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ey!
Spring finally arrived in Vermont, almost in time for summer. I just got
the plants for my Tomato Empire, 48 plants in all, plus some squash, pumpkin,
peppers, and other veggies. My food garden is just outside of my studio
window, next to my mate's flower worlds. When this digimania gets too bothersome
and throws me off center, like when I can't make a deadline and have to
admit it to a client, there's always digging in the earth or pulling a
weed to even things out. Like my grandma said, "the cleanest thing in the
world is dirt". This column celebrates the sixth in a series in FlightWave
online magazine, and I'm happy to be here to share some juice and electric
cookies with you.
To repeat, I have a hardly-used Primera Color Printer for sale. It comes with a package of dye sublimation film, ink supplies, and standard glossy paper. The supplies alone are worth about $300.00. The printer is still selling for about $1200.00+. I would like to sell it for the best offer I can get. Shipping is on me. Give me a call at 802-453-4293, or send e-mail to rshamms@together.net if you are interested.
If you enjoy porting your LightWave scenes to paper (maybe for storyboard purposes) and you speak Mac, be sure to check out the 3D Dizzy Photoshop plugin from Vertigo (http://www.vertigo3D.com). With it, you can import a 3DMF file (QuickDraw 3D) into Photoshop and place it on the page as part of a 2D composition. You'll need to translate the LightWave file into QuickDraw first however. Here's some details.
Basically, 3D Dizzy allows you to import detailed 3D 3DMF models, move them into any position, create lighting effects, control your camera view and choose from a number of extensible rendering effects, all without leaving Adobe Photoshop. It the way in which this all happens, and the quality of the output, that makes 3D Dizzy such a gem.
The 3D Dizzy interface looks like what you would expect from any basic 3D application. You are presented with a perspective 3D grid (which can be toggled on or off). The 3DMF model is imported from your selected drive path. After it is imported, you can rotate it and resize it. Multiple lights can be added to the scene, emphasizing the model's texture and reflective capabilities. You can also move, zoom, and rotate the entire scene. If you're not satisfied with the model you've imported, you can select the "replace" button and import another in its place. It is the placement of lights that makes your models literally shine. Double clicking on a light also brings up a color picker dialog, allowing you to select the lights color. Placing two or more lights in a scene and colorizing them differently can add dramatic effects to the rendering.
QuickDraw 1.5.1 is now extensible, which means that other developers can add special renderers to QuickDraw. This is vital for 3D Dizzy, because it is this same rendering power that makes it such a useful utility. LightWork Design and ThinkFish Productions are two representative developers whose rendering add-ons are included with 3D Dizzy. LightWorks includes a Lite version of their rendering add-on. With the LightWork renderer, you can achieve photographic rendering quality, and also add anti-aliasing and shadows that respond to the placed lights. LightWorks also allows either shaded or wireframe renders. A side-note about rendering with 3D Dizzy. 3D Dizzy is resolution independent as far as Photoshop is concerned. If you configure a page at 300 DPI, it will naturally have a finer resolution than one at 72D PI, and the 3D models Dizzy places on it will be seen as more anti-aliased and higher quality. A suggestion to video producers who plan to use 3D Dizzy in Photoshop is to render their art at 300 DPI, then to reduce it to the normal 72 DPI required by NTSC standards as a final step. This will make your art look much sharper. The ThinkFish LiveStyles sample renderer included with 3D Dizzy is only one of their commercial collection. The ThinkFish renderers are known for their ability to re-render a 3d object to a 2D stylized graphic, making ThinkFish a good choice for more contemporary looks.
You think that Dizzy is fine for DTP work, but has little apparent use when it comes to video. Right? Not necessarily. 3D Dizzy renders objects faster than most 3D applications themselves, and because 3D Dizzy is truly resolution independent, this makes it even faster. Second, the LightWorks renderer (though the one included is only a "Lite" version), adds very high quality anti-aliasing at minimal rendering speed cost. Let's say you have a 3D scene that represents a stage set for a commercial or film you're doing, and you require different angled shots for a storyboard. Using 3D Dizzy for this purpose, after the scene has been designed in your favorite 3D application and saved out as a 3DMF object file will save you a bunch of time and anxiety. All sorts of storyboard uses can be accomplished with the help of 3D Dizzy.
The Vertigo 3D Dizzy software with LightWorks® and ThinkFish® LiveStyles® renderers, QuickDraw® 3D 1.5.1, LightWorks documentation, ThinkFish LiveStyles documentation, Dizzy Models folder containing models made by Vertigo and by Viewpoint DataLabs®, tryout version of Vertigo 3D Words® for Adobe Illustrator, tryout version of Adobe Photoshop 3.05, tryout version of Extensis Fetch® 1.5, info about Vertigo's "Reach for the Top" contest registration card, Vertigo 3D Dizzy User Guide (PDF).
As QuickDraw 3D is upgraded even further, and as more developers create renderers for it, the value of 3D Dizzy will grow even further. One barrier that should be smoothed out as time goes by is that of memory use. The renderers do not use application RAM, but RAM from the system. This means that large 3DMF files are going to need some hefty RAM to render. This leads to the same redundant conclusion you have run into before: make sure your system has as much RAM as you can afford to stuff into it. Other than that, you should consider taking the next train to your software vendor's establishment, to pick up your own copy of 3D Dizzy.
LightWave 5 on the Mac doesn't write out to 3DMF. I hope that version 5.5 will, making the use of 3D Dizzy and other QuickDraw utilities all the more valuable. Since QuickDraw 3D is a multi-platform format, we can expect a Windows version of 3D Dizzy in the naer future.
System requirements: Power Macintosh, CD-ROM drive, Macintosh
system software 7.5.1 or later, 16MB RAM (32MB recommended), 4MB HD space,
QuickDraw 3D 1.5.1, Adobe Photoshop 3.0.5 or later.
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Vertigo 3D Dizzy
MSLP: $129.00
Vertigo Technology, Inc.
1255 West Pender Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6E 2V1
(604) 684-2113
info@vertigo3d.com
http://www.vertigo3d.com
There are two types of LightWave Modeler users, those that do and those that don't. I probably fall into the "don't" category. Ever since the original Amiga LightWave editions, I have preferred to model my 3D objects in other applications, rather than in Modeler. This has nothing to do with the power of Modeler, since I recognize that it has as many if not more features and capabilities than any other 3D modeling application around. It has more to do with my personal comfortability with LightWave's modeling interface. From time to time, I use Modeler to originate 3D objects, but those times are rare. My use of Modeler is more to modify than to originate 3D models. I prefer a more interactive and less menu driven way to model objects, akin to that folded into trueSpace, Strata Studio 2, Aladdin 4D, and other applications. The reason I mention all of this is that I may be changing my appreciation of LightWave Modeler because of a specific plug-in: MacroForm.
MacroForm, from One And Only Media, has not gotten a lot of press, and I believe the reason for this is rather depressing and indicative of the worst in us. MacroForm is accompanied by a manual, or rather a teaching document, that requires serious and dedicated study, rathert than just a cursory glance. Too many people in my profession, tech writers, prefer to open a manual, get a few choice ideas of what a piece of software does, and slam out an article. At times, that type of article contains errors of judgement based upon ignorance and surface skimming, instead of a dedicated look at what the application does and what it can be pushed to do. I am sure that MacroForm is a case in point. You absolutely have to study the documentation before you start to apply MacroForm's magic on selected 3D objects. A learning curve is expected. The MacroForm documentation, in fact, could be sold as a stand-alone product, a complete 3D academic course in 3D perception and appreciation. Quality, however much we complain that it doesn't exist, is often a reason that products are less appreciated in the marketplace, because we seem to think that quality has nothing to do with time. Yes. We want quality, but we want it instantly, with no responsibility on our part to bring it to pass.
So what is MacroForm? MacroForm is a LightWave plug-in for Modeler that allows Modeler to greatly expand the ways we can interact with and deform 3D models. The more "experienced" (possibly read as "jaded") a 3D modeler you are, the more you are advised by this reporter to read the MacroForm docs, because they are written by folks who obviously love 3D modeling work, who are devoted to creating new ways to do old and new things, and who see the deeper facets of 3D modeling alternatives.
We will cover specific MacroForm modeling devices in future
articles in FlightWave. By not doing that now, it gives you a chance to
purchase the application, and do what is necessary as a first step: study
the documentation thoroughly. Read it like you would if it were a mystery
novel, or better yet, a mystical text. MacroForm is one of the most powerful
plugins LightWave will ever see, and the application of the teachings it
contains are far reaching. Is your interest piqued? Good. That's a start.
Now go out and buy it. When I receive some mail from those of you that
desire MacroForm tutorial information in this column,.. we'll continue
the journey. The Following illustrations show various MacroForm menus attached
to function key macro assignments.
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MacroForm
One And Only Media
PO Box 218
Vauxhall, NJ 07088-0218
(908) 964-4546
oaomedia@chelsea.ios.com
http://chelsea.ios.com:80/-oaomedia
R. Shamms Mortier, PhD is the owner of Eyeful Tower
Communications, a graphics/animation design house in Bristol, Vermont.
He is an accompished jazz musician, recording artist and composer. He has
written over 500 articles on computer graphics and animation over the last
ten years for over twenty major international magazines, and has written
books on related topics (Amiga DeskTop Videography, the graphics section
of the Hayden Maclopedia, Pagemaker 6.5 for Hayden-Macmillan, and BackStage
Pass on Web design for Ventana Books). He can be reached at rshamms@together.net.
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Copyright © 1997 Visual Inspirations