Game Character Design Complete: Using 3ds Max 8 and Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Paperback)

by David Franson (Author), Eric Thomas (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A game is only as intriguing as the characters that inhabit its world. Game Character Design Complete demonstrates each step of modeling, texturing, animating, and exporting compelling characters for your games. You’ll learn how to model in 3ds Max from sketch references, texture in Adobe Photoshop, rig bones, and animate a character back in 3ds Max. Game Character Design Complete covers all aspects of character creation-from the technical to the artistic. Don’t worry if your artistic ability isn’t awe-inspiring. You’ll cover every aspect of the design process in easy-to-follow steps, including texturing and animating your character. If you have a working knowledge of 2D and 3D graphics, then you have all of the skills you need to begin creating cool characters for your games.

About the Author
David Franson has been a professional in the field of networking, programming, and 2D and 3D computer graphics since 1990. In 2000, he resigned his position as Information Technology Director of one of the largest entertainment law firms in New York City to pursue a full-time career in game development. He is the author of 2D Artwork and 3D Modeling for Game Artists, The Dark Side of Game Texturing, as well as the full-page article How Video Games are Made which appeared in 45 newspapers worldwide. He is also the technical editor for over a dozen popular video game programming books and has also produced digital artwork for 3D video games, film, and television.

Eric Thomas is a longtime 3ds Max user extending all the way back to DOS days. During his years with the program, he's seen a number of changes and a dramatic shift in how the software is used. Eric has used Max to create a variety of projects from movies and games. He is currently working as the creative director for Side Pictures Inc., a firm specializing in 3d games and visualization tools.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (June 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598632701
• ISBN-13: 978-1598632705
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,182,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not unless you've never seen MAx before, September 5, 2006

By	Joshua A. Reynolds - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is bad. The character built wastes so many polygons that using their technique you will easily create a character with four time the amount of polygons of that of a regular game character and with a quarter of the detail. All this book can do is create bad habbits and you would be much better off not giving this a second thought. Every thing taught here can pretty much be found in any other 3Ds Max book and with much better and less confusing detail. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME HERE

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very badly written book, July 3, 2006

By	Mr. M. J. Baxter - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just like all the other books from this publisher the tutorials are badly written with many holes in the descriptions. After much frustration I have started to use the tutorials in Help, which have proved much easier to understand.

2.0 out of 5 stars Book Falls Short of Being 'Complete', December 20, 2007

By	Mark (Calif) - See all my reviews

Low poly modeling is certainly a technique that warrants discussion. Unfortunately, this book glazes over many of the important steps that readers want/need to know in taking the process from start to finish. Some of the techniques shown prove valuable, but the overall coverage of the subject left me wanting for more. There was too much 'hey...how'd you do that?' and not enough 'here's how you do that'. Far too many steps left out. If money's tight...I'd probably keep looking.