Blender 3D Asset Creation for the Metaverse

Blender 3D Asset Creation for the Metaverse

by Vinicius Machado Venâncio
Released July 2023
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781801814324

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Elevate your 3D modeling skills by mastering each part of the process in this part-color guide, creating professional assets and lifelike characters for your games and metaverse worlds

Key Features

  • Discover an optimized workflow for crafting game and the metaverse assets
  • Learn shortcuts to make the creation process smooth and quick
  • Generate a versatile 3D model suitable for various purposes
  • Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

If you are familiar with modeling, this book will help you discover a practical and efficient workflow designed to accelerate your asset creation process for use in multiple projects, including games and the metaverse.

Complete with shortcuts and tips on how to speed up the process, this book guides you in modeling assets and characters with the help of references. You’ll learn how to optimize the modeled asset for maximum rendering performance within game engines and the metaverse. Next, you’ll get to grips with unwrapping the 3D model for texturing and explore multiple texturing techniques to breathe life into your 3D models. Finally, you’ll integrate the 3D model to work seamlessly across a myriad of programs and game engines.

By the end of this book, you’ll have the skills to efficiently create any type of 3D asset from scratch for use in renders, animations, or immersive gaming experiences.

What you will learn

  • Model game and metaverse 3D assets starting with primitive shapes
  • Optimize the modeled asset for maximum rendering performance
  • Texture the asset with PBR image textures, real life images and/or procedural textures
  • Bake the resulting texture to a single image for the textures to work in the metaverse and in any given program
  • Learn tips about human anatomy to make believable characters and avatars
  • Learn the differences in workflow for organic and non-organic asset 3D modeling
  • Understand the importance of reference for any type of work, especially characters

Who this book is for

Whether you are a beginner 3D asset designer or an aspiring character modeler, this book is your gateway to expanding your skill set in asset creation for personal projects, games, and the metaverse. Since it covers the intricacies of the asset creation process, intermediate-level modelers will also find plenty of information. Familiarity with basic texturing and UV unwrapping will enable you to get the most out of this book.

Table of contents

  1. Blender 3D Asset Creation for the Metaverse
  2. Contributors
  3. About the author
  4. About the reviewer
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
    4. Download the color images
    5. Conventions used
    6. Get in touch
    7. Share Your Thoughts
    8. Download a free PDF copy of this book
  6. Part 1: Inorganic Asset Modeling
  7. Chapter 1: Modeling the 3D Asset
    1. Gathering references
      1. What are good and bad references?
    2. A quick tour of Blender
    3. Blocking out the asset’s general shape
      1. Breaking down the object into primitive shapes
    4. Building the headphones inside Blender
      1. Creating the lower part of the headphones
      2. Creating the headband
    5. Refining the block out to add detail
      1. Secondary details
      2. Tertiary details
    6. Summary
  8. Chapter 2: Optimizing Your Asset for Better Rendering Performance
    1. Deciding whether an asset has excessive geometry
    2. Reducing excessive geometry
      1. Dissolving edges manually
      2. Decimation
    3. What to keep in mind while optimizing a model
      1. Flat areas
      2. Bad geometry
      3. Further optimization
    4. Summary
  9. Chapter 3: UV Unwrapping Your 3D Asset
    1. Finding the right edges on which to place seams
    2. Unwrapping the headphones
      1. Cushions and earcups
      2. Headband
      3. Connecting part
    3. Packing the UVs
    4. Checking for practical use
    5. Summary
  10. Chapter 4: Texturing Your 3D Asset Using PBR and Procedural Textures
    1. Setting up your workspace
    2. A physically based rendering workflow
      1. Procedural texturing workflow
    3. Summary
  11. Chapter 5: Texture Painting and Using Real-Life Images as Textures
    1. Setting up your texture painting workspace
      1. The Texture Paint workspace
      2. Painting
      3. Texturing with real-life images
    2. Baking the textures
      1. Baking from high poly to high poly
      2. Baking from high poly to low poly
    3. Summary
  12. Part 2: Organic Asset Modeling
  13. Chapter 6: Introduction to Blender’s Sculpting Tools
    1. Blender’s default sculpting tools
      1. UI elements
      2. Blender’s sculpting brushes
    2. Advantages of using a graphics tablet to sculpt
    3. Suggested uses for the brushes
    4. Summary
  14. Chapter 7: Making the Base Mesh for a Humanoid Character
    1. General body proportions for humanoid characters
      1. Arms and hands
      2. Legs and feet
      3. Chest and abdomen
      4. Face
    2. Blocking out the base mesh
    3. Summary
  15. Chapter 8: Refining the Base Meshes
    1. Refining the head and face
    2. The neck
    3. The chest
    4. The upper back
    5. The arms
    6. The abdomen
    7. The pelvic area
    8. The legs
    9. The hands
    10. The feet
    11. Merging the different parts
    12. Summary
  16. Chapter 9: Optimizing the Base Meshes
    1. What is good topology?
      1. Edge flow
      2. Poles
    2. Setting up the retopology mesh
    3. Retopologizing the base mesh
      1. Head
      2. How to decrease the mesh resolution
      3. Neck
      4. Torso
      5. Arms
      6. Legs
      7. Feet
      8. Hands
    4. UV unwrapping our base meshes
      1. Head and neck
      2. Torso
      3. Arms
      4. Hands
      5. Legs
      6. Feet
    5. Summary
  17. Chapter 10: Rigging the Base Meshes
    1. Types of movable joints in the human body
      1. Ball-and-socket joints
      2. Ellipsoid joint
      3. Saddle joints
      4. Hinge joints
      5. Pivot joints
      6. Plane joints
    2. Rigging our character
      1. Spine
      2. Arms and hands
      3. Legs and feet
    3. Weight painting
    4. Limiting the movements of the joints
    5. Adding IK to our rig
      1. Legs
      2. Arms
    6. Generating a full rig with the Rigify add-on
    7. Summary
  18. Chapter 11: Further Development as a 3D Artist
    1. Improving quickly
      1. Free online tutorials
      2. Dedicated courses
    2. The importance of feedback as an artist
      1. Differentiating between good and bad feedback
    3. Summary
  19. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  20. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Packt is searching for authors like you
    2. Share Your Thoughts
    3. Download a free PDF copy of this book

Product information

  • Title: Blender 3D Asset Creation for the Metaverse
  • Author(s): Vinicius Machado Venâncio
  • Release date: July 2023
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781801814324