Imagine you're in Los Angeles. You're sitting at a round table covered with expensive champagne and caviar. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are sitting opposite you, and you've been getting on like old friends. That's natural—you spent four months with them last Summer. On stage, Kevin Spacey announces the winner of this year's Oscar for Best Director. It's you. As you stand and make your way to the podium you feel familiar nerves. You begin your acceptance speech, "This is really embarrassing for me as I'm not even a film director, and I'm really running out of things to say now—I've already been up here seven times. So, I'll tell you how this whole amazing journey started for me. It started with a book called SketchUp for Game Design."
You might think that the journey you're starting with this book will end with only some mods on your favorite game. Or you might expect, at the most, to sell some game assets on the Internet. You may not have bargained for this introduction. However, it is well within the realm of possibility. Last time you unwrapped and installed a new 3D game, you probably noticed the unbelievable realism that is now achieved in game design. This realism is due to the assets contained in the game, as well as the effects provided by the game engine. Due to the magnificent computational power hidden in just an average gaming computer, these assets are now approaching the same detail level of those used in film animation. In other words, CG film and game assets will no longer be any different.
When you have completed the projects in this book, you will be able to create 3D worlds— whether for games, visualization, or film. Your assets will be indistinguishable from real world artifacts. You will be documenting the world in 3D computer space. Given that it is said the future of film and gaming will ultimately bring the two together, you could find yourself becoming a master of both!
I want to talk to you from the outset about passion and commitment. If you commit to this book, it will commit to you. If you passionately apply what it tells you, in both the tutorials and principles discussed, you will find yourself on the road to stardom. It may be stardom in a small gaming company in your own neighborhood. It may be superstardom both in game and big screen. Still, passion and commitment are required for both these outcomes. The methods shown in this book are not hard to apply. Best of all, they do not require talent. The entry level for this profession is reachable, and you can make it. I would liken it to a brand new Olympic event running for the first year. There aren't many pros out there because the event is so new. Given that you train for the next four years you are almost guaranteed a place in your national team. Do you remember the film Cool Runnings? It's like that! Once you're in the team you will make what you can of it.
Creating assets for game and film is simply a matter of documenting the world around you. SketchUp gives you the tools to do that. You could spend ten or twenty times more than the price of SketchUp Pro and you wouldn't be any better off. In fact, you'd be worse off in the long run. Why? Because SketchUp users will create assets ten times faster than you can and, before you know it, you will have to start using SketchUp anyway. Here's a quote from a professional game designer who uses SketchUp. This is Ken Nguyen, a concept artist in the game and movie industries:
"I can build low and high detailed models (architecture and props) much faster than someone using for example Maya or Max. Moreover, if the game engine allows you to upload the models, one can see in a few minutes or hours if the models work or not, if the sizes are right instead of waiting a day or more for the models to be finished by a Maya/Max modeler."
There it is from the horse's mouth. What are you waiting for?