Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A perfect and direct starting point for a beginner game texture artist! "The Dark Side of Game Texturing" is also an excellent reference for intermediate artists, or for those who want to further their digital art skills. Learn how to create game textures similar to the eerie, sinister, and ominous textures seen in great video games like Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. "The Dark Side Of Game Texturing" features a plethora of dynamic, full color, step-by-step texturing tutorials that reflect the nature of those games and more including military, fantasy, medieval, and sci-fi. You'll learn how to create decals like bullet holes, blast marks, signs, and more. Sprites such as lightning, fires, and explosions are also covered. Focusing on a topic rarely covered in other 3D graphics books, this is an ultimate hands-on guide to creating totally cool game textures that directly reflect the nature of many recently released video games.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. xiii)
• Chapter 1 Texturing Basics (p. 1)
• Types of Textures (p. 2)
• Seamlessly Tiling Textures (p. 2)
• Randomly Tileable Sets (p. 3)
• Decals (p. 5)
• Alpha Transparency-Based Textures (p. 6)
• U-V Based Textures (p. 7)
• Bump and Displacement Maps (p. 7)
• Animated Textures (p. 8)
• Base Texture Images (p. 10)
• Finding Texture Images (p. 11)
• Texture File Creation in Photoshop (p. 12)
• Cover Art (p. 12)
• Creating Textures in Photoshop (p. 13)
• Using 3D Models (p. 13)
• Setting Up Textures for a Game (p. 13)
• Resize and Palettize (p. 15)
• Viewing Your Textures (p. 17)
• Final Advice on Texture Creation (p. 17)
• Summary (p. 18)
• Chapter 2 Nasty Decals (p. 19)
• File Setup for Decals (p. 20)
• Blast Marks (p. 21)
• Bullet Holes (p. 24)
• Bullet Holes on Metal (p. 24)
• Bullet Holes on Cement (p. 27)
• Blood Splats (p. 29)
• Pipes (p. 30)
• Basic Metal Pipes (p. 30)
• Bent Pipes (p. 32)
• Rivets and Screws (p. 34)
• Peeling Paint on Metal (p. 36)
• Signs (p. 38)
• Dripping Decal (p. 38)
• Stamped Metal Sign (p. 40)
• Wood Sign (p. 42)
• Summary (p. 45)
• Chapter 3 Sprites (p. 47)
• Sprite Basics (p. 48)
• Sprite Decals (p. 48)
• Making a Lightning Bolt Sprite (p. 49)
• Sprite Animations (p. 50)
• Using ImageReady to View Animations (p. 51)
• Creating an Explosion (p. 51)
• Creating a Fire Sprite in Photoshop (p. 52)
• Animating the Fire Sprite in ImageReady (p. 55)
• Summary (p. 58)
• Chapter 4 Military Textures (p. 59)
• Metal Panels (p. 60)
• Base Metal Texture from Scratch (p. 60)
• Base Metal Texture from Photo (p. 63)
• Explosives Crate (p. 66)
• Munitions Crates with Canvas Cover (p. 71)
• RPG-7 Grenade Launcher (p. 76)
• Summary (p. 82)
• Chapter 5 Slums (p. 83)
• Brick Walls (p. 84)
• Basic Brick Wall (p. 84)
• Slum Wall Example (p. 86)
• Rusty Metal (p. 87)
• Rusty Oil Drum (p. 88)
• Summary (p. 92)
• Chapter 6 Medieval/Fantasy Textures (p. 93)
• Stone Walls/Floors (p. 94)
• Medieval Castle Stone Wall, Using Photos (p. 94)
• Medieval Castle Stone Wall II (p. 100)
• Castle Door (p. 103)
• Draconis (p. 111)
• Dragon's Eye (p. 112)
• Dragon's Tooth (p. 113)
• Dragon's Skin (p. 114)
• Fiery Text Using the Black Body Palette (p. 115)
• Wizard's Orb (p. 117)
• Summary (p. 118)
• Chapter 7 Planetary Textures (p. 119)
• Scorched Earth (p. 120)
• Hot Lava (p. 123)
• Hot Lava 2, or Boiling Acid (p. 126)
• Cooled Lava (p. 128)
• Mars Rock (p. 129)
• Mars/Lunar Surface Using NASA Planetary Data System Image Maps (p. 130)
• Enhancing the Map: Creating Your Own Custom Shader (p. 131)
• Polaris (p. 133)
• Summary (p. 135)
• Chapter 8 Sci-Fi Textures (p. 137)
• Spaceship Deck (p. 138)
• Spaceship Deck with Caution Lines (p. 139)
• More Caution Line-Based Textures (p. 143)
• Warp Core Control Center (p. 145)
• Sci-Fi Wall Texture (p. 152)
• Summary (p. 163)
• Appendix A A 2D Graphics Primer (p. 165)
• Granularity and Aliasing (p. 167)
• RGB Color Depth (p. 168)
• The Color Palette (p. 169)
• RGB Color Channels (p. 170)
• Video Memory (p. 171)
• Other Color Modes (p. 172)
• CMYK (p. 172)
• Grayscale (p. 173)
• LAB (p. 173)
• File Formats (p. 173)
• PSD (p. 173)
• BMP (p. 173)
• JPEG (p. 173)
• PCX (p. 174)
• PNG (p. 174)
• TGA (p. 174)
• TIFF (p. 174)
• Appendix B Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts (p. 175)
• Appendix C Related Web Sites and Links (p. 181)
• Texturing Sites (p. 182)
• Digital Art (p. 182)
• Eyeball Design (p. 182)
• GR Site's Absolute Archive (p. 182)
• Mars Global Surveyor Image Gallery (p. 182)
• NASA Planetary Data System (p. 182)
• Ransom Active (p. 182)
• Shane Caudle's Web Site (p. 183)
• Undulation (p. 183)
• Wasted Youth (p. 183)
• Map/Mod/Level Design (p. 183)
• 3D Map Realm (p. 183)
• Modpages (p. 183)
• Planet Half-Life, Planet Quake, and Planet Unreal (p. 183)
• UnrealFiles (p. 183)
• Unrealized (p. 183)
• Valve ERC (p. 184)
• Graphics Software (p. 184)
• Adobe Systems Incorporated (p. 184)
• Jasc Software (p. 184)
• Graphics Hardware (p. 184)
• ATI Technologies (p. 184)
• nVidia (p. 184)
• Wacom (p. 184)
• General Gaming and Information (p. 185)
• Blue's News (p. 185)
• ClassicGaming (p. 185)
• Gamasutra (p. 185)
• GameDev.Net (p. 185)
• Game Development Search Engine (p. 185)
• Game Developers Conference (p. 185)
• Game Developer Magazine (p. 185)
• GarageGames (p. 186)
• Premier Press Books (p. 186)
• Xtreme Games, LLC (p. 186)
• Index (p. 187)