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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn to Create Digital Photorealistic Textures, July 6, 2006
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.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent supplement, hard to recommend to anyone specific, August 16, 2009
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely invaluable, December 1, 2006
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!
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