3D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop (Paperback)

by Luke Ahearn (Author)
Key Phrases: set your foreground color, caution stripes, apply layer effects, Gaussian Blur, Highlight Mode, Shadow Mode (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"As well as the design angle of creating artwork for games, this book also tackles the business side of creating artwork for commercial purposes, making it a wonderful insight into the world of the professional games artist. After reading this you'll have a far better understanding of what it takes to become successful in the games world, and it will give you the opportunity to begin building a stunning profolio." - Advanced Photoshop

"Discover how to design bullet holes, flames, windows and walls - all the effects that are an essential for today's videogame - with easy-to-follow tutorials. There are a variety of different themes explored throughout this book, covering anything from urban street scenes to the fantasy genre." - Advanced Photoshop, April 2006

"This book can help anyone become a better texture professional...Ahearn's book can and help you become a much better artist, even if you never did much texturing before...The details are simple, but they give anyone who has no Photoshop experience a better idea of what to do. A more experienced reader can gain an in-depth look at how to add improved texture to his projects. 3D Game Textures is a great book for beginners who would like to learn about textures for 3D art. No one should have a problem understanding and using this easy-to-comprehend information." - Apogee Photo Magazine, August 2006

Book Description
A tutorial for beginning game artists and enthusiasts to learn how to create textures at the professional level.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (March 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240807685
• ISBN-13: 978-0240807683
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #241,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn to Create Digital Photorealistic Textures, July 6, 2006

By	Diane Cipollo (Editor at BellaOnline.com) - See all my reviews

Even if you aren't a game artist, this book will help any digital artist learn to create photorealistic textures. One of the most important features of an image, and one that can make the difference between a good or a great image, is the textures you use. In this book the author, Luke Ahearn, teaches the basics for creating 3D game textures. The book is written for Adobe Photoshop version 7 or CS, but can apply to future versions of Photoshop or any image graphics software supporting layers.

The first chapters cover the basics of visual art such as shape/form, light/shadow, texture, color and perspective. Ahearn uses several game art sample images to support the discussion, which makes it easier to apply these concepts to 2D texturing. Next, he gives you an overview of computer graphics including file formats, grids, UV mapping and shaders and teaches the reasoning behind his approach to creating 2D textures for 3D game art. He then moves on to Photoshop and the many features this software has that can be used specifically for digital texturing. He gives some tips for naming and organizing the large number of image files that you will soon accumulate.

Ahearn covers four real-world projects. The first is a sci-fi setting which requires only the base materials. He gives step-by-step instructions for creating metals for floor and wall paneling, pipes, hoses and venting. Next is an urban setting which requires the base materials and also a few textures for detail objects in the scene. The third project, a fantasy setting, was my favorite. It required the most detailed artwork so far and Ahearn discusses using the Photoshop painting tools. The textures created for this project will eventually be used with a shader. Some of the base textures he creates are stone walls and floor, wood beams, stucco and metal. You will also learn how to make detailed textures for a table, chest, fur rug, candle stick, book and parchment. The fourth project is an outdoor setting. When creating photorealistic textures for the trees and other organic subjects, Ahearn uses Photoshop layers and source photo overlays.

For each project, Ahearn starts with a concept sketch and identifies the base materials that will be needed for flooring and walls. He then moves on to creating textures for the detail objects such as tables, windows, rugs and doors. At the end of each project, he gives at least one variation. Lastly, the book covers the three types of visual effects; static, animated and particle. The CD that accompanies the book contains many photo source images.

Luke Ahearn has worked in the game development field for many years as a background artist, designer, producer and art director. He has written six books on game development.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely invaluable, December 1, 2006

By	Sara Vangorden "buttered toast girl" (Upstate NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm in the process of reviewing 2D texture creation books for 3D programs, specifically Second Life's platform, and this book is by far the best I've found out there so far.

The tutorials concentrate on developing textures from scratch, along a detailed workflow like you would set up on a typical project, and the final quality of the textures created is top notch professional grade.

While other books seem to lack in quality, concentrate too much on one specific app for the final textures, or throw in way too much concept and not enough practicality, this book strikes a perfect balance between concept and execution. The book is intelligent without being overabsorbed, and is full of fantastic information. A great read and an invaluable reference book alike. Pick this one up!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Really!, May 26, 2007

By	Pavol Almasi (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unlike the rewiever who gave this book 1 star, I am giving 5. Because unlike him, I find this full-color book very well written and very useful. It goes beyond basic texture creation tutorials. The first half of the book explains theory behind good textures and texture creation as well as ways to take pictures for your own textures. It gives lot of examples to demonstrate various points. The second half of the book is the tutorial part. The tutorials are detailed and easy to follow. The only negative thing I find about this book is, that the tutorials give you exact values for everything without explaining why these values were actually chosen. However, it is up to the user to make his/her own tweeking and see, how changing these values effect the final result. Also, I would like to see how these textures are applied to a specific UV layout, which the book does not discuss. But then again, the book is about creating textures, not applying them to your model, so I do not hold it against it. After all, the textures that are created in the tutorials are nicely done and you certainly can find a good use for any of them. So, five stars it is.