning Up Your Geometry


Delete History


Freeze Transformations


Center Pivot


Merging or Welding Vertices


Maya's Cleanup Tool


Conclusion



Lighting Principles


Color


Target Audience


Balancing Color


Mood


Traditional Lighting Setup


Working with 3D Lights


Directional Light


Ambient Light


Spotlights


Point or Omni Lights


Global Illumination


Falloff


Effective Lighting Practices


Pools of Light


Be Creative


Experiment


Conclusion



In-Game Lighting


Vertex Lighting


Vertex Color


Vertex Alpha


Hiding Repetition


Reusing Textures


Understanding Vertex Lighting


Things to Watch Out For


Soft and Hard Edges


Lightmaps


Per-Pixel Lighting


Normal Maps


Dynamic Lighting


Troubleshooting


Black or Invisible Faces on Geometry


Inconsistency


Blown Out or Overexposed Lighting


Conclusion



Effects


Particle Effects


Textures for Effects


Billboards


Fog


Water


Clouds


Decals


Conclusion



Tips and Tricks


The Metal Box


Trees and Vegetation


Reflection


Placed Shadows


The Importance of Shadow


Conclusion



User Interface Design and Creation


The Shell


In-Game User Interface


Heads-Up Display


Composition


Plan, Plan, Plan


Localization


Hardware Approval


Building the UI


Conclusion



Wrapping It Up


Source Control


Collision Geometry


Skydomes


Light Volumes


Tagging Materials


Bug Fixing


Collision Issues


Z-Fighting and Problem Normals


Just Plain Ugly Art


Polishing


Major Milestones


Alpha


Beta


Gold


Conclusion


Index