In this demonstration, Nate explains and shows the process by which a piece of concept art is interpreted and used to model out a game environment in Maya. In the process, Nate will explain various modeling tools, techniques, and workflows, as well as numerous theories and methods used to create game art. A timelapse video of the entire modeling session is included so that the viewer can see and understand all the techniques being used. Nate will also cover common errors and mistakes to avoid so that the scene will run efficiently in real time and light correctly.

Topics Covered:

Interpreting concept art and using it properly
Maya scene setup for modeling environments
Using Maya image planes
Scene blockout modeling and planning
Using the Maya grid for precision
Translation and poly modeling tools
Using curves, curve history techniques, and creating curves from edges
Proxy modeling techniques
Selection tools and tricks
Variety of theories and workflows explained to understand different pipelines
Modular building and geometry reuse to build a scene efficiently
How to clean up modeling properly so that it will texture and light well
Color sets, bake sets, ambient occlusion, and how to stress test your environment
How to model high poly geometry to be used later for texturing and ZBrush
Creating normal maps from high poly objects
Mental Ray lighting basics

Chapters:

Concept Art
Scene Blockout
Translation Tools
Modeling Tools
Modeling with Curves
Proxy Modeling
Selection Tools
Modeling from Concept, Part 1
Modeling from Concept, Part 2
Modeling from Concept, Part 3
Modeling from Concept, Part 4
Modeling Cleanup
High Poly Detail
Conclusion