It's not a common book like a novel, reading all the chapters one by one. Its more like a cookery book. When you want to know something about a particular subject or function, you just look for the right chapter and start reading all about it. After you mastered this skill you start with another subject and so on. After reading you have practice these new methods a few times. Its certain the best way of mastering the unreal.

All but all have fun while doing it.

Robert Fleming

Bad quality figures, bad quality of press, but, these are the smaller defects.
It is the most useless book you can buy.
In Internet Unreal fans communities you can find more useful tutorials and, surely, more easier to read. Sincerely, I don't understand how it is possible publish a book as this. I haven't intention to denigrate the author, I think he will be able to write better, in future. Only, I'sorry to throw my monies.

This book like many others I've tried to learn from comes with useless tutorials because it uses Maya 5.0 which also requires you to obtain a key for it. You cannot get a key so you cannot install it and Maya only lets you download 8.5 now so the plugins you need that the book CD comes with are useless.
Its as useless as "Game Programming All in One third edition". Never again will I buy any book on programming that was written over a year ago because the software updates so fast that the resources you need that the books come with are always useless.

I am a Game Art Development student, and this book has been indespensible in aiding in my understanding of the Unreal Editor. Without this book, I'm sure that it would've taken me waaaaayyy longer to get things done than the limited time that I had. Even though the book is more expensive than the game itself, it is a must have for any aspiring modder or game creator.

This book is very complete and very easy to follow. Get the videos from 3dbuzz and the planetunreal tutorials and you'll be making great levels in no time.
Also great is the coverage static meshes and character production in maya and export to unrealed.

I was brand new to all aspects of game design, and I had no idea where to start. So I opened up the book preview in the Unreal Tournament folder and saw this book. I went up to borders and bought it a week later. I've had this book for almost 3 weeks now, and Holy Crap! From the start, it explains the history of the Unreal engine and gives you a close up look of all the tools used. It has in-depth tutorials that make designing your first map a breeze. The CD contained in the book also has the May 5 Personal Learning Edition on it. In fact, the CD is my only complaint. This book expects you to use the CD for every texture and static mesh used. Overall, the book is a must buy for any begginner.

This book is the best and only one book published in Unreal technology nobody beat this tutorial book for mapping in Unreal tournament 2004 I recommend this thick book to anyone wanting to master the Unreal editor.
Este libro es una masa compralo chabon Aguante Argentina.
Las Malvinas son Argentinas.

The book is misleading in that it says you can use the editor supplied with the CD to create the tutorials. YOU NEED UT2004 to create the tutorials.Page 3 of the introduction states" the book includes a CD packed with all the necessary assets, the Unreal Runtime Engine demo..." This implies that the only thing you need is the book and CD. WRONG!!
Also, many of the tutorials have mistakes in them...which are corrected in the 3dBuzz web site forums. Good luck! and lots of patience.

I hate it when they don't even give you the Table of Contents. So here it is from the publisher's website.

Contents

Introduction.

I. THE UNREAL UNIVERSE.

1. Unreal Technology: The Big Picture.
Unreal and Its History
The Unreal Engine
Introduction to the Unreal Engine
The Components
Overview of Component Interaction

Engineering New Worlds with the Unreal Engine
Game Assets
The Tools
Summary

2. The Process of Game Development.
Building Your Foundation: Before Production
Developing Your Idea
The Player's Perspective
Gathering the Team
Refining Your Ideas with the Team
Creating a Production Schedule

Beginning Construction: During Production
Maintaining the Schedule
Dealing with Delays
Bringing It Together

Testing and Acquiring Feedback
Internal Testing: Alpha
External Testing: Beta

Remodeling and Closing: Ending Production
What to Do with Beta Test Info
When to Stop Beta Testing
Finalizing and Releasing
Summary

3. Creating Your First Level with UnrealEd.
What Is UnrealEd?
The Subtractive Method of Level Creation
Rebuilding

The Anatomy of an Unreal Level
World Geometry
Actors
Some Assembly Required

A Quick Tour Around the User Interface
The Main Menu Bar
The Toolbar
The Toolbox
The Viewports
The Console Bar
The Browsers
Property Windows

Working in 3D Space
2D Versus 3D
Positive and Negative Directions

Creating Your First Room
Subtracting Out Space: How Tall?
Brushes in Depth
Navigation in UnrealEd
Moving Actors

Creating Your First Map
Subtracting the First Room
Adding Textures
Texture Fitting
Making the Level Functional

Expanding the Level: Creating Objects and Adding Lights
The Window and Hangar

Adding Detail: Static Meshes
The Static Mesh Browser
Placing Static Meshes
Decorating with Static Meshes
Summary

4. Advanced Brush Techniques.
BSP Theory
Polygons
BSP Trees

Brushes from Other Brushes
The Intersect Tool
The De-Intersect Tool

Brush Manipulation
Vertex Editing
Face Dragging
Brush Clipping (2D and 3D)

Freehand Polygon Drawing

The 2D Shape Editor
User Interface Overview
Shape Editing
Using the 2D Shape Editor to Create a Simple Level

Brush Solidity
Solid Brushes
Semi-Solid Brushes
Non-Solid Brushes

Saving Brushes (u3d Files)
Importing/Exporting Brushes
Summary

5. Terrain.
What Is Terrain?
The Components of Terrain
Terrain Zoning with the ZoneInfo Actor
Using the TerrainInfo Actor
Controlling Terrain with the Height Map

Layers
DecoLayers

Altering Terrain with the Terrain Editing Dialog
Lighting Terrains with Sunlight
The Skybox
What Are Skyboxes?
How Does a Skybox Work?

A Closer Look at Terrain Editing
Terrain Editing User Interface
Height Map Editing Tools
The Select Tool
Applying the Terrain Editing Tools

TerrainInfo Properties
Texture Layer Editing Tools
Painting
Smoothing
Noise
Tex Pan
Tex Rotate
Tex Scale

Editing Terrain Texture
DecoLayers
Summary

6. Working with Volumes.
Concept of Volumes
Basic Volume
Volume Properties
DecoList
BlockingVolume

PhysicsVolume
WaterVolume
LavaVolume
XfallingVolume
LadderVolume
Summary

7. Lighting in Unreal.
Light Concepts
Light Maps
Light Placement

Light Classification
Static Lights
Dynamic Lights

Light Properties
Light Color
Light Radius
Light Type and Light Effects
Directional Lights

Lighting Workflow
Light Creation
Viewing Lights
Working with Light Effects
Rebuilding Lights
Light Map Size

Lighting Surfaces
World Geometry
Static Meshes, Meshes, and Movers
Terrain
Particles

Advanced Lighting Effects
Scaling Lights
Using SpecialLit
Ambient Lighting
Emitting Light from Other Actors
Coronas
Using a TriggerLight

Projectors
Using Projectors

Common Lighting Pitfalls
Summary

8. Creating Materials in Unreal.
Textures
Creating a Texture
Importing a Texture
The Texture Properties Window
Texture Properties

Shaders
Diffuse and Specularity Maps
Opacity Maps
Self-Illumination Maps
Other Properties

Modifiers
The Color Modifier
The TexOscillator Modifier
The TexPanner Modifier
The TexRotator Modifier
The TexScaler Modifier
The Combiner Modifier

Creating Reflective Surfaces with Cubemaps and TexEnvMaps
Final Blend Material
Using a ScriptedTexture
Summary

9. Interactive Elements.
Movers
Creating the First Door

Introduction to Triggers
Creating a MessageTrigger

Elevators
A Simple Elevator: UseTrigger
Complex Elevator Overview

Jump Pads
Teleporters
Summary

II. ADVANCED DESIGN TECHNIQUES.

10. Creating Particle Effects.
Particle Theory

Emitter Types
SpriteEmitter
SparkEmitter
MeshEmitter
BeamEmitter
TrailEmitter
Summary

11. The Karma Physics Engine.
Karma Theory
General Karma Properties
Karma Collision Primitives

Constraints
KBSJoint
KconeLimit
Khinge

Ragdolls

The Karma Authoring Tool (KAT)
The KAT Interface
Workspaces
Viewports
Summary

12. Advanced Bot/AI Navigation.
Basics of Bot Navigation
Design Considerations

Tools for Debugging
Diagnosing Problems with the Map Check Dialog Box
Console Commands

Pathing
Jump Pads and Teleporters
Jump Spots
Doors
Lifts
Ladders

Advanced Pathing
AssaultPaths
Defense Points and Sniping Points
Vehicle Navigation
Summary

13. Matinee: Creating Custom Cinematics.
Introduction to the World of Machinima

Overview of the Matinee System
The Matinee Interface
The Scenes Tab
The Actions Tab
The Sub Actions Tab
The Tools Tab

Creating a Simple Matinee Sequence
Working with the Scene Manager
Triggering the Matinee Sequence
Controlling the Camera Path
Creating Camera Pauses and Camera Cuts

A Closer Look at Sub Actions
Setting Camera Orientation
Introducing Fades

Using Matinee to Control Actors
Adding Text to Your Cutscenes
Adding a More Cinematic Feel
Automatically Launching the Movie
Changing Levels with Matinee
Summary

14. Creating Scripted Sequences.
Using an Actions List
Using Latent and Non-latent Actions
Controlling xPawns

Logical Conditions
Summary

15. Level Optimization (Zoning) and Distribution.
Introduction to Level Optimization
Zoning
Antiportals
Distance Fog
Terrain Optimization
Profiling and Debugging
Viewport Display Modes
Console Commands
Summary

16. Gametypes.
Setting Level Properties

Deathmatch-Style Gametypes
Adding Weapons
Deathmatch Design Considerations

Capture the Flag (CTF)
CTF Design Considerations

Double Domination
Design Considerations for Double Domination

Bombing Run
Design Considerations for Bombing Run

Onslaught
Design Considerations for Onslaught
Assault
Summary

III. EXTERNAL DESIGN.
17. Overview of Maya.
Y-Up Versus Z-Up
Maya Theory
Nodes and Connections
Construction History

Overview of the User Interface
The Viewports
The Main Menu Bar and Menu Sets
The Status Line
The Shelf
The Channel Box and Layer Editor
The Attribute Editor
The Time and Range Sliders
The Toolbox and Layout Selection
The Hotbox

The Hypershade
The Hypergraph

Object Manipulation
Object Mode
Component Mode
Summary

18. Polygonal Modeling Tools.
Modeling Terminology
Modeling Methods
Box Modeling
Polygon Creation

Understanding the Tool Options and Display Settings in Maya

Polygon Modeling in Maya
Creating Polygons
Adding to Existing Polygons
Combining Objects
Using Booleans
Mirroring
Smoothing Versus Averaging Vertices
Triangulation
Cleaning Up Your Polygons

Editing Polygons
Subdividing Polygons
Splitting Polygons
Extrusions
Chamfering Vertices and Beveling Edges
Cutting Faces
Wedging Faces
Merging Vertices
Flipping Triangle Edges
Adjusting Surfaces and Hard Edges
Summary

19. The Art of Texturing in Maya.
UVs and the UV Coordinate System
The UV Texture Editor
The Menu Bar
The Toolbar
The Viewport

Mapping Uvs
Mapping Methods

Creating UV Layouts
Creating Textures from UV Layouts
UV Layouts for Characters
Considerations for UV Layouts
Summary

20. Static Meshes.
The Importance of Static Meshes

Preparing to Model
Adjusting the Grid
Creating a Project

Modeling the Catwalks
Creating the Base Catwalk
Constructing the Straight Catwalk
Making a Ramp
Making a Turn
Building a T-Intersection
Building a Four-Way Intersection

Collision Models
Exporting Models to UnrealEd
Texturing Your Static Meshes in UnrealEd
Summary

21. Character Modeling.
Preparation
Concept Art
Image Planes

The Modeling Process
Modeling and Animation

The Character
Modeling the Torso
Modeling the Legs
Modeling the Arms
Modeling the Feet
Modeling the Hand
Modeling the Head
Summary

22. Importing Characters into UnrealEd.
What Are Skeletons?

Introduction to Maya Joints
Parenting
Joints and Parenting
Joints and Rotation
Using the Joint Tool
Joints and Local Rotation Axes
Manipulating Joints

Binding a Character to a Skeleton: Skinning
Introduction to Smooth Bind
Adjusting Joint Influence

Importing a Character Without Custom Animation
Importing a Skeleton
Skinning a Character
Adjusting the Skin Weights
Exporting the Character
Getting the Character Ready for Gameplay
Creating the Character's Portrait
The UPL File and Testing the Character In-game
Summary

23. Character Animation.
Introduction to Animation

Popular Animation Methods in Maya
Keyframes
Reactive Animation

Animation Choices-FK Versus IK
IK Solvers
Single Chain IK Solvers
Rotate Plane IK Solvers
IK Spline Solvers

Constraints
Selection Handles

Character Rigs: What They Are and Why We Need Them
Creating the Character Rig
Skinning the Character

Animating the Character
Pose-to-Pose Animation
Creating Custom Animation Cycles
Exporting Custom Animations into UnrealEd
Summary

APPENDIX A. The UnrealEd Manual.
The Main Menu Bar

The Toolbar
File Options
Undo and Redo
Search for Actor
Browsers
Editors
Properties
Building
Play Level
Help

The Toolbox
Camera and Utilities Area
Brush Clipping Area
Brush Primitives Area
CSG Operations Area
Selections and Movement Area
Mirroring and Miscellaneous Area

The Viewports
Viewport Controls
Viewport Control Bar
Viewport Control Bar Context Menu

The Console Bar
The Text Field
The Log Window
Lock Selections
Vertex Snap
Drag Grid
Rotation Grid
Maximize Viewport
DrawScale3D

Browsers
The Actor Class Browser
The Group Browser
The Music Browser
The Sound Browser
The Textures Browser
The Mesh Browser
The Prefab Browser
The Static Mesh Browser
The Animation Browser

Editor Windows
Search for Actors
The 2D Shape Editor
The UnrealScript Editor

Property Windows
Actor Properties
Surface Properties

INDEX.

My son's studying computer science at URI. His professor saw this on his desk last week and asked where he got it. He held it to the rest of the class and referred to this book as "the bible for computer science", an excellent book, and recommended that all the students should get one. If they were to have a required textbook, THIS would be it, he said. Tells all and answers all. Extremely helpful, especially for college level computer courses.

I read this book cover to cover; it is the best way to start creating levels. UnrealEd is a level editor aimed towards artists, the info within this book is the best coverage of a level editor that I have seen. You don't need to know scripting or any programming to create your own levels. The book starts by giving you some generals about game development, goes on to basic UnrealEd, then into more complicated UnrealEd. The last third of the book is basic Maya 5 PLE tutorials, which I found helpful because I hadn't used Maya before.

** !!! You need to own a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 in order to follow along with the tutorials in this book !!! **

UT2004 Level Editors - This book is aimed at you. If you are already playing UT2004, you have everything you need and this book will help you find out how they made all those cool things you see in the game.

Architecture Visualizing - This book will definitely help you find out how you can take your ideas into a real-time render engine to show your clients. You could get by with the Unreal Runtime engine that comes on the CD with the book. However, in order to fully understand the tutorials, I believe you would need to pick up a copy of UT2004 with this book.

3D Artists & Game Developers - If you are already working with other game engines or a 3D animation package and want to look into Unreal, this is the ticket. Like I said before, you do need a copy of UT2004.

There were a couple of errors in the book, however they have all been addressed at [...].

I've used a lot of these types of books for learning Maya and other such programs. While those books tend to be difficult to follow and sometimes inaccurate, I am happy to say that Mastering Unreal Technology is like none of these.
If you're looking to learn how to build maps in unreal tournament this book is a must. I've looked on the internet for tutorials for UTE and they are often confusing or simply don't cover what you need to know. In this book you will find just about everything you need to know and it is all presented with tutorials on cd for easy learning. My only complaint is that the book isn't in color. Defiantly recommended.

I bought this book to help use the editor that comes with the UT2004 PC game. It gives an excellent description in the text of how to do the different things you need to do to make a new level. I have found it very helpful and am enjoying the tutorials. It comes with all the files needed for these and you can transfer the files to your computer.

The one difficulty I had,and this is a minor point, is that the graphics could be better. They seem to be black and white reproductions of screen shots clipped directly from the game. This means that the pictures of actual perspective views are very dim and that the picutres of viewports showing top or side views are very difficult to use. The top and side viewports in the actual game use colored lines to show shapes and positions of objects. In the book's reproductions, the colors have almost the same gray as the background, and you almost can't see them. I had to use a magnifying glass and study for a while to figure out what they were supposed to show.

I bought this "book" a few months ago and have been periodically trying to learn the uncanny amount of skills in this 962 page monster. It went into much clearer detail than many of the tutorials i've seen floating around the internet and gave an insight into the ways that most of this program works. It also includes maya and a 100 pages on how to use it which have proved to be very useful to me. For the people complaining about not being able to do the tutorials without having the game, i can only ask them why they want to learn how to make a game that they aren't even willing to pay $25 for.

As for its shortcomings, the worst in my opinion is that it seems to be missing small pieces of information which can lead to frustration. Also the fact that the pictures are all in black and white makes some things hard to figure out from them. Also the first time i opened it the spine cracked and now it tries to open to the same page no matter what. that just annoys the hell out of me. Overall, the $30-$40 for this book can easily be justified by its usefullness.

This book will change your life.... It will make you be more suspicious when reading exceptionally good reviews.
It's true, the tutorial files don't work with the demo version of the runtime engine included in the package and even so they are half explained. If you have to buy the game in order to do the tutorials, (even the most basic ones) it should be EXPLICITLY stated, otherwise it's kind of deceiving don't you think. There is a lot of god content in the book but and it's not necessary to be shady to sell it.

Struggled to find accurate, well-explained tutorials and guides for UnrealEd? Fed up browsing endless forums, only to find no clear explanations for that problem you have with your custom game level in UnrealEd? Don't want to waste yet more precious hours following bad links to useless web pages full of inaccurate tutorials?

Mastering Unreal Technology will change all that - for good. Since I got this book, and have been follwoing its tutorials, my experiences with UnrealEd have stopped being confrontational and unresolved, and have become positive, productive and educational. Who knows, at this rate I might even end up releasing a level or two I can be genuinely proud of!

The book packs in to it's almost 1000 pages just about every golden nugget of UnrealEd lore there is - from basic level design with UnrealEd to advanced modelling and animation techniques using Maya PLE (included on the CDRom) with UnrealEd. Straight away I was learning how to do stuff that had always baffled me... from curvy corridors to dynamic lighting, from shader making to terrain handling - it's all covered.

Best of all, this book is beautifully designed - clear, easy on the eye and illustrated throughout. It has been written in plain English for the artist/designer rather than the programmer and this means everyone, of just about any level, will be able to easily pick up the techniques discussed and follow the many tutorials with ease.

ESSENTIAL reading for all budding UnrealEd mod-makers, artists, level designers and machinima makers. 10/10.

Wow! This book does a great job at explaining the Unreal Editor in a simple, easy to understand way. When I first opened the editor, I was intimidated by the all the menus and commands, but this book really takes the mystery out of it. It also gives you the confidence you need to succeed in making your own levels in Unreal! The wording is coherent, the text is easy on the eyes, and the images are well organized and inspiring to look at. It even covers character modeling, rigging, and animating in Maya. What a deal! Level editing should be fun and this book does just that.

I think that as a former QA guy in the game business, you should learn that if you want to use a game editor, you should buy the game. It cost $39.00 when it came out. This book is for those who want to make levels that modify the game. For that it works flawlessly, and explains things masterfully.

If you download the Free Unreal Runtime from UDN, yes it will not work, but you cannot make levels for the game with just the RunTime. The RunTime on UDN is to show what the engine can do, not to allow you to make custom content.

The tutorials in this book are crisp, well thought out and extremely accurate. It is by far the most comprehensive collection of content for building unreal levels that exists on the market today.

If you are looking to purchase this book, please realize that the people who know what they are doing love it, and praise it.

I've programmed and used game level editor tools professionally. The Unreal Ed tool is a bear for anyone without previous knowledge of Unreal's editor. This book tells you half of what you need to know to get going. You'll have to guess and find by trial and error what and where the menus and tools are that the authors tell you about. Be prepared for a lot of frustration. You're probably better off going to the Epic Games site and downloading the same Unreal Runtime editor that is on the CD and accessing their tutorials for non-licensed users. You can also access a free learners edition of Maya.

And to add insult to injury, the tutorial files cannot be accessed with the runtime engine on either the CD or the Epic Games site. You'll need a fully licensed version of the Unreal Runtime engine to use the tutorial files. The tutorial files don't work with the free version of the Runtime Engine.

It does't say much for QA, if you sell a product that doesn't work out of the package, and this one doesn't. As a former game QA guy, I can't believe the publisher went gold on a CD that crashes the Unreal Runtime Editor, everytime you try to access a tutorial file. This book and CD is "unreal." If I could get my money back after opening the worthless CD, I would.

This book is the definitive bible for creating 3d content using Unreal 2.5 Engine. I have been using it a lot for the level, I'm working on. Instead of scouring the web looking for a tutorial on how to do "that", you can check the index and learn what "that" does and how to use it in your level.

The book covers everything from learning Maya PLE, learning 3dsmax, unwrapping, vehicle modeling, everything that 3D Buzz's team has on their website for download as a video tutorial is in this book, except the information's is right at your finger tips.

I was recommended to this book from a friend who works in the gaming industry and even his company uses the book for a quick reference. Jason Busby, Zak Parrish & Joel Van Eenwyk thank you for making one of the best references a level artist could possibly have!

I was a little skeptical before purchasing this book because I already own and watched the Unreal Tournament 2004 Special Edition training videos produced by the same authors as this book. I was afraid that the 60+ hours of content in those videos would cover all the same material as the book. Boy was I wrong.

Not only does the Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design go into detail far surpassing the training videos, including a surprisingly enlightening (and helpful) section on the theory behind how the Unreal Technology works, but Mr. Busby, Parrish, and Van Eenwyk guide you step-by-step through designing a level. As they begin introducing new, more advanced, features they'll explain - option by option - how the feature works and provide numerous examples of where it would be useful. For a level designer, having a single clear guide of what each of thousands of settings do is an invaluable resource.

This book serves as an excellent introduction to Maya reference as well. As I said earlier, having watched through the video tutorials, I was already somewhat familiar with the Maya package. But even for complete novices, the book will quickly bring you upto speed with the basics of the package, and help you learn how to use it to import your own creations (such as static meshes) into your Unreal levels. The Maya content in the book alone, is worth the price of admission.

The previous reviewer mentioned that he uses 3DS Max instead of Maya. While I have no doubt that Max is an awesome package, it should not be overlooked that Maya has a free personal learning edition - that ships with Unreal Tournament 2003/4. Consequently, I am very pleased that this package was used instead of Max, because in doing so no initial investment beyond a copy of this book is needed. Heck, they even ship a copy of the Unreal Engine Runtime with the book! This means that people who don't own Unreal Tournament 2004, but wish to learn about level editing, can do so. Overall, I was extremely impressed. :) Way to go.

Just like they said, this book is extremely in depth in its tutorials and its general knowledge. For most of the options in UED, they give pretty detailed lists of what there is and what each of them do. Yet since they give most of them, there are still portions missing for stuff you will find critical in level design. Overall the book is really well done and their general theme of designing the control room is a good one where they show all the ins and outs of what you can add. There was a little too much info on Maya for my taste, I strictly use 3DSMax and even though it's nice to see how to game dev. for another software platform, 125+ pages or so is a tad too much for me, I would rather see more pages devoted to UED and less to Maya. Other than that, this book is an excellent buy for those who want to break into unreal game development or mod making.