Learn the secrets for breathing life into your characters

Edgeloops are made for animation. They isolate and define major physical features, enabling you to add detail and mold the elements that give your characters personality, realistic form, and natural motion. You?ll create one such character as you progress through these pages, guided by computer graphics expert Kelly Murdock and award?winning artist and animator Eric Allen. As your character grows and develops, so will your expertise in edgeloop modeling.

• Understand the techniques for modeling characters with edgeloops
• Learn to use edgeloop selection and creation features in 3ds Max®, Maya®, Softimage, and Modo
• Follow the modeling workflow to create a complete, detailed character from scratch
• Take a comparative look at point, box, loft, and other character modeling methods
• Model a detailed body form that is anatomically correct, including arms, legs, hands, and feet
• Learn which anatomical features are essential for good character modeling
• Create a realistic head with detailed facial features? nostrils, eyelashes, teeth, gums, and ears
• Enhance a character with hair and clothing
• Texture a character completely using high?resolution texture maps

Please see the CD?ROM appendix for details and complete system requirements.

Kelly L. Murdock is known around the world as an expert in 3d graphics technologies. His vast experience spans all areas of the 3d industry from movies and games to product visualization and architectural walkthroughs.
Kelly?s book credits feature an impressive list of titles on graphics and Web technologies, including the best?selling 3ds Max Bible, recently released in its sixth edition. He has also written books covering other 3d technologies, including Maya Revealed, Lightwave Revealed, and Poser Revealed, and he has co?authored two versions of the Adobe Creative Suite Bible and the Illustrator Bible. Kelly resides in Utah where he leads a design company specializing in 3d graphics.

Eric M. Allen received his bachelor of fine arts degree from Brigham Young University, where he worked on the Student Emmy Award?winning short film ?Lemmings.? He thrives when working on 3?dimensional endeavors and has loved the medium ever since his first contact with it. He enjoys anatomical and expression modeling.
Eric has presented at Alias? 3December and in recently published an article in HDRI3D Magazine. He has worked on flagship models that have appeared in Exotique and other publications. He started working for Zygote Media Group in 1999 and is currently the modeling lead at DAZ Productions in Draper, Utah. You can contact Eric at www.ericmatthewallen.com.

Learn the secrets for breathing life into your characters with this guide to edgeloop modeling. As you progress through the pages of this book, you’ll create a character with personality, realistic form, and natural motion. Guided by computer graphics expert Kelly Murdock and award-winning artist and animator Eric Allen, your character will grow and develop along with your expertise. You’ll:

• learn to use edgeloop selection and creation features in 3ds Max®, Maya®, Softimage, and Modo.
• take a comparative look at point, box, loft, and other character modeling methods.
• model a detailed body form that is anatomically correct and has detailed facial features.
• enhance a character with hair and clothing
• texture a character completely using high-resolution texture map.

A CD-ROM accompanies the book.

Learn the secrets for breathing life into your characters

Edgeloops are made for animation. They isolate and define major physical features, enabling you to add detail and mold the elements that give your characters personality, realistic form, and natural motion. You’ll create one such character as you progress through these pages, guided by computer graphics expert Kelly Murdock and award-winning artist and animator Eric Allen. As your character grows and develops, so will your expertise in edgeloop modeling.
* Understand the techniques for modeling characters with edgeloops
* Learn to use edgeloop selection and creation features in 3ds Max(r), Maya(r), Softimage, and Modo
* Follow the modeling workflow to create a complete, detailed character from scratch
* Take a comparative look at point, box, loft, and other character modeling methods
* Model a detailed body form that is anatomically correct, including arms, legs, hands, and feet
* Learn which anatomical features are essential for good character modeling
* Create a realistic head with detailed facial features- nostrils, eyelashes, teeth, gums, and ears
* Enhance a character with hair and clothing
* Texture a character completely using high-resolution texture maps

Please see the CD-ROM appendix for details and complete system requirements.

Learn the secrets for breathing life into your characters

Edgeloops are made for animation. They isolate and define major physical features, enabling you to add detail and mold the elements that give your characters personality, realistic form, and natural motion. You’ll create one such character as you progress through these pages, guided by computer graphics expert Kelly Murdock and award-winning artist and animator Eric Allen. As your character grows and develops, so will your expertise in edgeloop modeling.
* Understand the techniques for modeling characters with edgeloops
* Learn to use edgeloop selection and creation features in 3ds Max(r), Maya(r), Softimage, and Modo
* Follow the modeling workflow to create a complete, detailed character from scratch
* Take a comparative look at point, box, loft, and other character modeling methods
* Model a detailed body form that is anatomically correct, including arms, legs, hands, and feet
* Learn which anatomical features are essential for good character modeling
* Create a realistic head with detailed facial features- nostrils, eyelashes, teeth, gums, and ears
* Enhance a character with hair and clothing
* Texture a character completely using high-resolution texture maps

Please see the CD-ROM appendix for details and complete system requirements.

Learn the secrets for breathing life into your characters

Edgeloops are made for animation. They isolate and define major physical features, enabling you to add detail and mold the elements that give your characters personality, realistic form, and natural motion. You’ll create one such character as you progress through these pages, guided by computer graphics expert Kelly Murdock and award-winning artist and animator Eric Allen. As your character grows and develops, so will your expertise in edgeloop modeling.

• Understand the techniques for modeling characters with edgeloops
• Learn to use edgeloop selection and creation features in 3ds Max®, Maya®, Softimage, and Modo
• Follow the modeling workflow to create a complete, detailed character from scratch
• Take a comparative look at point, box, loft, and other character modeling methods
• Model a detailed body form that is anatomically correct, including arms, legs, hands, and feet
• Learn which anatomical features are essential for good character modeling
• Create a realistic head with detailed facial features— nostrils, eyelashes, teeth, gums, and ears
• Enhance a character with hair and clothing
• Texture a character completely using high-resolution texture maps

Please see the CD-ROM appendix for details and complete system requirements.

• Edgeloop modeling is a revolutionary feature added to the latest releases of 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, and SoftImage that allows animators to create lifelike characters that move realistically without gaps, wrinkles, or deformities
• This full-color book walks readers through the process of creating an action hero reminiscent of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider
• Bestselling author Kelly Murdock first explains the key concepts of edgeloop modeling and examines how it differs from other methods
• Readers learn how to customize a torso, add extremities, model the head and face, and finally add jewelry, weapons, and other details
• A CD-ROM includes all the examples from the book and a collection of other models

Edgeloop modeling is a revolutionary feature added to the latest releases of 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave and SoftImage XSI. Engineers who understood the daily headaches animators faced with traditional polygon modeling developed edgeloops. Readers will follow the techniques in this book to create lifelike characters that move realistically without gaps, wrinkles or deformities. This full color book takes readers through the process of creating a female action hero, reminiscent of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. After learning the key concepts of edgeloop modeling and differentiating it from other methods, readers will create a torso, add extremities, model the head and face and finally add jewelry, weapons and other details. Along the way Kelly Murdock, who also authored the bestselling 3ds Max Bible, will show ways to customize the character to suit each reader’s desire. A CD-ROM includes all the examples from the book and a collection of other models.

Not easy to follow

While reading this book, I felt it was a great book, but upon trying out the steps on 3D Studio Max, I found this book presumes way too much. It leaves steps out and the final project you make will look nothing like the examples in the beginning. It jumps around in steps that do not make sense in a logical modeling process. It does however outline every single piece down to the nails and eyelashes. So, if you are making a super realistic character this would be helpful.

Not a bad book!

There are some really helpful tips in this book, but it definitely makes some assumptions about your present knowledge of 3DS Max. It isn’t a great book for tutorials in my opinion, but it definitely explains what edgeloops are and the value of creating edgeloops for your character. That knowledge alone probably makes the book worthwhile.

Misleading title. Even more misleading content.

First off, labeling this book "for 3D professionals" is almost insulting to those who actually do CG on a daily basis. This book is clearly just a primer and nothing more. There are no advanced techniques or anything you can take back with you in the professional arena, especially if your models are targeted for animation. If you’re looking for an advanced resource, look elsewhere. Maybe a good training DVD.

Second, saying that this book is about edge loop modeling is nearly as misleading as saying that a clothing catalog is about the fashion industry. Sure, the book discusses the concept of an edge loop, but the author clearly tosses the knowledge aside when it comes to actual practice. The model is clean looking, but not at all professionally constructed. Again, the idea of actual edge loops, such as those usually found around the key joints, is nearly a foreign concept here.

The book does NOT give you a strong enough foundation because there is no practical application of actual edge loops philosophy that would be required in a production ready model. If you’ve ever seen the work of Bay Raitt, Steven Stahlberg, Liam Kemp, or even 95% of game artists, you’ll notice how misguided and underwhelming this book’s content really is.

Simply put, the concept of proper topology with an eye to deformation (animation), detailing/sculpting, or repurposing is non-existent in this book.

If, like me, you work with CG characters on a daily basis, this book is pretty much a joke. You can find much better information online and on CG industry forums - for free. You can even learn more by simply examining the wireframe screen shots of a good character artist than you can this book.

Again, if you’re after "professional" techniques and advice, look elsewhere. The D’Artiste books and the Kurv/Gnomon DVDs spring to mind. They cost a little more than what’s being charged here, but you certainly get what you pay for.

Being as objective as possible - putting aside the misleading title and the questionable example model, the book doesn’t even stand up as a good character tutorial. It’s very basic, full of gaps, and limited in scope.

If you can get this book for a used price... Maybe. You’ll have to go to the next level all on your own though. There’s nothing professional about this book. Its too amateurish.

A must have

Even after Trinity Animation "Advanced Maya. Character modeling" 16 hours video tutor and Jason Osipa’s "Stop Staring/ Facial Modeling nad Animation done right" I still can say "A must have".
Yeah, sometimes author does not explains in detail some important thing. Yes, there are some problems with content on the disk (chapter 2 & 3 materials presented only in Max format, however, all important content presented in Maya, Max, XSI, Obj).
However, I did not expect miracles from the content disk, and I did not expect this book will be implant for my brain, and will give me definitive edgeloop character modeling recipe. At least because there is no thing like that - you may find a tons of lessons in this area, and many of them lead to horrible subdivision meshes. But the final model in this book is fine, and the book really provide valuable guidelines.
So, this is a good book, but not the one and only book. Five stars.

Pretty Cover-Pretty Pictures BUT disappointed in content

The book in a pictoral way is very informative but it leaves out so much detail in explaining that unless you are already proficient in 3D you will be lost-

I use it only as a reference book and nothing more.
If the authors were more detailed in thier tutorials, this book would have been awesome.

Tread carefully.....

Overall I find this book insightful and I got up to speed modelling humanoids *literally* within several minutes. As mentioned, it is not specific to any application.

Two things I don’t like so far: (1) The author is a little careless with workflow - after you complete the hand, he then tells you that your wrist and hand should have the same number of vertices (which they don’t) and (2) modelling the head is maddening because the model’s major topological lines change from one panel to the next. At the end of the body chapter, the author basically states that some things will be left to the modeller, which is possibly not the best way to teach someone.

In fairness this a great way to learn how to deal with difficulties as they arise.

A Must Have!

Edgeloop Character Modeling hits the nail on the head. If want to learn about character modeling stop here, you’ve found the golden ring. This is not a software dependent book, its about concept and how to bring an idea to realization. This is not a beginners book, it is for the serious modeler who wants to know more about the craft.

Good basics

The book covers the basic modeling technique of box-modeling. It gives you a great basic understanding and insight that is important for perfect modeling. The book uses simple step by step examples with informative images to support the text.
A must have for the beginner or the 3D-artist that has learned 3D just by doing.

Had higher expectations

When I got the book in the mail I was very happy at first, the book is beautifully designed and absolutely gorgeous. I bought this book based on the assumption set forth in the title--edge loop modeling. In the back of my mind I thought the title seemed akin to marketing hype (like in weight loss drug advertisements, where the intended product is for users who ONLY want to loose 20-30lbs), and in retrospect that is indeed what it is. The book is good reference for anatomy, the illustrations are great, the modeling instructions set forth are sound etc, but not what I wanted. I wanted a book that would show diagrams showcasing where to put the edge loops, the value of putting the edge loops in that particular location, and a reference guide showcasing in black and white with outlines where the major edge loop lines should be placed. I would have also settled for some edge loop theory, for a book which title purports "for professionals only", you would think it would be more theory, and less "follow along with me". This book avoids that dilemma by applying smoothes, in which case edge flow is obviously not as important.

A problem I have with this book, is if you use a Mac or Linux, you cannot use the CD less you have a windows machine sitting somewhere, Why an author would alienate it’s users like this I do not know. Another disappointing thing is the images used throughout the demonstrations (simple line drawings) are not made available on the CD--though several beautiful reference images are made available on the CD it’s not a total loss!

If you want to get started on Character Modeling and really learn a decent amount about edge flow then check out Game Character modeling for Maya or Alias’s Hyper Real modeling DVD. If your wanting a quick and easy method to knocking out a character, complete with texturing and rigs, then check out Maya 8 Character modeling with Maya--though I do not advise the method it uses for modeling, the other parts are very well done and overall complete.

If you are new to 3d or a certain package this book is easy to apply to your toolset, whether you use modo or maya. The book is not a total loss, it just fails to live up to the title.

Edgeloop modelling

A wonderful publication packed with information on character modelling, texturing and rigging for animation which can be applied to many 3D packages. Great for use whether you’re starting from the ground up or as a reference for work in progress.