3D Artist #33 Online Supplement

3D Artist magazine issue #33 Online Supplement

Issue published June 1998, 32 pages.
Issue status: In print. 3DA#33 went to press in June and shipped on 23-24 July, and was available at Siggraph 98 in Orlando, Fla. earlier that week. [orders]
Web supplement status

Cover Story The cover image is by Mike Caputo. He writes that, No matter how good the tools we use, no matter how fast or realistic or feature-packed our rendering engines become, rare is the case where we go straight to final output after one pass through the renderer. Most studios, if not all, render the elements of a scene separately and put everything together in post production. Usually, more sweetening is added to the image in post--flares, blurs, overall frame lighting, or color tweaking.
___ I started by creating and composing the elements in Hash's Animation:Master 98, using a great male model provided with the program. I positioned everything relative to the camera, set up the lighting, and rendered each element separately: the grid, the wireframe man, and the flesh-colored man.
___ I imported everything into that king of desktop compositing tools, Adobe After Effects. To date, there is no other desktop compositing tool that compares to it. Subpixel antialiasing, Bezier control, an amazing array of plug-ins, and the way it fully integrates with Photoshop and Illustrator, all make it a powerful tool for any digital animator.
___ It was in After Effects that things were layered together and more effects applied. I added the lens flare, a color gradation to the grid, a graduated blur to the grid, the colored rays on the man, and split the frames of the flesh man and wireframe man and blended them together.
___ A handy capability in After Effects is being able to work in a draft quality, low-resolution mode, where it displays every second or fourth or tenth pixel. This goes a long way toward speeding production, as you can do all composing and testing at the low-quality setting without bogging down the machine.
___ To render the final image using full resolution, best-quality mode, my PowerMac 9500 took 43 minutes. The final frame size of this image was 2475 pixels wide by 3375 high.
___ I think I'll stick to NTSC resolution for awhile.

See pages 21 and 24 for more work by Mike Caputo, who wrote the keynote for our "3D for 2D" focus in 3DA#31. You can reach him at <mcaputo@panix.com> or visit http://www.panix.com/~mcaputo.

Table of Contents & Supplementary Info

With few exceptions, article text and images are not posted online, only supplemental materials. To obtain the printed magazine itself, please see details and order form for Single Issues. Six dollars U.S. puts this issue into the mail to you directly, anywhere in the world! (Price includes First Class postage in U.S., surface mail elsewhere, airmail available and recommended.)


3D for Historical Re-Creation Just one piece this time, but one that gives a good taste of the kinds of spectacular articles we've got queuing up for this focus over the next couple issues.
	16	The Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria by William H. Munns	Bryce 3D among the Wonders of the Ancient World. A major supplement to the printed article will be posted here by early August. Meanwhile, here are some images: [centerspread] [night scene] [wireframe]
Great Variety of How-To's
	4	Splash! by Mike Beals	Spray and waves for 3D Studio Max using this commercial plug-in.

	8	Blown Away by Physics by Jon Winchester WindBlown Productions	Using physics in trueSpace 3.2 to simulate a dandelion puff dispersal.

	12	Faces of Success by Mitch Butler Mitch Butler Co., Inc.	Using LW3D's Morph Gizmo for The Smell of Horror, star of the Siggraph 98 Electronic Theater.

	14	MicroScribe & Rhino by Sanford Kennedy Sanford Kennedy Design	Digitizing NURBS in Rhino for use in 3DS Max.

	19	Poser 3 Handyman by Cecilia Ziemer	Mommy! That woman put a hand on that man's behind!

	19	Poser Revisited by Sanford Kennedy Sanford Kennedy Design	Professional-level character animation plus comics.

	20	Gray Matter by Rick Greco Ripix Studios	A RAM-saving texture tip for RDS, Photoshop, and other programs.

	20	Sparkles by Rick Greco Ripix Studios	A nifty, easy special effect for StudioPro 2.1+ using Path tool and Pixie Dust extensions from Power Module 1.

	21	Action Objects by Mike Caputo	A very useful undocumented feature found in AM98.

	22	Taming The Wave: Metamation by David Hopkins Mach Universe	Using MetaNURBS to prepare for LightWave animation.

	26	Taking a Job by the Grass by Art Vandeliegh Epic Software Group, Inc.	Growing and mowing with Inspire 3D (and LightWave).

	32	ClothReyes 2 by Robert Undi C3D	Using ClothReyes in 3DS Max for animating gowns, scarves, hats, and hair.
Tricks & Tips
	6	Cover Story by Mike Caputo	Cover image done with Hash AM98 and Adobe After Effects. [full text]

	11	Organica Tips by The Gang at Impulse	More tips from Impulse tech support.

	13	The B&W Film Look by Mitch Butler Mitch Butler Co., Inc.	Converting LightWave animation to B&W using Photoshop 4+.

	15	Instant Cables by Cecilia Ziemer	Creating cables and wires easily in 3DS Max.

	18	Bryce 3.0 Survival Tips by Cecilia Ziemer	Pointers such as turning off Auto Key. You can find a longer variation of this article on The Bryce Page under the same title.

	30	Poser Trips by Cecilia Ziemer	Four short tips to help put some variety into your Poser 3 work.
Departments

24		3D Artist Reports by Lou Spivak & Mike Caputo	One book and a CD/Web training program reviewed: Digital Character Animation and Complete Support for 3DS Max.

30 + pull-out		Advertiser Index	Tell 'em you saw it in 3D Artist! Subscription and cover prices would double without advertising, so let these businesses know that you appreciate their support. Current [Advertiser Index]

27, 29		Business Card Ads	Dealers, training, software, models, textures, and services.

31		Classifieds	Employment ads, 3D Swap Meet, and more! Current: [_Job Ads_\|_Classifieds_]

6		Editorial Space	[full text]

6		Errata	Corrections and updates.

6		Masthead	Details about *3D Artist*.

30		Toolbox	Where to get more product info.

Errata & additional info:

p26: Macromedia is the publisher of FreeHand.

previous issue [3DA#32]

next issue

Revised: 16 Nov 98 rev 1
http://www.3dartist.com/3dao/s/33/3da33sup.htm
© Copyright 1998 Columbine, Inc. - All Rights Reserved
3D ARTIST magazine / Columbine, Inc. - P.O. Box 4787, Santa Fe, NM 87502 USA
505/424-8945 voice - 505/424-8946 fax - E-mail: webmaster@3dartist.com
Any mentioned trademarks are the property of their respective owners.