Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity

A complete guide to creating usable, realistic game characters with two powerful tools Creating viable game characters requires a combination of skills. This book teaches game creators how to create usable, realistic game assets using the power of an open-source 3D application and a free game engine. It presents a step-by-step approach to modeling, texturing, and animating a character using the popular Blender software, with emphasis on low polygon modeling and an eye for using sculpting and textures, and demonstrates how to bring the character into the Unity game engine. Game creation is a popular and productive pursuit for both hobbyists and serious developers; this guide brings together two effective tools to simplify and enhance the process Artists who are familiar with Blender or other 3D software but who lack experience with game development workflow will find this book fills important gaps in their knowledge Provides a complete tutorial on developing a game character, including modeling, UV unwrapping, sculpting, baking displacements, texturing, rigging, animation, and export Emphasizes low polygon modeling for game engines and shows how to bring the finished character into the Unity game engine Whether you're interested in a new hobby or eager to enter the field of professional game development, this book offers valuable guidance to increase your skills.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xv Chapter 1: Basic Game Art Concepts 1 Game Design Workflows 2 Creating Game Assets 4 Understanding and Optimizing 3D Game Art 9 Working with Game Engines 20 Scripting Happens 21 Chapter 2: Blender Basics for Game Characters 23 Working with Blender’s Unique Features 24 Working with Editor Arrangement and Types 26 Navigating and Viewing 3D Space 32 Creating and Manipulating Objects 33 Using the Properties Editor 36 Know Your Hotkeys 37 Making a Simple Block Character 39 Useful Techniques 44 Chapter 3: Modeling the Character 45 Working with Model Sheets 46 Shaping the Torso for Low Polygon Count 48 Extruding the Legs and Feet 51 Making the Arms and Hands 56 Separating Body Components to Create Clothing 62 Creating the Head with Poly-by-Poly Modeling 65 Carving Out Zombie Damage 82 Chapter 4: Prepping for Zombie Details with UV Unwrapping 87 The Uses of UV Layouts 88 Drawing Seams 89 Using Blender's UV/Image Editor 97 Laying Out a UV Sheet 100 Using Blender's Live Unwrap Functions 102 Chapter 5: Sculpting for Normal Maps 105 The Purpose of Sculpting 106 Introducing the Multires Modifier 107 Using Blender's Sculpting Interface 110 Sculpting the Zombie in Blender 120 Baking Normal Maps 128 Chapter 6: Digital Painting Color Maps 135 Understanding Digital Painting 136 Preparing for Color Map Painting 142 Digital Painting Best Practices 144 Applying Your Color Map to the Zombie 154 Chapter 7: Rigging for Realistic Movement 157 Understanding Rigging 158 Creating a Simple Armature 164 Finishing the Armature with Constraints 175 Linking the Armature and Zombie 184 Chapter 8: Animating the Zombie 193 Understanding and Planning Game Animation 194 Using Blender's Animation System 200 Creating an Idle Animation 203 Creating a Walk Animation 208 Creating a Chase Animation 210 Creating a Run Animation 212 Organizing Your Animations 214 Chapter 9: Unity Engine Basics 217 Understanding Unity’s Logic and Interface 218 Building a Whiteblock Level with Unity Primitives 223 Creating and Editing Materials in Unity 232 Organizing Assets with Unity Empties 234 Chapter 10: Implementing Your Zombie in a Unity Game 237 Importing Models into Unity 238 Unity Scripting--A Crash Course 240 Adding Interactivity to the Zombie 247 Turning the First Person Controller into an FPS Hero 259 Adding Other Gameplay Elements 270 Wrapping Up 278 Index 279