ABSTRACT
If only it were that easy. My point here, at the end of the book, is that you will have become none of those things by reading through this book and doing the contained exercises. You should, however, have a very solid foundational and conceptual knowledge of how basic 3D graphics work, and how to approach certain tasks with certain tools in any 3D soware package. Modeling, rendering, and animation are the three key disciplines in 3D graphics, and now you know the important aspects of each and how to go about reasonably creating content. Many aspiring 3D artists ask me questions about what they should do and how they should go about getting a job or furthering their knowledge in 3D art, and I always have the same advice. Find out what you are good at, and specialize in that. Not many people out there are good at modeling, lighting, material editing, UV texturing, and animation. People have specic skills in specic areas (or at least a pressing interest), and when they pursue that aspect over others they oen excel more in it. You do need to learn how everything works, though, which is the purpose of this book. If you do not know anything about geometry you can never be a good texture artist, and if you do not know animation you will not be able to model properly because you will not see the object or character in motion-you will always see it as a static model. When you know how everything works, you become much better at your special area of expertise. So pick an area in which you would like
to specialize and focus on taking your learning in that direction. ere is so much room to learn, grow, and even innovate in the broader eld of computer graphics that you can pursue one aspect of it for a decade and not really scratch the surface. I have been working with 3D graphics in one capacity or another since 1996, and there are aspects of it I have never used at all. It is a big eld, and narrowing down what you really want to do early is a great way to get good at it without clogging up your brain with aspects that are not that important, like cloth simulation, facial animation, uid eects, or subsurface scattering. e three cornerstones of 3D, however, are modeling, rendering, and animation, as described in this book, and if you have these under your belt as foundational knowledge, then I am sure you can learn the rest when and if the time comes. Good luck on your path to becoming a great 3D artist!
