Provides groundbreaking coverage in using 3D Studio Max for would-be computer game modelers and animators, as well as professionals already experienced with the software. Also features previously undocumented tips and tricks targeted specifically for advanced character creation.

Highly anticipated update to the best-selling character modeling book by Paul Steed, this book is geared towards the behinning modeler. It establishes a flecible professional-level skill set for readers by guiding them through the creation of not one but three imaginative characters.

Nuts to Bolts....

This book is a must have for your collection. It emphasizes the basics in concept design (2d sketches) and walks you through character modeling step by step. In my opinion the book does more than get you started it gives you a solid foundation from which to build. It includes more than enough screenshots plus the CD contains the MAX files for each step.
I highly suggest it!!!

Not the best

Iv been a 3ds max artist for about 6 years now and i bought this book when it first came out and was very disappointed with it.

I have just picked it up again in this last month and still get confused by it, thats not to say I`m dumb i just think its badly written and doesn’t give enough description of why you should be doing what it tells you to do.

I am on a hunt for another book thats hopefully better but iv yet to find one.

Great book...

..but it’s just a clone of the first one. Paul guids you through the creation of the first cover girl Callisto, not the one shown on the cover of this book but the first edition.
I was verry disapointed after paying for this book when it’s exactly the same as the first one, only he adds a couple of pages at the end explaining how to create the "cover Callisto" but it’s compleate bull. The cover Callisto isn’t as simple as applying meshsmooth which is how he explains it in the book, it reads "apply another meshsmooth" what do you mean ANOTHER, you never said anythink about applying a mesh smooth before. The CD also contains exactly what is seen on the first CD, he didn’t even add the cover Callisto to the second edition CD gggrrrrrrr :(

Overall the book is great but buy this one not the first one since this one adds a few extra pages at the end.

Don’t be Misled by the Hype!

I purchased this book a couple of months ago. Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed with Steed’s approach. I found his methods of modeling to be cumbersome to say the least. It seems as if the book has not been updated since the first edition to reflect the many changes now available in 3ds Max 6 or 7 (I don’t mention 8 because the book was written BEFORE 8).

When I initially dived into the modeling portion I thought everything was fine. Then -- and this is why I rated it so low -- Steed begins to divide/turn edges in Part II / Chapter 4 / Step 5, which is titled "Step 5: Add Vertices by Dividing Edges." I suppose this would not have been so bad if Steed had thought to include COLOR screen shots on the books CD-ROM, but since he neglected to do so it becomes frustrating -- to say the least -- to use Steed’s method of refining one’s mesh.

Considering the fact that the CD-ROM is a whopping 19.5MB, it would have been prudent to include full color reference images. Let me give you some specifics on why I found this book such a bitter waste of TIME and MONEY:

* Firstly, let me tell you friends -- it is most frustrating to try to refine one’s mesh based on the author’s direction when one can hardly see the edges/vertices that are being discussed.

* Secondly, there are easier methods to refine a mesh than dividing or turning edges if you have 3ds 5 AT LEAST!

* Thirdly, Steed falls flat on his face when explaining the reason for turning edges and which SPECIFIC edges to turn. Suffice it to say, grayscale pictures in a book DO NOT work!

* Fourthly, if one cannot get the edge dividing/turning method down, then you’ll get stuck because the rest of the modeling tutorials are so heavily based on this method. The only reason I was able to finish the model is because of my familiarity with 3ds Max, Lightwave, and on a more limited basis, Maya.

* Fifthly, and lastly (I hope), when one is able to look at tutorials for Lightwave or Maya, as I have done, and model more quickly and effectively in 3ds Max than Steed’s method, then the book leaves quite a lot to be desired...

I think that’s all I will say for now, but let me warn you all -- there are far, far better tutorials available online for free. Don’t waste your money on this book unless you plan on using it as fuel for a fire.

Modeling A Character in 3DS Max, 2nd Edition

I was expected more model of the book but the whole book only teached one model

not great, but not the worst either

I got this book 2 years ago when it was hyped as being top notch for learning 3D modeling. On the postive side it is easy to understand and gives you a good idea of the entire process of making a character rather than just jumping around and trying to explain a hundred different unrelated things like other 3D modeling books. The bad part is that the modeling technics are a bit dated and backwards. A person who posted a previous review mentioned that he uses wierd modeling techniques like booleans and splines instead of regular box modeling, and that is the truth. He also wastes A LOT of time turning edges. If you model in quads (4 sided polys) to begin with, and then teselate (triangulate) then its all done for you automatically. And as mentioned previously not much time was spent on the concepts of uv unwrapping and creating the image map.

Awesome book teaching real use not technical crap

I haven’t read the second edition yet but the first edition was KICK ASS. Paul Steed takes you through modeling a charater and teaches you all kinds of tricks that hours of reading technical books never taught me. Basically the diference with this book is that it was written by an artist and not some computer nerd with a math degree.

Entry level modeling on Max

I found this book to be very well written and easy to understand, for the most part the book will take you by the hand in modeling a character (using 3Ds Max 3). If you are a total newbie you will find this book easy to comprehend and follow wish in my opinion will set some foundation for you if you wish to buy and read more advanced books on the subject. On the downsize the book does a little attempt to explain texturing a character and doesn’t go in deep in the process of designing the textures of the characters. But all in all a pretty nice book for entry level character design.

Libro fatto molto bene.

Test molto completo e semplice da seguire passo passo. Unico neo la mancanza sul CD allegato della texture del viso del character. Consigliato per un approccio semplificato alla modellazione low-poly.

Not impressed.

Everyone seems to love this book except me.

I feel as though it is vague, and not greatly helpful. The author undoubtably knows what he is doing, but I feel as though there is something lacking in the descriptions that he gives.

One thing it does do, is give you an insight into how to go about modeling within 3ds max, but to be honest, I feel as though most online tutorials are just as good, if not better than this book.

Not impressed.

Everyone seems to love this book except me.

I feel as though it is vague, and not greatly helpful. The author undoubtably knows what he is doing, but I feel as though there is something lacking in the descriptions that he gives.

One thing it does do, is give you an insight into how to go about modeling within 3ds max, but to be honest, I feel as though most online tutorials are just as good, if not better than this book.

Great! Step by Step Guide.

This is a very good book - if you wish to take a step by step (and I do mean step-by-step) approach to modeling the girl that is on the cover. Maybe it should’ve been called "Model THIS character in 3DS Max". It has a few insights into Paul Steeds head - a few tips and tricks that he uses, some of which I found very useful but nothing that I couldn’t have found on some other website or book.


By looking at the process he goes through you can begin to see how it could be used in practical terms. He totally skipped the texture creation portion though. Jumped straight from UV mapping to done!


But all in all it gets the job done. I learned a few things while reading this, and that’s all I was expecting anyways. A good book to buy if you are interesting in character modeling, and a MUST BUY if you are interested in modeling supermodels.

http://www.humanistleague.org

Not worth it

I’m sorry but this book is written with 3ds max 3 in mind (editable mesh). If you want to model a character today I cannot insist more not to buy this book. I strongly suggest investing your hard-earned dollars on 3ds max 6 animation by barret fox because his way to model a character is much better and in a ~350pages book he even show how to create a scenario, how to rig + animate your characters and the after-production retouches with combustion 3. sorry for my english!

Want to build a character? This is THE book to get!

If you ever wanted to build a character in 3DS max, this is the book you will need, it explains everything with pictures and details every step you need to make to finish the character in the book or make one of your own, I bought this book a couple of months ago from AMAZON and have completed a couple of my own characters using the instruction of this superb book!

Not bad, not that good.

To be honest, I almost bought this book. When I have thought considered for about 2 days at home, I decided No.
Here comes the comments, I don’t really like the hair, I always wish to buy a book that is very comprehensive about hair modelling and perfect body modelling. In contrast, the body part which is being modelled of that character is great and quite appealing.

Bad news is, in this book, the polygonal hair is way too bad and unappealing for a game character. Unlike Kate Walker from Syberia, she has a very beautiful perspective because of the realism of her hair(very detailed) and the textures that suit her body structure. Not to say that the textures of the girl in this book is bad, but it looks like a tattoo clumped to her naked torso and legs. Looks so unreal !

And the other things is that, the functions were mostly based on 3DsMax 3, and the functions are slightly different from 3DsMax 4. Just beware of that.

Excellent Book - Very Helpful!

After fiddling around with 3ds Max 5 for a couple of months, with the aim of building my very own UT2003 character i had very limited success (well no success really!) enter Paul Steed....

This book and its conversational, anecdotal style sky-rocketed my knowledge in a matter of days! From being an absolute beginner at character modelling i now find myself pondering the complexities of improving the definition of my characters gluteus maximus!!!

the book has tons of pictures (B&W and some a little difficult to see clearly - only MINOR gripe) and it WILL help beginners.

forget printing pages and pages of net tutorials just buy this book, you will not look back. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it has exponentially increased my confidence and ability in all areas of max5, and i’m well on my way to my own UT2003 character!

This Book

In 3 simple words "THIS BOOK RULES"

I just got it and I can’t put it down!

It’s a must for anyone looking to learn 3DSM or anyone that has been using Max for a while!

Stop reading this and buy it!!!

This Book

In 3 simple words "THIS BOOK RULES"

I just got it and I can’t put it down!

It’s a must for anyone looking to learn 3DSM or anyone that has been using Max for a while!

Stop reading this and buy it!!!

Great book, but a few drawbacks...

The book guides you through different modeling techniques, but unfortunately there is no section covering how to animate the character, which is very annoying.

A very extensive book but hard to follow...

This is a great book from Quake 3 legend Paul Steed and its incredibly detailed with sujects that range from pencil designs to skinning plus many other helpful tips and tricks along the way. Unfortunatelly the book fell short in the illustration department and its kind of hard editing every vertex, line, face and edge on a 1500+- polygon model with confusing black and white pictures. Atleast for me, a beguinner that doesnt understand edges very well. All in all this is a very complete guide from beguinning to end but unless you have nerves of steel or completely understand how to handle edges without relying too much on the illustrations i wouldnt reccomend it for everyone.

The good, the bad and the ugly

The book seemed soley based for the beginners of 3D Studio Max. It goes into depth into character modelling, and theres a few new techniques that i picked up to improve my modelling skills.

The Problem i had with the book is that there was only one mesh to do. it didn’t go into the organic side of modelling and to my surprise there wasn’t a section on animating your final character.

Very Good For a Beginner

I am new to max and this book is great for going through all the different techniques for modelling in max. My only gripe is that doesn’t give any animation tips for your character, surely that’s what you’d want to do with it after you’ve finished. Some bones tutorials would go down a treat... And an index...

Want to model characters for computer games?

Then this one is for you. For the aspiring computer games artist, it is great to be able to sort through all the clutter and unneccesary information in the 1000+ page tomes like Mastering 3D MAX, 3D MAX in depth, 3D MAX Fundamentals etc. It doesn’t get more precise than this. Excellent book. Don’t hesitate to get if you are only starting out in 3D modelling. Steed does an excellent job of explaining everything in detail, in an entertaining way too (!), so that everyone from pro and downwards will find inspiration, advice and guidance.

Add to that, that the book can be utilized on bascially any of the 3D platforms out there. A MAX, Maya and Lightwave user myself, I have had no problems going through the turtorials using any of the 3 mentioned packages....