3D Game Art f/x & Design

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, but I wish there were better books available
Review: First, note that this is a book about creating game art for 3D games--that's all. For some reason the game books seem to have a surplus of reviews from frustrated users who didn't seem to notice what the book was about, or that a book with many detailed tutorials "didn't tell them how to do it."

That said, I'd say this book is adequate, but not great. There's a shortage of books specifically about creating art for 3D games, and the first 150 pages are informative and well written. Unfortunately the next 150 pages are about Genesis3D, an Open Source engine that doesn't look as if it's really going anywhere, according to the URL's supplied by the book. The book does cover such topics as creating and managing textures, game interface art, and some level design. Pick up a used copy if you can.

Rating:
Summary: From a programmers perspective
Review: I am reviewing this book from a Software Engineer's point of view. I have zero experience with generating game art. Which is precisely why I bought this book. So keep that in mind as you read this.

The book is dived into two parts. "Part 1 - 2D Interactive Game Art" is devoted to designing and building textures in Adobe Photoshop. This was a bit disapointing as I can't afford to pop ($) for Photoshop. But I imagine the techniques are pretty much the same regardless of the software you use (assuming that part of the industry uses any kind of a standard). Part 1 also has a few detours into things like "Logos" and their design process and "Menu's and Interfaces." In my opinion, these detours are bonus materials. The author uses a tutorial based approach for learning how to build textures in Photoshop. Each tutorial focuses on a basic method, i.e., Creating A Rust Texture, Creating Brushed Metal. Then, a group of tutorials is followed up by a multi texture project that may or may not use the textures you created in the previous tutorials.

The texture tutorials are a bit vague. They basically follow this kind of format (I'm paraphrasing each step):

To create a rust texture in Photshop, follow these steps:

1. Creat a new image document and make it 600x600...
2. Fill the background with a light brown...
3. Add noise to this layer with the Noise filter: Choose Noise|Add Noise. Set the amount to 40, Gaussian and make it Monochromatic.
4. Blur this layer by choosing Filter|Blur|Motion Blur. Set the angle to 45 and the Distanceto 45...

If you are already a texture artist, maybe you know what "Set the amount to 40, Gaussian and make it Monochromatic" means. But I would have liked an explanation of these types of things.

The problem with the tutorial approach is it is specific to Adobe Photoshop. If you don't have Photoshop to follow along with, it is hard to understand what is happening in these steps.

I would have liked a better explanation of designing textures for tiling. There are tutorials for designing seamless textures, but again, without having Photoshop (and zero game art experience) it is really hard to follow.

Part 1 also has some good insight into creating and managing your texture library.

Part 2 - World Building: Genesis3D and Reality Factory, focuses on building game levels for use in the Genesis3D game engine (Reality Factory is an upgraded and improved version of the Genesis3D engine). Part 2 of the book is, again, a tutorial based approach to building a game world with the level editor. In fact, all of the tutorials are part of one project that part 2 focuses on: building a castle, courtyard and models (to place in the castle gameworld). The last chapter of the book focuses on Reality Factory and the goodies it adds to Genesis3D.

My goal is to write my own level editor and game engine. I have the software knowledge to do so and now this book has given me a peek at what a level editor should do and how it goes hand in hand with the game engine. At first I was put off by the tutorial approach until I realized that in order to learn this stuff you need to do this stuff. And to do it you need some software. So on second thought it was only natural for the author to pick some software and teach you how to use it. In doing so, he succeeds in teaching you about "3D Game Art and f/x Design."

SOFTWARE ON THE CD
Of course, the CD does not come with Photoshop. But the author does provide other game art resources including an free GNU Photshop-like application (...).

I was a bit upset when I realized the minimum OS requirement for software on the CD was Windows 98. I am still running a 1997 version of Windows 95! (I know, I know... I'm in the process of ordering a tricked out Alienware machine!). But, having experience with these type of requirements, I decided to install everything anyway. And it works! At least the level editor and Genesis3D game engine work. As my machine is a 166 MHz P II, I'm not even going to attempt to run the Reality Factory (min reqs: P II 200 MHz, 64 mb ram, NVidia TNT-class 3D accelerator. recommended: P II 400 MHz, AGP NVidia TNT2-class 3D accelerator). Fair warning now, Reality Factory will not run without a 3D accelerator.

The CD comes with a test game. Genesis3D uses the DirectX API. My machine does not have a 3D accelerator so Genesis3D runs in software mode. My frame rate at 640x480 was a whopping 5 frames/second (yes, I'm being sarcastic)! But the author does warn you about this.

When all is said and done, I was very pleased with this book. It gave me some good insight to Game Art. The level editor and Genesis3D game engine were bonus materials.

Rating:
Summary: A good starting point for the aspiring mod maker or mapper
Review: I picked this book up without much research - after a quick flip through the pages I decided it was better to have around than no reference material at all.

Strong points: Luke Ahearn goes through a step-by-step process regarding building texture libraries, and efficient ways to structure your directory trees for referencing. These are all valid lessons that apply directly to working in a professional environment, so pay attention! Also, his feedback on tiling and cleaning up of digital images is relevant, although not comprehensive.

As far as the other game art tips included, I haven't tried them yet. I use a different mapping engine (Quake 3 / GTK Radiant) but the tips and interfaces between many engines are similiar, so if you don't have a commercially supported editor, I assume Wild Tangent's Genesis 3D one is adequate (it's really designed for web-based 3D gaming, and doesn't require 3D cards for all applications). At any rate, this book is not the end-all-be-all of game art and level design books, but rather a very good place to start.

Weak points: The author puts a lot of information into the book, without focusing on any 1 particular area. Perhaps that is due to the nature of the work. Be a good 2D artist and make textures. Be a good 3D artist and make models. Be a good mapper and put everything together. It's a lot to handle, and a lot of it is crammed into the book, but no one area is really focused on entirely. Also, if you're not using Photoshop for texturing, have fun adapting these lessons to another application.

Given Mr. Ahearn's professional experience (he did the level work and artwork for America's Army: Operations - the free 1st person shooter released by the US Army powered by the newest Unreal engine) it's safe to say he knows what he's doing. He doesn't get a chance to get too in-depth with any one topic or procedure, but mentions things enough to give you the right exposure.

Don't purchase this book thinking it'll be the only tome you need to read to become a fantastic 3D artist or mapper, but consider it if you want to have a handy reference manual on how to make effective textures and intriguing levels for your games. Since modern day games can get very complex very quickly (bot pathfinding and logic, creating shaders and sky boxes, etc.) it's good to start with the essentials and build up from there.

There aren't a lot of books out there that cover this type of work, so my suggestion is, pick it up, work through it, and hit some message boards to learn how to do the tricky stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't tell you how to DO anything!!
Review: Ok, first off let me start by saying that I do not own this book. I thoroughly looked through it at a book store, and quickly discovered that the title, and size of the book, is very misleading. For both of these reasons, the given title and the fair size of the book, I would have expected some tutorials on the subject.

The book basically goes through different categories such as levels, objects, logos, and others by telling you that "this is the kind of graphic you will want to make a good game." Perhaps this may be a good book for someone who can already create stunning game graphics and doesn't need step-by-step directions on how to create them. I however, am not that person, and do not believe that the implied audience of this book is either. It has absolutely no directions on how to create the graphics in the book, and definetely doesn't tell you how to incorporate any of the given ones into a game.

If you are a top-notch graphics developer with lots of experience, then this book may be ok for you although you shouldn't need it if you are that qualified. Otherwise, for the rest of us, I would recommend 3DS Max 4 Fundamentals instead of this showcase of professional art.

Rating:
Summary: I think it's a really good book
Review: Personally, I like the book a lot. I've completed through chapter 4 and have gone through all of the tutorials so far. I find it to be an excellent intro into what it takes to create textures for games.

I also like the fact that with the tutorials you can go on to explore each one and add your own touches and creativity so that, by the end, you have really created a piece of your own artwork and just aren't following a step-by-step tutorial where your image looks just like the one in the book. The author encourages you to add your own creative touches to each project and you end up with your own piece of art instead of just a copy of someone elses.

This is one of the very few tutorial books where I am actually going through each and every tutorial. They are very fun projects to do. And I've learned so many cool little tips and tricks to add to my list of texturing tricks that I feel the tutorials are worth those alone.

And for someone like me that wants to be a game artist and has no other exposure to learn how to actually apply textures in a game level, I think the second half of the book will be very valuable to learn that. Even if it is not a "popular" game engine, I would imagine the principles would apply to any game engine out there.

Rating:
Summary: A good start, though a way to go
Review: The learning curve to produce good 3D content is pretty steep. As human beings, we are very familiar with what 3D spaces should look like, and therefore it can be very irksome to us when something looks bad, unreal, or out of place. This book attempts to act as a primer on how to create art for compelling worlds.

I work professionally as a developer on a 3D authoring application and so I'm pretty familiar with many of the skills required to create 3D content. There are many steps from concept to final, and some of them require at least a rudiment of artistic or design background.

The author at least does a good job of taking the reader through most of the important steps, and certainly focuses on the design related ones. The author gives some good source material and basic techniques for dirtying up and making textures tileable, though some of the tasks require at least a moderate knowledge of Photoshop. He also offers a few key tidbits of advice in modeling and lighting environments, though nothing groundbreaking.

A large portion of the book goes to explaining how to use Genesis3D, an open source 3D application that comes on the CD with the book. I applaud the author in at least packaging a pertinent program so the reader can be given a chance to use their skills. Unfortunately it is typical of 3D-game world editors and isn't very easy to use. I would recommend at least looking around and trying other editors before investing much time in learning one. Though this is certainly a necessary evil to learn at least one if you plan on doing any level editing.

I'd say the main weakness of the book is that it is geared primarily towards the creation of typical first-person shooter worlds. Fortunately these are very popular, and surrealistic enviroments tend not to require as much finesse because limited or extreme lighting and environments can be used to hide limitations in modeling experience. It tends to be much more difficult to create 3D enviroments of the familiar (i.e. offices, house interiors, etc.) though who wants to make those anyway, that's what everyone is trying to escape from in the first place, right? ;)

In closing, this book is a good start, however, even though the author may be a really great level designer he definitely hasn't imparted all of his tricks in this book. I don't mean to offend, though it possibly might be from lack of experience. The fact that he talks about how to get rid of "flash burn" from a camera instead of teaching techniques on how to avoid it in the first place, such as buying an [inexpensive]off-camera flash (or if you can't afford that, at least putting tissue paper in front of the flash to act as a diffuser)

For more information of how to create good textures, I'd recommend reading anything Hayden Duvall has written in Game Developer Magazine or on game development Web sites.

For more information of fundamental lighting techniques, I'd recommend [digital] Lighting and Rendering by Jeremy Birn. Or, if you can afford it, take a technical theater course on lighting design at a community college.

Unfortunately, for 3D game level design there aren't very many good resources, they're all broken up by what editor is used to create the levels, so first pick your game/editor and then just look for forums dedicated to that one.

Rating:
Summary: A Gamer
Review: When I got this book I was like WOW! This Is good.But after I
read It 3 times and did what It said I was very disaponted!It said what a game shoud be but not how to do it!It only does a few short lines of That.If you want two completely copy Doom Get this Book,If not,Don't.