[Paul_Steed]Modeling a Character in 3DS Max, Second Edition(pdf){Zzzzz}

In this update to his best-selling character modeling book, professional modeler and animator Paul Steed shares a number of tips, tricks, and techniques that have made him one of the industry’s most recognized 3D artists. Modeling a Character in 3ds max, Second Edition provides readers a professional-level skill set as it chronicles the creation of a single low-poly real-time character from concept to texture mapping, and gives insight into the process of creating a high-resolution character. Learn how to model with primitives; use extrusions and Booleans; mirror and reuse models; optimize the mesh; create and apply textures; loft shapes.

Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2nd edition (January 10, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 155622088X
ISBN-13: 978-1556220883

Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Paul Steed is widely considered to be the dominant 3D game modeler and animator in the business. He has worked in the computer game industry for nearly 14 years, and is currently the Creative Director for Xbox at Microsoft. His career spans six companies and over 15 shipped titles or online products. Most well-known for his character models, animations, and plan files while at id Software (Quake II, Quake III Arena, and Quake III Team Arena), he also worked on the Wing Commander series at Origin Systems. As a producer at WildTangent, he used the Internet to unleash a small but popular online-delivered, Tempest-inspired third-person shooter called Betty Bad. His popular dancing girl visualizers that work with the Winamp plug-in remain some of the most highly downloaded pieces of content. Steed has written articles for Game Developer magazine and tutorials for his "Thinking Outside the Box" column on Loonygames.com. He is a frequent speaker at the annual Game Developer Conference and is into-high polygon women, his family, his truck, and playing pool.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Does exactly what it sets out to do...and a bit more :)
By milla on October 16, 2001
If you're new to character modelling and have an entry-level grasp of the 3D Studio Max interface this book was designed for you, without a doubt. If you're more advanced you will very likely get a lot out of it as well, as it's a medley of different techniques and riddled with very helpful hints, but really this book is tailor-made for the novice.
Paul has made a point of screen-dumping every step, every dialogue, and making explicit the reasoning behind what he teaches. This makes for a detailed and clear step-by-step map of the process and methods he uses to create his characters.
I should add that Studio users may have some difficulty and would be well-advised to familiarise themselves with the Max interface before tackling this one, but unless you know every possible route to character creation it's probably worth the effort.
A nice touch is the sprinkling of anecdotal gems thrown in. Steed has had a very public career as a character modeller/animator, and there are a few excellent star-studded stories in the mix as well as the actual education.
If you want something that you can sit in your lap and work through you want this book. I recommend this book unreservedly to anyone interested in pursuing this branch of digital art. The design chapter of the book alone is invaluable to you, let alone the technical side, and Paul is amply qualified to hold forth on the subject matter.