What books should i buy to learn these programs?

Unity Engine
1

Hey guys,i know i can watch tutorials but i really am just looking to buy 3 cheapish books to learn

  1. Unity development (3d)

  2. Photoshop texturing (for games)

  3. Blender 3d modelling books (Or 3ds max, it doesnt matter)

Thanks guys :slight_smile:

2

You could save yourself some money and get a month subscription to download unlimited video tutorials from cgcookie.com or digital tutors.

3

True, better than books you have lot of good video tutorials out here. If you are starting I recomend you this page http://walkerboystudio.com/html/unity_training___free__.html

And like twiesned said, Digital tutors has a great learning path for unity. The modeling/rigging/texturing courses are bad, becouse I think the want to focus on Unity development, but the photoshop course for making the GUI controls is really good.

Also, for modeling and texturing characters I would recomend you this one:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/689-Creating-a-Low-Poly-Game-Character-in-Maya-and-Silo
For me it’s the best tutorial for modeling characters for games. The teacher use silo for the modeling tools, but it’s doesnt matter becouse the tools that he uses are the same for all the 3d software. After model it he teach you how to texture the model in photoshop, using baked diffuse and light maps in maya, how to enhance your normal maps with your diffuse textures and using programs like zbrush (3d coat in this case)

4

For Unity I’ve found Unity 4.x by Gabriel Nieto to be a very good start. It’s fairly short, up to date (includes Mecanim) and is generally not too daunting. The translation is a bit dodgy in spots (mostly at the beginning) but I found it easy to follow.

For Photoshop I have Luke Ahearn’s 3D Game Textures. which is quite good. Having done a workshop on CGSociety with Leigh Van Der Byl on texture painting I’m not sure any book is really the best way to go, but Luke’s book is a good start.

As for Blender (which I’ve been using for 5 years) I really think videos are the way to go because it’s so hard to really see whats happening from photographs in a book. I’ve just done most of a tutorial series on Youtube by David Ward modelling a Tim Burton like stop motion character which was really good, but not for absolute beginners.

Something you didn’t mention was animation. Depending on what kind of games you intend to make you may need decent animation skills. With Mecanim you can use ready made animations of course, but you might want something more personalized.