When I was contacted to write this book, I responded as most people in my situation would: Why would you want yet another Photoshop book out there? How about if
I come up with a better idea for a different book? Their response was not “How about you just do what we say?” Rather, they patiently explained that there weren’t any
Photoshop books out there addressed specifically to VFX artists. Despite owning about 100 pounds worth of books— that’s by weight, not by British currency — I didn’t believe them. Surely I must have just missed the section on Photoshop for VFX artists, been at the wrong bookstore, or missed the last copy that was just sold. So I didn’t answer my e-mail and went to the bookstore. A few bookstores later, my fingers bleeding from paging through the shelves upon shelves of Photoshop books, I returned to my computer and I answered my e-mail: “You’re right.” (Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating about my fingers bleeding, but isn’t poetic license part of the benefits of being an author?) There are plenty of Photoshop tomes, a plethora of digital photography Photoshop books, and an abundance of web-focused Photoshop books. There are a few books on texturing 3D models that obliquely refer to Photoshop. As a wilder whose degree is not in VFX (not that there were any 3D degrees at the time anyway, but I’m dating myself), I started off self taught, learned everything the hard way, and am acutely aware of how hard it can be to teach yourself a tool, let alone the jargon of an industry. As a supervisor, I am surprised at how many times I have had to explain the same principles to people who were already working in the industry or who were freshly out of school and not yet exposed to these insider tips. As an artist, I am always looking to learn more and increase the depth of my knowledge. Knowledge is the real tool in bringing fantastic paintings to fruition. What I wanted to create was a book that would be informative to those who are
already in the industry yet clear enough for those who are just coming into the VFX industry. I wanted full color (because a black and white Photoshop book just doesn’t make any sense), cool images (photorealistic should look photoreal!), and something that would make a great reference book long after you have gone through its covers. What I didn’t want was inane descriptions (“this button is a button…”), boring litanies, or an entire section devoted to all the cool things that Photoshop can do for web designers.Not that I have anything against web designers—I just don’t want my book weighed down by information I don’t use and therefore don’t really care about. What You’ll Find in This Book Throughout the book you find some elements that give you additional information— Photoshop tapas, if you will.
■ Cautions: Things that need the extra highlight, because the world can crumble if you skim the instructions and miss this part. Generally, missing this point can cause quite a bit of pain.
■ Notes: Information you might find helpful to know and alternate ways of doing things. Something that others might say (and which is correct), but not my way. Sometimes the information is an aside and not necessary for the basic functioning of the program— sort of trivia.
■ Tips:Wisdom gleaned from experience and often a useful shortcut.
Who This Book Is For
You need to have Photoshop, but hopefully you figured that part out. Ideally, you should have the latest version, but if you have an older version, you can still articipate
in most of the book. If you are working on Photoshop 3 or earlier, this book is pretty useless. Then again, why would you be buying a book now for a program version that is more than 10 years old? It’s easy to say that this book is for intermediate to advanced users, since it is aimed at the visual effects industry. In actuality, I think I explain the steps clearly enough for a novice to follow, but keep it interesting enough to keep the attention of the advanced users. Plus, I don’t believe that just because someone is already in the industry that that person is an advanced user. However, if you just purchased the software and you’re not sure how to install it,
or if you don’t know what it means to click or double-click with your left mouse button, you can stop right here and put this book down. There are other books out
there that you should probably start with. Once you have become a little more familiar with computers in general, then you can pick this book up for the techniques.
How This Book Is Organized Part I, “Starting,” is the reference section of the book. It starts with an overview, explains the nitty-gritty details of a few important areas, and finishes with an essential guide to VFX. Part II, “Textures,” is the texture-emphasis area, and Part III, “Matte Paintings,” is where I focus on matte painting. Both
parts have techniques that can be applied to either, but Part II’s techniques are most often used for painting for 3D, and Part III’s techniques are most applicable to 2D
painting. Of course, since a texture for a 3D model is still a 2D painting, it makes sense that there is crossover. The techniques used in Part II, such as the customizing
of brushes, can be very applicable to matte painting. You can do the straight cover-to-cover thing, but if you are not a linear type of person, you can pretty much jump in for whatever piece you want. In other words, this is not a ramping book where each chapter builds upon the last. My usual method is to just scan the table of contents
and see what interests me, or look something up in the index and find the chapters that deal with that topic. What about the photos I use in the examples? You can go to this book’s companion Web site at
www.courseptr.com to download the specified pictures. Although most people like to apply the technique to their own pictures right off the bat, I think it’s good to use the example pictures so you have a control image to compare your results.What else is on the companion Web site? Besides the images specified in this book, you can download a few of my custom libraries—free of charge!
