3ds Max Basics for Modeling Video Game Assets

Volume 2: Model, Rig and Animate Characters for Export to Unity or Other Game Engines

William Culbertson

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367707804
• eBook ISBN: 9781000348705
• Topic: Informatica
• Subtopic: Grafica per computer

As a textbook for learning the fundamentals of modeling, rigging and animating 3D-modeled characters for use in video games, this step-by-step lesson book builds on the reader's modeling skills acquired from reading Volume I. The reader will model characters for the Castle Environment created in Volume I, which will be rigged using the Character Animation Toolkit (CAT) in 3ds Max and animated with game moves. The Skin Modifier is used for associating the meshes to the rigs and the characters are then exported to the Unity game engine and integrated into the Castle Scene with a Third Person Character camera. As the text introduces new modeling skills, it additionally calls on the reader to perform repetitive tasks, reinforcing skills learned in the process. The content is presented as if the reader is in a working video game studio, being responsible for researching asset design and providing the team with placeholder assets and final model assets that are unwrapped and custom textured using both box mapping and the 3ds Max Quick Peel tool. Although the text uses Autodesk 3ds Max for the modeling program, the principles are transferable to other major modeling programs.

Key Features:

• The goal of this book is to teach the fundamentals of 3D modeling video game characters in a simplified, logical progression optimized for learning at a beginner level.

• Rigging principles (Linking, Inverse Kinematics [IK], Forward Kinematics [FK], Skin Deformation, Weighting Vertices and more) are introduced in a gradual progression to allow maximum comprehension and retention.
• This series of modeling exercises is the result of having successfully taught over 1000 video game students the fundamentals of 3D modeling.
• This complete, clearly written and concise text is written for self-paced learning, helping those instructors who might not be fully trained in 3D modeling and those interested in self-teaching.
• Includes instructions and project files for exporting the finished project environment into the 3D game engine, Unity.
• A companion site (www.3dsMaxBasics.com) includes working 3ds Max project files for chapters, notes and corrections, a 3ds Max user interface, 3ds Max shortcut keys and more.

Chapter 1

Character Design

Topics in This Chapter

• Game Design Document
• Sourcing Reference Materials
• Developmental Sketches

Concepts/Skills/Tools Introduced in This Chapter

• Character Sheet – Turnaround
• Scene Set-Up with Templates

Where to Start?

There have been tons of references written on character design and development. They all start with an idea that establishes the direction the character development will take. As designers at our fictitious game company, we too need a starting point for creating characters for our game. In most cases, there is a definite starting point for our process. That would be the Game Design Document (GDD). We referenced it in the creation of our castle modules in Volume I. From it, we gleaned the parameters that the game designers for our game defined. The GDD gave us the style, tone, size and look desired for the modules as well as the polygon and other limiting parameter required.

For our characters, we will also need to first reference our game’s GDD. In our role in the company as modelers it is typically not our responsibility to define the character for the game, our role is to translate the character’s defined characteristics provided in the GDD into a visual model. In some books, chapters similar to this one might discuss character development: what makes the character “tick,” their wants and desires, etc. As modelers, we are interpreting an already defined character description. Sometimes reference to work from will be provided, sometimes not.

Referring to our company’s GDD information about characters, I have summarized the following as a refresher of our game and what we modeled in Volume I:

Game Name: Castle Keep: Red vs. Blue
General Features	3D Medieval Environment, Multiplayer, FPS
Gameplay	“Capture the Flag,” Two Kingdoms, the Red and the Blue
Game Engine/Editor	Unity 3d
Player Characters	King, Queen, Knight on Horseback, Knight, Dragon
Environment	Hand-painted, medieval fantasy
Castle Modules	Curtain Wall, Fixed Bridge, Gate House, Turrets, Keep
Castle Accessories	Wooden Table and Chair, Wall Torch, Wine Barrel, etc.

Look specifically at the character information. The GDD lists five characters: The King, the Queen, the Knight on Horseback, the Knight and the Dragon. We will be modeling and rigging the Knight on Horseback, the Knight and the Dragon together in this book. The King and Queen will be assignment exercises you can complete on your own.

Let’s use the Knight as our first figure to design, model and rig. Referring to the GDD for character parameters for this character, we find the following:

Game Castle Keep, Blue vs. Red
Who	Character: Knight In the game, the male Knight serves as the main infantry soldier. The Knight has the ability to attack other characters and objects by swinging/slashing a hand-held sword. His movement is strong, skilled and confident. He’s not hesitant, ready to fight on command.
What	The Knight is a biped figure. The character has a cartoonish look. For his proportions, he stands three “heads” high. He wears a stylized suit of armor (creating an air of confidence/tough guy) that allows free movement for running, jumping and swinging his sword for attack. The character has markings that can be used to assign the character to either the Blue or Red team (one character used for both teams with different skins).
When	The character is middle to late medieval time period, refined armor and weapons, appropriate to the modeled environmental castle modules.
Where	The Knight will fight at the ground or surface level (regular gravity). Movement: WASD movement with jump, arm sword swing Animations: Idle, walk, run, jump, attack (sword swing), die
Model	Poly limit: 4000 poly limit (low poly)
	Height limit: 1.5 m (scaled to castle environment: fits through doorways)
	Complexity: Can be simple, non-deformation

There is some key information in the above character description. We have been given the impression the character is a short, feisty guy who is comfortable in his armor. He will be a low poly character of 4000 polygons. His proportions of three heads high give him a cartoony look. Because he can be a non-deformable character, we can design him with multiple parts that can be rigged using just linking. I will be creating our design based on this information.

References

Our next step would be to start gathering some references for the character design. We want to be sure our reference includes some actual armor, so we are not just working from someone’s interpretation of armor, like a 3d model. The following are some of the images I found.

Image 1.1 © Shutterstock. Used with Permission.

Image 1.2 © Shutterstock. Used with Permission.

The images above sh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Introduction
• 1 Character Design
• 2 Character Modeling: The Knight
• 3 Rigging Basics
• 4 Character Modeling: The Warhorse Knight
• 5 Character Rigging: Skin and the CAT Rig
• 6 Rigging the Warhorse Knight
• 7 Character Modeling: The Dragon
• 8 Rigging the Dragon
• 9 Character Animations
• 10 Exporting to the Game Engine
• Index