Product Description

The Definitive Resource for Up–and–Coming 3D Game Artists

Alias′ award–winning Maya 3D animation and effects software continues to lead the industry in technological innovation and is being adopted by more and more console and computer game developers. The Game Artist′s Guide to Maya is an official introduction to creating 3D game art and animations with Maya, brought to you by Maya Press, a publishing partnership between Alias and Sybex. Written by a production artist at a prominent game company, this detailed book focuses on the skills real game artists use daily to create stunning characters and environments.

By following the discussions and tutorials, you′ll bring a concept through the entire game art development pipeline, learning everything from modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation, to special effects. You′ll also glean insights from industry professionals and see how Maya has been used in popular games. If you′re a 3D game artist, or looking to become one, this book will help you master the skills and techniques you′ll need to excel in the competitive games industry.

Inside, you′ll learn how to:

• Create a game model using a concept image as your guide
• Model with predetermined real–time polycount limitations in mind
• View martial arts videos on the book′s CD to animate your character more realistically
• Prepare a model for texturing with UV mapping and layout techniques
• Create different kinds of textures
• Master the rigging process, from setting up a skeleton to preparing blend shapes
• Practice techniques for creating animation clips to work with in the Trax Editor
• Use particle effects, such as sprites and animated geometry, to add pizzazz to your model

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38056 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Back Cover
The Definitive Resource for Up–and–Coming 3D Game Artists

Alias′ award–winning Maya® 3D animation and effects software continues to lead the industry in technological innovation and is being adopted by more and more console and computer game developers. The Game Artist′s Guide to Maya is an official introduction to creating 3D game art and animations with Maya, brought to you by Maya Press, a publishing partnership between Alias and Sybex. Written by a production artist at a prominent game company, this detailed book focuses on the skills real game artists use daily to create stunning characters and environments.

By following the discussions and tutorials, you′ll bring a concept through the entire game art development pipeline, learning everything from modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation, to special effects. You′ll also glean insights from industry professionals and see how Maya has been used in popular games. If you′re a 3D game artist, or looking to become one, this book will help you master the skills and techniques you′ll need to excel in the competitive games industry.

Inside, you′ll learn how to:

• Create a game model using a concept image as your guide
• Model with predetermined real–time polycount limitations in mind
• View martial arts videos on the book′s CD to animate your character more realistically
• Prepare a model for texturing with UV mapping and layout techniques
• Create different kinds of textures
• Master the rigging process, from setting up a skeleton to preparing blend shapes
• Practice techniques for creating animation clips to work with in the Trax Editor
• Use particle effects, such as sprites and animated geometry, to add pizzazz to your model

About the Author
Michael McKinley is a 3D artist at Warthog Games in Austin, Texas. He is an online instructor at simplymaya.com as well as simplyphotoshop.com, and previously taught a Maya course at Collins College (Phoenix).

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
From the guy who makes really good tutorials for people, this is an awsome book which takes you step by step on how to create a game character.Showing how to set up the referencing for maya, modelling, uv mapping,texturing, animating and animating sequences of movements.Its a really nice book even if u want to read and understand how people create such cool looking characters in video games. A must for anyone who is wanting to get into maya and play about with character designing and so on.

Excellent!
From the guy who makes really good tutorials for people at www.simplymaya.com this is an awsome book which takes you step by step on how to create a game character.
Showing how to set up the referencing for maya, modelling, uv mapping, texturing, animating and animating sequences of movements.
Its a really nice book even if u want to read and understand how people create such cool looking characters in video games.

A must for anyone who is wanting to get into maya and play about with character designing and so on.

One of my best buy's
I will keep this short, it is always on my desk and if it's not, it's the first book I look for above all my other Maya books, it has helped me on a number of projects since I purchased it.

This book is great for beginingers thru to the professional games artist and it's a book that every aspiring game artist should own.

Mark