The Game Artist's Guide to Maya

The Game Artist's Guide to Maya

Author: Michael McKinley

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2006-07-14

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0782150535

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The Definitive Resource for Up-and-Coming 3D Game Artists Alias' award-winning Maya 3D animation and effects software continues to lead the industry in technological innovation and is being adopted by more and more console and computer game developers. The Game Artist's Guide to Maya is an official introduction to creating 3D game art and animations with Maya, brought to you by Maya Press, a publishing partnership between Alias and Sybex. Written by a production artist at a prominent game company, this detailed book focuses on the skills real game artists use daily to create stunning characters and environments. By following the discussions and tutorials, you'll bring a concept through the entire game art development pipeline, learning everything from modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation, to special effects. You'll also glean insights from industry professionals and see how Maya has been used in popular games. If you're a 3D game artist, or looking to become one, this book will help you master the skills and techniques you'll need to excel in the competitive games industry. Inside, you'll learn how to: Create a game model using a concept image as your guide Model with predetermined real-time polycount limitations in mind View martial arts videos on the book's CD to animate your character more realistically Prepare a model for texturing with UV mapping and layout techniques Create different kinds of textures Master the rigging process, from setting up a skeleton to preparing blend shapes Practice techniques for creating animation clips to work with in the Trax Editor Use particle effects, such as sprites and animated geometry, to add pizzazz to your model


The Game Animator's Guide to Maya

The Game Animator's Guide to Maya

Author: Michael McKinley

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-05-05

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0470338784

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The Ultimate Resource for Professional Game Animators Game animation is a demanding art. Not only do you have to deliver realistic, beautiful animations, but you have to do so under strict real-time, video-game constraints. The Game Animator's Guide to Maya is your focused resource for using Maya to create professional-level game animations for console and PC games. Written by a game industry veteran and featuring interviews with professional animators and artists from around the country, this focused book features specific, detailed, real-world game animation techniques. It's the perfect reference and tutorial for those looking to develop or refine their game animation skills. The enclosed CD features more than $3000 worth of exclusive content, including models, high-resolution textures, animations, concept art, and animation reference videos. It also includes the Maya Personal Learning Edition and project files so you can complete the hands-on tutorials. The Game Animator's Guide to Maya gives you an insider's view of the animation business and teaches the skills necessary to animate everything from characters to vehicles to lip-synching audio. First, you'll get an introduction to the industry and typical game development pipelines, then learn rigging and animation basics before moving on to advanced techniques and the detailed tutorials. Inside, you'll find: * Game Career Guide: Industry information, demo reel advice, job descriptions, game asset pipeline overview * Animation Techniques: detailed explanation of animation terms, techniques, tools, concepts, and editors * Rigging and Animation Setup: IK and FK, joint hierarchies, skeleton controls, constraints, selection handles, and more * True Game Animation: real-world assignments that mimic the day-to-day jobs of professional game animators--walk cycles, run cycles, idle cycles, action sequences, lip-synching to audio, and more


Maya Studio Projects

Maya Studio Projects

Author: Michael McKinley

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-04-20

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 0470609338

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Use Maya to create realistic environments and props for digital games Weapons, vehicles, tools, buildings, trees, plants, walls, ceilings, and floors-these items may seem secondary to the game environment, but they are integral parts of the game and they all need to be created. Maya Studio Projects: Game Environments and Props is a step-by-step project guide to creating some of the most popular game art. Author Michael McKinley shares techniques for getting the most out of Maya to create realistic, vivid, and compelling worlds and otherworldly props. Along the way, he provides notes and FYIs that give readers depth and breadth for bringing both reality and creativity to their game art. A bonus DVD features step-by-step videos to help drive home concepts. The Studio Projects series offers projects that start from nothing, just as they do in the studio; these books provide you with a step-by-step guide to software attributes and tools that encompass multiple disciplines so that you can create a finished, renderable object Many games have only a few characters, and multiple levels and environments, and hundreds of props-this book focuses on projects and techniques for creating everything but the character Maya is the top 3D app for creating console and computer games such as: Rock Band, Gears of War, James Bond: Quantum of Solace, Fallout 3, and Far Cry 2 Learn effective Maya studio techniques with this handy, step-by-step, full-color book. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.


Creating Games with Unity and Maya

Creating Games with Unity and Maya

Author: Adam Watkins

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 0240818814

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This title provides you with an end-to-end solution for Unity game development with Maya. The book takes you step-by-step through the process of developing an entire game from scratch - including coding, art, production, and deployment.


Creating Games with Unity, Substance Painter, & Maya

Creating Games with Unity, Substance Painter, & Maya

Author: Jingtian Li

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2021-01-11

Total Pages: 769

ISBN-13: 1000281973

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This tutorial-based book allows readers to create a first-person game from start to finish using industry-standard (and free to student) tools of Unity, Substance Painter, and Maya. The first half of the book lays out the basics of using Maya and Substance Painter to create game-ready assets. This includes polygonal modeling, UV layout, and custom texture painting. The book then covers rigging and animation solutions to create assets to be placed in the game, including animated first-person assets and motion-captured NPC animations. Finally, readers can put it all together and build interactivity that allows the player to create a finished game using the assets built and animated earlier in the book. • Written by industry professionals with real-world experience in building assets and games • Build a complete game from start to finish • Learn what the pros use: construct all assets using the tools used at game studios across the world • All software used are free to students • When complete, students will have a playable version of an FPS game Jingtian Li is a graduate of China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts and New York’s School of Visual Arts, where he earned an MFA in Computer Art. He currently is an Assistant Professor of 3D Animation & Game Design at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Adam Watkins is a 20-year veteran of 3D education. He holds an MFA in 3D Animation and a BFA in Theatre Arts from Utah State University. He currently is the Coordinator and Professor of the 3D Animation & Game Department at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Kassandra Arevalo is an instructor of 3D Animation & Game Design at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She previously worked as an animator at Immersed Games. Matt Tovar is an industry veteran animator. He has worked at Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, and Sony Interactive on such games as The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and most recently Marvel’s Avengers with Crystal Dynamics. He is an Assistant Professor of 3D Animation at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.


Maya Python for Games and Film

Maya Python for Games and Film

Author: Adam Mechtley

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2011-09-28

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0123785790

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Maya Python for Games and Film is the first book to focus exclusively on how to implement Python with Maya. Written by trusted authorities in the field, this in-depth guide will help you master Maya Python, whether you're a seasoned technical artist looking to make the transition from MEL to Python or an aspiring artist not wanting to scramble for


Tradigital Maya

Tradigital Maya

Author: Lee Montgomery

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 0123852226

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Finally a book that bridges the world of software instruction with the classical principles of animation - for animators. Lee Montgomery offers the only artistic guide to applying the principles of traditional animation with Maya's tool set.


Drawing Basics and Video Game Art

Drawing Basics and Video Game Art

Author: Chris Solarski

Publisher: Watson-Guptill

Published: 2012-09-18

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0823098486

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"This book supports my own 30-year crusade to demonstrate that games are an art form that undeniably rivals traditional arts. It gives detailed explanations of game art techniques and their importance, while also highlighting their dependence on artistic aspects of game design and programming.” — John Romero, co-founder of id Software and CEO of Loot Drop, Inc. "Solarski’s methodology here is to show us the artistic techniques that every artist should know, and then he transposes them to the realm of video games to show how they should be used to create a far more artful gaming experience ... if I were an artist planning to do video game work, I’d have a copy of this on my shelf." — Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room Video games are not a revolution in art history, but an evolution. Whether the medium is paper or canvas—or a computer screen—the artist’s challenge is to make something without depth seem like a window into a living, breathing world. Video game art is no different. Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is first to examine the connections between classical art and video games, enabling developers to create more expressive and varied emotional experiences in games. Artist game designer Chris Solarski gives readers a comprehensive introduction to basic and advanced drawing and design skills—light, value, color, anatomy, concept development—as well as detailed instruction for using these methods to design complex characters, worlds, and gameplay experiences. Artwork by the likes of Michelangelo, Titian, and Rubens are studied alongside AAA games like BioShock, Journey, the Mario series, and Portal 2, to demonstrate perpetual theories of depth, composition, movement, artistic anatomy, and expression. Although Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is primarily a practical reference for artists and designers working in the video games industry, it’s equally accessible for those interested to learn about gaming’s future, and potential as an artistic medium. Also available as an eBook


Rigging for Games

Rigging for Games

Author: Eyal Assaf

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1317802942

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Rigging for Games: A Primer for Technical Artists Using Maya and Python is not just another step-by-step manual of loosely related tutorials. Using characters from the video game Tin, it takes you through the real-world creative and technical process of rigging characters for video games and cinematics, allowing readers a complete inside look at a single project. You’ll explore new ways to write scripts and create modular rigs using Maya and Python, and automate and speed up the rigging process in your creative pipeline. Finally, you’ll learn the most efficient ways of exporting your rigs into the popular game engine Unity. This is the practical, start-to-finish rigging primer you’ve been waiting for! Enhance your skillset by learning how to efficiently rig characters using techniques applicable to both games and cinematics Keep up with all the action with behind-the-scenes images and code scripts Refine your rigging skills with tutorials and project files available on the companion website