The Gnomon Workshop welcomes character artist Mayan Escalante whose three-DVD series on Modeling for Games has been released. Currently working at Electronic Arts on such titles as
Medal of Honor, Mayan's titles offer artists a look into the very distinct modeling requirements for games.
His first two titles take the modeler through the process of modeling a character head and body. The third title introduces the artist to low-polygon UV layout for games. Descriptions for each of the DVDs follow.
'Head Modeling for Games: Low Poly Modeling with Mayan Escalante': 3D game artists are faced with certain restrictions when creating models for use in real-time. Game hardware, art direction and development time all have an impact. It is the challenge of the 3D artist to make interesting and visually believable characters while dealing with these restrictions. This DVD covers the creation of a low polygon model of a head for a game environment. Topics such as polygon component modeling, poly count, scripts and facial anatomy are discussed.
'Body Modeling for Games Low Poly Modeling with Mayan Escalante': Creating characters for games presents many challenges for the 3D artist. Issues such as poly count, flexibility of the rig, art direction, and the game environment itself will dictate the final look of the character. In this DVD, Mayan continues from the head model and design used in Head Modeling for Games, demonstrating the tools and techniques used to create low polygon characters. Topics such as working from a concept design, poly count, scripts, props and topology are discussed.
'UV Mapping for Games: Low Poly UV Layout with Mayan Escalante': UV layout is one of the most important skills of the game modeler. Unlike high poly modeling, game UVs are given limited texture space. It is important to use that space in the most efficient manner, while minimizing seams and distortion. How you project and arrange your UVs can greatly impact the look of the model and the time it takes to paint your textures. This lecture will cover the tools and techniques necessary to create efficient UV maps.
