Product Description

Let your imagination run wild in the world of Unreal Technology. Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design knows no boundaries as it shows you how to build custom mods, maps and levels with the Unreal engine. Its tutorial format will give you immediate results through the tips and demos provided from the industry's top level designers. Learn to create your own characters, weapons and gaming environments, as well as how to go beyond the Unreal environment and export custom elements from 3D modeling applications. A CD that contains the Unreal Engine, graphics, examples and code is also included, giving you everything you need to create custom levels in Unreal or build your own games and virtual environments. Mastering Unreal Technology will help put you on the cutting-edge of gaming technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112572 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 984 pages

From the Back Cover

Let your imagination run wild in the world of Unreal Technology. Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design knows no boundaries as it shows you how to build custom mods, maps and levels with the Unreal engine. Its tutorial format will give you immediate results through the tips and demos provided from the industry's top level designers. Learn to create your own characters, weapons and gaming environments, as well as how to go beyond the Unreal environment and export custom elements from 3D modeling applications. A CD that contains the Unreal Engine, graphics, examples and code is also included, giving you everything you need to create custom levels in Unreal or build your own games and virtual environments. Mastering Unreal Technology will help put you on the cutting-edge of gaming technology.

About the Author

Jason "Buzz" Busby is the president/CEO of 3D Buzz, Inc., a company dedicated to teaching the world the arts and skills behind today's hottest 3D industries, including gaming, film, and visualization. Through his website, http://www.3DBuzz.com, Buzz distributes his signature Video Training Modules (VTMs), which contain hours of training content that is professional, informative, and entertaining. Buzz is also the Director of Animation at The Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, where he offers his students a unique insight into the world of Alias Maya and Discreet 3ds max.

Zak Parrish is currently an animation instructor at The Renaissance Center, where he teaches both Alias Maya and Discreet 3ds max. For the past two years, he has worked with Jason Busby and 3D Buzz, Inc. to help provide top-quality education to students across the world. His work can be seen on many of the 3D Buzz VTMs as well as in the UT2004 Special Edition training video series. In what little spare time he manages, he is also seeking his bachelor of fine arts degree at Austin Peay State University.

Joel Van Eenwyk grew up in China, where his parents both work as teachers. He attendedpublic school in China for four years and was then homeschooled by his mother. Joel developed an interest in computer programming and was soon writing programs to help with his homework. At 17, Joel traveled to the United States to further his education at a community college in Kansas. During that time, he attended an intensive four-week training program on Alias Maya, instructed by Jason Busby. After completing a one-year internship with 3D Buzz, Joel is currently seeking his computer science degree at the University of Kansas.

Customer Reviews

Everything you need
Been creating levels for the Unreal series of engines for over a year now. At the time no books were available so I had to learn everything of the internet and posting in various forums. The Unreal engine is extremely powerful and can do amazing things once you have a good understanding of how everything works. It has taken me many hours to figure out how to accomplish what seems a simple thing at times. I can honestly say that if this book was available at the time life would have been so much easier. The book really does go through everything you will ever need to know about creating levels. What's most impressive is how it makes complicated stuff become easy. I may already know a fair amount of level design, but I got this book anyway as it covers everything and I still need to refer back to text at times.

I should point out this book is designed to be read from front to back, so it perfect for beginners. With this book and lots of dedication you WILL know how to create visually stunning and complicated levels with a fair amount of ease. For those who are already level creating for some time now will still find this book very helpful, even for reference. Though I am willing to bet you will still learn lots of helpful information.

Bottom line is if you want to start using the unreal engine to create your own content get this book to lean all you need to know, with out it you WILL end up searching on the net for hours at a time trying to figure out how to do things.

Have fun and good luck with creating your own content.

Using UnrealEd is now easy
I'd like to say that since having this book i find it hard to put down.
It's so easy to follow and the amount of useful information is out standing.
For example Chapter 3 when you create your first room you are fully aware
why the height and width of doors, corridors etc are so important.

I recommend this book to anyone who is remotely interested in designing,
modding games or even creating characters.

This book was a present given to me at my request for christmas but if it
wasn't put on my christmas presents list then I would have been really happy
if I bought it for myself.

You utterly get your moneys worth here!!!!

Excellent book, terrible CD
The book itself is very well written, starts with the basics and gives a good overview of unreal and how the technology works before starting tutorials.

The tutorials start with the very basics, making this good for those new to Unreal modding (like myself), alongside the tutorial are screenshots to help you along.

The big problem with this book is the CD. It comes with a free trial of the Unreal Editor, however all the examples and textures on the CD require the commercial version to work.

The version of Maya on the CD is version 5.0, the most recent Maya is 8.5 and you cannot get a v5.0 unlock key without using illegal sources. There is no key on the book.

Overall it's a great book, but if you don't have a commercial editor and a 3d modelling program you're going to find it very difficult to get started.