Essential Skills in Organic Modeling

This is a beginner’s guide to learning and implementing the essential aspects of modeling organic objects and using an organic workflow to model anything. This book gives an aspiring modeler all the tools that they need to know in order to begin creating great models that are efficient and laid out properly for rigging and texturing. The reader will be taken through all the primary techniques and methodologies for making “liveable” creatures for video, film, or games. The reader will also learn the basic physical structure that designates something as organic vs artificial, and how these varying structures can be tackled from a modeling perspective.through a practical, hands-on approach. Features Designed to approach organic modeling in a software-independent manner. Builds fundamental knowledge of 3D digital art from the ground up. Each lesson builds on the previous lesson. Has industry standard knowledge, based on simplicity and efficiency that will work for either production rendering or game development. Defines what organic modeling is and how it works, and why each technique was developed and implemented as it currently stands.

PART I: Defining Organic Modeling. Chapter 1 -- Introduction. Chapter 2 -- The Outcome or Method. PART II:Organic Structures. Chapter 3 Organic Objects: Plants. Chapter 4 -- Organic Objects:Animals. Chapter 5 -- Non-living Organic Objects. PART III: Modeling Techniques and Tools. Chapter 6 -- Using References. Chapter 7 -- Edge Loop Basics. Chapter 8 -- The Workflow. Chapter 9-- Advanced Techniques. PART IV: Step by Steps. Chapter 10 -- Simple Plant Object Chapter 11 -- Simple Creatures. Chapter 12: Simple Animals. Chapter 13 Complex Animal. Chapter 14 Non-Organics.

Professor Zeman is a 16 year veteran of the game industry, first getting a job at Red Zone Interactive in 1998, which was purchased by SCEA shortly after, where he worked on several top-selling NFL titles pioneering rigging methods and facial animation in real-time environments. His next career move took him to TakeTwo Interactive where he continued his work as a character rigger and face animation specialist until he left the industry to teach full time at Northern Kentucky University and pass on his knowledge by building a curriculum for aspiring game developers everywhere. He continues to develop interactive titles and push forward creatively through his indie studio at RHZ Development.