Much of the asset creation process involves manipulation of images, textures and photos, so you need a professional-level image editor. GIMP is an open source graphics editor which in the past was based mostly on Adobe Photoshop. That means if you've done graphics work before in Photoshop, you should be able to recognize most of the functions in GIMP. The reason we're using GIMP in this book is that not everyone has access to Photoshop, which is a costly piece of software, and lower cost versions such as Photoshop Elements just don't have the functions required to do asset creation. If you have Photoshop installed, you can use that instead without too much difficulty, as Photoshop has all the functions of GIMP and more.
Note
To install GIMP go to http://www.gimp.org and click on the download link. The Windows installer should be at the top of the list. For the MAC version click on show other downloads and scroll down to GIMP for Mac OS X.
Now it's time to check you've not been napping through this whole chapter, with a quick quiz.
- Name three asset marketplaces on the Internet.
- What assets tend to sell best on these internet marketplaces?
- Do game assets look detailed when you view them close up, or are they better when viewed from a distance?
- What's the name given to the geometry that makes up a 3D asset?
- True or false: I need to design assets with a lot of polygons in order to get smooth surfaces?
- True or false: Tools that are free on the internet aren't of sufficient quality to use in your asset creation workflow?
If you need any help on these questions, quickly review the chapter before moving on. This chapter forms the basis of the tutorials in the rest of the book. Each chapter that follows builds on the previous ones until you have achieved a functioning game level complete with all its contents.