Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
3D graphic assets
The advent of 3D graphics offered a brand new set of possibilities for game deve-
lopers and posed new problems for the production of graphic assets.
As mobile phones incorporated the hardware required to run 3D games, mainly
Graphic Processing Units designed to take care of graphics, mobile game developers
turned to this new technology and began developing successful 3D games for mobile
devices.
3D models
The production of 3D assets for games begins with the creation of a 3D model of a
game object using software, such as 3D Studio Max, Maya, Blender, or any other you
like. This is usually a basic 3D model with no detail. This model is then exported in a
sculpting software, such as ZBrush or Mudbox, to convert it into an extremely detailed
3D model, or high poly, a very detailed asset, thanks to the use of thousands of poly-
gons (depending on the importance of that specific game asset).
In the following figure, a beautifully detailed 3D model made with ZBrush is shown:
The high-poly model is first used to create a normal map (or a displacement map) and
then turned into its low-poly counterpart: a 3D model that uses fewer polygons and
thus, requires less computational resources to run in real time and produces a smaller
file size.
