Customer Reviews

The Game Artist's Guide to Maya

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this book, as well as Game Character Development in Maya, at the same time, so it made it a little easier to review this book in comparison.
I am just starting out with Maya, taking courses on 3DBuzz, playing with the PLE version of Maya, so I really should have read the title of this book a few times to let it sink in. This is a book for CURRENT GAME ARTISTS. This is NOT really a book for people just starting out with Maya. The author does not explain a lot of what he's doing as far as theory goes, because he's assuming that you already KNOW the theory, and are just moving your skills to Maya. This is not a bad thing, of course, but caveat emptor for the n00b like myself you buys this assuming your going to be led by the hand. For those people, I highly recommend the previously mentioned 'Game Character Development in Maya'.
I'm NOT knocking this book!!! It seems like a really good one for the audience it's intended for, and I'll probably put it on my bookshelf until I get good enough to see what the author is trying to say. I just wanted to throw this out for those, like myself, that might be thinking it's a beginner's guide, which it surely isn't.

First of all, this is a great book. I read it cover-to-cover twice within the first 24 hours. Now don't get the title wrong, 3D modelling will never be easy, and no book can ever make it so. What a book can do, and this book does very well, is to get you started.

After the first chapter, which is a very interesting and useful tour around the "what's" and "how's" of the games industry, the book goes on to describe every step in the creation of a game character, from the initial concepts are made to the textured, animated model is finished and ready for the game. The book is built around a tutorial for a fantasy creature, but with comments on each step in general included where this is different from the character the book deals with.

Being a novice modeller myself, I had several "so THAT'S how they do that" experiences while reading through the book, but I'm sure even experienced modellers would learn something. The first chapter on how to get a job in the games industry and what to expect once you have it is worth the price by itself.

A basic knowledge of Maya is required to get the full benefit of this book, but using the built-in videos of the free "personal learning" edition included with the book as well as free tutorials from sites mentioned in the book will give you these skills in no time.

As I said at the beginning, no book can ever make this area easy, but difficult to master does not mean it can't be relatively easy to get started, and if you (like me) have a dream to one day become a modeller, I can't recommend this book enough.

Now go buy it!

I've read the book through and I have to say it certainly hit its demographic; those who wish to extend their basic Maya skills to game art in all aspects (up to and including tips on simply getting a job as a game artist) should buy this book. If you're attempting to learn Maya or 3D altogether than you might as well pass on this book.

About the only point lacking in this book is its narrow scope -- no mention of particle effects not directly associated with the model, no mention of Sub-D modelling, etc. That critique mentioned, he had a topic to cover -- and what was on topic was covered thoroughly.

If you wish to pick up a book about learning to develop game art with polycount a concern, specifically modelling humanoid creatures, this book is for you -- and as a bonus you'll learn to have a respectible reel to demonstrate your added talents. If you don't know Maya, take that first step first -- then pick up this book, its a fairly light load (1-2 days read) so the benefits won't take too much time out of your day.

Rated 4 out of 5.

Pros:

>It is very detailed in its explainations (with illustrations)
>Sidebar interviews and profiles act as built-in study-breaks making you not need to stop reading
>The narrow demographic gives the reader exactly what he wishes without confusing him with stuff he either knows or doesn't care about knowing.
>Inside knowledge of the game industry is shared, including reel making.

Cons:

>Again, narrow demographic may have this book in the hands of many who it doesn't belong. Know what you buy.

This book gives you all the primary skills and insights you need to make polygon characters from scratch to finish in Maya. It's simply brilliant! It's well written and its really one big easy-to-follow tutorial. It shows you the main modelling tools, detailed texturing, advanced rigging and animation and more. If you going to buy just one book on character animation in Maya, this is it.

There's nothing in here that isn't done better in other books. It's a bit better than reading the autodesk:maya foundation maybe, but not by much.

Also, the model he makes is itself not that great, and it has very blocky arms. He also does some questionable stuff like overlap the UVs for each finger.

I got this book after reading another 3d game character creation book. This book is for someone who has experience creating characters already.

The chapters explain and take you through the process of making a game character but it isn't step by step. It looks that way but the author leaves out some steps through out the book. For example, start at point A, but skip B and C to get to D. I had to guess and study the images to see what he did to create the parts of the goat man character. That was the major problem I had! but i did learn some new things in this book.

I contacted the author by e-mail, and I was shocked he responded and said something like he didn't have enough room to show every step???

I recommend this book because I did learn some new thing to create parts of a character, but you need to know a few things beforehand.

I think is an awesome book, it has taught me a lot about polygons in a game character for design purposes, over all great find and loved it! This book has helped me with my game design class in College. Creating games, and having fun now! Thanks Loved It!

Reading the reviews for this book I knew that it would not be an easy ride but this book is just poorly written.

I have been using 3d programs for over 7 years and decided to buy this book to better learn maya and gain an understanding of games characters.

Its teaches very little because as you do the tutorials you start to realize he often uses different methods to what he instructs you too do. Often the book skips big areas and even maya features with vague sentences that explain nothing

Saying all this I have still picked up a few valuable tips from this book and as much as it could be improved I still don't think it was a waste of money but a revision is desperately needed. This book with a little extra work could easily be indispensable.

Michael really did a great job in showing, in detail the game art production pipeline. I loved the way he went thoroughly through the creation of the character from image planes, all the way to final detailing. Another nice feature of the book was interviews from real people in the industry. They gave you valuable advice in how to get into the industry, and how to develope your skills to get there.

All in all, this is the best book I have read for Maya.

this book is really helpful to those advanced or noobs in maya(im the noob) and the instructions are very detailed, 10/10!!!