Google SketchUp for Game Design: Beginner's Guide

by Robin de Jongh

Create 3D game worlds complete with textures, levels and props with this book and ebook In Detail 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. What you will learn from this book Approach The book takes a clear, step-by-step approach to building a complete game level using SketchUp with many props and textures. Who this book is written for This book is designed for anyone who wants to create entire 3D worlds in freely available game engines such as Unity 3D, CryEngine, Ogre, Panda3D, Unreal Engine, and Blender Game Engine. It also targets all those who wish to create new levels and assets to sell in game asset stores or use in visualization or animation.

Genres: Game Design

270 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2011

Reviews

[Mahmoud Adly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and to be clear and organized, I'll write my review as definite points (as usual =) ).

Pros:

- As the book title mentioned, it is a guide for game design and beginners. So the book did not only go from bottom up in Google SketchUp, but also went to explain the basics of other applications that can get involved in the game design process like GIMP, and even introduced one of the best game engines: Unity.
- All tools and websites introduced are free, or have trial versions/accounts.
- The book author stressed on a very important thing: honesty, and the cover image is an example of this honesty. Because what you see on this cover is what you get and can do yourself using what you learned in Google SketchUp.
- The way the author explains is not boring or lengthy. But on the contrary, it was very smooth, interesting, and straight to the point.
- The author stressed on introducing the basic and important features of each applications without getting deep, which I considered it a very nice method in dealing with a beginner in any application. Beside some tips and tricks, and notes on how bigger companies do this work and manage such tasks.
- The book in general was like a quick tour in the world of assets and game design, opening some doors I might not see if I just go to learn Google SketchUp alone.


Cons:

- The websites and links provided inside the book were not all working. Some links were removed and some had different sub-directories, but somehow I managed to get to most of them by a quick search.
- The author sometimes missed some small details that -for a lazy beginner- can be crucial to get a step done. Some small details like the order of marking objects or how to use a certain tool. But the athor has indicated that this book needs some work, so there is no place for laziness.


All in all, I would recommend this book for reading, whether you are using Google SketchUp for game asset design, game level design, or even as an architect.

[Sambrown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how author grabs your attention with his passion for the subject that really comes through in every chapter and makes it a fun read. It lays out what you can -and can't- accomplish with SketchUp and just how relevant this free tool can be to a 3D artist whether a professional or a hobbyist. The book is refreshingly honest about such a complex subject as 3D asset creation.

You'll get hands on experience though practical exercises that are easy to follow and encourage adding your own personal style as opposed to cut and dry recipe examples. These examples are great jumping off points that allow you to practice techniques used throughout the book. I like how each exercise ends with a challenge to push you to take the exercise further.

My favorite aspect of this book is how it focus exclusively on FREE tools available that allow anyone to set up a 3D development environment. Sketch-Up, Google Warehouse, Gimp (Photoshop alternative), CGtextures, Unity3D, Meshalb - all the tools necessary to create AAA quality game assets or any interactive experience. What's exciting about this is that any with curiosity can jump in.

The modeling exercises start with creating simple but useful game objects and introduce a repeatable work flow: researching real-world objects, preparing textures for game engines, modeling and texturing objects, and finally importing them into a game engine.

Building on the techniques learned in the early exercises, a couple of great advanced modeling exercises are also included. What's awesome about this is you'll see the secret the pros use to create insanely complicated models (hint:reference pics and time). Using the same techniques on a different scale, you'll create your own city block, and import that into Unity3D. With a few adjustments, you'll have a first-person game-environment to explore and you can post it online for others to explore. (now go make games :)

Overall this a fantastic book to have in the 3D section your library. Beginners will find this book most useful as it will get you up and running with the tools you need to begin your journey with 3D & gaming, but even experienced pros will find SketchUp a very useful tool in rapid prototyping; particularly since you can import sketchUp models into programs like 3ds Max.

If nothing else it's a refreshing read for anyone interesting in 3D because the author's passion for the subject comes though and surely will inspire (or re-inspire) the like-minded.

If you enjoyed this book and want to push further into creating games I can recommend some other great titles that I've read that you will find interesting

- Unity Game Development Essentials (Packt publishing)
- Unity Game Development by Example (Packt publishing)
- Unity 3 Game Development Hotshot (Packt publishing)
- 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity (Focal Press)

[Fred Kahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Google SketchUp for Game Design is exactly what the title says: A Beginner's Guide to creating navigable 3D gaming environments. The specific process this book focuses on is to create models in Google SketchUp, then bring those models into Unity to create walkthrough environments. The audience for this book is anyone who is interested in creating 3D walkthroughs in UNITY, which can be published to the web, using the unity player. Its easy to follow for anyone with or without experience with either tool. I could see this book applying to budding game designers, architects, artists, or anyone interested in creating 3D environments.

This book is broken up into chapters that break it down into easy to follow steps to create models including terrain, buildings, cars, and objects including palettes, barrel, wrench, etc. They cover modeling from photos, texturing, optimizing the model and more. The car modeling chapter, in particular, is a great technique. There's also lots of references for where to get free textures and models on the web, for you to use if you don't want to model them yourself. Once the models are created, they are imported into Unity. The author goes step by step to teach you how to create walk-arounds in the model, and you're off!

Its pretty amazing how far all this technology has come, because pretty much anyone from my mom to my son could pick up this book and start making their own 3D environments, using freely available software. I'd be really interested to use this as a high school class curriculum and see what kids could make. So for anyone wanting to create 3D walkthrough spaces, I highly recommend checking this book out. It cuts out the learning curve and gets you creating cool stuff fast!

[Robin Jongh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Describes step by step how to create 3D game art assets (levels and props) for your indie game projects, then create a complete game world using the Unity 3D game engine.