Texturing: Concepts and Techniques (Charles River Media Graphics) [Paperback]

Dennis Summers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1584503009 | ISBN-13: 978-1584503002 | Edition: 1

Texturing: Concepts and Techniques is about the aesthetics and design issues of creating and using interesting textures for digital 3D animation. This beautifully illustrated, full color book teaches artists how to create stunning and convincing textures using the popular 3ds max TM , Maya , and LightWave 3D programs. It describes the theory behind many aspects of the software, to give artists a deeper understanding of the technology, and its past, present, and future. It helps readers understand the limitations that 3D animation places on creating quality imagery, and details the artistic techniques behind creating convincing textures, not just realistic or photorealistic ones. The tutorials and techniques included throughout the book don't just show users how to recreate a texture, but take them deep into the tools of the programs to help them really understand how and why they work. After working through the tutorials, users will be able to take their skills to the next level and create their own stunning textures!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dennis Summers (Royal Oak, MI) holds a BFA in painting and a BA in chemistry from Michigan State University, and an MFA in non-traditional media from The Ohio State University. He is an Associate Professor at Schoolcraft College, and is also a freelance animator, producing television commercials, technical animations, and photorealistic images for the auto industry and more. Additionally, he has created award-winning animations that have played in film festivals throughout the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 388 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (March 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584503009
• ISBN-13: 978-1584503002
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ed Sertab, Associate Professor of 3D Animation, June 20, 2005

By 

Ed Sertab - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texturing: Concepts and Techniques (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

If you are a freelance professional or a student of 3D you are going to find this book very useful. Every year I have to review several books to try to find a teaching tool that is clear and concise. This book hit the spot.

The book fills two vital needs. Not only will you learn to use the color and lighting tools in your program, but if you need to get up to speed on the other software packages that are covered, this book is the answer. The book covers Maya, 3D Studio Max and Lightwave!

If you work for various clients you will find this is a great reference to help get going regardless of software used in most of the production studios you would encounter. If you are a student or have just graduated, this is a wonderful tool to keep handy and help convert from one package to another, fast. There is just enough background or theory to let you understand what you are doing with the tools, as well as actual useful examples that reinforce the instructions in the book. But, wait, that is not enough, what I really appreciate, is that Mr. Summers actually talks about the "Gotchas" and traps that seem to be inherent in all 3D packages. These are the little undocumented software "features" that usually take hours or days of experimentation, e-mails to colleagues, or digging through the underbelly of the internet, to uncover or understand.

Now two things that bother me about the book, and hence the four stars instead of five, are the name of the book and the errors found in it. Now, the errors are all minor and I never found an error that was so bad as to make a lesson unusable (like I have found in so many other books and online tutorials), but I would believe that by now publishers should be able to find good technical editors. Which leads me to the title.

The title just does not do justice to the material. There is so much more in the book then just texturing. I find the book more of a good instructional manual or reference for color and lighting in general. For example, in one lesson Mr. Summers covers not only how to use and make layered textures, but also how to create and control displacement maps and backgrounds, without being overwhelming, dryly technical, or worse, confusingly abbreviated, like so many online tutorials.

The book is not a guide on how to paint textures, there are plenty of... well I call them "efforts" to cover that arena. I suggest you find a way to carefully review those books if that is what you are after. Instead, Mr. Summers has provided a way to form that mental map of the software that will allow you to use it or learn it effectively. In today's fast paced job market and in the everchanging academic environment, this could be the edge you need to succeed.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of mapping theory, no texture painting, June 26, 2004

By 

Marque Pierre Sondergaard (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Texturing: Concepts and Techniques (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

I love to paint textures, so I looked forward to this book. I just want to straighten that out for texture artists.

This book has a lot of theory on mapping, shaders, procedurals maps and so on. But no information on painting textures. If you are looking for a more theoretic reader on this subject rather than an artistic book, then it might be of use to you. As such I guess programmers would also benefit in part from it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not on texturing, December 9, 2006

By 

GameMaker (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Texturing: Concepts and Techniques (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

The funny thing about this book with TEXTURING across the cover is that it seems to cover everything *except* what I'd consider texturing. It has a really good discussion on basic art design principles, then extensive coverage of lighting, color, materials, shaders, and even UV mapping, but nothing on actually creating textures!

In any case, I still recommend this book. All the materials it does cover it covers well. There are really nice color pictures throughout the book, which really helps given the topics.

One thing to note though is that after presenting some topic, the book generally tells you how to accomplish that in Max, Maya, and Lightwave. If you use one or more of those tools, then great, if not, then I think the discussion will still be useful, but obviously you'll get a little less out of it then those who do use those tools.