3D Art Essentials: The Fundamentals of 3D Modeling, Texturing, and Animation

I bought this book to teach myself 3D design concepts and I am using in conjunction with a book on Blender basics. The two work together very well. The book is non-technical and has good exercises but you need a reference for a specific software you will use to do the exercises. It explains concepts very simply and clearly. Still a long way from finishing all the exercises. Looks like it will be fun.

This book bills itself as "application agnostic," so you won't learn how Blender does this or Maya does that, but you will learn basic theory and approaches to 3D modeling. You will need to use this book in addition to your software's manual to get the most of out it. In addition to theory, there are tutorials. Starting in chapter 3, you begin working on a model robot. Each chapter introduces new 3D concepts that are incorporated into that chapter's tutorial. By chapter eight you'll be adding animation to the robot.The text is basic, but very good. I found Ami Chopine's writing style to be direct but not dull. She doesn't crack stupid jokes or waste your time with trying to make you feel good. Each of the explanations, whether it's about good working habits or an explanation of morph targets, is fairly short, so it's easy to read a section or two at a time. Yet I never felt the text was rushing me through a topic, and I thought the explanations were very clear. Still, some topics are complex enough that I will be rereading those sections.Chopine takes a very realistic approach to teaching you the basics of 3D computer art. She doesn't make false promises that you'll read her book and become an expert in just a few days, nor does she discourage you from trying to become a 3D artist. Instead, she offers advice to pace yourself, because "you will enjoy your art more once you have taken the time to grasp the basics," and while this "doesn't take 10,000 hours" it does take "more than a weekend, or even a month of weekends." In other words, if you want to do this, be prepared to put some work into it.My first look at this computer graphics book was disappointing because the book is so plain. The text is black and white throughout, as are all the illustrations. I rated the book 4 stars because I felt the publisher got cheap about the production of the book. Even a center spread with 4-8 pages in color would have been welcome. Still, the pictures are good; they just could have been better. Despite its lack of flashiness, I recommend this book because it's approachable, understandable, and very useful. Although I haven't completed the tutorials yet (I'm still figuring out Blender 2.5), I understand the approach to modeling in a way that I never did before. I don't feel lost when I open the software and the tutorials give me specific tasks to accomplish. Chopine's explanations are sound and her book has a lot to offer the beginning 3D artist.

I am enjoying every bit of it. Highly recommend it for people starting in the field, without any dependency on the software.

Ami Chopine has created a timeless book with 3D Art Essentials. While most other texts tie themselves to a particular software or version, here we see the essential building blocks of creating 3D art in any application. This is foundational knowledge, and the book is not dated at all, even though it was published almost 10 years ago. If you are an aspiring 3D artist, or even a 3D programmer that wants to understand the art aspect better, there are not many books like this, and this is the best.Inside we find 20 chapters on different aspects of modeling, texturing, and animation. These are not step by step tutorials, mostly the book explains general terminology and methods, which are great for a beginner. While there are some exercise at the end of the chapters, these are brief and not the focus of the book. The topics covered include polygons and NURBS, subdivision surfaces, deformers, rigging, animation, physics, texture mapping, light, cameras, rendering, and more. Finally at the end there is a chapter on tools and apps, but this is just a quick overview.All in all, I really enjoyed the book. While I have been studying 3D art for quite a while, and the majority of the book was a refresher, I think this would be perfect for someone just getting started with 3D art so they can learn the fundamentals without being confused by any one particular application. I also loved the history section at the beginning and the overall advice sprinkled through the text. I’d recommend it.

Whether you're just curious or at school learning CGI or coming from a traditional and 2D animation background (like I do) this book will be a huge help on getting started with 3D CGI.It's easy to read and understand, all the concepts and terms are very direct and well explained.In my opinion it is essential to have a few basic notions of any 3D software while reading this book as a lot of the examples and terms will be easier to understand and you'll learn much faster.I'd recommend getting Blender (free) or a trial version of any other 3D package and watch a few online introductory tutorials about them so you can get the most of this book.The only reason i don't give 5* to the product is by not having coloured images. Although it is not crucial, I think it is good for a better understanding as some colour concepts are universal and very important.Anyway, I definitely recommend this book if you are getting started on CGI or learning any 3D program for Modeling, Animation and Texturing.