3D Game Environments: Create Professional 3D Game Worlds, Second Edition

From a steamy jungle to a modern city, or even a sci-fi space station, 3D Game Environments is the ultimate resource to help you create AAA quality art for a variety of game worlds. Primarily using Photoshop and 3ds Max, students will learn to create realistic textures from photo source and a variety of techniques to portray dynamic and believable game worlds. With detailed tutorials on creating 3D models, applying 2D art to 3D models, and clear concise advice on issues of efficiency and optimization for a 3D game engine, Luke Ahearn gives you everything students need to make their own realistic game environments. Key Features The entire game world development process; from planning to 3D modeling, UV layout, and creating textures. Exercises and projects to practice with; each section includes projects to guide you through creating different world genres. The updated companion website—www.lukeahearn.com/textures/ now includes video tutorials in addition to updated sample textures, shaders, materials, actions, brushes, program demos, plug-ins and all art from the book—all the tools you need in one place. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface 16 Acknowledgments 18 Author 20 Introduction 22 SECTION I: The basics 32 1 Game world optimizations 34 Introduction 34 Asset-based optimizations 38 MIP mapping 38 Texture pages (or T-pages, atlas textures, or texture packing) 41 Unlit textures 42 Multitexturing or multiple UV channels 43 Lightmaps 44 Masking and transparency 46 Texture size and compression 49 Particle systems 49 Forced perspective 53 Polygon optimization 53 LoD 54 Collision-based optimizations 55 Collision objects 55 Collision types 58 Occlusion-based optimizations 59 Occlusion and culling 59 Distance fog 62 Cull distance 65 Cells and portals 66 Planning 66 Conclusion 67 2 Three-dimensional concepts 68 Introduction 68 Texture mapping 69 Mapping types 70 Planar 71 Box 71 Spherical 71 Cylindrical 71 UV editing 71 Multitexturing 71 3D 73 3D space 75 Viewports 75 Player perspective 78 Shortcuts and hotkeys 78 Units of measurement 78 Grids and snaps 78 Hide/unhide 79 Freeze 80 Drawing modes 80 Grouping 80 Selecting 80 3D creation 81 Mesh editing 82 Axis 82 Object space or local 85 World space 85 View space 85 Pivot points 85 2D shapes 85 Creating 3D objects from 2D shapes 87 Extrude 87 Lathe 87 Loft 88 Transforms 88 Deforms 89 3 Shaders and materials 92 Introduction 92 Shader basics 94 Common shader effects 97 Diffuse (color maps or textures) 98 Blend 101 Average 101 Additive 101 Subtractive 101 Detail mapping 101 Depth of field 101 Heat haze 103 Specular highlights and glossiness 103 Bloom (glow or halo) 105 Masking and opacity 105 Illumination (unlit, emissive, or full bright) 106 Reflection 109 Pan/rotate/scale 112 Bump, normal, and parallax occlusion mapping 113 Conclusion 118 SECTION II: Low-polygon environments with simple shaders 120 4 Planning the low-polygon urban environment 122 Introduction 122 Technological assumptions 123 Point of view 124 Theme 124 Genre 124 World size 125 Game fiction 126 5 Modeling the large urban environment 128 Introduction 128 Blocking out the level 131 Setting up the grid 132 Basic parts 133 World measurements and scale 135 Modeling the streets 139 UV-mapping the meshes 142 Street UV-mapping 143 Repeating buildings 143 Landmarks 146 Main building 149 Lobby building 149 Solid building 151 Details 152 Decals 154 Traffic signs 155 Newspaper machines 155 Newspaper machine 1 157 Newspaper machine 2 157 Bus stop 158 Phone booth 160 Dumpster, trash can, and mailbox 160 Streetlights and traffic lights 164 Parking meter and fire hydrant 170 Conclusion 170 6 Texturing the large urban environment 172 Introduction 172 Texture creation 173 Tiling base materials 173 Asphalt/base streets 173 Base cement/sidewalk 174 Intersection 179 Building windows illumination mapped 179 Solid-pane illumination map 183 Nontiling details 184 Signs 185 Newspaper machines 185 Bus stop/phone booth 188 Garbage can/dumpster/mailbox 188 Light 188 Traffic light 188 Parking meter/fire hydrant 192 Nontiling illumination-mapped details 192 Nontiling full-brightness details 192 Nontiling details requiring alpha channeling 194 Sewer grates, manholes, and access 195 Oil stains/tire marks 195 Cracks, dirt, holes, and tar patches 195 Creating the alpha channel 199 Conclusion 200 SECTION III: Terrain, foliage, and more advanced asset creation 202 7 Introduction to natural environments 204 Introduction 204 Technological assumptions 205 Perspective 206 Theme 207 World size 207 Game fiction 208 8 Terrain 210 Introduction 210 Manual terrain creation 210 Terrain-editing basics 214 Free-form terrain painting 218 Push/pull lower/raise 218 Smoothing/erosion 218 Noise/turbulence 218 Flatten/set to height 219 Other features 220 Terrain texturing 220 Trees and foliage: Decoration/prop layers 221 Terrain generation software 224 L3DT 226 9 Filling the world: Trees, plants, rocks, water, and sky 234 Introduction 234 Asset list 236 Terrain textures 236 Trees 237 TreeMagik G3 240 A look at SpeedTree 241 Plants 241 Plant Life 245 Rocks 250 Skyboxes 253 Clouds 255 Single clouds 265 Water 268 Caustics generator 268 Waterfall 271 10 Modeling and texturing the jungle base 276 Introduction 276 Mechanical models 277 Electrically charged, double-access gate 277 Guard tower 281 Industrial light towers 283 Heavy-duty jungle gate and concrete wall 284 Old building 287 Organic models 294 Rocks 294 Plants 294 Trees 296 Foliage backdrop, ground, skybox 296 Mechanical textures 297 General rusty metal 297 General tiling of galvanized metal 298 Tiling moldy concrete 298 Tiling wood planks 299 Specific detail textures 300 Massive doors 300 Doors 302 Assorted signs 302 Crossbeams for light towers 303 Windows 303 Window frame 303 Glass 307 Variations 308 Weathering and dirt 309 Rain streaks 310 Window alpha 312 Organic textures 315 Rocks 315 Plants 315 Trees 317 Foliage backdrop 317 Skybox textures 317 Things to try 319 Conclusion 322 11 Focus on the futuristic interior—normal maps and multipass shaders 324 Introduction 324 Vertex versus per-pixel lighting 325 What is a normal map? 328 Creating normal maps in photoshop 328 Painting normal maps 328 Source-based normal maps 328 Use parts of existing normal maps 332 Creating normal maps using a 3D program 333 Assets for the futuristic interior 335 Wall panels 335 Color 335 Illumination 337 Spec 337 Normal map 339 Wall panel variations 341 Floor panels 342 Column 342 Light/ceiling panel 344 Door 345 Monitor 345 Pipes and hoses 345 Index 352 From the best-selling author of 3D Game Textures and 3d Game Creation. Luke Ahearn is the game art industry guru that readers know and trust! The ultimate resource to help you create triple-A quality art for a variety of game worlds; 3D Game Environments offers detailed tutorials on creating 3D models, applying 2D art to 3D models, and clear concise advice on issues of efficiency and optimization for a 3D game engine. Using Photoshop and 3ds Max as his primary tools, Luke Ahearn explains how to create realistic textures from photo source and uses a variety of techniques to portray dynamic and believable game worlds.