computer art magazine 35 (1999-2009) by tg-z

The Power Macintosh G3.

The Power Macintosh has been completely reinvented. It has faster processors - up to 450 MHz -which outperform the fastest processors in high-end PCs: It has built-in ATI RAGE 128 graphics accelerator, so it can run 3D graphics up to 47% faster than a PC decked out with an advanced add-in card. Plus there's up to a full gigabyte of memory and up to 100GB of internal disk storage. The Power Macintosh G3 gives you more PCI slots and more ways to connect to external devices, â&#x20AC;˘ lk1sed on 8) TEmark inle[:;!-r index scores. Performance nu~ ) ' mryÂˇ. depetulinR on appliaJ!ion and svslem conlif!uralion.

t A/JIJ(e SUJ!J!e:;led retail tm'ce of !be base model. exc/udin!J VAT a/17. S% a~ rJ/611/QQ

F.r VAT hridnu ;.,. "hrwm fn,.

Now opening on a desk near you.

with built-in lOOMbs Ethemet, USB and ultrafast FireWire. It also gives you a revolutionary way to access the revolutionary technology inside- a side door that opens as easily as, well, opening a door. Best of all, prices start at just£1,069 ex VAT.tThe Power Mac. It's the most powerful, expandable and accessible Macintosh ever built. Inspect it now by visiting us at www.apple.com/ukstore or for , details of your nearest Apple Authorised Reseller call us on 0870 6077660. • .Think different. Q

1999 Apple Compuler, Inc. All rlgh!s reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Fire Wire, Mac and Power Macinlo.sb are regisleted trademarks ofApple Computer, Inc., regisleted in /be US and other countries. Power Mac and 7bini different are

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issue 35

CD Interactive Maya2 ............... .. •..

On the Computer Arts CD 35··· 30-day full software: Director 7 (EXCLUSIVE!), Flash 4 & lmageReady 1.0. Demo software: Photos hop 5, Premiere 5, Canoma 1.0 , Commotion 2 , Cubase VST, lnfini-0 4 (dual), Creature Creator 1.5, 11/uminatus 4.5, TouchMore! 2 .01 and VideoPaint 5 (PC).

Movies: The final installment of our DV tutorial, a showreel from

Eduardo Carrillo and Weightlessness from Magdalene Kourti. Plus: Direct links to the Worth While Websites, tutorial files, interactive Buyer's Guide, dynamic Latest News direct from the Web, Exposure images & essential resource software.

04 I computer arts I september 99

... . . B6

Poser4 ...... .•.....•...... .... ..... ........go Rash4 ........ .... .... ... ......... ... ...... . .... .........94 Commotion 2 ........... .. ..... . . . .... . .. .......g6 Mirai 1.0 NT .... . ......100 PDFCreaton.5 .............. .. .... .. . ........... . .102 TouchMore! 2.0 ............ .. .. .... .. .. .. .. . ............104 3Space Publisher ...... .105 3DS MAX R3lnteractive training ............. .105 3D BlasterTNT2 Ultra .................... .. .. ....107 Stealth Ill S540 .... ..107 3DL.absOxygenGVX1 ....... .. ...... .. . .........108 .. ...108 Vood0033000 . ......... .log 3D labs Oxygen VX1 ...log Lightning 1200

issue 35

06 News

•

Paint Shop Pro 6.o, Evolution , and the 601 MPEG-2 editing suite. Plus Tomato's latest book, the bionic-Bjork video, effects-heavy game, Tiberian Sun, and more ...

Digital animation The final part of our digital animation masterclass goes through the final rendering.

[iiJ

Computer trickery has overrun Hollywood; and not just the mega-bucks productions, either. We study the state of the arts, with special attention to I LM and Flat Earth.

16 Books We check out the latest crop of tutorial books for you.

17 Win 3DS MAX R3! Get your hands on mighty modelling package 30 Studio MAX for the price of a stamp.

•

Photoshop skills Making selections is one of those essential skills, but it's als.o pretty tricky. We give you some tips of the trade, and some images to practice on.

Back issues Missing an issue? Complete your collection here ...

!!] Kerry Roper

20 PC graphics cards

Design-house red seal produced this month's Computer Arts cover using Photoshop and lmageReady. To re-create the image and then prepare it for export to the Web, turn to page 26 ...

What makes graphics cards tick? We take a close look at the PC variety.

"I visualise an idea, then I create it on the computer as fast as I can," says Kerry.

•

ea live

22 ea mail

The Computer Arts LIVE! show is the event of the season; read all about it here.

The perfect chance to air your views on any and every computer art topic.

Interactive

[2iJ Cover tutorial This month's cover was created for us by top design house red seal, using some Photoshop trickery. Follow the step-by-step walkthrough to complete it yourself.

Multimedia company Sink has an aversion to print-work, and a magical touch with everything else ...

3D skills In this month'~s 3D skills, we ow you how to model with nd 3D splines.

__lW>J.AI:eillnB

In the final part of our digital animation masterclass, our animation of The Tempest is done and dusted- almost. In this episode, we look at rendering the video to get the best results.

Enjoy our cover CD to the max with this handy section.

85 Reviews section Mayo 2, Poser 4, Flash 4, and Commotion 2. Plus 30 Studio MAXtraining CD.

86 Maya 2

Sink

•

Hollywood effects

& Spyda

Arcana and Spyda, mother and daughter, are two diverse creative companies who work very closely to provide "a more open-ended approach to design ... "

Mayo is a top package with a price to match- is it worth it?

Subscribe Subscribe, and avoid the queues at the newsagent.

106 Round up PC graphics cards: We round up six of, the newest and best.

110 Buyer's guide . Check our Buyer's guide before forking out your cash.

[122] Exposure We showcase your best work. september 99

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news paint shop pro 6

New software, hardware, Websites, competitions, plug-ins & videos

Paint Shop Pro 6 THIS POPULAR IMAGE EDITOR GETS VECTOR TOOLS AND A MAKEOVER. (OULDTHIS BE THE UPGRADE THAT PUTS

PAINT SHOP PRO ON EVERY

DESKTOP?

ac users may be forgiven for thinking that there's only one image-editing package- but if you have a PC you should know better. Paint Shop Pro might not offer the hardcore clout of Photoshop, but the bitmap application that started out as a small shareware utility has now become a fully commercial enterprise. You'll still be able to down load a fully-working trial version of Paint Shop Pro 6- but as with the previous version , it will only function for 30 days, before timing-out forever.

Paint Shop Pro S'a new JPEQ export fllclllty provides you with â&#x20AC;˘ reel-time preview, end approximate downloed times too.

Vector drllwlq tools have el.o been added, end you can create text u â&#x20AC;˘ vector object, .o Ita properties remain fully editable.

This new release is almost with usexpect it sometime in September- and from what we've seen so far, it looks impressive. For the first time you can create vector objects, using two new tools: Draw and Preset Shapes. Vector objects are

placed inside a separate layer and remain fully editable at all times, with standard handles. Or you can double-click an object to edit further properties, like anti-aliasing, miter limit, line caps, joins and fill styles. Version 6 also has a new Vector Object Selection tool , which enables you to make modifications to individual points in a shape or line. You can select, add, delete and move nodes, plus there are various sub-functions that you can access by rightclicking on the object.

Animation Shop 2 I":'!Qiiit Shop Pro 6 anives with a new and

Lill Improved version of JASC's animation utility, Animation Shop, which enables you to create sequences from existing images. Its features Include a new range of effects

and transitions, Improved format support (Including AVI and FLC andAutodesk's FU), and optimlsation enhancements. it's also easier to use, with several new Wizards, and is better integrated with Paint Shop Pro.

The write stuff Paint Shop's Text tool has also been heavily enhanced, threefold. First, you can create text as a vector object, so that properties like content, size and colour stay fully editable. Second, you can make single text entries with mixed font, size, colour and style properties, and there are new options for leading and keming . And third, you can apply text to a path by creating and selecting another vector object. Paint Shop Pro 6 sees the introduction of adjustment layers. You'll be able to

o6 I computer arts 1 september 99

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news

Paradable knowledge If it turns out to be true. you heard it here first Connect Interactive has installed the UK's first

lnteT&ctive Plasma screen, in Druce Property Agents in South Kensington, London. The .p-inch display has been placed in the shop window, and is controlled by a MicroTouch 'ThruGlass' controller on the inside of the window. Passers-by can select whether they're looking to rent or buy properties, choose a location, specify and a number of bedrooms. Then they're presented with a list of properties available. You can check out the sales details and photographs for a particular property, and some screens even have videos or 3D walkthroughs. Contact t 01799 542929 or visit Jf www.connectinteractive. co.uk

"Point Shop's Text tool has been heavily enhanced. You con create te~t os a vector object, so that properties like content stay fully editable... " apply colour enhancements as a layer, which means you can then go back and edit or delete the adjustments that you've made to the image- even when you've saved it out as a PSP or PSD file . And Paint Shop's Multiple Undo feature has come in

l'alnt Shop Pro B'a Layera palette hila been hellvlly r......,..__ You can juat hold your cu..- over any layer for an lnatant preview.

for a boost too, with the addition of a Multiple Redo to match . There are literally hundreds of minor tweaks, majoring in interface enhancements (in particular the addition of roll-ups for floating palettes), special

Dlglmarc watarmartdng technology haa been licensed for vB, enabling you to atamp lnvlalbla copyright datalla Into your Image.

effects and deformations. Further notable newcomers include support for Digimarc's digital watermarking , and a new GIF and J PEG export facility offering real -tirrie previews and down load-time predictions.

Picture this One feature new to Paint Shop Pro 6 acknowledges the rise of the digital camera: direct support for all popular digicam models, via a small add-on you can down load from the JASC Website. And the new version also offers a multiple image-printing mode- which should help you make the most of your paper supply and do your bit for the rainforests- as well as new support for PostScript files . And fiually,JASC has both improved Paint Shop's support for Photoshop's PSD format, and enhanced it's own native PSP format to reflect v6's new features , We should have a full review next month . cm

The famous iMac design has inspired PC makers to change their colours. Rumour has it that lntel PC prototypes are to be the shape of Mayan pyTamicls and blue fish. Yes, really ... Think you could do a better job on the special effects of the new Star Wars film The Phantom Menace?You'll need to be especially nice to the bank manager. George Lucas may have created stunning images on the big screen, but at a cost. The digital imaging alone came to the grand total of ÂŁ40 million. The PL-400 is Wacom's new LCD/pen tablet. it behaves like a cltgital clrawhlg boarcl, and you can draw straight onto the screen. Is this goodbye to the traditional graphics tablet? it costs ÂŁ1799; call t 0181 358 5857 for more.

september 99

computer arts

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news computer arts

Evolution THE NEW SUITE OF AFTER EFFECTS FILTERS FROM ATOMIC POWER ARE AS MUCH REVOLUTION AS EVOLUTION ••• rian Maffitt, long-time After Effects user and the star of Total Training's tutorial videos (reviewed in issue 26) has designed a new series of filters for After Effects, called Evolution .The set of 13 also includes four two-hour training videos hosted by Maffitt him self, which cover every aspect of the Evolution fi lters. The concept behind Evolution is to address some long -standing om issions from After Effects' cadre of first- and thirdparty filters, and also to improve the 3D functionality of the ostensibly 2D package. One in stantly impressive filter is Shatter, which enables you to expl ode a layer into a variety of preset or userdefined pieces. lt operates fully within 3D space, so you can add depth t o the fragments, pulling texture-mapping from other layers within the composition, and you can al so move the camera around to view the project from any angle.

softwaTe Framed again Extensis, the purveyor of Photoshop plug-ins and much besides, has announced version 2 of PhotoFrame. This popular tool is intended to make light work of framing your images in Photoshop, and comes with over 1000 pre-fabs. You can also customise your own frames, and down load others from Jr www.extensis.com-"l'll never run out of options," said one photographer-user. Version 2 boasts an improved interface and new special effects, including drop shadows, textures and the like. PhotoFrame 2 costs £194, and you can call Computers Unlimited on I 0181 358 5857 for more information.

MatchMover The line between CG and reality takes a knock this month, with the release of MatchMoverfor NT and lrix. The software captures 3D camera paths from 2D liveaction footage, enabling you to mix realworld and rendered footage more effectively: you can attach and synchronise virtual 3D objects to real objects in your live frames. Alternatively, you can export the captured

oB I computer arts

se pte mber 99

A n ew feat u re int roduced in Evolution is t he use of greyscale layers to act as a gradient control. When a gradient is applied, the black areas of the im age activat e the effect first , leaving the wh ite areas until last. This way, you can control precisely how an effect is initiat ed. So your exploding blocks wit h Shatter, for example, could begin at one side of a layer and sweep across the screen , or st art in t h e centre of th e screen and move outwards in a spiral pattern. This gradient system is used across several of Evolution's filt ers, and provides unprecedented cont rol over th e way your effect t akes place. Other h ighlight s include Mu ltipl ane, wh ich m imics a m ultipl ane animat ion camera set-up, an d Tu rbulat or, a sophi st icated fractal-based displacement system, designed to sim ul ate clou ds, fire, smoke, water and so on. We'll leave you to ponder on the likes of Wave World, Caustics, Foam, Colorama, Card Dan ce, Card Wipe, Vegas, Radio Wave, Radio Star and Radio Shape, u ntil Evolution is reviewed in a forth com in g issue. ml

data to 3D Studio MAX, Softlmage,Maya or LlghtWave, and get to work with it there. MatchMover is expected to cost in the region of £150-300, as an "initial investment": you'll either have to fork out a further £7500 for an unlimited export facility, or purchase keys on a per-export basis. Call Andrew lloyd & associates on I 01273 675100 for more info.

Softimage 3D Avid's SoftlmageaD, meanwhile, has come in for an update to V3.8SP2, incorporating mental ray 2.1, the renderer. Sojtlmage, a top-end 3D modelling, animation and rendering system, garnered a five-star rating when we last reviewed it, way back in issue 25. The new release also sees DropPoints and SlidePoints, a Photon Director and a Surface Continuity Manager join the render party. The update is free to existing Softlmagers,

Evolution's powerful Shatter plug-In enables you to explode layers In a controlled, 3D environment. This Is a scan of Computer Arts luue 34's cover, with Shatter applied and animated over time. Evolution 1. 0 costs $799, and includes separate installations for After Effects ] .1 and 4.0. For more

information visit Jr www.atomicpower.com or lf www.totaltraining.com or to buy Evolution contact Polar Graphics on I 0181 868 2479.

while the full pack costs £3619- for more information calli 0171307 8ooo.

New term for Dreamweaver Macromedla has announced new Attain Objects for Dreamweaver, the top Web design application. Attain Objects is an extension application for getting learning-oriented content on the Web, and provides templates for "complex interactions that would otherwise be difficult and time-consuming to build, • says Macromedia.Attain Objects doesn't require plug-ins or use applets, and is now fully cross-platform and Dreamweaver 2-compatible. lt's aimed primarily at those in the learning businesstrainers, schools and so onbut should also find favour with marketeers. After all, the best marlleting aims to 'teach'. Prices for Attain Obj«ts were unavailable at the time of going to press, but you can call Computers Unlimited on 10181 358 5857 for full details. 1!!1

computer arts @® news

Bareback THE COLLECTED WORKS OF THE TOMATO DESIGN COLLECTIVE, IN A BOOK CALLED BAREBACK. omato is everywhere: the titles for Trainspotting; adverts for Adidas, Nike and Levis; and its last highly successful book, Process. A Tomato Project. Safe to say, Tomato is one of the most prolific and influential art and design collectives in the modern world- and Bareback, its new · book, is its story. As you'd imagine, the 240-page tome is an inspiring visual feast, and offers a fascinating insight into Tomato's work. lt includes a confident 340 spectacular illustrations, as well as poetry, photos and prose. These are assembled to reflect the individual style of each ofTomato's nine

A TOMATO

PROJECT. ••

members, as well as offer an overview of the group as a whole. The sheer scope ofTomato's work, which span s short films, television adverts, record covers and strategic thinking for giant corporations around the globe, is manifest in Bareback. The book's conceptual style screams out energy, reflecting a group of successful designers that harbours Underworld- yes, that Underworld, the respected techno outfit -within its midst, while keeping its feet firmly planted in the art world. Over the last eighteen months, Tomato has created and curated fifteen different exhibitions and installations of

Adldas, Nlke, Levls, TralnspoHinlt- names like this make for a worthy biography ...

its non-commercial work in venues around the world. Bareback. A Tomato Project is equally personal: at just eight years old, Tomato is gazing on a past that's pretty good looking ... lm 'Bareback. A Tomato Project ' is published in September 1999, ond will be p riced ot £ 25 (ISBN: 185 669 1608). For more on Tomato,

visit .!! www. tomato.co.uk

Contexture competition Image and texture collections up for grabs ... ~ Vision, the largest royalty-free photographic distributor,

L!.t has come up with a vast collection of images and textures aimed at graphic designers and digital artists. Named Contexture, the series of 32 CDs contains over 2,500 images, grouped under titles like Naked and Scared and Velocity. Digital Vision has really flexed its imagination with these contemporary collections. data:funk, for example, comprises of layers of typography and design in modern colours. Naked and Scared features documentary style photography in a mass of overlapping colours and shapes, and Velocity combines digital illustrations of grids and hardware with typography. To get your hands on one of the three CDs mentioned, put your name and address on a postcard and send it to: Contexture Compo, Computer Arts, 29 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW. Closing date: 14 September.~ Tomato has a vast catalogue of wort< from which ..,aback. A Tomato Project Is culled. In the end, the nine members focused on artwort< that reflected each of their Individual styles, as well as the group as a whole.

For more information on Contexture, visit the Digital Vision Website at .!! www.digitalvisiononline.com

Cornpet1tiom- well. why noP You've nothing to lose ..

vcn if you don't usually enter competrtiom. these hrgh profile events may tempt you The fmt. September Song. is the 1999 SoHo Multmwdra festrval. whrch rs hosting a drgital art contest The JUdging panel include Design Week. Corlm Images and the Assocratron of Photographers. who .ue looking for""the most inspired and bP'>t executed imagery" There are prizes up for grabs. and selr·cted work will frnd rts way onto Websrtcs and the walls of top London galleries. The deadline for entrie<:. is

30 Augmt. and you can down load an entry form from w www.september;ong.com The second is Digit a- a competition open to amateur drgital creatives. Entry is free; simply e mail your three best images toe ,\brac(oildabra.demon.co.uk Your prctures must be in PNG or JPEG format. and none should be over woKB. There\ frooo worth of prizes to be won. includrng a Sony Mavica digital cameraso get those submissions in ... For the full competition rules. browse your way to w www.dabra.com/digrta.html <a

Contexture- more than just another 32 CDs of marble and wood effects. If NakfHI a ScarfHI doesn't perk you up, nothing will.

september 99

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@ffl

news computer arts

Flights of Fancy AIRPORT DIGITAL ART TAKES OFF he San Antonio International Airport has a progressive attitude to art. Rather than confining it to the features inside its in-flight magazines, it runs an exhibition program at the airport's very own gallery, Art Spaces. Demonstrating the high calibre of work that graces the terminal , digital artist Michael Mehl 's current exhibition was created specifically for the gallery. Titled 'Flights of Fancy; Fantastic Tales from the Lore of Flight', the exhibition consists of digital collages, each one telling an anecdote based on the subject of flight. Michael's style is very distinctive, but is painstaking work. Using vintage illustrations from the 18th, 19th and 2oth centuries, Michael uses Photoshop and Live Picture to outline each element, before integrating them into the final collage. He says: "I tried out some automatic masking and silhouetting features, but I always ended up having to re-do things 'manually' to get a more integrated look. So early on in the project, I decided that the process has to be non-automatic." llil i

ns-

m Bth/uneÂˇâ&#x20AC;˘sth October at

the San Antonio International Airport. For more in(o,

call.f +OOI

210 207 3450.

Fire GL1 Diamond Multimedia and IBM join forces ... ~ Fire GL1 is proof of what can be U achieved when experts get together: a leap forward in graphics card technology. Built for the NT system, the Fire GL1 features IBM's 256-bit graphics rasteriser engine. At double the size of your usual 128-bit offerings, the Fire GL1looks like a powerful addition

10 1 computer

arts 1 september 99

to any system. Capable of processing up to 15 million anti-aliased vectors-per-second and achieving a fill-rate of 200 million pixels-per-second, the Fire GL1 sounds ideal for 3D animation and CAD work. The accelerator is optimised for multiprocessor systems with multi-threaded OpenGL drivers, and it can even handle multiple displays: up to four monitors running under NT. It also supports screen res up to 1920x1200, thanks to the 250MHz RAMDAC hidden inside the card. Is the Fire GL1 the perfect graphics card for high performance, high resolution graphics? ~

computer arts

@ffl •w•

BjOrk android BJORK GOES BIONIC IN HER LATEST PROMO VIDEO ••• op post-production house Glassworks had the enviable task of creating androids in the likeness of pop pixie Bjork. The promo for her single All is Full of Love features two Bjork-style androids, who end up in a passionate clinch. Glassworks' 3D animator James Mann and flame• artist Pasi Johansson worked on the project, which mixed live footage and CG trickery. To create the androids, two fibreglass models were built using moulds

of Bjork's face.The models were filmed, and then Bjork matched their positions. James used SoftimageiJO to add movement to the androids, and he modelled photo-realistic robotic arms to compliment the live action ones. Pasi warped Bjork's face onto the fibreglass models and restored her features throughout the video usingjlame•. The final problem of matching the live action with 3D modelling was the lighting. To overcome the hitch, CG elements had to be lit seven times to blend perfectly. lm

3D lllldrold effects were eddecl to the new B)Ork video by ~1"0CCuctlon facility GlasworkL

software, ts lomega's first optical pnMluct.

f516,andcomes buncDecl with Ulead~~andC&non's JfJIIen.mel, l'floCDSt1kh and

P11ces for the ztpCD were not available at time afgolng to press, but you can call 1o1oo m,.. for further details.

8o6z for mo~elnfonnatlcm.

Web-booths are comfftg

canon has alsoTelease4a

wm.a~ecm-a pact -a multimedia

piOject demonstrating the functions

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-,atiiWIIbllng to the Pawer51lot ....._which has wnslltltntlysamld well Ill ourll!stl.111e111W camera ts to be the .......-s S1lllllest andllglltest momlens llllgll-plxe1 cltgttaJ camera•,and outputs

If you're thinking about embarking on Web design to expand your company's portfolio of skills, you should check out Londonbased Corps Business. The course covers everything you need to know, starting with the planning and preparation you need to be aware of even before you start any practical work on a Webslte. Following this, there's a brief but effective hands-on tutorial using Dreamweaver (mornings) or GoLive (afternoons), so you can test your skills and put together a sample site yourself. The course Is a short, sharp blast of training, and is guaranteed to point you In the right Web direction. The workshops run from 1oam-1pm or 2-spm, and cost £106. For more details contact Corps Business on I 0171 222 8484 or visit .1r www.corps.co.uk

to a resolution af 1a8oxg6o.lt COlts

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CDI.111e new clouiiiHtdecl !J.4GB atelllldtoolrer"mooethan100,000

Web training seminars

GIJOW' cltgttaJ cameiL 1t otren fully l11bt1..tlw simulation so you can practise on virtual film lleforewnturtng out wtth the real thtng, and COlts £41.

lomlgapsODtkal kmlega. afztp andiaz

clrlve fame, has

finally launched Into the CD marlret wtth

ztpCD- a 6soMI.411 wrtbt,4111ftlrlte and • nlldCD-IW cblw.111e clrl¥e, which comes wtth l'fiDCoslltiJJ LE and various

bumlftg and storage management

Never be stw:k fore-mall whfleyou're out agatn. IT ts talclng that 1ovub1e slke at Brittsh 1tt'e, the phone box, tntothefuture. Next time you rummqe tn your pocket for change, you might be sencltng an e-maft ar IUiftng the Web. Over the next yeu,1000 MuJtlphcmes are set to appear tn airports, train stations and the 111ce, complete with cm-ltne fKI1tttes and a frlencllyu-tnch toudHcreen Interface.

Vlcleophony, 'video •mall' (which enables you totalfe. SlllpShot flum the booth and attach tt to your mall) and printing facilities are expectecl to make an

appeaT&nCe soon after. l!!l

september 99

1computer arts 111

@ffl

news computer arts

Virtual Visions VISIONS OF IMAGINARY WORLDS irtual Visions is an exhibition made u p entirely of computergenerated prints. The artist, Mike King, has created snapshots of imag in ary worlds, each populated by surreal shapes, fantastical textures and an array of colours. Perhaps th e most intriguing aspect of th e Vi rtual Visions is not the subject

matter, but the techni ques th e artist used. Rath er t han buyin g an off-t he-shelf 3D package- or settling down with Photos hop - Mike decided to only use software created by himself. The software, t itl ed RaySculpt, is one that Mike has been developing for th e last 14 years. All of t he programming , bar the rayt racer which was donat ed by Dr Richard Wrig ht, was undertaken by Mike. Using RayScu lpt, Mike has explored his

favourit e subject ; t he m etaphysics of th e digit al world. The idea is th at th e theori es of space and light , which have been essential t o t he growth of science, also bring us to t he 'end of science'. He call s this th e paradoxical world of modem physics, saying:"The physics of li ght brin gs the subjective back into science." Running RayScu lpt on his hom e PC, Mike often leaves his com put er rendering a high resolut ion image over night . His current ambition is to creat e virt ual spaces in real-time, but t his is som e way off at t he mom ent. m You can catch Virtual Visions ot the Colvi/le Place Gallery, London from 4-25th September. For more information contact the gallery on .f 0171 436 1330, or visit .!! web.ukon/ine.co.uk,lnr.king/

Satori add-ons ~ more from Sator i? Then

l:A:.t you're in luck- Spaceward

Mike King's exhibition, VIrtual VIsions, was created entirely with software programmed by the artist. RaySculpt took Mike 14 years to develop, but we think the results are stunning.

I computer arts I september 99

Graphics has developed some new add-on packs for Satori. These include new movie brushes, textures, templates and filters that promise to spice up your designs in V3 or later. The CanvasFX Libraries have new filters for Web design, photo effects and artistic effects, and the filters also work with CanvasFX for Speed Razor. Plus, the Brush Libraries offer some exciting new brush styles - Triangle, Pearl, Cone, Blur, Cloud, Grass, Skin, Ripples, plus a soft build-up airbrush. Best of all, the add-ons are all completely free . lf you want to down load them, head straight over to.!! www.satoripaint.com/ MiscDownloads.htm @!I

............,_

Aquick selection ofWebsftes worth a look... • -.Jndahoops.co.ulc Tlrls Webstte may be aMUl'ld forewr_ •-.Jmavv.c:o.ulc Got some spare tlmelTake a look at this entertainment stte. • www.mallbu-1'1111LG1111 Agreat- stte from Deepend. .-........u..c:o.ulc Deepend's BIMAawanl-whmer.

Great use af Flash for on-line games. • www.bmplex.org Aclestgn f'OUP t'hat cleve1ops multtmedta fort'he Web. • www.pllysfllgarden.ann A long-term co11oboratfvoe pruject.

reclsuJ pracl1lce tmagtnattve Imagery tn a wide range afmeclia, Including tills Issue's CCMr (see page 26).

• www.lynMILcom Webpru l¥ftda Wehlman's stte. • www.llll¥lllldE'a.c Ela1lent use af Flalt meclta. .WWW.JIIII'll ..l CID uJc Paul Citllarcl's Webstte. • www.anWavll.at.ulc ~Arts Exposure veteran.

•~n1

ArtlltkFitullfrom Mk'helle Stum.

AIIothef great stte from Deepend. 1!!1 -~

'11111, . . . . . . . loellr. ... .,..E - · ........................

HexacbTome plug-ins Pantone offers up more six-colour options ...

r:l orget CMYK and RGB- Pantone . . . wants to introduce you to Hexachrome. This integrated sixcolour printing process offers you a greatly expanded gamut, thus increasing your flexibility as a designer. Pantone has also created plug-ins for both Illustrator and Photos hop- HexVector and HexImage -to make child's play of using the Hexachrome process. HexVedor for Illustrator enables you to design images using the greater range of colours that Hexachrome provides. You can automatically create six-colour separations, and then save them as multi-channel Illustrator files for vector artwork, or as PostScript Level2 EPS files ; you can even convert your old CMYK artwork for Hexachrome.

Hexlmage, meanwhile, is a Photos hop plug-in that also enables

you to create six-colour separations quickly and easily. To ensure your masterpieces are printed at their best, HexImage also offers support for industry-standard ICC profiles. The Hexachrome system may well save you money as well as time -you can achieve more vibrant spot colours, without having to specify them as separately printed Pantone shades. Also, the ultra-high fidelity process printing technology enables you to reproduce subtle shades far more accurately. @!1 Bath plug·ins are shipping in the UK from lSt September. Hex Image casts £196, and Hex Vector, £1oo. The pair are available as a pack called HexWare far £229. For more infa, contact Pantane an 1 a13a3 269 666

or visit .If www.pantone.com

"Hexachrome provides a distinct visual advantage over electronic media, with bold colours... "---d~ Pantone

@ffi

news tiberian sun

Ti erianSun WILL THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO COMMAND & CONQUER SAY AS MUCH FOR CREATOR WESTWOOD'S ARTISTIC SKILLS, AS FOR ITS LEGENDARY GAMEPLAY? ommand & Conquer is often

quoted as the game that kickstarted the real-time wargame revolution , inspiring sequels, tributes and countless rip-offs in the half decade since its launch. What tends to be overlooked is that the title also set new standards for videogame rendering, cleverly integrating mock TV broadcasts, created using a mixture of live actor footage and CGI, alongside the standard interactive missions. Since then, developer Westwood has continued to refine its rendering skills,

most notably on the game-of-the-movie, Blade Runner. And finally the time has come for the release of Tiberian Sun, the sequel to Command & Conquer, and the

Westwood art team is again hoping to knock the PC gaming fraternity's collective socks off (not to mention those of rival game developers). "There are approximately 46 minutes of footage in Tiberian Sun, used for mission briefings and win-lose sequences," explains Westwood Studios' Graeme Struthers. There's a greater reliance on actors this time around, with Hollywood stars Michael Biehn (Terminator, The Abyss,Aiiens) and James Earl Jones (Star Wars, Coming To America) both adding weight to the rendered video. Filming the actors took ten days, and the CGI required another five months.

Artistic approach Despite the anticipation surrounding Tiberian Sun , Graeme claims there's little

pressure on the game artists. "it's not really a case of feeling pressure, other than what we put upon ourselves. But we've always believed these scenes have to be valid within the game itself, and have to be there for a reason- not simply for the sake of it. So it's vital to put the same care and attention into them as we do the programming of the game. With Tiberian Sun , we have a lot of expectant fans, so the pressure is primarily to make a compelling game with a great story and design , and deliver a gaming experience that betters their expectations."

Tlberfâ&#x20AC;˘n Sun's main action - - - uslq a fixed viewpoint over a -olllq map, lt's undoubtedly a simpler llfflllr, but coloured llllhtlng â&#x20AC;˘nd c:.eful unit design ensureslt's also thorouJihly action-packed.

Ensuring that the CGI work is used in a 'valid' way is clearly a primary concern. Too many games tack-on rendered footage as an intro or outro, with little thoughtfor mirroring the artistic styles used in-game. "Any'cut scene' has to be completely relevant to the game in terms of style, story-telling and pay-off for the gamer. If it doesn't live up to those criteria, we won't do it," says Graeme. "Going forward, it would be really cool to have the story enhancing elements of the cut-scenes, so they change as the gamer makes choices," he muses. "You complete a mission or objective your way, and this is reflected in how or what you're told to do next..." In the meantime, garners the world over are counting the days until they can find out just how much of an evolution for the wargame genre Tiberian Sun will be. Expectations are ridiculously high , but early signs are that Westwood has come up trumps yet again. m

Arts at .tr www.ea.com or Jr www.tiberiansun.com

Try this at home Lighting is the key to Westwood's famed near-realistic look... ~

Althoullh the rendered sequences feature a much hiJiher level of detail than the fixed 3D viewpoint graphics - n l~t-C~~me, lt's essential that the unit designs are r8COI&JIISIIble In each. nberfiJII Sun features 30 full-blown CGI sequences In total, used for mission briefings and to depict win-or-lose situations.

I computer arts I september 99

estwood Is famed for its nearrealistic style of rendering, lighting and framing, reflecting Hollywood's output. To achieve a similar style, try turning off all the lights in your scene, then activate as few as possible, using narrow lights to achieve maximum effect. Once you've got an appropriately dramatic look, add a minimal amount ambient lighting to simulate radioslty.

The primary modelling package used at Westwood is 3D StudioMAX, although LightWave was also used for Tiberlan Sun. The company runs 3DS MAX on over 75 seats, with an additional go-odd machines on a render farm.lt also uses over 100 plug-ins, many home-grown, and has worked closely with Klnetlx to refine the motion-capture tools now appearing In Character Studio.

@® new•

books

The Electriclmage Handbook John Sledd • Charles River Media • £44.50 • ISBN: 1-886801-73-8

his is the first book to cover Electriclmage, and no aficionado ofthis Mac-only renderer should be without it. it's a comprehensive, hands-on reference work that's geared around tutorials. The book begins with an extensive chapter on creating 3D scenes, which all users will find an essential read.Then, over the course of 13 chapters, it looks at using Electriclmage 2.9.

Wh ether you're a beginner or an advanced u ser, you'll find plenty of u seful information, helping to quickly build professional-looking scenes. The explanations can be quite technical, which may confuse beginners. However, if you're an intermediate or advanced user, you should have no problems following the tutorials.

Electriclmage now ships with a modeller- El Mode/er- which the book describes in detail. Third-party plugins are not forgotten either, with tutorials on PowerParticles and Vector Lathe. Several Electriclmage artists have contributed work to the book, too. In all, it's a complete, in -depth and useful study of Electriclmage. @!1

••rhis Is a comprehensive handbook -If you use Electrlclmage, it's a useful desk reference... "

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing Ron Brinkmann • Harcourt Brace • £34.95 • ISBN: o-12-133960-2

esisting the temptation to produce just another selection of software tutorials, Brinkmann has written a comprehensive discussion of the issues facing today's digital artists. With film s like Speed, Die Hard and Last Action Hero under his belt, Brinkmann has a depth ofknowledge few can match. His book takes in everything you need to consider if you want to produce believable images

for the demanding audiences of today. Most of Digital Corn positing is a close look at the state-of-the-art techniques u sed to create the myriad of doctored images we see at the cinema and on TV. lt doesn't mention any software or hardware, but the information serves as a good reference guide for choosing a software package

or technique for a particular shot. The book concludes with case studies from recent high profile fi lms, and it also contains a comprehensive appendix and glossary. it's not a book for learning hands-on compositing technique, but a wider discussion on the technical details that make a successful composite shot. @!1

·~

heavyweight text book on the art of digital composing- for committed professionals only"

After Effects 4 In Depth Shamms Morti er • Coriolis • £46.99 • ISBN: 1-57610-310-2

nlike other In Depth titles, this one falls far short of the mark. The book's not in depth, and it doesn't offer detailed information about the program it purports to be about. Mortier covers every conceivable thirdparty plug -in, but leaves the core program to a few chapters scattered through the book. As an encyclopedia of effects you can achieve, it's an excellent ' resource. Novice users, however,

r....:;,:::::.:;:.:.;;;........:...:..----16

I computer arts I septem ber 99

will soon find that the few existing tutorials lack the detail and clarity they need to become proficient in the package. Veterans, nevertheless, will find the book a good resource for tools such as the available Production Bundles, and also a helpful buying guide for new plug-ins. A demo of After Effects 4 and over

200 animations come with the book, but these are little consolation when the book itself doesn 't make good use of them. If the author had at least used the later project-based chapters for a close look at creating After Effects animations, this could have been more than just a catalogue of related After Effects software. 1:!1

•'Excellent as a plug-In resource, but hopeless as In-depth tutorial material"

3d studio max r3

win

Win

WIN A COPY OF 3D Studio

MAX R3- WORTH

0 Studio MAX has proved to be an enduringly popular 3D package. This can be attributed to its all-encompassing nature and popular object-<>rientated approach. Rather than focusing on one or two aspects, Discreet's recent upgrade continues this fine tradition by throwing in a multitude of tweaks and tools to widen its scope still further. Check out the review in last month 's Computer Arts (issue 34}, where MAX achieved our coveted five-star rating. With new features packed into just about every section of the program, you're spoilt for choicewhat to play with·first? Particularly noteworthy is the totally revamped renderer, which now takes advantage of eleven new anti-aliasing pl ug-ins . The NURBS modelling has also been given an overhaul , and the Mesh SMooth tool has been upgraded significantly; it's got a swanky new title , too- NURMS. With improved character animation tools and a completely customisable interface, plus dozens of other tweaks , we cou ld go on and on. Rest assured, Discreet has booted 30 Studio MAXfirmly into the professional arena, and created a package that you 'd do well to take a look at ... Speaking of which , we've got a copy to give away to the first correct answer out of the hat, worth a staggering £3166 . What are you waiting for?

OVER

£3000! -

COURTESY OF

discreet

The competition

The rules

Which brand new version of 30 Studio MAX are we giving away?

Closing date for all entries is 14 September 1999. Employees of Future Publishing, Discreet, WhiteOaks Communications, or their agents or their fami lies may not enter. No multiple entries can be accepted. The editor's decision is final , there are no cash prize alternatives, and no other correspondence will be entered into. m

A- one B- two C - three

To enter Try the easy way via the Web : 1) Insert the Computer Arts CD. 2) On the Contents screen, click 'Current Compo'. 3) Put '3D Studio MAX R3' as the competition name, fill In the rest of the form and click 'Submit Entry' . Alternatively, if you don't have Web access , you can submit your entry on a postcard to : 30 Studio MAX R3 competit ion Computer Arts, Future Publishing, 29 Monmouth Street, Bath , BA12DL. Remember to include your address and a daytime telephone number if possible.

september 99

I computer arts l t7

Web.,.....

&pedal - COSB0003 100 pages dedicated to Web design.

3D Special- COSB0002 100 pages dedicated to 3D.

Photoshop Special- COSB0001 100 pages dedicated to Photoshop.

luue 24- Code CA024 The CA Star Awards 1998.

luue 25 - Code CA02S CD Core/DRAW 8, FreeHand 8 demos.

luue 27 - Code CA027 CD Premiere 5 & form • Z 2.9 demos.

luue 28- Code CA028 CD Photoshop & Premiere 5 demos.

luue 30- Code CA030 luue 29 - Code CA029 DV pt 4 , After Effects 4 review- The On-line video- Maya NT 1 review. Mill profiled . CD -lllustrator8demo. CD Photoshop5& form • Z 3demos.

luue 31- Code CA031 Web series pt 2- Fluid profiled . CD VideoShop 3.0.4 full software.

luue 32- Code CA032 Tutorials: form • Z - Web seriesDigi-animation masterclass pt 1Bryce 4 - Studio Liddell profiled. CD- Areworks 2 & form • Z demos.

luue 34- Code CA034 3D rendering- Oigi- animation pt3 - 3DS MAX R3 review. - CD Satori PhotoXL 2.2 (PC), PiXELS 30 2 .1.4 (Mac) Vistapro 3 (dual) full software

How to order back issues: Call the hotline on

01458 271108

Or via e-mail subs@futurenet.co.uk Please quote code: COAP35

Alternatively, UK readers can detach the card between pages 98 and 99, complete the bottom section marked 'Back issues' and return it FREE to: Computer Arts, Back Issues, Future Publishing Ltd, FREEPOST BS4900, Somerton, Somerset, TA116BR.

Issue 33- Code CA033 167 vector tips - Digi-animation masterclass pt 2 - lnDesign preview- Mirashade profiled . CD- Cinema 40 GO & Rash 3.

* Postage free in UK only. Add £1 per issue for European orders. Add £3 per issue for the rest of the wo~d . o v - readers ....,.., Future Publishing Ltd, Cary Court, ........_,~TAll 8TB, UK return to: Comporter Arts, 18

computer arts 1 September 99

Alter Yq.ur Perspective.

With some designs, there's more than meets the eye. A lot more. Discover a new dimension in creative freedom with the panoramic QuickTime '" VR capabilities of Corel PHOTO-PAINTe9. A complete application for powerful image editing and painting, Corel PHOTO-PAINT 9 delivers more. Artistic Media brushes, precision retouching features, more interactive tools than ever before-and QuickTime VR. Welcome to the big picture. is also induded in Core! DRAW• 9 Graphics Suite.

Step into the picture at

www.designer.com/photo-paint_qtvr

This ad'let1isement was designed and created using award-winning CoretDRAW and Coret PHOTO-PAIIfl graphics soltwale.

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Copyr9t 0 1999 C01!1 Cclparalion. Allri(111sltSIMd. Corti, Ccnl PHOTO-PAINT, CoreiOAAW, lhe Go U1her logo hlh Qnl'balloon logo ;we ll1denwb or /!gistered nctemm of Ccnl Corporation or Ccnl CoqmDon Umiled. Ouickline Is a traclerMt. used l.nllllicence. OuickTrre Is rfOislnd in h u.s.n other countries. All Oilier proMt, 11n and IXIrfC)allY names nllogos ae lrademDs or~ ndl!lnm

(!coRea.: Go further·

@ffl

news pc graphics cards

1cs ca1

THERE'S NO POINT IN HAVING COOL SOFTWARE I F YOU HAVEN ' T GOT THE SPEED TO MATCH.

50 WHICH

GRAPHICS CARD IS BEST FOR YOU?

Cs have long been a battleground for hardware manufacturers- and such competition has been greatest in the graphics card market, with rival chipset and board manufacturers fighting to produce the ideal video solution. In the early days of the PC, this involved little more than processing video data rapidly and incorporating one or two megabytes of RAM on board. The high-end boards were dubbed graphics accelerators, simply because th ey operated faster than the standard models.Then, almost three years ago, the notion of 3D acceleration took hold. The PC has never looked back.

Take your pick Two kinds of card emerged during this period. First, manufacturers such as 3DFX began producing add-in cards, its Voodoo accelerator working alongside your machine's existing video card. All standard 2D

processing is handled as usual in this setup, with instructions needed to utilise the extra card's 3D processing capabilities. The second kind of card aimed to provide an all-in-one package, working both as a standard 2D video card and a 3D accelerator. While the early models tended to compromise performance in both areas, the marketability and practicality of this configuration has ensured its success. All graphics cards released in the last couple of years have gone down this route. While there are frightening number of card types available, the manufacturers make use of an ever-dwindling range of chipsets to create these boards. Some, such as 3DFX, ATI, 3D Labs and Matrox develop their own chipsets, while companies such as Diamond, Guillemot and Creative Labs tend to hedge their bets by licensing a number of graphics chips for their range of boards. There's the ever-present problem posed by fast-changing technology, but the market has now at least settled into a situation where new products use newimproved versions of familiar chip types. So, 3DFX's Voodoo is currently sporting the 3 suffix, S3 has launched the Savage 4, 3D Labs's latest is the Glint R3. and Riva has refined existing hardware to produce the TNT2 Ultra. lt's a good balance between stabil.ity and competition that ensures you get the best possible deal.

Return to render These cards deliver faster 3D scene processing by taking some of the workload off the PC's main CPU. Typically, the main processor still needed in order to handle the transformations and any light casting calculations, with the accelerator dealing with polygon sorting and all of the placing and painting needed to build a full 3D scene on screen.

computer arts 1 September 99

You'll still need a powerful processor to achieve maximum performance, but real-time 3D renders far more efficiently and quickly than if the CPU had to deal with all aspects of the display. Consequently, graphics accelerati on has become a prime concern for home PC owners, looking to make th eir games look as good and play as smoothly as possible; and serious users, in n eed of a graphics boost to make their design work efficient.

API arrival The catalyst for this fast-growing accelerator market has been the introduction of widely used AP is, or Application Programming Interfaces. These act as a bridge to the hardware, giving programmers a standard way of writing 3D code to address th e card. Microsoft's Direct3D, a subset of the DirectX API, has played a vital role, giving programmers and board manufacturers an instruction and feature-set to work towards. Early versions were extremely unstable, though the latest - incorporated in DirectX6.2- is extremely reliable, and supports more advanced features such as simulat ed bump mapping. However, it remains a gamesorientated AP I. For professional use, OpenGL is the dom inant AP I, a platformindependent language originally developed for Silicon Graphics workstations. Because of th is history, OpenG Loffers a far more stable, portable and design -orientated solution. Most newer graphics cards claim to support both APis, but the reality is often different. Just because a card su pports Direct3D, that doesn't necessarily mean it offers support for every feature. Plus, with Microsoft issuing DirectX updates every few months, it's near impossible for a card to cater for all for any length of time. OpenGL support is even more haphazard, at least among cheaper graph ics cards. Those clearly aimed at the leisure end of the PC sector tend to focus purely on getting drivers to work with OpenGL games software. Attempting to use them to accelerate the GL-based rendering of packages such as 3D Studio MAXis a non-starter. There are signs that this is changing , though . The Matrox

pc graphics cards

So you've got your g rZl plllC send- where should you put iP

he PC's evolution h,1sn't been without 11<:. h1ccups. A':> newer breech of CPU'>

hJ.ve been released, <:.o mother bo,1 rd specifications have bt•en ;lltered. Tht· w,1y that the CPU ;its on the motherbo,11d "the most fundamental element that\ ch.l!HJed over time. but equally 1mportant art· the

slots ust>d to house other .1dd-in bo.nch ISA (lndu;try SL1nd,1rd A!Chi!Pcture) slots were ome the ;t.!nd,Hd for plugg1ng

in gr,lphic<:. cards. intern.1l modl'<;., sound card<:. and other de vi et-")_ However, w1th the

advent of the Pentium proces<.:.or. tht> more effiCient and smaller PCI bus beg.m to L1ke hold. with motherbo.nds tending to otfl'r three or four PCI slots ,11Hi one or two ISA When the Pentiumll and it<, associ.1ted LX rnothc>rbo,Hd w,1s rch•,l<.,t•d. the AGP (Accelerated Gr,lphiC; Port;) became a third option. A type of bus designed speCifically for gr,1ph1Cs c.11ds.

lntel cl,1ims it increac:.es data tran<,fer ;peech. pa;;rng more data per clock cycle it ,Il.,o confirrn') that 1t uses pipelining and >rdebo,ud addre;;ing to acce;; polygon

texture<, stored in the PC's matn <,ystem nwmory far more efficiently. Al;o, wherea; a graphiCs card rn a PCI slot IS sharrng bandwidth with other PCI bo,nd;, an AGP graphics card h,,; drrect acce;; Most AGP cards currently u;e the AGP2X format, which ha; a data transfer ;peed of 528MB~ per~second (PC I manage; only 133MB/s). though AGP4x JS now t>nwrging, boasting a throughput of rGB/s.

Of course, <,uch performance is only of benefit when relying on PC system

nwmory for texture storage. For lowtexture 3D work, or when usrng boards with large amounts of their own RAM on board, PCI based cards remain perfectly pr.1ctical and acceptable.

"On-board geometry processing will open the door for a new era in rendering, with performance more closely based on cord rather than PC specs" G400 and any TNT2-based cards are muscular enough to cope with pro 3D work, and if GL driver issues can be \ resolved they may be worth considering . it 's the level of OpenGL support that most easily distinguishes the low-end cards from the professional hardware. 3D Labs is one of the most familiar chip manufacturers producing products with OpenGLAPis stable enough to satisfy the demands of the workplace, with competition coming from other well respected companies such as Evans & Sutherland, Diamond (who compliment their bought-in chip types with the homegrown Fire range) and lntergraph. Cards in this sector also tend to deliver better sustained performance when dealing in polygon-heavy scenes, while extras such as the ability to use several boards in parallel, or in systems with multiple CPUs tend to give them an immediate raw speed advantage over their cheaper cousins. Boards such as 3D

Labs' GXV1 (see p106) and lntergraph's Intense 3D Wildcat even boast on-board geometry processing.

Making a scene Whether a PC is used to reel off letters and manipulate some digital photography, run the software needed to design a Website, or render full 3D environments, a good graphics card is as crucial as a generous amount of RAM and powerful CPU. But that doesn't necessarily involve investing in the latest hardware. There's very little difference in 2D performance between any of the cards released in the last couple of years, for instance. Thus, if a PC is used primarily for DTP programs and the like, the chances are an older card will do. lt may even be the best option, for older technology tends to be tried and tested, with any early glitches long since ironed out. Paint packages are the exception here, where palette size and

@GJ

news

screen resolution can make all the difference. One of the recently released low-end accelerators offers high monitor resolutions and refresh rates, with full 32-bit colour support. While such cards also boast impressively fast 3D acceleration, if you're operating 3D modelling and CAD software, you need to aim a little higher. Investing in a model known to offer error-free OpenGL support is the only option. As mentioned earlier, this situation may change, while other differences between the two card camps may also disappear. Twin-rendering pipelines are already now standard onlow-end cards, making multi-texturing techniques such as alpha blending far faster to process. The next 12 months will also see on-board geometry processing filter down from workstation boards. This will free up the main CPU of all those maths-intensive transformations needed to place a polygon in 3D space and illuminate it using multiple light sources.

Quantum leap On-board geometry processing will open the door for a new era in rendering , with performance far more closely based on card rather than PC specifications, in turn enabling rendering technology to move at a more rapid pace. More and more light sources will become available. True perpixel phong shading will be possible, with that same casting accuracy also making it possible to carry out true procedural bump mapping (rather than the simulated emboss and environmentmapped methods used.by the current lowend cards). And polygon processing will get ever faster, making it possible to make scenes with more, smaller elements for greater image quality. The polygon counts of today's pre-generated scenes will be equal to tomorrow's real -time rendering . Such a quantum leap in graphics card technology may seem outlandish at the moment, but it's important to remember that a similar transformation has already taken place. The difference between the graphics achievable on a modern PC and accelerator and that generated a few years back is nothing short of miraculous. m For more, turn to our round-up on pto6.

september 99

I computer arts I 21

@lil

mall

letters

Put pen to paper or finger to keyboard and get it all off your chest... As nature intended I'm interested in 3D art, but I can't find the right program. What I like about 2D programs like Painter is the 'natural media' metaphor, which enables me to work more naturally, without computer jargon and complex working methods getting in the way. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a 3D program that's as naturalistic or intuitive. Those I've come across so far seem to be developed for people with advanced degrees in Maths or Physics -Cinema 4D, MAX; or architectsform•l.l don't want to have to understand 'non -uniform rational B-splines' or 'Coons patches' {whatever they are), and I've always hated technical drawing . I'm looking for a program that would enable me to work hands-on

A codec moment nreaa your letter about disappointing U

rendering with DV codecs ('Dirty Movies') in the May issue of Computer Arts. However, it's not as bad as you

with the virtual equivalent of a lump of clay or piece of sculpture, apply various 'glazes' or'painted' surfaces, and place it in an appropriate setting or environment. isn't there a program that enables you to metaphorically whittle a piece of wood with a knife, or even throw a pot on a wheel? • Stephen Wey, stephen@weys.swintemet.co.uk

Sounds Uke you're after Amorphium, from Play lnc (J!l www.play.com, available via mail order from the US for $1so}, which garnered four-star statw in issue 33· This innovative application enables you to sculpt and mould virtual clay, and then apply.colour to your 3D mesh. However, its rendering capabilities are limited, so you could then import the model

think. The codec seems to have two settings: one that you see, which enables playback on computer screens, and a hidden one that's the same resolution

into Bryce 4 (£210)- another werfriendly program-for the final render.

Inspired tutorials? I've been involved with home nonlinear digital video editing for about two years, and I produce educational videos for our urological surgery department. I'd like to enhance these with animated 3D graphics, and I got Inspire 3D for Christmas. But I'm new to this area and find the manuals heavy going and uninspiring . ls there any tutorial material available for novices? And would such material written for Inspire's big brother, LightWave 3D, be of any use? • John Hammonds

Inspire 3D wes many of the tools found in

you see on DV tape (but skips frames, even on a 400MHzG3). To see the other rendering, open the movie in Movie Player, go to Get lnfo, select Video Track from the left hand pop-up menu and High Quality from the right. Set the High Quality Enabled flag, and be astonished. Not perfect, but probably more what you were expecting. On video it's as good as DV gets. With graphics you'll probably still have too many artefacts on the edges. If you intend to output to DVC, it's probably the way to go, so you're not compressing on top of compression. The flags setting seems to have no effect on output- Ithink it's just for how the Mac renders it to screen. Hope this helps. Robert Belton beltonr@wmin.ac.uk

We played about with a QuickTime strram compressed with a DV codec, and sure enough, the High Quality setting does just what it says. Thanks Robert.

22 I

computer arts 1 september 99

Light Wave 3D, so tutorial books on the subjed would indeed be of help. Try Inside LightWave 3D {New Riders, ISBN: l-S620S-799·S) or LightWave 3D Applied (J!l www.advanstarbooks.com/ lightwave). There's also a dedicated bi-monthly, tutorial-led magazine for Light Wave wers, called NewTelcniques (J!l www.newtelcniques.com). The Web is a great source of material too. Try .!r www.lightwaveworld.com, J!f www.flay.com or NewTek's site, for downloadable tutorials and more links.

Lensfflter I'm a student looking for software, perhaps a Photoshop plug-in, that will combine a series of scanned images so they can be read by a lenticular screen, and therefore be 3D (I think the term is interlaced). if you can help I would be very grateful. • Chand Bakshi chandbakshi@hotmail.com

Sorry, we've drawn a blank herecan anyone out there help?

Low-end programs When browsing through your magazine I noticed that most tutorials and pictures were made using highend applications {which generally cost too much). For 3D novices like me, it's hard to create the images you produce. The only programs I have, I get free from magazines: trueSpace, trueSpace 2 (from Computer Arts) and Bryce 2 . Okay, to me they're good programs, but it's hard to get realistic images and lighting in trueSpace. The shadows are too sharp compared to your tutorials, which have soft shadows and produce more realistic images. in Bryce 2, I can't map my own textures onto the objects. I think you should have tutorials on lower-end programs, for people like me to get somewhere in 3D modelling. •lan ianbush@mailexdte.com

letters

Amorphlum's 'virtual clay'~ ........ 3D Intuitive.... our review In Issue 33.

"People designing Websites need to be aware of the limitations, advantages and differences that the PC and Mac platforms bring••• " If Computer Arts were rooo pages Tong each month, then we'c:l have enough room to satisfy every single reader. However, we have to caterfor the majority, most of whom are working on mid- to high-end applications. Many of the techniques explored in our tutorials are useful to beginners and experienced users alilce, but the honest truth is that ifyou 're serious about 30 art, then at some point you're going to have to invest in a serious package- though with programs TiTce Bryce 4 and Cinema 40 CO (a snip at £169) you don't have to break the bank.

Which software? I've recently started my own design company after working as an interactive graphic designer for three years. The problem is that while I was working for my last company I used Extreme 3D 2. 1knew it wasn't a topend program, but the boss wouldn't spend a penny and it came bundled with FreeHand. Now that I've started my own company, I've subscribed to CA, and quickly realised that there are a lot of 3D programs out there. I hope you could help me make the transition from a fairly basic 3D program to something with a bit of bite. Obviously, I'd also like to keep the cost down to a minimum and go for the program that is best value for money for my needs.

I work on both PC and Mac platforms. Most graphics will be rendered for printed material, but I also would like to be able to create 3D models and animations for COs and the Web. ~ Robin Davis robin.davis@btintemet.com

There are Tots ofgood 30 graphics programs available, but a neat solution might be to go for Inspire 30, NewTek's cut-down version of LightWave.lfyou lilce the program and become profident with it, you could then move up to LW30. (Both apps are healthily cross-platform, so you could use Inspire on one machine and LightWave on the other.) Or you could try Cinema 4D CO, and then move up to the SE or XL versions.

Ahoy there! Why did you feel the need to humiliate the poor guy who asked about 3D accelerators under f2oo to use with 3DS MAX, last issue? Don't you know that pirate software is the only way most aspiring artists ever get to grips with mid- to high"end packages like

@aJ

mall

The intern et warez scene, along with the gold CD industry, is the best thing that ever happened in the field of 3D and graphic design . l currently run a MAX 3 pre-release (very stable and very usable, way before your'exclusive' review) along with Light Wave s.6, form•Z Radiozity 3.02, and so on. I currently have to run a US keyboard layout in order to run the US version of QuarkXPress 4, as well as Photoshop s. Director 7, FreeHand 8,

popularity'?, are simply abhorrent. So, when you've become profident in every graphics package in the universe and are earning top dollar at a London-based agency, wilT you repay your debt to the programmers who've subsidised your training, by repladng all your counterfeit programs with the real thingl No, we didn't think so.

Flash 4, Dream weaver 2, Premieres. After Effects 4, paint•, effect•, Rhino 3D, Painter S·S· Bryce 4 and Illustrator 8-

Don't worry, I'm not some idiot Mac fanatic out to flame you after your reply to An drew Shepherd's letter in issue 32. However, I think people designing Websites need to be aware of the limitations, advantages and differences in layout, that the PC and Mac platforms bring, even if they're following CSS recommendations. Realistically, Web designers need access to both Mac and PC platforms. Until recently, this would have required two machines, but the G3 series is now sufficiently powerful to run an emulated Windows 95/98- at least as far as Web stuff is concerned (obviously not for games and so on). And that's exactly what I would go for: a Macfor most ofthe creative apps, and SoftWindows to test the sites on (and also for FTP, as there seems to be better FTP software for the PC}. In case you're wondering, I work as a Web designer, and have been using Macs since the original Mac Classic (running System 6.o), and PCs since everyone got all excited about the "revolutionary new Windows 3.0"! ~ Craig Grannell cngrannell@yahoo

all of which would be absolutely unthinkable on a realistic budget for an individual outside the industry. I would also be running Softimage 3.8, Houdini 3 (thanks for the reviews), and Maya 2, but I don't have the set-up. I'm gaining practical skills that any employer would be interested in, and I'm also raising the profile of the software and enhancing its popularity. Do you really think MAXwould be this popular without the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of illegal copies out there? You yourself keep questioning Kinetix' claims of mass sales figures and popularity, while keeping an elitist snobbery attitude. Have you ever gone in to a bookstore and seen the copies ofTeach Yourself 3DS MAX in 14 Days? Why are these titles necessary? Did everyone lose their manuals? I know you'll probably reply to this message with the same heavy handed attitude, but why do you think most amateurs buy your magazine? To learn techniques that they haven't gained from official tutorials, that's why! Get real and grow up. ~ Sarah Cambell dieseho3@hotmail.com

Computer Arts can do little about the piracy that's rife within the software industry- but that doesn't mean we have to lilce it, or be dvr1 to people who practise it. Piracy is theft, no matter how you disguise it, and -like most people who receive stolen propertyyour illogical attempts to justify it ("raising the proft1e of the software and enhandng its

Mac or PC, part XIV

Flash clash I was wondering if anyone has reported this bug before- Flash 2 or 3 quarrelling with the blue G3? I've encountered a terrible screen problem using Flash on my 400MHz . G3: whenever I try to reshape a line on a Flash illustration, the screen just breaks up into a black-and-white grid -?

MAX2.5?

I'm speaking from experience here- since gaining a First in Fin~ Art to carrying out a course in computeraided design, the highest package I had access to legally was MAX 1.2 running on a P166 with 48MB of RAM.

The Mac v - • PC debate rolls on ••• Which platform Is but for Webdeslpen?

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computer arts

@® mail

letters

pattern.Then if I continue working , sections of the screen go black and white.This problem occurs with both Flash 2 and3. I've attached a couple of screens hots of how this pattern takes over the Flash working area. Is there any plug -in or patch to you'd recommend to fix this? • Cherrie sirena@pacific. net.sg

DVzoo review Your reviewer of the Miro DV2oo overestimates the 'advantages' of digital somewhat! Analogue video from a broadcast quality source, like Beta SP, will look superior to any DV camera. When edited using non-linear editing on a computer, it will still look superior. it will not be a third generation copy; it will have gone through one high quality analogue generation and one, perhaps more, digital generations.

Yes, using DV you can transfer from camera to computer and back without loss, but only if no effects are added to the video. As soon as you do this, you need to decompress and recompress it, a digital generation loss. Due to DV's low, unchangeable data rate, this can cause visible picture artefacts. Of course, this can happen when editing analogue video digitally, but you can use a higher data rate to avoid visible artefacts. Or in both cases you can use a non -compressed digital format, if multiple effects are needed, and lose only one digital generation. The 'advantage' of being able to backtrack to pick up lost frames is meaningless. Most modern hard drives can more than cope with the demands of digital video editing. If your drive can 't cope with recording without lost frames, then just how is it going to get the video back on to tape correctly? it's implied in the review that DV is "broadcast quality". This is not the

Flash trouble reported with versions 2 and 3 on a blue G3. Familiar, anyone?

case, because broadcast quality depends on a lot more than a tape format. it depends on the quality of the camera and its optics, the cameraman's skill and technical competency, and a large amount of other related factors. Just buying a camera with DV on it will not guarantee your reviewer's low definition of broadcast quality. Not to slight the Miro DV card, making a system around it will not

Directorial Director•••

Hi, I'm a student at the The University of Sunderland, doing BA Interactive Media. I'm currently on my work placement at Northeast On line, where I'm in the process of creating a promo CD-ROM using Director 7 and Flash, as well as graphics packages like Photos hop and FreeHand- all PC-based. I've done a drawing of the Tyne bridge with a reflection of it in the water for the lntro sequence. Although you can't see the water, the reflection of the bridge is blue, and I'm trying to create the wavy effect that you have on the Computer Arts intro logo, on issue 25's CD. I would be grateful if you could tell me briefly how you created it and which package you used. Baz baz.khinda@northeast-online.co.uk

macromedi.a DIR.CTOR7

Graduate showcase We created the effect by importing a still image of the Computer Arts logo into Adobe Premiere and then running the Wave filter on it. ••• andagatn I've just recently entered this Director craze (and I owe it all to Computer Arts), but I seem to have run into a small barrier. Ican successfully create multiple movie screens for my projects, but I can't keep the screen from re-loading. Basically, I want to keep the black background when moving from movie to movie. I'm using Director 6.0. How in the world do you guys do that on your CD? Please help me! Eric QSnapshot@aol.com

Every movie on the Computer Arts CD interface has the black background so there is no change from movie to movie. However, ifyou're using a monitor displaying only 8-bit (2S6) colour, then you may experience colour flash as you change movies ifyou are using a different colour palette in each movie. Overcome this by using the same colour palette in each movie (good practice anyway), or make your movies 16-bit colour {which is thousands of colours). As for the "loading ... please wait" message- this is on the first frame ofevery'movie, as well as In the frame where the movie jumps to a new one. The amount of time this is visible to your viewer

=-i=~UDIO

The Standard for . Creating and Del_lvenng Powerful Multimedia _..24 I computer arts I september 99

put you on par with the BBC, no matter how much extra is spent. Accelerated rendering and real-time effects are part of a BBC-quality setup, as is the ability to interface with a wide variety of other broadcast equipment. Recently concern has arisen with the use of certain computer-based editing producing bad digital artefacts when combined with its broadcast via digital television, leaving a strong role for traditional analogue equipment. • Graeme Nattress nattress@dircon.co. uk

depends entirely on the speed ofyour viewer's computer and CD drive. •.. one mon ttme Because ofthe Computer Arts interactive CD, our company decided to invest in Macromedia Director 7· As far as we could find out, there are no training centres in South Africa, so we're sort of helping ourselves (and getting along okay- we've made our first CD). There are two things that we can't do, however, although I've looked through all the help files: 1) How do you put an autostart on the CD? (I know, sounds really stupid.) 2) How do you do it with your'streaming' that you have a small'Please wait' frame before your interactive movie starts? Zelda bkajhb@iafrica.com

Autostart is done by using a small text file on the PC which points to the .exe file to be autorun. See the Autorun.inf file on the Computer Arts CD and amend the "CAiWin32.exe" bit to include your filename. Don't change the filename of Autorun.inf though/ On the Mac, autorun is built into Quick Time 2.s or higher. If this is set on (in the QuickTime Settings Control Panel) then CD's which are capable of autorunning will do so when they are interest into the CD drive. To make them do this, you need to set the CD to be autorun compatible when cutting the disk itself. This is easy in the software we use- Toast- as selecting the application to autorun is simply a matter of double-clicking it.

Like the majority of your avid readers, Ilook forward to Computer Arts as an essential read for news and tit-bits. But this month Ifelt disappointment with the Graduate Showcase supplement. I read the past two, and Ithought the idea of giving exposure to colleges and students was excellent (especially since both expanding studios need staff, and students need jobs). But on receiving the 1999 edition I was dismayed to find there had been no change on the editions of 97 and 98. Some of the same schools were covered, and there was still not enough info about the students, staff, facilities and programs. Also, in three years the National Centre for Computer Animation in Bournemouth hasn 't been showcased. t My suggestions: a more . comprehensive and in -depth presentation next year, perhaps on the CD with Quick Time movies and many more pictures- and al so a profile of the NCCA, just to keep me happy in the meantime. • Ben Toogood ben.toogood@btinternet.com m

Speak to us Write to us at: CA Mail, Computer Arts, Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. ca.mail@futurenet.co.uk

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Memory expansion to a mighty 64MB 'using Compact Flash cards is also available . You can even view your images through TV, video or a multimedia projector and enlarge them straight up to A4 without using a PC: With EPSON's expertise in digital imaging it's no mystery that the EPSON PHOTOPC 750Z is

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cold on the shores of Loch Ness . And if all that isn't enough, it's fully Mac and PC compatible, has automatic and manual control, a 2" colour LCD view finder and 4MB of memory.

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EPSON

I computer arts I september 99

VERSION

5.5 OF THE BEST IMAGE-MANIPULATION

PACKAGE

OFFERS ENHANCED WEB CAPABILITIES~ HERE'S HOW TO CREATE OUR STUNNING COVER IMAGE, AND OPTIMISE IT FOR THE WEB ... he power of the Web is ever-growing, and the latest version of Photoshop- out this month - has harnessed it to the ful l. Our illustration shows a futuristic cyber-girl holding the power that controls the Web , while lines of ~~$:;;;.

_ _:co ~~m~~m:unication travel over her and energy radiates the crystal ball she holds. To create our cyber-girl , we made extensive use of Photoshop. We sculpted the image using its layering effects and layer blending modes, giving the image depth and translucency. The use of layer masks is also important if you want to gain control when producing the required subtle effects

such an illustration demands. Other useful features we used include the embossing capabilities , wh ich add another dimension to graphic elements plus depth to the image. Finally, using Photoshop 5.5 's new Web capabilities and /mageReady(v1 on the CD), we optimised the image for the Web, creating a simple splash screen with a roll over entry button. Want to find out how? Then read on .. . Âˇ'demo of Photoshop 5 and ImageReady 1 on the CD. The tutorial files are there too, in Dual\ Tutorials\Cover. Artwork and expertise supplied by Redseal J!' www.red-seal.com Photography by David Lee .f 02920 462 353Âˇ

september 99

I computer arts I 27

photoshop cyber-girl

Stage one: Styling the model In this stage we openup the raw scan and use a combination of Layer Blending modes and colour-correction to style the model. To start off, you need to open the file ModeUPG from the CD ...

Create a new document, 32x28cm RGB (wldthxdepth) at 300dpl. Open the file Modei.JPG from the CD, Select All and cut and paste lt Into your new document. Then position your model as shown.

Now we need to duplicate the Model layer. Under the Layer menu, select Duplicate Layer ••• and choose a name for the new layer. Click OK.

VIew both Model layers, select the top layer and use Layer Blending modes (Layers palette) and set to Hard Ught. Then adjust the opacity to around 84percent.

Create a new chennel called Eyes- Chennel palette>New Channel. Make the RGB channels visible by clicking on the Eye butto• next to RGB.

Using the Eyes chennel, draw two circular selections with the Marqu- tool over the pupils and hit Delete. Paint In the mask over the eyelids, and apply a Gauulan Blur of thr- plxels to soften the lllllsk.

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Now create a new layer called Eye Enhencement. Take a umple of the deep blue from the pupil with the Eyech'opper tool and load the Eyes chennel onto your new layer (drag the chennel onto the first Icon on the bottom of the Chennel palette).

28 1computer arts 1september 99

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Now go to Edlt>Flii>OK, and this fills the selection with our sampled colour. Set the Layer Blending mode to Multiply. Go to lmqe>Adjust> Hue/Saturation and adjust the sllders until you get the desired colour.

Using the Eye Enhenc:ement layer, double-click the Eraser tool and set Eraser options to Alrllrush, Opacity at 40 per cent. Gently hiChllghta from the ey- using a suitably sized brush. If you want to compere where you're up to, check out the file Stage 1.psd on the CD.

Stage two: Applying the tattoo Now, we'llload a pre-made channel in the form of a Celtic design, position it on the model's arm and fill with a texture ...

Create a new channel called Tattoo. Open the file Tattoo Channei.JPG and cut and paste this file Into your new channel. Make sure black Is the background colOur and position the Tattoo Channel over the model's arm using the Move tool.

Now open the file Tattoo Texture.PSD and cut and paste it Into the Illustration. Then position it over the arm, with the Tattoo Channel visible to ensure the texture covers the tattoo shape. Next, double-click on the Texture layer and rename the Tattoo texture.

Load the Tattoo Channel, Select> Inverse, then press Delete followed by Controi/Command+D to deselect the selection. Now set the Blending Mode to Multiply, Opacity to 80 per cent and adjust Hue/Saturation as shown above.

Stage three: Applying the background texture In this section, we start to build up the illustration using background textures, streams of data and graphic elements ...

Create either a mottled texture using sampled blues from the Illustration on a new layer called Cloud texture. Experiment creating white highlights using the Eraser, or cut and paste the file Cloud background.PSD from the CD.

Now you need to create a new layer called Horizontal Texture. Paint strips of colour using varying widths and types of bru-s. Try to use colours sampled from the Illustration - but don't forget that you can use the Eraser on a soft setting to take out areas.

Using the same technique, - t to build up the background on various layers. Try experimenting with the different Layer Blending modes and the different blurring filters, especially Motion Blur.

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Make a new layer called Embossed Unes. Sample a cyan blue from the Illustration and paint a series of thick and thin lines running vertically through the model 's face. Now use the Eraser to take out lines so they appear to run behind the model's heed.

Set the Embossed Unes layer to Multiply and go to L.ayer>Effects>Bevel and Emboss. Click on Colour Swatch In the Shadow section and set it to dark blue -then you can experiment with the settings, or use it as In the screenshot.

Create horizontal lines In the same manner u the vertical lines- create a new layer, then paint and emboss as before. Set the Eruer tool to Airbrush at 30 per cent pressure, and then gently erase lines on the right-hand of the Illustration until the lines fade out. ?

septe mber 99

computer arts

photoshop cyber-girl

Stage three: continued...

To create the text on the horizontal lines, UM the Text tool to .,like Mverallayers of text uslq a darker blue and position on the lines. For each type layer, go to Layer>Type>Render Layer- this turns your text Into a normal editable layer.

Unk all your rendered Text layers b)' cllcklq on the Unk Icon next to the eye In the Layers palette, and choose Layer>Merge Unked (Controi/Cornmand+E). Then apply a little Motion Blur to the text and take out Uny bits with a small Eraser brush.

Set your new Text layer to Multiply and set Opacity to 110 per cent. Go to Layer>Effects Bevel and Emboss, set Shadow to blue and choose Pillow Embosa. Then you can experiment with the settlnca-

Duplicate the Data layer b)' golq to Layer> Duplicate Layer. Then IIIo to Edit>Transform> Rotate, while holdlq Shift, rotate 90-clegrees and place over the vertical lines. Then reduce the opacity to 211 per cent, and softly .u:ase the area over the face.

The next step Is to create a new layer called Squares. With the rectaneular marquee, draw Mveral small squares and ftll with different shades of blue and white. Emboss as before and apply a soft drop-shadow uslq the Layer Effects.

Finally, apply more layered, embosaed numbers, this time In white to create a contrast acelnst the blues. Choose a futuri.Uc font and don't be afraid to UM large type sizes or overlay over the IIIOdel -Just remember to keep c l - of her features. See the the ftle Stace 3.psd on the CD.

Stage four: Applying the circular grid Now it's time to apply the circular energy grid to the illustration, and use layer masks to protect the model's face ...

Create a new channel called Circular Grid. Open the ftle Grid Channei.PSD, and cut and paste 1t Into your new channel. This channel will now be used to create the WeiHike grid that radiates from our c,..,.,...rl's crystal ball.

I computer arts I September 99

Make a new layer to contain the circular grid and load the Grid channel onto the new layer. Sample a light blue and go to Edlt>Stroke and apply four-plxel stroke to the grid, uslq Centre Location In dlalogbox.

Duplicate the layer, and set both layers to 711 per cent opacity. Set the ftrst grid layer to Darken mode and top layer to Ughten mode. This has the effect of maklq the lines light on dark objects and dark on light objects.

Stage four: continued...

We now want to reduce the strength of the 11- on the model's , _ ualq Layer Maaka. Create a new channel called F - Mask and use the Lasso tool to roughly draw around the model's Then preu Delete.

f-.

Apply Gauaalan Blur to the mask (20 plxela). Open lmqe>Adjuet>Levela••• (ControljCommand+L) and pull the whRe allder In Output Levels to 1715. This will make our whRe area darker. Then click OK.

Click on each of the Circular Grid layers and loed the F - Mask channel. Then p to Layer>Add Layer Maak>Hide Selection. Only the linea on the modal's , _ heve heel their str~h reduced.

Stage five: Glowing crystal ball Now it's time to add the subtle white glow around the blue crystal ball in our image. Get ready with the Radial Blur filter ...

We'll now use the Radial Blur fiRer (FIRer>Biur>Redlal Blur••• ) to 'zoom' our whRe circle outwarda to create the ~w. Poaltlonlq the centre of the Redial Blur la a bit hlt-and-mlu, but use the screenshot for pklance.

Loed the Ball channel onto the Ball Glow layer and •o to Select>Modlfy>Expand ••• Enter 16 plxels -16 Is the maximum amount Pflotoahop allows, so click OK and repeat ..-In to •et 32 plxels.

Make white your fore.,ound colour and Edlt>FIII ••• >OK. Deselect, and, using the Airbrush tool, puff spots of whRe around the top circle's circumference.

Once the Radial Blur fiRer has done Its thing, reload the Ball channel and pre. . Delete- our crystal ball appears ..-In wHh Its new !&low. Duplicate the Ball Glow layer and aalect Layer>Mer•e Down.

Carefully take out the !&lOw over the model's bends ualn• t h e - · You can also use the Lasso tool to draw a selection, a apply a two- or thrplxel feather (to soften the selection). Preu Delete.

september 99

computer arts

tutorial ...:...c . photoshop cyber-girl

Stage six: The finishing touches Most of the hard graft is now over- it's time to apply the finishing touches and detail...

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Create a new channel called Wire Fade, and set the foreground colour to white, backCJ'ound to black. Then use the Unear Gradient tool to draw a vignette to t~ently fade the wire texture In the lmqe Into the background.

Load the Wire Fade channel onto the Wires layer and pre.. Delete. Set the layer to Multiply and reduce the opacity. Use the Eraser set to a lar11e airbrush to take out sections of the Wires texture.

Open Balls.PSD, then cut and paste 1t ·Into the new layer. Reslze and place 1t around the grid. Use Layer Effects to put a drop-shadow on the balls.

Make a new layer called Stars. Then, uslq white, paint tiny airbrush stars on and around the model's head. Use a lar11er brush for the Jllow set to 100 per cent and a smaller brush set to 100 per cent for the brlllht centre.

Open the file Crystal Ball GrldJPG and cut and paste lt Into new channel. Load the channel onto a new layer, fllllt with white and then use Layer Effects and Outer Bavel to !live the grid depth. Set the Layer Blending mode to overlay.

Finally, make any colour corrections to your lll•stratlon usln!l HuejSeturatlon and Lavels. You can also try colourlslnll different layers to Jllve the artwork a totally different look. See flnal.psd on the CD.

I computer arts I september 99

Saving for t'he Web in Photos'hop 5·5 In this section, we will use the new Save for Web option in Photos hop 5·5 to save your illustration for an on-line portfolio ...

~ First, flatten your Illustration (Layer>Fiatten

W"" Image), and then reslze the Image to 400 plxels high and 72dpl using lmage>lmage Size ••• Then delete all the alpha channels by dragging 1t to the bin In the Channels palatte.

~ Under the File menu, we now have a new Save

W"" for Web option. Select this option, and click the 4-Up tab. Choose an Image with the best compromise between quality and file size, then experiment with the quality settings.

~ We selected a quality setting of 30 and clicked . . . . the Progressive option so the Image appears gradually In the viewer's browser. Click OK and rename the Illustration Webwlz.psd. You can now drop this Image Into your favourite Web creation application.

Creating aroll over button in Image Ready Photos hop 5·5 comes with lmageReady 2.0 for creating complex Web graphics- here, we'll use it to create a roll over button

~ Open the file WebWiz.psd In lmageReady.

~ To create the not"mal Button state, draw a

W"" Create a title for the splash screen using the Text W"'" rounded rectangle, select the title Text Layer, tool, and bevel and ambo.. the text using exactly the same method as In Pllotoshop. We have used Pillow Emboss set to a blur and depth of three.

then go to Layer>Effects>Copy Effects. Select your new Button layer and paste effects. Type the word 'Enter' onto the button In dark blue.

~ We can now create the Over state. Select the . . . . 'Enter' Text layer and duplicate, then duplicate the Button layer. Change the layer names to 'Over'. Change the Over Enter text to white, and add a Layer Effects Glow to the Over Button layer. ma

~ Select the Slice tool (scalpel) and drag a box . . . . around the button and glow. Next, make the Rollover tab visible (VIew menu) and you can- the not"mal state Icon. Click off the two Eye Icons on the two Over layers to create our not"mal state.

~ Go to Flle>Save Optlmlsed As ... , create a new

~ Create a new state using the Rollover Tab . . . . options- this one Is named 'Over' . Click the two Eye Icons back on In the Layer palatte to create our Over state.

W"" folder called Rollover, click on Save HTML File

and the Save Images check-boxes, then click Save • Open the newly created HTML file In your browser to test your rollover. HTML and slices for browser are on the CD, with Final lmageReedy Flle.psd. llEI

September 99

I computer arts I 33

(rlllht) lblsls a Mlf.tN'omotlonal brochure. However, the Sink team Isn't a fan of deaiCniiiC for print. Suaen aeys: "If a client asks for a brochure, we auueat dolq a CD version Instead. Print Is very ftddl)' .•. • (below) Sink creatiMI a d!Cital set for the television series Tacit JV. "Tacit Arts Media commlaaloned us to do the set and lntro aequ-. H was a r-1 effort, where we had to .._,. a lot of new thlnca very qulckl)'. But we were so happy with H, • says Suaan.

In a sink or swim industry, this is one mis-named company.

"We got recognition pretty quickly through word of mouth. People know the stuff we do, and hire us because they like our style••• "

computer arts 1 september 99

ink is so named, "because ofthe phrase 'everything including the kitchen sink'. lt describes the way we work, • explains Susan Patterson. She isn 'tjoking either. The three women who make up Sink have a whole range oftalents between them, including Photoshop, animation, Web design, 3D design and post-production work. A slightly unusual project has been occupying Sink for the last few months: the Darklight Digital Film Festival, "something we've been planning for two years·. The company gained sponsorship from Xerox, and set about organising a three-day event with screenings, workshops and exhibitions. Susan says: "We borrowed a £150 ,000 digital projector to show the films, and had iMACs and plasma screens. We wanted to showcase the technology side ofthings <IS well. · Susan is still buzzing from the success of the festival, which had literally just finished when we spoke to her. " lt went really, really well. We had over 1000 people attending, which is great for a first year. • She continues: " Dublin is really taking off with this kind of thing now. There are so many IT companies and talented people here, and there's a real need for opportunities like the festival. People were coming up to me and saying, 'Thank you for doing this ... '" The partners, Susan Patterson, Nicky Gogan and Chantal Doody got together on a six-month multimedia course after graduation. Susan explains: • After the course , we started to freelance together, and it just grew from there ." The hardest thing, she says, has been " learning all the business stuff like accounting and law. The creative and computer side is no problem at all ." Each of them has taken a different part ofthe

Dlll'kll~ DIIIJtal Film Fe.tlval wu Ireland's flm event of it. kind, and Sink wu tile thr...woman team re~.. ble. The thr-.lay event Included Mreenlng., workMops and exhibition-. Sink will "definitely be dol.._lt again next

(left) The

y-. •

(below) The lrlu Film and Televl ..on foundation hu • r.-rc:e Webelte. Sink created • CD-fiOM v.,..on, u...._ Director.

business to look after, and they usually work in pairs, swapping roles . "One of us will be the project manager and deal with the client, while the other does all the work,· Susan laughs. At just two years old , Sink is already expanding. it's just hired Flash maestro Kieran Bonass, and also uses freelancers: "We get up to about eight people sometimes." No wonder, with clients like the Australian Embassy, the Golden Spider Awards and Nebula Technologies queuing up for Web design services. Internet savvy is a product of the team 's long love affair with computers . Susan explains: "We 've all been into computers for ages. There were always computers around my house- Sinclair Spectrums and Ataris . I've been writing code since I was 11. " This know-how translates to the Sink ethos. "We don't use WSYWIG editors for Web design . You need control over the code . We tried Dreamweaver, but you always have to tweak the code ." If this was politics, then Sink 's manifesto would read 'Back to Basics '. Susan says: " I' m old-fashioned. I love all the core tools in Photoshop, and I believe you can do everything you need using those ." She adds, "I'm a big chanriel person ... • Sink is planning more film and post-production work. lt has already produced a virtual set for the series Tech TV, "the first Irish version of Tomorrow's World- they wanted a futuristic set. " Sink is also buoyed by the success of the Digital Film Festival : " it's proved that we can make big projects work, and we want to do more. Especially things like Darklight, which satisfy our artistic leanings- something that we believe in .. . • 1!1

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(above) Sink created • Webelte u part of tile Darkll~ DIIIJtal Film Fedlval. TheM are thrM pqes from tile -'le.

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(above left) The -'le uHs • lot of,.,.,, which Is -uti.._ tile company Is very excited about. Susan uys: "We're dol.._ • lot more ,.,., stuff now. In fact, we jud hired • ,.,., animator called Kleran Bonau he's our flm boyl" (left) Sink had been plannlnc tile film fe.tlval for two y. . . before 1t wu finally held. The company's dedication c:ertlllnly paid off -

there were over 1000 vl-'tors.

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september 99

I computer arts I 35

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36 computer arts september 99

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WHO'S SCARED OF SPLINES? THEY'RE CURVY LINES AND THEY'RE EASY.

POWER UP AND GET OUT YOUR

5PLINE TOOL- WE' RE GONNA MAKE AN ALLIGATOR ..â&#x20AC;¢ e all disciplines, 3D has its wnjargon . Splines sound like scary stuff, but basically they're just curved lines. In this workshop, we're going to use 2D and-3D splines to model an alligator character. We 've used /nfini-0 to create ours , because it boasts an

excellent interactive spline modeller, but the principles of importing and editing splines to create an object are common to most 3D packages.

Tutorial attWorli and expertise supplied by Myles Cummings, on.@ myles@soft-cel.com /nfini-0 demo is on this month's CD. ~

September 99

I computer arts I 37

lines

Stage one: Designs on your splines Start with pen and paper, then head for a 2D illustration package such as FreeHand, or, as here, 111ustrator... '

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Before entering spllne territory, lt"s worth putting a few lines of graphite onto paper. Sketching out your character design helps In several ways. You can quickly develop a character and begin to understand Its form. Your design may evolve very differently once you get onto the computer, but this way, et least you have a basic blueprint to work to.

I i

Now we can start to get to grips with spllnes, but of the 2D variety. Most 3D programs provide support for Importing Illustrator Spllnes, which can then form the basis of a model. lt's also good practice for the llitzler handles, which are the basis of spllne curves. Here, we draw a llitzler outline of an Imaginary ~Ion through our alllgetor's head.

Continue by dr-lng further outlines which represent the ~Ion through the head at varying Intervals. Copy and paste each outline on Its own Into a new document and save 1t as an Individual Illustrator file. If your 3D package doesn't support Importing native IHustrator flies, save the flies In EPS format.

Stage two: Forging a 'head Time to switch to 3D mode. Here, we use lnfini-D's intuitive spline-based modeller to create our alligator's bonce ... ~

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We start by creating a primitive object, In this case a cylinder. Double-clicking 1t turnslt Into an Editable Spllne object, and - n s up the Modelling Environment. lnflni-D controls the shape of spllne objects with paths and rails. Paths represent the lines between cro. .~lons, and rails represent the extremities of a cr~lon along an object's length.

If you change the direction of the path or rails, or the shape of the cro~lon at a point along the path, you change the form of the object. Go to the Layout menu and arrange the Modelling Environment so you can see any changes you make In the C r ~lon or Path windows In the 3D Object window. You can save this arrangement as a customised layout.

In Path Front VIew window, select all and then rotate the whole cylinder through 90-degrees. Now make the Cro~lon window active and delete the circle. Then click Flle>lmport EPS, and bring In your first llluatratorcro~lon shape. The object's shape changes Immediately. Switch the Object view to Rendered to see lt as a QulckDraw 3D object.

Choose Show Cro~lon Marker from the Path window, and slide the marker along the path to the point where you want to Insert the next cro. . ~Ion- then repeat the Import EPS procedure from the last stage. Now continue, and Import the remaining cro~lons at varying points along the path.

The basic form of the head should now be starting to take shape. However, the Interpolation {change) between each ~Ion Is angular and looks unnatural. In Front Path VIew, select one of the rail points on the far left cr~lon. Go to the Points menu and select Corner. This converts the point Into a corner llitzler point. Now drag the handle to create a curved rail between this and the next cr~lon.

In this way, lt's possible to create a form that curves between the main formers. other programs don't uee the rails analogy, but enable you to edit the spllne curve of an object's profile Instead. In lnflni-D, you need to switch to Mirror None when you want edit a rail without the change being automatically reflected on the opposite axis.

38 1 computer arts

september 99

snappy splines

Stage three: The lower jaw Now to give the head some bite! You can construct the lower jaw along the same lines as the head... -~

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Aaumlq you've • - for the lonCer and mora accurate route, thou-, you now naad to adlt the points on the rails to create the curvature betweach crou-aactlon. Start In the Top view In Mirror Two Weys mode, to create the ba8lc plan pt'oftla.

~n,

be&Jn with a ba81c cylinder, then create or Import crou-aactlon formers at varyhll& lntwvala alonC the path. If you're In a hurry, you could juat adlt a duplicate or your ort&Jnal head and Invert lt.

Now add the curves to the points In the rlllht-hand.view. This pt'oftle Isn't symmetrical, so switch to Mirror " - mode when you're adltlq the points aloolll the rail. Pay particular attention to the and or the jaw, where both rails conver•• to form the roundad lip.

Stage four: The body beautiful Every head needs a body, but our gator's torso starts life as a banana...

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Now adlt the points for each croa.-aectlon

As In _ , pec:lull&aa, lnffni-D has a number or Pl'e-bullt objects which you can UN for the ba81s or a different object. The banana has a curved path not dlaalmllar to what we naad for our torso. Create the banana and scala 1t up to approximately the ri&Jrl size. Then doubl-llck to enter the Moclalllft, Workshop.

Select each crou-aactlon, delate lt In tum, and repleca lt by drawlftC an elliptical shape uslftC the Ellipse from the Tools palette. Uaa ..,.er ellipses for the belly, and smaller ones for the neck and tall. Make tha path active, aalect the and point and . . , l t out to tha ri&Jrl to create the a~onCatlon naedad for the tall.

alonC the rails. Our ~·s belly naad soma ripples to ....._the form. You can create theM by aalectlftC tha points on the torso rails and convartlrtC them to eor- type. Now.., the . .zler handl- out to create the curve betw- points. ~In, this pt'oftla Is asymmetrical, so choose Mirror " - ·

Stage five: Limbs Next come the arms and legs. If you think of these as bent tubes with blobs on the end, you won't go far wrong ...

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The - s start as a simple cylinder or tube primitive. In the Modal Workshop, make the path active and aalect the and points. Convert theM to cor- points and.., the Nzler handle to tum the path Into a smooth curve.

Now make the erose aactlon marker visible and add crou-aactlona a little way from the ends and toward the centra. In the Front view, aalect theM points In tum, and make them . .z l e r - - points.

Manipulate the Nzlera to create the 'muscles' or the upper-. and the hand and thumb forma. If you ftnd this too tricky, stick with maklrtC a blob at the and or the-. and then add the thumb as a separate object. Moat 2D cartoon characters don't have nncara as such, so don't worry about trylftC to create this In 3D.

september 99

I computer arts I 39

snappy splines

Stage five: continued...

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The lap follow the same principle as the arms. Begin with a cylinder, then bend the path, and add cr.........tlons. The Mymmetry of the lap should be more pronounced, so the cro......tlons need to be squashed on one side.

Again, convert the points on the rails to Nzler corners, and manipulate them In the Front view to form a thigh, calf muscles and a foot. The lap should also have more accentuated muscles than the arms, so use the Bezler curves to Jllve slulrp c:luHqles In direction and accentuate the form.

Once you're satisfied with the form, exit the Workshop and position the limbs correctly relative to the body. You need to duplicate each limb end then

re-edit the spllne to create left· or I'IChHianded versions, depend!"' on which you oriJIInally created.

Stage six: Eyes, teeth and props If you've come this far, then the rest is an easy job using primitive shapes with simple spline variations ...

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\ The eyes are simple el~ed spheres: you could Just stretch a sphere a~ the Y-axls, but convert!"' lt to a spllne gives you greater control. Take a scr-shot of the heed In the Front and Side views, then you can Import lt to use as a guide template, so your eyes fit snugly Into the sockets.

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The teeth are cone primitives which are turned Into editable spllnes. The path Is Jllven a little curvature, and the rails manipulated to round the ends of the tooth. Once you've created one tooth, simply produce multiple duplicates, and very the scale si!JIIrtly to give the gator a full set of dentures.

The hat e n d - are the slmpleat of spllne objects: both are strallllrtforward edits of • C)'ll-. The hat Is hollowed out b)' creatl"' a rail proftle, which Is effectively • section throuJIII the hat; while t h e - Is simply an eloftCided C)'llwlth a bulbous top end.

Stage seven: Final assembly and rendering Finally, it's time for our finished alligator to scrub up and step out into the spotlight ...

Once you've positioned all the elements, try a few test r . - s with basic procedural textures applied to the model. Spllne edltl"' with a great deal of curves and ~es In direction can do stra"'e thl..,. to a mesh, so look out for kinks and quirks.

I computer arts I September 99

If ever)'thl"' looks okay, lt's time to add surface textures to Jllve your alligator a little more dynamism. Here, we've created a simple bump map In Pftotoshop to add -texture end Interest to our reptilian friend's facial features. We've also created • map to add Interest to his belly.

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Compose the surface b)' the bump end •mac• .....,. onto the heed end body. If thl..,. okay on test ..-a, then add IIJIIotl"' end compose the final lmace. n.r- or four spotiiJIIots should do for • si..,.. cherecter lke this- any more wiH unneceuarlly l n c r - your..- times. Bl

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1 computer

arts 1 september 99

CFCS® OiJ ill

Expert illustrators, animators and a brand new design service••• lAST YEAR, THE ESTABLISHED ILLUSTRATION AND ANIMATION HOUSE ARCANA GAVE BIRTH TO SPYDA. FRONT-MAN JoHN Fox: "WITH A MYRIAD OF TECHNIQUES NOW AVAILABLE, A MORE OPENENDED APPROACH TO DESIGN IS POSSIBLE ." AND THAT'S WHAT THIS STORY IS ALL ABOUT...

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his profile is a little unusual for Computer Arts. Mostly, we like to keep things simple. But the work produced by Arcana and Spyda, two intricately interwoven design companies , was too good to turn down. So we 've gone for a double-whammy. Arcana is the mother of the duo, an established illustration and animation house boasting a strong client list. One-year-old Spyda is its exciting new offspring, a "design service " intended to bring diversity to the Arcana camp. The two share facilities , key staff and , to some extent, a carefully managed freelance pool - but deal in quite a different creative currency. Here's how they work together ...

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Arcana started about ten years ago , working in traditional, non-computer airbrush illustration and design, and also typographic methods. In time the team discovered vector packages - Illustrator and FreeHand- and then Photoshop. The company landed its first 3D work when an architectural job came through , and hasn 't looked back since. "We found we could manipulate views very speedily, and get structures together a lot quicker,"

says John Fox. "We used basic rendering techniques , and we didn 't use 3D to produce the finished artwork. We just traced it off and made airb rush illustrations from that. The package was called Achi-CAD - it's ancient and runs along simi lar lines to AutoCAD. • John continues: "Our first major bit of 3D illustration was for The Attik. it asked us to produce a car for Ridge Racer, the videogame . The company hadn 't done any 3D itself at the time. Simon Needham (now Group Creative Director of The Attik) came down to choose view points, lighting directions and colours for the model. " The Attik has since garnered an enviable reputation for 3D work with a distinctive style all of its own. And Arcana? "From there we got into more and more advanced techniques . Eventually, we worked our way up from Strata StudioPro to what we use today - Maya, 30 Studio MAX and Power Animator," John reflects . The story of Arcana and Spyda, and their complementary styles, goes hand in hand with this journey through increasingly sophisticated software, and the hardware that supports it.

Spyda's purpose

Spyda Design was launched as a design service for Arcana 's cl ients, most of which are involved in the entertainment industry. The original concept was to structure a team whose members were all well versed in digital production techniques , so mother and daughter could offer clients a wider spectrum of imaginative solutions to their design needs. But many clients failed to understand the digital medium. " Unfortunately, they saw the digital approach as a less expensive alternative to photography. They restricted artists to working within the limited parameters of a camera, " explains John. They only wanted photo-realistic results . "Whereas the techniques available for conveying information and ideas are limitless. Designers working with us soon become aware of this fact ... " Designers spend years learning and developing the techniques that underpin their styles- techniques that are expertly and diligently applied to each piece of work. John muses: "With the myriad of techniques now available , which are relatively easy to learn and apply, a more open-ended approach to design is possible." Digital art doesn 't need to be predictable any more. Instead , digital artists can have unique styles, and even tailor them to suit particular projects and clients as needed . "Adaptation and integration are key requisites in the work we produce, · John continues . "Often , a project will span various media- from print to Web to video , say. So we have to plan this and consider it as a part of the whole design process."

'SiydoC Is dne

of SpyA's promo Images, created with • cocktail of 3D software. "SpyA's only • ,._ old, so whenever we get spare time we like to produce nurterlal," says John. Mtt's difficult, because Ar""""'• Incredibly busy- so we've been working at two and thr- In the morning... " ~::.__-+---+-~

computer arts

se pte mber 99

Tooled up Spyda was born into an established home, with its cu rrent faculties intact. Conversely, Arcana 's development from traditional media to hi-tech CG has spanned a seven-year period of gradual evolution. Over time, the airbrushes were complemented with Macintoshes, and the 'easy, art-house ' Macintoshes were superseded by a suite of NT workstations and an SGI Octane .

arcana &

(left) Mllll)' jobs •e commissioned by • t directors who want photo-realistic 1......, and who like ~·s solution of renclen t11at look like ~y. For tills Lurpak job, Arcana WM commissioned to produce CG work M an altematlve to pllotoCrapll)' throu.,. PCG of London. lt WM created by Andy Mlddleton.

(below) Arcane's first ever 3D piKe featured the klftC of rock+roll • Its subject. lt w• created In 1994 by Jullan ~. ulllnc lnlfnf.D on a Quedra 840 Mac, and Is an "llltematlve to a m.ker visual for Stylorou&e".

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Playing games Videogames are big bucks, and Arcana specialises in packaging artwork

r:;:rne of Arcana-Spyda's core business areas is

~ packaging design and illustration for computer

and videogames. No doubt you'll spot more names in

the extensive client list (see page 48). Looking around the walls, shelves and glass display cabinets at the Arcana-Spyda studio, there seem to be jobs completed

for every major player within the games industry. Here's a quick selection of some of the most interesting projects done by the intrepid duo ... (left) Electronic Arts' reel-time PC

strateu aame. ,._,.,.,., and Its

v-'oussequels, benefited from Arcane's expert!... 1heee were created ullln& and 3DSMAXR2on lilt........... HT workstatlons.

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(Move) 1he ,..._Industry Is,.,., free of hype. Expect the hu&e robots In the forthcomlftC 3D shoot-'em-up, SlatteZero, to &enerllte their own. 1he PIICiullllnll WM created In 3DS MAX IU.

(Move) 1he .twork for Hasbro lnterectlve's Sc:rabble-type puzzle aame, 'Up Words' . 1he lllllln - - d lmqe w• created In Maya ( - p86) on an SGI ~. RetouclllftC and otMr elements were done In Pftotoshop.

(above) Another job for Hasbro Interactive, showlftC how d l v - styles can be used even for the client. A&aln, lt's the mixture of 3DS MAX R2 and Pftotoshop.

september 99 I computer arts I 45

arcana & spyda

" I used to work for an ad agency called Meridian Design,· John reveals . "We used simple computer graphics for things like editorial work, for articles in magazines and papers. That was in the late 80s. We used Photoshop 1, on what was then a powerful machine- a Mac 2! Manipulating anything was near impossible. They were massive boxes that weighed a ton and didn't do anything. ·

Slave to the render Now Arcana and Spyda use NT for the most part, but still regard UNIX as the most stable system. " it's just got so much more power, " says John, pointing at the Octane box at one end of Arcana-Spyda 's open-plan studio. lt has been freshly upgraded with twin R12000 processors. "The manipulation power and the rendering speed is incredible." The companies choose NT over Mac OS partly because ofthe power-cost payoff. " it's also because of the number of applications we need to run on any one system, " adds Justin Tuson , Creative and Technical Advisor. "We'll be running a couple of 3D packages and video-editing software at once. lt soon eats through the RAM and so on. We do still use Macs for manipulating images, though -largely because of the superior print and publishing software. The SGI tends to be reserved for modelling- in Maya and Power Animator- and we use the NT machines as slaves for rendering. " The companies ' next planned purchase is RenderMan, which should up the team 's efficiency. Justin agrees: "With things like 30 Studio MAX R3 coming out, it's something the whole studio will benefit from. "

A creative agency There are ten employees at Arcana-Spyda's Bromley studio- that's counting both full-time staff and the regular freelancers who wear the badge. Spyda's philosophy is to use its available resources and contacts to get the right people in for the right jobs. "You see, we don 't want Spyda to be a closed office. We prefer to look at it more as a creative agency,· says John. "Spyda 's more about art direction than just pure design. it's quite well researchedwe've created a style that w·e consider universal, but also sometimes slightly risque. And we 've tried to base it not just around the entertainment industry, as a youth culture thing. We want people to use Spyda for advertising a car, perhaps, or for a videogame." John continues : · A lot of our work pieces le biiMCI on considered re-eh: "We've created • style we consider unlverul, but eleo sometimes sll~ly risque," explains front-men John Fox.

computer arts 1 September 99

and agencies who approach us. Initially, much of that came through advertising in Art Buyer(a source book which Computer Arts supported in 1999). Many of the jobs

A mlxed-medle polnt-of.ule poster, uelnc form•Zend Renderz-. "Some clients don't......, the venetlllty of CG lmecee. Tbey elmoet heve • r.. of commlesloniiiC CG rether then tredltlonel medle," eeye John. A portFolio of superb CG IIMCee helps pereuede them oat.wl-

"Spyda's more about art direction than just pure design. it's well researchedwe've created a style that we consider universal, but also sometimes slightly risque... " -JollaFox

we do are for art directors who want near-photorealistic images. They like Arcana's solution of renders that look like photography. When clients come to us looking for an alternative to photography, it's important that they can get alterations made very quickly and very cheaply. For them, that's really the main attraction of rendering over photography." So it's also a key factor in the way the team choose to work: taking an image as far as possible in the 3D package, and keeping Photoshop retouching to a minimum . This process makes for the most efficient amendments. Spyda attracts quite different business, however: "Arcana 's work is all based around advertising, and we work mainly with agencies, rather than directly with clients . But Spyda is a bank of creative talent that knows the background to the computer graphics industry," John explains. "So you've got more versatility. The art director knows what you can do with the equipment, the software and the time. You 've got new boundaries, and at the same time you're talking to someone who knows how a job gets done.·

House( s) style( s) So, this "universal " style- does that mean a house style? Will we be able to spot Arcana's and Spyda's work, in the way that you might be able to identify David Carson typography, a Me Company character or a DR poster?

arcana &

Multimedia Electronic Arts' product CD in the making- a first draft and the finished product ...

(j lectronic Arts wanted this CD-ROM not just for busmess and PR, but also as a product taster for point-of-sale- so it had to perform a number of functions. Background images were made in Photoshop, rendered in Power Animator and put together in After

Effects. The multimedia presentation was authored in Director, and raw material came from a mix of sources. "We needed to get info and footage for each of the featured games," explains Ian Ward."Basically, the material came in from across EA's consortium of

(above) A Mlectlon of lnutCe• pitched u a proposed CD-ROM product catalope

tcH Electronic Atta. The companlea later decided on a different direction •••

(above A rll&ht) The Southern Comfort Image wu done In 3DS /tfAX R2, while the Balley'almage wu . created In ltfAX and retouched In Pllotoshop. And how do Atca....Spyda deal with client alt.,.._ on commlaaloned work? "We try to every job u cloM u poulble et the render ~e -eo If there •e cheqea, we don't have to bllc:ktrack ut.. You can alter the aqle and the lll&htllll&. and you don't need to do 80 per cent PllotNhop work apln. •

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companies. Companies like Fox Interactive would send us a really good Betacam SP with its advert on, and then we'd get some material on SimCity, on an NTSC VHS." Achieving even quality, compression and frame rate for each section of the CD was a massive challenge ...

(above) Still• from the flnlahed project. "The final CD-ROM had a almpler worklq environment and hllltHPeed navl_.uon, • ..Y• lan.

ORIGINAL IRISH CREAM. BAILEYS september 99

(above)Atcana created thla .,._ for the London Electricity ao.d. ".W.ya Fur waan't out then, eo we made the fur In Power Animator. We alao had help from experienced film anlnudor, Jullan Mann. Betw- Jamea (Bowron, fuiHime .. Arcana creetlve) and Jullan, they produced thla face In Stlldlol'alnt, eo we could juet paint on the fur and manlpulete lt. •

I computer arts I 47

arcana & spyda

"Well, there is a house style," says John. "I believe you can 't get anywhere without a house style , and we've started producing images as an art form . If you deliver images without some kind of flow to them , then it's very difficult to get clients interested in your style. If your folio is consistent, it inspires confidence in potential buyers. " He finds an analogy: " it's the old matchstick scenario. If you have one matchstick it's very easy to break, but if you have many, they' re difficult to break . We're following that philosophy. "

John continues : "Also, you get recognition if you're able to be versatile and adapt a certain style. That's how you start getting a name. Spyda's only a year old , so whenever we get any spare time, we like to close the door and produce some promotional material. it's difficult because Arcana 's incredibly busy, so we've been working at two and three in the morning to produce these images. Next, we ' re producing animations based on the characters we 've created for these promotional images- and that's when you'll see the true potential of Spyda." The creatives, the techniques and the kit are all in place. So is the philosophy and vision. Arcana's first-born, Spyda, is finding its feet and getting to work. So we suggest you keep an eye open over the next couple of years ... m If yt:fwan to know more about Arcana and Spyda, you can contact t 02084 609 243. or visit .!!' www.arcanadigital.com

them on

Name dropping We're not normally given to printing client lists, but Arcana and Spyda's is so impressive we couldn't resist ... Acco Rexel American Airlines Atari Balfour Beaty Barr BMPDDB(UK) Boots British American Tobacco British Gas British Rail BSI Bullfrog Butlins Cadbury's Citigate Albert Frank Compaq Col gate DDB Needam (Dallas) De Beers Dewe Rogerson Darling Kindersley DTI Earls Court Olympia Electronic Arts Euro RSCG Firetrap Ford Future Publishing G&J of the UK Grand Metropolitan Grey Advertising GT Interactive Hasbro Interactive Hill Samuel HSBC Bank IBM JWThompson Kelloggs LEB Legal & General

I computer arts I september 99

LLoyd Northover London Underground Lowe Howard Spink MacDonalds Mars Microsoft Ministry of Sound Nationwide NatWest Bank Nestles News International Nickelodian Nintendo Ogilvy & Mather P&O Pepsi group Punch magazine Readers Digest RSCG Conran Sainsbury's Sega Shandwick Shepherd Neame Shindler Silicon Graphics Soft bank Comdex SonyUK/International Standard Charter Sun Microsystems Swatch Tate & Lyle TIGoup Trocadero TBWA Vauxhall Viacom International Vodaphone VW/Audi Goup Whirlpool WWAV Rapp Collins and many more ...

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lights, camera, action!

finish render

so I computer arts I september 99

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lights, camera, action!

Digital animation masterclass: ~®rru a®QOO'

Lights, came·ra, render, action! THE MOMENT WE'VE

Ready to render?

BEEN WAITING FOR IS

Rendering a project like this takes a while . Even on the system we used , each frame takes between 3-15 minutes to render, depending on what's in it. The MOV file on the CD has been reduced in resolution -we originally rendered it at broadcast resolution, because it needed to be transferred to videotape. Broadcast resolution is 768x576 pixels, although we used 768x415, to give film a cinematic letterbox format. Doing the maths, this means that with an average of five minutes per frame, and 25 frames-per-second, a five-minute movie takes 625 hours to render- that's 26 days and nights. In fact, it took longer, and there were two reasons for this. First, like all good filmmakers, we created more footage than we would eventually use, to allow us plenty of freedom at the editing stage. And second, each time you render a scene, you have to check it for any unforeseen problems. If you find textures that don 't look quite right in every frame, or that some objects accidentally intersect each other, or if the lighting unexpectedly illuminates

HERE: OUR ANIMATION OF THE TEMPEST IS READY TO RENDER. TAKE A DEEP BREATH ••• ver the past four issues, we 've been creating a fiveminute opening sequence for an animated version of Shakespeare 's The Tempest. This issue we reach the last stages, and you can see the final movie on the CD. In the first of this series, we designed the sets. In the following issue we created the characters, then we produced the textures and recorded the dialogue. And last month we put the lot together to animate the scenes. So now we come to the grand finale: pulling the whole production together. We have to create a final edit, layer sound effects on to it, do a few extra-special effects that couldn 't be done in 30 Studio MAX, and create music for the piece. Before any of this, however, we need to get rendering ...

0 0 0

September 99

I computer arts I 51

camera, action!

lmpreulve rendering. The whole movie took over 825 hours to render, averaging five mlnutes-par-fr- on a Pantlum Pro 330 with 128MB RAM. We used Pyro Optics Suite for the fire affects (top rlglrt), and C,.,.,..,er Studio for the dialogue (above rlglrt). ~

parts of a model that aren 't supposed to show, then you're going to have to render the scene again. In addition to this, 30 Studio MAX -especially with the plug-ins we ' re using, and under Windows 98- is less stable than a one-legged drunken uranium juggler going through a deep emotional crisis on a unicycle. Ahem .

Break it up Of course , we couldn 't render the project as one long, complete animation. That would have been completely unmanageable. Instead, we had to break it down into a number of different MAX files , with

"lt would've been better if we'd had a dedicated PC for rendering- but as it was, the process took a good two-and-a-half months, with the computer beavering away all night" each of these files representing a few seconds of animation . We started by making a basic scene with all the sets and characters in place, and then set up the camera angle for the shot we were working on . Then we created the animation, and saved the scene under a different name- doing it in this way makes it easier to fine-tune your animation

without worrying about how your changes will affect later scenes. This process created a great deal of large MAXfiles (they amounted to more than 2GB in the end), but you can then load these up and render them one at a time overnight. lt would 've been better if we'd had a dedicated PC for rendering- but as it was , the process took a good two-and-a-half months, with the computer beavering away all night, every night.

The extras What gear did we use? The software: Pyro Optics suite- for lighting and

explosion effects. Adobe Premiere- for editing the final production. Steinberg Cubase Score-for creating the incidental music. Ulead VideoPaint-for adding the finishing touches and special effects. 3D Studio MAX- for design and rendering.

The plug-ins: Character Studio- for animating bipeds. ClothReyes-for animating clothes.

The hardware:

For the soundtrack, If you can gat your hands on a decent MIDI keyboard, like the Roland XPÂˇ10 (top), and a saquancar like CubaH (above) or C"'"'walk.

52 I computer arts 1 september 99

Roland XP-10- A decent MIDI keyboard can produce the sound of an entire orchestra, and more. it's possible to use your sound card's internal synth, but a touch-sensitive keyboard is the best way to play music into your system.

lights, camera, action!

Laser action In a project like this, not everything is best done in MAX. For the finishing touches, we needed to lay a track of laser fire, shooting randomly in front of and behind our characters. We wanted the lasers to be constant and apparently random, which would have been a real headache to simulate using MAX. So instead, we used Ulead's VideoPaint...

First, we needed to find the eectlons of the film where we wlllrted to edd the laser fire effects, end then export them from the editing software • • e single movie file. Then we could Import this Into VldeoPalnt.

The road is long If our five-minute section took 625 hours to render, t he finish ed 90-minute movie would take 469 days, working 24-hours-a-day. That means you could do it in a couple of months , if you had a bank of ten PCs running constantly. That's bui lding t he fi lm at broadcast quality. Now here 's the shocker. If you wanted to make the movie for the big screen, you 'd have

~ The program's VIdeo Controller, . . . enables you to step beck end forth throul&h the video to find the place where you want to edd the effect. You can work forwards or backwards, or work on whichever frame Is most convenient.

to work at four times the resolution. That means 16 (or 4x4) times more pixels to render, with an average frame taking 80 minutes. So , for a cinematic production, we'd need 100 computers working day in , day out for two-and-ahalf months, or one PC for 20 years.

Do try this at home With all the footage co llected (we had about 100 AVI fi les , each holding up to

"With any animated film, the audio is tricky. You don't have a track attached to your footage as you do in real life. You have to invent every noise you want to hear... "

Using the Airbrush, we drew the laser onto the first frame •• a soft-edlled blue line. Then we used the Controller to step on e frame, end drew In the 1•-r boH again, slightly further on. We created fest.....,vlng shots, wHh each boH taking about four frames to · crou the scr-n -end we put In rather e lot of them too.

Once you've drawn In ell the animated elements, you can render the scene beck out under • new name, end take • look at your work. VldeoPalnt Is en Incredibly u~l effects tool, end we could have used H more. In feet, If you're prepared to edH freme-by.freme, you can achieve virtually anything.

ten seconds of video) , we could start . ed iting them . We used Adobe Premiere - it's an excellent package , and we ' re used to it- but most editing programs cou ld hand le the edit for this fi lm without too much trouble. There were a couple of mixes and fades t o put in, and a few invisible ed its (where the rendering had been int errupted , and two separate video clips had been rendered for one animation sequence). Apart from that, t he edit is standard .

Feel the noise ... The audio track, however, was another matter. With any animated film , t he audio is tricky. You don't have a synchronous audio track attached to your footage as you do when it's shot

Music with meaning When you create music for your piece, take the story and its setting into consideration ...

rt:'t'fiieTi you're creating sound f.or an l:A:J animation,you have to be aware of the way noise is recorded in live action films. If you're shooting a long shot in real life, then the sound is quieter. When you cut to a close-up, it gets loudersimply because the microphon e is closer to whatever it's recording . Filmmakers svend a lot oftime trying to avoid thi s happening, because they want to smooth the transition between different shots. In animation, however, you often want to do the reverse, by deliberately altering the volume of your effects at

edit ]JOints.Thi s helps convince the viewer that your sound is part of the action, so it doesn't look too 'dubbed'. We wanted to preserve the original feeling of The Tempest, even though our ve.rsion has a, futuri stic setting .The ship, although it's a spaceship, is much like an old square rigger, and all the models are weathered and ancient-looking . We decided we wanted the sound effect s to reflect the ori ginal setting of the play as well , so we've used a lot of watery noises. The ship makes sounds as though it's filled with gears and pistons, and which

give the void of space an atmosphere. To create this sound, we used a sea noise slowed down t o form a barely audible background rumble. Ariel , the spirit which created the storm; makes a noise which we derived from the sound of seagulls.We sampled, reversed and modul ated this sound with Premieres's new sound fil t ers.The idea was to build a sound which reflects the kind of turmoil within Ariel, which you can al so see visually in its constantly undulating form . Check out the CD to see it all for yourself.

Se ptember 99

I computer arts I 53

lights, camera, action!

ci> in real life. Instead, you have to invent,

sample, edit and position every noise you want to hear. In our film , we created a scene in which a spaceship is caught in a meteor storm, and then destroyed after a brief battle. This needs layers and layers of sounds , none of which you can readily record in the real world. We could easily have spent a month or more on the sound effects track, but deadlines press, so we had to do the whole lot in a few days. All in all, we used nine sound effects tracks . We didn 't organise them into any kind of order, although life would probably have been easier if we had used track one for dialogue, track two for background sounds, track three for lasers, and so on. Also , we didn 't include the music at this stage. We rendered the movie with all its sound effects as an AVI file, then imported it back into Premiere for the titles and music to be added. This made life easier, because it meant we could then fade the effects layer up and down as a whole , rather than having to alter every tiny effect. We also hliQ.Jo do a bit of tweaking to make the dialogue clearer, above the other sounds. This wasn 't

Adobe Pr-lerels one of the best pacluoges on the market for edltlftll video footaee. Alternatively, you could 110 for Uleed Medldfudlo l'ro or Puffin Deslp' Com-"--

completely successful with all the dialogue, however, because we made the first recordings with a lower quality microphone. Once we started working with the microphone on Canon's XL1 digital camcorder, the sound quality improved tremendously.

Grand finale With all ofthis done, the film was more or less complete. All we needed was to

"We hod to do o bit of tweaking to make the dialogue clearer... Once we started working with the XL1 digital comcorder microphone, the sound quality improved tremendously"

output the completed production, and optimise it for playback on CD-ROMwhich is a mostly matter of trial and error. We had to render sections of the movie using different rendering settings, until one looked good enough to try on the full film. The finished version looks pretty sharp, but its data-rate sometimes peeks rather higher than we would have liked, and this might cause occasional stutters on lower s_peed drives. And how did the finished project turn out? Well, we think it's pretty good, but take a look on the CD and decide for yourself. m

You I n the nlslieif-movie for this series in the CD root, as Tempest.mov. Expertise supplied

by Christian Darkin. You can contact him on .1! christian.darkin @demon.co.uk

Compose yourself We produced the incidental music with the Roland XP-10, aMI Dl keyboard, but it's quite possible to create a decent soundtrack with your internal sound card instead. You'll also need a sequencer, like Cubase Score ...

~ We crested soma vary simple

~ Using Cuba. .'s AVI monitor, you

can Import your movie fila directly Into the saquanclng pacluoga. This means you can compo.. music while wetchlng the film, and everything Is In sequence when you output your musical score.

I computer arts I september 99

music for the openlftll of the movie. First, we hit Record and played In soma simple slow chords on the keyboard's lowest octave. Than this became the backtlround. We also edded soma hlllher notes, to hltlhlll&ht events like the sun rising over the planet's surface.

~ wr the

To r~et a fuller sound, we copied opening chorda Mvaral times onto different tracks. Using the Program Cheftlla option, you can Jllva each track a different Instrument. The result Is a combination of strlnp, brass end reed Instruments all mixed tOIIether. To gat a wider raftlla, we used Transpose to move each Instrument up or down an octave (12 notes) or two.

~ We recorded the finished place .,... as a WAY fila, end Imported lt Into Premiere to be mixed Into a sound track on the video. Finally, we used the Rubber Band volume control on the sound fila to feda the music In and out as approprleta.

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feature

the hollywood effect

IN THE 90S, MOVIE SUCCESS MEANS SPECIAL EFFECTS AND MUCH COMPUTER TRICKERY-AND THAT APPLIES AT BOTH ENDS OF THE BUDGET SPECTRUM. WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT TWO SUCH CONTRASTING COMPANIES •••

s61computer arts I septem ber 99

the hollywood effect

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tar Wars 1 : The Phantom Menace ; The Matrix; The Mummy - what do all of these recent movies have in common? Yes , they've all been box office smashes, but they also all rely heavily on computer-generated imagery. In Hollywood and around the world, on film and TV, computers are now a part of life, and movies wouldn 't be seen dead without getting dressed up in all their effects finery.

Everybody's doing it But it's not just big budget movies like these that want to play computers - nowadays everyone is getting in on the act. Computer-generated effects might be very flash-bang, or they might be seamless asides. Whichever, you can guarantee that most movies and a good proportion of TV shows include

some sort of computer-generated trickery. Here, we're going to look at both the high and low ends of computer-generated effects. In June, Los Angeles saw the cream of the effects business get together for the Visual Effects Society's event- VES 99 . The show was a festival of visual effects , incorporating a running series of presentations by specialists in the field -including George Lucas ' Industrial Light & Magic. Various films and shows went under scrutiny, along with the underlying methods and techniques used in them . There were also presentations by connected scientific groups, such as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SET!) and the NASA Mars Explorer team . Historic programming was on the menu too- but the true dishes of the day were , ultimately, the numerous segments featuring ILM and discussions of its work on Star Wars 1 : The Phantom Menace.

september 99

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feature

the hollywood effect

Sebulba, In Tile l'fllmtom Me,_•• pod . - scene- • atunnlq piece of CG film. "lt needs to be l&ood enoullh, lt doesn't have to be perfect, • NJS Georl&e Lucas, who wanted • 'low-coat' movie. The bill wu around $140 million.

Chalk and cheese The most interesting contrast in recent work is that between ILM's Star Wars and Flat Earth's ongoing work on Hercules and Xena. As described by Flat Earth principals Kevin Kutchaver and Kevin O'Neill, effects work on their two shows is typified by a lack of time and budget, and the distance from principal photography in New Zealand- about 10,000 miles. "Syndicated TV is very different for effects, " says Kutchaver, beaming a smile. " For a start, there's very little money! " O'Neill adds: " For the original Hercu/es movie and the early series work, we worked freelance, with no facility. •

Crowd control At ILM it's all cutting-edge technology- oh, and painted cotton buds ...

r:rveTi with the preponderance of

1!1 computerised imagery, some

things still are easi er in model form -although CG can still help.The best example could be the pod race st adium in Phantom M enace. "We did the pod race stadium sh ot with a 45-foot mini ature," explains John Knoll. "CG is hard for such shots, where you have so many light considerations." Although structures can be built in the computer and shot

sS I computer arts I september 99

from a variety of angles, the play of sunlight and shadow can still be quite difficult when trying to duplicate reality with software. Simple models even made up much of the crowd in the stands. "Many of the figures in the stands are nothing more than painted cotton buds," Knoll grins. "They work just fine from the distant perspective of the shot." But some of the figures are moving, and that requires CG.

"For moving crowds at a distance, we can use particle generation software.To create non-random motion, we use motion rules. For example, note that when the speeders move onto the track, the 'people' pretty much move away from them. That's because we programmed a radius field around the vehicles and animals pulling the vehicles. The field pushes the people away." Sometimes the rules were a bit too simple. In one setup, tiny CG people bounce off walls with an unnatural snap. "In some areas, we had to modify and damp the motion of the particles so they reacted to objects normally. But overall, this isn't a problem. These crowd images are mainly in the background and you only glimpse them briefly.The audi ence's attention is on main objects in the frame, so you can get away with certain errors of crowd motion." lt only has to be good enough.

ILM , of course , has a very well-established facility- but that doesn't prevent money from being a concern . "We were doing new things- a lot of them, • says John Knoll, one of the Visual Effects Supervisors on Phantom Menace for ILM. "George wanted this work done at as low a cost as possible . George likes to say of all movie shots, 'lt needs to be good enough, it doesn 't have to be perfect.'" However, even with low castings , The Phantom Menace 's budget was over $140 million- a far cry from the early days of Flat Earth on Hercules.

Herculean task " I was cam positing Baby/on 5 at home when the Hercu/es folks called ," Kutchaver recalls. " At first I didn 't like Hercules , but I liked that it was shot like a film. Originally we were brought in to do centaur effects stuff.· O'Neill continues: "Rob Tapert's approach was to write the show without regard to how it would be done. This is often the best way to be the most creative. • However, this way can equally be taxing when time and budget are at a premium. Flat Earth employed a straightforward, problem-solving approach to get the job done. · we work backwards from how a feature film is done, " Kutchaver comments . · Features have lots of pre-production. We don't have that. • The basic problem becomes one of getting material in, working it, and getting it back out. O' Neill reminisces : · we relied on desktop, which in 1995 meant working on our own equipment at home. We had Macs at the time, which were slow and limiting. • Kutchaver continues: " But we didn 't let that get in the way, and used off-the-shelf software. A shot would render and complete at two in the morning and an alarm would go off. Then I'd wake up and start another shot. · "We worked at home and had things running 24-hours-a-day, " O' Neill confirms . This, of course, impacted on home life- and as technology improved, the need for work grew too . However, with the Internet booming at an incredible rate, a funny thing happened. · People wrote to us and asked ifthey could help, · says O'Neill. " Fans wanted to work for us. With

the hollywood effect

Andyouare? Now computers rule the earth, you can live anywhere you like and still contribute to projects thousands of miles away ... l"r.Yrith the advent of good off-the-shelf l:U software and the Internet, Flat Earth discovered thatfans of Hercules andXena were eager to devote their computers and talents to working on the show. But how do you hire a guy who's going to work from his home in Pennsylvania, London or Scotland? "Wire removal ," says Kevin Kutchaver. "it's relatively simple, but tedious. If someone e-m ails us that they want to work on the show, we verify they have the equipment and then give them frames to do wire removal on. If they're willing to do this for a while, and are talented at it, we can give them other things to try." This means that a single episode of Hercules may have been shot in New Zealand and postproduced in California, and image frames could have come in from all over the globe- worked on by people who may never meet.

Hercu,.. -low buclllets. Mort deadlines and 10,000 miles between the Flat Earth effects tNm and the shoot locetlon. "I wu compgsltln• 8abylon 11 at home when the Hercules folks called, • MYS Flat Earth's Kevln Kutchaver.

II !Cl

Kevln O'Nelll,

Dou• lleswlck and KeYin Kutcllllver

of Flat ~-the Internet has enabled fells •ound the world help out on Hercu,.. and XM&

UghtWave and the Internet, we were able to hire people right across the country. · Kutchaver agrees: "We were able to e-m ail JPEG images and get immediate approval or comments from Tapert. We maximised low-end technology. "

"George would be asked: ~re you going to do another Star Wars movie?' 'In a few years,' was the answer. Then one day, the answer was 'Yes'- and when the call come, the work was a shock... " -Johnllnoii,ILM

be moved to match camera or character movement. Now a medium-sized company, Flat Earth continues to embrace new work . Upcoming is Starship Troopers, a new TV show, which will feature all computer-generated sequences with a photo-real look. And with no time for keyframe animation, Flat Earth plans to use motion-capture.

Davld and Gollath Revolution baby ... The u::;e of even modest technology frequently eliminated the need to carry artwork via car and freeway - a vast time saving. Technology got better and eventually they rented space . But low budgets and short time-frames still drive how work is done. "ILM can invent stuff, " Kutchaver says. "We sit under them waiting for change to fall out of their pockets!" So what's the workload like? " In the first season, 12-20 shots per episode ballooned up to 65. In 1997 we hit 212 shots in an episode- handed in Monday and due Friday. Five working days!" Kutchaver recalls . Much of the work consists of keyframe animation, wire removal, and some match-move shots, which are the most difficult. In those, a CG image portion has to

However, if Flat Earth is a growing company, ILM is truly a monolith in the field. John Knoll has grown right along with it. "Right out of use Film School, I started as technical assistant on the Dykstra-flex camera at ILM. In effects, talent is what counts. You can have great equipment and software, but the eye behind the camera is the difference. " Over the years at ILM, there loomed a question in the background. "George would be asked: 'Are you going to do another Star Wars movie?' " Knoll recalls. " 'In a few years,' was the answer. Then one day, the answer was ' Yes'- and when the call came, the work was a shock. " "Over 3000 storyboards! " Knoll exclaims. "And

September 99

I computer arts I 59

feature

the hollywood effect

Effects overload Industrial Light & Magic has left its mark on six of the ten most successful films of all time. But with the release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, we're discovering that its animators are even better than we thought ...

E'mitii five times as many FX l:U sequences as Titanic, The Phantom Menace squeezes over 2000 digital effects into its running time. As a result, as much as go% of the first prequel has some sort of computer-generated element. But by far the biggest, and the most ambitious use of computer an imation in the new Star Wars movie is for the completely CG character, Jar Jar Binks. While virtual technology has developed to such an extent that digitally-created humans can now effectively replace extras in a movie's background, it's still not advanced enough to convincingly render a main human

character.Thus Binks, the Goofyesque sidekick to Jedi sabre-swishers Neeson and McGregor, is a CG alien, taking full advantage of visual techniques pioneered in Jurassic Park and Titanic to push animation to groundbreaking levels of credibility and detail. Described as 'synthespians' by ILM's Associate Visual Effects Supervisor Carl Frederick, the advantages of digital characters are many. Nevertheless, it's still cheaper to hire an actor to create a single performance- so perhaps Jar Jar Binks is just a techno-gimmick.Also, George Lucas has suggested that he would rather use more blue-screen

they were all hard to do- dense scenes with lots of creatures. The existing tools we had were not enough, and the models were densely packed with detail CG characters were clothed. "What's more, we realised that terrain generation was probably going to be required for the pod race sequence. Just everywhere you looked , there were shots we had no firm handle on . Would we use models here? CG there? I formed a team and we started working shot-by-shot." In England, an efficient plate shoot (where

"Over 3000 storyboards! They were all hard to do- · dense scenes with lots of creatures... Everywhere you lool<ed, there were shots we had no firm handle on. Would we use models here? CG there? I formed a team and we started working shot-by-shot" --........ ,,LM

The pod race scene was a tough one for ILM to work out. Here, the Boonta Eve pod race turns dangerous as Anakln Skywalker (In the podracer on the left) and champion pilot Sebulba avoid the debris from a crashed podracer.

6o I computer arts 1 september 99

and CG instead of large, traditional sets in the next Star Wars prequel. Typically, for something like a CG character, a number of wireframe models are textured and colourised by ILM's Viewpaint artists, while the modellers create a set of facial shapes to take care of facial features and expressions. Using a combination of its own proprietary software and AliasiWavefront's advanced Maya system, animators use movement tools to bring the creations to life. At the same time, Digital Rotoscope artists make certain that CG objects present in background layers don't overlap objects and live-action photography

background data is photographed on sets) was set up- and as many as 45 plates a day were done. "A lot of shots were 'damage containment,' " Knoll says with a chuckle , noting that sometimes shots are done in case something doesn 't work out in post-production . · A lot of stuff was unexpected." · George Lucas turned out to need CG work in scenes that wou ldn't ordinarily be considered CG. For example, if an actor's face in a group scene didn't look right, he'd have it fi xed with CG, or overlaid with a face from another scene take . Similarly, dialogue from one take would also sometimes be overlaid on another take. And what about the rumours that Natalie Portman (who plays Queen Amidala) developed a limp during filming that had to be removed with CG? "Not true ," Knoll reveals.

On your marks ... The pod race was one of Knoll 's primary responsibi lities. In this, young Anakin Skywalker, played by Jake Lloyd, races other competitors in jetpowered chariots over the rugged terrain of Tatooine. "The pod race requires extensive pre-visualisation ," Knoll says . " How do we do the terra in ? Do we use a helicopter shot for the motion? Helicopters can fly and allow filming at about 100 knots- not fast enough for the speed the pod race called for. And where would you film it? " He continues talking of the filming problems. "Another question was whether we could use models, since scale created a problem. We wanted to be able to see far afield, which would require a racing surface hundreds of feet in size- and there's still the problem of speed. Plus, CG terrain generation is too dense and hard to do. " In part, for far afield terrain, Knoll used a technique he employed for the helicopter and train chase in Mission: Impossible- digital mattes. Using software techniques to modify long-view matte photos or paintings provided the solution for the distant view.

the hollywood effect

present in the foreground. Finally, the Technical Director oversees the blending of all the layered elements -the virtual sets, live-action footage, laser blasts, foreground characters, background characters, objects and so on- which together make up the final image. While ILM's work on The Phantom Menace continually redefines the idea of cutting-edge CG, you don't need more computers than NASA to animate broadcastquality graphics. George Lucas recently encouraged home animators in an interview with Wired magazine. "Some of the special effects we re-did for Star Wars were done on a Macintosh, on a laptop, in a couple ofhours,"he admitted."They look exactly the same, because they're intercut with the old shots. Obviously, they were done by somebody who's brilliant. But at

the same time, the mechanical and technical means to do it exist today. I could have very easily shot the Younglndy TV series on Hi-8. You can get a Hi-8 camera for a few thousand bucks, more for the software and the computer; so for less than $1o,ooo you have a movie studio."

t.ablre

So it's worth remembering that, no m·a tter how good your rendering skills are, they'll count for nothing if you can't utilise them effectively to tell an interesting story. As Star Wars: The Phantom Menace ·proves, while art challenges technology. the same technology can also inspire the art. Cl

.. i

•

1::

As some cluonlc:ters In 7Jie Phantom Menace are entirely CG creations, ILM made puppets or costumes so the actors - Uam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, et al- would have something solid to react to during the live-action shoots.

I l .f

~-----------------------------------------------------'~ Crash bang ... what's next?

x....

the Warrior Prtncea- "We maxlmiHCI low..nd ·technology," says Kevln Kutchaver at Flat Earth. But what about the detail in the near foreground? "We used smart terra in generation software, " Knol l adds. "Adaptive terrain generation . In this, you model t he camera angle to enable the com puter to create detailed terrain only where you see it. "

Come fly with me This left one other question for the team to consider: how do you fly the pods? For this, Knoll and ILM created rigid body simulation to generate interrelated movement between t he pod components. These were held t ogether by cables, so they'd be difficult to animat e with keyframe an imation. Ali asiWavefront's Maya (see t he review ofthe latest version on page 82 of t his issue) was used for overall flying and crashing. Rigid body simulation treat ed the pod struct ures as a set of objects connected with springs, and subject to forces and dampeners. The com puter then generates the motion by moving the structu res as required by equations for the system. Additional forces and dampening can be added if a pod design proves to be unstable.

Hollywood star The week before VES gg, Oennis Muren -creator of Star Wars' Jar Jar Blnks and the liquid metal cyborg from Terminator 2: Judgement Day-

became the first special effects person recognised with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

However, crashes presented anot her problem . " We looked at crash tapes from car races ," Knoll admits , and the tapes helped with the look of pod racer crashes . In fact, one shot- of a racing car going ai rborne and passing over t he follow ing car- was duplicated in t he pod race sequence . In that scene , a wrecked pod chariot passes over Anakin 's pod racer. But how to do the crashes? Build miniatures and crash them, or blow them up? Again, the speed and frame rates of the pod race scene created problems with the notion of miniatures. So , in the end , computer-generated models of pod racers -were made with parts designated to fly away. These CG models were then cut into t he action created by rigid body software. Maya was further used for the impacts and ground depressions and other aspects of the crash . In the end, a race worthy of Ben Hur was the result. So there you have it. Whether your character is travelling in a pod racer or a Ford Fiesta, chances are that CG trickery has been involved somewhere . Expect more to foll ow . .. 1!:1 Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace is on release now. You can catch Hercu/es and Xena on Channel s. Saturday evenings, and Sky One.

Computer-generated Frankenstein More completely CG films in the pipeline ... f!!l

ollowing the lead set by special effects house Pacific Data Images and its film Antz, Industrial Light & Magic is also planning to bring its techno-talents to bear on its first completely computer-generated feature film. Entitled Frankenstein , ILM has

Lll

signed to produce the movie (based on a script by the Wild Wild West scripters, S.S Wilson and Brent Maddock) for the year zooo. "Universal wants something new in animation," Maddock spilled to Hollywood trade paper Variety."They want a fairly dark,

edgy cartoon that will be genuinely scary, and that was what attracted us. How scary can a cartoon be? We're going to find out." Frankenstein should prepare to butt heads with Pixar's Toy Story 2 · and as yet unnamed fourth project, plus PDI's Antz follow-up, Shreck.

September 99

computer arts

computer arts 1 September 99

selecti

MAKING SELECTIONS CAN BE TRICKY, BUT IT'S ALSO ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS YOU NEED IN PHOTOSHOP. IF YOU WANT TO DO GREAT THINGS WITH YOUR GRAPHICS, THEN YOU REALLY HAVE TO KNOW THE TECHNIQUES INVOLVED. THIS MONTH, WE SHOW YOU HOW TO PERFECT YOUR SELECTING, AND WE'RE EVEN GIVING YOU THREE FREE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES TO PRACTICE ON, COURTESY OF PHOTODISC.

So HIT THAT ICON

AND GET OUT YOUR LASSO •••

Your (fee hotooi so images and tutorial files are on the CD, in Duai\Tutorials\Photoshop. Artwork and expertise supplied by Simon Danaher on t 02495 724 559 or t! simond@naher.demon.co.uk You can find out more about Photo Disc at .If' www.photodisc.comft;k/

september 99

computer arts

selecting made easy

One: The Lasso tool lt's a quick way to make selections, but you'll need a steady hand...

The simplest way to create a -lectlon Is probably with the Lasso tool. lt's not the easiest way by a long shot, but lt's one of the quickest. Open the file Man.jpg from the CD and try to roughly draw around the man's head with the Lasso tool.

Much harder than you thought, Isn't ltl Don't worry - If you approach lassoing In stages, you'll save a lot of frustration. Once you've created a rough -lectlon, you can refine lt. Holding down the Shift or Option key enables you to add to or subtract from your -lectlon, re_.:tlvely. Zoom In and refine your -lectlon bit by bit.

~ If you have a steady hand, lt's poeslble to add . . . and subtract large ~Ions at a time. Generally, though, lt's much easier to work with smaller chunks, since less time and effort Is wasted If you make a mistake. Note that you don't need to draw an enclosed -lectlon: try drawing a IJ.shape to bite off areas of your main -lectlon- the ends join automatically.

Two: The Magnetic Lasso tool Alternatively, you can get Photoshop to do the hard work. ..

The Magnetic Lasso tool, new to version 5 of Pltoto-'top, can really speed up making -lectlons. The Image of the man Is tricky to do becau- lt's blurred In areas. Try using the Magnetic Lasso to trace the edge (don't click-drag, just click once, then r e i - and draw). The tool buffers your mistakes, making 1t poeslble to the whole head In one go.

-â&#x20AC;˘act

Duplicate the red channel and apply Lavels to lncrea- the contrast of the edge you want to -lect. To do this, drag both the White and Black Point sllders Inwards.

64 I computer arts

september 99

Double-click the tool to - t Its options. For this type of Image, where the edge Is less distinct, you can Improve your tool's reapon-. Set the Lasso Width low, say five plxels, and the Edge Contraat to 10 per cent. Now try &gain, but be quite accurate. You should notice that the tool's doing a much better job.

If you still find your -lectlon difficult to make becau- the edges aren't well defined, you can u - Lavels or Curves to lncrea- the contrast first. Look at the channels to If one of them has good contrast -In this ea- the red channel Is the beat.

For higher contrast edges like this one, - t your Lasso Width higher, to 30 plxels, and the Edge Contrast to 50 per cent or more. Now, when you trace the heed, the Lasso snaps to the edge and creates an almoat perfect -lectlon.

Note that the Lasso places anchor points as you draw. You can also place the- anchor points manually. By clicking on one, you can override the Magnet Lasso In specific places- notably at sharp corners, like under the - Âˇ You can also switch to the Free Lasso tool at any time by holding down ControljCommand+Ait/Dptlon.

selecti

Three: Mask extraction Now it's time to take channels a step further ...

~ By manlpulatlq a channel In the previous . . . example, we were able to Improve the . .lactlon procau. You can take this approach a step further by extractlq a mask from a channel and loadlq lt as a selection. Duplicate the red channel again, and apply Levels u you did before, but this t l - try to make a much sharper edge.

Now Invert the -lectlon (Control/Command+

W'" Shlft+l), -â&#x20AC;˘act the Mask Icon on the layer, and

paint In black around the edg. . from which you want to remove the frlqe. Hldlq the marchlq ants helps you to - t h e edge better, and If some areu need more frlqe removed, then shrink the selection again and repeat the proca...

Use the Gamma silder to get rid of as much grey . . . as you can, to 1-ve a sharp silhouette. Then u . . the Leuo or Paintbrush to fill any holes, like around the ear and the tip of the - . to get a solid mask.

~ Load lt u a -lectlon and add lt to a duplicate ..,.. layer (Invert lt to mask out the beckeround). Note that around the top of the heed there's still a frlqe. To eliminate this, you can load the . .lectlon again and contract the mask by five plxels.

~ But what If you want to retain the ~e blurrlq ..,.. In keeplq with the rest of the Image? Create another layer and mask, by first dupllcatlq the blue channel, which has a good representation of the ~e blur. Load lt as a . .lactlon, Invert lt and apply lt as a layer mask. A white layer beneath shows the result of the mask.

~ Keep the har...._ed mask layer visible, but . . . use Levels on the new mask to eliminate u much of the beckCJ'ound u you can. You can remove any remnants of the beckeround by palntlq them out In the layer mask. Finally, you can soften the edge by applying a small Gauulan blur to the mask.

Four: The Pen tool You can also try this if the edges aren't clear enough ...

If the object you want to -lect has an Indistinct boundary, or Is similar to Its beckeround, then the Macnetlc Leuo and mask extraction methods won't be much help. As you can here, the Macnetlc Leuo doun't give clean _ . . , lines for this selection.

In the- circumstances, the Pen tool Is Invaluable. Open Tlck.jpg and draw a path around one of the hairs using the Pen. With small objects especially, 1t helps to zoom past 100 per cent so you can - t h e plxels.

The Pen tool draws paths, not -lectlons, but you can convert an active path Into a -lectlon by clicking the Make Selection Icon et the bottom of the Paths palette. Finally, feather the . .lactlon one plxel to soften the edge, and copy the object. You can u . . the Burn tool on the beckeround layer to add a shadow behind the object.

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------J ~ september 99

computer arts

selecting made easy

Five: Using Layer Options This is a quick and convenient option for large areas ...

~ Half the battle with PINJtoahop Is knowhlll . . . which method to UH for •lllven tuk- but lt's not •lw•ys obvious Mllch Is best. To remov• the INickground from this l....g• you could try Hlectlq lt with the MIICic W.nd or uslq Colour RMg•.

~ You cen feether the border of the Layer Options

W" Invisible Hlectlon by OptlorHI,..... the sllder.

.,-lent

.,Nt

This splits lt In two, creel!"' • --the two helvH of the sllder. The thl"'llbout Layer Options Is thet the results •re lmmedlete, •nd you ..... ~·them st eny time.

~ Open the Xb)'.JN. duplicate the le)'er, •nd . . . . edd • solid white leyer benHth lt. UM the Colour R•q• comm•nd end click on the INiclqlround colour. Now you cen •et • smooth Hlectlon by movlq the FuzzlneM sllder •11 the W8)' up to 200. You cen edd the Hlectlon u • l•yer muk to remove the INiclqlround. However, If you w•nt to ~·the effect, you heve to redo the whole thl.._

~ lnsteed, you cen think of Layer Options u en ..,.. eddltlonel muk thet enebles you to Hlect end remove I••• • - of colour quickly. Delete the le)'er muk, double-click the top x-ny leyer to •et to the options, •nd .._the white trlenllle of your This Layer sllder to the left. This removes the INiclqlround, but lt doesn't look

~ You cen convert the Invisible Hlectlon of ..,..the Layer Optloes 1 - • r-1 Hlectlon or elphll chennel by mer~~t• the leyer with • Nulll•yer. This Is simply • tr•nsperent l•yer linked to the m•ln one •nd mer•ed usl"' the Mer•• Unked comm•nd.

~ This effectively flettens the ...ected ..,...., . . while preHrvl"' trensper~. You cen now Control/Commend-click on the le)'er to loed Its trensperency muk u • Hlectlon, •nd convert 1t to en •lphll chllnnellf neceMer)'•

.,-lent

.ood.

Six: The Magic Wand tool Last but not least, here's everyone's favourite ...

The Meglc Wend cen be unwieldy, but there ere two functions which IIUike lt....., to uH: Grow •nd Slmller, In the Select menu. Open lllo.JN. chooH the MIICic W•nd •nd set Tol.,.nce to 32. Then click the turquoiH colour - - the teeth to Hlect lt. You cen Shift-click to edd to the Hlectlon, but this cen be fiddly, •nd uppl"' the tol.,.nce cen ceuH the Hlectlon to spill out over the whole lm.,e. Choosln• Grow, however, helps to fill In the pps.

66 1 computer arts 1 september 99

The Grow •nd slmller comme..a. both obey the Tolerence Httlrlll, so you cen reduce 1t so your Hlectlon ~ws just s little et • time. Finally, feather your Hlectlon end UH l t - • m•sk for en ed)ustment leyer. Remember thet you cen switch to •ny other Hlectlon tool to edd to or subtntct from your Hlectlon.

To restrict 8 MIICic Wend Hlectlon, )'OU cen pr-lect •n • - •si• •ny other method, then Shlft+Optlon-cllck Inside the boerder to Hlect the lnt.....ctlon of the two Mlectlons. This Is helpful If the Wend Hlects en 8djecent erN thet )'OU don't W8nt lt to. Hare's the pr-lectlon (left), end the lnt.....ctlon crested by Shlft+Optlon-cllckl"' Inside the merquwlth the W.nd (riiiJrt). ail

(rl~)

"I'm not a fan of fiHers," Mys Kerry. "The only one I use Is Blur. I prefer to layer hard 11~ and soft 11~ to get effects Instead." This piece applies this technique to a photopaph of a landscape.

(rl~)

"This Is a visual pun on the word 'obsolete'. H wu just a typographical experiment, really." Kerry k-ps Ideas flowing for his advertising print work by experlmentlnll In his spare time.

(below) "This started as a Polaroid photOJiraph of my hand on a ll~x," Kerry explains. "I Jlot the Idea from a cloud I MW while I wu travelling to Wales; H looked very solid, and the sunll~ was pouring out from behind H."

•

••

Kerry's a bit of a speed freak:

"I vlsuollse on ideo, then I creote it on the computer os fost os I con. lt stops my design looking stole... "

I computer arts I september 99

erry is a designer and typographer at Leagas .Oelaney, the advertising agency. He designs brochures, posters and for magazines, for high-profile clients such as Adidas, Nintendo and the BBC. But work doesn't stop at 5 .30: Kerry also dabbles in freelance , and has just finished an illustration for Gary Rhodes' new cook-book. Kerry could be described as an early-starter. it's barely three years since he graduated, and his clients are the envy of his contemporaries. While he was still studying for a BA in Graphic Design, he won a prestigious D&AD Silver Award for television and cinema advertising, and also gained licentiate to the Society of Typographic Designers. Kerry's been at Leagas Delaney for nine months. For a year-and-a-half before this he worked at Adval Multimedia, on "corporate brochures and identities for companies like Volkswagen and Barclays·. lt wasn 't long before Kerry realised multimedia was not for him : " I felt restricted by the parameters of multimedia. Also , with print and film there 's a sense of reality and existence that I don 't think you get with multimedia.· Film and television are a big influence in Kerry's work: "The majority of my work has a very filmic quality to it. lt has movement and energy, which translates well into moving image ,· he says. And recently, his work has been moving more towards film : " it's one area I'm currently developing and experimenting in. I'm creating small digital movies using Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop. In the future I'd love to work as an art director on films , or have some input into title sequences ... • Kerry's animation skills are almost entirely self-taught. • Adval Multimedia had all the software, and I just started using

kerry rope r

,8CII. f'1t1J O JitNO~~~fSf!l\¥ltY '

11 • 4PJ l<lll'f"O'fC .,~

...,..... ,.

(above left) "One weakneu In my wCMt< Is that there's • lack of people - I tend to UM disembodied detalla. I wu trylna: to remedy this with theM photopaphs of • woman I used to wCMt< with," ..ys Kerry. (left) Kerry &Jves the ...,.. away: "As • student, I wu all pretentious and arty-tarty. The point of this .,._ wu that, you've learnt about the methods of art- like rules of ......,.ctlve and so on -you forl&et to thlni&S In • fresh way ... •

it really,· he says. For print work he uses Photoshop, QuarkXPress and Illustrator, and runs it all on a G3 . "I also use a lot of ink and paint. I photocopy and fax things , and take Polaroids . Then I scan everything in . · Kerry always works at speed , and he 's attracted to the " instant, and sometimes unpredictable results • you get with a Polaroid camera . "Sometimes the best resu lts are through accidents. I believe the best modern art should have a sense of energy and passion, and not be contrived .· To achieve this , Kerry forms a visual idea in his mind before working on the computer, then he works as fast as possib le to recreate it. Kerry works on a lot of personal art in his spare time : " I get loads of ideas for my commercial work from t he personal , more experimental stuff. Although ideally I'd like my paid work to give me more freedom . • At Adval , he had to learn not to overstep the line , creatively. But in an imperfect world, Kerry's arrangement seems pretty rosy- particularly when you consider that his paid work has recently included a massive poster for Adidas . He agrees: "There was a big metal plate in the background of the poster, which was totally my personal style. I wouldn't have thought of it if I wasn 't constantly doing stuff for fun .· He also finds that working to a brief can be enjoyable: " At t he end of t he day, designers are there to solve problems and communicate by the most effective means. • He adds: " it's a challenge to stick to a brief , and that's a good thing- especially since my personal work is a bit bonkers .. . • m You can contact Kerry on

0976 774 820 or • roper_k@hotmail.com

(above) This Is part of Kerry's current project- "Mif1>romotlonal wCMt< explorlna: the Idea that 'Instant Is beautiful'. I want to explore the spontaneous side of communication and deslp," he ..ys.

september 99

I computer arts I 69

Attenclees at Comput6 Arts UVEI wffl be the vertflnt to see previews of the new version of a popular MetaCreatlons product. We can't ten you any more just yet- you'D have to find out at the show.

macromedia

Â·

FIREWO_RK.&2

The Solution for Professional Web Graphics Design and Production

macro media

FLASH-4

The Solution for Producing High-Impact. Vector-Based Web Sites

Demos, multimedia, movies, tutorials, walkthroughs and resources

CD Index Demos 30 day fully-worklna. time-limited demos PCSoft\Foatured (PC), MacSoft\Featured (Mac)

• Director 7 (next issue) • Flash 4 (pages 84 and 94) • lmageReady 1 .0 (page 26)

• • • •

Creature Creator 1.5 (next issue) llluminatus 4 .5 Touch More! 2 .01 (page 104) VideoPaint 5 (page 50)

Resources Dual resources PCSoft\Rosources

• Paint Shop Pro 5 .01 •WinZip 7.0 • Direct)( 6 for Win95 • DirectX 6 for Win98 • Quicklime 3.0

Mac only resources

• Showreel - Eduardo CarrilloEduardo.mov • Weightlessness- Magdalene Kourti - MKourti.mov

Tutorial f11es

MacSoft\Resources

Dual\Tutorials\•••

• • • •

• Cover • Photoshop

(PC) MacSoft\Resources (Mac)

Dual PCSoft\Featured(PC), Mac5oft\Featured (Mac)

• • • • • •

Photoshop 5 (pages 26 and 62) Premiere 5 (page 50) Canoma 1.0 (page 83) lnfini-D 4 (page 36) Cubase VST (page 50) Commotion 2 (page 96)

PC only demos PCSoft\Featured

computer arts 1 september 99

GraphicConverter 3.4 (US) DropStuff 4.0 Stufflt Expander 4 .5 Quicklime 3.0

• Acrobat Reader 3 • Shockwave 7 and Flash Player • Computer Arts screensaver (created with CineMac from www.macsourcery.com)

OuickTime movies

Dual\Exposure 35

PC only resources

CD root

• JPEG format files of the images featured this month on page 122.

PCSoft\Resources

• Quicklime 2.12

• The Tempest- DV Tutorial Tempest.mov

Exposure images

Your one-stop guide to the CD interface of 14 of the best sites we 've seen on the Web this issue. If you know of any sites that are worth featuring (which you deem 'worth while '), send them viae-mail to §darren.rhodes@futurenet.co.uk

0 Software resources There are several essential items of software included here, to help equip your computer for creative work.

What if I know of a great tool not listed? Let us know about it and we'll try to get it on the CD. Send an e-mail to • darren .rhodes@futurenet.co.uk

Is the software all free? No. Some is shareware which means you need to pay a registration fee once the evaluation period expires. Check the software documentation .

0Subscribe Does exactly that. Subscribe to Britain 's biggestselling creative title via the wonders of the Web. Not only can you save some of your harcH!arned cash by doing this, you also get limited-edition wordless covers, enabling the image to shine through.

0Movies

KEY:

No We blink required

We blink required

In this section, we proudly present a selection of QuickTime movies. These may be showreels from Computer Arts profilees, example animation created using reviewed software, part of a tutorial or just great stuff that we like. See the Movies section on page 81 for details of the movies included this month · - and then settle back with your popcorn and fizzy pop.

0Currentcompo What is this section all about? This is a quick tour of the CD Contents screen , letting you know what all those buttons do.

Featured software

Here , you'll find many of the software titles included in the magazine in demo form of one kind or another.

@Exposure An interactive gallery featuring all your best work.

How do I get my work included?

Please include a statement saying you would like us to publish your work, with your contact details for publication. Except for floppy disks, let us know if you would like the media returned.

0CAWebsite This is a direct link to our Website , which is now up and running. If you have any suggestions of what you 'd like to see on-line, send them on an e-mail to • darren.rhodes@futurenet.co.uk

Contacting us

Send your work in on any of the following: floppy disk, Zip disk, Jaz disk, CD-ROM or VHS video tape to the following address: Computer Arts Exposure 30 Monmouth Street Bath BA12BW

This is where you can find all the various means of contacting Computer Arts magazine. Explore the office and click on the details to copy them to your computer's clipboard .

Or • ca .exposure@futurenet.co .uk

As included on page 13, this is our monthly collection

Worth While Web

Here, you can enter any current Computer Arts competition . Simply fill out the required details and you won't need to bother with a postcard. This month, win a Picza 3D desktop digitiser.

@)Latest news As and when we have anything to tell you which has missed the presses , it will be published here. Only available to users of the Computer Arts CD, this is bang up-to-the-minute information.

@) ®Buyer's guide A summary of the Computer Arts Buyer's guide starts on page 110, and you'll find the complete list of every Computer Arts review on the CD in these sections. They're sorted alphabetically so that searching for what you ' re after is easy. What's more, you can print them out too- if you're looking to make a purchase, don 't go shopping without it. ~

september 99

I computer arts I 79

Featured software Has it been reviewed by Computer Arts? Yes, in issue 20 where it scored five stars.

PC system requirements: Mln: 486 • 16RAM • Win 95· Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 32RAM • Sys 7·5·5·

Premieres ::!~ <•·•·,•·~

: @ ';

••,., ••,•"'

WHEREVER YOU SEE THIS LOGO IN THE MAGAZINE, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE

CD TOO ...

Demo version (dual) Full product: £519 Adobe t 0181 6o6 4001 1r www.adobe.co.uk

Why is this included? Why is this included?

~ Director7

Why is this included?

To go with the cover tutorial starting on page 26.

To go with the DV tutorial on page 50.

What does the software do? What does the software do 7

30-daytrial version (dual) Full product: '£1304 Computers Unlimited t 0181 358 5857 1r www.macromedia.com

We've ell been weRiq for . . . . for Director 7to meke

Ha demo e......,ence. Well, after hype end expectation Of s,;., Wars ...-tlons, here R Is•••

it's a digital video editing and effects package.

it's a Web graphics production , editing and compression application.

Has it been reviewed by Computer Arts?

Yes, in issue 21 where it scored four stars.

Yes, in issue 22 where it scored four stars.

PC system requirements: Mln: Pgo • 32RAM • Win 95;NT.

PC system requirements: Mln: P90 • 24RAM • Win 95;NT.

Mac system requlremel'!ts: , Mln: PPC • 3~RAM '• Sys 7·5·5·

Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 24RAM • Sys 1·5·5·

Image Ready 1.0

Flash If

30-daytrial version (dual) Full product: £182 Adobe t 0181 6o6 4001 1r www.adobe.co.uk

30-day trial version (dual) Full product: £304 Computers Unlimited t 0181 358 5857 1r www.macromedia.com

The best multimedia authoring application by far ...

What does the software do? it's a multimedia authoring environment for all media.

What about the tutorial? It'll be in issue 37 of Computer Arts, on sale 4 October. This will be a major tutorial , covering all aspects of this powerful application for Web and CD.

PC system requirements: Mln: 486 • Win 95/98;NT • 16/24RAM. Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 16RAM • Sys 7·5·

Why is this included? To go with the review on page 94 and walkthrough on page 84.

Photoshops

What does the software do? it's a Web vector graphics, animation and multimedia production tool.

Demo version (dual) Full product: £490 Adobe t 0181 6o6 4001 1r www.adobe.co.uk

PC system requirements: Mln: 486 • Win 95/9B;NT • 16/24RAM. Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 16RAM • Sys 7·5·

Why is this included? To go with the cover tutorial and Photoshop Skills tutorial on pages 26 and 62 respectively.

What does the software do 7 lt is a bitmap image-manipulation program.

computer arts 1 september 99

Adobe's excellent IIOIHinear video edRiqand effects pack. .e, Premiere 5- use this demo In conjunction wRh the DV tlltorlel stertlq on INIII• 110.

lnfini-D 4 Demo version (dual)

co:o·•" 4

[~@·~.

on the cd

"'•.-, •.,.a.~·~

Mln: PPC • 32RAM • Mac OS 8.

Commotion2 Demo version (dual) Full product: £1992 (Mac upgrade £210) BITUK f 01420 83811 .1r www.puffindesigns.com

Why is this included? To go with the review on page 96. We reviewed Metaereatlons' Canoma 1.0 last IHUe, and now there's a ni....U.Ce walkthroullh on page 83 for you to by.

Full product: £703 Computers Unlimited .f 0181 358 5857 .1r www.metacreations.com

Why is this included? To go with the 3D Skills tutorial, starting on page 36.

What does the software do 7 it's a digital video special effects package.

PC system requirements: Mln: P90 • 64RAM • Win NT 4 • Quick Time 4· Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 64RAM • Mac OS 8.

Cubase VST 24

PhotoDisc has kindly supplied you with some fr- highres Images for this month' s Photo.hop Skills tutorial. Sample more at .!r w-.photodlsc.comjuk

Demo version (dual) Full product: £649 Arbiter Pro Audio f 0181 970 1909 .1r www.steinberg.de

Why is this included? To go with the DV tutorial on page 50.

What does the software do? it's a powerful 3D modelling and rendering application .

Has it been reviewed by CA?

Movies

What does the software do? it's a music audio composition application.

Yes, version 4.5 back in issue 21- it scored four stars.

PC system requirements: Mln: P90 • 16RAM • Win 95/'IT.

The Tempest -ovrutodatflnatcut

Mac system requirements: Mln: PPC • 32RAM • Sys 7.0.

CD root\Tempest.mov

Canoma1eO

The end result of the digital video tutorial series, which has been running for the last three issues. This month 's final installment starts on page 50.

Demo version (dual) Full product: £399 Computers Unlimited f 0181 358 5857 .1r www.metacreations.com

Why is this included? To go with the walkthrough on page 83.

Eduardo Carrillo -Showreel CD root\Eduardo.mov

GRAB YOUR FIZZY POP AND POPCORN, SETTLE BACK AND BE ENTERTAINED ...

Eduardo has recently completed an MA in Computer Im aging and Animation , and is seeking employment as a 3D Artist. He 's particularly interested in the production of children's video games, multimedia, and TV. Contact him via ~ abracaribe@hotmail.com

What does the software do? lt converts 2D images into 3D environments.

Has it been reviewed by CA? Yes , in issue 34 , where it scored four stars. PC system requirements: Mln: P90 • 32RAM • Win 95·

Mac system requirements:

All movies on the Computer Arts CD are in Quick Time format. This is included on the CD in the Software Resources section . If it isn't already installed on your computer, the CD interface will give you the option to install it. See question three in the CD-ROM basics boxout too (page 78).

Who made each movie and how can I get in touch with them?

Weightlessness -••sd•len•Kourtl CD root\MKourti.mov Magdalene usd Photoshop, After Effects, 30 Studio, Premiere and MusicMakerto create this stunning film. it's a pilot project for an MA in Computer Im aging and Animation at London Guildhall University. You can ci> contact her at~ mkourti@hotmail.com

september 99

I computer-arts ! 81

Full product: £469 BITUK t 01420 83811 1r: www.ulead.com

Why is this included? it's included in the DV tutorial starting on page 50.

What does the software do? it's part of Media Studio Pro 5.2, a non-linear video editing solution .

lllumlnatua la a pretender to Direct«'• throne. Try out thla demo version for the PC and If lt'a an extra or leading lady.

TouchMorel 2.011• reviewed on page 104, and you can try the software for yourself with thla demo.

The Dual folder

Min: P300 • Win 98;NT • 32RAM. ?

Where can I get more information? Try Computer Arts' sister magazine , Computer Music.

PC system requirements: Min: P2oo • 32RAM • Win 95·

Mac system requirements: Min: PPC • 48RAM • Sys 7.6.1.

Touch More! 2e01 Demo version (PC only) Full product: £995 Cybelius t 01865 378 466 1r: www.cybelius.com

Where do I get a serial number? On start-up, click the Internet button to connect to the Web site and get your demo registration number.

What does the software do7 it's a tool to create interactive 3D on the Web.

System requirements:

Creature Creator 1.5 Demo version (PC only) Full product: $299 FX Realm Studios t +46 (o) 31 543 8n (Sweden) 1r: www.fxrealm.com

Why is this included? We got the demo before the review, coming next issue.

What does the software do? it's a modeller plug-in to for creating characters.

THE KEY TO THIS MONTH'S EXPOSURE AND System requirements: Min: 3D Studio MAX and a capable system.

llluminatus lt·5

This folder contains all the excellent images included on the CD interface interactive gallery, and on pages

122-129.

Tutorials•••

it's the latest version of the software.

Cover

What does the software do?

Want to recreate our fantastic cover? Here's where to find all the files you need to complete your very own cyber-girl. The tutorial starts on page 26.

it's a multimedia production tool.

System requirements: Min P9o • 32RAM • Win 95·

Video Paint 5

82 I computer arts 1 September 99

Dual\••• Exposure 35···

Demo version (PC only) Full product: £176 Digital Workshop t 01295 258 335 1r: www.digitalworkshop.co.uk

Why is this included?

A video effect• ~e, llldeol'alnt Sla part of Ulead'a Mellla Studio Pro 5 suite of no.llnear video toola.

THE TUTORIALS LIES HERE ...

Demo version

Photos hop All the files you need for the current Photoshop Skills tutorial , which begins on page 62. The high-res images used for th is tutorial are kindly supplied by Photo Disc - and they're free for you to use not only for the tutorial , but for other work too . For more information , check out the Photo Disc Website at J!WWW.photodisc.com/ uk

Demo walkthroug_ hs_ _ _~ Canoma1.o Here's how to create a 3d scene from a flat image in Canoma- you'll find the files in Dual\Tutorials\Canoma

~ With the IIIUIIII• dlspl•yed In the workspece, you

~ Click the bottonHeft corner of the box •nd dr. .

V" can belllln to edd • - . t r y to metch the objects In W" 1t to the corrupondlnlll corner of the bulldl,.._ the lmqe. Click the Cr..tlon tllb below end Hlect the Box object. A box Is pieced In your-·

~ Click the box to Hlect lt (lt turns red), meke

W" sure the Steck option lsectlve In the Cr..Uon teb, then click the Box tool ....n. This time the box Is creeted restlnlll on top of the first box (notice the shedow). Pin the corners of the new box to the first story of the roof, u you did before.

~ Now for the fun bit. Click the Qu•llty Apply

~ You'll•lso be llble to notice where you need

onto the • - . t r y you've creeted. 1t 111111' teke • few

lslf you rotete eround the beck. lleceuH the lmqe Is 'projected' from -direction, the hidden sides of the bulldlnlll heve no t•xtures.

V" button (looks like • TortoiH) to render the lmqe V'" to edd extr• . _ _ , , but the blaest problem --m., but then you CM uH the treck bllll to rotete the view, 111111 -your lmqe from • different -....

Hold the Speceber down to pen eround the lmqe If you need to.

~ Continue to edd •-.trr end pin lt to the

V" correspondlnlll object corners In the lmqe. As your -ne • - busier, you CM UH the Solo button to dim deHiected objects, so you can cooocentrete on •llplnlll the current object.

~ c-aenebles you to pinch textures from

W"- side end 1111111 them to the other. IEiulble Mirror Textur. . from the Texture menu, end your bulldlnlllls complete. The flnel file, Bulldl....3dv, Is on the CD.

september 99

computer arts I 83

Demo walkthrou hs ~

Flash 4 Want to make a mail form in Flash 4? Here's how ...

FIIIM 4 now Hpports data entry, so we'll be maklq • fewm that you would previously made In HTML Start off by Hlectlq Flle>New. To specify the size that your form window will •...- et •o to Modlf)'>Movle. Set the screen dlmensl- et • Hltable size (M)' 800x800) end Hlect • beckpound colour few yourPIIII•·

~ Select the Type tool end enter the text few

W"" your fOI'm (In this case, Name, E-ll eddrend Postal eddreu). Hlllhllllht the text end select • font tHe, colour end size few your text. To line up your text uM the Move tool. You can speed up edltlq by turnlq entHIIIeslq off whilst you work- •o to the VIew menu end select Feet.

In order to keep ell the elements of our fOI'm Hpenrte, we're 1&011111 to meke a new layer few the data entry fields. Do this by riJiht-cllcldq the curr.rt layer In the Tlmellne. Select Insert Layer,_ the dropdown menu. N - the layer by double-cllcklqlt. We'll call this layer the Form Fields layer.

Make Hre you have the Type tool Hlected. Click the button In the Text Tool properties menu so that the text box that you create has text field pr-rtles. UN the Type tool to d1'81& • box where you went people to enter their data. Don't worry about the position or size of the box, u this can be clulqed later uslq the Move tool end the Type tool.

~ RIJiht-cllck the text field box end Mlect ..,.. Pr_..tles rr- the menu. Give the fOI'm field • name. Make ..,,. that the text colour few the fOI'm field Is different f r - the beclcpound the text will . . . . on, or you won't be able to whet you've entered In the text field box. Repeat for the ._11 eddreu box, but .. ve the fOI'm field a different name.

For the postal eddress,...., a box that's a few lines hlllh (bl• _.,.few an eddr- to be entered). In the Text Field Properties window check the Multlllne end Word Wrap boxes. This will enable the u - to enter text over • number of 11. . end wrap any text that's too 1....,_

Make a new layer (u you dldln ~· 3). This layer will contain the fewm's Submit button. Select the Recta~e drawlq tool. Choose a Hlteble outline colour end line weiJiht. Select a Hltable fewewound colour for your buHon. Set a radius few the round ~es of the r~e. Click end clrq a rou~ed recta~ et the boHom of the fOI'm. UH the type tool, and type "Submit" In the r~e.

&elect the rectaqular button. Pr- F8 to convert lt Into a symbol, then check the Button box. Rl~llck and brlllll up the Pr_.-liM menu. In the Actions section click on the plus sip and Hlect On MouHEvent. Check the Pr- box. Click the plus sip . . .In end Hlect the Add URL option. In the Get URL box type In 'mallto:' followed by the ._11 eddreu that the fewm Is to be sent to. Select Send Uslq Post from the Variables menu end Click OK.

84 I computer arts 1 September 99

~ Go to Flle>Publlsh (Shlft+F12) to export your . . , . . fOI'm u an HTML Pllll• with lt's usoclated Flesh file. Locate the HTML file end - " 1t In y011r brow-. c-plete the fOI'm fields and click the Hbmlt button. The fOI'm will then be e-malled to the addr- you specified earlier by uslq your .-11 procram. For best you can point the fOI'm to a mall handler CGI-scrlpt et a ..ven URL (Instead of the Mallto -mand)- uk your ~er provider few details. IEI

,...,Its,

computer arts

reviews

All the latest creative hardware and software reviewed and rated ...

or a piece of software or hardware to make it into Computer Arts in the first place, it has to reach a certain standard. Truly dire products will simply be ignored most of the time, which is why you won't see many one-star ratings. We assess products from the point of view of a professional artist or designer. Does it do what it claims to? Is the interface clean and intuitive, or cluttered and confusing? How well does it fit into your workflow? Is it a gimmick-filled novelty, or will it actually be useful? Is it a

memory hogger and how fast does it run? Does it have bugs or crash every five minutes? And, of course, we also take the price into consideration -does the product offer value for money? Our reviewers are each experts in their field . Most use the software day in and day out in their roles as professiona l designers and artists, and those who don't have years of experie nce using and reviewing software and hardware. Needless to say, we only review the full versions of finished software. r:iEI

Reviews Maya2 ...... .. ... .... . ...... .. ... .. .... .. . ........... ...... 86

Poser4 ····· ... ... .... .... ..... ... ....... ... .. .... .. ........ go Aash4 ...... .... .................... ........ .. ...... .... ... 94 Commotion 2

................... . ..................... .... g6

Mirai 1.0 NT .. ...... .. .. ... .. ......... ........... ...... ...100

so PDF Creaton.s .. .. .......... ............ ..............102 TouchMorel2.o ..... ... .. .... ..................... ..... ..104

The rating system

Ont'heCD Don't miss it- this month you've got demos for some of the best design software there is ...

3SpacePublisher ........... .. ... .. ..........; ............105 3DS MAX R3lnteractlve Training CD .. .... .... ........ .105

Round-up This month: PC graphics cards 3D BlasterTNT2 Ultra .................................................. - 107 Stealth Ill S540 ........................................- ....._ .....- ......107 3D Labs OXygen GVX1 .....................................................108 Voodoo 3 3000 .................................................................108 3D Labs OXygen VX1 ........................................................109 Lightning 1200 ....................................................- .........109

Disappointing, but not a disaster.

~ ·~·~ Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

PC and Mac: Director-,. Fla sh 4 and lmageReady (30-day trials); Photoshop 5, Premiere 5, Canoma 1.0 , /nfini-0 4, Cubase VST and Commotion 2 (demos). PC only: Creature Creator 1.5, 1lluminatus4-5. TouchMore! 2. 01 and VideoPaint 5 (demos). Plus: Resources, showreel s, movies and more!

Buyer's Guide The best software and hardware you can buy, plus reviews of the latest creative products ....................110 Acomplete Buyer's Guide listing is on the CD.

september 99

computer arts

reviews 3d software

Maya 2 Unlimited Just when Mayo's reduced price tag was beginning to temp you, version 2 arrives with great new features and a bill to match. Does the makeover warrant the cash?

www.aliaswavefront.com )

Interactive PhotoReal Rendering

* Subdivision Surfaces

(Unlimited

version only)

* * * -tr

* *

Fur (Unlimited only) Cloth (Unlimited only) Maya Live (Unlimited only)

Fusion Lite compositor

Better laye rs control HyperShade sh adertrees

* Polygon and NURBS Booleans * Multi-threaded renderer tr

Alternative Complete version (I PR and minor improvements)

ri its short history, Maya has secured a position at the top of the professional 3D animation tree. If you're seriously into 3D, then Maya is the cream of the bunch : carrying a hefty price tag, it offers just about everything a professional animator could want. Not content with such accolades, AliasiWavefront has now released a second incarnation of Maya, boasting a host of exciting new features. If you're used to programs like LightWave, Cinema 4D XL and Electricimage, then you'll probably find Maya both a shock and a revelation . Once you've cracked its methodology, Maya really is a dream to use- but it can take a while for the penny to drop. Key to getting tbe hang of it is understanding its node-based

architecture. Nothing has changed here, and dealing with node connections, whether directly or indirectly, is still the core operating paradigm .

Know your nodes Nodes are presented to you in various ways in Maya 2, but the HyperGraph window and Dependency Graph is the main way to display a scene's node structure . We'll explain a little further: if you create a polygonal sphere, Maya uses a number of nodes that define the sphere's presence in the scene. A Transform node contains : position al. scale and rotational info; a Create node, which has the sphere's initial history, like the radius and poly resolution; and a Shape node that defines the actual geometry, in this case including

AllasjWavefront's Maya 2 makes lt much ealller to animate characters. Now you can set keys for all your moved joints In one go, rather than havl~g to select each one In turn.

I computer arts I september 99

New non-linear deformers offer strslghtforwerd deformation tools for all objects. These Include Bend, Twlat, Wave and Squesh- great for quick exaggerated animation, or llddlng variation to models.

the co-ordinates of the vertices. At this level it sounds pretty dui~ (it isn't when things get more complex), though you don't have to deal with nodes directly if you don't want to. Each node has an input and an output (or several), and the output of one node in a chain can drive the input of another, saving time. You can also make these connections yourself, which is where Maya's real power becomes apparent. Using the Set Driven Key feature, for instance, you can link two attributes of two nodes (objects, for instance), so that changing one causes the other to change too. Furthermore , you can associate the Driver and Driven attributes with a function curve, so the link

operates smoothly within certain parameters. For instance, link a door's Y translation channel to an object's X translation, and the door opens as the object passes through- but it won't keep on going up as the object moves further away. You can use Bezier-style handles to control the function curve and velocity of the Driven object. The handy thing is that you don't have to write expressions to do this : just link the two attributes using the Set Driven Key panel, and tweak the results with a function curve .

Out with the old The old Multilister (love it or hate it) has been superseded

"Once you've cracked its methodology, Mayo really is o dream to use. Key to getting the hang of it is understanding its node-based architectureâ&#x20AC;˘.. "

3d software

reviews

"Mayo Fur is o stunning new addition to the already burgeoning toolset. A neat feature is the ability to brush the direction of the hair. Indeed, you con sculpt ond model fur just os you would ony other geometry, using Artisan... " by the HyperShade view. Very much like the HyperGraph, the HyperShade can display your shad er networks as rendered swatches, giving you much better feedback concerning what's going on. Like many of Maya's windows, you can navigate the HyperShade using the Alt hotkey and your mouse. As you zoom in, the swatches update to a higher resolution view of your shader swatches. If you still hanker after the Multilister, don't worry- it's still there; but HyperShade really is a much better way of dealing with shaders. Combined with the new Interactive Photo Real Rendering (I PR) window, you can drag-and-drop shaders on to objects. As you release the mouse over a given pixel, a menu opens telling you exactly which shading groups are contributing to that pixel, so

you can choose which group you want to replace.

Side-parting anyone? Maya Fur is a stunning new addition to the already burgeoning toolset. You can add Maya Fur to any object, and it has some great features _ With the full power of ArtisanMaya's brush-based attribute controller-you can paint on fur and change its attributes. A neat feature is the ability to brush the direction of the hair any way you want. Indeed, you can sculpt and model fur just as you would any other geometry, using Artisan. You can tell Maya Fur to colour itself based on the texture map applied to the surface it's on- apply a spotty image map to a character and you' ll get Dalmatian -style hair. And you can use Fur with

/lfaya Fur la stunnl..,_ You can UM Arfl.., to paint all the Fur attributes (LeftCth, Baldneaa, Curl and so on) and even comb the hair- You can Mt the display to show aa much or aa little fur aa your .,.phlca can cope with, Independent of tha final render. Fur can also be anlmsted with dynamics- perfect for a shaggy dog.

Dynamics, with special fur attractors attached to dynamic systems. This way, for instance, you can create a field of long grass blowing about in the wind; think Room With A View.

Picture-perfect A major new enhancement in Maya 2 is the aforementioned

I PR. This enables you to see any changes you make to shaders, effects, lights and so on as you make them, within a Preview Render window. This includes shadows, reflection, refraction, bumps and postrender effects. To speed up the display, only the particular elements in the scene that change are re-rendered.

And if you're interested in games and content creation, you're in luck. Maya 2 features new modelling and texturing controls for exactly this. Dragand -drop texturing enables you to drop shaders from the HyperShade window onto objects, and projections automatically scale to fit the o6ject's bounding box. This

BiRail NURBS modelling Maya's NURBS are second to none, and make light work of modelling characters ...

~- There are many different ways .,... to model a face In llfaya, but here we'll UM Ita powerful NURBS surface tools. First, we outline the face, drawing top, aide and front profiles. llfaya•a excellent Curve Snapping hotkey enauru the enclpolnta are connected.

~ Next, a Mrlea of horizontal .,... profiles are crested, defining the contours of the face. Then using the BIRall 3+ tool, theM curves are Mlected In order, and the aide and front profiles are Mlected aa the guide rails to generate the face aurface.

Once a surface la crested, you

W'" can rebuild 1t to even out any

uneven laoparm spacing. Using llfaya•a Construction History, you can still go back and edit the curves that crested the surface, and the changu show up In real-time too. The face on the left has bean rebuilt and edited, and the face on the right has not.

Finally, you can mirror the face

..,... acrou and attach lt to crest• a single aeamleu akin. You can then uM Artisan for the final detail aculptl..,_ llfaya enablu you to creste a number of different expreulons, and save them for Blend Shape animation. Ita methods make modelling so easy -just don't tell your clients 1t didn't take a week to dol

september 99

computer arts 1 87

reviews

3d software

Money, money, money! ~to invest in a.:.&:.l maintenance, to secure the good health of your brand new Maya package?Well, it's not cheap. Maintenance for Maya Complete is £1410, and £3055 for Unlimited. For your money, you get full telephone support plus free upgrades and patches for a year. Alternatively, just cross your fingers and hope...

Mllya Z offers exceptionally fast graphics. This fly-by of an expansive scene was displayed smoothly In OpenGL on a lowly Accell Star graphics card.

isn't a revolutionary new enhancement- it's been in other 3D apps for a while- but it was noticeably absent from the previous version of Maya.

UVunity The new Unitize UVs command enables you to instantly tile a texture so it fits each po lygon of the model. However, what's

really cool is the facility to copy and paste the shader and UV info from one object to another, directly in your Main view. This is a great time-saver, especially when you have many objects that you want to share the same texture and mapping. Of course, Maya also features Poly UVs, which is a kind of forced UV mapping for polygonal objects which by

definition have no UV coordinates. This means that you can use the Texture View window to manipulate the Poly UVs, and get a texture to squash and stretch over a surface so it fits perfectly. You can also copy and paste UV texture info from one set of polys to another. Dnce textures are added, you can then vary you r model's

appearance by painting t he vertices. These blend with each other and with the surface texture, enabling you to create subtle differences from model to mode l. Add som e dark green to the base of a stone wall where it meets t he grou nd, to give the impression of moss and moisture.

Flexible friend What else? We ll, new interactive deformers have been add ed, and these make general shape modifications easier. The non -linear deformer enables you to bend objects

MayaClot'h Fancy yourself as the next Gaultier? Here's how to create a garment ...

Maya garments are created In a similar way to the real things. First, draw curves to define the garment panels, for both the front and the back. These are planar shapes, just like the templates of a real garment.

88 1computer arts I september 99

Using the Cloth>Create Garment command, the curves for each panel are selected and turned Into Maya Garment panels. Each of the panels must then be stitched together, using Cloth>Create Seam.

The garment Is next assigned a Pr-rty Node, which you can use to define various properties for the cloth, such as stlffne... lo drape the garment, the character Is defined as a Collision Object uslnll Cloth>Create Collision Object.

Finally, you activate the Cloth Solver (simply by edvanclq the t lmellne) and the cloth beJIIns to drape over the character. You can add dynamic forces such as Gravity, Wind and ao on, or animate your character - and the cloth behaves just like a real Jlar•ent. The simulation Is cached ao you can play 1t back In real-time.

3d software

Bigger, better, more! The sheer number of improvements in Maya 2 is quite astonishing ~word that describes U a great deal of Maya 2's enhancements is 'subtle'. First, the interface and working experience has been made altogether more pleasurable, by smoothing out many of the rough edges on the interface. For example, many of the Editors feature a text entry line used to quickly filter the contents of the object list. What else? Well, the new Component Editor enables you to quickly change the component data of particles, springs, NURBS, CVs and so on,

about an axis, with the added ease of use of Mayo's great Ma nipulator Handles. Using these, you can set the bend amount, and limit the bend in ce rtain directions interactively. Furthermore, binding skins to joints has been improved in Mayo 2, courtesy of the new Smooth Bind command and tools. Multiple surfaces can be shared with multip le joints, and you can do the contro l vertex (CV) re-weighting interactively with Artisan. When painting joint weights, the areas are displayed in greyscale in a shaded view. Yo u ca n then use the Artisan brus hes to paint in, erase and smooth weighting across areas of skin, with good visual feed back for precise and natural muscle movements.

Pixar proteges Every 3D co mpany and its dog appears to implementing LightWave MetaNURBS-style modelling too ls these days, and AliaslWavefront is no

using a spreadsheet.lt's linked to the main display too, so selected items are highlighted in both windows. What's more, the main menus have been jigged about, with new submenus added for related tools {Fillets in the Edit Surfaces menu,for example). However, one of the best new features, especially for new users, is the Character set-up function. This is a hierarchy of joints and surfaces and so on, which can be defined as a character (of course), and quickly accessed

exception. The Su bdivision Surfaces in Mayo 2 were developed by Pixar, but bear a remarkab le similarity to MetaNURBS in both function and use. Pixar's flavour of Subdivision Surfaces, offers a little more flexibility than LightWave's, however, in that you can create them from both polygo nal and (real) NURBS surfaces. On the other hand, LightWave 6 is set to introduce point weighting for MetaNURBS, something that has been absent from Mayo since its inception (though there are third-party Mel scripts wh ich can add this feature). ln Mayo 2, you can add creases on a Subdivision Surface, which essentially weights CVs or edges, but with a fixed value to produce a sharpening without a great deal of extra geometry. Unlike MetaNURBS, though, Mayo's Subdivision Surfaces offer hierarchical levels of detaiL You can select an area of the the external

"Along with the major, headlinegrabbing features, there's a host of little improvements. Your whole Mayo experience will be slicker, more powerful. lt's better value, too..."

from a new menu at the bottom of the screen.With the character selected, you can get to create poses, hit Save, and Maya creates all the necessary keys for all the objects.Wowjust like other 3D applications! This feature was a frustrating omission which has thankfully been rectified for Maya 2 . Oh, and now Maya user preferences are stored along with your NT users status, so when you log on, Maya starts up with the correct preferences, making things easier to manage.

control cage and sub-divide it to add detail just where you need it- but you can also go back a level and edit the original coarser cage for more ge neral changes.

All good, then? Nearly. One downside is that the lisensing has gotten even stricter, causing us major difficulty in the co urse of our

review. The problem occurred when we used a Mayo evaluation licence on a machine with an incorrectly set clock. The upshot of this was that our licence was rejected and we can never run Mayo on that machine- even with a full licence- without first reformatting the hard disk! So a word of warning, then : if you're evaluating Maya, make sure your clock is set right- or if you to decide to buy a copy, you'll have to first clean out your PC to use it.

Spending spree... Along with the headline grabbing features, there's a host of little improvements throughout the program. Your whole Mayo experience will be slicker, more powerfuL it's better value, too. There are two packages -Complete and Unlimited. Unlimited comes with Fur, Cloth, two extra render licences, Mayo Live (for interactive 3D for broadcast or film situations) and Mayo Fusion Lite, a compositing application that shares Mayo's node-based style of operation .

reviews

Complete, on the other hand ,

is under half the price and gets you IPR together with all the minor improvements (the new layer bar, a much better arrangement, and so on). Even though this will still set you back nearly £7000, it looks like mo ney well spent when you consider the way Alias is piling on the features . Simply putif you want the best, you have to pay for it. m

Verdict Speed: @@@@@ value for money: @@@@@

Ease of use; documentation: @@@@@ For: Best, most versatile and complete 3D package money can buy • Superb Fur, Hair and Cloth simulation • Interactive Photo -realistic Rendering. Against: Not cheap • Fiddly licencing • Attribute Editor windows still oversized.

PC system requirements: Min: NT 4 • Qualifying graphics card • 128RAM. Rec: Loads of RAM!

TaklftC Ita Inspiration from the HyperGraph, the new HyperShacle view la • replacement for the Mullllater. 1t IIJv•• you l(reat drac-ancklrop control over your ahacler networks, and provides • much better vlau•l repreMntatlon of whet's golnc on.

september 99

I computer arts I 89

reviews

3d figures

Poser4 Modelling and animating realistic human figures is a long and hard task. Save yourself the trouble and let Poser make the faces ...

c~£_2~35~--------~)

c c c

Computers Unlimited

)

0181358 5857

)

www.metacreations.com)

'(( Sketch Designer '(( Conforming figures '(( Animated deformers- Magnet, Wave and Turbulence '(( Advanced texture controls '(( New lighting controls '(( Custom tools for creating figures

ou could spend weeks on end trying to create and animate a naturallooking human figure, or you could do it the easy way : get Poser. The value of this package, a godsend to 3D artists, is almost a foregone conclusion. it provides you with a range of pre-fab articulated figures, which you can use as a basis for your own characters, and then export for import into another package. So what's the deal with version 4? Additional figures, better control and more dynamic results, is the answer.

* Over 6o fully-textured 3D models. including human male, female,

baby, animals and robots

't< Supportfor BMP. JPEG, OB), AV I, MOV, DXF, 3DS and BVH Motion '(( Web-enabled with MetaStream

Getting started Open your Poser 4 pack and you'll find two CDs, a cue card and a 370-page manual. One CD holds the application, while

the other has demo files and extra applications to make your Poser experience more fulfiling. Installation under Windows is a breeze- just load and go. Mac users need to configure a memory allocation , but it's nothing too taxing. Now, a word of warning for newcomers to MetaCreations: when you eagerly open up your new app, bursting to twiddle every tool and gadget, you may experience some disorientation and confusion- Poser 4 has an extraordinary interface. Think Bryce, Canoma and all the other MC interfaces: all anti-aliased text, drop shadows and disappearing gadgets. Meta veterans will feel quite at home here, of course. Also, you can reposition all the gadgets in your work area, according to how you want them. Whether this sort of thing

In P - 4you can view your fii&Ure In many modes. This shows the geometry that makes up • ,_-you can -that renderllll& problems ere most likely around the cheek, where there's more spaclnC-

appeals to you depends largely on your view of MetaCreations' interface design. At least you get the choice. Fortunately, given all this, your enclosed six-page cue card offers quick reference help, and will cushion the impact considerably if you choose to use it. And if you venture into the substantial manual, you won't be overawed : it's clear, concise and includes some valuable tutorials. it's also replicated as an Acrobat file for the on-line Help.

A simple process After you've locked horns with the interface and Help for a while, it's quite easy to add and place figures in 3D space. You'll need to read the Help to understand many of the extra facilities, but in most cases you can make adjustments to your

You can UM the Hl-chy window to alter your flpre'a complete connection hl-chy. You can even make • prop part of the lnv.,.. kinematic• chain for your flpre- • knife or • aword, ..y.

I computer arts I September 99

figure by either clicking on the model or manipulating a gadget alongside the display. The latter is a better option, because it's easier to undo the changes if you need to. Although Poser's primary purpose is to provide an exportable model of your figure, there's an internal renderer you can use to check what you've got. it's sufficient: competent, but not definitive. And new to Poser 4 is the Sketcher, which renders your design in a natural media style, as per Pointer- exciting stuff. Export-wise, Poser offers a strong army of formats for you choose from, most of which also feature on the import list. Support for MetaCreations' native formats is, of course, at the fore, with native export to Bryce 3D. Other options include 3DS, for 3D Studio MAX, and DXF for generic CAD programs.

"New to v4 is Conforming Clothing -just load clothes into a scene, pick a figure and tell the clothes to conform to that shape. Hey presto!"

3d figures

reviews

Streaming 3D MetaStream -the format of choice for putting 3D on the Web? etaCreations and lntel have been busy creating MetaStream, a new technology for streaming 3D on theWeb.lfyou have the MetaStream browser plug-in,you see a primitive object very quickly. Subsequent data blocks refine and detail the object, until eventually you have the fully detailed model and textures. You can manipulate it long before it's fully down loaded, and the format looks to be faster and offer better quality than VRML. ~

Currently, three MetaCreations applications generate MetaStream objects: Poser 4, Bryce 4 {principally for landscapes) and Canoma , which creates 3D scenes from photos. All MetaStream lacks is a framework, such as Macromedia Flash, onto which you can drop objects for use in something other than a decorative capacity. Unlike Poser 4. this plug-in can use both OpenGL and Direct 3D hardware acceleration. Irritatingly, you have to select this on a per-object basis.

Des!....,

The Walk makes 1t ...y to Cl'eate smooth walk cycles. lt's • shame P-doesn't support hardw•e acceleration, to make tha display blUer end better. Maybe In the next relea.....

Our,., ...

~ .... 0~

If nakedness is not your thing, Poser 4 gives you two options. The first is a simple choice between Genitalia On and Genitalia Off. The secondfar more exciting- is a much heralded new arrival to Poser 4: Conforming Clothing. With this, you can just load clothes into a scene, then pick a figure and tell the clothes to conform to that shape. Hey presto- you have a clothed figure . From this point on, the material is glued to the body and moves with it.

Fashion victim? This sounds like a fantastic feature, and it is. But there's an issue- two, in fact. First, the selection of clothes is quite

limited, and there's no easy way to make your own. However, you can spice them up a bit by using your own colours and textures, and 2D image maps are provided to help you paint nice outfits. Alternatively, Pointer 3D Special Edition is included, and enables you to paint directly on to your model interactively. For a skin-tight look, this may be the better option . The second issue is more fundamental: poor fit. The problem is that, if you enlarge or reduce your figure's shape in any way, then bits of skin begin to show through the cloth. The manual suggests circumventing this by making the parts of the body in

------mopOI.fw .... tl.~ l'tar'dpoW!IdO'tiii!Jh.

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You can scale end rotate this boy's head, which Is • live MeteStream object on the Web. Find lt end other examples at Jr www.matastream.com

question invisible, but in many situations this just doesn't work. If you need some of the skin of that part of the body to be visible- say, at the neckline of a shirt- then you're going to come unstuck. In short, the clothes work fine, as long as you don't alter your characters' proportions or use extreme poses. You might find this frustrating-so be warned .

MetiiStream In prectlce- when you choo. . • lamp from the menu, lt revolves at the top left of the page. Also at Jr www.meteatream.com

Turbo morph The deformation tools in Poser 4 are beefed up with Morph Targets. These enable you to morph all or part of a figure into a modified form, achieving smooth changes in facial expressions and recreating ethnic features. You can also store your modification setting for later re-use.

If you just want your characters to move around, and not alter in body size, then there are a number of easy an imation tools for the job. The best of these is the Walk Designer, which- you got it- designs walking motion. This is brilliant: it reduces the complex act of bipedal motion to a series of sliders that you can use to alter the mechanics

Ciot it covered? A much awaited new feature in Poser 4 is Conforming Clothes, which dresses your characters for you...

lt can be • chore to move each

~ Po8er's nudeflpr. . • • well

W'" ~ of the body Into position, but

quality If you need a simpler desll(n or you don't want facial featur... The male models • • u accurate as the female, and come with • Genitalia Off option, If you feel the need.

you can avoid this with pre-deflned ~··Once you've . .lected a~. you can just apply 1t to the current ftpre In the scene. If you've created a nice ~ of your own, you can add lt to the system for future u...

W'" detailed. They also come In lower

~ Here we've edded two pieces of

W'" clothlftC and some hair.~ are

all the . .me types of objects, specially desll(ned to be conformed to the nude flpre. Once you've conformed them, they stay put and move with the ftpre.

~ There are llmltetlona to the ...,.. technoloO, however. Note the exceM folda around this UJ~tneat's groin. Also, his tank top looks solid.

september 99

computer arts

reviews

3d figures

Making faces The subtleties offacial features and expressions are hard to recreate, but Poser 4 makes the job much easier ...

Po..,•a hair faciiHiea are good.

V" You can pose four of the larger

~ The face controls enable you to

strands Individually, which opens up plenty of extra animation poaalbiiHiealike maklq the heir 'bounce' when the woman walks or runs. Her expression needs some work, however.

...,.. morph perta of the face to create ethnic ldentHy. These Include the shape and size of the nose, lips and jaw. For expression, you can control the settings for Smile and Frown for each aide.

and style of the motion. And since you can connect figures to a ground path, it's easy to make your model walk into a scene and perform an action . it's not going to put the shivers up Disney or Pixar, but the results are surprisingly good.

What's the verdict? Poser 4 has a tricksy interface, as all MetaCreations products do. History says you'll either

~ Our model now hea a curious . . . . smile, and ahe'alooklq beck. You can move each of the eyes Independently. (Why they aren't connected by defauH la an enigma.) Also, notice that the shirt doesn't cover her akin pr-rly Conformlq Clothes doesn't always work.

love it or hate it: different and innovative scores highly for some; while others - and especially newcomers- just find eccentric interfaces a distraction from the core learning and creating process. Eithe r way, once you've got to grips with Poser's peculiar ways, it's quick and easy to model and animate characters that you'll be pleased with. The only thing is, because Poser offers a fairly limited number

An unlucky skeleton In trainers encounters two fearsome wolves- H'a easy to place muHiple figures In single scene wHh P - . The animal section also has models for snakes, fish, birds and other creatures.

I computer arts I september 99

~ The finished render. We used a • T-shlrt to solve the akin problem. While the quaiHy of the render la good, the heir texture la too shiny and solid. Until P - supports some form of procedural heir, this la u good u H gets.

of basic models, you might notice a few similar characters to your own roaming about the 3D universe. Still, this should only spur you to be even more inventive and creative. Also , under review Poser 4 had a nasty habit of crashing, on a PC at least. Th is repeatedly happened,evenifthe application was not in use, suggesting a memory leak. This is something MetaCreations has been guilty of in the past too many times, and it should be addressed immediately. Version 4 is not a massive upgrade, but then traditionally Poser's never have been . The package is so fundamentally good to begin with , we can only expect incremental additions and a refinement of quality, rather than a complete rework. So if you use Poser3, and maybe even rely on it, the upgrade is a no-brainer. There's still nothing quite like Poser in this price bracket, or indeed any other. Character Studio is more versatile, but it's also much more expensive and far more complex to use. Poser, therefore , is an essential tool if

you want to use the human figure (or indeed other figures) in their 3D scenes- or simply for reference . Just watch those terrible bugs ... m

Verdict

Value for

money: @@@@~

Ease of use/ documentation:

@@r~q><®>

For: Another fantastic Meta interface?~

Accurate models Good internal rendering ~ Comprehensive import and export. Against: MetaCreations interface from hell?~ Mischievous clothes ~ No hardware acceleration at all. ~

PC system requirements: Min: Pentium ~ Win 95f98ft-JT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later ~ 32RAM ~ 24oHD. Rec: 24-bitdisp/ay.

Mac system requirements: Min: PPC ~ System 8 ~ 32RAM ~

240HD.

Rec: 24-bitdisp/ay.

"Once you've got to grips with Poser's peculiar ways, it's quick and easy to model and animate characters you'll be pleased with"

Subscribe today and pay just £9.99 for 4 issues! call our subscription hotline on +44[0] 1458 271119 (* UK Qrice offer Qrice for EuroQe - £19.99, Rest of World - £29.99) Order code CPBHSE

reviews web graphics

Flash 4 The last version of Flash concentrated on the end product. This one revamps the way you work. Is it worth the upgrade?

( P£304 (upgrade £94)

)

( Ccomputers Unlimited )

c c

)

www.flash .com

)

* Vector·based animation and authoring package for the Web "'(:( MP3 Streaming audio conversion

and playback

* Live text fields * ActionScript - extended action

r:a "';"' ""'"

1997, Macromedia gobbled up the rights to a plucky little vector animation program called FutureSplash. Relaunched as Flash shortly after, the package quickly became a must-have product for every self-respecting Web designer, gaining power and credibility with each revision. The latest version, Flash 4, doesn't dare buck the trend. Macromedia has delivered a program with major revisions that should satisfy both first· time buyers and upgraders.

command set

* Object Inspector * Optimised Timeline -k Organisation enhancements to Library palette

* Publish from within Flash * Shape and Move tools added to default tool box

All in the family Of course, there are users who always find something to grumble about. We predict that some will feel that Flash 4 is a far cry from its humble origins, that it's too complex and

cluttered . We prefer to see this version as the first truly 'grown· up' release of the package. Some of the changes to Flash are part of Macromedia's slow march towards creating a set of universal interface metaphors across its range of tools. The latest versions of Dreamweaver and Fireworks have become more inter· dependent on one another, sharing many interface features with earlier versions of Flash. This latest incarnation reciprocates, by borrowing ideas from both of these and from its big sister, Director. The minor changes are many. There are interface tweaks throughout. Icons have been redrawn, windows streamlined, tabs added. This is where those accusations of unnecessary clutter may well begin. There are also some smaller changes that simply

AfterShock becomes an afterthought, now that you can publish Flash pages from within tha package. The settings enable you to create full sites with the requisite HTML, or simply output Welweedy graphics.

bring Flash into line with standard practices. For instance, Shift-clicking is now the default for selecting multiple objects, and the toolbar now displays the Hand, Circle and Rectangle tools. Both threads are just the external manifestation of feature enhancements that go much deeper.

Get organised

Flash 4 combines workflow Improvements with more advanced media support. Now 1t comes Into Its own as a multimedia authorlng tool, rather than 'just' a vector animation package.

computer arts 1 september 99

Macromedia must have realised that developers are beginning to use Flash for creating quite large projects in preference to other authoring tools, Web-based or otherwise. This is reflected in new organisation features in the Timeline section, the addition of new floating, tab bed Inspectors, and the introduction of a directory structure in the Library. This Windows Explorer· style revamp now features sorting tabs that enable you to arrange content in the library according to name, file type, creation date and so on- with

separate slots for specific media types too. Of the existing tools, the Timeline has had most attention. A new Outline mode helps you pick out specific layers in the Timeline on· screen. What's more, many of the options that were once only available through context· sensitive selections are now always on show. You can quickly hide, lock a11d activate layers directly in the Timeline. Most welcome, though, is the new integrated Property Inspector- an enhancement that's also been applied to Fireworks 2 . A floating, tabbed palette enables you to make amendments, add scripts and apply transformations to objects, scenes and frames without having to hunt through menus for a specific command.

The big three Three new features mark out Flash's coming of age as a fullyfledged multimedia package. The first is support for streaming MPEG3 audio.

web graphics

Director users already have this, except that it's called Shock wave Audio in Director 1· Integrating MPEG audio into Flash presentations is virtually identical to using it in Director. You can convert any standard sound file within Flash , selecting from a range of quality settings up to highbandwidth CD stereo, and synchronise soundtracks with animation in the Timeline. Previous incarnations of Flash supported actions a limited set of scripting commands that enabled you to attach interactivity to objects. Flash 4 expands this feature by adding the ability to set persistent properties, define variables and change col)tent on-the-fly. Though the actual commands that have been added are few; Action Script can now interact more closely and intuitively with external scripting languages, including Lingo, javaScript and VBScript.

Ahead of the game Last but not least, Flash 4 supports editable text boxes. Not very sexy in black and white, but in practice this means that Flash movies can now process external textual input and pass it on (using ActionScript) to anything from a simple CGI mail program to a

full database.lf developers catch on, expect to see some very stylish enhancements to the big e·commerce sites soon. it's in these features, along with the many smaller enhancements -like support for Quick Time - that Flash 4 ma kes for a superior authoring tool. Some of the features in th is version may seem more like fixes than astonishing new ideas, but Flash 4 is still a significant upgrade from version 3. As a Web tool, Flash needs to stay ahead of the game- and that's exactly what this version delivers. IEI

lt's about time The Timeline has always been at the heart of animation Flash. In version 4, it's had a bit of a makeover...

Verdict ~ To be..n with, you're no loqer stuck •

Upgrade: @@@@ Speed: @@@@ value for money: @@@

reviews

with k. .plq ,.,..s Tlmellne Ill the top of your screen. lt's clockMIIe, so you can tear 1t from Its usual comfy position and put 1t wherever you like. Get rid of 1t alt.,_ether while you're dl'llwln£ If you want •••

~ One of the first thlnp you'll notice Is •

a prollterllllon of little Icons that have sprouted up In the Layers menu - all the better to -which lay• you're worldRC on, which ones you want to lock, and so on. The context· sensitive menu still works, but this way Is so muchqulckel'.

Ease of use/ documentation: @@@ For: MPEG/luickTime support • Quicker animation creation • Easier to publish. Against: More options in view • No improvement to drawing tools included. PC system requirements: Min: Pentium 133MHz • Win 95!J8tNT 4 • 32RAM • zoHD. Mac system requirements: Min: PPC • Sys 1·5 • 32RAM • zoHD.

"Most welcome is the new integrated Property Inspectoran enhancement that's also been applied to Fireworks 2 ... "

~ Anlmlltlq In Raaltls now far more

V" strNmllned. TweeniRC has become

smarter with the addition of a Creata Motion Tw. .n command, accessible from the Modify menu. w.-... previously you had to be careful to do thlnas In the rlllht -uence, , . , 41sn't so fussy.

Next, add a keytramelll the end of the

V" sequence In the Tlmellne. The more

You can reduce the 81ze of your , . , tiles even further with v4's new support for sevlq custom palettes.

familiar tweeniRC arrow appears- and that's lt: animation In , . , 4. You can chllnCe the properties of your animation by selectlq the first frame and choosiRC Modlfy>F'I'IIme from the main menu.

~ Select an object or a .,oup- lt doesn't . , . . matt• how many shapas lt's mede fromand apply the Create Motion Tween commend. The Tlmellne shows a dotted line In the appropriate layer. You'll also notice that your object has- automllllcally transformed Into a symbol.

~ This new, clever• version of tw. .niRC ..,.. even -blae you to add motion pldes after you've created the animation. You can also choose an option which r-'ents symbols so they face In the rlllht direction u they follow the path.

september 99

I computer arts I 95

reviews

digital video

Commotion2 Want to paint directly onto video files frame-by-frame, adding animating effects, filters and motion mapping? Well, today's your lucky day ...

f 1992 (Mac upgrade £210)

old frames as you go along. The result is a very responsive piece of software which can give you instant feedback on the way very complicated layered effects will work together to produce your finished scene : However, it could do with being a little more transparent, so that you don't have to be so aware of which frames were on disk and which were in RAM.

)

(~--~) o_t~4_2o_8~3~8_1_1______~)

( __

www.puffindesign.com)

o(:r Video painting u!i ng many

bru she s and tools

'tl Clone and Super·clone fu nctions for copying to multiple frame s

Movirigon

o(:r Animated rotosplines - for cutting

and pasting moving images o(:r Motion t racking o(:r Instant feedbac k - no rendering

time for previews o(:r Animated filte rs

Commotion enables you to paint onto video frames just es though they were atllllmqes. All the usual brushes and cloning tools are there, but you can copy or animate their effects over several frames.

he first review of this software way back in issue 16 garnered an impressive five stars, and heralded some ground -breaking new feature s. Since then, the software from the Tyrell Corporation has progressed, and has now flown from its original Mac platform over to NT. So, how does the cross-platform version fare? Commotion is a video effects system which enables you to manipulate the individual frames of any video clip as though it was a still image. With it, you can paint, clone, mask, filter and motion· map moving images, and then combine and composite them into sophisticated effects shots. lt integrates the painting and cloning too ls of Photoshop with the animation possibilities of programs like After Effects. The result is a package that

computer arts 1 september 99

enables stunning and seamless effects to be created . And what's more , because you're working frame-by-frame and pixel·by·pixel on your video effects, you can achieve results which are as complex and realistic as your imagination and deadlines allow.

How's it work? The first step is to load in a video shot. When a clip is loaded, it's held in RAM, as are any of the alterations you make to the clip. This works brilliantly for short effects shots, because it means t hat the program can have access to any part of any frame instantly without accessing the disk. However, the downside is that most computers don't have the memory to hold long clips in RAM . On a 128MB system, working with a DV

quality image (3.sMB/second), the maximum length of clip was so frames . But don't despair- you can easily solve this problem by using virtual frames. These enable you to work with a small section of a larger video, moving through the clip as you work on other frames. Working in this way, you can also load new info into RAM, discarding

With the shot in place, you can begin to wo rk. In Commotion, you can add filters to your video in much the same way as you would with Photoshop or Premiere, and all the normal ones are there- Brightness, Hue, Saturation, Blur and so on. There are also a few less familiar filters covering things like motion stabilisation (for correcting shaky camera shots), keying (for replacing parts of a clip with other video images), and titling options. If you want to add a filter, choose it from ttie menu, and a timeline appears. By adjusting the filter's controls, and dragging the timeline through your clip, you create keyframes which alter the effect of your filter over the length of the clip. However, filters are just the start- Commotion really

Commotion has several options for bluescreen and other chromakey functions. This enables you to superimpose Images over one another.

digital video

reviews

The art of miniaturisation Here we take an image of an actor running towards the camera, remove the background and replace it with a different scene. The actor should end up looking about six inches tall ...

Each filter contains Its own tlmellne, on wlllch you ... keyfnomes for any attribute. lt works In a similar way to those In Premiere.

starts to come into its own when you begin to paint with it. Using the Clone and Super-clone tools, you can take imqges from one video clip and paint them into another clip. This means that you can take a shot of, say, a street, and frame -by-frame you can clone in new buildings, vehicles; skies- or whatever you want. You can also remove TV ariels, passers-by and so on . And you can carry on until you have a completely new scene, which, if you've taken time over your painting, can look convincing.

can share motion tracking data with After Effects. Furthermore , its possibilities are endless, and it gives you freedom in designing and building special effects in a range of ways. The package is not filled with one-click-wonders effects designed to wow the audience with minimum effort from you . Instead, it focuses on giving you the tools to bring your own design ideas to life, and make them work well. This makes for a steep but worthwhile learning curve . m

~ The INici<Pound and foreground shots

~ A 114zler spllne Is drawn around the

V' are taken k. .plna: the ume cai1Mit'll ani&!• V' flpre- and there are many points on the for each. The camera Is restlna: on the ground and so will not move throu~&~M>ut the entire shot. The two - • are Imported Into Commotion as ..para~. video flies.

curve so the effect can be made very accurate. Commotion_.... . you to create Hveral spllnes on a clip- and sometimes 1t also !&Ives a more accurate result with simpler shapes.

Verdict Copycat Commotion also offers some very useful motion tracking tools, upgraded for V2. Motion tracking is the ability to detect the movement of objects within the video frame, and turn this movement into an animation path which can then be applied to other video clips. For example, if you film an actor lifting a box above his head, you can then motion track the movement of the box and apply that motion to a still image of a car, finally superimposing it over the box. The actor then appears to be lifting the car. Overall, Commotion is a very powerful program, and integrates well with other effects and editing software. it doesn't duplicate the functions of your editor, and it

Upgrade: @@@@ Speed: @@@@ Value for money: @@@

Ease of use; documentation: @@@@

~ Movlnc to a point further on In the For: Excellent effects possible ~ Good range offeatures ~ Responsive. Against: Expensive ~ RAM preview could be more transparent here.

. . . video clip, the mask Is stretched to exactly fit the fiCure. Tltls animates the shape of the spllne. The more complex the shape and Its mov-, the more you'll need to me.. around to llet the shape rlllht In every frame.

~ The animated spllne now becomes a . , . . matte, which we can UM to remove just the ~N~c~<Pound from the clip, and replace lt with our second shot. Commotion -bl•• you to feather or soften the matte, or even apply Motion Blur to lt so thet the of the runner blend more naturally.

ad&••

PC system requirements: Min: Pentium ~ Win NT4

(+service pack 4) ~ 64RAM. Rec: 128RAM ~ Accelerated graphics board. Mac system requirements: Min: PPC ~ Sys 8.0 ~ 64RAM. Rec: 128RAM ~ Accelerated graphics board.

"The package focuses on giving you the tools to bring your own design Ideas to life, and make them work convincingly... "

~ There are Invariably problems with

V" the finished effect -frames In wlllch lt ~ For the penultimate stall• of the . . . walkthroul&h, uM the Composite command, rsplace the ~N~c~<Pound and render the result.

doesn't look quite right. BecauH Commotion Is also a video pelntlna: program, we can UM Clone and SupeN:Ione to manually r..touch .,. . . of the lma&• wlllch don't quite workjust u you would In PhotNitop.

september 99 1 computer arts I 97

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reviews

3d software

Mirai 1.0 NT 'Mirai' means fut ure prospe rity, in Japanese - but you need to be pretty prosperous in the here and now to affo rd this unusual 3D package. Could it be worth it?

c c c c

£5869

)

Techex

)

01628 777 8oo

)

www.nichimen.com

)

-(:r

Poly-based 3D animation package

-(:r

Sophisticated polygon modelling

-(:r

Winged Edge-based geometry

;,,if<Om

Nichimen, maker of the fab and very affordable Nendo 3D, is a brand new 3D package designed for real-time content creators. it's a polygon· based program for modelling, animation, rendering and 3D painting. But it's unlike any other polygon cruncher you've ever seen before.

for games and interactive 3D

system, for intelligent editing

* 2D and 3D painting -(:r

Poly UVs for texture position ing

"(:( Robust Inverse Kinemati cs

* Non-linear animation -(:r

Supports Game Exchange format

* Mocap keyframe reduction -(:r

Import and export to different mocap formats

Innovative player Mirai uses a proprietary Winged Edge List geometry description database. Unlike those based on vertex lists, this handles modelling (and animation) tasks intelligently. Mirai knows that if two points are joined they will share an edge, and a situation never occurs where you have redundant or overlapping geometry. In fact, you can't create free points in space,

-·

because Mirai objects are always closed solids. This sounds limiting, but it isn't. Like Nendo, Mirai's polygonal modelling is extremely elegant and quick. By nature, it's geared towards low resolution, real-time tasks, -game development, real·time broadcast graphics and the like.ln this role Mirai is supremely well kilted out. There are tools for creating high resolution and detailed models, but NURBS, fi lm-style character animation and special effects aren't Mirai's currency- for such things, give Maya 2 a look, on page 86.

Stylish front Mirai's interface is streamlined and well thought-out. lt comprises six task-specific, tab bed sections. These are Sculpting, Paint, Animation, Materials, UV Editing and 3D

000

®0

es.-..... jHorus-head

.....

IB- · Qtvt• ID · Qsmootned COQIIof~ead IB-· T,_group O+lni\~Ught

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m-e su1pt

M#ra#'s Interface Is pretty clean and dear. He re In the Sculpting section, an OpenGL-textured heed has been modelled In both low and high resolution.

too l computer arts

1 september

In the UV MapPing section you can load textures as a baclqfroulld alld then display the mapped geometry. By pulling points, faces or edJie s around, you can make your textures fit the objects precisely.

Paint. The interface also relies heavily on context-sensitive pop· up menus, the majority of the tools and commands be ing accessed in this way. Even the on-line help displays different info, depending on where you point your rt~ouse. In Sculpting, a number of buttons at the top of the interface enable you to work at various topological levels: point, edge, face, body and object. Once elements are selected, you right·click to display a tool menu . Some modelling tools are common (Bevel and Extrude, for exa mple), though they act differently depending on the nature of the selection. Others are topology-specific . The Transform tools enable you to choose a reference to define the axes of the transform. A pop-up menu further enables you to choose to move the element by a

variety of methods. These include moving it along an axis defined by two other topological elements, a selected element's Normal, World Space and Screen view. You can also smooth low resolution models to create higher resolution versions too, but the intelligent geometry system means you'll never end up with a badly formed object.

Strike a pose Once modelling is done you can begin animating-or so you'd expect. Not so with Mirai: even if your character is unfinished, you can start animating with skeletons and a robust Inverse Kinematics (I K) system. You can rough out a characte r, pose it with IK, use the poses as key shapes to create your animation, and sti ll go back to Sculpting mode to add to your character's shape

"You con create your animation, and still go back to Sculpting mode to odd to your character's shape... "

3d software

reviews

Animating a face All it takes is a few keyframes. Then you can do some remodelling ...

The 3D paint section enablee you to paint directly on to your objecte, or blend paint with a texture map. All the ueual paint toole ere here; pertlculerly ueefulle the Smear tool, which enablee you to blend coloure lllld texturee.

or increase its resolution. Forget IK, you can even directly animate the geometry by creating Displacements (that is, targets) and keyframing them, yet go back into sculpting and add geometry without affecting the animation . Again, this is because Mirai doesn't use vertex lists for its geometry description, so adding extra points doesn't affect point order- since there isn't one. Animation is equally open and flexible, and the animation section is composed of four main Viewers : Animation (a single 3D or ortho view), Timeline , Mixer and Script Graph. The primary animation method is to create poses (with IK or Forward Kinematics), or displacements (for direct geometry animation), which · are then interpolated. You can blend and overlap channels to smoothly segue from a run into a leap, with little effort. And you can use additive channels to modify existing animation . Also, you can make a character step over an obstacle in a mocap walk, by adding a Difference Pose channel to additively keyframe the character's legs and torso just in theY direction at the point where the obstacle is. The new motion smoothly blends with the mocap animation, saving you a great deal of trouble.

Keep on running Mirai is especially good at handling motion-capture data.

Once imported and applied to a known Standard skeleton, Mirai can take the keyframedense mocap data and generate a pose-based version with only a few keyframes. You can also tweak the animation using the Mixer, and use simple sliders to reduce the stride length, rotate the limbs (great for apes and monkeys!), alter arm extension, and so on. From one set of mocap data (Mirai comes with a bundle), you can animate an entire cast, all moving very differently. Mirai is an exceptionally capable 3D package- though specifically for creating realtime and game content. Yes, it's expensive, but it's well thought-out and does what it does extremely well. In short, you get what you pay for. lilil

~ Here'e ou; Mr Smlley Character, which

V" we'll animate with vertex deformatlone.

The flrat etep le to define a Home State for the object, which ltfll'lll will refer to when animating the dleplacemente. From the PGIHIP menu, chooSe Create State and type 'Home' ae the name, to create your Home etate.

Next, the model le edited to create a new poeltlon, which le then eaved as a state - but thle time you chooee Unear Dleplacement from the dlalog box. Thle eavee the state ae a displacement that refer• to the Home state ..

~ A number of Dleplacemente are

W'" modelled and eaved (the etatee are etored within the model), and you can activate and apply them In varying degreee by elmply dragging the mouee. Here, the Blink, Ooo and Open Statee have been combined (you can eave thle new poee ae a new etate too).

etate hae Its own channel In the Tlmellne. You can blend and overlap any of theee, and ltfll'lll creates a smooth animation for you. Aleo, you can edit the Interpolation with a function curve.

Verdict Speed: @@@@@ Value for money: ~

Ease of use; documentation: @@@@@

.................. For: Intelligent & flexible modelling & animation ~ Well designed workflow ~ Robust IK ~ Excellent mocap handling. Against: Expensive ~ Doesn't work with all OpenGL cards ~ Not a lot else. if you're a gamer. System requirements: Mln: PI/ 266 ~ NT 4 ~ 128RAM ~ JODHD ~ Qualifying OpenGL card.

--~~--~

--·

~ The beet thing le that you can apply the

W'" displacement• to eelected polnte on the

model. The right half of Mr Smlley hae been eelected and a couple of deformation etatee are applied to create a smirk. You can eave this ae a new etate, and add lt to the animation.

-~-

You can even change your model and the animation continue• ~naffected. Here, a noee Is added. Then you eave the object ae the new Home etate. The noee le unaffected becauee there'• no displacement defined for lt yet. Simply daform lt, create a new State (or overwrlte a current one), and adcllt as another channel to the Tlmellne.

september 99 1 computer arts 1 101

rewlewa production tools

PDF Creator 1.5 PDFs may be the future, but in the past creating them has been a bit of a mystery. This is your chance to get enlightened and step into a whole new world ...

.five-d.com

)

document to PDF -(>;

Re-embedding ofTrueType fonts

-(>;

Advanced settings fo r

-(>;

ZIP. JPEG and LZW compression

if available on disk

press quality

Adds thumbnails

-(>;

Converts multi ple PostScript files

do be's Portable Document Format is proving to be one of the most useful and flexible electronic formats available . So much so, in fact, that most computer artists would benefit from own ing a couple of packages capable of creating PDFs . lt's cross· platform , and it's suitable for tasks ranging from modest Web publishing to huge print jobs. sD 's PDFCreator, formerly known as Niknak, transforms every application you have that can print into a PDF·maker. Rather than wo rking as a standalone application, the

with drag-and-drop

Mac version A Mac version of PDF Creator is in the pipeline for early September. Expect the PC demo on next month's CD.

You can also drq PostScript tiles onto the Included To PDF application for Instant conversion Into PDFs.

software installs as a PostScript printing device. In most applications, you can simply choose Print. .. from your File menu and select PDF Creator as your 'printer' in the dialog. PDFCreatorthen converts your file first into a PostScript, and then a PDF. it's easy, it extends the functionality of all your applications, and it's a lot cheaper than Adobe's own offerings, including Acrobat. At least, t hat's the theory. So are the results any good ?

The bigtest

Output PDFs from any application on your computer that can printPDF Creator turns up as an option In your Print dla~

We installed PDF Creator 1.5 on a Windows machine, which was fine until we tried to launch Word. The installation had replaced a DLL (a pp extension) that Word needed with one it sniffed at. Reinstalling Word fixed the issue, and PDF Creator ·turned up as an option in the File menu- with Word now taking a significantly longer time to start up. In other programs such as FreeHand and Dream weaver, Illustrator and GoLive, PDF Creator appeared according to plan, in the Print dialog. Creating your PDF is easy.

All you really need to do is select the file quality you want from a pre-specified list. We found nothing to complain about in the quality of the output from the software. What makes PDF Creator appealing is that you can achieve PDEs like this, without interrupting your workflow. You don't need to start up a separate program and start making adjustments. Outputting PDFs direct from your word processor is a dream, and it's a welcome novelty to be able to convert

HTML to PDF direct from

Dream weaver and Go Live. However, if it's Illustrator, FreeHand or QuarkXPress you want to output from, PDF Creator may fair less well by you . Both the vector packages have built-in support, which Creator is unable to improve on . And if you use XPress 4, you can output direct to PDF with a free plug-i n that you can grab from the Web. Still, if you're thinking of investing in Acrobat, you could do worse than give PDF Creator a look. lt may do you well. cm

Verdict

Conflgure it out lt's all in the set-up with PDF Creator...

Speed: ~

Value for

money: ~?;

Ease of use/ documentation:

On PCs and Macs alike,

W'" •o to your Control Panel

and open PDF Creator. Here, you can choose from one of three presets for IIUIIdng PDFs: Pren Reedy, Print Quality or Web.

102

You can also manually conflpre your document settl• and Nve them as your own presets. Tbls Includes settings for Images, text and overall resolution handling.

W'"

I computer arts I september 99

~ By default, PDF Creator . . . . makes a list of all the fonts on your system and embeds the required ones Into your document. You can choose to exclude problematic faces too, If needed.

~ 1ben just choose Print . , . In your application, and select PDF Creator as your printer. Make sure Print To File Is unchecked, or the tile will output as PostScript Instead of aPDF...

-!£0li'-'Piitl

_ For: Brings PDF output to all your apps • Good value. Against: Complexity hidden in set·up options. System requirements: Min: Pentium • Win 95/9BtNT 4.0 • 16RAM • 4HD. Rec: 32RAM.

reviews web-based 3d

TouchMore! 2.0 To uchMore! puts interactive 3D on the Web with old-timers VRML and Java. So, can it make VRML excitin g again , and will the Java wash?

c c c c

£822

)

Cybelius

)

01865 378 466

)

www.cybe lius.com

)

Visua programming environment fo rVRML models '(( Modular wo rks pace

tr Java progra mm ing co mponents '(( Drag-and-drop au thori ng '(( VRML file compression with GZIP '(( VRMtfile optimiser

ybeli us TouchMore! is billed as a package for creating 'smart virtual product models'. This translates as a programming environment fo r adding Java, JavaScript or VRMLScript-based interactivity to VRML models. To recap - Virtual Reality Mark-up Language has been one of the Web's official 'next big things' for a long time now. Using a co-ordinate based scripting language, VRML files are 3D scenes or objects that you can view in a Web browser, using the appropriate plug-in. TouchMore! isn't strictly a 3D editor. Although you can use it to build 3D scenes using VRML components, the process is prohibitively cumbersome. it's more like a visua l programming environment, using Java components which you can bolt on to your 3D model to add sophisticated functions . Using the package, it's possible to build something as simple as a 3D scene with internal hyperlinks, or a fully functional 3D Internet phone device. The only limits are bandwidth and your own skill.

So it's almost a given that the program will be fairly complex- but in all fa irness, this version of TouchMore! tries to make building models as easy as possible. There are three editing environments. The Display Editor gives you control over the appearance of the workspace, while the Optimiser crunches up files for the Web. The main action takes place in the FlowEd it window of the Component Editor, where you can construct interactivity. The package comes with a range of standard functional components, Java-based program operators and some more complex ready built function s. These are on display in a floating Library module, which also conta ins 3D components that can be quickly added to a scene. The modular nature of TouchMore! makes locating parts of the package relatively easy. There's a small but functiona l VRML viewer, so you can see the 3D model you're working on, and a hierarchical Tree representation of the VRML script, making it easy

TouchMore/ lldda the lnterectlve power of Java to VRML modelanot the eealeat thing to achieve, ao get your prOiJ'emmlq heed on.

to identify and manipu late specific parts of your model. Although we feel the authoring process in TouchMore! could have been much more intuitive, our main problem with the package is to do with VRML and Java. Although both standards were promising in their time, t hat time seems to have passed. lt also seems an odd choice to go with MS Java- currently the subject of litigation between Microsoft and Java creators Sun

Ease of use; documentation: @@

TouchMore! isn't the easiest of packages to grasp. Here are the basics ...

•..........._ . <:..=.-... ..:..

!"§::·

i::::-;;-·:::::;Jari!l~~ll!ll-_lliii!ifJjii:._-.: -. -&!

ualq VRML component• by dntCI&Iq them Into your Tree wllldow. Thla la effectively like wrltlq a VRML acrlpt manually: you're better off ualng a proper 3D package.

Verdict Speed: @@I Value for money: @@I

Reaching out

~ You can UM TouchMore/ W' to build up a 3D acene

-which essentially restricts the end product of the package to Windows users. Perhaps TouchMore! can prove us wrong. As Web TV and mainstream solutions for broader bandwidth become more widespread , a product that can squeeze VRM L and Java down the pipes may catc h on. Then again, it may not. I!J

~ The Tree Wllldow

V" ahowa the atructure of the current file - Including Trenaform Nodea, which ere variable parte of the acene. They can be fixed variable• (like rotation end poaltlonlng) or you can lldd extra node• for more complex lnterectlvlty.

104 1computer arts Iseptember 99

W"" pert of a acene, locate the

~ As you lldd function• ..,... to the model, they • .,.,....

appropriate node In your Tree Wllldow end drag-end-drop en lnterectlve component from the Standard Component• aectlon of the Ubrery.

In your FlowEdlt window. Here you can link the components together In a loi&Jcal sequence. The loi&Jc of the process Is very cloM to manual prOiJ'Bmmlng.

To lldd lntarectlvlty to

For: Plenty of prefab programming and 3D components ~ Extends potential o{VRML ~ Enables assisted manual editing of VRMLfiles. Against: Cumbersome 3 D editing ~ Difficult for non-programmers ~ Java gobbles bandwidth . System requirements: Min: Fast Pentium ~ Win 95/98;NT 4 ~ 32RAM ~ 8oHD. Rec: 64RAM.

3d software

reviews

3Space Publisher Animated 3D graphics for your Web pages are just a click away- or so they say ...

~ on seeing]Space in action. Besides a a graphics package ~ horribly crowded work environment covered in function buttons and designed to make adding animated 3D graphics to your garish colours, the graphics supplied Web pages easy. Using a combination of with ]Space are uniformly awful, and a 3D design environment and the option look like clip-art cast-offs. The process of animating 3D objects to export your 3D creations as Java applets, animated GIFs, or even in the is simple. Select a graphic or type in virtually defunct VRML format, ]Space some text, drag it into the Drawing Area hopes to entice Web designers into the and, with a few clicks, you can make your third dimension. object. You also have options to zoom in A glance at the manual, however, and out and change the light settings doesn't augur well for the experience for your object, but that's essentially of getting to grips with ]Space. Illegible the extent of ]Space's 3D capabilities. screen grabs and ragged typography The end result looks pretty crude too. lend the documentation a distinctly Exporting your animation in a Webamateurish, last-minute feel. And friendly format is also simple. However, suspicions of sloppiness are confirmed even a basic spinning text logo, exported Space Publisher is

3DS

•••

--•••• ,1 _

Flashy graphics at the click of a button? No sign of such things here, and 3Space's dire Interface makes 1t distinctly unpleasant to use.

as a GIF animation, bloated in at over 40K -virtually useless for the Web. In brief, ]Space Publisher is a gimmick, badly designed and ill thought out. No _right-minded designer would grace their Web pages with the output from this package. If slick animation and interactivity is what you want, then Macromedia's Flash is the better choice.

See our review of Flash 4 on page 94- ~

Verdict ~ ~®i\~ System requirements: Min: Pentium • Win95/NT • 32RAM. Rec: 64RAM.

MAX R31nteractiveTraini~g

Want to be a MAXwizard, but hate manuals? Sit back and learn the easy way ... e p~ 9 r

C1£J1 1tatxRY

Y!wJw.digitalx.co.uk

very new release of a ~ function you've selected. The complicated high-end ~ tutorials are a little more exciting software package than the usual run of such things. inevitably spawns a plethora They show realistic uses for the new of third-party manuals, videos and functions, so you can see immediately training courses. MAX 3 is no how to incorporate them into your exception, and with the metallic film work. For example, the tutorial on on its first run of CDs barely cooling, MAX 3's new morphing abilities is . you can already buy DigitaiX's particularly inspiring. lt shows the FastTRAK interactive training set for animation of a character's face, RJ. This two-CD set aims to highlight displaying how you can use a limited some of its new features, and provide number of morph targets, and adjust an interactive overview of the program. the weight of each at any frame to Loading it up displays MAX's new produce a range of facial expressions. interface, but only the buttons and Overall, the tutorials are thorough menu items included in the tutorial are and well thought out. They do assume active. When you click on the relevant a basic knowledge of MAX, but that's icon, a screen-cam movie begins, no bad thing, given their focus on the explaining and demonstrating the new R3 techniques.

The tutorials are practical and Inspiring, like this one on MAX's new morph functions.

The set is as expensive as some of the more heavyweight books on MAX, but probably doeSil't go into quite the same detail. However, DigitaiX are running a special offer: if you upgrade to MAX R], after buying the interactive training set, they'll refund you the cost of the training set. So, if you're fed up with working through the manuals and just want the

new features explained to you, this set may well be a good investment. ml

Verdict System requirements: Min: Win 95/98/NT • CD-ROM drive

• sound card.

september 99

computer arts l tos

roundup pc graphics cards

1o6 j computer arts I september 99

pc graphics cards

ust a decade ago, PC owners were lucky if they could count sixteen colours on screen . Little wonder then, that the machines weren' t much good at running anything but word processors and spread sheets. However, things in the PC graphics world have changed ... Modern cards tend to offer 'true colour' 32-bit palettes, and can move screen data around at great speed . What's more , all new graphics cards offer comprehensive 3D support, providing support for the most popular 3D API (applications programming interface) 'standards' to accelerate polygon -based scenes. DirectX is

..........

Microsoft's API, used in almost all leisure software; while OpenGL, the Silicon Graphics-derived API, is the format used by packages such as 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Mayo NT & LightWave. The challenge, then, is for a graphics card manufacturer to come up with a solution that offers the best combination of colour reproduction, raw speed in both 2D and 3D work, and the best support for both DirectX and OpenGL. The six cards on test here each excel in their own areas. Three are aimed at the professional user, the others targeting the more casual PC user but offering low-cost possibilities for serious uses. How do they rate?

3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra .cle.creaf.com he TNT2 is pitched primarily at garners, but it's still an attractive option if you're looking to get excellent performance without breaking the bank. When running Photoshop it proves just as efficient as the Voodoo 3 card, and even gives it a run for its money in DirectX tests. Moreover, this handles generoussized textures (2os6x2056) and full

32-bit colour in 3D apps, ensuring far more longevity and practicality than the Voodoo. The drivers also offer a full OpenGLICD. Like the Stealth Ill, a few rendering errors were noticeable on one of the tests. However, with benchmarks suggesting it's faster than the high-end boards tested here, this is a card with potential. If Riva, the makers of the TNT2 Ultra chipset can firm up those drivers, this will be irresistible. As it is, it's the choice card for under ÂŁ200.

Verdict

Stealth Ill 5540 .diamondmm.co.uk rap hies card veteran Diamond has opted to use the S3 Savage 4 graphics processor to power the latest Stealth model. it's a brave move, going head-to-head with the Voodoo 3 and TNT2. Running at low res, the disparity between it and cards like the Voodoo 3 isn't so great, but any higher and the chip struggles to deliver the goods,

lagging way behind in a DirectX test. An on-board texture compressions system is billed as a selling point, but it doesn' t have any serious uses. On the plus side, 2D processing is above par, making it a good choice for paint, DTP and Web design packages. We noticed a couple of rendering errors in test, but it does offer good OGL acceleration. 32MB of RAM and DVD support for under ÂŁtoo isn't bad. However, this falls short of pro use, and isn't the ideal all-round solution.

Verdict

september 99

computer arts

to?

roundup

pc graphics cards

3D Labs Oxygen GVX1 30 Labs

01784 470 555

his is the VX1's very big brother, and the massive price increase is justified by nothing less than on-board geometry acceleration. it's a common misconception that graphics accelerators boost 3D performance by handling all of the maths needed to transform triangles in a 3D scene. In fact, most cards simply sort and paint these polygons, leaving the CPU to do the number crunching. The GVX1 is one of the first of a new breed, handling all of the OpenGL processing on board, including up to 16 simultaneous light sources. Usually, lighting is rather processor-intensive, yet here adding more light sources to a scene has virtually no impact on the performance.

Voodoo 3 3000 30

www.3dlabs.com

Beyond the geometry wizardry, the features parallel those of the VX1. These include per-pixellighting, bumpÂˇ mapping, dual bi-linear mip-mapping and triple texture blending in a single cycle, virtual texturing, and both Calorific and Soft Engine 4 in the box. Clearly, this isn't going to appeal to the more casual PC user. However, the range of features makes it the clear winner in this round-up, and that onboard geometry processing points the way forward for graphics acceleration in general. If you've got the cash, this is the cutting edge.

Verdict

"The range offeatures makes it the clear winner in this round-up... If you've got the cash, it's the cutting edge"

any

ram the early days of acceleration, 3DFX's Voodoo accelerators have been the gamer's favourite. This success can be attributed to its use of a third API, 3DFX's Glide format, with its DirectX compatibility and partial OpenGL support. Adopted by many games developers before DirectX, Glide was the standard for a long while, and remains the easiest way to code 3D acceleration support into a game. The Voodoo 3 3000 is the high performer of the latest 2D/3D range, and boasts a TV output for good measure (plus DVD acceleration). Put it through DirectX testing and it shines. What's more, it proves faultless at 2D, making it great for Photoshop, PageMaker and so on.

.3dfx.com There is a price to pay for such raw power, though. For one, while it can run at 32-bit co lour in Windows, 3D apps can only make use of 16-bit. Plus, texture sizes are also a problem, limited to a paltry 256x256 pixels. What's more, the drivers are still in flux. DirectX works great, but OpenGL support is limited to games software. Despite assurance from the 3DFX tech nical department that the latest drivers contain a full OpenGL ICD, our GL testing program failed to find them, resorting to pitifully slow default drivers. So near, yet so far.

Verdict

"Despite assurances from the 3DFX that the latest drivers contain full OpenGL I CD, our GL testing failed to find them"

Card c~mparison Here are the vital statist ics of all the workstations featured here ...

Test notes: ExerciZer is an OpenGL test program.The figures (in frames-per-second) were

to8 l computer arts I september 99

obtained by averaging all five tests, using the pre-set stress levels. 3D Mark Max was run in both 8oox6oo 16-bit colour and 1024X768x768 32-bit

colour modes to test DirectX performance (measured by Win mark's scoring system). All cards tested on an lntel Pentium 11400 with 64MB of RAM. As noted in the

reviews, cards such as the Oxygen VX1 offer increases in performance in direct relation to improvements in main processing power.

pc graphics cards roundup

3D Labs Oxygen VX1 www.3dlabs.com

01784 470 55'i enchmarks only reveal so much. Look at the figures obtained for this board, for instance, and you'd be forgiven for wondering why it's pitched as a product for workstation professionals, when its performance isn't noticeably different from games-orientated boards such as the TNT2 Ultra. However, while the 2D and DirectX side of the VX1 is pretty much par for the course, there's a lot going on under the bonnet to make this an excellent low cost solution for 3D designers. First, it benefits from 3D Labs' experience, with rock-steady OpenGL drivers as a result..:. while support for up to eight monitors and resolutions as high as 2048x1536 (still using a full 32-bit Z buffer for sorting) add to that

Lightning 1200

3D design potential. Its multi-threaded architecture also means the results are more scaleable in proportion to CPU power. Used in conjunction with multiple processors, it gets spectacular results, while something called virtual texturing improves on the regular AGP system, so you can use up to 256MB of main RAM for texture storage. Finally, you also get Co/oro{ic, a colour calibration program, and Soft Engine 4, which claims to speed up Auto CAD by up to four times. For the asking price, such features are a little short of miraculous.

Verdict

"lt has rock-steady OpenGL drivers, while support for up to eight monitors and high resolutions add to its 3D potential"

Card Benc'hmarks •

ExerdZer (frames per second)

£ss2

Mentor

01462 814 000

vans & Sutherland isn't an especially well-known name • (in the lower end of PC-dom, at least), but this company practically invented the accelerator card with its amazing (and decidedly high-end) military simulators. You can tell this is a 'serious' card because of its size- it's absolutely huge, and might not fit in smaller PCs. Also,like the other E&S cards, it's only supplied with Windows NT drivers. This meant we weren't able to run the 3D Mark Max tests, since that relies on DirectX 6.1 which isn't available on NT. Looking at the Exercizer score shows you the power of the Lightning's OpenGL performance- it's the highestscoring card here, though it only just pips the TNT2 Ultra. For almost £400

www.mentorcompsys.co.uk

more you might expect a little extra, emphasising even further the TNT2 Ultra's incredible bang-for-buck value. One other drawback is that the Lightning can only manage a max res of 128ox1024 in true colour, because half of its 32MB memory is reserved for textures- not good if you've got large monitors. One handy feature, though, is the ability to pick from a list of common apps, and have the optimum settings automatically assigned . The Lightning isn't bad; it just looks overpriced here. However, one plus is that it's optimised for the Pill.

Verdict

"You can tell this is a 6Serious' card because of its size- it's absolutely huge.•. and is only supplied with NT drivers"

The verdict •

3D Mar'k Max@ 1024 X768 32-bit

iil here's still a very obvious gap U

45(00)

between these and graphics cards aimed at workstations and serious PC uses.The Voodoo 3, Stealth Ill and TNT2 Ultra are certainly adequate for 2D work, their ability to speedily draw and close windows, scroll, and draw pixels to the screen making them ideal for regular design work. The TNT2 Ultra, in particular, is an excellent option, providing amazing performance without sacrificing colour and pixel resolution at all. On the other hand, if you're looking for a card to boost your

productivity in 3D design software, take a look at the more expensive models reviewed here.That extra cash buys stable GL drivers, which really are essential for this kind of work. If you've got the cash, then the GVX1 is the dream ticket, its flashy geometry processing making it a breed apart. But even the VX1 impresses greatly, that scalability making it ideal if you work with high-RAM, multiprocessor PCs. As ever, it all boils down to how serious you are about your computer art, and how much money you've got in your pocket. rm

september 99 1 computer arts 1109

buyer's

guide

Your insight intothe best and the newest software and hardware around •••

The buyer's guide is a whistle-stop tour of the latest hardware and software releases. You'll also find the best of the bunch listed under different categories, plus a complete reviews listing on the CD ...

Recent hardware reviews Name

Platform

Price

Company

Telephone

PC/Mac

£2700

Keith Johnson Pelling 0171 3801144

Stars lss

Name

up much easier. You get a bundle of decent software too, including Ulead's MediaStudio Pro, a well-featured editing package; Mediator {or creating multimedia presentations; and Coo/3D.{or making 3D titles.

Platform

Price

Company

Telephone

Stars lss

Issue 311/Augusl99 s. Canon Xl.s

lt could be the best digital camcorder there is. Even in digital, the picture quality is variable, depending on lenses, electronics and and the light-sensitive chip. The XLl offers top notch hardware an all three fronts, with manual focus and zoom, plus a dazzling array of buttons. lt also has digital ins as well as digital outs- a real boon. The XLl is heavy and clunky, but it's used by the BBC. /{you can afford it, it's the way to go. :a.~lla

£186

Matrox

01753665533

3-5

A graphics card treading the line {or both gamers and semi-pros. it'S foster than the G400, but otherwise offers Identical and excellent features: 32MB memory and 36oMHz RAMDAC provide 2D to 204Bx2536 res. it supports DlrectX and OpenGL. but while the former showed excellent speed, the OpenGL performance WllS dismal. Nevertheless, you can use the G4oo MOJ< with two monitors, and it offers real-time bum ma effects.

Issue 33/July 99 s. PowerShot Pfo7o

PC/Mac

£1174

Canon

0500 246 246

4-5

A pricy digital camera, but if you want the best, don't consider anything else. Raw CCD mode, which offers

the highest res, produces images of breathtaking quality. Even with smaller image sizes and maximum

PC/Mac

£140

Agfa

01812314903

4-5

This is a {oshlonobly translucent blue scanner that comes up with the goods too. lt offers a welcome 6oOJ<12oo dpl optical res -not bod at all {or £240- but you'll need Windows g8/f youn on a PC. The bundled software is good too with FotoSnap {or beginners and the well-featured FotoLook {or pro creative u.;; se;;;·- - - - - . . . . . 1

3· mlroVIDEO DY2oo

£469

Pinnacle Systems

01895 442 003

Excellent digital video card which integrates well with your camcorder. Bundled software enables you to pre-scan your footage, compile a list ofshots and capture the bits you really want- a useful feature, since 4-5 minutes of{ootage can take up tGB of HO. Oh, and you get a 'Lite' version ofAdobe Premiere thrown in, too. ~toe1KbH2S/108 PC/Mac £939 LaCie 01718728ooo 3-5 33 A 22-fnch monitor using a Mitsublshi Diamondtron aperture grille tube to offer resolution up to t6oOJ<tzoo and a viewable area of '9-7·/nches.lt'S deep blue, with a large hood to keep out reflections. A reasonable buy.

Issue p/June 99 s.Picz1

PC/Mac

£1169

PatrickThorn &Co

01784466474

The Picza is a 3D digitiserwhich you use to turn real-life objects into digital 3D mode/s.lt's slow, but it's an ingenious piece of ki(for the price. Picza works by scanning your object in three directions {X, Y and Z) and firing the info back to its Dr Picza software. You then export the model to a standard 3D format.

:a.AVMuter-

£586

Fast

01819680411

An easy-to-use video capture card with an on-board sound card, which makes syncing your sound and video

for......,..

(left) The G400 Max card treads the line and pros alike.

(middle) The C•non XU could well be the best dii&J camcorder there Is. (right) Canon's PowerShot Pro has top Image quality.

110

I computer arts I september 99

PC/Mac

£175

Computers Unlimited o81358 5857

4·5

The ScanMaker X6 is a 36-blt colour scanner o{the flotbed vorfety.lt comes as either a USB or a SCSI version, and it wos the SCSI type we took a peek at. The Images were outstanding, the /Id Is designed so thot you can scan In books as well as flat paper. and the software bundle Is to notch. For under £zoo, it'S a stunner.

2. VIsual Workstatlon 320

£2796

SGI

07000 320 540

Pentium Ill versions are now available. They weren't at the time of review, so we tested the 320 -a PI/- which gave impressive results. You'll need plenty of CPU power and a ton of RAM to make use of it, though.

J.IIAO .,._. &JZ

Mac

£699

Promedla

01923 266 400

New 400MHz upgrade card from XLRB to boost the speed of yourG3. In Photoshop tests the card matched Apple'S 4ooMHz machine, tlnd trounced a 4ooMHz upgroded Umax Pulsar. Youn poy/ng top whack. though. ~toStylusCotor900

compression, the results outshine most otherdigicams- and you can store up to about 180 images too. :a.Suplau2Ua

Issue 31/ May 99 s.Sa•. .kerll6

PC/Mac

£402

Epson

o8oo289622

You get fantastic 1440dpi printing with this Epson model. There's a choice ofparolle/, serial or USB ports, plus the option to add a network interface card and an RIP for PostScript work. _ _ _ __

s.MX-6M

PC/Mac

£550

Fujlfilm

0171 586 5900

3·5

A t.s·mnllon plxel dig/cam with tz80J<1024 resolution and lots o{{eatures. Picture quality looks good, but close Inspection reveals noise In areas ofsolid colour and {olnt streaks. So, a bit of a disappointment after all.

Issue 30 I Apri199 s. Dlmlp San Speed

PC/Mac £1000 Minolta (UK) 01908 200 400 4-5 30 For quality scans from 35mm and APS films, you really need a dedicated film scanner. The Scan Speed adds even higher resolution and greater speed than the older Scan Dual. lt's a good bit of kit that does its job well. :a.&JJH

Mac

£1262

Apple

o87o6oo6o1o

Quite apart from its aesthetically pleasing casing, the new G3/s super·{ost- the motherboard runs at tooMHz. However. there's no built·in SCSI, and the 300 model only has a small cache and RAM.

J. Heldelberg Unotype Clrcon Mac

£88o6

Heidelberg

01242 285 100

3-5

This is a high-end pre-pressA3 scanner. as can be seen by its price, impressive 2400X240odpi res and 42-bit scanning engine. Also, it ships with the incredibly powerful LinoCo/or 5.1 scanning software.

it- OKIMGE le

£2819

Oki Systems

01753 819 819

Eight page·per·mlnute LEO printer. which uses a Light Emitting Diode {or every dot position on a page, rather than laser technology. Offers 6oOJ<6oodpi res, but unfortunately there was some banding on low-res Images.

buyer's

Best hardware by categories Name

Platform

Price

Company

Telephone

Stars lss

Workstatlons s.Muiii.J-.-E...._ PC £3994 Amari 01818107441 4-5 34 1Wo Pill ssos and suMB memol)l plus a huge :z:zGB IDE hard drive and a 3oGb tape drive. A super {ost 0/amon Rre GLJ supplies the gmphlcs, with a 3DLDbs Permed/a chlpset Good 110/ue and a recommended bu~t 2. Evesham

DeslpStatlon PC

£5286

Eves ham Micros

o8oo 496 o8oo

4·5

Twin Pentium Xeon processors with 512MB memory and two 9.1GB Ultra2 SCSI drives- it's mean. Graphics are courtesy of an ELSA GLoria Synergy card with Glint chipset and 16MB RAM. An excellent, balanced choice.

s.c.n.nc:n.-ProSsse

£5286 Carrera

018130728oo

Pill ssa pnxessar and 968 Ultlflz SCSI, plus a l'anasanlc DVD-RAM drive (or reading and writing- excellent. A 0/amond Rre GL with JZRAM and 3DLDbs Permed/a chlpset prrwldes raphlcs, with an 1B·inch LCD. 11'5 t.

4- Dell Precision

£5234

Dell Computer

0870152 4699

(left) The Amarl R)-s-E Studio has twin Plllssos, DlaiiiOINI Fire GLs graphics and a :aaGB hard drive. Excellent value an41 recommended.

Twin Plllssos with 256MB memory between them, and a 96MB 3DLabs Oxygen GMX2ooo for the graphics - this is the most powerful graphics card of this lot. A seriously good machine for heavyweight pixel pushing.

S.SIIIiii ...... pe

£5652

SGI

07000320540

3-5

Chk blueand grey stuff with twin PII 450S. gGB Llltlflz SCSI drive and zzoMB main memol)l plus 36MB assigned to the Cobalt A4 f!!P.hlcs chlpset. Good ~r(!Jrmonce, but not sttutllng (or a twin PI/ of this spec.

Removable storage 1. Jaz :a

PC/Mac

£299

lomega

o8oo 973 194

Offers 2GB per disk, and it's fast at almost 8MB a second. Also, the Jaz 2 is bound to be a market winner. so you can be sure plenty of other people will be able to read your disks. Plus, it only costs £so more than a Jaz.

3· Jaz

PC/Mac

£250

lomega

o8oo 973 194

Still an excellent option, boasting 1GB per disk and almost 6MB per second transfer. The }az was streets ahead when it first turned up, and nothing has changed since.

.-.:a,as.

PC/Mac

5o DVD·RAM

PC/Mac

£99

lomega

o8oo973194

(rlpt) The Ev.sham DeslpStatlon has twin x- p - r s and ·· graphics supplied by an ELSA GLorla Synery card. A-u balanced machine.

lomega'S zsoMB Zip drive Is slower, ot O.JZMB per second on the pamlfel part (the }oz drives are SCSI), but it'S much cheaper, and it reads the ever /aflooMB Z1 disks too. Just don't ed the reverse.

£570

LaCie

0171872 8ooo

3·5

Massive s.zGB storage capacity. the disks are only £29 a go, and 1.35MB per second transfer. The main issue is compatibility: DVD·ROM drives don't read DVD·RAM disks, and not many people have drives that do.

Scanners s........_lll PC/Mac £2344 IMC 013448728oo 5 27 The Powert.oolc Ill uses a •o.ooo-llne CCD to ptOduce a high optical resalut/an of IZOOXZ4oodpl, and it comes with a tlflnspateney adaptor In the lid plus a Wocom Artl'ad. An excellent scanner at a (olr price. 2. Optic Pro 9636T

£119

Plustek

www.insight.com 5

A parallel port scanner. but it's not slow, with a pre·scan taking just eight seconds. Good scan quality too, plus there's a small cold cathode tube in the lid, so you can scan small transparencies. Afantastic model for the price.

,.....,.,..a

PC/Mac

£351

HeldelbergCPS

01242 285100

4-5

(left) Carrera Cysnus Pro Ssso. This has a Pill 550 and In-built reading and writing DVD-RAM, plus a DlaiiiOINI Fire GL pM I far graphlcs.lt's fast.

/Midelberg CPS'S entty·level scanner, but it'S more /lice a Plfl(ess/ona/ dnlce. Scans up to US legal size, sharp Images and strong colours and quality software: Photoshap 4 and Colorl'actory (PO or Unoco/or Eosy (Ma(/.

4-ScanMakerX6

PC/Mac

£175

Computers Unlimited 0181358 3857

4·5

Crisp, accurate, fast. lt's a flatbed with 36·bit colour and 96oodpi interpolated resolution, 6oox12oodpi optical resolution. Excellent bundled software. Don't fall over yourself to buy a bit cheaper- the X6 is really worth it.

....,.a.-

Mac

£88o6 Helclelberg

01242 285 100

3·5

AJ, (lot-bed, pre·press scannero(ferlng Z400J<Z4oodpl and a 42-blt scanning ~nglne (or billions ofcolours. The~ Is top-notch and UnoCa/ars.• comes bund/ed-butdon't~ quali!)'at this level to be qukk.

CD/DVDRWs Rlcoh MPJo~toA-DP

£288

Connexe Peripherals 01753 736 210

All·round performance with 4x writing and rewriting, 2ox reading and 2MB buffer. Not a looker. though.

:a._....._.S

Mac/PC £405 Con-Peripherals 01753736210 4 1t might laokl!xpen<M.but it'S also the (ostest ClJ..RWyou'le Ulcely to SH, with Bx writing. A SCSI drive.

:J.PhiUpsPCA)6:aRW

£175

Philips

01816656350

The Dell Precl81on has twin Pill UOs with 2118MB memory betw-u-n, plus,.....lcs provided by a 98MB 3DI.abs Oxygen GM2000. Phewl

(rl~)

The 6x read plus 2x write and rewrite speeds explain the price, but it's well·built . Quality on a budget.

.-.CD-n ....... D

£199

Traxdata

01753891444

Some- blank ClJ..Rs would be nke. But it carries a {olr price tag. and dtHts the jab -/fa bit on the slow side. s.SonyCRXsooE-RP

£198

Sony

0990111999

241< reading, 4X writing plus zx re· writing, but it's a little flimsy. Identical to the HP Plus 8100, but £40 cheaper.

:as-Inch monitors ... . . _ . , . . . . PC/Mac lllewsonlc has a tnJdc recotrl a molcJi

o8oo833648

4-5

and the PTBtJ/s no exuptlon.

BeUneuo Be so PC/Mac £704 Maxdata 0118 936 2900 4·5 29 Out of the shadow mask bunch, this is our monitor of choice. lt has a o.25 mm dot pitch plus lovely crisp images.

,. llle Tt'-

PC/Mac £1126 Elzo 01483 719 500 4 29 The Tg6o baasts aperture grille~ p{us a tiDifab/e grille pitch to give sharp s across the screen.

4- Sony Multlscan GDM Fsoo PC/Mac

£1526

Sony

0990 424 424

The ultra·fine o.22mm dot pitch gives an incredibly crisp picture, and there's a handy {our·way USB hub, too.

s.an•r.••-

PC/Mac £863 The 0/amondPro tOtOflls a 9f!!!!!. mode~ and the

(left) Silicon Graphics' 320 has twin PII4SOs, 220MB IUin _,and 38MB_..,..... to the Cobalt A3 ,_lcschiPMt.Good~.

september 99

computer arts I m

buyer's

~m"o ·•n '~.('

fa\ ".,;

'e.~

guide

Full Buyer's Guide listing ot1 the CD: . - l y 700 products

•$: reviewed and rated! ~u •• G~_.._._._._._._._._._~

Looking for a new piece of software to drive your creativity? Our guide to the latest releases keeps you at the front of the crowd, and separates the best from the rest. Check the CD for a full list of all the software we've reviewed ...

Recent software reviews ~

Name

Telephone

Platform

Price

Company

Telephone

Stars lss

Name

Platform

Price

Company

£3166

Discreet

01483 462 6oo

3· Bryce~

PC/ Mac

£210

Computers Unlimited 0181 358 5857

Stars lss

Issue 31t/ August 99 •· 3D Studio MAX R3

~&eLM~

a. a.t11Reyu3

s. Satorl PhotoXL 3-02

$795

REM lnfografica

+34 91 319 4155 4-5

Oneo(the more spectacular effects p/ug·ins fa r 30 Studio MAX- use it to make any 30 abject behave like cloth, creasing, flowing and so on. You can set your cloth to behave like anything from silk to rubber, and even stone, peNerse/y. Version 3 is (aster, sturdier and more intuitive, and offers tighter control over the results.

3· Suitcase 8 Mac £93 Digital Tool box 0181961 6622 4·5 34 Sort your fonts out once and {oral/ with Suitcase, revived in the hands o{Extensis. You can organise them into sets, drag them from your desktop onto Suitcase and preview your fonts without even opening them. And you get FontAgent- worth the money alone- to scan your drives and check that all your fonts work properly. ~Ca-•

PC/ Mac

£399

Computers Unlimited 0181358 5857

Lateral thinking tums out innovative packages, and that's where MetaCreotions' Canoma comes from. lt enables you to tum photos, with all the 30 informatio n they hold, into 30 scenes. Using it demands a fair bit a(skill, but Meta has done well to make complex maths easy, and with practice you can get goad results.

5· Katabounga

Mac

£469

Gomark

0171731 7930

Straightforward, professional multimedia authoring, but this time with a clear and logical working process, which helps to focus you on the task at hand. it offers excellent support for Quick Time and cross-platform output- in fact, the only drawbacks are poor vector tools and no database support. A good option.

s.aolhllhlnkiiiiJ.O

£1495

Gestel

www.gestel.com 4·5

NURBS modelling and rendering with a superbly elegant interface and brilliant control. Breathtaking modelling, fast rendering, BMRT support and multi·threaded raytracing with radiosity. A joy to use.

2. Amorphlum

PC/Mac

$150

Play lnc

+1888 888 7529 4

£464

CoreI

o8oo 581 028

SlteConstrudlon Set

£170

Cryo

01926 315 552

Build anything on·line, from a shop to a 30 environment - SCS offers a modular system for developing shared network environments. Ws as complex as it is 'powerful, but the English language documentation is appalling.

s.Orp•kArtDetuu

£15

Hallmark

01664481563

£210

Adobe

01816o64ooo

£112

Spaceward Graphics 01954 261 333

£28

Xara Ltd

01442 350000

).FAMOUS,_.

The best Web graphics package?Vectorgraphics tied in with brilliant slicing, scripting, animation and bitmap optimisation facilities, plus lots of well-considered tweaks all keep Fireworks 2 ahead of the game. a.Acnlltd~

PC/Mac

£175

Adobe

01816o64000

Adobe's POF creator, with enhanced marking, editing and tweaking tools, plus dynamic (arms and more.

3D Studio MAX llJ is the n- release. With a rebuilt renderer, it takes MAXInto the genuinely professional arena.

11 2

I computer arts I September 99

$6250

Beamlntemational

00613986683004

ft. DlrtyUp

$299

Dosch 3D www.doschdesign.de

A LightWave and Inspire plug-in for wearing, tearing and ageing surfaces of your 30 models. Superb results.

s. KI..C:.ptMN

£816

The Motion Capture Co. 01332 812 9384.3.5

JOS MAX plug-in (or a cheaper route into motion-capture: good results, a(fon:lable and easy.

lssue3o/Apri199 PC

£234

Twilight Zone

01923 801 812

4·5

A realistic Web authoring option for business, especially if yo u want an an·line store or integrated database.

3· Kal's Photo Soap2

£7044

Techex

01628777 8oo

PC/Mac

£41

Computers Unlimited 0181 358 5857

01717317930

3·5

Principal Distribution 01756 704 ooo

3·5

Image-editing and enhancement from MetaCreations. Flexible, and a great interface. ~foni•ZJ.8.1

PC/Mac

Upgrade with fuii'Nurbz' and Patches, and su

s. Canvas 6.o

PC/Mac

£2100 rt

£469

Gomark

r a enGL on the Mac. Breathtaking but bugg)<

Illustration, image-editing and page layout a/1-in·one. Good features, but a bit tricky to pick up.

Issue 29/ March 99 s. .AR.r E"-ta. PC/ Mac £587 Adobe 01816o6 4001 4 29 This is a worthwhile upgrade that's likely to build on After E(fect:s' solid reputation as a high·end e(fect:s tooL

3-Photo"-

Issue 32/June 99 5

4·5

Animator for difficult human (aces. which combines motion-capture with keyframing. Powerful and easy.

This XTension makes converting QuarkXPress documents into Adobe PDF files quicker and easier.

Computers Unlimited 0181358 5857

2. FuiiMeasure XT2.o Mac $35 Badia Software www.badiasoftware.com 4·5 31 Adds a new section to your XPress Measurements palette, enabling you to edit parameters direct from there.

2. PDF Deslp XT

£210

An animated and static JO text renderer. it's a doddle to use, and the results are good.

Fiddle with 'generators', 'informs' and textures, and see what comes out. Quick inspiration for £15. PC/Mac

Issue 31/May 99 s.XaA)DJ

Swirly rendering along the lines o(WUiiam Lathom's 'Organic Art', whipped up into a new Deluxe package.

s. Flreworks2

Price chapping for the high·tnd 3D character animator: it's still got everything, and it's still a lot of money.

New release of the competitive vector graphics application, offering an improved interface, tight control over output to POF and better support for colour and printing. Pricy an the upgrade, though, at £269. ~·

Mac

Bitmap application which works like a vector graphics app. it's brilliant- especially fa r Ewo·odd.

:a.llayaiiTs.e

Modelling on-screen as if you're playing with clay - Amorphium offers the closest thing yet to virtual sculpture. A Bryce·ish interface with a real·time, fully-textured and shaded view make far an intuitive package.

3- ConiiiiRAW 9

The best interface in the Web design marlcet, plus intuitive WYSIWYG and excellent site management.

s. NetObJects Fusion ~o

Issue 33/July 99

The /ove· it, hate·it 30 package is back with less bugs, the same interface and a bunch of tweaks.

MAX joins the truly professional arena with a hoard of tweaks and fiddles, including a rebuilt renderer, better NURBS, skinning and boning and o customisable interface. Workfiow takes a priority,and new sliders and controls make you wonder how you coped without them. it's one of the best in the world, and good value too.

Mac

£229

PC/Mac

$99

Digital Toolbox order·on·llne

0181 961 6622

www.rayfted.com4

Enables you to render 30 objects directly in Photoshap- such as buttons, text and simple objects. ~Home Publlshln199

£so

Microsoft

0345 oo2 ooo

This OTP package is aimed at home users, but it also houses a sophisticated multimedia authoring kit.

s. .,.,_..Del

$99

Blackfeet

oo 33 556 133 77 4

A common effect used in 3D work Is depth offield, and this app is designed for e~octly this function.

With MAX plua-ln Clotllfleye., y- can simulate anythlq from silk to rubber, and even bouncing blocks.

If y-·re llvlq In font hell, then ..ve Suit,._ B a whirl. As an organl. ., lt's unutterably brilliant at Its Job.

buyer's

guide

Best software by categories Name

Platform

Price

Company

Telephone

Stars lss

Name

Platform

Price

Company

PC/Mac

£490

Adobe

o1816o64ooo

:z. Fireworks :z

PC/ Mac

£210

Computers Unlimited 0181358 5857

Telephone

Stars lss

:zD bltmap & paint t............,5

A history palette, a wider range of actions. improved colour management and multi-processor support join {or version 5 of the industry standard. lt~ an all round Improvement, and the upgrade is well worth it.

The best Web graphics package gets even better- vector graphics with brilliant slicing, scripting, animation and bitmap optimisotion facilities, plus lots of well-considered tweaks, keep Fireworks on top.

:z. Plloto-Palnt7 Plus

3-DIIwctllr7

PC/ Mac

£399

CMM

01703 812 755

4-5

There is a version of Photo-Paint that comes with Core/DRAW suite, but this is an upgrade above that standard version. it's a great application, and matches Photoshop almost punch for punch - but try as it might, it's still doesn't have the universal acceptance or kudos of Adobe's world-beater.

J. h lllt8r s.5WW Ellltlen

PC/Mac

£351

Computers Unlimited 0181358 5857

This is a minor upgrade {or the natural media graphics tool, and If you're not a Web designer. you can safely bypass it and wait {or the next release. The only non-webby change is compatibility with Photo shop 5 layers.

-. !CAll's Power Tools 5

PC/Mac

£152

Computers Unlimited 0181 358 5857

Many of the old favourites have been revamped in the long-awaited upgrade to the popular Photoshop plug-in, while others have been cut out. The filters and too ls are all either instantly useful or incredibly inspirational. This version, however, loses brownie points for some bugs that should have been iro ned out.

5o s.a..J PMtoXL J.0:1

£112

Spaceward Graphics 01954 261 333

Bitmap editor which works like a vector graphics application- quite brilliant {or £1oo-odd. You get all the usual tools. and you can treat everything )'Ou do with them as an object in its own right. Plus, there~ an Undo {unction which enables )'Ou to only port Undo steps )'OU have taken.

3D modelling, rendering and animation

s. 3D Studio MAX R3

£3166

Discreet

01483 462 6oo

MAXjoins the truly professional arena with a hoard of tweaks and fiddles, including a rebuilt renderer, better NURBS, skinning and boning and a customisob/e in terface. Work{low takes a priority, and new sliders and controls make you wonder how you coped without them. it's one of the best in the world, and good value too.

a. LJptWn. JOs-6

PC/Mac

£1639

AMG FX

0171468 3444

4-5

This latest version brings extra plug-Ins like Jolt! and HyperVoxels. plus the ability to use Photoshop plug-Ins. The /nter(rlce has been tweaked, the ei<panded features Improve worlc flow and there's better Mac compatibility too. A great upgrade to a terrific package.

3· sollciThlnklng).O

£1495

Gestel

www.gestel.com 4- 5

Excellent NURBS modelling and rendering application, which offers a superbly elegant interface and brilliant control. Breathtaking modelling, fast rendering, BMRT support and multi-threaded raytracing with radiosity combine fora powerful 3D application. it's simple and fluid - a joy to work with. -. ~rya "

PC/Mac

£210

Computers Unlimited 0181358 5857

Version 4 arrives with less bugs. the same eccentric inter(rlce and a whole bunch of tweaks. it's a love-it, hote-it package which is both great {or beginners and frighteningly complex if )'Ou start digging. Fantastical landscapes are Bryce's strength, and )'OU can genuinely lose )'Ourself in )'Our creations. Try it first.

s.form•Z).o.s

PC / Mac

£2100

Gomark

0171 7317930

3-5

5o &eUw"

4-5

Mac

£210

Adobe

0181 6o6 4000

GoLive goes head-to-head with Dreamweaver, of{Pring the best interface in the marlcet. Intuitive Wl'$/WYG,

excellent site management and thoughtful touches mean you can concentrate on content. Digital video editing & effects

s. Commotion s.s.-

Mac

£1992

Bit UK

0171343 5500

A paint and compositing package {or high-quality video. There are plenty of tools and effects here, but the ability to work in real-time with a full-screen preview is what gives them true power. ll. ,.l•t*

:a.e

PC/Mac

£1639

BIT UK

01420 83811

A Photoshop {or film and video: its range of painting and ef{Pcts tools is similar, but you get control over temporal aspects too. Tracker tracks the motion ofanything and applies it to another object. Excellent.

3· effect* :z.o PC/ Mac £1639 BIT UK 01420 83811 4-5 23 effect• deals with compositions: one or more footage items, arranged in a window and animated over time. This is a powerful package {or both 2D and 3D animation.

-. ......... ,

PC/Mac

£519

Adobe

o1816o64001

Ahead of the marlcet, and eminently usable and intuitive. Premiere 5 was o bit on the pricy side, but fortunately the price tag dropped recently.

5- After Effects"

PC / Mac

£587

Adobe

0181 6o6 4001

This is a worthwhile upgrade that's likely to build on A E~ solid reputation os a high-end effects tool. Its ability to produce filmic effects and high-quality animation on the desktop is unparalleled.

Vector-based drawing t. c-ucAitA li.O

$89.95 Xara ltd

01442 350 ooo

Intuitive vector app with strong bit map capabilities and enhanced conversions from vector to bitmap format. lt~ well documented, easy to use and has some powerful drawing tools. Plus. it~ ideal {or the Web.

:z. FreeHand 8

PC / Mac

£528

Computers Unlimited

0181 358 5857

4-5

Improved speed and the new Transparency lens are the highlights in version 8 a{ the top illustration program.

lt also combines a more streamlined working environment with a whole host of new creative tools.

Multlmedla/Web-authorlng & design

-. CoreiDRAW 9

PC/Mac

ComputersUnlimited 01813585857

-.Acrobat 1t PC/ Mac £175 Adobe 0191606 4000 4 Adobe's PDF creator comes into its own with version 4. PDFs are easier to create,and the proof-to-print

J.lllutrator8

....._ll

£1304

process is better accommodated with enhanced marking, editing and tweaking tools.

The upgrade adds fu ll 'Nurbz ' and Patches, plus support for OpenGL on the Mac. Rendering is perfect and the sheer scope of the program is still incredible.But it's buggy, and feels more like a late beta than a full release.

PC/Mac

Director is an industry-standard {or multimedia production, with unparalleled {Patures {or producing worlc on CD and the Internet. Version 7 adds more Web-savvy features, and is a must-have {or multimedia pros.

PC / Mac

£346

Adobe

01816o64001

4-5

New brush ef{Pcts. a revamped Pencil tool and a Gradient Mesh tool. A good upgrade to a {ob package.

£464

Core I

o8oo 581028

Top PC vector graphics gets an improved interface, tight PDF control and better support for colour and print.

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digital art

Untitled, Uriel, Malaing- Aker '--"-· -v• Andrew Cope 1 01865 556 835

_top,

An drew credits his current career as a freelance designer to Computer Arts. Well, in part, anyway ... During his degree, Andrew worked for a company on placement, designing retail interiors. After graduating, he had the opportunity to take the job full·time. However, after reading many of our one-man profiles, he was inspired to set up his own studio instead, in Oxford. Andrew sculpts his ideas directly on the computer, using NURBS to model with. "I like to form my ideas in a completely virtual environment," he says. Andrew's work consists mainly of furniture design, although he also enjoys illustration. He explains: "I'm under a confidentiality contract for my furniture design, but illustration has only been shared with friends up until this point." Andrew would like to develop this side of his work further, and his dream illustration job is to work on a book- "especially sci·fi or horror."

Night Boat- Night Air~--. left to ~W~tl Due Huynh 1 07979 808 083 or .11 dh@homemail.com We featured Due Huynh's work in our 1999 Graduate Supplement (issue 33) as a member of Oxford Brookes University. The image, 'The Dive Station', was an architectural design depicting a partly-submerged off-shore diving complex. it was part of a joint degree project with working partner Zameera Ashraff, and Due did almost all the modelling. Here's some more good work from the duo, which comes from the same diving station project. For 'Night Boat', Due took care of all the modelling, while 'Night Air' depicts arriving at the station by air at night. Due and Zameera used a MicroStation for all the work involved, and eo mposited the images in Photoshop. Due also usesAutoCAD, Presenter 3D and 3D Studio MAX, and since he's graduated, is keeping an eye out for employment.

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I computer arts 1123

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Ferrari Logo - Big G (-ve, left to rtgM) Darren Byford 1 01273 595 711 J! darrenb@roughcut.globalnet.co.uk Darren created these images with a Pentium Pro 200, running Softimage 3-7 and Mental Ray. In fact, 'Big G' is Darren's first So{timage model; he started to find his way around the package about nine months ago. The Ferrari badge is a single NURBS surface with a bump map. The water droplets were produced using a combination of Deform-By-Surface and MetaCiay objects, with Duplicator for the tiny beads. Darren used to work in the games industry, using 3D Studio MAX and Character Studio. But, he says: "I never felt the quality of the work represented the effort that had gone into creating it." He's much happier with his current software setÂˇup, and says: "Softimage is a joy by comparison- the degree of animation control is superb." Darren hopes to find employment doing FMV, post-production or illustration work, ideally in a company that will enable him to develop his Softimage skills further.

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Matter (top,lefttortght) Tony Blow 101772 671985 or Jl designer@ihateclowns

Tony has just completed a degree in Graphic Design at Derby University. As his images suggest, he specialised in typography. Two of his own fonts are Matter and Invasive. The former is a series of 256 glyphs which have no specific meaning. "Technically, that makes it a dingbat font, but \like the way people try to read meaning into it when it's presented as a typeface," says Tony. He drew each glyph by hand, then scanned them all into Photoshop, where he retouched them. Finally, Tony took the glyphs into Fontographerto set the spacings. 'Legibility' and 'Matter', the images here, are small posters Tony created to show off his fonts. He created the backgrounds by scanning an old, scratch guillotine baseboard, and ' Legibility' uses the font Invasive. Tony says: "There are no big ideas or clever concepts- it's just meant to be visually interesting." Tony's currently looking for employment in the graphics industry.

Torments (-v•> Duncan Ion 1 0113 225 1969 Jl duncanion@yahoo.com Having just completed a degree in Multimedia Technology, Duncan can boast experience in a wide variety of media. He uses Photoshop 5 on a Pentium 11233 with 128M B of RAM and a sGB hard drive, to produce still artwork like 'Torments'. This image started life as some blackand-white photographs that Duncan took of a friend . He says: "I took the photos before my friend set off around the world. I wanted to convey a sense of apprehension and loss." In keeping with the melancholic feel, he treated the photos heavily with the Dodge and Burn tools.The dry, cracked skin effect on the arm came from another photo : Duncan took a picture of the wall in his student house, where the paint was peeling off, and blended it into the image. You can see more ofDuncan's work at his Website- visitJr web.ukonline.co.uk/duncanion

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Speedway anc1 Global Scope (left, top to boHomJ Chris Beatty t 01296 661834 or .11 chris@3db.co.uk Having graduated in design only two years ago, Chris has just undertaken quite a venture: together with his brother Nick, he has set up a multimedia company called 3DB Business lntergraphics. He says: "We're trying to cover the main areas of the industry, from Web graphics to CD·ROM production." The duo's main interest, however, is creating photo·realistic images and animations. Chris produced 'Global Scope' by lofting cross·sections, and he cut out the recesses for the buttons using Boo leans. it was all built and rendered in 3D Studio MAX, then Chris used Photoshop to add the camera focal length. 'Speedway' was done using NU RBS surfaces and curves, and the drivers came from Poser J . "it's a self·promotional piece, and it shows how you can achieve near·photographic quality." It'll eventually feature in the company's MAX showreel, where these and other cars will race around a banked speedway.

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digital art eJ~Pn••

Heaven Hotel2, Heaven Hotel Mess- Laplsm Horacio Tome Marques J! horacio3d@ip.pt or J! soho.cad@ip.pt Horacio is a professional illustrator and designer, based in Portugal. Having enjoyed a long career in the world of advertising, he's now eo-owner of two companies. The first deals hardware, and the other is a multimedia company- its Website is at .1r www.inter-futuro.pt Horacio has always been an artist, using pastels, oils and pencils since his teens, and started using co mputers for his advertising work in the mid-8os. 1-ie became excited by the possibilities, and now he's a jack of all trades. Horacio dabbles in all kinds of computer art, from vector and bitmap art, right through to Web design and 3D. His preferred programs include Illustrator, Photoshop, Painter, Painter 3D, Ray Dream Studio, Poser and Bryce, which is his favourite. Horacio's book, Trip to What/and?, has just been published. it's a short-story and CD-ROM, and he illustrated it entirely using Bryce.

Autoportrait <-v• right) Patricia Bartoli-Berti t +1 (0)323 659 4126 (USA) or J! pbb@artemysia.com Patricia is a French freelance designer, and she currently lives in Los Angeles. She does all of her art work on a 3ooMHz G3 with 48oMB of RAM, which she has named 'Gaston'. Patricia and her partner have just set up a Web design business called Artemysia .com, which expands Patricia's freelance capabilities. You can see more of her work at the company's Website, .1r www.artemysia.com 'Autoportrait' is a collage that uses photographs of Patricia and an Easter Island sculpture, as well as some stock photography. To create the effects, Patricia stuck to using layer masks and the Blending and Lighting modes, although usually she's a big fan of Photoshop's filters. Patricia also favours Painter 4,1//ustratorand the Eye Candy filters. Patricia has high hopes for her new company, and she says: "I feel very lucky to be able to work in something that I truly love ..."

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··Skirt, Untitled - Fusion Dynasty (top- -v•> Daniel Featherstone!! beeboyo@aol.com Although Daniel was born in Dorset, he's been living in the USA for the last five years. lt was this Stateside move which introduced him to the Mac and Photoshop . "I had no previous experience with computers, and my artistic skills came solely from my devious gra.ffiti days.~ he says. Daniel and his partner·in·crime, Wayne Bilton, produced their own abstract graffiti which they named 'Fusions'. "Ten years later, and I've translated this styte·into something less aggressive, but just as expressive," he comments. Daniel thinks he would struggle with traditional paint technique~. but that this doesn't detract from computer art- a medium that "should be appreciated as any other art form ". Nevertheless, Daniel does like to uses sketches and photography in his compositions, because they lend an organic air to the end result. El

W~ w.nt your work Send your work to us along with a full explanation of your techniques and software , the titles of ~ach pi ~ce, and your telephone number on the disk itself (featured artists are often approached for work). Images should be sent as PC or Mac TIFF or JPEG files on CD· ROM, floppy, Zip or 230Mb Floptical disks, and a hard copy is a great help. Apart from floppies, all entries will be returned. All contributions are submitted on the basis of a non·exclusive worldwide licence to publish, both in printed and electronicform, unless otherwise agreed in advance in writing. E· mail your entries to: ca.exposure@futuTenet.co.uk or post them to: Exposure, Computer Arts, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW. Please don't inundate us with 'phone calls! While every effort is made to ensure that your work is returned safely, all contributions submitted to Computer Arts are done so at the risk of the Owner. Future Publi shing limited cannot accept responsibility for them either in transit or while in Future's possession. Please remember to keep back-up copies, and if this is your only copy of the work, do NOT send it in!

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computer arts j 129

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Flash In our special tutorial we show you how to transfer ful_ly-fledged 3D animations into the MB-conscious world of Flash! Also In Issue 36 of Computer Arts•••

• Want to buy a new system? We help you find the best set-up for graphic design, 3D and digital video work -for under £sooo. • Lots more great design, with RealTime Visualisations in profile. •Awhole host of new software and hardware reviews, including a round-up of the latest graphics cards for Mac.

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Software: XPress, Photo shop, FreeHand, Director, Communicator, Nisus, Word Cover illustration: red seal, using Photoshop 5, t 01792 295 004 Photography: Pete Canning, Rob Scott, Rick Buettner, Gavin Roberts Printed at Cradley Print, UK Typography: (Adobe<~>) MetaPius family, Th e Mix family, and Franklin Gothic family. Allrightsreserved.Alltrademaltsandcopyrightsinthisissue are recognised, and are acknowledged where possible.lf wt

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I computer arts I September 99

CheersFatBob,seeya!

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