Unreal Materials Instructional Videos

[hal]

PlanetUnreal spotted a new video tutorial titled Unreal Materials, which shows step-by-step how to create and implement custom materials for UT3's UnrealEd. In addition to seven sections of tutorials, you get the following for $59.99 (or $49.99 download only):

• 1 max file with the low poly rubble, also 3 ASE files of the rubble piles to import into UE3
• 1 .obj file for the low poly rubble (useful for other 3d programs)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Bricks containing Diffuse, Spec, Normal, Mask, and Displace (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Dirt containing Diffuse, Spec, Normal, and Mask (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Metal containing Diffuse, Spec, and Normal (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Rock containing Diffuse, and Normal (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Rubble containing Diffuse, Spec, Normal and AO (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 PSD for the Window containing Diffuse, Spec, Normal, Mask, and Emissive (also the corresponding TGA files)
• 1 1024 TGA for the Drip Decals (3 drips packed into 1 TGA)
• 1 512 TGA for the Normal Map Tiled Details
• 1 512 TGA for the Stain Decals (3 stains packed into 1 TGA)
• 1 128 TGA for the Gradient Decals (2 gradients packed into 1 TGA)
• 2 512 TGA for the Introduction Tutorial (simple textures used at the beginning of the DVD)
• 1 unreal upk package with the completed shaders with textures
• 1 unreal ut3 map file with the scene used in the tutorial

 

[Jackal]

$50 bucks huh.

I guess if you know nothing, have alot of money to toss away, and want to learn it.

 

[evilmrfrank]

http://hourences.com/book/tutorialsue3mated.htm Free and easy

 

[UnrealGrrl]

whatever happened to the UT3 book that was supposed to come out right after the game... another 3dbuzz production i thought? - did i miss it or did it not happen? (wonder if they are waiting for patches, fixes, re-release when stuff will actually work for modding)?

 

[elmuerte]

afaik it's not done yet

 

[Lee3dee]

$50 is an excellent value for the amount of information that Eat3D shows. Free is good, but if you want to take full advantage of UE3 and learn the material tricks this is a great resource.

 

[Fordy]

Hi folks.

Last I heard, the book was finished and was in the hands of the publishers. No idea what is causing the delay though!

 

[Nathillien]

yeah - 50$ just for the material tutorials is, bluntly, a rip off.
If they included kismet, phat and cascade then it would be worth the buck.
I guess they will charge another 50 for each of the rest tutorials if they decide to make them. :where is my throw up smiley:

 

[Frogspasm]

yeah - 50$ just for the material tutorials is, bluntly, a rip off.
If they included kismet, phat and cascade then it would be worth the buck.
I guess they will charge another 50 for each of the rest tutorials if they decide to make them. :where is my throw up smiley:

Let's see you put together several hours of video tutorials and see if you want to give it away afterwards. It's not as easy as it looks. And if it's something you do for a living, why not expect some kind of return for sharing your expertise?
Even Hourences doesn't give away his books for free.

Granted, it does come off as a little pricey for what's included. I would have expected a little larger material/texture library for the cost.
But I would bet there's some tricks on there that would be pretty hard to figure out yourself...

 

[Nathillien]

Let's see you put together several hours of video tutorials and see if you want to give it away afterwards. It's not as easy as it looks. And if it's something you do for a living, why not expect some kind of return for sharing your expertise?
Even Hourences doesn't give away his books for free.

Granted, it does come off as a little pricey for what's included. I would have expected a little larger material/texture library for the cost.
But I would bet there's some tricks on there that would be pretty hard to figure out yourself...

You probably wouldn't know how many hours, days and months I and the rest of community level and mod designers gave in building downloadable content for UT99, UT2003/4 and now UT3 FOR FREE.
I don't blame guys from eat3D of doing the tutorials I just don't agree with the pricing. Just think about it - 50$ for few hours of tutorials - it's not like they spend a Hoollywood Movie budget and time in making this and it's priced like a Movie DVD or a full game.
On the other hand for this situation even EPIC is to blame a bit for not providing enough tutorials for the new engine.

 

[Diego1203]

I'm tempted after watching the video sample, but the price is too high for two and a half hours of content. I may end up buying it at some point though, maybe they'll do some kind of sale or package deal or something.

 

[Jonathan]

If you think this is bad, you should see some of the Gnomon videos.

They'll split up a general lesson through 2, 3, or more DVDs and charge you $150 for it instead of $50 or 60 for all.

www.digital-tutors.com is a bit better, but Gnomon is more detailed in their explanations. To make matters worse, it's quite hard to sell these DVDs on Ebay after you're done.

 

[Riki]

Hey guys,

yeah - 50$ just for the material tutorials is, bluntly, a rip off.
If they included kismet, phat and cascade then it would be worth the buck.
I guess they will charge another 50 for each of the rest tutorials if they decide to make them. :where is my throw up smiley:

This is completely relative. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for paying (I still owe most of it) so much for going to the art institute. But considering the price, the DVD we have at Eat 3D is actually an amazing deal.

Personally, I would have loved this a few years ago when starting out using UE3. The name of the DVD says it all, it an introduction to materials, and real world application from years of experience. Its true that it could be a rip off when you can simply teach yourself, but that is true for almost any source of education.

Its not like I am making any money at all, I hope to eventually make some money, but dont forget that I had to buy 3dsmax and photoshop and all kinds of programs (going into over $6k in debt), and spend months just to make 1 compact DVD. The 2 1/2 hours can be misleading, I spent soooo much time preparing and editing the final cut. The pillar was insane, and I may not be able to devote that much time again on a single DVD.

Go and compare other places, Eat 3D is higher quality than a lof them, and even cheaper! It all comes down to the amount of time you have to learn something. I would love to learn more about compositing, but I dont have the time to teach myself from scratch. So it would be a great investment for me to purchase videos from cmivfx or some of the other guys to give me a head start. (notice that they, and everyone charge around the same(if not more) for around the same length of content.

You probably wouldn't know how many hours, days and months I and the rest of community level and mod designers gave in building downloadable content for UT99, UT2003/4 and now UT3 FOR FREE.
I don't blame guys from eat3D of doing the tutorials I just don't agree with the pricing. Just think about it - 50$ for few hours of tutorials - it's not like they spend a Hoollywood Movie budget and time in making this and it's priced like a Movie DVD or a full game.
On the other hand for this situation even EPIC is to blame a bit for not providing enough tutorials for the new engine.

This is a good point and I am very impressed that you are willing to sacrifice so much time and effort and give it away for free. I also plan to release free stuff in the future (kinda like alan mckay?) but in all honesty I have mounds of debt from the school I graduated from over 5 years ago and there is nothing wrong IMHO of offering a high quality service for people who benefit greatly from it for a price.

I appreciate everyone honest comments. Post more and I will monitor this thread and answer any feedback or questions when I get the chance.

Riki Babington
Sr. Environment Artist
Sony Online Entertainment - Austin

 

[Jonathan]

Hey, welcome!

At least you are very clear in your presentation (judging from the demo video).

I ordered some videos from www.simplymax.com and the guy doing the lesson had such an overpowering accent I couldn't finish the tutorial, and the website wouldn't refund me my money.

Thanks for your work.

 

[Diego1203]

What other things are you planning to cover, Riki?

 

[Riki]

What other things are you planning to cover, Riki?

Hello Diego, I have pretty clear idea of what I would like to do next, however Eat 3D should have a variety coming through summer.

The next video I am heavily considering is a DVD strictly on texturing for next gen games. If you look at my portfolio @ www.riki.us you will see there are a variety of texturing techniques that I could go over and I think it could benefit many people greatly. I would like it to start from the ground up, as if you don't know much about photoshop and then end with making something really tight.

Another one I want to do is an unreal lighting DVD, that goes though not only the technical aspects but also good game lighting theory and aesthetics. For this example I want to use the unreal assets but I'm in talks now with epic and I would need to be licensed first, so I have to wait.

Lastly I would love to do a modular next gen hero piece that is high quality like the pillar, but goes deep into the modular aspect of game prop creation.

As for Eat 3D we have a few other professionals that want to do videos according to their expertise. One is a Lead FX artist that has been doing FX for a long time (like over 8 years or something), and he will go through some tight fx using unreal cascade and materials. Also there is a Lead Scripter that would like to do a DVD over many different scripting things inside kismet and matinee. Lastly there is another environment artist that may do a dvd on how to previs an environment from a concept quickly using 3dsmax, unreal, and photoshop. Not limiting things to games only, We also may be announcing a training serious over compositing using maya with boujou and combustion.

I know that is a lot but we are busy here and are trying to take all of our free time and create the highest quality training for everyone to help them grow as artists and professionals.

Riki

 

[Diego1203]

Well, I really like the idea of tutorials made by actually pros who've worked with the engine on retail products, all of the other video tutorials I've seen have been done by people who know the engine but don't necessarily know anything about making games.

I'll likely try one of these out, the lighting one sounds like it might be the one I try.

I hope it works out for you guys, good luck.

 

[Jonathan]

Sounds promising, especially the previs/Unreal/Photoshop training material.

 

[StreetPreacher]

Lastly there is another environment artist that may do a dvd on how to previs an environment from a concept quickly using 3dsmax, unreal, and photoshop.

I'll second the vote for that one. And I'd pay $50 for it hands down, assuming that it's done well. My only request would be not to tie it too closely to 3dsmax, as lots of people use alternate 3D apps. Maybe at least do a brief demo for "here's how you'd do something similar in <application X>..."

 

[Jonathan]

Well, usually Maya or Max are used, and then after that, perhaps XSI. Max is still "king" when it comes to game stuff.

Unwrapping and hard-surface modeling in Maya isn't that joyful of a task.