Customer Reviews

3D Game Textures, Second Edition: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In contrast to the glowing reviews found here, I felt that I should warn potential buyers about the flaws of the book that most seem to disregard. The book reeks of missing information, behind the scenes manipulations that are not discussed and incorrect settings and values for filters and effects. I can and will list some examples of this:

Chapter 5, first tutorial: creating a base metal texture that will be used for all other textures in the chapter. If you compare your final result with what is present in the accompanying DVD, you will find that your image has a lot more contrast and does not tile nearly as well. I repeated the tutorial 4 times to double check myself but still ended up with a noticeably different texture. My brother, who is familiar with Photoshop, reviewed the steps with me and said that the Spotlight setting of the Lighting Effects filter was the primary culprit of this large amount of contrast. He recommended that I use Directional light instead of Spotlight (though the author specifically indicated Spotlight) and top off the image with a slight Levels adjustment. Lo and behold, my results were much closer to the what the author depicted. Additionally, while the book is geared towards beginners, the last step is this glowing gem:

"Copy the layer and offset it and erase the seams so you end up with a tileable image. Your image should look like Figure 5-2."

He does not explain how to copy and offset the image or erase the seams. Granted copying and possibly offsetting are pretty basic and easy to figure out, but "erasing the seams" is not. Do you use an eraser or a mask? If you use a mask, should you use a large, soft brush or a small, hard brush? What opacity setting should the brush have? In the end, I created a new layer and used a small healing brush that samples all layers to cover the seams. That was a technique I learned from Matt Kloskowski's excellent book "Layers: The complete guide to Photoshop's most powerful feature". That's a real book written by a real professional that doesn't hide anything from you and wont frustrate you with missing information or incorrect steps.

Later on in the same chapter for the Wall Panel tutorial at step 11, he instructs you to apply an Outer Glow to the working layer. He does not, however, tell you to change the default yellow color to black. In the end, his example image looks nice with deep shadows while yours ends up looking shallow and with ugly yellow blotches.

Another example is in chapter 4, Tiling Stones Using Edge Copy. The author asks you to find the source image on the DVD without giving you a name or path (normally this wouldn't matter but the directory structure in the DVD is nonsensical and needlessly convoluted). He then asks you to copy a section of the image to tile, except that the image he shows you is a highly touched up version of the source image in the DVD. Two pages later he writes a small side note that hints at the fact that he touched up the source image before doing the steps he told you to perform but doesn't bother to tell you the details. He explains that he cloned, re-sized and re-shaped several stones to give them a more uniform shape. And while this is vague enough as is to a beginner, he doesn't even mention that he adjusted the colors and tones on the source image to make it more monochromatic and easier to modify hue with overlays. He then has the audacity to claim "This process may take some time so be patient and get those edges clean". It is only a time consuming process if you follow the incomplete steps in this book and then try to fill in the gaps yourself. Anyone that knows the exact steps can wrap this up from source to tileable image in 15 minutes tops.

Ultimately, it is hard to recommend this book to beginners because it is incomplete and misguiding. I also cannot recommend it to Photoshop connoisseurs because they will call it out for what it really is: a lacking book written by someone that had a highly inflated sense of self worth and felt it pertinent to withhold "trade secrets" as many ignorant "professionals" of all careers do. The only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of one is because, at the very least, the book does offer a decent amount of guidance on achieving a uniform and consistent look, which is very crucial to creating believable 3D worlds, stylized or not. Additionally, some steps in the tutorials are fairly thought provoking and help paint a larger, if not vague, picture of the entire texture creation process. The last real value of this book is convenience because it has instructions for several textures of related themes, which is better than finding a mishmash of unrelated tutorials online.

If you do purchase this book, be prepared to fill in the gaps through lots of experimentation or supplementary sources. Do not make this your one-stop-shop for all things textures. You will be disappointed if you do.

You might think the fault is my own and that I am unable to learn from books without a guiding hand. I can assure you that is not the case. I have taught myself several programming languages and technologies from books alone without ever taking a single programming class in my life. I also happen to write code well enough to make a living out of it for the past 5 years. I have read dozens if not hundreds of instructional books on art (3D modeling, Photoshop, design, etc.) and technology. This is a sub-par learning source.

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.

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.

(This review is for the 1st edition only, however I can't imagine the 2nd edition being improved enough to make this at all recommendable)

As others have already stated, this book starts out with some relatively decent advice on texture gathering from photos, explaining Photoshop layer modes (which I did find particularly useful), and some game-engine related information on how textures work, however any useful information in this book stops as soon as you get to the actual texture creation tutorials, which is the whole point people purchased this book.

I bought this book in the hopes that I'd glean some new techniques or workflows to improve my skills. I should have thumbed through it at a book store first. A few other reviewers have experienced the same situation I did when I first went through this book: none of the textures come out the same as the author's end result (because the author clearly doesn't follow his own steps exactly to get these results). I'm a current game artist and seasoned user of Photoshop as well. I even reset to default settings and removed user profiles to be sure I was starting from a blank slate to try to get these right. Didn't help one bit. It's mind-boggling. Not only do none of the tutorials produce accurate results (compare your results with the same completed images on the companion cd...you'll be quite surprised), but most disturbing of all is every single texture is made solely via Photoshop filters. That's it. Filters.

This is NOT how current modern game textures are created. These may be semi-useful for low-poly, mobile/hand-held 3D games, but for todays nex-gen games? Not at all. The average nex-gen game asset today starts with building a high-poly model, then LOD'ing it (making a low-poly version, that is), unwrapping your low-poly model for a good UV layout, then creating the AO and normal map (using the 3D package or a program like xNormal), then creating a diffuse map (with AO, or Ambient Occlusion, applied) in Photoshop, and from there other necessary maps (like reflection, glossy, specular, etc.) are created. And these are often hand-painted or heavily photo-manipulated as well, or a mix of both. You'll barely see any filters used, but rather tonal and color adjustments. Using filters to put in shadows is not a common technique at all either, like we see in most of the tutorials in this book, but rather is handled via game engine light baking, and AO maps help that illusion as well. Even some current work I'm doing involving low-poly assets uses unwrapping and AO baking for the models, and it's a web-based game!

These techniques may have been useful years ago before modern technologies, but they're no longer valid unless a game specifically calls for this style of texturing (which is probably pretty rare by now anyway) or for mobile or hand-held games. To be fair, each game and studio uses different techniques and styles, depending on the game. Having worked on or seen the techniques used for some of today's most popular games, like Dragon Age for instance, I can safely say that you should avoid this book at all costs if you wish to do texturing of that caliber. This book won't teach you that. And learning to do textures via a mass of filters is also something you should avoid as well.

I understand you can't write a book teaching people how to be artists or how to use the tools available to them to produce the best results they can via lots of specific, personal techniques, but using loads of filters? This is just teaching someone how to become dependent on using filters to create convincing textures, which they are anything but in the end. It makes you look like a hack, not an artist. The best resources to learn texturing today can be found by simply searching the net (like on game-artist.net or cg.tutsplus.com for instance) or by using training DVD's through the excellent Gnomon Workshop or Eat3D. Even those may not teach you everything, but they'll get you on the right track, instead of derail you like this book will.

Having gone to school for Computer Animation at Full Sail I was in the need of a top tier gaming texturing book. While reading Gamasutra I saw this book and had my company HNTB purchase this book for my real time 3D Group. Having gone through this book my photoshop skills have gone up 10x. The techiques that you learn in this book help make your 3D models really pop with life. Most of his tutorials are quick and very easy to follow along with, by the end of the book you are ready to tackle most any assignment a client is going to give you. I can't wait for more great publishings and techniques that Luke would love to share with the rest of the industry. A true inspiration! Thanks Austin Reed

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!

This book teaches you everything you need to know about texturing, pro's can learn some techniques that they did not master yet and the beginners will be able to make decent textures for their models. Instead of buying textures of the internet, I recommend everyone to buy this book. It will save you more money and being able to say, I made this without lying feels good.

This is indeed a great book for both beginning and experienced photoshop users. Although it helps to get the "Photoshop CS2 One-on-one" combined with it if you're just starting out, but the author still gives a tutorial on the basics for those of you who are still a tad green.

The author offers tips and tricks that anyone can understand. The disc includes a small texture library and samples for you to use along with the book if you intend on using it as a class instead rather than a manual.

I wish it had more to it, however, and the DVD didn't come with all that was promised (normal mapping plugin for photoshop, for example... it is free from NVidia's site, however).

The writing style is easy to read and enjoyable. The entire book only takes about two hours to read, though... shame.

I would have to say that this book is invaluable to any texture artist. The advice he gives tells you exactly what game development companies are looking for, and some work-arounds for common problems.

This is the best book I've seen on 3D Game Texturing. Although I'm a professional Photoshop user, this book showed me things I never knew about game texturing.

It covers every aspect of texturing environments, objects, etc., as well as covers the special needs of different kinds of games (such as fantasy, sci-fi, urban settings, etc.)

Luke Ahearn is an industry vet-and it shows. He not only shows you how to make game textures, he tells you how the industry works, gives you hints at getting your portfolio together so you have a better chance at getting a job in the industry and does it all with easy to understand instructions and screen captures.

I highly recommend this book.

As a game design student (soon to graduate), I try to snatch up every avaliable resource in regards to texturing and modelling. It's a very tight industry, and any edge I can get on the competition is direly needed.

That said, I was VERY impressed with this book. It is loaded with tips and tricks that save a lot of time and can help breathe life into your textures. We can only cover so much in game school, and this book filled all the gaps and then some.

So yeah, overall, I recommend this to anyone who is looking to get into texturing, or even those that have been doing it for a while. It is a valuable resource, and I'm sure you'll learn techniques you didn't know.

5 stars!