Getting started at 3D modelling and animation

Question

I'm looking for book or a guide that will direct me to 3D modelling/animation for gaming. Most tutorials will go for lengths about things I don't really need for games and I want to get to the chops of making assets for my games -- like many developers have said: the best way to get experience is finish a game!

So what good books/tutorials are there on modelling for games?

Answer 1

Blender's site has a lot of decent documentation and tutorials.

Answer 2

I totally agree with the Josh Petrie's recommendation of using Blender tutorials. Blender is a great free tool and those tutorials can't be useless even if they do not focus on modeling and animation for games.

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But as you asked for 3D modeling/animation for games, I recommend you to search for low polygon 3D or modeling informations, which is the type of 3D modeling often used in video games.

Here is an interesting website, where you can see a professional at work in videos (with explanations) and read some interesting text tutorials about 3D modeling for video games (partially):
http://poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm

And, If you are really a beginner, I recommend its very old but still interesting tutorial Character Modeling for Game Design:
http://poopinmymouth.com/process/character_tutorial/character_process.htm

Answer 3

Here's one I have personally read and recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Game-Artists-Guide-Maya/dp/0782143768/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1306115253&sr=8-6

Note however that this book is about Maya and is specific to character art. If you want to learn on a different 3D tool and are more interested in environment art, well then you need to specify that.

(There are also a few other books about game art by that same author listed on that page. I haven't personally read any of the others, but having the same author is a good sign.)