Creating 3D Game Art Book

Hi!

I have a book on Unity iOS coming soon. It's called "Created 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity iOS: Featuring modo and Blender pipelines." It will be available in the US on Oct 15th. I'm checking on the international dates as well. The easiest place to find the book is on Amazon.

The book's focus is on creating optimized 3D game assets and was written during the Unity 3.0 beta cycle. It takes an in-depth look at the iDevice hardware as it relates to Unity iOS and bridges the gap between the art and technical sides of game development.

Check out the book's website for more information as well as the table of contents. http://the3dninja.com/unitybook

The book also has a companion iPhone mini-game, which servers as an interactive demo for the content discussed in the book. It's called "Tater's Training Trash Yard." The game is now available on the App Store and is FREE.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taters-training-trash-yard/id390812292?mt=8

The book's website will also host a resource page with video walkthroughs for the chapters, which will also showcase the entire process behind the creation of the book's iPhone mini-game.

I'm very excited to see the book's release! If you have any questions, please let me know : )

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Oh,Good!

ps:Art so cool.

 

Looks terrific... Best of luck, will make a nice addition to my library.

B.

 

@Minevr @brendang Thanks very much for the kind words! The book is set for an Oct 15th release date for the US. I'm not sure of the exact date for international release at this time.

Thanks!

Wes

 

This looks exactly what I need, will buy as soon it comes out for sure!!!
Now, how can I speed this 15 days up so wait will be shorter?!?

 

Amazon said the book has shipped should be here 10/21/2010 (went super saver shipping). Looking forward to a good read.

Have fun.

 

Hi okimoki!

Thanks for ordering the book! It just so happens I have a way to speed up the 15 day wait. Well, I can't actually get the book to you faster, but I can help make the wait more easy. Send me an email with your order info to the3dninja@me.com and I'll get you the login info to book's resource videos! There's over 7 hours of video content to watch while you're waiting for the book : )

Best Regards,

-Wes

 

Awesome! Thanks for the order. Send me an email with the order info to the3dninja@me.com and I'll get you early access to the book's resource website!

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Hi,

I just finished uploading the last resource video to the book's website. There are 17 videos with a total of over 7 hours of video content. I'll will create a sample video this week and add it to the book's website http://the3dninja.com/unitybook. All of the videos are in HD 720p and can either be downloaded and archived or viewed anytime for the website. The videos can even be played from your iDevice for on the go training! Here's what the resource site looks like.

 

Hi wesm do you already have the ebook version?

 

There will be electronic versions such as Kindle. I'm excited about the kindle version. The publisher stated that the ebook versions should come out some time in November, but I don't have an exact date. When I get more concrete info, I'll post it on the book's website at http://the3dninja.com/unitybook.

-Wes

 

Goddamn! Just what an artist like me is looking for...will wait for the ebook version.

 

Hi Wes,

I just placed my order for your new book and I'm excited to go through it. I'll send you an email to request access to the resource website.

Thanks!

 

Hi wesm,

it looks like there are more movies on the picture than i can see on the download site. Do i have a wrong link?

 

Hi Wes

The book looks great. I'm not at the stage of developing for iPhone yet but was considering getting the book just for the asset creation pipeline. Will the pipeline in the book work for getting assets into Unity Indie Pro as well? I realize there will be some differences in areas like poly count reduction amount.

Thanks for the info

k

 

The eBook version needs to come out soon...after checking the TOC, I'm really anticipating buying this...

 

Hi,

I'm sorry for the late reply! I didn't receive the thread update notice. You have all the videos on the site. I made a mistake on the image. I copied the same row twice, so Creating Game-Part 7, 8 and 9 are shown twice in the image.

I hope you're enjoying the book and videos.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Hi kalmak,

Both Unity indie and Pro are covered in the book. The assets are created the same for both indie and pro. I used indie to export the actual game for the App Store.

The main areas where there would be a difference in asset creation in terms of breaking the level down is in using Umbra Occlusion and static batching, which are both pro features. However, the book shows how to build the level for use with occlusion culling, if the reader has pro or indie as it's good practice regardless of using occlusion culling or not. In the book, I break down the level to limit the vertices visible to the camera view frustum, which in a way is manually handling occlusion culling. In the book, I also discuss static batching for the readers who have access to the pro license.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have other questions.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Awesome! I was told by the publisher that the eBook version should be ready in November. It seems like it will be more towards the end of November. They stated that there would be a Kindle version among other eBook formats.

Let me know if you have any more questions : )

Best Regards,

Wes

 

My copy arrived today. Looks VERY impressive - finally a book that I'm actually excited to get stuck into. Definitely a must have.

 

That's awesome news! Please let me know what you think : ) I hope you enjoy it!

-Wes

 

Just giving this another little bump now that I've spent some time with it.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone working Unity iOS - especially if you're starting out, or fairly inexperienced (relatively speaking of course - the book isn't really for complete beginners).

The book is very nicely put together, with some great insights into the iOS platform, and into game development in general that have got me thinking about things I'd not considered previously. That alone has already been worth the asking price for me.

Given the lack of Unity resources out there, I've been buying up anything that looks even half-decent, and to be honest this book started out as just an impulse buy. I've been pleasantly surprised though by how absorbing the material is - I've even gone back to reread sections; something I hardly ever do with most of the books on my pile.

Just my two cents worth - giving credit where it's due and all that jazz

Well done Wes. You've got at least one happy customer!

 

Hey Wes

just wanted to let you know I picked up the book today from Amazon, just waiting for it to show up. I'll let you know how it goes working through it in Indie and Pro.

K

 

i so wanna throw some money at you but i cant.. still no digital download! :/

 

Hi there,

I already know how batching works and am an OK optimizer for the iPhone, but extra knowledge always helps... Would this take me further in my skill set?

Also, does it teach you how to model proper optimised characters, along with UV maps? How much will the ebook cost?

Thanks!

Jack

 

Its killing me everytime I see this thread and there is no digital download yet. I bet this is a marketing reason to get some physical copies sold (god knows why that would make a difference if both launched at once) cause it shouldnt take this long to get something up for download. Argh...

 

Thanks for great review! I also noticed that you posted it on Amazon. I greatly appreciate it : ) Great to hear that you liked the book.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Great! Thanks and I look forward to hear what you think. Let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Hi Jack,

This is a great question and I'll do my best to answer. The book does cover how to model proper optimized characters in regards to creating the mesh as well as UV maps. This book is structured differently in that there isn't any step-by-step modeling tutorials. Instead, I first focus on the internal hardware of the iDevices and from there, I discuss how this relates specifically to the Unity 3.0 engine. Once we've discussed how the hardware handles the geometry and how Unity iOS works under the hood so to speak, we can then fully discuss how to create optimized meshes that are targeted for deployment on the iPhone and iPad.

To illustrate the principles, I use a character and level I created and discuss in-depth the process for creating the models based off what was discussed about the iDevice hardware and the Unity engine. The point of the book's methods is to not gloss over any technical details about how the iDevice hardware works and relates to Unity. I believe without a solid foundation to the inner workings of the device and engine, it's impossible to create optimized content. The goal of the book is to keep the reader focused on working on their projects and provide the information needed to build optimized art assets instead of just re-creating a character.

With that said, I certainly hope that you'll find information to increase your skill set. I think what you might be looking for is to know that this book discusses every technical aspect to creating content for the iPhone using Unity. You won't find a series of lessons only focused on how to build a low-res game objects. The book assumes the reader knows how to model and knows Unity and then builds from the readers existing modeling skill set, while discussing specifically the why and how models should be built for the iPhone and iPad.

As of for the eBook cost, I sorry to say I don't know. Unfortunately this is out of my hands and solely rests with the publisher. So far, the only information they give me is that the eBook versions should be available in late November. As soon as I hear something, I'll be sure to post it here on the forums.

UPDATE: I did find that an eBook PDF version can be purchased from the publisher at the following site. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780240815633. It appears you have to register, which is free and then you can buy a PDF. I've never used this site myself, so it might be worth a look. Although it seems that their asking you to buy it chapter by chapter, which is crazy! I'll ask the publisher about this site and post new information.


I hope I was able to answer your questions. Please let me know if you have additional questions about the book.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Hi,

Believe me, I understand the frustration. I agree that the eBook versions should be available the day of release along with the hard-copy. Unfortunately this is out of my hands and is controlled by the publisher. I contact them weekly to discuss when the eBook will be available. I am told late November as it's on Amazon to convert the file to the Kindle version. I personally prefer the eBook versions of books myself and have been pushing to get this released.

I did find that an eBook PDF version can be purchased from the publisher at the following site http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780240815633 It appears you have to register, which is free and then you can buy a PDF. I've never used this site myself, so it might be worth a look. Although it seems that their asking you to buy it chapter by chapter, which is crazy! I'll ask the publisher about this site and post new information.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Wes

 

So I just went to that linked website and please correct me if im wrong, but are they charging me over $30 for 1 chapter (some of which is useless)?

EDIT: Holy S***, yes they are...this book costs over $500 if you purchase it that way...no thanks...

 

I tired to add a chapter to a cart and it looks to me that you're right in that it's expecting 30 dollars per chapter. That is absolutely crazy! I've reached out to the marketing manager for the book to find out what this site actually is. I'm hoping it's 30 dollars for the entire book, but please don't try it until I hear back from the publisher.

I'll keep you posted here on this thread. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If it was up to me, there would be a PDF available on day one.

-Wes

 

Wes, you'll have another sale as soon as I can get it in eBook form!

 

Awesome! Please let me know if you have any questions on the content : )

 

Hi Everyone!

I've been in talks with the publisher and they're are currently working on getting a definitive timeframe for the eBook release. I'll definitely keep you posted as soon as I hear something. I also be sure to update the website. http://the3dninja.com/unitybook.

I also got the low-down on the Science Direct site. Here's the info from the publisher. This is definitely not the route to take for an electronic download.

Science Direct is a subscription based service, run by Elsevier, primarily for journals and journal extracts. For Focal Press, we do have a collection of Media Technology chapters available for purchase. For non-subscription based readers, we have the option to allow users and guests to access and download articles from almost all non-subscribed journals at a fixed price per article. Access will be instant and available for 24 hours on ScienceDirect, both in HTML and PDF formats; in addition, purchased articles can be downloaded and stored locally for future use. I would not recommend this as an e-book option for your readers. We would never expect them to purchase the entire book in $30 increments.

Please stay tuned on the eBook! I'll post as soon as I hear about the release dates.

Thanks!

Wes

 

Well, we are at the tail end of Nov so I hope that's as soon as a week from now...

 

Bump??

 

I'm sorry, but still no official release date.

At this point, I am querying the publisher every week to ask about the progress and find out the delay. They assure me that the eBook is in production and should be soon. I spoke with them early last week and they said if the eBook doesn't post on Amazon within 2 weeks (starting from last week) they would further escalate the issue to those in charge of the eBook production to make sure it's available ASAP and I keep bugging them to make sure they do it : )

It's in the works and I'm very sorry for the delay. I wish this wasn't out of my hands. The eBook should have been ready from day one. This delay is extremely frustrating for me as well as to those who are waiting for it to release. I will definitely post here as soon as I get word for the publisher. Also, please feel free to contact me with any questions at the3dninja@me.com

Best Regards,

Wes

 

Thanks a lot for the reply...I will be sitting by the corner awaiting its release...

 

Looks like Google is selling an ebook version...

http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=fzqiC7YwkjoC&dq=apple ios&as_brr=5&source=webstore_bookcard

iBrent

 

Thanks for posting the link Brent! I was just about to post : ) Looks like Google beat the publisher to a kindle version.

I've downloaded the book to the Google Book app on both iPhone and iPad. I'm very happy with the quality. The cost was $39.46. I'm not sure if the Kindle version from Amazon will be cheaper.

I'm querying the publisher several times a week to get more eBook info such as kindle version. However, with the eBook now processed, I would think Kindle and others will be soon to follow.

Enjoy!

Wes

 

How did you manage to buy it with the Google book app? I access the link there is no option to buy, etc.
I'm dying for this book

Alfred

 

Just buy it on amazon, this is an awesome book. Worth every penny.

 

Hi Alfred! I didn't use the Google book app to purchase the book. You'll need to go to http://books.google.com/books?id=uKmJSQAACAAJ&dq=Wes+McDermott&hl=en&ei=eycGTceNK4H7lwfX6vT6CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ and purchase the book online. Next, you download the Google Book app and it hooks up to your Google Account. The purchased book will then be available.

So glad to hear you're interested in the book!

-Wes

 

Thanks! Awesome to hear you like the book : )

 

Que tal wesm, bueno soy de Colombia y me gustaría comprar el libro, que debo hacer para comprarlo.

Gracias

Jorge

Wesman such, well I'm from Colombia and I would buy
the book, which I do to buy it.

Thanks

Jorge

 

Hi Jorge,

The best way to get the book would be through one of the electronic outlets such as on Google Books or the Kindle version.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Wes

 

and has the password to view the videos to buy the book on-line

 

Yes, the login info can be found in the eBook versions as well.

-Wes

 

I got the ebook version via Kindle/Amazon, and it's a great informative read so far!