Tips and techniques for bringing reality and creativity to your game characters and art As video games evolve, the bar moves ever higher for realism, one of the most challenging artistic frontiers is creating realistic human characters. In ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters, ZBrush expert Ryan Kingslien zeroes in on specific areas of concern for game creation: human body style, faces, skin texturing, clothing, shoes, weaponry, and putting your character into a game environment. Throughout the book Ryan offers tips and insights that provide readers with the depth and breadth they need to bring reality and creativity to their game characters and art. Projects start from the beginning, just as they do in the studio, with the author to guide you step by step through attributes and tools. Projects encompass multiple disciplines to obtain finished, professional results.Although some step by step explanations are given, projects serve more as a guide for readers to complete their own version of the project. Each project comes with support files to validate results Covers one of the most unique challenges for game artists -- sculpting realistic and moveable human characters for a game environment Brings you up to speed on ZBrush, the top digital sculpting tool used to create characters and props in such games as Rock Band and World of Warcraft Covers body style, faces, skin texturing, clothing, shoes, weaponry, and how to put your character into a game environment Provides in-depth techniques and tips for everyone from aspiring digital sculptors to high-level professional ZBrush artists Includes a DVD with supporting files from the projects in the book, as well as videos that illustrate concepts Build the next game-winning action character with ZBrush and this professional guide! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Learn to work effectively and creatively with all versions of ZBrush! ZBrush is used by top artists in Hollywood to model and sculpt characters in such films as Avatar, Iron Man, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition, this amazing technology is also used in jewelry design, forensic science, aerospace, video games, toy creation, and the medical field. Written by Pixologic's in-house ZBrush expert Paul Gaboury, this full-color, beautifully illustrated guide provides you with the ultimate tips and tricks to maximize your use of all versions of ZBrush. Reveals numerous little-known tips and tricks that exist within ZBrush, but often go unexploited Shares an abundance of helpful techniques and insights that the author has acquired from years of helping professional artists in various industries Offers dozens of version-neutral solutions and shortcuts in areas such as sculpting, texturing, posing, rendering, and more Features "Artist Spotlights" from several ZBrush experts, offering their how-to's for using the feature-rich software in today's studios Improve your productivity and quality of work with this helpful, easy-to-understand resource.

Zero in on the most cutting-edge trend in creature design for film and games: ZBrush! ZBrush allows you to develop a creature for film and games in realistic, 3D format. With this book, you will learn how to create a unique creature from start to finish and search for and repair any foreseeable problems. Clear instructions guide you through using Photoshop in combination with ZBrush to finely render a creature so you can see how it will appear on screen. Experienced ZBrush author and designer Scott Spencer shows you how to start with your concept in ZBrush as a preliminary digital model and then further refine it in Photoshop in order to fabricate a hyperrealistic image. Guides you through artistic concepts to visualize your creature Walks you through the process of conceptualizing a creature in ZBrush Details techniques for using Photoshop to refine your design Encourages you to use ZBrush as a sculpting and designing tool and then use Photoshop as a painting and finishing tool ZBrush Creature Design helps you bring your creature concepts to life.

Taking into account that many of today's digital artists -- particularly 3D character animators -- lack foundational artistic instruction, this book teaches anatomy in a coherent and succinct style. A clear writing style explains how to sculpt an accurate human figure, starting with the skeleton and working out to muscle, fat, and skin. Insightful explanations enable you to quickly and easily create and design characters that can be used in film, game, or print, and allows you to gain a strong understanding of the foundational artistic concepts. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

A stunning, content-rich update to this top-selling ZBrush guide! This second edition of ZBrush Character Creation has been fully updated for ZBrush 4, the newest version of this fascinating and popular 3D sculpting software. ZBrush enables users to create detailed organic models using a brush-based toolset and tablet. The startling results look as though they've been painted with real brushes and oils, and ZBrush is increasingly popular for use in film, game, and broadcast pipelines. Author Scott Spencer is embedded in the ZBrush community and his movie credits include Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and the upcoming The Hobbit. Learn Spencer's invaluable techniques for texturing, chiseling, posing, costuming, and more with his newest ZBrush guide. Explains ZBrush 4, the newest version of the revolutionary software tool for creating 3D organic models in a way that appears to be traditionally painted or sculpted Shows you how get the most out of ZBrush, from the fundamentals to new tools for texturing, chiseling, and costuming Offers plenty of insights and professional techniques for creating characters for films and games, drawing from the author's own experience on such films as Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and The Hobbit Demonstrates the author's own techniques of using traditional sculpting and painting concepts and applying them to digital art for greater artistry Discover the beauty of ZBrush with this colorful, in-depth guide.

Sculpt machines, environments, and creatures for your game development projects.

Learn how to get professional results from Blender Start from scratch-the way it happens in the studio-and create fully rendered objects with Blender open-source 3D animation software and this real-world, roll-up-your-sleeves guide. No time is wasted-this book plunges straight into step-by-step instruction designed to help you build skills and create solid assets for film, video, and games. Blender is gaining clout in professional settings, and you can get a running start with this series of hands-on tutorials that encompasses multiple disciplines. The book includes a DVD with starter, intermediate, and final files, as well as movie files to help you every step of the way. Helps you harness Blender, the free, open-source alternative to commercial CG packages such as Maya and 3ds Max Presents projects that start from scratch and encompass multiple disciplines, thoroughly teaching you the Blender software Shows you how to use Blender attributes and tools for professional results Allows you to emerge with finished, renderable objects and assets for use in film, video, or games Includes a DVD with starter, intermediate, and final files, plus movie files for reference This unparalleled book contains everything you need to know to take your Blender skills to a new level. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

A compilation of key chapters from the top Focal game art books available today - in the areas of Max, Maya, Photoshop, and ZBrush. The chapters provide the CG Artist with an excellent sampling of essential techniques that every 3D artist needs to create stunning game art. Game artists will be able to master the modeling, rendering, rigging, and texturing techniques they need - with advice from Focal's best and brightest authors. Artists can learn hundreds of tips, tricks and shortcuts in Max, Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush - all within the covers of one complete, inspiring reference.

A complete guide to creating usable, realistic game characters with two powerful tools Creating viable game characters requires a combination of skills. This book teaches game creators how to create usable, realistic game assets using the power of an open-source 3D application and a free game engine. It presents a step-by-step approach to modeling, texturing, and animating a character using the popular Blender software, with emphasis on low polygon modeling and an eye for using sculpting and textures, and demonstrates how to bring the character into the Unity game engine. Game creation is a popular and productive pursuit for both hobbyists and serious developers; this guide brings together two effective tools to simplify and enhance the process Artists who are familiar with Blender or other 3D software but who lack experience with game development workflow will find this book fills important gaps in their knowledge Provides a complete tutorial on developing a game character, including modeling, UV unwrapping, sculpting, baking displacements, texturing, rigging, animation, and export Emphasizes low polygon modeling for game engines and shows how to bring the finished character into the Unity game engine Whether you're interested in a new hobby or eager to enter the field of professional game development, this book offers valuable guidance to increase your skills.

Professional modeling is the foundation of every aspect of the 3D production pipeline and is essential to the success of any 3D computer graphics project. [digital] Modeling is unlike any other modeling book you’ve seen—it gets to the core of what it takes to create efficient production-ready models and demystifies the process of producing realistic and jaw-dropping graphics. Taking a software-neutral approach, it teaches you the essential skills and concepts that you can apply to modeling in any industry 3D software, such as 3ds Max, LightWave 3D, Maya, Modo, Silo, XSI, ZBrush and other leading programs. Modelers, animators, texture artists, and technical directors can all benefit from the valuable information covered in this jam-packed guide containing years of industry knowledge. Simply put, if you work in 3D, you must have this book. In this inspiring and informative guide to modeling, industry veteran William Vaughan teaches you how to: Master modeling techniques to produce professional results in any 3D application Use the tools of a professional digital modeler Control your models polygon-count as well as polygon-flow Create both organic and hard surface models Understand a modeler’s role in a production environment Gain the knowledge to land a job in the industry as a digital modeler Model using specific tools such as LightWave and 3ds Max in over 6 hours of video training in the accompanying downloadable lesson files (see below for details) And much more! All of Peachpit's eBooks contain the same content as the print edition. You will find a link in the last few pages of your eBook that directs you to the media files. Helpful tips: If you are able to search the book, search for "Where are the lesson files?" Go to the very last page of the book and scroll backwards. You will need a web-enabled device or computer in order to access the media files that accompany this ebook. Entering the URL supplied into a computer with web access will allow you to get to the files. Depending on your device, it is possible that your display settings will cut off part of the URL. To make sure this is not the case, try reducing your font size and turning your device to a landscape view. This should cause the full URL to appear.