Game Art Complete: All-in-One: Learn Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, and Photoshop Winning Techniques

624 Pages·2008·63.2 MB·English

by  Andrew Gahan

Game Art Complete
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Game Art Complete
All-in-One: Learn Maya,
3ds Max, ZBrush, and
Photoshop Winning
Techniques
Edited by
Andrew Gahan
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG• LONDON
NEWYORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SANDIEGO
SANFRANCISCO• SINGAPORE• SYDNEY• TOKYO
Focal Press isanimprintofElsevier
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gahan, Andrew.
Game art complete: all-in-one: learn Maya, 3ds Max, zBrush, and Photoshop winning
techniques / Andrew Gahan.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81147-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Computer games—Design. 2. Computer
animation. 3. Computer graphics. I. Title.
QA76.76.C672.G32 2008
794.8’1536—dc22 2008036474
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81147-5
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com
08 09 10 11 12 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada
Contents
I ntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
C hapter 1 Creating a Box Using 3ds Max (Andrew Gahan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
C hapter 2 Creating an Oil Drum Using 3ds Max (Andrew Gahan) . . . . . 19
C hapter 3 C reating Texture Maps from Photographs Using
Photoshop (Andrew Gahan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
C hapter 4 Creating Normal Maps Using Photoshop and
Crazy Bump (David Wilson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
C hapter 5 Concept Art (Jason Patnode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
C hapter 6 Anatomy (Jason Patnode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
C hapter 7 A Basic (Game) Art Education (Luke Ahearn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
C hapter 8 The Basic 3D Kit Using Maya (Jean-Marc Gauthier) . . . . . . . 165
C hapter 9 Pipeline and Modeling Guidelines Using Maya
(Jason Patnode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
C hapter 10 Overview of Maya (Jason Patnode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
C hapter 11 Introduction to ZBrush Modeling (Jason Patnode) . . . . . . . 297
C hapter 12 Designing Your First Biped Character Using
Photoshop and Maya (Cheryl Cabrera) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
C hapter 13 Creating Your First Biped Character: Modeling
Basics Using Maya (Cheryl Cabrera) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
C hapter 14 Creating Your First Biped Character:
Facial Expressions Using Maya (Cheryl Cabrera) . . . . . . . . . . 435
C hapter 15 Creating Your First Biped Character:
Shading and Texturing Basics Using Maya
(Cheryl Cabrera) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
C hapter 16 High Poly and Low Poly Character Modeling
Using 3ds Max and Photoshop (Tom Painter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
v
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I ntroduction
T he purpose of this book is to give artists and modelers who may be new to
3D modeling and animation, or who may want to expand their skill set, an
overview of the four main programs with some tutorials to get them started.
W e will take you through a series of tutorials, covering the following topics:
Character concepts
●
Anatomy
●
Low-poly asset modeling in 3ds Max
●
Normal maps, including CrazyBump
●
Creating texture maps from photographs
●
Alpha maps
●
Color theory
●
Maya’s interface
●
Creating a low-poly character in Maya
●
Production pipelines
●
Introduction to ZBrush
●
Workfl ow
●
Rigging a character
●
Facial expressions
●
Shading and texturing
●
Low- to high-poly modeling
●
Complex mapping and textures
●
UVTool
●
I will be introducing you to a number of authors, all specialists in their fi elds,
who will in turn introduce you to Photoshop, 3ds Max, Maya, and ZBrush. These
are the four main programs used in 3D modeling, game development, TV,
design, architecture, print media, and many other industries. Understanding
the basics of all of these programs will save you a lot of time when developing
new ideas for your work.
W e will be kicking off with some basic modeling techniques using 3ds Max
and Photoshop, written by myself, and by getting to grips with normal maps
with David Wilson, one of the senior lecturers from the University of Derby in
the UK. These initial four chapters take the complete beginner in modeling
for games to a competent level where they can be producing fi nal artwork for
current games.
W e will then move onto two chapters on concept art and anatomy with Jason
Patnode. These chapters have been added to the book to get artists and
designers to start thinking about how they start to create concept art; in this
case, specifi cally concept art for characters. There is also a good introduction
vii
Introduction
to anatomy to help every artist to create great-looking designs that can be
modeled.
W e will discuss preparing for texture creation in great detail, with Luke Ahearn
covering all aspects including shape and form, light and shadow, as well as
the general usage and creation of game textures.
W e then move onto some Maya character modeling with Jean-Marc Gauthier
and Jason Patnode, looking at some diff erent techniques and approaches,
including the introduction of ZBrush.
It’s important to know that there are a number of diff erent methods and
techniques for creating similar pieces of work in multiple software packages,
and we hope to give you quite a thorough introduction to the most popular
ones in this book.
T hen we continue with some character rigging, facial expressions, texturing
and shading to almost complete the picture, with us ending with a mega
build in 3ds Max of a low- to high-poly character, including baking the
high-res details onto the low-res model and creating all the texture maps
with Tom Painter.
I t was really diffi cult to pick the best parts of each software package to focus
on, so we decided upon this general approach with a slight bias to looking at
characters. It would be impossible to cover every aspect of game art creation
for every genre of game on every platform in just one book, so we have
focused on the core strengths of each software package and will introduce
you to all of them.
T his book can be picked up at any chapter, so feel free to jump in and out
wherever you like. Try looking at all of the software packages and try to be
disciplined enough to continue with a good working knowledge of them all.
T here are lots of diff erent game developers all over the world and they all
favor diff erent software packages. The ones defi ned and explained in this
book are the core for almost all developers, so if you can gain a good working
knowledge of all of them before you decide to specialize, you may create
more opportunities for yourself in the future.
Good luck with your modeling and development and remember to have fun
with it.
Now let me introduce you to the authors.
Luke Ahearn, 3 D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using
Photoshop (ISBN-10: 0240807685)
Luke has been a professional game developer since 1992. He has served in
lead positions such as designer, producer, and art director on seven published
game titles, including Dead Reckoning and America’s Army , and has worked
as a background artist at EA. He has authored numerous books on game
viii
Introduction
development and ran his own computer game company for ten years.
Currently, he is the art director and a partner of ICPU .
Luke contributed Chapter 7 to this book.
Cheryl Cabrera, An Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging
(ISBN-10: 0240520823)
Cheryl is an Autodesk Certifi ed Instructor in Maya and has been a professor
in the Animation Department of the School of Film and Digital Media at the
Savannah College of Art and Design since 2001. She has a background in
education and acting, and in addition to her work in 3D, she is an exhibiting
painter and has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in the
United States. Her award-winning students have been featured in animation
festivals worldwide and work throughout the gaming and entertainment
industry.
Cheryl contributed Chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15 to this book.
Andrew Gahan, 3 ds Max Modeling for Games: Insider’s Guide to
Game Character, Vehicle, and Environment Modeling (ISBN-10:
0240810619)
Andrew joined the games industry in 1992 as an artist and has subsequently
worked at all levels of the industry throughout his career. Roles have included
senior artist, lead artist, art manager, art director, art outsource manager, and
producer. He is currently working on the MotorStorm series for PlayStation 3
at Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment.
Andrew contributed Chapters 1, 2, and 3 to this book.
Jean-Marc Gauthier, B uilding Interactive Worlds in 3D: Virtual
Sets and Pre-visualization for Games, Film & the Web (ISBN-10:
0240806220)
Jean-Marc, director of Tisch Asia Animation and the Digital Arts MFA program
in Singapore, is an assistant art professor at New York University, Tisch School
of the Arts. Jean-Marc teaches interactive 3D animation and game production.
He creates interactive projects crossing the borders between arts, sciences,
architecture, animation, virtual spaces, games, and museum installations. His
interactive media art works have been presented at venues internationally,
including New York’s American Museum of the Moving Image, Institute of Fine
Arts, and Chelsea Art Museum, File Festival (Brazil), Ars Electronica Festival
(Austria), Daegu Art Center (South Korea), Cite des Sciences Villette-Biennale
Numérique (France), Le Cube (France), MAMAC (France).
Jean-Marc’s recent entertainment projects include Cold Stone Dead Serious ,
a 3D interactive game for a theater play; NightHawks, a gaming installation
interacting with a large audience inside a public park; and Aphrodisias, a
virtual archeology immersive display in a museum. He has collaborated
on numerous educational and scientifi c visualization projects, including
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