Anatomy for 3D Artists: The Essential Guide for CG Professionals

This book really is “The Essential Guide” for 3D character artists. Though you can probably make a decent model just following reference images and common sense, I think a solid basis of knowledge of the human form really is the foundation for taking your art to the next level of realism. If you are looking for that foundation, or just want to up your skills in the character department, look no further.The chapter structure in Anatomy for 3D Artists has a variety of different artists tackling a few chapters each, giving the book some different flavor and allowing for these best-in-breed artists to highlight their strengths. It begins with 2D study, and has several chapters each detailing both male and female figures. This beginning part is very much foundational, and shows the basic proportions of the body as well as the basics of bone and muscle structure. This follows up with similar treatments of bone and muscles in a 3D context. Finally, they finish the book with some full sculpts of both male and female bodies in dynamic poses.It really goes deep into the names and relationships between the bones and muscles, moreso than I was even expecting. And to put this into context, I went to art school for college and I don’t even recall ever going this deep. For example, the text is peppered with lines like: “The bone of the femur rotates inward around its longitudinal axis. The tensor fasciae latae, the gluteus medius, and parts of the gluteus minimus allow this movement.” I won’t lie, some of this descriptions are thick and I doubt I will remember the specifics. Though it is still helpful to understand, and you could always refer back to the text in cases of confusion. And, despite some of the heavily worded descriptions, the text remains very approachable.Anatomy for 3D Artists is a great place to look, not only for guidance but also inspiration. They spared no expense at having literally every page packed with multiple full color illustrations of each step along the way. Especially for a book of this nature, pictures are key to understanding the material, and the presentation is beautiful. There’s also a few sections in the middle and end just to showcase finished artwork, which is appreciated.One other great aspect, is that the instruction is not tied to any particular 3D modeling package. Though it’s clear most of the authors are using ZBrush, they stray from going into the specific technical aspects of the application. Pretty much all the instruction is general and could be applied to whatever software you or your studio prefers.All in all, I consider this book to be a huge success and should be a key element of any character artist’s bag of tricks. Although there are other anatomy books going back years, this is one of the first specifically for 3D artists. I found it helpful and I think you will too.

I am a 3D modeling teacher at a college and I can say without a doubt that this book will help your students grasp the broken bridge between organic sculpting and human anatomy. For a time I was having minor issues grasping the overall objective of teaching my students what to look for and how to do it correctly and efficiently, I looked at many books but like most books, to much filler and not enough guidance. This is he opposite, the book is broken down into the correct process used by many to achieve the goal. They explain in great detail the theory portion of sculpting the human anatomy as well as what main muscle structures to focus on. They do a great job of showing how to start with the major topology and work your way down to the fine detail. They also explain in great depths the different types of body structures that one can encounter and how to achieve a good sculpt upon completion.If you are looking for something that will help you during the process of human sculpting in 3d then I would encourage you to get this amazing book. Also if you are a student and need something to help you in your hard times or just need a great read, then just pick this up, you will not be disappointed.

This book was bought for assisting me in developing my understanding in 3D anatomy in preparation for college. I found that with the various 2D studies that was explored enforced a basis understanding of anatomy to later convert it into a 3D model. During the 2D chapters it discusses various proportions from the overall head-torso-arm-leg proportions to individual scale such as understanding the face in a more comprehensive manner. As the book progresses it focuses on the block out stages, various methods to start developing a human form in 3D space. Furthermore, it ventures into refining a model through topology, shading and how to build from photo references. Overall it is a very well structured book full of tips and various diagrams/references to enforce lessons provided.

the product is perfect, but the book was not sealed and arrived in my home beaten

I normally dont leave feedback for about a month after recieving something but for this book I have to say extremely useful when it comes to my field.Being a game art designer I am always needing new ways to up my game when I am doing character design. Thanks to this book I can finally not only model the character but draw them out to proportion. All around this book is great if you need more help with anatomy.Thank you.

I’m still in the process of working through the book, but I absolutely love the figures and the explanations! Excellent anatomy reference book! The pages are free of clutter, the proportions are well explained, and variation of poses and parts of the body studied are well laid out and easy to follow along. There is so much great stuff packed into this book, and I am so happy with my purchase!

This book helped a LOT when I was studying character modelling back in college. It does its due diligence in giving you a brief intro with anatomy in 2D before stepping you into visualizing the subject via 3d modelling. You COULD follow along using any industry standard software like Maya or 3ds Max but the meat of the book is intended to be followed along with sculpting programs like 3DCoat, Zbrush or Sculptris. A great book for anatomy reference.

I own a couple of Anatomy books and this has got to be my favorite. The book displays a lot of different ways to view anatomy. For instance, they start at the beginning of the book with hand drawn examples of the body and then they shift into showing it in a three-dimensional perspective. Anatomy is complicated and I think this book helps you understand it in a variety of different formats.