Beginning Game Art In 3DS Max 8. Thomson

Les Pardew and Dan Whittington

Thomson Course Technology PTR,
a division of Thomson Course Technology
25 Thomson Place
Boston, MA 02210
http://www.courseptr.com

Beginning Game Art In 3DS Max 8

Acknowledgments
I want to thank my wife, who has helped keep my wild brainstorms in check. To my wonderful
kids, who kept me young, and to my grandkids, who make me smile. To my students
at Salt Lake Community College, who have been my greatest teachers. Thanks to Les Pardew,
who has been a great inspiration to my career.

—Dan Whittington

This book has been the culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people. I want to thank
my wife and children for their support and love. I also want to thank all of the good people
at Thomson Course Technology PTR for their dedicated help and encouragement. I want
to give special thanks to Brent Fox for his technical help and to Cathleen Snyder for her editorial support.

—Les Pardew

About the Authors
Les Pardew was born and grew up in Idaho.His hometown was a small farming community
where he learned the benefits of hard work.His graduating high-school class only numbered
33 individuals. From this small beginning, he has grown to become a recognized leader in
interactive entertainment.

Les started his career in video games, doing animation for Magic Johnson’s Fast Break
Basketball for the Commodore 64.He went on to help create several major games, including
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Star Wars,WrestleMania, NCAA Basketball, Stanley Cup Hockey,
Jack Nicklaus Golf , Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in the USA Is Carmen
Sandiego?, StarCraft Brood War, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, and Cyber Tiger Woods Golf, to name a few.

Les is a video game and entertainment industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience.
His artwork includes film and video production, magazine and book illustration, and
more than 100 video game titles. He is the author or co-author of eight books, including
Game Art for Teens, Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding, Game Design for Teens,
Mastering Digital Art, The Animation Reference Book, Basic Drawing for Games, and
Game Art for Teens, Second Edition. He is a business leader, founding two separate gamedevelopment
studios. He is also a favorite speaker at video game conferences and events.

Les is also an accomplished teacher, having taught numerous art and business courses,
including teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Brigham Young University’s Marriott
School of Management and ITT Technical Institute. He is the father of five wonderful
children and the grandfather of one beautiful granddaughter.He loves being with his wife
and children both at and away from home.

 Dan Whittington was born in Santa Rosa, California, and raised in the Salt Lake Valley
area. At the ripe old age of two, he began drawing cars and taking things apart. It was this
passion for art, cars, and discovering how things work that turned tinkering with cars into
a 20-year career as an auto mechanic.

In the fourth grade, Dan took up the violin and piano. Later, he found an interest in the
accordion, banjo, and fiddle. An accomplished violinist and fiddle player, he played in
several orchestras and was the president of the Utah Old Time Fiddlers.
Always sketching and doing freelance portrait work, an industrial accident in 1991 allowed
Dan to pursue one of his first passions—art.

In 1992, while attending SLCC College, Dan was invited to apply for a position at Sculptured
Software, where he launched his career in the video game world of 2D and 3D
modeling and animation. He worked on such titles as Mortal Kombat, MechWarrior,
Turok, NBA Jam,WrestleMania,War Zone, Combat Medic, Snow Cross 2, and Need for Speed 2.
As well as owning his own company, IMAGE Art & Design, he also teaches at SLCC as an
adjunct instructor and was the catalyst that inspired SLCC to adopt the program Maya
into their teaching curriculum.
Dan is married and has three children and four grandchildren.


Introduction

Welcome to the incredible world of 3D art creation with 3ds Max 8. A fascinating new

world of creative possibilities awaits you in this book. In its pages you will find techniques

and methods for creating game art with one of the most powerful 3D programs ever created.

You will learn to build objects, environments, and characters. You will also learn the

basics of rigging and animating your game characters.

This book is for the beginning game artist who is new to 3ds Max 8 but may not be new

to art. It covers the basic information you will need to know to begin using this amazing

program. The book is, however, only the beginning. 3ds Max 8 has so many features and

tools that no single book could ever hope to relate everything possible with such an extensive 3D application.

The concept of this book is to teach you by doing. Rather than bombarding you with every

aspect of the program, we guide you through projects in which you learn the tools while

you create models for games. The concept is like the process you go through when you

move to a new city.You spend some time looking at maps and studying the lay of the land,

but to really learn what the city is like you have to get in your car and drive around. The

first things you learn are the routes to work, school, shopping, and other necessities. As

you get comfortable with the area, you have more energy to explore because you know

enough to find your way back home.

With this book we take the approach of teaching you how to do basic functions first.

These basic functions help you to gain confidence with the location of the tools and features.

As you become more confident with 3ds Max 8, we move on to show you how to

use some of the more advanced features. In the end, although we don’t cover everything,

you should have a good foundation from which you can explore the rest of the program.

Why do we take this approach? Because after taking a serious look at the way most people

learn to use 3ds Max on the job, we found that this is how they learned the program.

3ds Max is not something you can simply read about. You have to use the program to

understand it. It is also a program that requires you to understand a lot of details. It is like

learning a foreign language. You have to speak a language to learn it. You have to use 3ds

Max to understand it.

The book is filled with example projects. These projects have very detailed step-by-step

instructions. Each step is explained in detail, so just by following the instructions you will

be building complex models and animating them.

In addition, you’ll find a CD-ROM in the back of this book that contains trial versions of

Corel Painter and Corel Paint Shop Pro, both helpful tools for the aspiring artist and animator.

We hope you like the instruction and examples in this book.We worked hard to give you

real-world examples from games. The specifications for the models are accurate for the

current industry. Any model you build following the instructions in this book could be

used in a game. Good luck in your efforts.We hope this book helps you succeed as a great

game artist and animator.

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ISBN	1-59200-908-5
Copyright	2006 by Thomson Course Technology PTR

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi

Chapter 1 How 3D Works in Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

How Art Is Displayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Historical Overview of Computer Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Move to Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

More Power Brings Better Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3D Makes Its Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2D and 3D Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Using Painting and Drawing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

3D Art in Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

The Vertex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Lighting and Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Game AI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Bringing Everything Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Chapter 2 Exploring the 3ds Max Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Familiarizing Yourself with the 3ds Max Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Exploring the 3ds Max Interface in Greater Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Exploring the Command Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Using the Create Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Using the Modify Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Working with the Subobject Mode Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Texturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Chapter 3 Building Game Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Building an Old Oil Barrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Building a Wood Crate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Creating the Hangar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Making Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Chapter 4 Building Complex Game Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Modeling a P-51 Mustang Airplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Setting Up the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Creating the Fuselage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Shaping the Cylinder into a Fuselage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Completing the Fuselage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Creating the Radiator Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Cleaning Up the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Creating the Spinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Creating the Main Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Creating the Wing Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

Building the Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Mirroring the Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Texturing the Mustang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Chapter 5 Building Game Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Creating the Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Creating the Sky Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Creating the Runway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

Chapter 6 Creating Game Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Game Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Types of Game Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158

Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Non-Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Building Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Character Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Character Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

Polygon Budgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Building a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Starting the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Modeling the Torso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Building the Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Finishing the Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Texturing the Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Mirroring the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241

Chapter 7 Rigging Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

The Biped System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

Binding Biped to Your Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

The Bones System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285

Creating Bones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300

Chapter 8 3D Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301

Understanding Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301

Animation in 3ds Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .302

Ball Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Character Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .340

Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341

Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342

Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343

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