Texturing is a specialty within the niche of 3D work. Along with lighting it is an integral part of scene design and construction, and there are many ways to approach its execution. While this topic is often a chapter or two within a larger book, we decided to look at two books that have their own unique points of view on this subject, addressing their somewhat narrow topics in a broad ways with full book treatment. The first is Dan Alban’s new “Digital Photography for 3D Imaging and Animation” published by Sybex, and the second is “3D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop” by Al Ahearn and Focal Press.

Digital Photography for 3D Imaging and Animation

Author: Dan Alban
Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: Sybex
Released: 2007
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0470095836
Size: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
Specs: full color, CD
Retail price: $44.99

Dan Alban is well known to readers of 3D books and Lightwave users in particular. The man has penned a small library worth of books by himself and with co-authors sometimes at his side. He knows how to put a book together to make it interesting and informative, and his efforts in this book are no exception.

Along with his publisher Sybex, an imprint of Wiley Books, Alban has taken what is essentially a rather narrow topic and fleshed it out into a rather broad book. When we first received our copy we had to ask ourselves if digital photography as a source for 3D work was really so different that it even warranted an entire book. After reading it we have come to the conclusion that the answer is “yes”, with a few caveats we will go over shortly.

This book is really a hybrid of topics, stringing together items that normally do not live in the same place. For example, the first half of the book–and sporadically thereafter–reads just like many photography books. With chapters like “Digital Photography Methods”, “What to Shoot”, “How to Shoot” and then “Image Management” it might seem on its surface like your other photo books.

The difference is that all instructions relate back to using these images for 3D scene building. How successful each section is depends upon how much an individual reader takes away from it. For those new to either photography or 3D scene building these sections of the book will be wonderful and enlightening. For those with even a reasonable amount of experience, you may find skipping to later chapters a better option.

A few topics later we are served up very different chapters like “Image Mapping with Digital Photos”, “3D Imaging with Photography”, and “3D Imaging Techniques” (which is on compositing). Again we can say there is good information to be had here for the beginner to be sure, and the more moderate-level practitioner as well.

The book doesn’t really come into its best sections until later when we get into more advanced sections like “Creating and Using HDR Images”, “Image based Modeling”, “Creating Panoramic Environment”, and an interesting twist “Digital Images: To 3D and Back”. These perhaps are the only chapters that will be of much interest to those already familiar with basic workflows.

Throughout the book the author does a good job of trying to be as application agnostic as he can be. He shows little favoritism to his beloved Lightwave and only goes into specific applications (like After Effects) when other options for a section are few and far between.

The upshot: At times this tome feels a smidg’ like a book in search of a topic. However it is still good reading for all levels and of particular benefit to beginners and mid-level users who are looking to expand their resources and capabilities.

While much of the techniques found here can be gleamed from magazines and the web, Alban pulls it all together in a clean and easy to understand format that is very worthwhile. The book is well written, illustrated, and handsomely produced.

3D Game Textures:
Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop

Author: Luke Ahearn
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Focal Press
Released: 2006
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0240807683
Size: 9.5 x 7.4 x 1.0 inches
Specs: full color, CD
Retail price: $49.95

The minute you look at this book you are struck by how different it is visually from most others in its category. Both its cover and most of its inner content have that dark look that is reminiscent of H. R. Giger’s work in the movie Alien.

There is of course a reason for this, this is the same look and feel adopted by much of the gaming world and their products. Not just dark, the art throughout the book has a multi-layered depth and richness that sets it apart from more pedestrian works. The credit for this lushness must be shared by the author with the three concept artists he brought on to work with him on the book. More on those talents shortly.

What it is, What it is not.

This book is about texturing scenes for game development. While other things sneak in, this is the principle coverage. It is not about designing scenes per se, although the reader is pleasantly exposed to the design stages on multiple projects. It is not about modeling or lighting a scene.

Readers have come to expect broader treatises of subjects in the books they purchase. But this book is well described by its title and sub-title. What one might be understandably confused about is it single mindedness in textures for use on sets. This is little to no discussion of texturing other things in a scene like people and other characters. This would seem to be a glaring omission that we hope gets remedies to some degree in a next edition.

Falling into the same trap so many volumes do, the book begins wasting space with a lot of background information on the very basics of computer graphics with chapters like “A basic game art education”, “A brief orientation to computer graphics technology”, and “A quick overview of Photoshop for game artists”.

For a book that is visually as attractive as this one is, we were disappointed in such a slow start. It is not until we got to the fourth chapter entitled “Prepping for texture creation” that things begin to pick up just a bit. In this chapter the level of the techniques gets elevated to about a mid-level production artist stage, covering topics like tiling, albeit with somewhat advanced techniques.

The rest of the book is where the fun is. “The Sci-Fi Setting”, “The Urban Setting”, “The Fantasy Setting” and “The Outdoor Setting” are all tutorial-based chapters that step the reader through the creation of each of those settings. Starting on page 150 and ending past 300, these sections occupy about half the book and frankly are the real justification for its purchase.

Each “Setting’s” chapter tackles a different set of challenges. The Sci-Fi chapter steps the reader through the creation of textures for creating the inside of an Alien style spacecraft. The Urban and Fantasy delve into surfaces like fatigued brick and castle stones, respectively. No surprise there. And the Outdoor setting tackles more organic objects and foliage.

Each one of these chapters is produced in conjunction with a different concept artist as project partner. Despite this great variation is the source of the designs, the author manages to keep the visual results very consistent. Whether this would be a good thing or not is your own call, but it does speak for the author’s own follow-through on his personal style of execution.

The final chapter deals with effects one might need to create using texture based images. These can include creation of candle effects, streaming sunlight, blasting ray guns and assorted particle effects, among other. Overall a profitable chapter with many good ideas.

Summations: Not all of the communication was a clear as it might have been, and some of the tutorial steps left a few folks wondering if they missed a step. None of this was chronic. What the book might have done however is work towards an approach that was more visually based. The author loves to talk and this results in a great deal of text for the reader to trudge themselves through.

By comparison, books that are more visual allow the reader to gleam the gist of the tutorials by just reading a few captions. This book will unfortunately require more tooth-pulling along the way.

The bottom line: We think the next edition, and we do hope there is one, should cut way back on the introductory material and replace it at least in part, with a chapter on texturing humans and other creatures. We would also like to see a stronger visual flow that relieves at least some necessity of reading so much text.

Are we being nit-picky? Perhaps. But that is only because the talent of this book’s author and contributors is evident. For beginner or established pro, there is something to be found in this book for all levels of game development artists.