Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush: Professional Polygonal Modeling

Product Description

Create believable CG character models with this unique book and DVD package. The stunning color images show just what you can achieve, and the detailed step-by-step tutorials show exactly how to achieve them.

Every technique and tip is backed up with practical tutorials, using the models, textures and video on the companion DVD to offer a crash course to this vital skill. Jason Patnode takes you from low to high-resolution modeling - helping you span the gap between game and film industry skills. Based on Maya 2008 and ZBrush 3.0.

You'll learn: Pipeline and modeling guidelines . Overview of Maya . Introduction to ZBrush modeling . Concept art . Anatomy . Creating a video game character . Creating a hyper-real character . Creating a photo-real character . UVs and texturing . How to create a demo reel

* Master professional techniques and workflow processes with clear, easy to follow tutorials
* Companion DVD contains video tutorials, plug-ins, models and texture maps as well as high quality art from participating artists
* Interviews with professionals connect the concepts to real world workflow and applications
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #415808 in Books
* Published on: 2008-01-14
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 408 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Jason Patnode teaches modeling and animation at The Academy of Art University, he has worked in both game and film production and was previously Lead 3D Technical Artist at LucasArts, a division of LucasFilm, California, USA.

Customer Reviews

Not worth it for me! 1
The book arrives and I'm hoping that it will shed some light on the workflow between Maya and Zbrush, with displacement and normals and so forth. I was hoping it would give me some insight to Zbrush and how to use it professionally. Instead.. I really have no words for how bad this book is. It is written for Maya beginners, but it also demands that you know stuff already. It goes in to detail on some things, and then skips other things completely. it is full of pictures, so that the book seems bigger and more pro, but alas, it shines through that this book is is not worth the paper it was printed on. I work with Maya every day professionally. Instead, I would recommend you to do a search for "video tutorial" or something like that on Google or Youtube.

A Real Letdown3
I bought this book earlier today Borders and I have to say this book is certainly something, but that doesn't necessarily mean its good. For a book titled Modeling with Maya AND ZBrush, this book just barely covers ZBrush. There is a 2 page tutorial on correcting bad topology in ZBrush but thats about it. This book slightly covers the tools and interface of ZBrush but even than its minimal.
On the plus side, this book does a decent job of covering modeling characters with polygons. Matter of fact, I'd say 95% of this book is dedicated to just polygonal modeling.

Side note: Reading through the small section of anatomy, I was unexpectedly hit with several nude pictures. It was totally unexpected and very much unneeded. There was no accompanying text explaining why it was there, it just was. I've spent several months studying anatomy so the pictures didn't bother me, but it felt to me as if the pictures were just thrown in there to add on to the total page count.

Amazing maya and zbrush book5
This is a great book for creating characters in maya and refining them in zbrush. It is written by a pro (the guy was Lead 3D Technical Artist at LucasArts) so he definitely knows what he's talking about. He covers the whole art pipeline process and gives a great overview, but also goes into great detail. It's the best 3D book I own, and I own many!