Game Art or Cross Cultural Trade in World History

Game Art: Creation, Direction, and Careers

Author: Riccard Lind

Game Art: Creation, Direction, and Careers is written to give 3D artists who want to move into the games industry the tools and techniques they need to be successful. It is also written for practicing game artists looking to increase their knowledge and skills so they can advance to the next level. As the gap between GFX programmers and artists continues to grow, it is more important than ever for artists to understand how and why art works in games. This doesn't mean you have to become a programmer, but if you can understand the terminology and know why the technical details of your art are so important, you'll have the skills every studio wants.

This book teaches you these skills. The first two parts define the artistic process involved in creating game art, including the basic knowledge and skills you need to solve common problems artists face. The last two parts cover technical performance information and the more advanced techniques for game art creation.

Due to the similar workflows in today's 3D packages and the many in-house programs used in game development, the book teaches game-industry methods from a non-program-specific perspective. The book does assume a working knowledge of at least one major 3D program (3ds max or Maya) and Photoshop.

Book about:

Cross-Cultural Trade in World History

Author: Philip D Curtin

A single theme is pursued in this book - the trade between peoples of differing cultures through world history. Extending from the ancient world to the coming of the commercial revolution, Professor Curtin's discussion encompasses a broad and diverse group of trading relationships. Drawing on insights from economic history and anthropology, Professor Curtin has attempted to move beyond a Europe-centred view of history, to one that can help us understand the entire range of societies in the human past. Examples have been chosen that illustrate the greatest variety of trading relationships between cultures. The opening chapters look at Africa, while subsequent chapters treat the ancient world, the Mediterranean trade with China, the Asian trade in the east, and European entry into the trade with maritime Asia, the Armenian trade carriers of the seventeenth century, and the North American fur trade. Wide-ranging in its concern and the fruit of exhaustive research, the book is nevertheless written so as to be accessible and stimulating to the specialist and the student alike.

Table of Contents:

List of illustrations; Preface;

1. Trade diasporas and cross-cultural trade;
2. Africa: incentives to trade, patterns of competition;
3. Africa: traders and trade communities;
4. Ancient trade;
5. A new trade axis: the Mediterranean to China, circa 200 BC-AD 1000;
6. Asian trade and the rise of Islam;
7. The European entry into the trade of maritime Asia;
8. Bugis, banians and Chinese: Asian traders in the era of the great companies;
9. Overland trade of the seventeenth century: Armenian carriers between Europe and East Asia;
10. The North American fur trade;
11. The twilight of the trade diasporas; Bibliography; Index.