Book Image

Google SketchUp for Game Design: Beginner's Guide

Book Image

Google SketchUp for Game Design: Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

Creating video game environments similar to the best 3D games on the market is now within the capability of hobbyists for the first time, with the free availability of game development software such as Unity 3D, and the ease with which groups of enthusiasts can get together to pool their skills for a game project. The sheer number of these independent game projects springing up means there is a constant need for game art, the physical 3D environment and objects that inhabit these game worlds. Now thanks to Google there is an easy, fun way to create professional game art, levels and props.Google SketchUp is the natural choice for beginners to game design. This book provides you with the workflow to quickly build realistic 3D environments, levels, and props to fill your game world. In simple steps you will model terrain, buildings, vehicles, and much more.Google SketchUp is the ideal entry level modeling tool for game design, allowing you to take digital photographs and turn them into 3D objects for quick, fun, game creation. SketchUp for Game Design takes you through the modeling of a game level with SketchUp and Unity 3D, complete with all game art, textures and props. You will learn how to create cars, buildings, terrain, tools and standard level props such as barrels, fencing and wooden pallets. You will set up your game level in Unity 3D to create a fully functional first person walk-around level to email to your friends or future employers.When you have completed the projects in this book, you will be comfortable creating 3D worlds, whether for games, visualization, or films.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Google SketchUp for Game Design
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Summary


Now that you've completed this chapter, you are most of the way to becoming a quality asset creator. If you failed some of the steps, don't worry about it. It will all come clear as we go on. You can always come back and try it again later.

The techniques you have learned in this chapter are the basis of great modeling in SketchUp. It's a focussed approach with a quality outcome. Don't forget to download the download pack from Packt's site and compare your asset to the final file in Chapter 4's folder, named Chapter4_pallet_gameready.skp.

In this chapter, we covered:

  • Some of the main SketchUp modeling and editing tools

  • Creating groups and components for quick modeling

  • The main texturing techniques for ultra realistic textures

  • How to model from a texture

  • Making varied use of the same texture

  • How to prepare "game-ready" models

  • How to export your file

I hope you enjoyed yourself. You should be proud of what you've achieved. In the next chapter, you're going to apply these skills to game level...