Some designers have a background in 3D modeling. I don’t. Still, clients expect me to make their logos spin and dance in 3D space. As much as I’d love to learn how to use Maya or 3ds Max, I don’t have the time or resources to do so.
Thank goodness for Swift 3D 6. It’s a 3D application made specifically for Flash designers. It allows them to draw simple shapes, type text, or import AI/EPS files and extrude them. You can then color and shade the model and animate it using a Flash-like Timeline. Swift 3D ships with preset animations, such as spins and bounces, that you can apply via drag-and-drop. It also comes with a large styles library, so if you want your object to look like glass or chrome, you don’t have to create that look from scratch. You can render out your model in a variety of styles, including photorealism and various cartoonish looks.
Photomerge in Photoshop CS4 does an amazing job of aligning and blending panoramas, but occasionally you run into an image where there’s a glitch that has to be fixed manually. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at panorama alignment problems and explore various strategies for fixing them. We’ll finish with a look at how to get great-looking moving water in high-dynamic range (HDR) shots.
1 A PANORAMA ALIGNMENT GLITCH
In most cases, the seams created by Photomerge are very successful, but sometimes it may have “issues.” This panorama was made from three horizontal images taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And no matter how many times I’ve tried to get Photomerge to blend these images, it always creates an alignment glitch at the top of the locomotive, just above the windshield. In this section of the article, we’ll create the initial panorama—glitch and all—and then explore a few different ways to try and fix the problem.
Hey everyone! I wanted to share with you another image that I took while I was in Kansas City. This time, it happened to be of the Drum Room Lounge, inside of the Hilton President in Kansas City. If you see at the post that I did with the hotel lobby (it’s a few below this one) both were taken with the same biodegradeable tripod (an apple). Hey! I didn’t know I was going to stumble into somewhere this cool! Same as before – this was a 5 shot HDR shot at -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 and processed with Photomatix.
So, why share these HDR images with you here? Well to whet your appetite for more HDR stuff at Photoshop World. That’s right, registration is open for Photoshop World in Orlando, FL March 24-26 2009. Now, on Tuesday March 23 Matt Kloskowski and I are bringing back our pre-con Real World HDR. So, if HDR is one of those things that you’re thinking of doing, and you want to learn it from Matt and I at Photoshop World, make sure you register now! Believe me, this one will sell out pretty fast.
My Weekend With the Droid
Here at the office, I get teased quite a bit for not owning the Iphone. It seems like everywhere I turn, there’s someone walking by the office pointing out their newest migration to the Iphone; their finger pointing in mock anguish as to me being one of the last holdouts. Over the last 2 years.. the landscape has gone from red to blue.. everyone gushing at their ability to to do this.. and do that.. on the new Iphone.
Here’s the real skinny about it: I just don’t care. Most of the time, if I give you a “I know.. im waiting for x to switch” I really am not thinking about that.. i’m just telling you what you want to hear.
The thing is – I am very happy with being on Verizon – and no amount of bells and whistles on the Iphone would have made me switch for it. My wife and I both have a plan, and both of our families are on the same network.. so most of our calling is free. The key word here being -calling-. At it’s core, I am one of those few people who believes that owning a phone really does begin with a phone. Everything else on top of that is just gravy. Phone must come first. I’m even the guy who has given up on Bluetooth earpieces after getting every one. A wire works just fine for me.
That said, I was interested to see what the new Verizon Droid was going to be like – the union of Motorola Hardware and Google software. Hey.. we’re big Google fans, and Motorola has been known to produce cool stuff (Startac). I’d be willing to give it a shot.
Here’s where things differ. I am NOT LOOKING for an Iphone Killer. To me, I happen to think that the Iphone is an amazing piece of hardware – saddled with (what many say) is the worst carrier of the group. I don’t want it to replicate all of it’s features and I dont want to bench it on whether the exprience is “Magical” “Breathless” “Just Works” “Timeless” Je ne sais quoi.”. My review comes from a standpoint of “Since the Iphone isn’t coming to a real phone network any time soon.. is there a phone on Verizon that will let me do the following things.. ”
To me, the answer to all of those questions was a a very good yes with the Droid. Want to hear about it? Want to enter the weekly Blog contest? Check out the link below:
This tutorial gets you started with importing 3D objects from third-party programs into Photoshop CS4’s 3D layers. Look for Parts 2, 3, and 4 coming soon!
Happy Thursday everyone! Just wanted to pop on in and share what’s new in the intranets:
Terry White’s New Iphone App
Terry white over at his techblog is usually covering all sorts of technology and letting us know what his favorite apps are for the iphone. He’s taken that love and mixed it with his wildly popular Creative Suite 4 podcast and turned it into an iphone app of it’s own! Now, you can go to the Itunes Store and for 1.99, you can download his app. The app not only gives you access to his podcast over the iphone (no download needed, but you can if you want to), you can ALSO check out free content available to it.
Some designers have a background in 3D modeling. I don’t. Still, clients expect me to make their logos spin and dance in 3D space. As much as I’d love to learn how to use Maya or 3ds Max, I don’t have the time or resources to do so.
by Sean Duggan: 
My Weekend With the Droid
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