Game Character Development with Maya (New Riders Games) (Paperback)

by Antony Ward (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you thought Angelina Jolie was responsible for Lara Croft's curves, think again! Long before the Hollywood actress brought the Tomb Raider heroine to life, Alias' 3D modeling software Maya was used to create the lovely Lara; Ms. Jolie simply filled in her curves! When you're ready to start creating equally compelling characters of your own, you need this comprehensive volume! In these pages, gaming-industry veteran Antony Ward uses a combination of informative narrative, hands-on tutorials, and a slew of illustrations and screen shots to show you how to use Maya to address the most complex element of game creation-developing great characters! As you follow along, Antony uses the development of two diverse characters-a female figure and a fantastical character with outrageous proportions, wings, and a demon-like face-to demonstrate the techniques involved in modeling detailing, optimizing, texturing, rigging, binding, and animating characters with Maya. The companion CD includes lesson files, scripts, an automatic rigging tool, demo software, and more!

About the Author

Antony Ward has worked in the games industry for almost 12 years, for Infogrames/Atari and Electronic Arts as well as some smaller, more independent companies. Antony began his career as an artist working on 2D titles, but has grown over the years to become a lead artist, lead animator, and lead technical artist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Games (December 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073571438X
• ISBN-13: 978-0735714380
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,548 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn to create characters fast and easily!, June 17, 2005

By	Casey (Albert Bridge, Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews

I've been using 3DSMAX as a hobbyist for about 5 years now and had gotten to the point where I had almost given up on trying to create a character. I had no previous experience with MAYA and from what I had heard it was complicated but after browing through the book and seeing how well Antony Ward laid things out I decided to buy it and give it a try, despite the then $70 price tag).

After spending half an hour or so on the sample character in the book I ditched the sample character and decided to follow the book's instructions but apply them to building my own character that I've wanted to for some time now. By day two I had developed my OWN character following Ward's detailed steps and never ran into a problem. Mind you I haven't tackled texturing or rigging yet but the nodeling of the character was where I was having problems with Max.

Maya's Vertex editing, face creation and polygon divide tools are a pleasure to work with. Not sure if I'll ever go back to Max.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All meat, cuts out the fat., February 28, 2005

By	Rodney A. Brett (Emeryville, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Simply the best character book for Maya. Most character books are catered to the movie/tv production pipeline but this one really goes into detail on "game specific" aspects of Maya. Let's face it, Maya is a daunting application. You cannot learn everything about it in one book, but what this book does so well is take a specific usage of Maya(for game character creation) and tells you everything you need to know to get a character from concept to final animation.

There's meaty info on every page and no long-winded lectures or extranious information not relevent to gaming. I feel that this book can easily be used as a syllabus for game character creation classes.

I would never have been able to realize my models without the insight provided in this book.

-Rodney Brett
[e-mail]

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make sure this book is on your shelf!, January 8, 2005

By	Maya man (Florida USA) - See all my reviews

If you have ever wanted to model a character for game design or add to a game..this book is it!
I have been modeling with Maya for a year but never really got the feel for modeling. I learned alot about the interface and the tools but never put 2 and 2 together. Ward makes this book very simple and thought out and helps you understand that things dont always have to be complicated.
Pros - If you have a decent grasp of Maya and its polygon tolls, then you can jump right in..everything from your first poly to an animated, fully rigged character with facial setup.
Cons - The only fault I saw was that it doesnt go much into a beginners stand point of Maya..you either have to know Maya or you can learn it from the Maya PLE on the provided disk.
Overall this book was a 10 outa 10 on my scale! Good stuff!