3D Creature Workshop [Paperback]

Bill Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

Creating photorealistic, interesting 3D creatures is a major skill required of all computer animators. Through step-by-step instructions, users will master all the modeling and surfacing techniques needed to create professional quality creatures. With the tools and techniques provided in this book, animators can learn to cut their creature development time by as much as 75%.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This useful book teaches you all about building lifelike creatures in a variety of 3-D programs. You learn how to create everything from fabulous monsters to action heroes by using LightWave 5.5, 3D Studio Max 2.0, and Animation:Master 5, and by applying general design principles to your work.

The book begins by helping you determine what your creature will look like by first thinking about its habitat, diet, defenses, and other traits. You choose source material and review the use of bones and single-mesh modeling. Next, the author takes you through the basics and advanced aspects of LightWave's Metaform, the polygon-smoothing feature; of 3D Studio Max's Bezier-patch modeling feature; of the 3D Studio Max plug-in, Surfacetools, for spline modeling and converting; and of Animation:Master's Hash-spline modeling feature. You're better off if you know your software fairly well, but if you don't you can still learn some useful design tips.

The final chapter is a general discussion of how to surface your characters using image maps for color, bump, specularity, and diffusion. Here you add color, scars, wrinkles, veins, light, and depth. Throughout the book you get a combination of technical discussion, usage tips, and step-by-step instruction. The included CD-ROM has project files that you use as you work along with the book. A full-color insert shows the resulting images. --Kathleen Caster

From Library Journal

There are two main reasons to use 3D design. Either you need to build architecture as a model of the Titanic, or you want to build characters and creatures such as Toy Story's Woody. This book is for the latter. It is especially useful to the amateur because Fleming describes and compares various programs; he illustrates techniques used in LightWave, 3D Studio Max, and Animation:Master. He covers the basics from seamless surfaces to teeth and claws and muscle.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886801789
• ISBN-13: 978-1886801783
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,057,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3d Creature Workshop = Awesome!, May 16, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Ohio, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 3D Creature Workshop (Paperback)

Just picked up the book 3D Creature Workshop by Bill Fleming, Editor in Chief at the newly-created Serious3D magazine.

In just one word: WOW!

Finally there is an excellent step-by-step, from beginning to end that shows you the what the experts are doing. This book is simply fanatastic for anyone creating monsters, animals, creatures and humanoids.

The first chapter sets up the book with the importance of creating a biography for your creature. Bill follows through on this in creatures he tutorials throughout the book, some of them quite amusing.

There are two chapters specifically devoted to users of 3D Studio Max R2, such as myself.

One chapter deals with creating a cartoon fish using patch modeling.

The other chapter is devoted to creating a cartoony mob hitman named Knuckles using Peter Watje's SurfaceTool.

Both of these chapters are excellent and are filled with invaluable knowledge and tips.

I would have liked to have seen a chapter on NURBS but with this changing in R2.5, maybe Bill adopted a wait and see attitude. he does cover NURBS with Lightwave and Animation Master which can be applied to Max.

Two other 3d programs are covered in additional tutorial chapters, Lightwave and Animation Master. Can't comment on these becuase I don't use them.

The second half of the book is geared towards photorealistic skin textures using Photoshop and your 3d program. This section alone is worth the price of the book. I instantly picked up several tips that I could not find anywhere else on the Net or in any other 3rd party 3d books or magazines..and trust me, I've read all of them.

If this book is any indication of what we can expect from Serious3d magazine (which ships next week), Bill, count me as a lifelong subscriber. END

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for Max Users -- Requires $85 Plug-in to Do Excercise, June 18, 1999

By 

Quilting Puggie (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 3D Creature Workshop (Paperback)

Out of 9 chapters, only Chapters 5 & 6 deal specifically with 3D Studio Max. Ch. 5 requires a plug-in and various maps to finish the model. They're sadly missing from the Companion CD. Worse still, Ch. 6 requires a plug-in that costs $85 or else you cannot do the exercise at all! You only find that out on page 164!

I hold the publisher and author responsible for such blatant omissions from the book. They have the repsonsibility to tell people that unless you have this $85 plug-in, various exercises will not work. The buyer can then make an informed decision on whether they want to buy the book or not. This book is a major letdown, I honestly cannot recommend it!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars promises..., March 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 3D Creature Workshop, Second Edition (Charles River Media Graphics (Software)) (Paperback)

It's not really updated. Probably you won't read the whole book but only a few chapters. I find useful the chapter on design creatures and the one about max. Basically 1 chapter about lightwave, 1 about 3ds max and 1 about Animation master. The others one talk about minor programs so they are useless. You can save a lot of money searching on the net for specific tutorials. I'm sure yo'll find what you're looking for :)