Suggested Reading?

[Viscerot]

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of some good instructional books for making models specifically for games? For any other platform would be fine as well.

Thanks in advance,

Visc

[Tiros]

Ah, there's plently around really, yet I'm fraid I'm not really the "by the book" kinda guy

The only book I've ever read/used is the "Introduction to Maya 2008: Foundation" and it serves it purpouse fairly well I guess. So if you're looking into Maya, that might be a good buy.

Otherwise though, not really sure m8, you can't get it all from the book either though. New things happen all the times so if you don't stick around you'll miss a lot of things, also, the best practice is really just working with ones own projects imo

Cheers!

[TheCorey]

3dbuzz.com

has or atleast used to have good videos to get you started

[Viscerot]

Ah, thank you both very much!

I have been working with 3ds Max for a little while, but I'm the only person I know that does it, and not having someone around to say, "this is wrong that is wrong, there's a better way to do this and that" makes it quite difficult as you can imagine.

I'll take a look at both things you have presented, thank you again.

[Tiros]

Well, 3ds max is good as there's loads of tutorials about it on the internet, and if you need some help with it which you can't find on google, you could always just ask us on the forum

I'm a max-user myself. Though I've started using Maya too, we're forced to do so in school... yet still a max-user by heart!

Cheers!

[knowledgegranted]

Originally Posted by TheCorey

3dbuzz.com

has or atleast used to have good videos to get you started

I second this.

Great company, great guys. Have e-mailed them many times, they respond quickly and in a polite manner. I personally own the Maya Advanced models tutorials. Again great, and they are laid back. So its not like a lecturing lesson.

[Viscerot]

Yeah the last few days I've been on the site watching their bouncing ball tutorial for 3ds Max. I've really enjoyed it. I'll be purchasing The Fundamentals video at the end of the week. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I don't learn well by reading, but having someone using everything and explaining what it all does helps tremendously.

Thanks!

[Ghostscape]

The internet is the best place for this kind of stuff, to be honest. Most books are horribly out of date by the time they hit print, or written by people who are nowhere near the top of the game.

When I get home I'll take a look at my book collection, though, there are one or two books that I have found useful.

[loungelizard]

If you're into Maya I can recommend this book:

Game Character Development with Maya (bu Anthony Ward)
Amazon.com: Game Character Development with Maya (New Riders Games): Antony Ward: Books

It's very elaborate and covers all the important topics of 3D character Modeling for Games.

[Viscerot]

Originally Posted by Ghostscape

The internet is the best place for this kind of stuff, to be honest. Most books are horribly out of date by the time they hit print, or written by people who are nowhere near the top of the game.

When I get home I'll take a look at my book collection, though, there are one or two books that I have found useful.

Thanks Ghostscape,

What I really needed was something to say this is why you use this tool, this is why you use that tool. I've done several tutorials from the internet, but as you know tutorials on the internet usually aren't that great for a beginner. I have found a few but most usually start with "I'm not going to go through exactly how I did this, I'm assuming you already know what you're doing."

So 3dbuzz has helped me tremendously, and I completed their Talented Ball animation and I'm pretty proud of myself . On top of following along with their AT-AT walker videos they have.

I can't wait to get the dvd in and start learning more.

Originally Posted by loungelizard

If you're into Maya I can recommend this book:

Game Character Development with Maya (bu Anthony Ward)
Amazon.com: Game Character Development with Maya (New Riders Games): Antony Ward: Books

It's very elaborate and covers all the important topics of 3D character Modeling for Games.

I use 3ds max only. That was expensive enough even with the 85% school discount I had. Just glad I got the lifetime license.

My next buys I think will be anatomy books. As I've been sketching since I was like 5 I already have a decent understanding of the human body but I wouldn't mind getting a bit more familiar. Machines are my down fall, I've never been good at drawing machines very well.