Riccard Linde (Art Director) has been involved in the CG industry for over 10 years. Self-taught as an 3D artist he migrated into the games industry 4 years ago, from which date he has released four AAA titles: Battlefield 1942 (artist), Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 (Lead artist, Art technical, and Art Director), and Battlefield Vietnam (Art Technical and Art Director). In 2004 he attended GDC as a lecturer explaining a technique involving multiple instancing of objects used for the jungles in Battlefield Vietnam.

Game Art: Creation, Direction, and Careers is written to give 3D artists who want to move into the games industry the tools and techniques they need to be successful. It is also written for practicing game artists looking to increase their knowledge and skills so they can advance to the next level. As the gap between GFX programmers and artists continues to grow, it is more important than ever for artists to understand how and why art works in games. This doesn’t mean you have to become a programmer, but if you can understand the terminology and know why the technical details of your art are so important, you’ll have the skills every studio wants. This book teaches you these skills. The first two parts define the artistic process involved in creating game art, including the basic knowledge and skills you need to solve common problems artists face. The last two parts cover technical performance information and the more advanced techniques for game art creation. Due to the similar workflows in today’s 3D packages and the many in-house programs used in game development, the book teaches game-industry methods from a non-program specific perspective. The book does assume a working knowledge of at least one major 3D program (3ds max® or Maya®) and Photoshop®.

HIGHLIGHTS

* Gives an artist’s perspective into the game industry, details career opportunities, and provides portfolio tips, salary ranges, and interview suggestions

* Covers methods for improving your artistic skills by studying light/ darkness, color, emotional content, how to read reference images, and teaches how to manage your personal workflow for an efficient team environment

* Teaches specific game techniques such as collision, L.O.D.s, Mipmaps, fill rate, vertex costs, Tri-stripping, lighting per-pixel and per-vertex, normal maps, and real-time shaders

* Discusses critical, PC-dominant advanced techniques that will be part of the next-generation gaming consoles

* ON THE CD-ROM you’ll find reference images, textures, meshes, and scene files from the tutorials for 3ds max, Maya, Photoshop, and Zbrush as applicable. Also includes a trial version of RT/shader™: GINZA.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: To use the CD-ROM and the tutorials fully, the following system is recommended: AMD Athlon™ or Intel Pentium® 4 processor, Windows XP or Microsoft Windows 2000, 512MB RAM, 1GB of available hard-disk space, Geforce 4 or ATI 8500 or greater video card, 1280x1024 or greater resolution, CD-ROM drive, Internet or phone connection required for product activation, Photoshop and a commercial 3D product to use the tutorial files (such as Maya, 3ds max, etc.) To use RT/shader™:GINZA in Chapter 20 you will need these additional items: 300MB of available hard-disk space, Microsoft NET Framework 1.1, GeForce FX or ATI 9500 or greater video card, DirectX 9.0c. The trial license key requires Internet access as well.

Great educational tool

I am an instructor for a 3D Game Content course and Game Art is one of our books. The industry art pipeline and procedures are very well laid-out in this book. Would love a second edition covering the next gen techniques that will be surfacing.

Great Game Art Book

Great book that covers modeling techniques for game companies, uv layout’s , future Tech Compontents such as Normal Maps, etc. A well good purchase for anyone who wants to know how it’s done or to improve there knowledge.

Fantastic

I have read this book and find it extremely informative. The book is written with the readers perspective in mind. It gives beautiful insight into the industry and the dynamics of it. It also has great walk-throughs with media on a CD that you can use as part of the "practical" experience.

Good Job!

This is a great book

I was an art director in the video game industry for a number of years and one of the most frustrating aspects was interviewing artists that wanted to be part of the industry but did not know how to prepare themselves. This book addresses that problem in a thoughtful and comprehensive way.

For any aspiring artist that wants to be in the video game industry, this is the book. The examples and explanations are clear and easy to follow. Using this book, you would be able to prepare a very capable portfolio.

Buy it, read it, and put the knowledge to use.

Bringing the Real World to the Student Artist

People don’t think alike. The person who can handle the programming complexity of doing a graphics engine is often not the person who is capable of designing the characters, scenery, and equipment needed for the rest of the game. In this area, the digital artist comes into his/her own. Note this says digital artist. This requires two separate skills, one is the ability to create vizualize what art is needed, the other is to use a computer rather than some other media to generate the desired image.

The game design business represents an opportunity for the digital artist to obtain jobs with real companies that are relatively well paying. This book gives an artist’s perspective into the game industry. It talks about the industry, the work, and gives insight on how to get a job. But mostly it talks about what kind of art is needed for gaming. It shows the detail that is necessary to produce a visually pleasing game.

The CD included with the book includes numerous illustrations and files from Maya and ds max. It also includes a trial version of Rt/Shader software. The book presumes that you have a workingknowledge of at least one major 3D program (3ds max or Maya) and Photoshop.

This is a splendid book that is positioned to take an aspiring digital artist and carry him to the next level -- employment doing a job well beyond flipping burgers.