Swift3D tutorial

Swift 3D V6 User Guide

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Table Of Contents

Welcome to Swift 3D.......................................................................................................... 1

What Swift 3D Is All About ....................

How did we get here? ..................................................................................................... 3

How did we get here? ..............................

A Workflow for Everyone .............................................................................................. 4

A Workflow for Everyone .......................

Building 3D models .................................................................................................... 5

Creating 3D Scenes..................................

Rendering 3D Output.................................................................................................. 7

Integrating 3D Content ............................

Getting Up and Running ..................................................................................................... 9

Installation................................................

System Requirements................................................................................................ 10

Installing ..................................................

Additional Resources .................................................................................................... 12

Nick's Tips ...............................................

Online Tutorials ........................................................................................................ 13

PDF of User Guide...................................

Technical Support ......................................................................................................... 14

Technical Support ....................................

Web Support ............................................................................................................. 14

Knowledgebase ........................................


Online Forum............................................................................................................ 15

Product Update Site .................................................................................................. 15

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Web Assistant ........................................................................................................... 16

Scene Editor .............................................

Swift 3D Interface......................................................................................................... 19

Customizing the Interface ........................

Interface Resize......................................................................................................... 19

Toolbars ...................................................

User Preferences ....................................................................................................... 21

Editor Tabs...............................................

Editor Tabs................................................................................................................ 22

.....................................Extrusion Editor

............................................................................................................. 23 Lathe Editor

Advanced Modeler...................................

Preview and Export Editor........................................................................................ 25

Web Assistant ..........................................

Viewports...................................................................................................................... 26

................................................Viewports

Viewport Controls..................................................................................................... 27

Viewport Dropdown Menu......................

Main Toolbar ................................................................................................................ 34

File Shortcut Buttons ...............................

Create Object Buttons ............................................................................................... 34

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Table Of Contents

Create Light Buttons ................................................................................................. 34

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Create Camera Buttons ............................................................................................. 35

Convert Text to Paths Button...................

Scaling Button........................................................................................................... 35

Frame All Objects ....................................

Render Viewport Buttons ......................................................................................... 36

Undo and Redo Buttons ...........................

Properties Toolbar......................................................................................................... 37

Properties Toolbar....................................

Layout Properties ...................................................................................................... 38

Environment Properties ...........................

Hierarchy Toolbar......................................................................................................... 42

Hierarchy..................................................

.............................................................. 42 Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy List

Creating Parent/Child Relationships........

Groups Within Hierarchy.......................................................................................... 44

Animation Toolbar...................................

Rotation Toolbar ........................................................................................................... 45

Lighting Toolbar ......................................

Gallery Toolbar............................................................................................................. 46

Gallery Toolbar........................................

Gallery Management................................................................................................. 47

Working With Objects .............................

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Working With Objects Overview ................................................................................. 53

Object Properties........................................................................................................... 53

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t .............................................................. 59

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Object Properties....................................................................................................... 53

Object Properties......................................

Name......................................................................................................................... 54

Hide..........................................................

Lock .......................................................................................................................... 55

Refraction Index ......................................

Use V4 Texture Coordinates..................................................................................... 57

Smoothing ................................................

Rendering Options .................................................................................................... 58

Mesh Morpher Properties ........................

Selecting Objects .......................................................................................................... 58

Selecting Individual Objects ....................

Selecting Multiple Objects........................................................................................ 59

Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy Lis

Selecting Grouped Objects ....................................................................................... 60

Positioning Objects ..................................

Click-and-Drag ......................................................................................................... 60

Nudge Keys..............................................

Constrain Axis .......................................................................................................... 62

Numerical Positioning .............................

Reset Position............................................................................................................ 63

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Table Of Contents

Pivot Points ............................................................................................................... 63

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Rotating Objects............................................................................................................ 65

Rotation Trackball ...................................

In-Viewport Rotation Controls ................................................................................. 66

Numeric Rotation.....................................

Reset Rotation Button ............................................................................................... 68

Scaling Objects ........................................

Scaling Objects ......................................................................................................... 68

Scaling Mode ...........................................

Numeric Scaling........................................................................................................ 69

Shear ........................................................

Negative Scaling ....................................................................................................... 70

Grouping Objects .....................................

Cutting, Copying, Pasting and Deleted Objects............................................................ 72

Primitives .................................................

Primitives Overview ..................................................................................................... 73

Inserting Primitives..................................

Sphere ........................................................................................................................... 73

GeoSphere................................................

Box (Cube).................................................................................................................... 74

Pyramid ....................................................

Cone .............................................................................................................................. 75

Cylinder....................................................

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Torus ............................................................................................................................. 77

Plane.............................................................................................................................. 77

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Polyhedron .................................................................................................................... 78

Polyhedron ...............................................

Tetrahedron ............................................................................................................... 78

Polyhedron Families ................................

Cube/Octahedron ...................................................................................................... 79

Dodecahedron/Icosahedron......................

Star 1 ......................................................................................................................... 79

Star 2 ........................................................

Family Parameters .................................................................................................... 80

Text ..........................................................

Text Overview .............................................................................................................. 83

Inserting a Text Object.............................

Text Property Page........................................................................................................ 83

Bevels.......................................................

............................................................................................ 84 Bevels Property Page

Bevels.......................................................

Bevel Style Gallery................................................................................................... 86

Depth........................................................

Face ........................................................................................................................... 87

Smoothness ..............................................

Mesh Quality............................................................................................................. 87

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Sizing Property Page..................................................................................................... 88

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Editing Characters Individually .................................................................................... 88

Convert Text to Paths...............................

Convert Text to Characters ........................................................................................... 89

Text to Mesh ............................................

Booleans............................................................................................................................ 91

About Boolean Operations.......................

Types of Booleans......................................................................................................... 92

Creating Boolean Objects ........................

Editing Boolean Objects ............................................................................................... 96

Extrusion Editor .......................................

Extrusion Editor Overview ........................................................................................... 99

How It Works...........................................

The Grid ...................................................................................................................... 100

Model Gallery ..........................................

Main Toolbar .............................................................................................................. 102

Pen Tool ...................................................

Selection Tool ......................................................................................................... 102

Corner Point .............................................

Curve Point ............................................................................................................. 102

Tangent Point ...........................................

Close Shape Button................................................................................................. 103

Magnifying Glass.....................................

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Shape Tools............................................................................................................. 104

N-Gon ..................................................................................................................... 104

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Background Image Button ...................................................................................... 104

Undo/Redo Buttons..................................

Animate Button....................................................................................................... 104

Drawing Shapes .......................................

Straight-Line Shapes............................................................................................... 105

Curved-Line Shapes.................................

Multi-Point Shapes.................................................................................................. 105

Working with complex shapes.................

Editing Shapes ............................................................................................................ 106

Editing Points...........................................

Point Properties....................................................................................................... 107

Editing Paths ............................................

Free Transform Tools ............................................................................................. 109

Combining and Breaking Apart ...............

Editing Imported AI and EPS Extrusions ................................................................... 110

Background Image ...................................

Path Morphing ............................................................................................................ 111

Extrusion Properties.................................

Working With Extruded Objects in Advanced Modeler............................................. 113

Lathe Editor .............................................

Lathe Editor Overview................................................................................................ 115

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How It Works.............................................................................................................. 115

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Editor ......................................................... 118

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odeler......................................................... 122

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Creating a Lathed Object ............................................................................................ 116

Crossing the Axis of Rotation..................

Model Gallery ............................................................................................................. 117

Copying and Pasting from the Extrusion

Lathe Properties .......................................................................................................... 119

Lathe Properties .......................................

Sweep Angle ........................................................................................................... 119

Segmentation............................................

Radial Smoothing.................................................................................................... 120

Background Image ...................................

Path Morphing ............................................................................................................ 121

Working with Lathes in the Advanced M

Importing AI and EPS Files............................................................................................ 123

AI and EPS Files Overview .....................

How to do it ................................................................................................................ 123

Materials of Imported AI and EPS Files..

Layers (Depth Progression) ........................................................................................ 124

Editing Your Imported AI and EPS Artw

Path Morphing ............................................................................................................ 126

Tips for Building Clean Artwork.............

Text ......................................................................................................................... 127

Strokes and Fills.......................................

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Excluded Shapes ..................................................................................................... 127

3D Drawings ........................................................................................................... 128

s................................................................. 129

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on........................................................... 132

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Bitmap Images (Rasterized Artwork) ..................................................................... 128

Troubleshooting AI/EPS Import Problem

Importing 3DS and DXF Files........................................................................................ 131

Importing 3DS and DXF Files Overview

3DS File Format.......................................................................................................... 131

3DS File Format.......................................

Model Mesh - From Any Application .................................................................... 132

Materials/Textures - From Any Applicati

Animations - From 3ds max ................................................................................... 132

Cameras - From 3ds max .........................

Lights - From 3ds max............................................................................................ 132

3DS Properties .........................................

DXF File Format......................................................................................................... 133

Advanced Modeler...................................

Advanced Modeler Overview..................................................................................... 135

Modeler Default Settings .........................

3D Terminology 101................................................................................................... 136

Scene Editor Object vs. Mesh Objects.....

Polygons.................................................................................................................. 137

Normal .....................................................

Moving Between Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler............................................. 138

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Edit Mesh Button ........................................................................................................ 139

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p, Bottom, Left and Right) ................... 144

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e Only)................................................... 152

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Combine With Selection ............................................................................................. 141

Break Out Selection .................................

Working With Viewports............................................................................................ 142

Viewport Overview..................................

Customizing Viewport Layout................................................................................ 142

Viewport Menu Button ............................

Axis Guide .............................................................................................................. 143

Orthographic Viewports (Front, Back, To

Perspective Viewport .............................................................................................. 145

Viewport Display Modes .........................

Draw Backfaces ...................................................................................................... 146

Getting Started .........................................

Primitive-Based Meshes ......................................................................................... 147

Model Gallery ..........................................

General Properties....................................................................................................... 149

General Property Page .............................

Selection...................................................................................................................... 150

Select Tools..............................................

Select Cursor........................................................................................................... 151

Mouseover Selection (Editing Mesh Mod

Selecting and Deselecting ....................................................................................... 153

Multiple Selection....................................

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Additional Selection Options.................................................................................. 155

Troubleshooting Selection Problems ...................................................................... 155

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Selection Property Page .......................................................................................... 155

Soft Select ................................................

Edit Menu................................................................................................................ 159

Surface Groups.........................................

Surface Groups Overview....................................................................................... 160

Surface Groups Property Page .................

Group All and Ungroup All .................................................................................... 162

And Separate Selection ............................

Transform Tools.......................................................................................................... 163

Transform Tools.......................................

Transform Cursors .................................................................................................. 163

Transform Tool Property Pages ...............

Constraining Transforms ........................................................................................ 164

Move ........................................................

Rotate ...................................................................................................................... 166

Scale.........................................................

Extrude.................................................................................................................... 169

Flatten ......................................................

Mirror...................................................................................................................... 172

Roundness ................................................

Subdivide ................................................................................................................ 174

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Table Of Contents

Edge ........................................................................................................................ 176

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dered Outlines ....................................... 184

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Weld........................................................................................................................ 178

Delete Empty Faces .................................

Align To...................................................................................................................... 180

Align To Axis ..........................................

Align To Surface..................................................................................................... 181

Smoothing Groups ...................................

Smoothing Groups Overview ................................................................................. 182

Assigning Smoothing Groups ..................

Selecting Smoothing Groups .................................................................................. 183

Clearing Smoothing Groups ....................

Unsmoothing Surfaces ............................................................................................ 184

Using Smoothing Groups to Control Ren

Mesh Morpher............................................................................................................. 185

Mesh Morpher Overview.........................

Morph Groups......................................................................................................... 185

Morph_Targets.........................................

Basic Texture Control ................................................................................................. 187

Materials ..................................................

Material Overview ...................................................................................................... 189

Types of Materials ...................................

Standard Materials .................................................................................................. 189

Bitmap-based Textures ............................

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Bump Map and Procedural Materials ..................................................................... 190

Material Gallery .......................................................................................................... 192

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Working with the Material Gallery......................................................................... 192

Applying Materials ..................................

Applying Materials to Multiple Objects ................................................................. 193

Material Drop Surface Target ..................

Saving Materials to the Material Gallery................................................................ 194

Material Property Page ............................

Material Property Page ........................................................................................... 194

Editing an Instance of a Material .............

Material Editor ............................................................................................................ 195

Material Editor .........................................

Name....................................................................................................................... 196

Finish........................................................

Color ....................................................................................................................... 197

Texture .....................................................

Preview Window and Generate Preview Button .................................................... 200

To Create or Edit a Material ....................

Working With Bitmap Textures.................................................................................. 204

Importing Bitmap Textures......................

Bitmap Wrap Types - Automapping....................................................................... 205

Applying Bitmaps in Scene Editor ..........

Basic Texture Control ............................................................................................. 209

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Environments .............................................................................................................. 210

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Environments .......................................................................................................... 210

Environment Gallery................................

Creating an Environment ........................................................................................ 211

Lighting....................................................

Lighting Overview...................................................................................................... 213

Types of Lights ........................................

Lighting Gallery.......................................................................................................... 214

Light Properties........................................

Trackball Lighting ...................................................................................................... 217

Trackball Lighting ...................................

Adding and Subtracting Trackball Lights............................................................... 217

Positioning Trackball Lights....................

Scene Lights................................................................................................................ 218

Scene Lights.............................................

Selecting Scene Lights............................................................................................ 219

Positioning Scene Lights..........................

Cameras........................................................................................................................... 221

Cameras Overview...................................

Camera Mode.............................................................................................................. 221

Viewport Menu ........................................

Camera Property Page................................................................................................. 222

Standard Cameras ....................................

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Standard Cameras ................................................................................................... 223

Panning ................................................................................................................... 224

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Zooming.................................................................................................................. 224

Frame Options..........................................

Reset Camera Location ........................................................................................... 225

Frame All Objects Button ........................

Default Target Camera................................................................................................ 225

Scene Cameras .........................................

Scene Cameras ........................................................................................................ 227

Selecting Scene Cameras .........................

Free Cameras .......................................................................................................... 228

Target Cameras ........................................

Rendering Camera Views ........................................................................................... 230

Animation ................................................

Animate Button........................................................................................................... 231

Animation Timeline Toolbar ...................

Animation Timeline Toolbar .................................................................................. 231

Selection Name ........................................

Current Frame Indicator.......................................................................................... 232

Animation Properties ...............................

Playback Controls ................................................................................................... 232

Frames Per Second...................................

Loop Animation ...................................................................................................... 233

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Animation Gallery ...................................................................................................... 233

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Animation Gallery .................................................................................................. 233

Animation Drop Target............................

Saving an Animation to the Animation Gallery ..................................................... 235

Advanced Keyframe Animation ..............

Keyframe Animation .............................................................................................. 235

Start and Stop Keyframe Controls ...........

Adjusting Animation Length .................................................................................. 236

Copying and Pasting Keyframes..............

Deleting Keyframes ................................................................................................ 238

Linear Frame Spacing ..............................

Easing...................................................................................................................... 239

Animation Path Mode..............................

Editing the Animation Path..................................................................................... 239

Bezier Path Properties..............................

Orient to Path .......................................................................................................... 240

Setting Objects to Existing Paths.............

Mesh Morphing........................................................................................................... 242

Mesh Morpher Property Page ..................

Animating a Mesh Morph....................................................................................... 242

Target Percent ..........................................

Animation Examples................................................................................................... 243

Animating Scale.......................................

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Animating Materials ............................................................................................... 244

Animating Lights .................................................................................................... 244

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Animating Cameras ................................................................................................ 245

Hierarchical Animations ..........................

Path Morphing ........................................................................................................ 247

Previewing and Exporting........................

Preview and Export Editor Overview......................................................................... 249

Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting..

Render Preview........................................................................................................... 250

Render Preview........................................

Generate All Frames ............................................................................................... 251

Generate Selected Frames........................

Select Every Nth Frame .......................................................................................... 251

Selecting Frames......................................

Lock Selected Frames ............................................................................................. 253

Playback Controls ....................................

Export to File .............................................................................................................. 253

Export To File ..........................................

Export All Frames................................................................................................... 254

Export Selected Frames ...........................

Rendering With RAViX ................................................................................................. 255

RAViX Overview ....................................

Vector Output Options................................................................................................ 255

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Table Of Contents

General........................................................................................................................ 256

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General.................................................................................................................... 256

Target File Type.......................................

File Optimization Settings ...................................................................................... 263

Save Render Settings ...............................

Fill Options ................................................................................................................. 266

Fill Options ..............................................

Cartoon Single Color Fill........................................................................................ 267

Cartoon Average Color Fill .....................

Cartoon Two Color Fill .......................................................................................... 268

Cartoon Four Color Fill ...........................

Cartoon Full Color Fill............................................................................................ 269

Area Gradient Shading.............................

Mesh Gradient Shading........................................................................................... 270

Include Specular Highlights.....................

Include Reflections ................................................................................................. 271

Include Shadows ......................................

Transparency........................................................................................................... 273

Edge Options............................................

Edge Options .......................................................................................................... 273

Edge Type................................................

Include Hidden Edges ............................................................................................. 275

Hidden Transparent Edges.......................

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Outlines at Intersections.......................................................................................... 276

Include Detail Edges ............................................................................................... 277

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Detail Edge Angle................................................................................................... 278

Line Weight .............................................

Line Color ............................................................................................................... 278

Pen Outlines .............................................

Rendering With EMO..................................................................................................... 283

EMO Ray Tracer Overview.....................

General........................................................................................................................ 283

Target File Type.......................................

File Level .................................................................................................................... 285

Bitmap Compression................................

Color Depth................................................................................................................. 285

Antialias Quality ......................................

Working With Exported Files......................................................................................... 287

Working With Exported Files Overview ....................................................................

Publishing SWF files directly to Web ........................................................................ 287

SmartLayer SWFT Files ..........................

SmartLayer SWFT Files using the Swift 3D Importer ........................................... 287

Swift 3D Importer ....................................

Importing SWFT files ............................................................................................. 288

Layers.......................................................

Utilizing SmartLayer Technology .......................................................................... 290

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Table Of Contents

Updating Imported SWFT Files.............................................................................. 290

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SWF Files in Flash...................................................................................................... 290

Importing SWF Files Into Flash ..............

Working With SWF Files in Flash.......................................................................... 291

Optimizing in Flash..................................

Exporting to the 3DS File Format............................................................................... 292

Export to Papervision3D..........................

Exporting......................................................................................................................... 297

Exporting to the 3DS File Format............

Exporting to T3D ........................................................................................................ 297

Appendix A: Menus.................................

Scene Editor Menus .................................................................................................... 299

Extrusion and Lathe Editor Menu............

Advanced Modeler Menu ........................................................................................... 303

Preview and Export Editor Menu ............

Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts ................................................................................... 307

Scene Editor Shortcuts.............................

Extrusion and Lathe Editor Keyboard Shortcuts ........................................................ 308

Advanced Modeler Shortcuts...................

Preview and Export Editor Shortcuts.......................................................................... 311

Index ........................................................

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1

Welcome to Swift 3D Before we get too far into the details of this Help System, we would like you to understand a little bit about our company and its philosophy. You see, just because we build software doesn't mean that we have to function like every other company that builds software. In fact, I'd like you to put most of what you know about software documentation into a dark closet and lock the door, because this is not your typical Help System.

Our goals at Electric Rain are simple: build world-class software, conduct business with unconditional integrity, have gobs of fun and share that fun with our users. And that's where you come in. We can create the absolute best 3D tool in the industry, but until we educate you on how to use it, we've accomplished nothing. In the past, Help Systems have served the purpose of conveying one important message: what the software can do. The good ones take it a step further and teach the important lesson of how to actually use the software. Hopefully you will find that the Swift 3D Help System accomplishes both those tasks efficiently. But there is still one thing that has been missing from the world of software documentation and that's the sharing of the fun.

We had an absolute blast creating Swift 3D, and my goal is to share that same excitement with you while learning the application. My instinct tells me that you want more from a Help System than just a reference document. I believe that you want to walk away from the experience with an implicit understanding of Swift 3D. You want to do more than just learn what notes this powerful instrument can play, you want to learn how to create beautiful music with it. And maybe, just maybe, you want to actually enjoy the experience of learning new software and have a few laughs in the process.

So sit back, relax and just let it rain.

3

What Swift 3D Is All About How did we get here? The answer to that question gets more and more complex through each version release of Swift 3D as our little 3D tool grows up to be a full-fledged 3D application. Here's a quick study of Swift 3D's history…

Swift 3D has always had a fairly clear focus in life, declaring unabashedly that it was all about creating quick and easy 3D for Flash. Furthermore, with its initial focus on vector output via the RAViX rendering engine, users typically came knocking on Swift 3D's door looking for one core solution - generating 3D vector animations.

But of course, things change.

As Flash's breadth grew, so did Swift 3D's, and before long we included a second rendering engine that provided the ability to output photorealistic raster output. And not to overlook its roots, we have continued our development efforts towards upgrading the vector output which bolstered RAViX's position as the industry's premier 3D vector rendering engine.

Meanwhile, back at the interface, Swift 3D has been introducing more and more modeling capabilities that suit our most abundant customers - people with lots of design skills but little 3D background. Tools were included that made the leap from 2D to 3D design as comfortable as possible for all those Flashers out there tantalized by the thought of easily creating 3D graphics and animations for their Flash projects.

And since no application is an island, Electric Rain has also spent significant time constructing easily accessible and fast-moving bridges designed to get your 3D content out of Swift 3D and into the world of Flash. When playing the role of a complimentary tool, we've felt it prudent to maintain a good working relationship with the application we compliment.

So that's Swift 3D's illustrious past in a nutshell, which brings us back to the present day and the task at hand - trying to summarize our now mature and highly-potent 3D application in a few short pages of this User Guide. You see, as Swift 3D continues to develop in features and capabilities, so too does it develop in its utility. Whereas we used to be able to clearly define our typical user and his or her typical workflow, now Swift 3D is faced with a multitude of users coming into the application with a multitude of things they are trying to achieve.

Fortunately, this growing set of user variables and disparate end-games need not concern you. I am happy to report that although Swift 3D has developed an increasingly rich set of capabilities, it still does one thing really, really well - quickly and easily create 3D graphics and animation. And this is critical because whether you're a Flash designer, a 3D artist, a 2D illustrator, a CAD professional or a Web design hobbyist, Swift 3D now provides ALL of the tools you need to get your mission accomplished in the least amount of time with the highest quality results.

How did we get here? The answer to that question gets more and more complex through each version release of Swift 3D as our little 3D tool grows up to be a full-fledged 3D application. Here's a quick study of Swift 3D's history…


Swift 3D has always had a fairly clear focus in life, declaring unabashedly that it was all about creating quick and easy 3D for Flash. Furthermore, with its initial focus on vector output via the RAViX rendering engine, users typically came knocking on Swift 3D's door looking for one core solution - generating 3D vector animations.

But of course, things change.

As Flash's breadth grew, so did Swift 3D's, and before long we included a second rendering engine that provided the ability to output photorealistic raster output. And not to overlook its roots, we have continued our development efforts towards upgrading the vector output which bolstered RAViX's position as the industry's premier 3D vector rendering engine.

Meanwhile, back at the interface, Swift 3D has been introducing more and more modeling capabilities that suit our most abundant customers - people with lots of design skills but little 3D background. Tools were included that made the leap from 2D to 3D design as comfortable as possible for all those Flashers out there tantalized by the thought of easily creating 3D graphics and animations for their Flash projects.

And since no application is an island, Electric Rain has also spent significant time constructing easily accessible and fast-moving bridges designed to get your 3D content out of Swift 3D and into the world of Flash. When playing the role of a complimentary tool, we've felt it prudent to maintain a good working relationship with the application we compliment.

So that's Swift 3D's illustrious past in a nutshell, which brings us back to the present day and the task at hand - trying to summarize our now mature and highly-potent 3D application in a few short pages of this User Guide. You see, as Swift 3D continues to develop in features and capabilities, so too does it develop in its utility. Whereas we used to be able to clearly define our typical user and his or her typical workflow, now Swift 3D is faced with a multitude of users coming into the application with a multitude of things they are trying to achieve.

Fortunately, this growing set of user variables and disparate end-games need not concern you. I am happy to report that although Swift 3D has developed an increasingly rich set of capabilities, it still does one thing really, really well - quickly and easily create 3D graphics and animation. And this is critical because whether you're a Flash designer, a 3D artist, a 2D illustrator, a CAD professional or a Web design hobbyist, Swift 3D now provides ALL of the tools you need to get your mission accomplished in the least amount of time with the highest quality results.

A Workflow for Everyone A Workflow for Everyone

Regardless of your 3D experience or design intent, this chapter is included in order to help you get your arms around the concept of Swift 3D as quickly as possible. We're not here to answer specifics - those come later. We're here to look at the workflow and toolset in an "every-user" sort of way. And despite the diversity of goals our users now come into Swift 3D with, there is an underlying series of steps that everyone will end up moving through, regardless of your intended outcome. Here are those steps:

1. Building 3D models 2. Creating 3D scenes 3. Rendering 3D output 4. Integrating 3D content

4

What Swift 3D Is All About

We'll go through these steps one at a time and point out some key functional areas of Swift 3D.

Building 3D models

Creating 3D objects is at the core of any 3D application, but there are a variety of different strategies you can take within Swift 3D to populate your scene with these models.

Importing existing artwork and models

Since many graphic designers have already spent time creating 2D vector artwork, one of Swift 3D's most convenient tools is the AI/EPS importer that instantly converts vector artwork into a 3D object. In addition, you can utilize the scads of free models available on the Web, or any existing 3D assets you or your clients already have, and bring them into Swift 3D in either the 3DS or DXF format.

Pulling from internal galleries

Once something has been modeled, there's rarely ever a need to go through the "create-from-scratch" process again with that particular model. Swift 3D includes a model gallery as well as a Bezier path gallery that come populated with pre-built artwork designed to expedite any modeling tasks at hand. And of course you can save your own creations into these galleries as well as gather resources from fellow members of the Swift 3D community.

Using basic building blocks

3D primitives are objects that serve as the fundamental building blocks for modeling. You can choose from a variety of primitive shapes, such as boxes, spheres, cones and even the occasional dodecahedron, which can be modified and assembled into more complex models. Or if you're looking for 3D text, Swift 3D will convert any TrueType or PostScript font installed on your computer into a 3D model.

Drawing 2D shapes to create 3D objects

Since most of our users are pretty handy with a Bezier pen, Swift 3D serves up two modeling tools that use basic paths to create more complex 3D objects. The Extrusion Editor is designed to give your 2D paths both depth and bevels, and the Lathe Editor will convert your paths into radial 3D surfaces.

Advanced Modeling interface

This feature is less a modeling tool and more an entire modeling environment. When you've hit a point where the supplied shapes and your 2D drawing skills aren't going the full distance, the Advanced Modeler is here to take you the rest of the way to the land of total and complete modeling power and versatility. In this interface you have full editing control over the polygonal structure of your models as well as the ability to apply detailed textures to their surfaces through a UV texture coordinate system.

Adding colors and materials to your objects

We don't live in a monochrome world, and neither should your models. Swift 3D provides a variety of tools to help you color and texture your creations. Whether it's dragging and dropping a supplied material from the galleries, editing an existing material to suit your needs or creating a

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bitmap or procedural texture from scratch, you'll have no problems surfacing your 3D creations for optimal visual impact.

Creating 3D Scenes

Although 3D models comprise the basics of a project, they rarely serve as an ending point. Lights, cameras and animation are usually integral parts of what is to become an entire 3D scene.

Using cameras to view your scene

Swift 3D comes equipped with a handful of standard cameras that serve as windows into your scene, and you won't have to know a thing about optics or cinematography to use them. But as you grow more comfortable with your skills you'll find that great visual effects can be created through the use of Scene Cameras, which are integrated with your scene and fully mobile, just like the cameras used to create big-time Hollywood movies.

Lighting your scene

Although you won't be forced to touch a single light bulb or switch, the world of lighting can get as rich as you care to make it. By editing existing lights, adding your own custom lights or even animating lighting schemes, you'll see that showing your scene in the best possible light is both easy and powerful.

Lighting Gallery

Realizing that it's not everybody's dream to be a Key Grip, Swift 3D includes an entire gallery full of pre-configured lighting schemes so you can harness the creative juices from the 3D gurus of the world. And when you step up to create your own illuminatory masterpiece, the gallery will be there with open arms to archive your creation for future use.

Animating objects within your scene.

Of course 3D images are cool, but 3D animation is what most of our users are after. Swift 3D supplies you with a keyframe-based timeline designed to make animating a breeze. You tell Swift 3D what your scene should look like at various snapshots in time and its tweening system will figure out the details for you. Or use the super-simple approach and just drop a pre-built animation from the gallery onto your objects.

Advanced animation tools

When it's motion control you're looking for, Swift 3D hands over the wheel and says, “you drive.” Swift 3D offers full animation path editing through an in-scene Bezier curve editor, letting you map out precise object, camera and light animations. And it's a simple process to link both cameras and lights to other objects using Swift 3D’s Hierarchy system so cameras and lights can easily track objects throughout an animation.

If that isn’t enough to satisfy your requirements, Swift 3D also has your blinking, bending, twisting, contortional needs covered. No longer restricted to just animating entire objects, the Mesh Morpher provides you with the ability to animate the vertices of a solid mesh. With the option to animate your Advanced Modeler creations or even imported 3D models at your disposal, now masterpieces of motion that may have been previously difficult or even impossible to create can be achieved.

6

What Swift 3D Is All About

Rendering 3D Output

Herein lies the magic of transforming your 3D scene into a usable format. Depending on your production goals, Swift 3D is prepped and ready to render exactly what you need.

Creating vector content with RAViX

In its ongoing mission to please all vectorphiles of the world, the RAViX rendering engine lies at the heart of Swift 3D and is the single most common reason users have flocked to this application. RAViX is responsible for taking the 3D scene you have assembled within the Swift 3D interface and converting it to vectors. We can't tell you exactly how it does it, but we CAN tell you that the fourth incarnation of this ingenious technology offers signifcant speed advantages, shadow density controls, improvements to the realism of transparent materials, pen style outlines, enhanced SVG and EPS output, as well as popular movie file formats (AVI, FLV and QT). In essence, there are so many output variations that I have to refer you to the Rendering With RAViX chapter for the full details.

Creating raster content with EMO

Despite the beauty of scalable vector content, there's definitely a cap on the realism you can generate with RAViX, and thus the existence of EMO, Electric Rain's very own ray tracing raster rendering engine. And that long list of adjectives I just used can all be summed up in a single word - Photorealism. If you're shooting for 3D content that simply blows people away, EMO will get you there with its advanced light calculations and detailed bitmap material rendering. Besides the host of static image format options for export, we also give the option to export EMO rendered scenes to AVI, FLV and QT movie file formats.

Utilizing SmartLayer Technology

Ever since Flash MX stormed onto the scene with its extensibility architecture, Electric Rain has had the opportunity to get more creative in how RAViX renders files since Adobe provides us with the ability to go beyond the typical SWF import process. SmartLayer Technology works hand-in-hand with the Flash MX/MX 2004/8/CS3/CS4 Importer (see next section) to break apart your 3D scene into individual layers that can be automatically imported into Flash's Library. This technology provides exceptional ease of integration with your Flash content, creates smaller files, allows for more design creativity and is highly recommended for anyone using Flash MX or higher.

Integrating 3D Content

Swift 3D is designed to be a content creation tool, not a content viewing tool. For this reason, anything you render from Swift 3D, whether using RAViX or EMO, will need to be displayed to your viewing audience using some additional tools or technology.

Distributing SWF files directly

Output from Swift 3D in the SWF format, both vector and raster-based, can be viewed directly in two ways. First is if your viewers have the standalone Flash Player installed on their computers, which is typically only the case if those computers also have the Flash authoring tool installed as well. Second is the method of using a Web browser and its associated Flash Player plug-in to display SWF files from Swift 3D. Many of our users who have no post-production editing needs simply publish their Swift 3D-generated content to the Web using SWF files embedded in their HTML pages.

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Importing SWF output into Flash

A larger number of our users DO want to somehow further edit or integrate their 3D work in Flash, and the SWF format provides an excellent vehicle for making the journey from Swift 3D to Flash. Both vector and raster renderings contained within an SWF file will be comprised of a series of keyframes (or a single keyframe if it's a single-frame rendering) that will arrive neatly onto Flash's timeline in their own separate layer upon import. For the raster-based SWF files there will be a series of images on that layer, and for vector-based files there will be a series of vector-based drawings made up of lines and fills, which can be further broken apart and edited on a frame-by-frame basis if needed.

Leveraging the Flash MX Importer

As mentioned in the SmartLayer section, those using Flash MX and higher have the ability to use the included Flash Importer to transport files from Swift 3D to Flash via Electric Rain's .SWFT proprietary file format. Contained in these files is layered 3D content that the Importer interprets and places into Flash's library as a movie clip or directly onto the stage. The Flash Importer is installed automatically for you with Swift 3D when a compatible version of Flash is detected on your machine.

Using raster-based file formats

The EMO ray tracer is well-versed with the standard raster file formats such as JPEG, BMP and PNG to name a few, as well as the AVI, FLV and QT movie file formats. When rendering to these formats you'll find that the files behave just like any other image/movie file you've worked with in the past. Whether publishing them directly to the Web, editing them further in Photoshop or Fireworks, or attaching them to an email, these files are about as universal as you get.

Using vector-based file formats besides SWF

Yes, Swift 3D tries to be as agnostic as possible when it comes to rendering output, so you'll find both AI and EPS as file types within the RAViX rendering options. These files can be imported into vector-based drawing applications like Illustrator and Freehand, making Swift 3D an excellent choice for creating 3D illustrations. Additionally we have included the SVG and XAML formats as an option for those interested in these potentially powerful distribution formats. As with raster rendering, there is also the ability to export to the AVI, FLV and QT movie file formats.

Exporting True 3D Data

Although not related to either of our rendering engines, this is a good place to mention that it is possible to export your Swift 3D creations in a true 3D file format for use in other applications. While we think Swift 3D is a pretty darn great program, we recognize that no program is an island and that the workflow of designers, animators and 3D enthusiasts are typically filled with a host of software packages. In a step to allow our users to fully set their creations free, Swift 3D includes the option to export individual objects or an entire scene to the popular 3DS file format.

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Getting Up and Running Help System Standards

As is the case with any form of communication, there are some standards I'd like to cover so we're all speaking the same language here.

1. Click means press the mouse button once and release it. 2. Right click on the Windows platform means press the right mouse button once and

release it. 3. CTRL + click on the Macintosh platform means depressing the CTRL key while clicking

the mouse button. 4. Double click means press the mouse button twice in rapid succession. 5. Click-and-drag means press and hold the mouse button while you move the cursor. 6. Select means choose or highlight an item by clicking on it. 7. Key names are given in caps (CTRL, SHIFT, ENTER, etc.). When keys should be

pressed simultaneously, their names are connected by a ‘+’ sign. 8. Menu commands are referred to by their Menu Name > then the Menu Item > followed by

any further Menu Item Subcategories. For example, Setup > Materials means open the Setup menu and choose the Materials menu item.

Related Topics: Nick's Tips Tutorials PDF for User Guide

Help System Standards

As is the case with any form of communication, there are some standards I'd like to cover so we're all speaking the same language here.

1. Click means press the mouse button once and release it. 2. Right click on the Windows platform means press the right mouse button once and

release it. 3. CTRL + click on the Macintosh platform means depressing the CTRL key while clicking

the mouse button. 4. Double click means press the mouse button twice in rapid succession. 5. Click-and-drag means press and hold the mouse button while you move the cursor. 6. Select means choose or highlight an item by clicking on it. 7. Key names are given in caps (CTRL, SHIFT, ENTER, etc.). When keys should be

pressed simultaneously, their names are connected by a ‘+’ sign. 8. Menu commands are referred to by their Menu Name > then the Menu Item > followed by

any further Menu Item Subcategories. For example, Setup > Materials means open the Setup menu and choose the Materials menu item.

Related Topics: Nick's Tips Tutorials

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PDF for User Guide

Installation System Requirements

Before you install Swift 3D, make sure that your machine meets these minimum system requirements:

Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, Win 2000, XP or Vista 600 MHz CPU (1.2 GHz recommended) 128 MB of RAM/256 MB of RAM for XP (512 MB recommended) Video resolution 1024x768x65k 0 MB free hard disk space CD-ROM Drive

Macintosh

Runs on Macintosh 0S 8.6 and higher, Supported on OS X 10.2 and higher 400 MHz CPU (1 GHz recommended) 128 MB of application RAM (512 MB recommended) Video resolution 1024x768x65k (Color set to Millions) 40 MB free hard disk space CD-ROM Drive

Enhancing the Performance of Swift 3D

Swift 3D will take advantage of any hardware acceleration that your computer's video card may utilize. If you experience any problems with the display of the Swift 3D interface, go to Setup > User Preferences and turn off the Allow OpenGL Hardware Acceleration option. If the display issues continue, then the problem lies with the OpenGL implementation of your video card. Try downloading the latest driver for your card from the manufacturer’s site to see if a fix is available. If the display problems persist you will have to run Swift 3D with hardware acceleration disabled.

The only other factors that will increase rendering performance are CPU speed and the amount of RAM you have installed. When using dual CPUs, Swift 3D will only utilize one of them while rendering.

Installing

Full Release

If you have a previous version of Swift 3D installed on your machine you do not need to uninstall it before installing Swift 3D v6.00. Swift 3D v6.00 will be installed to a separate directory and will not have any interaction at all with previous versions. (User preferences will not be transferred to Swift 3D v6.00 from previous versions of the program.)

To install Swift 3D from the downloaded installer file: 1. Locate the install file:

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Getting Up and Running

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Win: The file is named "Swift3DV6.00Release-XXX.exe" where XXX is the current build number of Swift 3D V6.0 Mac: The file is named "SwiftZAM3DV6.00Release-XXX.hqx" where XXX is the current build number of Swift 3D V6.0

2. Run the installation program: Win: Double click on the "Swift3DV6.00Release-XXX.exe" file. Mac: Double click on the "SwiftZAM3DV6.00Release-XXX.hqx" archive to begin unpacking it. After unpacking, you will have a file named "Swift 3D V6.00 Installer." Double click on this file.

3. Jump to number 3 in section "To install Swift 3DSwift 3D from the CD-ROM."

To install Swift 3D from the CD-ROM: 1. Place the CD-ROM into the CD drive. 2. Run the installation program.

Win: If the auto run doesn't initialize the CD and launch the installer, navigate to the CD-ROM and double click the 'setup.exe' file. Mac: Double click on the CD and navigate to 'Swift 3D Installer' and then double click on that file.

3. Follow the Installation instructions to complete the install. Unless you chose a different location, Swift 3D will install to the following location on your machine:

Win: Program Files\Electric Rain\Swift 3D\Version 6 Mac: Applications\Swift 3D\Version 6.00

4. You will be asked for your serial number the first time you attempt to run Swift 3D after installation. Subsequent maintenance installs will not require your serial number to be re-entered.

5. When Swift 3D asks you to register your product, go ahead and take the extra minute of your time to do it because you will need to be registered to get future maintenance updates and to access discounts on future version releases.

Related Topics: Maintenance Builds Uninstalling Troubleshooting

Maintenance Builds

Once a full version of Swift 3D has been installed on your machine, you can download update builds from the Product Update Site.

To install an update build: 1. Go to the Help > Product Updates from within the Swift 3D Interface. 2. Click on the "Download Latest Swift3DV6.00 Update" button to begin the download

process. NOTE: On the Mac you will be prompted to download a file named "download.asp." Please do not change the name of this file as it will corrupt your download. Leave the file name as "download.asp" and the correct file will be downloaded.

3. Once the download is complete, make sure Swift 3D is not running and double-click on the update installer.

4. The installer will automatically find your Swift 3D installation and install any new features or bug fixes.


Related Topics: Full Release Uninstalling Troubleshooting

Uninstalling

To uninstall Swift 3D (Windows): 1. Start > Programs > Swift 3D Version 6.00 > Uninstall Swift 3D. You can also go to

Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Software Programs, scroll down to Swift 3D Version 6.00 in the program list, select it, and click on the Change/Remove button.

2. A Modify, Repair or Remove dialog will appear. Click on the Remove radio button and then hit Continue.

3. The Install Wizard will run through the process of uninstalling Swift 3D from your machine.

To uninstall Swift 3D (Macintosh) 1. Select the Applications\Swift 3D\Version 6.00 and drag it into the Trash. 2. Empty the Trash.

Related Topics: Full Release Maintenance Builds Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Install/Uninstall Problems

1. Errors that occur during the install process are typically specific to the installer and not Swift 3D. If an error occurs please email the complete text of the error message to [email protected].

2. If the program informs you that the serial number you entered is not valid begin by double checking that you have accurately entered the number. If you have an invalid serial number please contact [email protected].

3. If you are asked to register the program each time you start up Swift 3D it is likely that you did not originally install and register the program with full Administrative privileges. Please contact your System Administrator with questions about Administrative privileges.

Related Topics: Full Release Maintenance Builds Uninstalling Troubleshooting

Additional Resources

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Nick's Tips

Strewn throughout the Help System you'll find ‘Nick’s Tips,’ which are tricks, shortcuts and hints that may expedite your journey through the world of Swift 3D. Despite Swift 3D's transparency of functionality, there are always subtle nuances that can be

overlooked by the virgin and veteran user alike. After playing with this application for over 7 years now, I'm happy to share any relevant knowledge I've acquired along the way.

Related Topics: PDF for User Guide Tutorials

Online Tutorials

Swift 3D is an easy-to-use tool, but as much as the writer in me hates to admit, nothing compares with the power of visual demonstration. You can find tutorials covering everything from the basics to advanced modeling and animation techniques in the tutorial section of www.erain.com, which is accessible directly from the Web Assistant tab in the main toolbar. We’ll be continuing to add content to the list of online tutorials, so you can check in from time to time to see if there’s anything new.

Related Topics: Nick's Tips PDF for User Guide

PDF of User Guide

We also distribute the contents of this User Guide in PDF form, which is accessible from the Help menu. Maybe you want to print a second copy or enjoy the more book-like presentation of the Portable Document Format over the HTML Help style. Whatever the case may be, we let you decide how to view your educational material.

Once you've read every last word in the User Guide, paid attention to each little tip and viewed every single tutorial, if you still have a question on how Swift 3D works, write Lily in Tech Support at [email protected]. That's right, I just gave you her personal email address. Why, you ask? Electric Rain is determined to offer the highest quality user experience possible, and understanding our software is the most integral part of this experience. If you make it through all of the resources we offer (see upcoming section on technical support as well) and are still foggy on how Swift 3D functions, we've fallen short of our goal. Write her your question and we’ll get you an answer. It may come back from our support department, but it will come back quickly, and then we'll know where our educational efforts need to be fortified in the future.

Related Topics: Nick's Tips Tutorials

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Technical Support Technical Support

Wouldn't it be nice to design a product that everyone understands so thoroughly they never have a question? Wouldn't it be great if our products always worked flawlessly no matter what sort of torture users put it through? Wouldn't it be great if Team ERAIN could solve the world hunger problem with a nicely designed piece of software? Unfortunately, reality dictates that despite our addiction to quality, things break. Fortunately, Electric Rain dictates that broken stuff gets fixed.

If you happen to encounter something that breaks, doesn't behave as you'd expect, or even seems just slightly fishy, we ask that you remain calm and tap into our available resources in order to remedy the situation. More often than not, the solution is close at hand, and if not, we'll place it there.

Related Topics: Knowledgebase Web Support Online Forum Email Support Product Update Site

Web Support

It's a fool who doesn't use the Web for what it's good at. And one thing it's really good at is conveying up-to-date information like solutions to tech support issues. In a concerted effort to avoid being called fools, we have an entire division of our Web site devoted to answering these types of questions. Even if it's as simple as finding that your solution has been fixed in a recent build and you can get it from our Product Update site, that's valuable information that can be gleaned at any hour, from any online computer anywhere in the world. Translation: It's cheaper than a phone call and quicker than an email. To access the following Web support options you can choose the Technical Support Site option from the Help menu or Web Assistant or visit www.erain.com and head to the support section.

Related Topics: Knowledgebase Online Forum Email Support Product Update Site

Knowledgebase

We have an extensive knowledgebase that contains technical information, frequently asked questions and links to tutorials and all other resources available on Swift 3D. This knowledgebase, located in our support area, will likely answer the most common questions or issues. With a quick browse, you'll be a self-answering unit within just a few clicks.

Related Topics:

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Web Support Online Forum Email Support Product Update Site

Online Forum

We also offer an Online Forum for customers to come in and discuss the use of our products. This area is really designed to facilitate users communicating with users, but we check in daily to make sure that everything posted gets a response one way or the other. The forum is great for folks who have questions relating to how Swift 3D interacts with other applications because we openly admit to not being the ultimate authority on authoring rich media content. That title belongs to our users who are building cool stuff for a living. The moderators and frequent visitors to the Swift 3D forum tend to be our hardcore users who have much more ‘real life’ experience than us simplistic documentation writers. They are amazingly talented and love to help out fellow users, often with a great sense of humor, so definitely take advantage of this great resource.

Forum Link: http://www.erain.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Related Topics: Knowledgebase Web Support Email Support Product Update Site

Product Update Site

At Electric Rain, we're a little fanatical about our customers using the best software we have to offer. We use our Product Update Site as a means for distributing the most recent build of Swift 3D, so when we have feature updates and bug fixes, this is where you'll be coming to access any improvements. If you've purchased the CD-ROM version of Swift 3D, you may want to head to the Product Update Site immediately due to the lag time in CD production and distribution. To do this, you need to choose Register Swift 3D Online from the Help menu (if you didn't already register the product), and then head to the Product Update Site by selecting Swift 3D Product Update Site from the same menu.

Related Topics: Knowledgebase Web Support Online Forum Email Support

Email Support

If we haven't satisfied your needs via the Help System or through the Support section of our Web site, we welcome you to utilize our industry-leading support. Electric Rain handles all of its technical support via a ticket-based support system that can be accessed at http://www.erain.com/esupport/ticket.asp, or if you send an email to [email protected] a ticket

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will automatically be set up for you in our system. If you send your own email, please include the following information:

What type of machine do you have? CPU type and speed? What operating system and version of that system are you running? How much RAM do you have? What video system do you have? What program, version number and build number do you have? (Under Help > About

Swift 3D - WIN or Apple Menu > About Swift 3D - MAC) What exactly is happening, and what steps lead up to the problem? Are there any files associated with the problem? If so, please attach them. Are there any related error messages? If so, please tell us what they are.

Our email support policy is that we'll get you a response within 48 hours, but we typically get back to you within 12 hours or less. Keep in mind that the more technical the issue, the more time it may take to resolve your issue, and the attachment of any relevant files will almost guarantee a more timely and accurate response.


Web Assistant

The Web Assistant exists as a tab along the top of the main Swift 3D interface. The purpose of the Web Assistant is to make your life with Swift 3D easier by providing you direct access to the primary web resources Electric Rain makes available to its customers. The Web Assistant works by opening up your browser directly into the Swift 3D interface (Win) or into a separate window (Mac) and taking you to a web page that will provide you with quick links to resources like software updates, registration, your customer account, announcements and other great community offerings.

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17

Scene Editor Scene Editor Overview

Most of your time working with Swift 3D will be spent within the Scene Editor since this where you pull all of your various models together into one cohesive, well-oiled scene. As you read through this topic you will find that in addition to providing information about what is available in the Scene Editor, this chapter serves a dual purpose because it also supplies information about things like customizing your interface, setting up user preferences and organizing the various galleries that come populated with a great array of materials, animations, models, etc. In essence, this topic is designed to help new users of Swift 3D gain their bearings.

As we go through all of the Scene Editor's primary features, don't hesitate to mess around with each item as they are explained. At the very least you can move your cursor around the interface and note the little Tool Tips that pop up when you hover over an object, as well as read the longer description down in the lower left corner of the interface in the Status Bar. If you end up getting yourself into trouble due to random clicking, dragging and toggling, just close your current document without saving, open a new document and continue exploring (with a little less clicking, dragging and toggling).

Related Topics: Scene Editor Extrusion Editor Lathe Editor Preview and Export Editor

Swift 3D Interface Upon opening Swift 3D, you'll be faced with the following interface, which is called the Scene Editor. If you don't see the same thing as this, it's possible your display is set to a different resolution, in which case some of the toolbars may have been adjusted to accommodate the addition or subtraction of screen real estate. Swift 3D requires a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. In addition, on the Macintosh platform your Display Colors must be set to Millions in order to accurately display the interface. So if your trackballs or any other interface item do not display accurately on your Mac, go to Apple > System Preferences > Displays and under the Display tab set Colors to Millions.

Customizing the Interface Interface Resize

If you prefer to work with a different size interface other than the default full screen, this preference is saved upon exit. So go ahead and tweak Swift 3D so it comfortably fits into your desktop, close it up, open it again, and yes, it will be in the same place with the same size. And if you are running dual monitors this is supported as well, so spread yourself out across all of that nice real estate.

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Related Topics Undocking Toolbars Resizing Toolbars Hiding Toolbars

Toolbars

Undocking Toolbars

Swift 3D ships with a standard configuration of all toolbars docked on Windows and all toolbars floating on Macintosh. Toolbars cannot be docked on the Mac, but you can arrange them in any way you find suitable to your workflow. On Windows, you can customize the interface by undocking and docking almost all of the toolbars (the various windows you see) to meet whatever layout needs you might have. The only toolbar you cannot undock is the Main Toolbar that stretches across the top of the interface, as well as the Viewports. Depending on the size and shape of your 3D scene you can undock some toolbars and leave them floating in convenient places.

To undock a toolbar: 1. Move your cursor near any border of the toolbar you wish to move until it changes

into a Docking Cursor. 2. Click and hold the mouse button and a black border will appear around the toolbar

indicating that you have it in your control. 3. Move the toolbar to your desired location. As you approach the edges of your screen the

toolbar may resize itself to fit into a new docking position. If you would like to leave the toolbar floating, hold the CTRL key down while you move it.

4. When you've got the black border where you want it, release the mouse button and you're in business.

Nick's Tips We spent many an hour discussing the most efficient layout for Swift 3D, and this default

configuration was the chosen one. But I have never advocated the quashing of innovation, so by all means commence the undocking procedure, captain. But I have to warn you ahead of time that once you begin moving these things around, all hell could break loose. Not a literal hell mind you, with fire, brimstone and out-of-order soda machines, but rather a situation where you may not know exactly how to get back to where you originally started. Between you and I, the best order for re-docking the toolbars is this:

1. The Properties Toolbar goes to the left. 2. The Animation Toolbar goes to the top. 3. The Trackball Toolbar goes to the bottom. 4. The Lighting Toolbar goes to the bottom (just to the right of Trackball Toolbar). 5. The Gallery Toolbar goes to the bottom right.

Related Topics Hiding Toolbars Hierarchy Interface Resize Resizing Toolbars

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Scene Editor

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Resizing Toolbars

Another way to manipulate the interface's appearance is to move the borders between the toolbars, thus resizing them without changing their location. For instance, maybe you would like to see more materials displayed so you resize the two trackballs to allow more room for the Materials Palette.

To resize toolbars: 1. Move your cursor near the edge of the toolbar you wish to adjust. When the cursor

changes to the Move Border Cursor, click-and-drag on the border. 2. Move the toolbar's border to your desired position. 3. Release the mouse button.

NOTE: If you've tried to make the toolbar smaller than it's comfortable with (they're sensitive about looking too diminutive) it will bounce back to its smallest possible size.

Related Topics Undocking Toolbars Hiding Toolbars Interface Resize

Hiding Toolbars

To hide a visible toolbar or show a hidden toolbar, use the View menu. Visible toolbars will be checked and hidden toolbars will be unchecked.

Related Topics Undocking Toolbars Resizing Toolbars Interface Resize

User Preferences

In addition to customizing the interface you can also change the default settings for a variety of the more commonly used functions in Swift 3D. To access the User Preferences dialog, from the Main Menu go to Setup > User Preferences (Win) or Swift 3D > Preferences (Mac). The User Preferences dialog will appear, allowing you to change certain Layout, Animation, Extrusion/Text, Performance and Export settings.

To make changes simply enter new values and click OK. The changes will take effect once you open a new document.

User Preferences Dialog:


Related Topics: Vector File Type Raster File Type Layout Animation Loop FPS Text

Editor Tabs Editor Tabs

You'll notice that there are six tabs along the top of the Swift 3D interface, with the default being the Scene Editor since this is the primary working area within Swift 3D. While these other editors will be covered in great detail in upcoming chapters, a quick overview of each editor’s purpose will start you off with a strong idea of Swift 3D’s workflow and therefore provide beginners with a better understanding of the Scene Editor features that will be highlighted in the rest of this topic.

Editor Tabs:

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Scene Editor

Extrusion Editor

Welcome to a bizarre world where everything you draw in 2D instantly becomes 3D. It's called the Extrusion Editor and it's cool (but I'll let you be the judge of that). The basic idea is that you pick up a pen, draw some stuff within this interface and it will instantly become a 3D object in the Scene Editor. This powerful tool lets you create 2D extrusions from within Swift 3D, eliminating the need for another 2D drawing application. The Extrusion Editor also includes an Animation Timeline that allows you to animate the paths of your extrusions over time, allowing for full-fledged morphing of extruded objects. For more information on the process of extruding 2D shapes, please refer to the topic on the Extrusion Editor.

Extrusion Editor:

Related Topics: Extrusion Editor

Lathe Editor

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Once again we venture to a land seldom visited by mere 2D mortals. The Lathe Editor is a 3D modeling tool that allows you to draw a simple path and have Swift 3D spin that path around an axis and instantly create a 3D object in the Scene Editor. The Lathe Editor and the Extrusion Editor share a similar interface, but their functions are quite dissimilar. And once again, in our efforts to supply more creative powers to the designer we’ve included a path animation feature that allows you to create lathed shapes that change over time. For more information on the process of creating lathed objects, please refer to the Lathe Editor topic.

Lathe Editor:

Related Topics: Lathe Editor

Advanced Modeler

This feature is less a modeling tool and more an entire modeling environment. When you've hit a point where the supplied shapes and your 2D drawing skills aren't going the full distance, the Advanced Modeler is here to take you the rest of the way to the land of total and complete modeling power and versatility. In this interface you have full editing control over the polygonal structure of your models as well as the ability to apply detailed textures to their surfaces through a UV texture coordinate system. With the new Mesh Morpher you can also use the Advanced

24

Scene Editor

Modeler to create Mesh Groups and Targets with which you can animate the very vertices of a model mesh while working in the Scene Editor. For more information see the section on the Advanced Modeler.

Advanced Modeler:

Related Topics: Advanced Modeler

Preview and Export Editor

Swift 3D’s powerful vector and raster rendering engines, RAViX and the EMO Ray Tracer reside within the Preview and Export Editor. The beauty of Swift 3D is that it leaves the decision up to you as to whether you want to render to vector or raster file formats. The basic workflow of the Preview and Export Editor is a simple four-step process. First you choose whether you will be rendering out to a vector file format using our RAViX engine, or to a raster file format using our EMO Ray Tracer. You then choose the file type options, and if you are rendering to vector, you also get to choose what fill and edge style of output you want. When all of your options are set you render a preview of your scene, and finally, if you like what you see you export your rendered animation to a file.

Preview and Export Editor:

Related Topics: Preview and Export Editor Rendering With RAViX Rendering With EMO

Web Assistant

The Web Assistant exists as a tab along the top of the main Swift 3D interface. The purpose of the Web Assistant is to make your life with Swift 3D easier by providing you direct access to the primary web resources Electric Rain makes available to its customers. The Web Assistant works by opening up your browser directly into the Swift 3D interface (Win) or into a separate window (Mac) and taking you to a web page that will provide you with quick links to resources like software updates, registration, your customer account, announcements and other great community offerings.

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Viewports Viewports

The Viewports are your windows into the 3D scene you are about to create. If you're an analogy-lover like myself, the lens of a video camera fits the bill. You should be very interested in what goes on within the confines of the Viewport since it's where the only visible action will take place in the scene. If you have objects that lie outside of the Viewport they will not be seen in the final exported file unless they enter the Viewport through an animation path or the camera happens to look in their direction.

Returning Swift users will notice the addition of a yellow border that displays within each Viewport. This represents the Layout dimensions in relation to the size of the Viewport on screen. Any object that crosses over this border will be cropped when your scene is rendered.

By default, Swift 3D will open with two Viewports showing, but you can work with anywhere from one to four open. To open three Viewports or to return to the default configuration, go to View > Viewports and select the desired preset. Making all four Viewports visible at one time is accomplished by selecting Show All Viewports from the same menu. Show All Viewports can also be accessed from any of the Viewport Menus. To open a single Viewport, go to that Viewport's Menu button and select Maximize. Choose View > Viewports > (2) 1 Left, 1 Right to return to the dual Viewport layout.

Dual Viewports:

26

Scene Editor

Related Topics: Viewport Controls Viewport Dropdown Menu Free Cameras Perspective Camera Reference Grid Standard Cameras Target Cameras

Viewport Controls

To the right of the Viewport dropdown menu you'll find two buttons that allow for quick access to the panning and zooming abilities within each viewport. The left button with the arrows serves as the panning control and the right button serves as the zooming control.

Both of these buttons work based on a click-and-drag motion, so that if you left-click anywhere on the button and hold the button down while moving the mouse you will be controlling either the pan or the zoom of that particular viewport.

To Pan the Viewport Camera: 1. Click and drag on the 4-way Arrow button 2. As you drag your cursor you will see the Viewport's camera pan simultaneously

Or...

1. Hold down the Alt Key (Win) or Command (Mac) (You will see the Camera Icon show up as your cursor)

2. Click-and-drag anywhere in the Viewport to pan the camera around the scene

To Zoom the Viewport Camera:

27


1. Click-and-drag on the Magnifying Glass button 2. Dragging up will zoom the Viewport's camera into the scene 3. Dragging down will zoom the Viewport's camera away from the scene

Or...


2. Right click-and-drag up and down in the Viewport to zoom the camera in and out of the scene

One camera that behaves a bit differently than the standard cameras is the Target Camera, which is design to always focus on a single point within your scene. When a Target Camera is selected in any Viewport the Camera Pan button will switch to become the Camera Arc Rotate Button:

To Rotate a Target Camera: 1. Click-and-drag on the Camera Arc Rotate button 2. Move your cursor into the circle that appears within the Viewport 3. Position your camera to the desired spot

Or...


2. Click-and-drag in the Viewport to rotate the camera around its target point

Related Topics:

Viewport Dropdown Menu Free Cameras Perspective Camera Reference Grid Standard Cameras Target Cameras

Viewport Dropdown Menu

Viewport Dropdown Menu

Each Viewport has a menu button in the upper left corner that contains different Viewport options. Since the features included in this menu encompass a variety of topics, they will be covered individually in the upcoming sections on the Viewport.

Viewport Dropdown Menu:

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Scene Editor

Related Topics: Camera List Display Modes Orthographic View

Orthographic View

Any Viewport in the Scene Editor can be switched to Orthographic view from the Viewport menu. When active, the Viewport menu button will turn green to act as an easy indicator that Orthographic view is in use. Using the 2D Orthographic viewing option provides many advantages when it comes to working in 3D space. These are a few reasons why:

1. In an orthographic view, all objects are shown straight on and maintain their right angles and parallel lines, thus reducing the chance that you will move, rotate, scale, etc. your selection in an unintended direction. You can think of this as sort of an "alignment safety zone."

2. All objects, regardless of the distance between them along the Z axis (actually, the relative Z axis for each Viewport), will appear at their actual size. This is important because when modeling objects you often want to be able to compare exact sizes of

29


things and the Orthographic view eliminates any distortion that prevents making accurate comparisons.

When working in an Orthographic view you will only be able to view changes of position made along two out of the three axes, or a single plane. For example, if you are working in the Front Viewport with orthographic view active you can clearly see when an object is moved along the X or Y axis, however changes to Z axis will not be noticeable. However, if changes are made they do take place and will be reflected in other open Viewports or as soon as Orthographic view is turned off.

2D Orthographic View: Same Scene, Perspective View:

Related Topics: Camera Dropdown List Viewports Show Options

Viewport Menu

Swift 3D offers seven different cameras by default with the ato add as many custom cameras as you like. You select which camera you would like to use from the Viewport Menu buttonlocated in the upper left corner of the Viewport.

bility

IMPORTANT: To move the camera’s view you must first hold down the ALT key (Win) or COMMAND key (Mac) to enter into Camera Mode. Refer to the section on Cameras for detailed information on panning, zooming, rotating and rolling the different cameras.

Related Topics: Free Cameras Default Target Camera Standard Cameras Target Cameras Orthographic View Reference Grid

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Scene Editor

Viewports

Display Modes

From the Viewport Menu button you can access Display properties that determine what things are going to be shown within the Viewport and how they will be drawn. These settings all have their own specific uses depending on if you’re trying to get better performance from the program, attempting to de-clutter your interface or wanting to gain a little more information about where things are and where they might be moving over time.

Viewport Display Settings

Swift 3D relies on the OpenGL rendering engine that comes standard with your computer to display the graphical representation of your scene within the Viewport. Do not assume that what you see in the Viewport is what you will see in your final rendered scene. Textures and bitmaps can only be rendered to a bitmap file format using the EMO ray tracer rending engine. When rendering a scene to vectors, the best RAViX can do is render out what you see when the Viewport is set to the Smooth Shaded mode (not Texture Smooth Shaded). Read carefully through all the various vector output options in the Rendering With RAViX chapter so that you will have your expectations properly set.

Texture Smooth Shaded - This is the default display option. When this display option is selected, objects are shown as smooth, solid shaded objects covered with their designated materials. If textures or bitmap images are applied to an object, this display option also presents the best representation that OpenGL can provide. Displaying textures or bitmap images will definitely slow down Viewport rendering speed, so if you are working with a complex scene switch to a different display option to enhance performance.

Smooth Shaded - The major difference between Smooth Shaded and Texture Smooth Shaded is that Smooth Shaded will not display textures or bitmap images to any degree of accuracy. To view textures or bitmap materials, change to Texture Smooth Shaded or use the Render Window button on the main toolbar to activate the Scene Editor’s scanline renderer. Keep in mind that whether you have a solid material, texture or bitmap applied to an object, the way the Viewport looks in Smooth Shaded mode is what you will see when you render with RAViX to Mesh Gradient Shading.

Flat Shaded - This mode of display rendering will show your objects as shaded, but without the smooth gradients. Instead you will see all of the polygons that make up your objects, each with a separate flat fill. This setting helps to increase Viewport rendering speed when you're working with more detailed models.

Wireframe - This displays objects as wireframes only, with no shading. In other words, you will see the polygonal structure of your objects rather than their smoothed surfaces. This mode can be useful when you have complex 3D models and intricate animation paths since it speeds up the process of redrawing your objects every time you make a change in your scene.

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Draw Backfaces - By default, Draw Backfaces is enabled in all of the Viewports. What this means is that the display is ignoring the "backfaces" of an object, or the mesh of the object that is facing away from the camera. By turning off the display of back facing polygons you can help speed up Viewport rendering. In the Advanced Modeler, turning off draw backfaces can also help facilitate the selection process since it shows just the front facing polygons.

Related Topics: Hiding Objects Layout Reference Grid Render Viewport Buttons Settings

Layout Bounding Box

Unlike previous versions of Swift 3D, version 5.0 will no longer resize the Viewports by default to proportionately fit the Layout size selected. Instead a yellow bounding box is placed within the Viewports that represents the active stage size. Any objects outside of this border will not be visible after rendering and objects crossing the border will be cropped. While working on your scene, be aware that the Render Preview features pays no attention to the bounding box and will instead render the entire Viewport.

NOTE: The default Layout dimensions can be adjusted by going to Setup > User Preferences.

Related Topics: Camera Dropdown List Viewports Show Options

Reference Grid

In our daily 3D world it's easy to stay oriented since we have familiar reference points like

32

Scene Editor

walls, floors and ceilings to figure out the respective locations of objects such as chairs, plants and people. Within Swift 3D's world, there are no objects until you create them, so we have supplied you with a 3D grid based on the X, Y and Z coordinate system. The red line represents the X or horizontal axis, the green line is the Y or vertical axis, and the blue line (just a point until you alter your camera view) shows you the depth of your 3D world, or your Z-axis. The intersection of these three lines is the absolute center of your scene, and its coordinates are X = 0, Y = 0 and Z = 0.

Grid Options

There are three grid options for every Viewport: XY, YZ and ZX. Each camera view comes with a default setting, but you can choose turn these grids off and on individually or all together through the Viewport Menu button. All of the numerical coordinates will still exist when the grid is turned off, but you won't have all of the reference lines showing within the Viewport.

Related Topics: Camera Dropdown List Viewports

Show Options

The following Show options are all accessible from the Viewport Menu button.

Animation Paths - Any animation paths that have been applied to an objects will display as a purple line. These paths can also be edited by clicking on the Animation Path Mode button on the main toolbar. Read more about editing animation paths in the Path Animation section of the Animation chapter.

Hidden Objects - This is used to show or hide objects that have been designated as Hidden (this is done from the Object page of the Properties Toolbar). The Hidden display option is off by default, so if you decide to hide an object it will disappear immediately. When this setting is set to Show, hidden objects display with a stippled red effect.

Object Bones - Object Bones show the connection between objects’ pivot points based on parent/child relationships established through the Hierarchy toolbar. A parent is always connected to all of its children. These “bones” simply serve as a visual aid when animating.

33


Pivot Points - This option allows you to turn off the display of all object pivot points in the Viewport.

Hidden-Locked Object Stipple - When this option is enabled, hidden objects are displayed with a red stipple effect and locked objects are displayed with a blue stippled effect. Note that you must also have Show > Hidden Objects checked in order to see the hidden objects to begin with. For more information on hiding and locking objects, refer to the Object Properties section of Working With Objects.

Related Topics: Hiding Objects Locking Objects Reference Grid Pivot Points

Main Toolbar File Shortcut Buttons

These buttons allow you to quickly open a New document, Open an existing document, or Save the current project you are working on. Swift 3D project files are saved to the .t3d file format.

File Shortcut Buttons:

Create Object Buttons

These buttons allow you to create text and simple objects (called Primitives) within your scene. They are about as easy to use as a light switch—a simple click will place your chosen object onto the intersection of the X, Y and Z axis lines. All of these objects arrive in your scene with their default characteristics, including standard size and a default glossy gray material applied to them.

Create Object Buttons:

Related Topics: Primitives

Create Light Buttons

34

Scene Editor

These four buttons allow you to create lights designed to be manipulated within your scene. Called Scene Lights, these lights differ from the Trackball Lights discussed in a moment.

Create Light Buttons:

Related Topics: Scene Lights

Create Camera Buttons

Here you are able to create two specific types of cameras, the Free Camera and the Target Camera. These cameras are unique in that they can be manipulated directly within your scene and can be fully animated.

Create Camera Buttons:

Related Topics: Scene Cameras

Convert Text to Paths Button

The Convert Text to Paths button takes your currently selected text and turns it into a series of paths that can be edited in the Extrusion Editor. It’s important to note that this process is a one way street so once you do it, the text can no longer be edited as a font.

Convert Text to Paths Button:

Related Topics: Text

Scaling Button

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The Scaling button puts you into a temporary mode where any object you click-and-drag on will have its scale altered. Scaling mode is a one-time thing, so as soon as you’re done scaling one object, it will toggle off automatically.

Scaling Mode Button:

Related Topics: Scaling Mode

Frame All Objects

The Frame All Objects button allows you to quickly re-orient your camera view to include all of the objects in your scene.

Frame All Objects Button:

Related Topics: Panning Reset Camera Location Zooming

Render Viewport Buttons

Since Swift 3D relies on the OpenGL rendering engine that comes standard with your computer to display the graphical representation of your scene within the Swift 3D Viewport, when you apply raster materials to your objects you will not see them in full detail. Because of this there is a Scanline Renderer in the Scene Editor that allows you to preview your scene and materials. Render Window will render the entire active Viewport, while Render Rectangle will turn your cursor into a marquee selection tool that you can then click-and-drag over any area of the Viewport that you would like to see rendered. To CANCEL the rendering process, click again on the Render Window button.

Render Viewport Buttons:

Related Topics: Bitmap-based Textures

36

Scene Editor

Display Procedural Materials

Undo and Redo Buttons

The Undo and Redo buttons provide a quick way for you to undo or redo any action, regardless of which editor you were working in. Unlike previous versions of Swift 3D, a universal Undo stack (think of this as a list that holds all of your actions) is now shared between all editors, so using the Undo and Redo command will take you through the various editors as necessary.

It is important to understand that a complete copy of your scene gets placed into the Undo stack each time the scene is altered, which can definitely use up a lot of memory. Once you’ve reached a point when you are sure you no longer need access to the Undo stack you can manually clear it using the Edit > Clear Undo function.

By default the number of Undo Levels is set to unlimited, however you may specify maximum undo levels or fully disable the undo function from the User Preferences dialog. To access the User Preferences dialog, from the Main Menu go to Setup > User Preferences (Win) or Swift 3D > Preferences (Mac).

Undo and Redo Buttons:

Properties Toolbar Properties Toolbar

The Properties Toolbar is like backstage at a big theatre production. All the action may be occurring on the main stage, but there's much more activity happening behind the scenes that makes the production come off as spectacular. The Property List Box, located at the top of the Properties Toolbar, is basically a lof categories of properties. As these categories are selected you are presented with a Property Page that displays settings relateto that particular category.

ist

d

The key to gaining a quick understanding of the Properties Toolbar is to note that three properties are always displayed: Layout, Camera, and Environment. Beyond these three properties, the Properties Toolbar is completely selection sensitive. Whatever object you have selected at the time, whether it be an object, light or camera, will determine which information gets displayed within the Properties Toolbar. Each type of object can also have different characteristics that can be manipulated.

The information contained within the Properties Toolbar does not neatly fit into any one chapter, but we’ve done our best to make this information easy to find. Information on Layout and

37


Environment can be found in the upcoming chapter of that name; Camera properties can be found in the chapter on Cameras; and Hierarchy in the chapters on Working with Objects and Animation. As for the rest of the selection sensitive properties, the chapter on Working with Objects details the Property Pages that are common to most objects, and as each specific object is discussed in subsequent chapters, we will cover those Property Pages that are relevant to each type of object. The Advanced Modeler also has its own set of Property Pages that are discussed in detail throughout that chapter.

NOTE: Many of the properties within this section of the interface use numbers to represent the various settings you can apply to your objects. There are three main ways of adjusting these numbers:

1. Type your desired number into the field (if field is gray then this option is not available). 2. Nudge the number up or down by clicking the corresponding arrow on the spin button. 3. Position the cursor between the arrows on the spin button and when you receive the

double lines cursor icon you can click-and-drag up or down.

You will also find these numerical controls within other sections of the interface and you can use whichever strategy works best in your situation.

Related Topics: Layout Environment Hierarchy Camera Lights Object

Layout Properties

Layout

Layout is where you designate the size and proportions of your final rendered file. The width and height settings are represented in the Viewport by the yellow Layout Bounding Box.

Within the vector world of RAViX, the dimensions of your scene can have a slight effect on the accuracy of your rendered file. You will probably only notice a slight dissipation of line and fill precision when you create a scene that is very, very small and then increase its dimensions significantly after rendering. Afactor you may want to pay attention to is the fact that the smallthe dimensions of your scene, the faster the Swift 3D rendering engine will crank out your final file. Both of these subtleties afairly... well, subtle, so don’t go freaking out with the layout settings unless you’re really bored.

nother er

re

Now if you’re planning on outputting your scene as a raster image or animation you’ll be advised to care deeply about the Layout settings. As you know, raster images don’t take too kindly to scaling, so it would behoove you to think ahead about where

38

Scene Editor

your 3D rendering will be finally displayed. That means if you’re looking to integrate your 3D content into another project you should carefully analyze the size of the space it will be fitting into. Also, there may be considerations about the resolution at which the animation will be played at. Fortunately, if you don’t get the size quite right you can always come back into Swift 3D, tweak your Layout settings and re-render your animation without having to adjust anything else about the scene itself.

NOTE: The default Layout dimensions can be adjusted by going to View > User Preferences.

Nick’s Tips By default, the zoom factor of the Viewports is set to Fit to Window, which automatically resizes the Layout Bounding Box to fit within the current space allowed for your

Viewports. To see the actual size representation of your Layout Settings, go to View > Zoom Viewport > Actual Size (100%). If you are using a larger layout size, you may want to toggle off the Secondary Camera button on the Main Toolbar so that only one Viewport is shown, otherwise you will get scroll bars since there will not be enough real estate for Swift 3D to show the actual size. If you still need more space, you can start turning off the various toolbars under the View menu, or if you consistently work with larger Viewports you may want to consider floating your toolbars. (See information on how to Undock Toolbars.)

Related Topics: Display Settings Options User Preferences

Options

Redraw All Viewports - Checking this box will cause all open Viewports to redraw in real-time, so if you move an object in one Viewport, you will see it move at the same time in all the other Viewports. Note that this constant redrawing can slow down your work within the Viewports, so if you are working on a complex scene, you might want to consider keeping this option off.

Related Topics: Display Settings Layout

Settings

Nudge Increment - The Keyboard Nudge controls how far your selected object will move when you nudge it with your keyboard arrow keys. The default increment of a new document is set to .10 units, however this can be designated in the User Preference dialog. Since each grid represents one unit, using the default setting of .10, it will take ten nudges to move an object from one grid line to the next. Holding down the SHIFT key while nudging with the arrow keys will move an object ten times the set nudge increment.

Trace Depth - This setting controls how deep the EMO Ray Tracer will trace for reflections and refraction (through glass). It is similar to the RAViX “Reflection Depth” control except that it applies to refraction as well.

39


Related Topics: Display Layout Options Refraction Index

Environment Properties

Environment Properties

Unless you live in a world I’m unfamiliar with, things exist in a place. When I say ‘place’ we’re talking about a setting or the object’s surroundings. Within t world of Swift 3D we call this setting the Environment. In actuality, the overall Environment is made up of t things: Background Color, Ambient Light Color and Environment. By adjusting these properties you are not actually directly affecting the objects within your scene, but instead are affecting how they appear based on their surroundings. With this in minchanges to the environment properties should be consideredglobal in nature, even though they may or may not have an effect on everything your scene

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contains.

Related Topics: Ambient Light Color Background Color Creating Environments Environment Environment Gallery

Background Color

This setting controls the color that sits behind your scene, sort of like a backdrop. The importance of your background to your final rendered file varies depending on whether you are rendering using RAViX (vector) or EMO (raster).

When using the RAViX rendering engine to export to a vector file format, the background color becomes slightly irrelevant if you are planning on importing your rendered file into another 2D vector authoring application like Adobe Flash or Adobe Illustrator. If you happen to be exporting to the SWF file format, all Swift 3Ddoes is add some extra information to your file that tells the FlasPlayer what color to use as a background color. The backgroun

40

Scene Editor

really has little connection with your 3D scene once it has been exported.

Furthermore, any other application you import your Swift 3D-generated files into, such as Adobe Flash, will override your designated background. (See Chapter 21: Working With Exported Files for more information on this topic.) This all adds up to the following advice: when exporting to vectors, set a specific background color only if you want to either visually reference the background color of the project you'll be importing the 3D animation into, or if you will be playing your 3D vector animation without further editing in another application (e.g., you’re publishing a rendered SWF directly to the Internet without further editing in Flash.)

When using our EMO Ray Tracer to render out to a raster file you’ll need to be more wary of what the Background Color is set to for two reasons. First, all of the exported raster files (BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIF, TGA) rendered from EMO will include the background in the file. However, PNG, BMP & TGA files that have Color Depth set to 32 bit may show transparency in certain 3rd party programs. Secondly, although SWF files from EMO do support transparent backgrounds, you’ll still want to use a similar background as your overall Flash project due to the antialiasing that occurs around your objects. Regardless of what your antialiasing settings are (see Rendering With EMO chapter), you will always get a little bit of the background color showing up around your objects within Flash once it wipes out the background color of the original rendered SWF file. The only exception I’ve found is when you have the Background Color set to Black or White, in which case you won’t see the background color around those edges. So if you can plan ahead with your scene design and know where your files are going to end up you can eliminate any potential background problems before they occur.

To change the background color: 1. Click on the Environment page in the Properties Toolbar. 2. Double click on the Background Color color box, which by default is always white. 3. Use the Color Palette (Win) or Color Picker (Mac) to choose or make your desired color. 4. Click OK.

Ambient Light Color

Imagine a large sphere surrounding your scene. Whatever color you choose to apply to that sphere is considered your Ambient Light Color, and any objects with a solid glossy material in your scene will take on a tint of that surrounding material. If you are utilizing any of the advanced materials that EMO is capable of rendering you will find that the Ambient Light Color has a negligible effect on objects with those types of materials applied to them.

As for its use, the Ambient Light Color setting can create a nice subtle object coloring effect when used properly, but for the average 3D scene its scope is limited. The main reason you would adjust this setting is to lend a tint of color to objects that are default gray or lightly colored, or if you want to lighten or darken your objects overall. If you've applied medium to dark materials to your objects, any color changes (aside from black or white) you make to the ambient lighting will have a very small effect.

To change your ambient light color: 1. Click on the Environment page in the Properties Toolbar. 2. Double click on the Ambient Light Color color box. 3. Use the Color Palette (Win) or Color Picker (Mac) to choose or make your desired color. 4. Click OK.

Environment

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The Environment setting of your scene is really only important when you have objects with a reflective finish applied to them. The Environment could be thought of as being similar to the Ambient Light Color, but only taking effect on reflective objects. It is similar in concept to placing a spherical room around your scene and everything within that room with reflective surfaces will give the viewer a glimpse of what those walls are covered with.

The real power of the Environment arises when you start using more than just a simple solid color. Both gradients and patterns will create very cool effects with your reflective objects, and you can even use imported bitmap images as your Environment, which extends the coolness factor into the realm of 'beyond cool.' Keep in mind that environments created with Raster based materials need to be rendered out with the EMO Ray Tracer.

To change your environment: 1. Click on the Environment page in the Properties Toolbar. 2. Go to the Gallery Toolbar and click on the Environment button on the left side of the

toolbar. 3. Click on your desired Environment and drag it over to the Environment color box in the

Property Toolbar.

Hierarchy Toolbar Hierarchy

The Hierarchy toolbar serves as a central repository for every object that exists within your scene, including lights and cameras, listing out those objects by their name. If you haven’t designated an object’s name you will see its default name appear in the list. As mentioned earlier, the Hierarchy system provides for a very accurate method of object selection when the scene starts getting crowded, but that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what this system has to offer.

Related Topics: Selection Objects Using Hierarchy Parent/Child Relationships Groups Within Hierarchy

Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy List

The power of the Hierarchy system doesn’t stop at just the list. It also serves as a secondary place to select objects, lights and camera within your scene, which can be extremely helpful since there are many times when you simply can’t select an object in the Viewport because it is obscured from view by other objects. This makes for a very accurate method of object selection when your scene starts getting crowded.

To select an object using Hierarchy:

42

Scene Editor

1. From the Hierarchy Toolbar, scroll through the list and find the name of the object. (If you have not named your objects you may have a bit of trial and error finding the right one if you have more than one type of object in your scene.)

2. Click on the object and you will see the object become selected in the Viewports.

NOTE: Holding down the SHIFT key will constrain a child object to only being dragged within the same parent.

Nick’s Tips The Hierarchy system will not allow you to select or move more than one listed object at a time (although a listed object may actually contain many children), but you can

accomplish a multiple object move by using a different strategy. Since you can perform multiple selection of objects within the Viewport, you can create a grouped object there (either temporary or permanent), and then move the grouped object in the Hierarchy list. All of the originally selected objects are considered children of that group, so they’ll all go along for the ride. When you have the group associated with the right parent, you can then ungroup the objects and they will assume their new places within the Hierarchy system.

Related Topics: Groups Within Hierarchy Hierarchy Parent/Child Relationships Selecting Individual Objects Selecting Multiple Objects Selecting Grouped Objects

Creating Parent/Child Relationships

When new objects are created and placed into the scene they are considered siblings within the structure of the scene, meaning they are all at the same level of hierarchy. For example, if you simply create four spheres, the Hierarchy list will show Sphere01, Sphere02, Sphere03 and Sphere04, all at the first level of indentation in the list.

These sibling relationships are often all you’ll need to build a scene with Swift 3D. However, there are times that arise when you’ll want to create an organized structure where the behaviors of certain objects are dependant on the behavior of others. When a connection is created between two or more objects whereby one dictates what happens to another, this is a parent/child relationships. These relationships can be quite powerful when it comes to animation (see Animation chapter) but the place where the relationships are created and managed is within the Hierarchy list.

The only limitations in the hierarchy are that lights and cameras cannot have children, and only Free Lights and Free Cameras can be children of other objects.

To create a parent/child relationship: 1. Place two objects into your scene.

43


2. In the Hierarchy toolbar, click-and-drag the name of one of your objects. 3. Drop it onto the name of the other object. 4. The dropped object name becomes indented underneath the other name.

The object that is now indented has become a child of the other object, which is now the parent of the indented object. This means that whatever you do to the parent, the same will happen to the child. If you select the parent, the child will become selected as well. If you move the parent, the child will move as well. Or if you rotate... well, you get the idea.

NOTE: The Show Object Bones setting in the Viewport Menu will provide a visual representation of object hierarchy.

If you designate several objects as children to a single parent object, the same sort of stuff will occur with all of those children. However, if you select any of the children and change their position, rotation, scale, etc., nothing would happen to the parent, nor would anything be affected with the other siblings of that object.

Show Object Bones

Related Topics Hierarchical Animations Hierarchy Selection Objects Using Hierarchy Groups Within Hierarchy

Groups Within Hierarchy

Although Hierarchy serves as an efficient method of organizing your scene, there are still plenty of times when you will find the use of groups convenient in manipulating your objects.

When a group is created using the Arrange > Group command, or simply by selecting more than one object and thus creating a temporary group, you’ll see the newly formed group appear within the Hierarchy list as “Group of (number of objects) Objects.” This grouping is a type of parent/child relationship where the parent is not a single object, but rather an intangible entity known as a group. The group becomes the parent and all of the objects within the group become children of that group.

As soon as the group is broken with an Arrange > Ungroup command, or by deselecting the currently selected objects, the group within the Hierarchy list will be destroyed and the children that were under that parent group will go back to their respective places within the hierarchy.

Related Topics Grouping Hierarchy Selection Objects Using Hierarchy

44

Scene Editor

Parent/Child Relationships

Animation Toolbar The Animation Toolbar is used to make your scene come to life (but it won’t come to life unless you click on the Animate button). Whenever your scene changes over time, the Animation Toolbar displays the relevant information. It can be used as a reference when using drag-and-drop animations, or as a powerful keyframe animation tool, much like in Adobe Flash. There is an entire section on Animation that provides details on how to use this timeline.

Animation Timeline:

Related Topics: Animation Timeline

Rotation Toolbar Down in the lower left corner of your scene are two toolbars that are probably unlike anything you've ever used before. We call them Crystal Trackballs and they are really very easy to use. They work as if you were rotating a virtual trackball with your mouse. Just click-and-drag on the surface of the ball and it will turn whichever way you choose.

The Rotation Trackball is designed to let you adjust the orientation of objects in your scene. It remains inactive until you have selected an object. Once you have something selected, the object appears within the Rotation Trackball and can be rotated by clicking and dragging on any part of the trackball itself. You will see the object spinning or rotating within the trackball and within your active

45


Viewport simultaneously. If you have multiple objects or a group of objects selected, they will all appear in the trackball as well.

The buttons to the left of the Rotation Trackball are available to help refine your rotation ge of

g

Previous users of Swift 3D might be asking about now where all of the important Reset buttons

t o

Related Topics:

The Lighting Trackball allows you to control the

being

r scene,

re,

The buttons to the left of the Lighting Trackball are available to help refine your rotation o create and delete Trackball Lights. A new

you

Related Topics:

Gallery Toolbar

The Gallery Toolbar is a combination of six galleries: Materials, Animations, Lighting Schemes, al

d

you start with.

movements. Note that rotation can also be numerically controlled through the Rotation pathe Properties Toolbar. Read more about using the Rotation Trackball in the sections on WorkinWith Objects, Lighting and Camera's.

that were once to the right of the Rotation Trackball have gone. Don’t panic, we haven't done away with these critical functions. Clicking on the new button just below the Rotation Incremensetting will put these handy commands at your disposal, allowing you to quickly restore objects ttheir original state.

Rotating Objects

Lighting Toolbar

placement, location and type of lights that illuminate your scene. Think of the lights aspositioned on the outside of an imaginary sphere shining into the center of your scene. The sphere'ssize can vary depending on the size of youbut it is always twice as large as would be necessary to encompass your entire scene. Inother words, the more spread out your objects athe farther your lights will be from the center of your scene.

movements, and the buttons on the right are there tscene comes complete with two standard lights on the Lighting Trackball, but you are free to add,delete, or use Scene Lights (covered in the chapter on Lighting) to illuminate your scene assee fit.

Trackball Lights

Gallery Toolbar

Environments, Model Libraries and Bevel Types. All of the galleries work under the basic principof drag-and-drop and everything you see within the galleries when you launch Swift 3D for the first time are what comes standard with Swift 3D. All galleries are designed to be augmented ancustomized by the user, so please don't infer that what you see is what you get. It's merely what

46

Scene Editor

The buttons on the left of the toolbar allow you to select which gallery is displayed at any given time. The Gallery Toolbar is present in the Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler. However, only the Materials and Model Libraries are enabled for use in the Advanced Modeler, which is why all of the other gallery buttons are grayed out.

Gallery Toolbar:

Related Topics: Animation Gallery

Gallery Management

Each gallery contains categories, represented by the tabs located across the top of the gallery, way to keep the gallery contents organized. The scrollbar located on

the right side of the gallery allows you to scroll through the content within each tab. Galleries can

accessible from the Main Menu, or you can manage the content directly from the

galleries.

Animation Gallery

Bevel Style Gallery Environment GalleryMaterial Gallery Model Gallery

Gallery Management

which provide a convenient

be customized by adding new categories (tabs), editing existing content or adding your own creations. This section of the User Guide will only cover the basics of how the Galleries are managed and organized, so for specific information on how to actually apply, create or edit different types of gallery content please read the gallery sections in the chapters covering those topics.

There are two ways to go about working with the galleries. You can use the Gallery Setup dialog,which is

Related Topics:

Bevel Style Gallery Environment GalleryLighting Gallery Material Gallery

47


Model Gallery

Gallery Setup Dialog

The Setup menu on the main menu is your doorway to the organizational structure of the Gallery n the Setup menu you have the choice of accessing the setup for

up dialog will appear with tabs across the top for

se

egory list box that

e Category List Box

s, nder each category tab. For example, if you have the Material lors from its Category list box, all of the colors that reside s under the Glossy tab of the Material gallery, are displayed.

All default content that is shipped with the program begins with an “ER” as a reminder that these with the program. You can certainly alter these items in any way that you hat if you ever need the original content you will have to uninstall and

Toolbar. When you drop doweach of the individual galleries. The Gallery Seteach of the galleries. For your convenience, the tab of the specific gallery you chose from the Setup menu will be selected. Once the dialog is open, you can jump to any of the galleries by clicking on the tabs along the top. The Gallery Setup dialog can also be accessed by right clicking(Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the palette window (frame) surrounding the thumbnails, not thethumbnail itself. (Note: The Bevel Gallery is not accessible from the Gallery Setup dialog becauyou cannot edit or add content to this gallery.)

Category List Box

Along the left side of the Gallery Setup is a Catdisplays the names of all the tabs located along the top of each gallery in the Gallery Toolbar. Thecategories within each gallery are simply suggested organizational schemes to get you started. For example, even though we have started you out with materials nicely organized by type, there is nothing preventing you from saving a transparent material intothe reflective category. As you willsee in a bit, these categories are just like the directories on your hard drive.

Content List Box

The Content List Box resides underneath thand contains the names of all the individual materials, animationlighting schemes, etc. that reside utab selected and choose Glossy Cowithin the Glossy category, and thu

Naming Conventions

are the items that camewant, but keep in mind treinstall the program to get it back. Additional naming conventions have been set up for the Materials and Models in order to help lessen the confusion regarding the different content items that reside within each gallery, but again these conventions are just for your convenience. Since the Model gallery can contain meshes, extrusions or lathes, the default models that come with

48

Scene Editor

that gallery are prefaced with ER Mesh, ER Extrusion or ER Lathe. The Material gallery containsboth vector and raster materials, which are identified with the preface ER Raster or ER Vector.

Gallery Setup Buttons

Along the right side of the Gallery Setup dialog is a series of buttons that vary depending on ctive. The tabs common to each gallery are as follows:

r u exit the Gallery Setup

dialog.

which gallery is a

New Category allows you to add a new tab to the gallery. Simply click on this button and enteyour desired category name. Note that the new tab will not appear until yo

Edit allows you to edit the selected item. The degree to which you can edit depends upon what gallery tab you are in. For example, clicking on Edit under the Material tab will bring up the Material Editor, which provides you complete access to all of that material’s base properties.

g dited

inue or abort. Note: You cannot remove entire categories using the Gallery Setup, only individual items within the categories. If you need

ts.

that name. You can change the name by

isting categories. Simply click on the category to which you want

Since you can Add or Edit Materials and Envir

y list is where this new material or environment will be added. When this button is selected it brings up the Material or Environment

rial or

Gallery Management g

leries

Clicking on Edit under the Animation, Lighting, and Model tabs will only give you access to editinthe name and a few other basic properties since the content of these galleries can only be edirectly in the workspace where they were created.

Remove permanently deletes the item that is currently highlighted in the content list, which is why it will kick out a warning message asking you to cont

to remove a category, this can only be done by deleting that folder directly from your file structure. Read more information about this in the upcoming section on Gallery Location and File Forma

Copy will copy the item that you have selected in the content list. The copy will appear at the bottom of the list and will be given the default name of the original item with a [1] appended after

then selecting the Edit button.

all ex to move your selected item, then click OK.

onments directly from the Gallery Setup, under

Move allows you to move an individual item (material, animation, model, etc.) from one category to another. When you click on this button, a new dialog appears that lists

The Preview Window simply displays what the current selection looks like.

these tabs you will also see the following buttons:

Add Material or Add Environment lets you add new materials to existing categories. The category that is currently highlighted in the Categor

Editors. The Material Editors can also be brought up by double clicking directly on the mateenvironment preview thumbnail in the galleries. Refer to the Materials chapter for moreinformation about the Material Editor.

Related Topics:

Gallery Setup Dialo

Saving to the Gal

49


There are slightly different stepobviously vast differences in the underlying ar

s to saving new content to each of the galleries since there are chitecture that makes up an animation versus a

e e

model. As a basic overview, new materials and environments are created and saved through thMaterial or Environment Editors, while animations, lights and models are saved by clicking on thViewport background or object and choosing File > Save Animation, File > Save Lighting or File >Save Model. These steps are detailed in the upcoming sections on Animation, Environment, Lights, and Materials. Since the Model Gallery contains Mesh, Extrusion and Lathe objects, steps for saving these various types of models are detailed in the sections regarding the Extrusion Editor, Lathe Editor and Advanced Modeler.

Save Model Dialog:

Gallery Content Locations

e exception of the Bevel Gallery, is saved in a proprietary file is installed on your machine. The directories

e complete file path isC:\Program Files\Electric Rain\Swift 3D\Version 5.00 and 3D\Version 5.00)

n Name.t3a ...\Swift 3D\Version 51.00\Environments\Environment Name.t3e

Under gory tabs that reside across the top of each gallery. Any new content added by you will get saved to the folder that corresponds to the

All pre-made gallery content, with thformat and is stored in directories where Swift 3Dare as follows:

(On Windows thon the Mac it is Applications\Swift

...\Swift 3D\Version 5.00\Animations\Animatio

...\Swift 3D\Version 5.00\Lighting\Lighting Name.t3l

...\Swift 3D\Version 5.00\Materials\Material Name.t3m

...\Swift 3D\Version 5.00\Models\Model Name.t3om

each directory are folders that correspond to the cate

tab in the Gallery under which the item was saved to. If you create a new category, a new folder will be created with that category's name. If you need to delete a category, you can only do this by deleting or moving the actual category folder. This is a permanent procedure so make sure you are confident in what you are doing. Reinstalling Swift 3D will always restore any default

50

Scene Editor

categories that come with the program, but if you are deleting your own stuff you will not have arecourse for retrieving those files.

ny

Related Topics: Gallery Management

g

nt

Gallery Setup DialoFile Formats Sharing Gallery Conte

File Formats

its own proprietary file format:

Environment: .t3e

Related Topics:

t

nt

haring Gallery Content

ries is that they make it easy to share your creations with

rd drive, open the folder that corresponds with the gallery content you wish to share, and copy the actual .t3X file (e.g.,

ill

2. sired animation, environment, lighting scheme, material or

Related Topics:

ations ement

Each gallery has

Animation: .t3a

Lighting: .t3l Materials: .t3m Models: .t3om

Gallery Content Locations Gallery ManagemenGallery Setup Dialog Sharing Gallery Conte

S

The great thing about the galleother users. There are two ways to go about sharing files:

1. Navigate to the \Swift 3D\Version 5 directory on your ha

animation.t3a) and give that file to your fellow Swift 3D user. The recipient of the file wsimply need to copy it into the corresponding directory on their hard drive, choosing any category to place it under, and the next time they run Swift 3D that item will be available for use from the gallery. Copy and send the user your full .t3d file. When the recipient opens the .t3d file in Swift 3D, they can save the demodel directly into the corresponding gallery.

File Formats Gallery Content LocGallery ManagGallery Setup Dialog

51


52

Working With Objects Working With Objects Overview Have you ever had the following experience:

You launch a brand new application you've never used before. It's supposed to be the best tool for doing whatever it is you need to do, so your confidence is running high. This is going to be fun. After opening a new file, you start clicking around the interface. You manage to insert a few objects, but they're not where you want them. You try and move them and they won't budge. You try and edit them and they just sit there. The clicking gets heated. The menus are of no help. Finally you close the application in a fit of rage.

Two days later you're still under the gun to finish the project and this new application is your only path to completion. So you pick up the User Guide and start to read. After a few pages you find the words, “Aaaahhhh, that's how you do it,” muttered from your mouth. You read a little further and it becomes, “Well that makes sense. Cool.” After 30 minutes of information gathering you re-open the cursed application and suddenly it's smooth sailing.

Unfortunately, the scenario is all-too-common. We're all 'Button Pushers' at heart with primal instincts that tell us “I can figure this out on my own.” But learning the finer points of object control can save you from those frustrating moments where the software fights you tooth and nail. By reading through the following chapter you'll at least understand the techniques that are common to all types of objects within Swift 3D.

Once you have that knowledge in hand, you can tackle the intricacies of each specific object as they come. That detailed information can be found in later chapters that go into depth on each object's properties and how to control them. But for now we'll cover the manipulation of objects and their universal properties.

Object Properties Object Properties

Every object in Swift 3D has properties that are universal to just about all objects, although mesh objects have smoothing and Mesh Morpher properties that only apply to meshes. More information about the Mesh Morpher can be found in the chapters on Animation and the Advanced Modeler. When you click on any object, its object properties can be found on the Object property page of the Property Toolbar. The Object properties that are available, depending on the type of object selected, are as follows:

Related Topics: Naming Objects Hide Lock Refraction Index

Object Properties

53


Every object in Swift 3D has properties that are universal to just about all objects, although mesh objects have smoothing and Mesh Morpher properties that only apply to meshes. More information about the Mesh Morpher can be found in the chapters on Animation and the Advanced Modeler. When you click on any object, its object properties can be found on the Object property page of the Property Toolbar. The Object properties that are available, depending on the type of object selected, are as follows:

Related Topics: Naming Objects Hide Lock Refraction Index

Name

As your scene grows in complexity, being able to slap a label on an object can be quite useful. Because both the Properties Toolbar and the Animation Toolbar are selection sensitive, having the specific name of an object appear in the timeline helps insure that any changes being made are to the proper object. Please keep in mind that naming is not required since a default name will be given to any new object placed into the scene. It's when you have three of one type of object and a half-dozen of another that object naming really shows its true colors. You can name either a single object or a group of objects.

To name an object: 1. Select the object. 2. Select Object from the Properties Toolbar list. 3. Type a name in the Name field. 4. Hit ENTER.

You will now see the name of that particular object appear in the upper left corner of the timeline whenever it's selected.

Related Topics: Naming Objects Hide Lock

Hide

On the surface, this feature seems pretty straightforward. Check the box, and your object becomes hidden. But, you can lose some serious sleep when the time comes to figure out how to find that object again. From the Viewport Menu you have the option to Show > Hidden Objects. When this option is enabled, all hidden objects are displayed with a stippled red effect (hidden objects that are also locked will be magenta). If you want the object completely hidden and do not want to see it stippled, go to the Viewport Menu > Show > Hidden-Locked Object Stipple option and click on it to turn it off. Note that Hidden objects can only be selected via the Hierarchy toolbar. This is designed to facilitate the selection of objects that lie on top of each other in the Viewport.

To hide an object:

54

Working With Objects

1. Insert a Box primitive into your Viewport by clicking on the Box button on the Main Toolbar.

2. Select Object from the Properties Toolbar. 3. Click the Hide button. Your object will disappear from the Viewport.

Nick’s Tips There are times when you want an object to be hidden from view until a certain point in

your animation. Swift 3D does not come with a Hide Object keyframe option, but you can hide an object from view using the following steps (see Animation chapter for more details on creating animations):

1. Position your object where you want it to appear in your scene. 2. Go to the object’s Scale Property page and change its scale to 0, 0, 0, so it disappears. 3. Turn the Animate button on and move the keyframe indicator to the frame where you

want the object to first appear. 4. Change its Scale properties back to their original settings. A keyframe will appear in the

timeline. 5. Hover your cursor over the first keyframe until an arrow pointing right appears, then click-

and-drag the right side of the keyframe forward to the location of the keyframe where the object “appears.” This stops the animation, therefore preventing any Scale tweening from occurring, so your object will now simply appear at that keyframe, as though it was hidden.

Related Topics: Naming Objects Hide Lock Display

Lock

The Lock function is primarily designed to circumvent any errant repositioning mishaps. If you feel like you've found the ultimate resting place for an object, or just want to temporarily render it immobile while you tweak the rest of your scene, this is how you do it. When you select an object or group of objects and check the Lock option on the Object page of the Properties Toolbathe object will change to a blue stippled state in the Viewport (magenta if the object is also Hidden), and you will not be able to change the position of that object unless you unlock it. (To turn off the stippled effect, go to Viewport Menu > Show > Hidden-Locked Object Stipple.) Everything else about that object is seditable while its position is locked. If objects have been associated with one another via the Hierarchy system (covered in later in this chapter), you’ll find that locked children will not influence parents, but locked parents will influence children. In order to help facilitate selection, locked objects, like hidden objects, can only be selected through the Hierarchy toolbar.

r,

till

In order to help facilitate selection, locked objects, like hidden objects, can only be selected through the Hierarchy toolbar.

55


NOTE: Locked objects that are then grouped together with other objects through the Arrange > Group command will cause the entire group to be locked until that object is unlocked. It is also possible to select an object out of a group of objects and lock it, thus rendering the entire group locked. Only the object within the group that is locked will display in the blue stippled state, which makes it easy to identify the locked object in the group.

Related Topics: Naming Objects Hide Lock Display

Refraction Index

Found on the Object Properties Page, this value refers to the amount of refraction that transparent objects exhibit in physics. In effect, it defines how much the light rays bends as they enter and exit a new medium. It is the reason why when you stick a long pole into a swimming pool, it looks like it bends at the surface of the water. The higher this value, the more the light bends, but also the longer it takes to trace through the material. This means that if you crank this setting up to its maximum you’ll see longer rendering times. The Refraction Index can be scrolled between a value of 1.000 (no bending of light) to 1.5000 (extreme bending of light). This setting is only relevant to your objects if you plan on rendering your scene with the EMO Ray Tracer.

To use the refraction index: 1. Insert the Sphere primitive. 2. Go to the Transparent tab of the Material Gallery and drag the Transparent Gray material

onto your Sphere. 3. Insert a Text object. In the Front Viewport, Right + click (WIN)/ CTRL + click (MAC) on

the text and drag your mouse downward until the word "Text" is behind the Sphere. 4. Select the Sphere and click Object in the Properties Toolbar. 5. Scroll the Refraction Index down to 1.000 (you can only scroll; numeric input is disabled). 6. Click on the Render Window button on the Main Toolbar. 7. Go back to the Refraction Index and scroll it up to 1.500. 8. Click on the Render Window button (you’ll see the difference in rendering speed). Notice

the distortion of the text after rendering

Refraction Index High: Refraction Index Low:

56


57

3

lt, Swift 3D automatically applies smoothing

All mand/or edited in the Advanced Modeler, come

n

s. angle that Swift 3D will use in order to

determine which edges get smoothed. For example, if the Smoothing Angle is set to 25 le

ditional controls only appear when mesh objects are selected.

NOTE: Transparent objects that are rendered with EMO will yield very realistic output since refraction is supported through ray tracing. RAViX does not support refraction so objects with transparent materials applied to them will render out with the appropriate alpha settings, but will lack the surface details you might expect to see with those objects.

Related Files: Transparent Materials

Use V4 Texture Coordinates

This setting exists in order to ensure backward compatibility with Swift 3D V3 textures. Since Swift 3D V4.x uses a different texture coordinate system, there will be times when you will want to preserve a V3 texture. In particular, the Noise setting is no longer available in Swift 3D V4.x, so if this setting was used to make a Vtexture you will not be able to duplicate it in V4.x. Swift 3D V4.xwill respect the Noise setting as long as the material is not editedin V4.x.

By default, the Use Texture Coordinates setting is enabled for all files created in Swift 3D V4.x, but is disabled for all files opened into V4.x that were created with an earlier version of Swift 3D.

Smoothing

Smoothing is a process that makes the surface area of an object appear to be rounded even though a hard edge actually exists between each polygon. By defau

between polygons that have an angle of 30 degrees or less in between them.

esh objects, which includes models imported from 3DS or DXF files or models created with these additional smoothing controls:

Unsmooth: This option turns off all smoothing so that the hard edges that exist betweeeach polygon are displayed. Smoothing Groups: In the Advanced Modeler you can manually define Smoothing Groups for different surfaces areas of a single mesh. (Refer to the Smoothing Groups section in the Advanced Modeler for further information on this topic.) When the Smoothing Groups option is checked, Swift 3D will respect these Smoothing GroupAuto Smooth: This option allows you to define the

degrees, Swift 3D will only smooth the adjoining edge of two polygons if the angbetween those two polygons is 25 degrees or less

Note that these ad


Related Topics: Normals

o,

it there are a few more settings you should be aware of, but I said I was

NOTE: Object level Rendering Options only apply when rendering to a vector format with RAViX hen rendered to a raster format.

cs: iew

Mesh Morpher in the Advanced Modeler and animating a Mesh Morph

or's animation timeline.

Mesh Morpher Overview (Advanced Modeler) n)

ard d it's ng

the Rotation Trackball, as well as have its name appear in the upper left corner of the Animation Timeline.

Polygons

Rendering Options

In a nutshell, Rendering Options give you the power to designate different fill and outline types to individual objects within a scene, so if you want a few items to include outlines and others not tthat’s OK with Swift 3D. Gone are the days when achieving these sort of results required multiple render and export sessions, accompanied by a good deal of post-production work to combine them. Now just assign objects the rendering options of your choice, render and export. It’s as easy as that... OK, I admgoing to be brief and I’m a man of my word, so those are covered in detail in the section about Rendering With RAViX.

and will be ignored w

Related TopiRAViX OvervEdge Options Fill Options

Mesh Morpher Properties

Mesh Morpher properties are only available to mesh objects created and/or edited in the Advanced Modeler. By setting MorphGroups and Morph Targets in the Advanced Modeler, you can achieve the long-standing desire of many Swift 3D enthusiasts, animation of mesh deformations. For details on this extremely cool new feature check out the sections on using the

using the Scene Edit

Related Topics:

Mesh Morphing Overview (Animatio

Selecting Objects Selecting Individual Objects

Selecting an object would seem to be a pretty straightforwprocess, and for the most part it is. You click on an object anselected. You'll know it when the object’s rectangular boundibox appears. It will also appear in

58


Swift 3D also simplifies selection by allowing you to penetrate a front object to those behind it through the use of consecutive mouse clicks. When the rear most object is clicked through, selection will return to the front most item.

Related Topics: Selecting Multiple Objects Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy System Selecting Grouped Objects

Selecting Multiple Objects

To select more than one object, you can hold down the SHIFT key while selecting and each new object you click on will be added to the list of objects already selected (and you will see each new object join the others in the Rotation Trackball). As soon as you release the SHIFT key and click on another object, you will de-select any selected objects. If you errantly add an object, keep holding down the SHIFT key and just click again on the object you want deselected, and then continue on selected objects.

If you simply want to select all the objects in your scene at once you can use the Edit > Select All command or the CTRL + A (Win) or COMMAND + A (Mac) shortcuts.

To select multiple objects: 1. Insert three different primitives into your scene, clicking and dragging each to a separate

location. (Use the Frame All Objects button on the Main Toolbar to readjust the Viewport so that all can be seen.)

2. Holding down the SHIFT key, click on each primitive (watch as each gets added to the Rotation Trackball).

3. While still holding down the SHIFT key, click again on one of the primitives to deselect it.

Related Topics: Selecting Individual Objects Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy System Selecting Grouped Objects

Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy List

The power of the Hierarchy system doesn’t stop at just the list. It also serves as a secondary place to select objects, lights and camera within your scene, which can be extremely helpful since there are many times when you simply can’t select an object in the Viewport because it is obscured from view by other objects. This makes for a very accurate method of object selection when your scene starts getting crowded.

To select an object using Hierarchy: 1. From the Hierarchy Toolbar, scroll through the list and find the name of the object. (If you

have not named your objects you may have a bit of trial and error finding the right one if you have more than one type of object in your scene.)

2. Click on the object and you will see the object become selected in the Viewports.

59


NOTE: Holding down the SHIFT key will constrain a child object to only being dragged within the same parent.

Nick’s Tips The Hierarchy system will not allow you to select or move more than one listed object at a time (although a listed object may actually contain many children), but you can

accomplish a multiple object move by using a different strategy. Since you can perform multiple selection of objects within the Viewport, you can create a grouped object there (either temporary or permanent), and then move the grouped object in the Hierarchy list. All of the originally selected objects are considered children of that group, so they’ll all go along for the ride. When you have the group associated with the right parent, you can then ungroup the objects and they will assume their new places within the Hierarchy system.

Related Topics: Groups Within Hierarchy Hierarchy Parent/Child Relationships Selecting Individual Objects Selecting Multiple Objects Selecting Grouped Objects

Selecting Grouped Objects

Once a group is created, it is treated like one object and can be selected like a single object. However, since objects within the group can maintain their own properties, such as bevels and materials, when a group is selected you will only see properties that you can adjust for the group as a whole in the Properties Toolbar. This does not mean that once an object is part of a group that you can no longer access its individual properties because objects can be individually selected from the group.

Two methods for selecting an individual object from a group: 1. Hold down CTRL (Win) or OPTION (Mac) while selecting the individual object. 2. Go to the Hierarchy page of the Properties toolbar (Win) or bring up the Hierarchy dialog

by selecting View > Hierarchy (Win/Mac) and select the desired object from the list.

Related Topics: Selecting Individual Objects Selecting Multiple Objects Selecting Objects Using Hierarchy System

Positioning Objects Click-and-Drag

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This is the most basic of object positioning procedures and it will probably be the one you use most. It's simply a matter of clicking-and-dragging on an object and releasing the mouse button when it arrives at its intended destination.

It's important to note that when you use this process, you are only moving the object along two axes at once. To give you an example of what I mean, let's say that you are manipulating your objects through the Front camera view, which is shown in the left Viewport by default. Because the Front camera looks directly down the Z axis, your object movements are automatically constrained to the X and Y axis, just like when you move objects in a 2D drawing application.

When you want to move objects closer or farther away from the camera (in the case of the Front camera, along the Z axis) you use a right click-and-drag (Win) or a CTRL + click-and-drag (Mac) to accomplish the task.

Nick's Tips The methodology of the click-and-drag object positioning lends itself nicely to using different Camera views to move objects along certain planes. If I want to create four

objects in my scene and need them all to stay on the exact same horizontal axis, where their Y coordinates always equal zero, I would do all of my object movement from the Top or Bottom views, thereby only adjusting their X and Z coordinates. I would then use my Front view as my final rendering Viewport.

Related Topics: Constrain Axis Nudge Keys Numerical Positioning Pivot Points Reset Position Button

Nudge Keys

If you like to keep your hands on the keyboard, then just slide them over to your arrow keys and start pounding away. The increment by which your selected object will move is by default one pixel. If you find this a bit tedious, you can increase the distance your object moves each time you hit your arrow key by going to the Layout page in the Properties Toolbar or by changing the default increment in the User Preferences dialog. Simply type in your desired increment and continue on. Holding down the SHIFT key while nudging objects with the arrow keys will move the selected object ten times the nudge increment.

Related Topics: Click-and-Drag Constrain Axis Numerical Positioning Pivot Points Reset Position Button

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Constrain Axis

There are also times when you want to be able to constrain an object's movements to an individual axis rather than an entire plane, as is the case with the process of using different camera views to constrain object movement. In this case we have a solution for you as well. No matter what camera view you're in, if you would like to constrain your object movements to the horizontal or vertical axis (relative to the particular camera you are looking through) you simply hold down the SHIFT key while clicking-and-dragging your object. Swift 3D will take the first movement of your cursor as your intended direction and then continue to limit that object’s movement along that axis. As soon as you release the SHIFT key you will be able to move that object in any direction.

To constrain movement along the depth axis, right click-and-drag (Win) or CTRL + click-and-drag (Mac) upward to move your object forward, and downward to move your object backward.

Nudge Keys

Swift 3D also supports the use of nudge keys. You can click on any of the keyboard arrow keys and the selected object will move the designated increment in the viewport. You can control the Keyboard Nudge Increment in the Layout page of the Properties Toolbar. You should beware that if you have selected an object and then interacted with the Properties Toolbar before attempting a nudge, you will end up scrolling through the Properties pages instead of nudging the object. To avoid this you just need to click on the object again and you'll be nudging like a big dog.

Related Topics: Click-and-Drag Nudge Keys Numerical Positioning Pivot Points Reset Position Button

Numerical Positioning

he ultimate control comes with the ability to designate your object's position through the numerical coordinate system. Each object has a center point. The position of that center point, and thus the object itself, can be controlled within the Position page of the Properties Toolbar. Here you can set the X, Y and Z coordinates of the selected object as you please. The numbers are all based on the coordinate grid that you see in the Viewport, with each gridline representing one unit of measurement. Through this method, object positioning becomes more a lesson in math calculations and less a process of trial and error.

If you have the need to align certain parts of your objects, like if you needed the base of all your objects to be aligned along a certain axis or plane, you need to adjust your object's pivot points and then align those pivot points. For more information on this process, please see the upcoming section on Pivot Points.

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To position an object: 1. Insert one of the primitives. 2. ALT + right click (Win) or COMMAND + CTRL+ click (Mac) anywhere in the background

and drag downward to zoom the camera away from your object, giving you space to work with.

3. Click on the primitive and drag it to a new spot. 4. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the primitive and drag your cursor downward

to move the primitive backward along the Z axis, then move your cursor upward to move the primitive forward along the Z axis.

5. Click on the primitive, and while holding down the SHIFT key, move your cursor horizontally in either direction, then move your cursor vertically in either direction. Notice how its movement is constrained.

6. With the primitive still selected, use the keyboard arrow keys to move it around. 7. Go to the primitive’s Position page in the Properties Toolbar and enter in new

coordinates. 8. Click on the Reset Position button on the right side of the Rotation Trackball to bring

object back to its original location.

Related Topics: Click-and-Drag Constrain Axis Nudge Keys Pivot Points Reset Position Button

Reset Position

Clicking the reset button, which i located at the bottom of the buttons found on the left side of the Rotation Trackball, will open a menu which includes a number of useful commands. Selecting Reset Position will reposition your object to its original location when it was first created or imported. With the exception of objects created within the Extrusion Editor, this will place the selected object's center point on the intersection of the X, Y and Z axis.

s

Related Topics: Click-and-Drag Nudge Keys Numerical Positioning Pivot Points

Pivot Points

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When you insert an object into your Viewport, it will automatically have a corresponding pivot point that is represented by a small red, green and blue cross hair located directly at the center of the object. This is a visual representation of that object's pivot point. When you rotate the object, this location will be the point around which your object will spin.

To adjust the pivot point's location you need to first go to the Position page in the Properties Toolbar. The four buttons along the bottom of the Property Page allow you to designate your relocation strategy.

Move Pivot Only will let you move the pivot point without having the object move, but when you move the object, the pivot point moves with the object. This setting works well for adjusting the pivot point of an object after it has just been created, or when the object has already been positioned.

Move Object Only will let you move the object without having the pivot point move, but when you move the pivot point, the object will move with the pivot point. This setting is good when you have established a specific location in 3D space for your pivot point and then need to position your objects accordingly.

Move Together will only let you move the object and ppoint together, so you cannot adjust their locations relativto each other. With this option selected (default) you wonbe able to adjust the object's pivot point, but once you adjust the location of the pivot point using one of the other settings, this will lock it in place.

ivot e 't

enter ith it.

itself to

Move Independently will allow you to move either the object or the pivot point separately. Although this setting gives you the most freedom in positioning, you probably will not want it enabled once you have your pivot point’s location established where you want it because it's too easy to change their position by accident.

To turn off pivot point:

If you prefer not to see the pivot point, you can turn off its display from the Show submenu of the Viewport Menu.

Reset Pivot Location

Accessed by clicking the reset button, found at the bottom of the buttons located to the left of the Rotation Trackball, will re-cyour object's pivot location no matter what you have done wIt's a nice way to get back to your original starting point. No matter which of the pivot positioning options you have selected, the object will stay put and the pivot point will reposition the object's center.

To move the pivot point of an object: 1. Insert the Box primitive into your Viewport.

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2. ALT + right click (Win) or COMMAND + CTRL+ click (Mac) anywhere in the background and drag downward to zoom the camera away from the Box, giving you space to work with.

3. Re-select the Box and go to its Position Property Page. 4. At the bottom of this page, select the Move Pivot Only button. 5. For Pivot Position, use: X = -.50, Y = .50 and Z = .50. 6. Go to the Rotation Trackball and drag your cursor around in the trackball to see how the

Box is now rotating around its corner. 7. Hit the Reset Pivot Location Button on the right side of the Rotation Trackball to return

pivot to its original location.

Related Topics: Click-and-Drag Constrain Axis Nudge Keys Numerical Positioning

Rotating Objects Rotation Trackball

We briefly mentioned the use of the Rotation Trackball in the Scene Editor chapter, but now I'd like to investigate its functionality more deeply. Once you've selected an object it will appear within the Rotation Trackball with the same rotational orientation as it has in the Viewport. As soon as you click-and-drag on the surface of the Trackball, the object in the Viewport will rotate in the same direction as you're dragging your cursor.

The basic use of the trackball is fairly intuitive, but being able to refine its movements is critical to laying out your scene just as you want it. This refinement comes through the use of the Lock Axis buttons along the left side of the Rotation Trackball.

Lock Horizontal will only allow the trackball, and thus your selected object, to rotate along its horizontal axis.

Lock Vertical will only allow the trackball to rotate along its vertical axis. Lock Spin will only allow the trackball to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. Rotation Increment allows you to choose the degree of rotation.

You can also use the shortcut keys to expedite the process, which is very convenient when you are rotating your objects along more than one axis. While rotating your objects, holding down:

SHIFT will lock the trackball on its vertical axis. CTRL will lock the trackball on its horizontal axis. CTRL + SHIFT will lock the trackball's clockwise or counterclockwise rotation.

These locking buttons and shortcut keys give you a nice amount of control over what direction you want your objects to rotate, but you can take it a step further with the use of the Rotation Increment setting. This allows you to keep your object rotations within known values, which takes the guesswork out of the process.

To rotate an object using the rotation trackball:

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1. Insert the Torus primitive into the Viewport. 2. In the Rotation Trackball, click on the Lock Horizontal button and drag your cursor

horizontally back and forth across the trackball. 3. Click on the Lock Vertical button and drag your cursor up and down across the trackball. 4. Click on the Lock Spin button and move your cursor in a circular motion along the outer

perimeter of the trackball. 5. Click the Reset Rotation button on right side of trackball. 6. Click on the Rotation Increment button and select 45 degrees. 7. Click on the Lock Horizontal button and move your cursor across the trackball to the right

until the Torus rotates one turn, which will be 45 degrees.

Related Topics: Numeric Rotation Reset Rotation Button

In-Viewport Rotation Controls

When an object or group of objects are selected you will see some UI appear around the object's pivot point. This interface is called the In-Viewport Trackball and it offers a convenient and accurate way to rotate your objects without using the Rotation Trackball.

The interface mainly consists of 3 circles that represent the 3 axes of rotation, X, Y and Z. The red circle is X, the green circle is Y and the blue circle is Z, and each circle can be clicked on to begin rotating the object around that particular axis. When you click and drag on an axis you will see the rotation icon appear next to your cursor and you will also see a light red pie-shape appear as the object rotates.

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This pie-shape represents the degrees of rotation that the object has been rotated from the starting point of the operation. In the case shown above you can see that the object has been rotated about 120 degrees. If you need to do an exact rotation you can use the numerical rotation tools in the Properties Panel.

Related Topics: Rotation Trackball Numeric Rotation Reset Rotation Button

Numeric Rotation

At times you will require greater accuracy when rotating your objects than can be provided through the Rotation Trackball. Through the Rotation page of the Properties Toolbar you can enter in an exact degree of rotation.

To numerically rotate an object: 1. Select the object in the Viewport. 2. Click on the Rotation page of the Properties Toolbar.

(Note: A scrollbar will appear along the right side of the Property List box if the Rotation property has been pushed down out of the viewable area of the List box.)

3. Type in the exact degree of rotation into any of the X, Y or Z entry boxes.

4. Hit enter or tab to the next field in order for the rotation to take place.

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Local vs. Global Rotation

operty page is set tmeans that all objects will rotate around their pivot points

In-Viewport Rotation Controls on

eset Rotation Button

, Reset Rotaticlicking the reset button, found

any

In-Viewport Rotation Controls

caling Objects

l of the Control Freaks in the audience. Scaling is an obvious feature that everyone is accustomed to. Unfortunately in the 3D world there is a difference between sizing

By default, the Rotation pr o Global, which

o

on is accessed by at the bottom of the buttons

according to the main scene’s X, Y and Z axes. All objects alscome with a local Axis Guide around which you can also roany object. Having access to an object’s local axes can be extremely helpful if you have changed the global rotation of an object but still need to rotate an object according to its local orientation. To rotate an object locally, click on the Local button on the Rotation property page and then adjust the X, Y or Z rotation values.

Related Topics:

tate

Reset Rotation ButtRotation Trackball

R

Like the other reset commands

located to the left of the Rotation Trackball. This little nifty command will undo any rotation that has been applied to an object, no matter when that rotation was done. It works withobject that is currently selected.

Related Topics:

Numeric Rotation Rotation Trackball

SScaling Objects

This is where I lose al

and scaling. If you're the type of person who always has to know exactly how big your objects are, you're better off skipping the scale function and sticking to adjusting your object's size numerically via the sizing controls. But if you are willing to let the numerical control slip slightly, scaling is a quick and easy way to change the relative size of your objects.

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One key thing to consider about scaling is that you can animate this property, and with the ability to scale objects non-uniformly, you can create some great animations. This is something that cannot be done through the sizing controls since the sizing property cannot be animated.

Related Topics: Scaling Mode Button Numeric Scaling

Scaling Mode

The quickest method of scaling an object or group of objects is by slipping into Scaling Mode. This is a one shot deal where you select the button and scale your object either up or down, with equal scaling being applied to all dimensions of the object or group, and then

Swift 3D automatically kicks you out of scaling mode. This is done to prevent any inadvertent scaling if you forget to turn off Scaling Mode. You'll notice that this process does not change the object's numerical size.

To scale an object using scaling mode: 1. Click the Scaling Mode button on the Main Toolbar. The cursor will change to t

Scaling Mode cursor. he

rom the g

eeded.

2. Click-and-drag on the object you would like to scale. The farther you are away fcenter point when you click on the object, the better control you will have over the scalinprocess.

3. Moving your cursor towards the center of the object will decrease its scale, while moving it away from the center will increase its scale.

4. Release the cursor button when you are happy with the scale of your object.

You'll notice that this process does not change the object's numerical size.

Related Topics: Numeric Scaling Scaling Objects

Numeric Scaling

This process accomplishes the same effect as the Scaling Mode button, but allows for scaling adjustments of the width, height and depth independently.

To scale an object using numeric scaling: 1. Select the object you want to scale. 2. Select the Scale page in the Properties Toolbar. 3. Adjust the values of the X, Y or Z scale factors as n

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Nick’s Tips ling and shearing can cause problems when parent/child relationships

Just for some background information, when an object is made a child of another rotation

t

Scaling Mode Button

hear

e a picture of a naked sheep in your head right now you might want to consider giving this section a read since the type of shearing Swift 3D does has nothing to do with sheep. The

es

Non-uniform scaare established.object, Swift 3D makes a one time adjustment so that the child maintains it position, and scale properties. However, if a parent object is non-uniformly scaled, any children of

that parent will begin to skew when they are rotated because it takes on the parent's local axis coordinates as its global coordinates. In order to avoid this problem, it is highly recommended that all non-uniform scaling be performed down at the mesh level in the Advanced Modeler. Scaling done at the mesh level will not have any affect on children that are created at the objeclevel. Further information on editing and scaling meshes can be found in the section on the Advanced Modeler.

Related Topics:

Scaling Objects

S

If you hav

Shear function allows you to slant an object from one side to another along a specific axis. A good way to understand this function is to think of a square being transformed into a parallelogram, where its top and bottom planes remain parallel to each other while the top slidtowards the right and the bottom slides towards the left.

Box Before Shear Box With X Shear Applied

The steps for shearing are identical to the steps provided for Numeric Scaling.

egative Scaling

used as a way to Mirror objects in the Scene Editor. Simple select an object or

e (-

N

Negative scaling can be

group of objects and set their scale to negative on

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1.00). The screen shot to the right shows a teapot that has been negatively scaled in the Scene Editor.

Grouping Objects Much like a 2D drawing program, Swift 3D allows you to group objects together so they can be manipulated and animated as a single unit. A group is limited to objects and cannot include lights and cameras, but you can link lights and cameras to objects using the Hierarchy system (read upcoming section on Hierarchy). When objects are grouped a single pivot point is assigned to that group at its center.

To create a group: 1. Select two or more objects you want grouped together. 2. Choose Arrange > Group from the Main Menu.

Depending how many objects were included in the group, the group will be given the default name of “Group of X Objects.” You can give the group a more meaningful name by selecting the group and going to the Object page of the Properties Toolbar.

Selecting Grouped Objects

Once a group is created, it is treated like one object and can be selected like a single object. However, since objects within the group can maintain their own properties, such as bevels and materials, when a group is selected you will only see properties that you can adjust for the group as a whole in the Properties Toolbar. This does not mean that once an object is part of a group that you can no longer access its individual properties because objects can be individually selected from the group.

Two methods for selecting an individual object from a group: 1. Hold down CTRL (Win) or OPTION (Mac) while selecting the individual object. 2. Go to the Hierarchy page of the Properties toolbar (Win) or bring up the Hierarchy dialog

by selecting View > Hierarchy (Win/Mac) and select the desired object from the list.

To ungroup a group: 1. Select the group you want to dissolve. 2. Choose Arrange > Ungroup from the Main Menu.

NOTE: Removing a single object from a group can only be done from the Hierarchy list by clicking and dragging the object out from under the group.

You should be aware that when you animate a grouped object, and then ungroup the objects, your original animation will be lost.

Nested Groups

Nested groups (groups within groups) can be created by simply selecting two separate groups and choosing Arrange > Group from the Main Menu. The only way to select a group within a group is through the Hierarchy system.

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Related Topics: Groups Within Hierarchy

Cutting, Copying, Pasting and Deleted Objects Any object (including lights and cameras) can be cut or copied and then pasted either within the same document or into a new project.

Cut: To cut a selected object do a CTRL + X/Command + X or go to the Main Menu and select Edit > Cut.

Copy: To copy your object, simply select the object and do a CTRL + C (Win)/Command + C (Mac) or go to the Main Menu and select Edit > Copy.

Paste: To paste your object, do a CTRL + V (Win)/Command + V (Mac) or go to the Main Menu and select Edit > Paste.

Whether you are cutting/copying and pasting your object into the same project or a new project, the new copy will maintain all of the original object’s properties, including any animation that had been applied to that object. The object will also get pasted into the same exact location, even if pasted into another document.

Delete: To delete a selected object, hit the Delete key or go to Edit > Delete.

Nick’s Tips When working with complex scenes, movement around the Viewport can start to slow down to the point where working on the details of individual objects can get frustrating.

Since you can copy and paste objects from one document to another without losing their properties or location, it can be advantageous to copy and paste individual objects into another document where you can work to refine their details. When you are done, simply copy and paste that object back into your master document and it will go back to the same spot in your scene.

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Primitives Primitives Overview Primitives are a lazy designer's best friends. There is no quicker way to get 3D elements into your scene than clicking one of the Swift 3D primitive buttons. It's what geometry class should have been like in high school. No proofs, no equations, no pi. Just cool looking shapes at your command.

In addition, you can control many properties of each primitive. What this means is that for every primitive button you see across the top of the Swift 3D interface, there are endless variations of each shape. It's just a matter of clicking and tweaking.

It's important to also realize that these 3D primitives can be joined together in infinite ways to create more complex shapes that are only limited by your imagination. If you think of these primitive objects as basic building blocks, you're going to see well beyond their basic 3D shape into a world you probably learned about with your first set of Legos.

Inserting Primitives All of the primitives can be accessed from the Main toolbar with the simple click of the mouse. When they are inserted into the Viewport they automatically arrive centered on the (0,0,0) coordinate.

As you peruse the delectable selection of primitives, please note that there are properties specific to each object and properties that are universal across all objects. Those specific properties are mentioned along with the primitive information in this chapter. The common properties are discussed in the Working With Objects section.

How to insert a Primitive: 1. Click on the desired Primitive button. 2. Wipe the sweat from your brow and grab some Gatorade.

Sphere It's round, it has a radius and you can change its shape. The object itself is as simple as it gets, but once you've inserted the sphere into your scene you can control much more than just the radius. Within the Properties Toolbar are settings that will take your basic sphere and squeeze it, stretch it, and adjust its appearance altogether.

Radius

This one is a no-brainer. You adjust the radius setting and the thing gets bigger or smaller. You can accomplish the same effect using the Scaling Mode button, but you'll find that when you use the scaling technique it will not have an effect on the numerical radius setting. This is due to the

73


difference between object scaling and object sizing which is covered in the Scaling section of the Working With Objects chapter.

Segmentation

So now we're going to cross the line from Geometry to Geography. The best way to understand the sphere's segmentation control is to imagine a globe, complete with all of its lines of longitude and latitude. And for those of you who were snoozing during Geography class, we'll have a little review. Lines of latitude are the ones that circle the globe (or sphere) horizontally and the lines of longitude circle the globe vertically. The way I remember the two is that lines of latitude get smaller as you approach the Earth's poles, but the lines of longitude stay consistently ‘long.’ If that doesn't work for you then just start changing the numbers and you'll figure it out pretty darn quickly.

GeoSphere Unlike its relative, the sphere, the GeoSphere has no poles. The screen shot on the right shows a GeoSphere that has bunsmoothed (in the Advanced Modeler) so that you can see thmesh. The mesh of a GeoSphere will provide a smootheprofile than a sphere that has the same number of faces.

een e

r

Radius

As with the Sphere, you can set the GeoSphere's radius.

Subdivision Depth

This setting controls the number of faces the GeoSphere's mesh contains. The range of this

Ahhh, the coveted Box. So simple, yet often overlooked. Six

for all

Sizing

setting is limited to four subdivisions. These numbers correspond to the number of times the original faces of the GeoSphere are subdivided into four new faces.

Box (Cube)

sides, 12 edges and no pretense, this primitive is the all purpose utility shape that serves as a great building blockthings rectangular and blocky.

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Primitives

These properties are very straight forward with the Box, so I shan't take this explanation a step further.

Segmentation

As is the case with a few other primitives, these segmentation settings allow for control over how the Box, or whatever rectangular shape you turn it into, gets defined on a polygon basis. The default setting for the Box is one segment for width, height and depth. This means that the Box is defined by 12 polygons—2 per face. As you increase these settings, you will notice no difference in the macro-geometry (ok, I admit to making up that term), but you will see some slight changes in how the light interacts with the surfaces. But the real reason you'd be messing with these settings comes when it's time to render the shape. When you choose from any of the per-polygon rendering styles (Outline Mesh, Full Color and Mesh Gradient) you will generate different output looks and varying file sizes based on the number of polygons used to create that object.

NOTE: Segmentation settings will have no effect upon your final rendered files if you are planning on using the EMO Ray Tracer to generate your animation. It’s only relevant to RAViX.

Pyramid As you effortlessly click the Pyramid primitive button, just ponder how long it took for the ancient Egyptians to accomplish the same task as Swift 3D just did in milliseconds. And you didn't even have to flog anyone in the process.

Sizing

This is the only property you get to mess with on this primitive, so go ahead and have at it. It's pretty tough to get into trouble with the pyramid.

Nick's Tips Four triangular sides and a bottom are all you get with the pyramid primitive. If you're looking for a pyramid with more sides you can use the Lathe Editor to create a cone and

then uncheck its Smoothing property and adjust the number of Radial Segments to equal the number of sides you're looking for. You can also create a 3-sided pyramid (Tetrahedron) even quicker by inserting a Polyhedron since the default settings yield a Tetrahedron.

Cone The cone is really just a relative of the cylinder, with the obvious difference that it comes with a point on top.

Radius

The top and bottom radius settings allow you to turn your cone into something that I really don't have a definition for. It's sort of like the various forms of progeny that would be generated if a Cone mated with a Cylinder, not that we condone that type of

75


behavior with our primitives. In fact, there's a strict fraternization policy implemented within Swift 3D, but these controls allow you to circumvent our mandated rules.

You'll also notice that massaging these controls can easily create a cylinder, but I assure you that we also have a strict rule regarding the cloning of primitives (and massaging for that matter).

Segmentation

Although the two cone segmentation settings work as you'd expect, they will most likely be used for different purposes.

Axial

I guarantee that when you start to adjust the axial segmentation of the cone you're going to mutter, “Now there's a useless feature,” but I feel obliged to tell you otherwise. Although you will not be noticing any shape change in the object, when it comes time to render the object, you may be more interested in this control. As you change this setting, you are increasing and decreasing the number of polygons that make up that object. When you choose from any of the per-polygon rendering styles (Outline Mesh, Full Color and Mesh Gradient) you will generate different output looks and varying file sizes based on the number of polygons used to create that object.

Radial

Although you can use the radial segmentation to control your polygon count just like the axial control, your use for this control is most likely going to be adjusting the actual geometric shape of the cone. By bumping this setting lower and lower, you can create a cone that becomes more faceted (made up of more surfaces), which can be very beneficial when it comes to rendering your scene with certain output styles.

Closed

By choosing to close the Cone, you are telling Swift 3D to place a cap on the bottom of it. If you uncheck this option, you will be able to see into the cone as if it were created with paper rather than clay. And if you increase the top radius above zero, you will be able to see right through the object from certain camera angles.

Cylinder A variation of the Cone, the cylinder is your all-purpose tube. Great for building DNA chains architectural columns, and even useful when you want to place something on a pedestal. Sdefined by a radius and length, they're not quite as powerfucones, but certainly convenient when someone asks you to model a roll of toilet paper (hey, it could happen).

imply l as

Radius and Length

The radius setting controls how thick the cylinder will be and the length setting controls how long it will be. If you're looking to adjust both parameters proportionately you're probably better off doing so using the Scale Mode button.

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Primitives

Segmentation

Please see the corresponding section under the cone primitive description because any adjustments you may want to make here will affect your cylinder's geometry and rendering appearance exactly as they would a cone.

Torus Torus. Ring. Doughnut. Whatever you want to name this thing, you know what I'm talking about, even though my spell checker does not.

Radius

The Minor Radius is the distance from the center of the shape to the inside surface of the torus. If you increase this setting without changing the Major Radius you will make your Torus more slender.

The Major Radius is the distance from the center of the shape to the outside surface of the shape. If you increase this setting without changing the Minor Radius you will make your Torus fatter.

Segmentation

The Segmentation Minor Radius controls the number of times the circular lines that define the tubular nature of the Torus are segmented. If you decrease this number, the shape will become more angular in its cross section.

The Segmentation Major Radius controls the number of times the circular lines that define the roundness of the Torus are segmented. If you decrease this number, the shape will become more angular in its circumference.

Plane We threw this ultra-primitive primitive into Swift 3D for one sole purpose—Shadows. You may very well find other uses for this object, and for that I commend you. But the bottom line is that planes work great for creating a surface to cast a shadow onto. Throw one of these bad-boys under your animation, check that Shadow option before rendering and you've got some big-time eye candy. And, keep in mind that with both the SWFT and the SWF export file formats you will have access to just the shadows within an animation as either their own separate layer or as a separate object.

Sizing and Segmentation

Please see the corresponding sections under the Box primitive description because any adjustments you may want to make here will affect your plane's geometry and rendering appearance exactly as would the surfaces of a Box.

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Polyhedron Polyhedron

When primitives are born and start learning their way around the world of 3D objects, they soon come to the realization that they wished they were a Polyhedron. To be a Polyhedron is to be anything and everything, while still maintaining its coy demeanor within the Swift 3D interface. Who would have thought one button could be so powerful. The only thing other primitives don't lust after is having the name polyhedron.

If you break down the word to its integral parts, you'll quickly realize that the confusing nomenclature is just a smoke screen for ‘many sided object.’ With this in mind, you can now click on that button and know exactly what you're getting into—a thing with a bunch of sides. But if you leave it at that you miss out on all the fun. With just a little bit of extra information you'll find yourself spitting out 22 letter words that will impress your friends. Or they might just get all glassy-eyed and start considering a quest for new friends.

Loosely defined, a polyhedron is an arrangement of flat surfaces (polygons) such that two and only two surfaces meet at any given edge, making it possible to traverse the surface of the polyhedron by crossing its edges and moving from one surface to another until all surfaces have been traversed by this continuous path. Whew.

What that really means is that Polyhedra (plural of polyhedron) come in many shapes and sizes. These geometrical variations can be broken up into polyhedron families, which I will describe as soon as I can borrow that Geometry textbook from the engineers again.

But the true power of this primitive comes ex-post insert. The versatility of the polyhedron lies within the confines of the Properties Toolbar. With a little bit of tweaking, you'll be whipping out Rhombicosidodecahedrons in less time than it takes to say Truncated Cuboctahedron.

Tetrahedron

The fundamental shape of a Tetrahedron, the most basic form of polyhedron, is a solid object made up of four equilateral triangles. It's like a pyramid, but with one less side. The default geometry for the Tetrahedron family is a tetrahedron (go figure) but you can create many different shapes with some fiddling of the controls we'll talk about shortly.

Polyhedron Families

78

Primitives

79

tioned variations of the polyhedron. dron, Dodecahedron, and

lous five) all share a couple of similar all made up of the same geometric

vertices are identical. This group of obje

nce you place a Polyhedron into the

Cube/Octahedron

These two shapes have a oes

e by

e

ole different world so for now

odecahedron/Icosahedron

a strong relationship to each other. The default geometry that appears when you insert

egin the crazy journey into the realm of Stellated Polyhedra, which are variations on two of the platonic solids but

is

n t

try

First, let's discuss the five basic shapes that make up the starting points for all the aforemenThe Tetrahedron, Cube, OctaheIcosahedron (the fabuproperties. Their faces areshapes and all of their cts is known as the Platonic Solids and you'll recognize their names in the Properties Toolbar o scene.

distinct relationship and it gbeyond the fact that their number of sides is divisiblfour. The Cube is the default geometry that appears when you insert the Polyhedron andselect this family. To get to the Octahedron shape, you need todo some adjustments within thP and Q settings, but that's a whyou can just take my word for it.

D

Again, we find two distinct shapes with

a Polyhedron and select this family is the Dodecahedron, a 12-sided object consisting of faces that are all pentagons. With some modest adjustments you can quickly turn this shape into an Icosahedron, which is a 20-sided object made up of all triangles.

Star 1

Now we b

with star-like characteristics. The default geometry of Star 1an Icosahedron that has had each of its faces pulled out fromthe center of the object. In other words, if you were to create a vertex in the center of each triangular face of an Icosahedroand drag it away from the center of the object, Star 1 is whayou'd end up with. If you need a term you can remember, 20-pointed star, because that's the default construction of a


Star 1.

Star 2

Star 2 works under the same principles of Star 1, but its default geometry is based on a Dodecahedron where each face that the vertex gets pulled from is a pentagon rather than a triangle. In this case you end up with a 10-pointed star. By the way, don't go asking any Geometry professors for the definition of a Star 1 or Star 2. As best I can tell, the names were invented by a frustrated U.I. designer who was having a difficult time fitting the word ‘Great Stellated Dodecahedron’ into a dialog box.

Family Parameters

I really had no idea what we were getting into when the Polyhedron was slated for construction within Swift 3D. Little did I know that one button on our interface could lead to such a communication quandary. It took me two days of research just to determine that the Family Parameters of a polyhedron (also known as Ps and Qs) were virtually indescribable. But that's not going to stop me from trying.

P and Q

The P parameter is directly related to the number of faces the object has, and the Q parameter is directly related to the number of vertices that exist on the object. By adjusting either of these two settings, you can generate an unbelievable amount of variations of the Platonic Solids.

Unfortunately, the P and Q settings are only directly related to tfaces and sides of the object, but not exactly representative of those numbers. What this means is that instead of setting thoparameters exactly as you see fit, your best bet is to start playingaround and see the results. In most cases, the three settings can actually predict how the results are going to look like are the two extremes and the midpoint.

he

se

you

There are some basic things you want to pay attention to as you start tweaking your default objects.

The range of each setting is between 0 and 1. The two values added together cannot exceed 1. The two extremes occur when either setting is set to 1

and the other is at 0. The midpoint occurs when both settings are set to 0.

Let's say you insert your Polyhedron (which will give you the Tetra) with a default setting of P=0 and Q=1. This is a 100% pure Tetrahedron. As soon as you start adjusting either the P or the Q parameter, you no longer have a tetrahedron, but rather a variation of the tetrahedron shape. Now the interesting thing about this

80

Primitives

particular shape is that when you go to the other extreme, where P=1 and Q=0, you also end up with an exact tetrahedron. This is the only family where this occurs and it's also the reason why there is only one name under this family category.

Moving on to the Cube/Octa, we start out with the same default setting of P=0 and Q=1 and you have a perfect cube. Now when you choose the other extreme you will end up with the Octahedron, which is the main reason these two objects are lumped together in a family.

Finally, the Dodec/Icos arrives into the scene with the standard P and Q settings and when you crank the P setting to equal 1, you change your perfect Dodecahedron to a perfect Icosahedron.

Scale Axis

And now the really dense fog rolls in. The Scale Axis is still based on Ps and Qs with the addition of some Rs for confusion sake. These settings allow you to push and pull faces of your polyhedron in a similar fashion to what the Star 1 and Star 2 do. In fact, if you start from the Dodec/Icos family you can quickly achieve the Stellated Polyhedron default geometry. But once you start cranking these settings in conjunction with variations of the P and Q Family Parameter you'll quickly realize that there is no end to the crazy shapes the Polyhedron can generate.

One important thing about the Scale Axis settings is that P, Q and R each control a different type of surface. There can be three basic surfaces on a Polyhedron: triangles, squares and pentagons. If your shape has one or two types of surfaces, only one or two of the Scale Axis settings will have any effect on the faces of the shape. When the shape has all three types of faces, P, Q and R will all be active.

Radius

Now back to something we can all relate to. Adjust the radius of a Polyhedron and it will get bigger or smaller. And I didn't even have to research that one.

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Text Text Overview I'm not sure about you, but my first experience with 3D text was when I started going to see Hollywood movies in the theatres. When I saw a deeply extruded rendition of the Star Wars title with that extreme perspective that tapered quickly towards the vanishing point, text suddenly became much more than trying to achieve a perfect cursive letter ‘B’ in 3rd grade. They became art, more like sculptures than a bunch of letters thrown together, more of an outlet for creativity rather than a model for replication. And with the massive increase in font selection through the boom in personal computing, suddenly you could convey emotions and moods with just the mere visual representation of your words. Wow, I'm sorry to come across as a total word geek, but that was some cool stuff for me.

So here we are in the 21st century with Swift 3D, certainly not the first 3D font rendering software, but an exceptional solution for turning 3D text into vector-based animations. Within Swift 3D, any TrueType or PostScript font you have installed on your computer can be automatically turned into an extruded and beveled 3D object.

Inserting a Text Object There is little mystery to getting started with text. Simply click the Create Text button on the Main toolbar and the word "Text” appears in your scene, which is when the fun begins. Once a text object is inserted into the scene, within the List Box of the Properties Toolbar

property pages for "Text" and "Bevels" will appear.

Related Topics: Text Property Page Bevel Styles

Text Property Page After you complete the grueling task of inserting the word “Text” into your scene, unless by some cosmic coincidence you are building a Web site all about text, you will most likely want to do abit of personalizing to meet your text needs. This can all be dofrom the Text Property Page, which by default is selected after you hit the Create Text button.

ne

Font

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Use the Font dropdown menu to choose the style of text you desire, using the preview function to guide your selection. The default font can be adjusted by going to Setup > User Preferences.

Text

You can replace the text with your own by highlighting the word in the Properties Toolbar and typing whatever you like.

Alignment

You can adjust the alignment of your text with the Alignment buttons shown.

Character Map

The Character Map button gives you a display of all the weird characters that come with each font, but aren't shown on your keyboard. For example, select the Wingdings font in the font dropdown list, and then click on the Character Map button to see a ready-made list of symbols.

Nick's Tips Wingdings are sweet. That's right, Wingdings, Webdings, Dingbats—all cool in my book. They quickly extend the versatility of Swift 3D by giving you a ton of 2D objects that can

be extruded in a heartbeat via the Text button. And after a quick Web search I found tons of picture-based fonts similar to Wingdings, all for free. Adding these types of fonts is sort of like building your own personal 2D library.

To work with text properties: 1. Click on the Text object button on the Main Toolbar. 2. Highlight the word Text in the Text box in the Properties Toolbar (by either clicking and

dragging your cursor over the letters or double clicking anywhere on the text). 3. Type in any word. 4. Go to the Font dropdown list and choose a new font. 5. Hit the Character Map button, find the exclamation point and click on it to insert it into the

Text box. 6. Click on the 3 different alignment keys to watch your text realign itself in the Viewport.

Related Topics: Bevel Styles Inserting Text Object Text Sizing

Bevels Bevels Property Page

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Text

Bevels refer to the transition b and the side surfaces of your text. adding bevels will create another sthus creating a more interestiapply five different types of bevel

etw

ng

D

giving your text only three total no bevel). you ran a knife along the front

if you sanded the front corners

concave, rounded transition, as

text to the front of a larger

removing material from the orking with wood, but rather

the over

Tips in

een the front and back surfacesWhen you are using 3D text, urface for light to reflect off of,

effect. Swift 3D allows you to effects.

f

Related Topics: Styles Depth Face Smoothness Mesh Quality

Bevels

Bevels refer to the transition between the front and back surfaces and the side surfaces of your text. When you are using 3text, adding bevels will create another surface for light to reflect off of, thus creating a more interesting effect. Swift 3D allows you to apply five different types obevel effects.

Styles

Square: A 90-degree angle, surfaces: front, side and back (i.e. Beveled: A 45-degree angle, as if corners of your text. This is the default style.

corners of your text.

Outer Round: A smooth, convex, rounded transition between the front surface and side surface, as down. Inner Round: A smooth, if you gouged out the front Step Down: As if you glued your version of your text.

NOTE: You are not actually characters, as you would when wyou are adding thickness to the areas without the bevel in order to create them. This means thatas you increase the depth of your text you will be increasing its size as well, which may change

all character of your font.

Nick’sThere are two things I feel obliged to mention at this juncture. First, don’t go typingyour company’s Mission Statement and expect to have a file that will stream well. Text,

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especially with a fancy font applied, has a lot of geometrical detail when it’s converted to a 3D object so it can get big, fast. Second, bevels are cool, but they also can boost your bandwidth consumption. That said, I recommend sticking to the 45 degree bevelbecause the other ones tend to need a higher level fill option when rendering in order to be visible.

Related Topics: Bevel Depth Inserting Text Object Text Property Page

Bevel Style Gallery

The Bevel Style Gallery is located at the bottom of the interface and it displays thumbnail views of each bevel style. You can apply a bevel directly from this gallery by simply clicking on the desired style and dragging and dropping that style onto your extrusion. The bevel will be applied with the default depth so if you need to make any adjustments to the bevel depth this will need to be done through the Bevel property page.

If your objects in the Viewport are grouped, you need to hold down the CTRL key (Win)/Option key (Mac) while applying a bevel from the gallery in order to have an object accept the bevel.

Bevel Style Gallery:

Related Topics: Bevel Styles Gallery Toolbar Gallery Management

Depth

With the Depth control you are manipulating how quickly the text makes your desired transition from front and back surfaces to side surfaces. The higher the number, the longer the transition, ergo, the more depth you apply to your bevel, the thicker your text becomes. Get carried away and you've got some funky looking stuff, not that funky is a bad thing.

86

Text

If you are significantly increasing the bevel size (around 5.0 or higher), you may stop seeing any changes to your bevels until you go and increase the Depth under Sizing.

Related Topics: Bevel Styles Face Inserting Text Object Text Property Page Text Sizing

Face

i

t or

Related Topics: Bevel Depth Bevel Styles Inserting Text Object

Smoothness

alone unless you have a good

By default, the bevels are applthe back corners so you will seyou view the backside of yourbeveled, choose front, back

ed to both the front corners and e the same thing going on when ext. To control which faces are both under the Face options.

This slider controls how accurately curves are drawn on your text. If you adjust this control towards Fine, your curves will smooth out, but the amount of lines it takes to render the text increases, and so does your file size. Adjusting towards Coarse will make any curves appear more angular and reduce file size. The general rule of thumb is “leave it

reason not to."

Related Topics: Mesh Quality

Mesh Quality

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This control is there to allow you some control over the geometry created when you extrude text and 2D artwork. The default polygonal construction of these objects typically lead to some very narrow polygons where there are curved edges. This can

ome inconsistencies after rendering and Flash. If you experience any of these problems,

a higher level of Mesh Quality and hat when you jack this g effects when you are

text objects are. Inter Character and Inter Line control the distance between each character and each line

es will use the center of the text as a crease the depth, the front of the text will

xt will move away from you.

be adjusted by going to Setup >

Editing Characters Individually Whegro dsom h

To e tolbar.

2. Hold down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) while clicking on the ‘e’ character. a bounding box now appears just around the ‘e’, and only the ‘e’ appears in

ckball. that character selected you can apply different properties to it within the

oolbar, so go to the Sizing page and increase the letter’s height.

sometimes lead to simporting intoyou should adjust this slider to try rendering again. Another side effect is tsetting up, you’ll have more detailed lightinrendering with Mesh Gradient Shading.

Related Topics: Smoothness

Sizing Property Page You have five controls over the sizing of Text. Width and Height are pretty straightforward. Depth allows you to control how deeply extruded your

of text.

Any numerical changbaseline. So if you inmove towards you (if it's facing the camera) and the back of the te

NOTE: The default Depth applied to Text and Extrusions can User Preferences.

Related Topics: Bevel Depth Text Property Page

n y ual upe characters, but the characters within the word are considered children and can be

at manipulated independently.

our create a text object, it is considered one main object that consists of individ

ew

characters individually: di1. Click on the Text object button located on the Main To

Notice that the Rotation Tra

3. Once you have Properties T

88

Text

89

holding down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key l on just the ‘e.’

5. Go to the Animation Gallery and while holding down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key

6.

Inserting a Text Object

you longer a font, but

is now treated as an extruded object that can be edited in the Extrusion Editor. For those of you familiar with programs like Adobe Illustrator, this is the same thing as inserting text into those programs and then converting it from a font to outlines.

What makes this feature extra sweet is that the morphing of paths is supported by our Animation Timeline. We go into the details of Path Morphing in the Animation chapter.

It’s important to note that this conversion is a one way street, so make sure your text contains all of the letters you eventually want to work with in the Extrusion Editor before you click this button. Also, if you have made any changes to individual characters of a texspecific material, you will lose those changes upon conversion.

Characters Should you need to get

down to the character level of a text string to manipulate letters independently from

one another, you can use the Convert Text to Characters feature. This breaks apart the text object into individual characters that are grouped. To edit each character you can ungroup the string, or CTRL + Select a character within the group, and have your way with each item, editing materials, properties, bevels, etc.. Keep in mind that this is a one-way trip, so once you convert the string into characters you are essentially working with a whole bunch of single-character text objects, which can be edited individually but not as a string.

4. Go to the Material Gallery and while(Mac), drag-and-drop a new materia

(Mac), drag-and-drop one of the rotation animations on just the “e.” Click on the Play button and watch just the ‘e’ rotate.

Related Topics:

Text Property Page

Convert Text to Paths This is a great feature that provides you with the ultimate control over your text. Whenclick the Convert Text to Paths button in the main toolbar, your text is no

t string, like applying a

Related Topics:

Extrusion Editor

Convert Textto


Text to Mesh Text can be brought into the Advanced Modeler if you want to further manipulate its mesh. This is obviously a great feature, but one thing you need to realize is that as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button in the Advanced Modeler, the text is converted to an editable mesh and you no longer have access to the object’s text properties (font, bevels, etc.). A warning dialog will appear in order to remind you of the implications and to prevent you from inadvertently converting text into a 3D model. You can use the Undo function in the Advanced Modeler to reverse this action if you decide to go back to your original text object.

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Booleans About Boolean Operations Boolean Operations are a very powerful tool within the 3D world, and can result in very efficient modeling without having to go down to the polygon level within the Advanced Modeler to get the job done. Basically the idea behind booleans is that you are taking two objects, and creating a third object from the combination of the two. But... by exploring the ways in which the two objects can be combined you'll see how cool this process is.

There are four options you have when combining your two objects: Intersect, Union, Subtract: A - B and Subtract: B - A.

Depending on which of these options you choose you can end up with a variety of different shapes. Each of these options are covered in the section Types of Booleans. But to get a quick idea of what Boolean Operations are capable of we can look at the following example:

Here we start with two separate objects, a cube and a cylinder...

Then we place the objects so that they share some overlapping space in the 3D world...

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And after performing a boolean operation and subtracting the cylinder from the cube we end up with this...

Once a Boolean is created you can continue to edit the individual objects.

Related Topics: Types of Booleans Creating Boolean Objects Editing Boolean Objects

Types of Booleans Once you have engaged in the Boolean Operation process you have some options to choose depending on how you want your two objects to be united as a single object.

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Booleans

The beautiful thing about these options is that none of them are binding, meaning that as long as you don't convert the two objects that are a part of the boolean into an Editable Mesh within the Advanced Modeler, you will be able to switch from one type of Boolean to another. A second, very valuable feature is that by not permanently fusing the two objects within a boolean, you can continue to edit each object individually, while Swift 3D does all the housekeeping behind the scenes as to how that editing affects the overall boolean object.

To explain the options you have available for your Boolean Operations we'll use the cube and cylinder example that starts out like this:

Intersect

This option looks at the two objects and finds any common space within the 3D environment that the objects share, and then only leaves behind that shared space as the visible object. With our cube and cylinder example, the Intersect option looks like this:

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Here you can see that the two ends of the cylinder were removed, as was any cube mesh where the two objects did not overlap. You can also see that the original materials of each object are retained in our compound object. Where the cube sliced through the cylinder you see the cube's blue material, and where the cylinder sliced through the cube you have the cylinder's red material showing.

Union

This option creates a single object from both objects. The difference between the Union option and a simple Group command is that any mesh of the two objects that might exist inside of the shared area will be removed. So in the case of our cube and cylinder, if you were to peak inside the boolean you would not see any of the cylinder's mesh within the cube.

Aside from that removal of any interior mesh, this object will behave just like a grouped object so you can continue to adjust any properties of the individual objects that make up the boolean by selecting each element in the Hierarchy Toolbar.

Subtract: A - B

This option will use Operand A, the object that was selected when the Boolean button was chosen in the Main Toolbar, as the primary object, and then remove any mesh from A where Operand B intersects with A. So basically this option subtracts the B mesh from the A mesh. With this option, our cube and cylinder example looks like this:

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Booleans

Subtract: B - A

This option uses Operand B as the primary object, and removes any mesh from B where Operand A intersects with B. This is the exact opposite of the Subtract: A - B option, and our resulting mesh from the cube and cylinder example looks like this:

Even though the cylinder appears to be split into two, it is not. The center has simply been chopped out of it, but in a non-destructive manner, so when you rotate the boolean object it will behave as if the cylinder is still whole.

Related Topics: About Boolean Operations Creating Boolean Objects Editing Boolean Objects

Creating Boolean Objects All Boolean Operations start with one object, Operand A, and they all involve including a second object, Operand B.

NOTE: You can not use a grouped object as either Operand A or Operand B - only single objects.

To create a boolean object: 1. Select an object in your scene you want as Operand A 2. Click the Create Boolean button in the Main Toolbar

3. Select the type of Boolean you want to create - Intersection, Union, A-B or B-A (Note: Any choice besides Union with make Operand A invisible until Operand B is chosen)

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3. Click the Select Operand B button in the Properties Panel

3. Select the object in your scene you want as Operand B 4. The Boolean will be created

Related Topics: About Boolean Operations Types of Booleans Editing Boolean Objects

Editing Boolean Objects Once a boolean object has been created, you have a fair amount of control over its makeup after the fact. One major editing feature you can do is change the boolean type, using the radio buttons used in the initial operation.

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Booleans

But, the way booleans are treated, it is a non-destructive process so the two original operands can still be edited as discrete objects. Even text objects involved in a boolean operations can have the text itself edited.

To edit properties of a Boolean object 1. Select the boolean object in the viewport 2. Select the operand you want to edit in the Hierarchy Panel 3. If you choose an operand that is not visible due to the type of boolean you've applied, it

will appear in the scene as semi-transparent 4. Apply any property changes you wish

Related Topics: About Boolean Operations Types of Booleans Creating Boolean Objects

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Extrusion Editor Extrusion Editor Overview Extrusions are a non-3D guru’s best friend, which probably explains why I cozied up to our Extrusion Editor pretty quickly when it first arrive on the scene. I mean c’mon, would you rather spend your time learning what NURBS and splines are all about, or would you feel more comfortable grabbing a pen, sketching out a shape and having it instantly appear in your scene as a 3D object. Not to mention all of the familiar concepts like Bezier curves, control points and a nice flat surface to draw on. All these things add up to one of the most powerful modeling tools Swift 3D offers.

And for those of you with zero 3D experience, let me throw a quick explanation of what an extrusion actually is. It's when you take a flat, 2D shape and extend its Z depth. As a most basic example, let's start with a single 8½” x 11” piece of paper. That's your original 2D shape. Now add 499 pieces of the same size paper to the stack and wrap it so it becomes a single unit. That's your extruded object. (Actually it's a ream of paper, but hey, I'm trying to prove a point here.) As you add or subtract pieces of paper to that stack, you are determining how thick your object becomes. That thickness is its Z depth.

So Swift 3D’s Extrusion Editor may not measure up to an application like Adobe Illustrator and it may not offer total modeling power like the Advanced Modeler, but man is it a perfect hybrid tool for folks like myself (and maybe you) who can draw stuff with a Bezier Pen. And with the additional abilities of bringing 2D vector files into the Extrusion Editor as well as animating paths with the built-in Animation Timeline, you’ve got yourself a great ‘utility player’ in the big game of 3D modeling and animation.

How It Works The basic concept is that once you draw a shape within the Extrusion Editor interface, the extrusion appears immediately in the Scene Editor with a default depth of 0.050 units.

The Extrusion Editor merely exists to create the original shape. Once the actual extrusion appears in the Scene Editor, you will be able to adjust all of the extrusion's properties like depth, bevels, materials, etc. through the Properties Toolbar.

You should also take notice of the differences between a Bezier Pen Tool from other applications and that of Swift 3D. As you begin drawing, you will need to select what type of point you want created via the three buttons on the top of the Extrusion Editor Interface: Corner Point, Curve Point and Tangent Point. But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself.

Extrusion Example:


Related Topics: The Grid

The Grid The grid is mostly there for reference rather than for numerical sizing or positioning. Each grid line in the editor is set .05 units apart. When zoomed out you will see black dashed guidelines that represent 1 unit. A relationship does exist between the location of a path in the Extrusion Editor and where the extrusion is positioned when it is brought into the Scene Editor. The location of the extrusion in the Viewport will depend on where the object was drawn in relation to the (0, 0) coordinate in the Extrusion Editor. For example, if the path is centered around X = 0 and Y = 0, the extrusion will be centered in the Scene Editor as well. If the path is drawn in the lower right quadrant of the grid, the extrusion will appear in the lower right quadrant of the Viewport.

What is the meaning of all this? This placement issue is only important if you plan to apply a bitmap texture to your extrusion. The location from which a bitmap image begins to wrap onto an extrusion is dependent upon where the path was drawn in relation to the (0, 0) coordinate. Specific details regarding bitmap wrapping to extrusions can be found in the chapter on Materials. It is also notable that any extrusion taken back into the Extrusion Editor for further editing will always be centered at (0, 0), no matter where it was initially drawn since the Extrusion Editor has no way of remembering the original location of each extrusion.

Related Topics: How the Extrusion Editor Works Applying Bitmaps to Extrusions

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Extrusion Editor

Model Gallery The Model Gallery comes with a library of extrusions that you can click-and-drag into the Scene Editor and bring into the Extrusion Editor for further editing. The extrusions that are shipped with the program reside under the Extrusion Tab in the Model Gallery. While the thumbnails provide you with a view of the finished extruded object, these shapes are actually just Bezier paths that you can tweak into something all your own or use as is.

To add an extrusion from the model gallery: 1. In the Scene Editor, click on the Model Libraries button, select the Extrusion Tab and

choose a model from the gallery. 2. Click on the preview window and drag the cursor into either Viewport. 3. Go to the Extrusion Editor and the Bezier path of that shape will appear centered around

the (0, 0) coordinate. 4. Use any of the Extrusion Editor tools to edit the path. 5. Click back on the Scene Editor tab to view the changes to the object.

You can also save your own extrusion to the Model Gallery so that it is accessible for future use in any open Swift 3D project.

To save an extrusion to the model gallery: 1. Once you have finished creating or

editing an existing extrusion, return to the Scene Editor.

2. With the extrusion selected in the Viewport, choose File > Save Model.

3. This will bring up the Save Model dialog, from which you can choose a name and location within the Model Gallery for the extrusion. All extrusions stored in the Model Gallery get saved tthe .t3om file format.

o

Editing Gallery Contents

An extrusion added to the Gallery can only be edited in the Extrusion Editor workspace (unless you choose to convert it to a mesh and edit it in the Advanced Modeler). Once an extrusion is placed into the scene it no longer has any connection to the original stored back in the model gallery, so when you finish editing you must go through the steps for saving an extrusion to the gallery. The original version will remain untouched in the gallery. If you do not desire two copies of the extrusion, either overwrite the previous extrusion by using the same name when saving, or simply delete the previous version from the gallery.

You can right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the palette window (frame) surrounding the thumbnails within the Model Gallery to bring up the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can delete, rename or relocate any gallery content. For more detailed information on how to share Gallery content and managing Galleries in Swift 3D, see the section on Galleries in the Scene Editor chapter.

Related Topics:

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Gallery Management Gallery Toolbar How the Extrusion Editor Works

Main Toolbar Pen Tool

It all starts by selecting the pen tool (selected by default when you enter the Extrusion Editor) and choosing a place on the grid to start drawing. By clicking the Pen Tool you are telling Swift 3D that you are ready to begin drawing.

Related Topics: Selection Tool Drawing Curved-Line Shapes Drawing Multi-Point Shapes Drawing Straight-Lined Shapes

Selection Tool

This tool will allow you to select individual and groups of points to further manipulate your shape once it has been drawn. By clicking the Selection Tool you are telling Swift 3D that you are ready to start editing your drawing.

Related Topics: Editing Paths Editing Points

Corner Point

When this button is depressed, every point you create will be an Corner Point with no information defining how the path enters or exits that point. If I create a series of Corner points, they will all be connected with perfectly straight lines.

Related Topics: Curve Point Point Properties Tangent Point

Curve Point

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The Curve Point has much more information associated with it than the Corner point. Curve points are defined by something called a Bezier curve whereby you have control over the shape of the line entering and exiting the point. Although you can control the entry and exit,

the two halves of your curve are linked to each other so positional changes to one half of your point may have an effect on the other half of the Bezier curve. The typical application of Curve Points is to create two lines that join together at the point in a smooth fashion.

Related Topics: Corner Point Curve Point Point Properties Tangent Point

Tangent Point

These are very similar to the Curve point but they allow you to control each side of the curve's control points separately. The tangent point is designed to allow your line to enter and exit the point with completely different paths. The typical application of Tangent Points

is to create two curved lines that join together in an angular fashion.

Related Topics: Corner Point Curve Point Point Properties

Close Shape Button

This button is designed to be a time saver. Although not completely necessary, it's always a good practice to close your shapes when working within the Extrusion Editor. With that in mind, the Close Shape button offers a quick way to close your shape when you're ready to

create that final line segment. Certainly you can do it manually by creating your final point directly on top of your very first point (a “+” sign will appear when you’re directly on top), but the Close Shape button will accomplish the exact same thing.

Related Topics: Pen Tool

Magnifying Glass

Just imagine if Sherlock Holmes had licensed his classic investigatory tool to the software companies of the world. A simple royalty structure would have done wonders for him and Watson. Swift 3D's zoom tool works like this. Grab the tool, click to zoom in and right + click

to zoom out. Wherever you click on the grid determines the area that gets magnified or unmagnified.

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Shape Tools

These buttons provide you with a quick and easy route to some common extrusion shapes you might be interested in using in your Scene. Or they may be a good starting point for the creation of something a little more custom. Either way, a click of the button inserts the proper path into the editing interface with all of the associated control points.

To create an object using the shape tools: 1. Click the button that contains the shape you want. 2. Click the Scene Editor Tab to view the extrusion.

Related Topics: N-Gon

N-Gon

The N-gon is a more flexible version of these shape tools. The button itself shows a pentagon, but by selecting from the dropdown list you can designate the inserted shapes as anything from a triangle to an octagon.

Related Topics: Shape Tools

Background Image Button

The Background Image button allows you to insert an image into the background of the editor. This is most helpful when you have an image you need to reference for tracing purposes. More information on this feature can be found under the Background Image topic.

Undo/Redo Buttons

Undo/Redo can be accessed through the Edit menu or shortcut commands, but if you're a button pusher you can take a crack at the Undo/Redo buttons.

Animate Button

The Animate button must be toggled on in order to activate the Extrusion Editor timeline.

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Extrusion Editor

Related Topics: Path Morphing

Drawing Shapes Straight-Line Shapes

To draw a straight-lined shape (parallelogram): 1. Select the Pen Tool button (on by default). 2. Select the Corner Point button (on by default). 3. Click once on the grid 5 lines above the X/Y intersection. 4. Click again on the grid 7 lines to the right of that point. 5. Click on the grid 5 lines to the right of the X/Y intersection. 6. Click on the grid 2 lines to the left of the X/Y intersection. 7. Move your cursor directly above the first point created and click when you see the ‘+’

symbol appear next to your Pen Tool (or click the Close Shape button). 8. Click the Scene Editor Tab to view the extrusion.

Curved-Line Shapes

To draw a curved-line shape (egg): 1. Select the Pen Tool button. 2. Select the Curve Point button. 3. Click once on the grid 6 lines above the X/Y intersection. 4. Click again on the grid 3 lines to the right of the X/Y intersection. 5. Click again on the grid 3 lines below the X/Y intersection. 6. Click again on the grid 3 lines to the left of the X/Y intersection. 7. Move your cursor directly above the first point created and click when you see the ‘+’

symbol appear next to your Pen Tool. 8. Click the Selection Tool button. 9. Select your first point and then click-and-drag on the right Bezier handle to make your

curve guide run parallel with the X axis. Position the end square of the right handle on the grid 2 lines to the right of the Y axis, and the end square of the left handle 2 lines to the left side of the Y axis.

10. Continue around the shape, positioning the Bezier handles as shown in the diagram above until you have a nice egg shape.

11. Click the Scene Editor Tab to view the extrusion.

Multi-Point Shapes

To draw a multi-point-type shape (starburst): 1. Select the Pen Tool button. 2. Click the Corner Point button. 3. Click on the grid 4 lines above the X/Y intersection. 4. Select the Tangent Point button. 5. Click on the grid 2 lines to the right and 2 lines above the X/Y intersection. 6. Select the Angle Point button. 7. Click on the grid 4 lines to the right of the X/Y intersection. 8. Select the Tangent Point button.

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9. Click on the grid 2 lines to the right and 2 lines below the X/Y intersection. 10. Continue the process to create the left side of your shape, making sure to close the

shape at the end. 11. Select the Selection Tool. 12. Select the first Tangent Point you created and drag each of the two Bezier handles onto

the X/Y intersection. 13. Continue that process for the remaining 3 Tangent Points. 14. Click the Scene Editor Tab to view the extrusion.

Working with complex shapes

Although I threw out the “We’re not Adobe Illustrator” caveat at the beginning of this chapter, there are a few extra things that you can do within the Extrusion Editor that rank up there in the ‘pretty-cool feature’ category.

Excluding Shapes

You have the ability to punch holes in your extrusions through the process of exclusion. It's a simple process, really. If you have a shape within another shape, the shape within will end up becoming negative space inside of that larger shape.

A basic example would be if I draw a circle and then draw a smaller circle within the larger circle, I would create a ring. Sort of like a torus, but with hard edges. Obviously you can get much more creative than this, but the basic concept always remains the same.

It's important to note that as soon as the path of your interior shape breaks through the path of the surrounding shape you will no longer have an excluded area. Instead, the Extrusion Editor will fill the entire shape using the furthest outside path, in this case a combination of the outer shape and the section of the inner shape that protrudes from the outer shape.

2D Loops

You will probably come across this effect by accident as you play around with the Extrusion Editor. The way Swift 3D calculates what to fill and what not to fill has to do with complex calculations that I do not care to explain, let alone understand myself. My point is that if a path overlaps itself, you're going to get a strange geometric shape created in the Scene Editor that actually takes on more of a 2D Mobius strip type look, minus the 180 degree twist. Or maybe a bow made out of ribbon. Honestly, try it for yourself and you'll understand much better than my feeble descriptions. The only thing I can warn you about is that it's not going to look like you'd expect.

Editing Shapes Editing Points

Selecting Points

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Extrusion Editor

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To select an individual point, use the Selection Tool and click on the point. To aid in selecting points, the cursor has a hover state when it is over a point that is available to be selected.

Once you see the cursor change to this state, simply click down on the point to select it. The point will turn red when it's selected.

To select multiple points, hold down the SHIFT key while selecting individual points. The most recent point selected will be red and the additional selected points will become black. CTRL + click (Win) or OPTION + click (Mac) will deselect any errant points that may have been selected.

To perform either of these functions you can also click-and-drag a marquee box around single or multiple points.

Moving Points

To move individual or groups of points around within the Extrusion Editor simply click-and-drag them to a new location. Only selected points will move.

If you would like to constrain the axis along which your points move, holding down the SHIFT key before moving them will constrain their movement along the X axis or Y axis.

Adding and Deleting Points

To add additional points to a shape, select the Pen Tool, choose the point type you would like to add (Point, Curve Point or Tangent Point) and then click on the existing path where you want that point to be inserted. To delete a point or multiple points, select them and hit the DELETE key. You can also use the Menu command of Edit > Delete.

Changing Points

To change the point type of individual or multiple points, select the points you'd like to convert, and then select the point type you'd like to convert them to from either the Main toolbar or the Point Properties dialog. Short cut keys exist for all of the point types, which can be very convenient as well.

Related Topics: Point Properties Editing Paths Free Transform Tools

Point Properties

This dialog is for the control freak in all of us. If you need to know that your point is EXACTLY on the Y-axis this is where you come to for answers. To access the dialog you can right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) anywhere within the grid area and choose Point Pform the context menu, or you can select a point and choose ViePoint Properties.

Type


This section of the Point Properties allows you to alter the Point Type of all the points you have selected.

Position

The position control allows you total control over the positioning of your points on the X and Y coordinate grid. If you have multiple points selected, the Position control will show you the coordinates of the point that is colored in red.

Keyboard Nudge Increment

Within the Extrusion and Lathe Editors you can manipulate selected points and groups of points by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Each time you click an arrow it will move the point(s) the number of increments designated within this Point Properties dialog. If you feel the need for a more or less refined nudge ability, this is the place to make those related changes.

Related Topics: Editing Paths Editing Points

Editing Paths

Selecting Paths

Before you can edit a path it must be selected. To select an entire path with all of its points and their related control handles, you can double click on the path itself, at which time a red bounding box will surround it. You will see a little icon (it looks like a seagull to me) appear when your cursor is hovering over a selectable path.

Once a path is selected, you can drag it to any spot in the Extrusion Editor.

Copying and Pasting Paths

Once a Path is selected, you can copy and paste the path inside of the Extrusion Editor, or you can also copy and paste the path into the Lathe Editor. Within the Extrusion Editor, only one path can be copied at one time. The path must be selected by double clicking on the path (using the seagull cursor). Once selected, you can choose to Paste in Place, which will paste the path in the same exact location or you can do a straight Paste, which will offset the path from its original location.

To copy and paste a path: 1. Select a path that you want to copy. 2. Go to Edit > Copy or use the CTRL + C (Win)/Command + C (Mac) shortcut keys. 3. To paste the path in the Extrusion Editor, go to Edit > Paste or use the CTRL + V (Win) or

Command + V (Mac) shortcut keys. Or, use the Edit > Paste in Place option, which is Shift + CTRL + V (Win) or Shirt + Command + V (Mac).

4. To paste the path into the Lathe Editor, click on the Lathe Editor Tab and go to Edit > Paste or use the CTRL + V (Win) or Command + V (Mac) shortcut keys.

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Extrusion Editor

NOTE: The paste function will not work if a path already exists within the Lathe Editor because only a single path can be present in the Lathe Editor at one time.

Related Topics: Point Properties

Free Transform Tools

Once a path is selected, the red bounding box that surrounds a selected path has eight sizing handles that allow you to adjust the path in a way dependent on the active tool. The sizing handles are located on each corner and in the middle of each side. When the cursor

is placed over or near these points, the cursor has a hover state that will change to display the available transform tool.

Once you see the cursor change to this state, simply click down on the point to activate the tool, at which point the red bounding box will change to a blue dotted line, giving you a visual representation that the tool is enabled.

Scale Rotate Skew

NOTE: Any path transformations performed using the Free Transform Tools cannot be animated. When working in Animation Mode, using a Free Transform Tool on an animated path will influence the entire animation and not only the currently selected frame. For example, if you have an object that path morphs while moving from right to left, and you then rotate the object 180º within the Extrusion Editor, the object will now move left to right.

Related Topics: Point Properties Editing Paths

Combining and Breaking Apart These functions need a touch of explaining to understand why they exist at all. My initial reaction to these features was, “Isn't that what the Group and Ungroup commands are all about?” When our chief engineer put his hand around my shoulder and led me into his office I knew that I was sadly mistaken. A half hour later I felt qualified to give this explanation.

When two extruded objects are grouped, there is nothing more than a loose association between them. They may be moved together, rotated together, even scaled together. But they can still have different materials applied to them and their shapes are in no way related to each other.

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When objects are Combined, they are related to each other mathematically through their paths. In other words, even though two or more shapes that have been combined do not share any paths, they are technically one object, meaning that they must share all of the same properties, like materials, bevels, sizing, etc. Conversely, when these shapes are broken apart again, they become separate entities completely. Really the Combine function in our program is similar to the Make Compound Path function in Adobe Illustrator.

When two or more paths are drawn into the Extrusion Editor simultaneously they will automatically take on the Combined setting. If you do not want multiple extrusions to have the same properties then you should draw them one at a time, making sure to leave the Extrusion Editor, deselect the extrusion and then re-enter the Extrusion Editor with a blank slate.

So you're still thinking “And I'm interested in this information because….?” That's OK, here's the skinny:

When two or more extruded objects are combined, you can alter all of their Properties at once. For instance, if you have a multiple-shape extrusion and want to bevel all of the shapes at once, you would need to combine them beforehand.

To apply different materials to multiple extruded objects, they must first be broken apart. When you want to punch an object out of another extruded object, they need to be

combined to accomplish this. If they are not, they will simply be overlapping objects. When you draw two or more objects at once within the Extrusion Editor they will

automatically be combined. When you combine two or more objects that lie on different planes of rotation, they will all

be realigned to coincide with the axis of the first object created. When two or more extruded objects that have different Properties assigned to them are

combined (for example different materials, bevels, depth, etc.), all of the objects will assume the properties of the first object created.

Be aware that if you combine something like imported text in order to make some universal property changes, if you break them apart again, all of the holes will become

solid objects, which might not be your desired result.

Nick's Tips

With all this combining and breaking apart it's easy to get confused. So I'm going to outline a common scenario to help you get a grasp on its practical use. Let's say I'm rebuilding the Electric Rain logo in the Extrusion Editor. The three factors that I need to deal with are as follows: The right side section has two holes punched through it. The two sections have different materials applied to them. Both sides need to be extruded and beveled the same amount. Here's the process I'd use:

1. Create the two main sections with outlines in the Extrusion Editor. 2. Go to the Scene Editor and adjust the Bevel and Depth of the Combined Object. 3. Break the object apart. 4. Select the right side object and go back to the extrusion editor. 5. Insert the cutout sections on the right side section. 6. Go back to the Scene Editor and apply materials. 7. Select both objects and group them together so the logo can be animated as one unit.

Editing Imported AI and EPS Extrusions

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Extrusion Editor

Yes, another advantage to having the Extrusion Editor on-board Swift 3D is that you can edit your 2D vector artwork imported from AI and EPS files. You may have used a 2D drawing program to create the original artwork, but having the ability to touch something up post import is incredibly convenient.

After importing your 2D vector artwork (please read the chapter on Importing AI and EPS files for more information on this process) all you have to do to edit the artwork is select your imported image and then go to the Extrusion Editor. You will see all of the associated anchor points and Bezier control handles and they can all be manipulated just as you would a native extrusion.

Nick's Tips

While the Extrusion Editor can edit imported AI/EPS files, the Lathe Editor cannot. If you want to bring a path originally created in another 2D program into the Lathe Editor what you will need to do is bring it into the Extrusion Editor and then copy and paste that path over to the Lathe Editor.

Background Image When working within the Extrusion and Lathe Editors you may have a need to reference an existing image to trace over. This can be done within both editors using the Background Image feature.

To place an image on an editor background: 1. Tab into the editor of choice 2. Select View > Background Image from the Main Menu or click the Add Background

Image button 3. Click the Browse button to navigate to the desired image 4. Click OK and you will have that image inserted into the background

Once in place, you can control some of the facets of the image through the dialog, seeing in real time what those changes look like. The X and Y Offset settings will move the image around within the editor environment, and the X and Y Scale settings control the amount of area the image takes up within the editor. Finally, the Opacity setting enables customization of how prevalent your reference image is within the editor.

Path Morphing The ability to animate paths in the Extrusion Editor or Lathe Editor is referred to as Path Morphing. Both the Extrusion and Lathe Editors include their own animation timeline that behaves the same way as the main timeline in Swift 3D. The only difference in these timelines is that only the paths of either your extrusion or lathe object will appear within the layer area, rather than the properties of those paths. This way you can keep track of multiple paths without having to select each one individually.

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To animate a path: 1. Toggle the Animate button into animate mode. 2. Adjust the Current Frame Indicator to the place you want to insert a keyframe. 3. Move the point or points you want to animate. 4. Swift 3D will automatically insert keyframes accordingly.

When you return to the Scene Editor you will notice when you select the extrusion a Path animation now exists in the Main Animation Toolbar timeline. You will probably have to enlarge the Animation Toolbar in order to see the Path animation in the timeline.

NOTE: You cannot change the types of points over time. For instance you can’t turn a Tangent Point into a Curve Point part way through an animation. Also, if you delete or add points to an extrusion or lathe part way through an animation, those points will either be deleted or added to the extrusion for the entire animation of that path.

Related Topics: Extrusion Editor Lathe Editor Keyframe Animation

Extrusion Properties Once you take your path back to the Scene Editor your newly extruded object will come with these additional properties that you can access from the Properties Toolbar.

Bevels

These properties are identical to the beveling of a text object so please refer to the chapter on Text Objects and read the Bevel section.

Sizing

These controls function as you would expect, allowing you to control the width, height and depth of your extruded object. If you have an extrusion with multiple objects, they must be combined before you can change all of their sizing properties at once. Otherwise you can select each object individually and adjust its size.

NOTE: The default Bevel Style, Bevel Depth and Sizing Depth applied to Text and Extrusions can be adjusted by going to Setup > User Preferences.

Scaling

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Extrusion Editor

This property is fully detailed in the Working with Objects chapter, but it is worth repeating here that Scale can be animated while Sizing cannot.

Working With Extruded Objects in Advanced Modeler Once you have brought your extrusion back out to the Scene Editor you have the option of taking it into the Advanced Modeler if you want to further manipulate its mesh. This is obviously a great feature, but one thing you need to realize is that as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button in the Advanced Modeler, the extrusion is converted to an editable mesh and you no longer have access to the object’s extrusion properties (Bevels and Sizing) and you cannot bring it back into the Extrusion Editor. A warning dialog will appear in order to remind you of the implications and to prevent you from inadvertently converting an extrusion into a 3D model. You can use the Undo function in the Advanced Modeler to reverse this action if you decide to go back to your original Extrusion object.

Related Topics: Workflow Between Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler

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Lathe Editor Lathe Editor Overview Did any of you take Shop class in high school? Well I didn't either, but I hear there's this tool called a lathe that spins a piece of wood like mad and then you use various fiber-rending weapons to sculpt that dead spinning tree into a cool shape. In fact, my wife still has a lamp that she created with a lathe in 9th grade. It's god-awful ugly, but it was, in fact, created by a lathe. And now Swift 3D has an implement of creation that works on a similar basis, only in an additive manner rather than a subtractive. Oh yeah, no sawdust either.

The Lathe Editor is a powerful modeling tool that allows you to create objects that can break through the Z-axis limitations of 2D extrusions. And if you combine it with the Extrusion Editor and Advanced Modeler, forget about it. You'll be assembling complex models in less time than it takes to even open a high-end 3D application.

How It Works The short version is this: You draw a path and go to the Scene Editor to see your lathed object. If you've used a Lathe tool in another program you'll quickly understand how Swift 3D's Lathe Editor behaves. But if you're a newcomer to the lathe concept, stay with me and we'll go into a little more detail.

Drawing Tools

Before the sawdust starts flying, let’s first point out that the Bezier drawing tools located on the main toolbar are identical in function to those in the Extrusion Editor. Refer to the Chapter on the Extrusion Editor for information on how these tools work.

Axis of Rotation

The grid line that you'll need to pay the closest attention to is the dotted and dashed green vertical line that runs down the left side of the Lathe Editor interface. This line is the axis of rotation and is to be respected at all cost. The reason for its off-center positioning in the interface is because, in general, you only want to be drawing paths on one side of your Axis of Rotation. There are exceptions we'll discuss later, but for our purposes we should keep everything on the right side of the Axis of Rotation.

Think Profile

When you begin drawing your path, it's important to think in terms of a profile rather than a full shape. What you are doing is creating the outside profile of your object and letting the Lathe Editor do the rest for you. Once you have defined the profile with your path, Swift 3D is going to spin that path completely around (360 degrees) the vertical Axis of Rotation. In the process, it will create a smooth surface defined by all of the points in 3D space that your original path touched as it was rotated around the axis.

Related Topics: Creating a Lathed Object

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Crossing the Axis of Rotation Lathe Gallery Copying and Pasting

Creating a Lathed Object There is a classic example we can use to visually demonstrate what is so hard to verbally explain. Let's walk through the steps we would follow if our final goal were to model a wine glass.

1. Draw the shape below using the Bezier pen tool. 2. Notice that the first and last points start on the Axis of Rotation. 3. Go to the Scene Editor to view the finished product (inset image).

This should get across what I mean by drawing a profile and letting the Lathe editor do the rest. It's important to note what happens when you draw shapes that are not adjacent to the Axis of Rotation line. You will end up with a solid shape that has a vertical hole through it. The further away from the Axis of Rotation, the larger your hole gets.

Related Topics: Crossing the Axis of Rotation How the Lathe Editor Works Lathe Gallery

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Lathe Editor

Copying and Pasting

Crossing the Axis of Rotation Despite my warnings, no bodily harm will come to you by crossing that Axis of Rotation with your path. It's more a matter of keeping things simple. Since the process of lathing involves a 360-degree rotation, any part of the path that extends to the left of the sacred green line will end up being lathed just as if it were on the right side. In that sense you can sort of think of the axis line as a mirror and crossing the line will yield the same result as stopping your path on the axis and reflecting that angle back onto the same side.

It's quite easy to get a little crazy with this tool and start experimenting. In fact, I highly recommend it. There is definitely some spatial imagination that comes into play, and you can create very complex shapes and even build 3D shapes within 3D shapes. However, you will quickly notice that all of your shapes have a distinct ‘lathed’ look about them. Because of this we have added a few features that really give you potential for more object diversity.

Related Topics: Creating a Lathed Object How the Lathe Editor Works Lathe Gallery Copying and Pasting

Model Gallery If envisioning object profiles is just not your specialty in life, the Model Gallery comes with a set of commonly used Lathes that you can simply click-and-drag into the Scene Editor. Lathes that are shipped with the program reside under the Lathe Tab. Once the lathe is brought into the Scene Editor, either use it as is or bring the lathe into the Lathe Editor and modify the path to fit your needs.

To add a lathe from the model gallery: 1. In the Scene Editor, click on the Model Gallery button and choose a lathe shape from the

gallery. 2. Click on the preview window and drag the cursor into either Viewport. 3. Go to the Lathe Editor and the Bezier path of that shape will appear. NOTE: Many of the

models under the Lathe tab consist of a group of lathed objects. Since the Lathe Editor only supports a single lathe path at a time, you must select an individual lathe from the group in order to bring it into the Lathe Editor for further editing.

4. Use any of the Lathe Editor tools to edit the path. 5. Click back on the Scene Editor tab to view the changes to the object.

You can also save your own lathe to the Model Gallery so that it is accessible for future use in any open Swift 3D document.

To save a lathe to the model gallery: 1. Once you have finished creating or editing a lathe, return to the Scene Editor.

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2. With the lathe selected in the Viewport, choose File > Save Model. 3. This will bring up the Save Model dialog, from which you can choose a name and location

within the Model Gallery for the lathe. All lathes stored in the Model Gallery get saved to the .t3om file format.

Editing Gallery Contents

A lathe added to the Gallery can only be edited in the Lathe Editor workspace (unless you choose to convert it to a mesh and edit it in the Advanced Modeler). Once a lathe is placed into the scene it no longer has any connection to the original stored back in the model gallery, so when you finish editing you must go through the steps for saving a lathe to the gallery. If you do not desire two copies of the lathe, either overwrite the previous lathe by using the same name when saving, or simply delete the previous version from the gallery.

You can right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the palette window (frame) surrounding the thumbnails within the Model Gallery to bring up the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can delete, rename or relocate any gallery content. For more detailed information on how to share Gallery content and managing Galleries in Swift 3D, see the section on Galleries in the Scene Editor chapter.

Related Topics: Creating a Lathed Object Gallery Management Gallery Toolbar How the Lathe Editor Works

Copying and Pasting from the Extrusion Editor You also have the option of copying and pasting shapes back and forth between the Lathe Editor and Extrusion Editor. You might be wondering why this would be helpful since both editors have the same set of drawing tools. The reason is that some customers feel more comfortable creating their drawings in their own 2D drawing applications. While you can’t bring an extrusion created by importing an AI/EPS file into the Lathe Editor, you can bring it into the Extrusion Editor and cut and paste its path over to the Lathe Editor.

To cut and paste a path from the Extrusion Editor: 1. In the Extrusion Editor, select a path that you want to copy by double clicking on the path. 2. Go to Edit > Copy or use the CTRL + C (Win)/Command + C (Mac) shortcut keys. 3. To paste the path into the Lathe Editor, click on the Lathe Editor tab and go to Edit >

Paste or use the CTRL + V (Win)/Command + V (Mac) shortcut keys.

NOTE: The paste function will not work if a path already exists within the Lathe Editor because only a single path can be present in the Lathe Editor at one time.

Related Topics: Editing Paths

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Lathe Editor

Lathe Properties Lathe Properties

Once you've created a lathed object you have control over certain properties of the shape. These properties are actually quite powerful and should be thought of as significant extenders of the Lathe's capabilities as a modeling tool.

Related Topics: Radial Smoothing Segmentation Sweep Angle

Sweep Angle

Once you have the concept of rotation within your grasp, it's time to start messing with the Sweep Angle settings. In essence, this feature allows you to adjust how far the Lathe Editor rotates your path. But it opens a whole new world of possibilities and allows you to break free from that smooth, 360-degree surface that standard lathed objects tend to exhibit.

Closed

If you choose a Sweep Angle of less than 360 degrees, by default your lathed object will close itself off on the ends that don’t meet. This creates a solid object out of your partial lathe. If you would like the ends to be open, simply uncheck the Closed option.

Nick's Tips The ability to adjust the sweep angle of a lathed object should not go unnoticed. This functionality brings a whole new modeling component to Swift 3D by offering the

capability of creating smooth, but asymmetric objects. If you throw this into the modeling paradigm Swift 3D uses of assembling complex objects from smaller, and more basic objects, the Sweep Angle provides yet another arrow of creation to throw into your modeling quiver.

Related Topics: Lathe Property Page Radial Smoothing Segmentation

Segmentation

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This feature brings a really nice effect to the 3D modeling table. One limitation of a standard lathed object is that there is no way to avoid creating smooth surfaces. Certainly you can create edges on your object, but only along the vertical axis. The horizontal axis will be completely smooth until you start adjusting how many line segments your lathed object consists of.

The setting that will modify your lathed object is the Radial Segmentation. By decreasing this number you are in effect dividing up that 360-degree spin into larger and larger chunks. To view the effects, you are better off unchecking the smoothing option before you make the adjustments.

The maximum you can set the Radial Segmentation to is 64 and the minimum is 3, since 2 segments would completely flatten your lathed object into 2D space.

Lathe - 32 Segments Smoothed:

Related Topics: Lathe Property Page Radial Smoothing Sweep Angle

Radial Smoothing

This has got to be one of my favorite Swift 3D features. After seeing the consistently smooth nature of lathed objects, being able to turn off the object's smoothing setting is a welcome feature. Now you can reduce the Segmentation of your objects, turn off the smoothing and create objects with hard edges and flat surfaces.

Lathe- 4 segments - No Radial Smoothing:

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Lathe Editor

Related Topics: Lathe Property Page Sweep Angle Segmentation

Background Image When working within the Extrusion and Lathe Editors you may have a need to reference an existing image to trace over. This can be done within both editors using the Background Image feature.

To place an image on an editor background: 1. Tab into the editor of choice 2. Select View > Background Image from the Main Menu or click the Add Background

Image button 3. Click the Browse button to navigate to the desired image 4. Click OK and you will have that image inserted into the background

Once in place, you can control some of the facets of the image through the dialog, seeing in real time what those changes look like. The X and Y Offset settings will move the image around within the editor environment, and the X and Y Scale settings control the amount of area the image takes up within the editor. Finally, the Opacity setting enables customization of how prevalent your reference image is within the editor.


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Working with Lathes in the Advanced Modeler Once you have brought your lathe back out to the Scene Editor you have the option of taking it into the Advanced Modeler if you want to further manipulate its mesh. This is obviously a great feature, but one thing you need to realize is that as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button in the Advanced Modeler, the lathe is converted to an editable mesh and you no longer have access to the object’s lathe properties (Sweep Angle, etc.) and you cannot bring it back into the Lathe Editor. A warning dialog will appear in order to remind you of the implications and to prevent you from inadvertently converting a lathe into a 3D model. You can use the Undo function in the Advanced Modeler to reverse this action if you decide to go back to your original lathe object.

Related Topics: Workflow Between Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler

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Importing AI and EPS Files AI and EPS Files Overview We respect that you've worked hard to gain your 2D graphic design skills and Swift 3D is certainly not here to deny you the right to leverage that knowledge to the max. In fact, we welcome those vector files into the application in all their crisp, scalable glory. If you've got logos, illustrations, typefaces, simple shapes, complex line art, floor plans, CAD drawings or any other wonderful vector asset hanging out in that flat world of AI and EPS files, bring 'em on in. Swift 3D will make short work of pushing that 2D artwork through the old extrusion machine and before you know it you'll be looking at some bang-up 3D objects.

Upon import, all of the vector shapes in the file, including lines and fills, will be identified, given a default depth, re-colored to match their original hue and placed into the center of the Scene Editor facing the front camera. Once this conversion to 3D happens you have plenty of editing options available to you, but the hard work of converting your 2D artwork to 3D objects is officially complete.

One important thing to note is that we have been dropping the "V" word quite often here (that's "vector") for good reason: Swift 3D can do NOTHING with raster-based images contained within those AI and EPS files. So please verify that your file is 100% vector before you start cursing this feature. There's just no way to extrude pixels, but you do have some other potential options mentioned later in the chapter if raster artwork is all you can conjure up for import.

How to do it The first step in the process is having a file ready to import. Swift 3D recognizes AI files up to version Illustrator CS and all EPS files, but will only acknowledge the file's contents if it is constructed of vectors. This frequently leads to confusion because although the Adobe Illustrator and Encapsulated PostScript file formats are vector-based, both support the embedding of raster images. So folks will be working in programs like Adobe Photoshop and think that saving their file as an EPS will allow them to turn their image into a 3D object via the Swift 3D import process. Sadly, this is not the case. But at the end of this chapter, I have included some information on what to do if a raster image is all you have, as well as some other tips on getting your vector artwork ready for Swift 3D import.

NOTE: Any font data in an AI/EPS file will be converted to shapes on import, with each character being an individual object. While Swift 3D can’t do anything with bitmap images it will still let you import a file containing both bitmap and vector data, however the bitmap data will simply be discarded.

To import an AI or EPS file: 1. With an open document, choose File > Import. 2. Navigate to the file you wish to bring in. 3. Select the file and click OK.

All objects from your original file will enter Swift 3D as one grouped object, whether or not they were originally grouped in the AI or EPS file. As such, in order to access the individual properties (bevels, sizing, etc.) of any of these objects in the Properties Toolbar, you must either Ungroup


your objects using the Arrange > Ungroup feature, or, leave them grouped and CTRL + click (Win) or Option + click (Mac) on an object to select it from the group.

Nick’s Tips

Upon import, it is always recommended that you cross-check the original number of objects in your AI/EPS file (remember to count outlines and fills separately) with the number of objects in your Swift 3D document. In Swift 3D, you can determine this number by clicking on your grouped object and looking in the Selection Window of the timeline. (It will say Group of “X” Objects.)

Materials of Imported AI and EPS Files When AI and EPS files are imported, Swift 3D will convert any previously applied colors into their RGB equivalents. Since Swift 3D materials are much more than just colors, here are some other components that go into creating these new materials.

The calculated RGB color will become the new material’s base color, which is the color you see in the Color Selector box in the Color area of the Material Editor.

A slightly darker version of the base color will be used as the material's Ambient Color. The Reflective color will be set to black, meaning it will have no reflective properties. The Highlight Strength and Size will be set to medium, giving it a fairly glossy look.

What all this amounts to is that you will end up with a glossy version of the original color that was imported, or at least something very close. You can adjust the properties of the converted materials afterwards using the Material Editor, and you can always replace the imported colors with something from the Material Gallery.

Related Topics: Material Editor Overview

Layers (Depth Progression) It is likely that your 2D artwork will consist of more than just one object. In the world of 2D, you can arrange your layers, sending the bigger ones to the back so that the smaller ones can be seen. In the world of 3D, however, the only way to see the different layers is by manually giving each a different depth. This is something that Swift 3D automatically takes care of for you during the import process.

When you import any file into Swift 3D, each consecutive object in that file will be given an increased depth by a factor of .001. So the first object that is imported (as a general rule of thumb it is the largest object) will be given a depth of .050 (under Sizing in the Properties Toolbar). The next object is set to .051, and so forth.

What this all means is that when you have artwork with multiple fills and strokes, you need to be aware that this depth progression will take place upon import. Keep in mind that the sole purpose of this depth progression is to allow you to see all of your objects immediately upon import; it is

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not an exact science and we cannot guess at what your true intentions are as far as the final look goes.

Nick’s Tips

When you are working with complex 2D artwork, it is very important to keep it organized. For example, consider a 10 character string of text that you have converted to outlines (see upcoming section on Text), meaning that you now possess a file with 10 separate objects. With the new depth progression feature, when you import this file into Swift 3D your first character will be given a depth of .050 and the tenth character will have a depth of .059. This can be avoided by making your text into a Compound Path before importing. (This is a capability that all 2D drawing programs possess, although they might use slightly different terminology for this feature.) Objects joined in this manner are considered to be one object, and must share all of the same properties, so when a compound path is detected upon import all objects in that compound path are given the same depth.

While you can also join objects in this manner in Swift 3D by using its Arrange > Combine function, I still recommend having all of your artwork well-organized before you even bring it into Swift 3D so once it is imported you can begin working on it and not worry about the depth issue.

Editing Your Imported AI and EPS Artwork Swift 3D allows you to edit your original AI/EPS artwork within the Extrusion Editor. So when you need to make that slight adjustment to a curve or a little tweak of an angle, you won't even need to leave the Swift 3D interface. To bring your imported artwork into the Extrusion Editor, select the extrusion in the Viewport and click on the Extrusion Editor tab. See Extrusion Editor chapter for information on how to use the drawing tools to edit your paths.

NOTE: While AI/EPS artwork cannot be brought into the Lathe Editor directly, you can copy and paste your Bezier path from the Extrusion Editor to the Lathe Editor. See Extrusion or Lathe Editor chapters for steps on copying and pasting paths.

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Related Topics: How the Extrusion Editor Works



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Tips for Building Clean Artwork Text

Typically, when you type text into a 2D vector drawing program it enters the scene as a font rather than pure vector artwork. It is generally best practice to convert fonts into outlines before importing into Swift 3D, however Swift 3D will convert font data to outlines upon import, making each character an individual object.

NOTE: When your text is converted to outlines, either before or during import, each character of your text string will be an individual object. Since Swift 3D imports each subsequent object with a slightly different depth, it is highly recommended that you combine your text into one object before importing, so that they enter Swift 3D at the same depth. You can also use Swift 3D’s Arrange > Combine command to combine your text characters after they are imported into the program.

Strokes and Fills

All 2D drawing programs give you the option of drawing your shape with just strokes, fills or both. As you would expect, fills comes in as solid filled objects and strokes come in at the thickness of the stroke. Now, even though strokes will import into Swift 3D as a single object, I must recommend that you avoid importing strokes at all cost. Any shape much more complicated than a circle or rectangle that is made up of strokes can cause some serious issues due to the amount of processing power it takes to successfully import. Since it is very easy in any 2D drawing program to convert a stroke to outlines, which removes the stroke and applies just a fill the thickness of the stroke, there is really just no reason to bring in strokes.

Excluded Shapes

If you happen to be building a 3D model of a slice of Swiss cheese, you're going to have to learn how to punch holes in stuff. And believe it or not, there are other situations where your 2D extrusion is going to end up more complex than just a filled shape. The nice thing about 2D drawing applications is that you are primarily concerned with how something looks, rather than how it's actually built. Swift 3D, however, cares deeply about the construction of your artwork because it's attempting to convert every piece of vector artwork into a 3-dimensional object.

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So if we take a piece of Swiss cheese as an example, you can build it quite easily in the 2D world by drawing a pale yellow rectangle and then drawing a bunch of irregular white circles on top of that rectangle. Print that thing out and it looks great. Save it to a GIF and it's the same. Bring it into Swift 3D and you'll have an extruded pale yellow rectangle with a bunch of extruded white circles in it. Now you don't have to be from a small country in Central Europe to realize that you would expect to see through those holes rather than having them be solid objects. But you can't blame Swift 3D for trying.

When we go back to our original artwork, you can easily rectify the problem. All you have to do is exclude those shapes from the original rectangle so that there is no fill within the circles and the paths that define those circles are associated with the rectangle rather than the circles. There are several ways to accomplish this depending on your 2D drawing application, and you'll know you've got it when you can click on the holes and nothing gets selected. This indicates that your cheese is truly Swiss.

Breaking free from this cheesy analogy, you can start to understand how various other 2D situations can pose problems for Swift 3D. But if you keep in mind that construction is critical and Swift 3D sees all vector artwork, even if it's rendered invisible in the 2D world through color selection, you should have a smooth transition from 2D vectors to 3D meshes.

3D Drawings

This one is a little weird, and it has to do with understanding how an extrusion actually works. Rather than re-hashing my earlier description of the extrusion process, I'll throw out an example of what some users have done in the past. Let's say I want to build a model of my desktop monitor. If I have absolutely no prior 3D experience and I'm a good illustrator, I might try drawing a perspective view of what my monitor looks like. I accurately depict the slight curvature of the screen, the beige box that tapers as it heads towards the vanishing point, the detailed ventilation grille that sits obliquely from my vantage point. When it's all said and done, I've got a nice simulated 3D drawing of my monitor, and the next logical step would be to import it into Swift 3D so I can have a true 3D model to animate.

I'm sorry to say it just doesn't work that way. An extrusion is just an extrusion and never more. There is no way for Swift 3D to interpret the 2D vector information I'm throwing at it, as accurate as it may be, and determine what a monitor looks like from every possible angle. You're much better off using the modeling tools within Swift 3D to build yourself a real monitor.

Bitmap Images (Rasterized Artwork)

Despite the fact that Swift 3D does not extrude raster imagery, you are not completely out of luck if that's all you have. There are two options that could be potential solutions. The first is hand tracing. This may be a bit on the tedious side but once you're done, you're done forever. The vector artwork that you create through the tracing process can be used in many applications and it's always wise to have a vector version of your artwork anyway since it's much more versatile.

To trace your raster image, bring it into a 2D drawing program through an Import or a Place command. Create a new layer above that image and start going to town with your pen tool. Once you've traced all of the distinct edges in your image with nice clean vectors, you can fill the areas with the appropriate colors. Once you're happy with your tracing and you've addressed all the aforementioned factors, you can delete the raster image and save your file. At that point you should be ready for a smooth vector import into Swift 3D.

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Before you try this, you may also want to look into a bitmap-tracing program. Adobe Flash actually has this function built in, or products like Adobe Streamline or Corel Trace could serve your purpose as well. The basic concept is that these technologies will attempt to automatically trace your raster image, much like you would do by hand. I say 'attempt' because the results are not always what you would hope for. Basic images that have very distinct differences in colors along fairly clean edges do just fine. But the more complex bitmap image you throw at a bitmap-tracer, the more chaos begins to rear its ugly little head. For example, if you were to trace a raster version of the Electric Rain logo it would come through pretty clean. But if you throw a JPEG picture of your Aunt Bessie into the mix you'll be asking for some serious vector trouble.

Troubleshooting AI/EPS Import Problems If you are trying to import a file that contains information that Swift 3D can't recognize, you will be faced with the following error dialog:

The most common cause of this error message are is due to attempting to import a file that contains ONLY bitmap data. While Swift 3D will import the vector elements from a file containing both vector and bitmap, it will not support those containing only bitmap data.

Swift 3D can also appear to stall when importing an AI/EPS file (if you are patient, a dialog will eventually appear asking if you want to continue the import process).

Elements contained in an AI/EPS file that will stall the import process are:

Elements contained in an AI/EPS file that will stall the import process are: 1. Gradient Fills: A gradient fill is a graduated blend between two or more colors or tints of

the same color, so a gradient can literally be made of hundreds of fills. All Swift 3D knows is that it needs to extrude every fill, so it is literally sitting their trying to process through the gradient. Remove the gradient from your object and replace it with a solid fill to fix this situation. You can use the lighting in Swift 3D to replicate the gradient as best as possible, but keep in mind that some output options do not use gradient fills at all.

2. Strokes: While strokes will import into Swift 3D, if any sort of curve is applied it imports as tiny separate line segments. More complex strokes will therefore bog down the import process. Convert any strokes to fills in order to solve this problem. See previous section on Strokes and Fills for more information.

Swift 3D can also appear to stall when importing an AI/EPS file (if you are patient, a dialog will eventually appear asking if you want to continue the import process).

If an object from your AI/EPS file does not get imported there are two common reasons:

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1. A fill associated with an unclosed stroke (i.e., a stroke with 2 open or unjoined end points) will not import. When this happens, only the stroke will import since a stroke does not have to be closed to import. Again, it is highly recommended that you do not import strokes to begin with.

2. Fills must have more than 2 anchor points in order to import. Most 2D programs have an “Add Anchor Point” feature that makes it easy to add some extra points.

If none of these solutions help you to create a file that can successfully import into Swift 3D, please email the file to [email protected].

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Importing 3DS and DXF Files Importing 3DS and DXF Files Overview Although Swift 3D is quite the scrappy upstart contender in the modeling world, we're humble enough to acknowledge that there are a few big-boy applications that have a bit of a head start on us, and a few more modeling features as well. (We had to build an entire wing onto our office to accommodate the manuals for those high-end apps.) So out of respect for the 3D industry as a whole, and in an effort to provide you access to the efforts of the highly-skilled 3D artists of the world, Swift 3D offers the ability to import 3DS and DXF files, the two most popular 3D file formats in the industry.

The terrific thing about these two file formats being so popular is that there are literally tens of thousands of 3D models available on the Web for free or for purchase. Additionally, every 3D application I know of has the ability to export to at least one of these formats. So if you, your company or your clients have existing 3D assets, you're virtually guaranteed that they can be imported, further edited and rendered to a vector or raster file using Swift 3D.

3DS File Format 3DS File Format

The 3DS file format originated with earlier versions of 3D Studio, the high-end modeling and animation package that currently leads the 3D market. It is an open-spec format that most other 3D software applications can export to. For the most part, the file will contain all of the information pertaining to the model itself, otherwise referred to as the 'Mesh.' But if the file was created with 3D Studio MAX, now going by the name of 3ds max, there may be some other relevant information that comes along with the file as well.

How to import a 3DS file into Swift 3D: 1. Select New From 3DS from the File menu. 2. Navigate to the 3DS file you wish to import. 3. Select the file. 4. Click OK.

You'll notice that this process is different than a standard Import command. The reason is that if a 3DS file contains more than the model itself, Swift 3D has to actually rebuild the entire scene with lights, cameras, animations, etc. Since this is more conducive to a New command, we've excluded this function from the Import options and included it in the File menu. The limitation of this is that you cannot open multiple 3DS files into the same file. The workaround for accomplishing this is to bring each 3DS file into separate Swift 3D files, and then copy and paste the models from one file to the next.

Nick's Tips

If you're working with 3ds max and have exported a 3DS file that doesn't seem to be importing into Swift 3D properly, you should re-import the 3DS file into 3ds max. This will demonstrate if all of the associated information is being properly translated into the 3DS file format. Swift 3D can only read the information in the 3DS file, so if it's not getting in there, you

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need to go back to the drawing board in 3ds max. If it is all there, you’ve got yourself a bona fide tech support issue and we’d love to see that file.

Model Mesh - From Any Application

This is a definite. No matter whether you create the file within 3ds max, or any other application, the file will contain the geometry of the model itself. All of the polygons will arrive within Swift 3D safe and sound, along with any information on how the object's surfaces are smoothed. A word of caution is that some 3D applications do not write the most accurate 3DS files, so there are no guarantees as to the integrity of the model if it has been created by a 3D modeling program other than 3ds max.

Materials/Textures - From Any Application

Swift 3D will import any colors or textures associated with your 3DS file. For textures to be imported, those textures must exist in the same folder as the 3DS file. Textures imported with a model can be saved to the Material Gallery for use with other models. To save a texture, select the model and go to the Material property page. Select the texture’s name from the Surface list and then drag and drop the texture from the Material Display ball to the Material Gallery.

Related Topics: Material Property Page

Animations - From 3ds max

If the imported 3DS file contained animation before it was exported from 3ds max, all of the relevant keyframes will be respected and appear within the Swift 3D timeline after import. Please realize that the 3DS file format is pretty ancient, so any advanced animations that involve mesh deformation (alteration of the object's geometry) will not be written into the 3DS file in the first place.

Cameras - From 3ds max

If the original file was created in 3ds max, Swift 3D will read any targeted camera information that is included in the 3DS file. Once you have imported the file, you'll find the related cameras in the Camera View dropdown list. The properties of the cameras will no longer be accessible to you however, so the best bet is to have them all just the way you want before exporting from 3ds max.

Lights - From 3ds max

Lights will also come along for the ride, and appear within Swift 3D after the import of a 3DS file, provided they were written into the file in the first place. The 3DS lights will appear directly within your scene and be represented by the appropriate Swift 3D icons. If you do not create any lights within 3ds max, your file will have Swift 3D's default lighting configuration applied to it.

3DS Properties

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Any model meshes brought into Swift 3D in a 3DS file will have some smoothing controls associated with them that appear in the Object page of the Properties Toolbar. The Auto Smoothing checkbox tells Swift 3D to use the default 3ds max smoothing parameters. This typically yields nicely smoothed objects. If you uncheck this option, you can then manually choose the Smoothing Angle Swift 3D should use on the 3DS objects. The way this setting works is that when you increase the angle (90 degrees maximum), your object gets smoother, and when you decrease the angle, your objects will be more faceted and angular.

Related Topics: Smoothing

DXF File Format This file format has its origins with another very popular application, AutoCAD. Although not specifically designed for 3D animation, AutoCAD is the industry-leading computer aided design software that is used in everything from designing buildings to machine equipment parts. DXF is the file format that AutoCAD uses when engineers and architects need to create an actual 3D model from their design.

Since AutoCAD is such a heavily used application, its file format has become ubiquitous as well. So it's not that we expect you to be designing machinery with Swift 3D, but rather the fact that every 3D application we've ever come across has the ability to kick out DXF files. Unlike the 3DS file format, DXF files will never contain any more information than the model itself. But that's OK, because Swift 3D has got enough animation power to get you the rest of the way.

It is important to note that Swift 3D will only import models that contain a mesh. Any 2D lines associated with your DXF file will not import into our program.

How to import a DXF file into Swift 3D: 1. Choose File > Import. 2. Select DXF from the list of file import formats supported. 3. Navigate to the DXF file you want to import. 4. Select the file. 5. Click OK.

NOTE: Since this process does not involve building a new scene, you can import a DXF file into an existing scene, as well as import more than one DXF file into the same scene.

Advanced Modeler Advanced Modeler Overview Would you like to play with LEGOs or Clay today?

I have to admit I was always a LEGO guy. There was something about seeing all the individual pieces laid out in front of me that fostered a sense of creativity, comfortably leading my brain down the road of creation. In comparison, when the teacher set that big amorphous lump of clay in front of me and said "create," I just wasn't sure what to do next. It was as if the limited set of shapes contained within my LEGO collection helped jump-start the creative process, where the limitless potential of the clay seemed to transform my creative juices into a somewhat more viscous state.

Since its inception, Swift 3D has offered a modeling process that's similar to the LEGO-style approach of assembling more complex objects from basic building blocks, which is one reason the software is so popular with people delving into 3D design for the first time. Since we've all used building blocks of some form or another, it's a pretty easy transition into the world of modeling with Swift 3D. The one limitation with this creation method is that occasionally you find circumstances where the exact building block you need for your model simply doesn't exist. And although it's often possible to find some sort of workaround using a combination of other shapes or just settling for a less-than-what-you-had-imagined model, neither of those solutions is ideal.

Well… welcome to the limitless world of polygonal modeling, or what I like to refer to as the "clay approach" to object creation. In this world you still have those basic building blocks to start with, but instead of being made out of relatively inflexible molded plastic, these blocks are totally malleable, just like the lumps of clay we were doled out in art class back in school. But since we couldn't cram actual organic clay into the code-base of Swift 3D (we tried, but the compiler wasn't too happy) the material you'll be working with in the Advanced Modeler is a polygonal mesh, which is essentially a pliable fabric made of adjoining triangles.

Now for those of you who are like me and enjoy the ease of the assembly approach rather than the seemingly more daunting task of molding a lump of polygons into something worth looking at, fear thee not. The Advanced Modeler should be seen as a complementary tool to the traditional Swift 3D modeling workflow rather than a replacement. Think of this area as your building block construction zone where you can fabricate the exact pieces you need to complete whatever project you're working with back in the Scene Editor of Swift 3D.

And for those of you who are looking forward to getting your hands directly on that underlying polygonal mesh and fully embracing the power of creation from scratch, welcome to nirvana. With the Advanced Modeler you can push, pull, slice, deform, extrude, twist and tweak your lump of clay to make whatever it is you want in a totally unrestricted environment.

In the end, the Advanced Modeler is just another tool (albeit a very powerful tool) within Swift 3D and it's up to you to use it as needed. Which brings us to a final introductory point: How do you decide when to use the Advanced Modeler (which will usually require some additional time and energy on your behalf) and when should you stick with the more basic (yet very speedy) modeling tools supplied in the Scene, Extrusion and Lathe Editors? Well, here are my personal recommendations on that subject:

When to use Swift 3D's standard modeling tools:

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If the object you're modeling can be broken down into a bunch of fairly simple geometric shapes, you'll want to use the standard modeling tools such as text, primitives, extrusions and lathes. For example, as I gaze around my desk it's pretty easy to identify which items fall into this category: Paper Clip = Extrusion. Highlighter = Lathe. Coffee cup = Lathe + Beveled Extrusion. Cordless telephone = Beveled extrusion with lots of spheres, smaller extrusions and text stuck to the front. Go ahead and take a gaze around your surroundings with the same analytical eye and you'll quickly see what I mean.

When to use Swift 3D's Advanced Modeler:

If the object you're modeling is made up of geometric shapes that are not symmetrical or contain non-planar (organic) surfaces, you'll want to use the Advanced Modeler. Again we can scan the desk for some examples: Scissors = Smooth curvy handles + Long tapered blades. Mouse = Irregularly molded case with gently arched buttons. Keyboard cord = Thin undulating cylinder. Long-stem rose from my adoring wife = Rough crooked stem with lots of wavy petals (OK, I made that one up - the rose anyway). The more modeling experience you gain, the more your eyes will develop a keen sense of structure, and it will become very apparent that you simply can't do your dog Fido justice with a bunch of cones, boxes, spheres and cylinders.

When to use them both:

Chances are that many objects you'll be modeling will be comprised of a combination of standard and custom shapes, and often times it comes down to the level of accuracy you need for your particular project. As veteran users of Swift 3D can attest, before the Advanced Modeler came along you could go quite a long way by substituting stock shapes into a model in place of those that just couldn't be created with the software. And that's the beauty of having both options available within Swift 3D because you have the flexibility to decide for yourself exactly how much detail and accuracy you need to build into your projects. So when it comes to the question of LEGOs or Clay, you can emphatically say, "BOTH!"

Modeler Default Settings All settings within the Advanced Modeler can be saved and used as the default doing a File > Save Modeler Default Settings. Note that these default settings are only used when you enter the Advanced Modeler in order to create a new mesh. Models in progress or saved will always retain the last settings used when you leave and return to the Advanced Modeler.

3D Terminology 101 Scene Editor Object vs. Mesh Objects

Before we start delving into the basic elements that make up a mesh, it is important that we first take a step back so that there is a solid understanding regarding the difference between Scene Editor objects (Text, Primitives, Extrusions and Lathes) and the meshes that are created or edited in the Advanced Modeler. The difference is subtle, since the basis for all objects in Swift 3D is a mesh. Turn the Viewport display mode to outlines in the Scene Editor and you can clearly see that any object in the Viewport is made up of a mesh.

The crucial difference lies in the fact that Primitive, Text, Extrusion and Lathe objects actually exist at a higher level than just a mesh, and are more accurately described as parent objects that are derived from a basic mesh. At all times in the Scene Editor you are working at an object level, and not the mesh level. The mesh can be controlled using settings provided through the

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Advanced Modeler

Properties Toolbar, such as bevels in the case of text and extrusions, and segmentation values in the case of lathes and primitives, but these are programmed settings. When you change these values, Swift 3D simply deletes the previous mesh and regenerates a new mesh. In many ways this is why Swift 3D continues to be such a great program for 3D novices because the program creates all of the changes to the mesh for you.

There comes a time, however, when a model is required that cannot be created by any other means than getting your hands dirty and manually manipulating its mesh. Once this point is reached, you must sever the relationship that Swift 3D has so nicely provided between the parent object and its mesh. This relationship ends as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button in the Advanced Modeler. While the Edit Mesh button will be discussed in detail in one of the upcoming sections, what this button does is convert the object to an editable mesh. For example, if you bring a Text object into the Advanced Modeler and click on the Edit Mesh button, the text object is converted and no longer maintains any relationship to the Font, Bevel or Sizing properties of the Properties Toolbar. A warning message is provided as a reminder that this conversion is taking place, but that will be discussed further in the upcoming section on Moving Between the Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler.

Once you have crossed over the border into the land of meshes, you must leave behind that blissful ignorance that Swift 3D’s object level architecture has afforded you and inhale a bit of brain food because it is now time to start understanding the elements that make up that 3D mesh.

Related Topics: Edit Mesh Polygon Normal Workflow Between Editors

Polygons

A polygon consists of a number of points joined by lines to create a planar face (i.e. all points of the face exist on the splane). While polygons can consist of an infinite number of points, Swift 3D uses only 3-sided polygons, a.k.a. triangles.

ame

In the Advanced Modeler you can modify the object's triangular mesh, which is made up of three elements:

Vertex: a point in space Edge: a straight line that connects two vertices Face: a triangle formed by three vertices

All of these elements put together form a polygon. Slap all of your polygons together and you have your polygon mesh. Begin pushing, pulling and twisting that mesh and you're modeling. It's as simple as that.

Related Topics: Edit Mesh Normal

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Object vs. Mesh Workflow Between Editors

Normal

A normal is the direction that a face points and is considered to be its front or outer surface. Swift 3D uses normals to determine whether a polygon is front facing or backfacing, which you will find is important to the selection process (see Ignore Backfaces feature). Since Swift 3D only uses three-sided polygons, keep in mind that these points always lie on a flat plane, which means all parts of that polygon must face in the same direction. So you can think of the normal as a conceptual line in space that maintains a 90° angle to all points on any particular face. If you encounter a situation in which you cannot select a certain face it is likely that its normal is facing inward. Use the Transform > Flip Normals feature to reverse the direction of the normal.

The Advanced Modeler will automatically smooth normals so that surface areas maintain a nice, smooth shading instead of showing the hard edges in between each polygon. This type of smoothing is achieved by averaging what is referred to as the vertex normals. Vertex normals are calculated by averaging the normals of all of the triangles (faces) that come into that vertex in order to smooth out their edges. (Vertex normals are also used to determine the brightness of a surface in terms of lighting.) When a mesh is unsmoothed, or viewed with the Viewport Display Mode set to Flat Shaded, Swift 3D is only calculating each individual face normal.

In terms of modeling objects, normals also serve as a constraining point for extruding faces, meaning that you can extrude a face in the direction that its normal is facing (see the section on Extrude for more information). But if you start using face normals to give directions to the local pub, you might have gone a tad too far.

Related Topics: Edit Mesh Polygon Object vs. Mesh Workflow Between Editors

Moving Between Scene Editor and Advanced Modeler While moving back and forth between the Scene Editor and the Advanced Modeler is as simple as clicking the respective tabs, as we discussed in the previous section on 3D Terminology, you do need to be aware of changes that will be made when certain objects are brought into the Advanced Modeler.

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Scene Editor to Advanced Modeler

Creating from Scratch

To move into the Advanced Modeler with the intention of creating something from scratch, make sure that no objects are selected in the Scene Editor before clicking on the Advanced Modeler tab. When the Advanced Modeler interface appears you will have a blank slate to work with.

Working with Primitives, Text, Lathes or Extrusions

You can also bring objects from the Scene Editor into the Advanced Modeler edit their mesh. The objects will enter the Advanced Modeler at the same position and rotation as in the Scene Editor. Keep in mind that Scene Editor objects (Text, Primitives, Extrusions, Lathes or imported 3D models) are converted to an editable mesh as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button. When this happens, a dialog will appear that warns you of this pending conversion. (A checkbox provides the option to turn off this warning dialog. You can also turn this warning on or off by going to Setup > User Preferences.) This conversion can be undone by performing a File > Undo in the Advanced Modeler. For further information on why this conversion occurs, please see previous section on 3D Terminology 101.

Objects that are part of a parent/child relationship

All children of parent objects get brought into the Advanced Modeler along with its parent. This allows you to edit the mesh of an object while still being able to observe its relationship to other objects in the scene. Working with multiple objects in the Advanced Modeler will be further detailed in the upcoming section on the Edit Mesh button.

NOTE: When you bring objects into the Advanced Modeler that are linked through parent/child relationships, the object at the very top of that hierarchy is required by the Advanced Modeler and therefore cannot be deleted while in the Advanced Modeler. That object can only be deleted back in the Scene Editor. Objects that are children of that parent object can be deleted in either the Advanced Modeler or Scene Editor.

Advanced Modeler to Scene Editor

When you return to the Scene Editor from the Advanced Modeler, any objects in the modeling interface, whether they are selected or not, and regardless of their state of completion, will get placed back into the main scene. All objects get placed with the same position and orientation held in the Advanced Modeler.

NOTE: You can save your work from within the Advanced Modeler by doing a File > Save.

Edit Mesh Button

The Edit Mesh button is located on the right side of the Main Toolbar. When this button is disabled (gray), the Advanced Modeler exists in a mode that is similar to the Scene Editor, meaning you can only select the mesh at the object level. As soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button, the button’s state changes to Editing Mesh (red), which allows you to begin editing the mesh of the selected object.

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Object Mode

When the Edit Mesh button is disabled you can only select the mesh at the object level, and you can only select one object at a time. Once the object is selected, either click on the Edit Mesh button to edit that object’s mesh, or make use of any of the various tools in the Advanced Modeler that are accessible at the object level. Throughout this chapter modeling tools that can only be used while in Editing Mesh mode will be clearly designated. Tools that do not carry this disclaimer can be used as documented, whether you are working at the object or mesh level. Keep in mind that when you are working at the object level of a mesh, if you adjust its position, rotation or scale these values get updated in relation to the scene’s global coordinate system.

A final thing to mention about object mode is that primitive meshes get inserted into the Viewport as separate object meshes when the Edit Mesh button is not depressed. This is crucial to understand if you plan on eventually animating the different parts of a model. More on this will be discussed in the next section on the Editing Mesh mode.

Editing Mesh Mode

Once you have an object selected in the Viewport you can begin editing its mesh by clicking on the Edit Mesh button. Keep in mind that Scene Editor objects (Text, Primitives, Extrusions, or Lathes) are converted to an editable mesh as soon as you click on the Edit Mesh button. When this happens, a dialog will appear that warns you of this pending conversion. (A checkbox provides the option to turn off this warning dialog. You can also turn this warning on or off by going to Setup > User Preferences.) This conversion can be undone by performing a File > Undo in the Advanced Modeler. For further information on why this conversion occurs, please see previous section on 3D Terminology 101.

Once in Editing Mesh mode you will notice that all of the mesh selection tools that were previously grayed out on the main toolbar become enabled. These tools will be discussed in detail in the upcoming section on Selection, but for now it is just important to note that through these tools you can begin selecting the vertices, edges, faces and defined surface groups of the mesh.

While in Mesh Editing mode, any changes made to the mesh only take place at the local mesh level. For this reason do not use Mesh Editing mode to orient an object’s mesh in relationship to other objects in the scene. When you select an entire mesh and move, rotate or scale it, those operations are only being calculated in relation to the object’s pivot point. A good way to understand this is to visualize the object as a “container” for its mesh. The container’s position, rotation and scale are all based around the object’s pivot point, which remains stationary in relation to the scene’s global coordinate system. So if you move an entire mesh and then take a look at the coordinates of that object from its Position property page, the object’s coordinates will remain unchanged because the mesh has simply moved around within the object’s container, the container has not budged. Note: If you happen to move an entire mesh in Mesh Editing mode you can always go back to the Scene Editor and use the Reset Pivot Location button, located to the right of the Rotation Trackball, to reset the pivot back to the center of the object, but that is not really the best workflow to follow.

When you create a new mesh by inserting a Primitive into the scene while in Mesh Editing mode, that primitive mesh will get added to the existing mesh as a separate Surface Group (refer to section on Surface Groups later in this chapter). So even though the meshes appear to be separate from each other, the meshes actually are contained within a single object (and you can certainly orient those meshes in relation to each other since they both exist within that object “container”). To add a primitive mesh to the scene as a separate object you must turn off Mesh Editing. However, if you know you will never have any reasons to select different parts of a model

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fter

ly e

o

re

To break out mesh into a separate object:

for animation purposes you can certainly go ahead and work with the primitive meshes to create your entire model in Editing Mesh mode.

Combine With Selection The Combine With Selection feature allows you to join separate objects into a single mesh. This function is only available in the Advanced Modeler when the Edit Mesh button is not depressed. There are many benefits to working with a single mesh, including the ability to combine extrusions, lathes and primitives into a single object. Aobjects are combined into a single mesh you can choose to weld them together or simpkeep the two meshes apart as separatsurface areas.

To combine objects into a single mesh: 1. Bring two objects (e.g., an extrusion

and a lathe) into the Advanced Modeler.

2. In object editing mode, select one of the object’s meshes.

3. Hover the mouse over the object you wish to combine with that mesh and right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the second object.

4. From the context menu that appears, choose the Combine With Selection option. 5. Both objects will now exist as a single object, but can still be selected or edited as

separate surface groups when the Edit Mesh button is pushed.

Related Topics: Break Out Selection Edit Mesh Object vs. Mesh Weld Workflow Between Editors

Break Out Selection The Break Out Selection feature allows you ttake an area of a single mesh and break it outinto a separate object. Note that this featuis only available in Editing Mesh mode.

1. Select an object and click on the Edit Mesh button.


2. Use one of the Selection tools to select the part of the mesh that you want to break out into a separate object.

3. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the selected area. 4. From the context menu, choose the Break Out Selection option. 5. The display of the selected mesh will automatically turn to the gray stippled effect that

indicates it can no longer be edited as part of the selected mesh, since it now exists as a separate object from its original mesh.

Related Topics: Combine With Selection Edit Mesh Object vs. Mesh Workflow Between Editors

Working With Viewports Viewport Overview

While there are some differences between the Viewports in the Advanced Modeler and the Scene Editor, for the most part you will find a lot of the same settings that have already been documented in either the chapter on Viewport Properties or Cameras. This section on Viewports will therefore only cover information about Viewports that are unique to the Advanced Modeler.

Probably the biggest difference that you will notice between the Advanced Modeler and the Scene Editor is that the default layout of the Advanced Modeler starts with four Viewports open. Like in the Scene Editor, you do have the ability to customize the layout of the Viewports in order to meet your own needs.

To change the camera view: 1. Click on the Viewport Menu button. 2. From the menu, select the Perspective, Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left or Right camera

option.

NOTE: You can choose to have any of the camera views open in more than one Viewport, so if you want two Perspective Viewports available at the same time, by all means, set yourself up.

Customizing Viewport Layout

The default layout of the Advanced Modeler is with all four Viewports displayed and an alternative layout cbe selected from the View menu. As in the Scene Editor, Viewports can be Maximized through the Viewport Menu.

an

ptions.

To maximize a viewport:

To customize viewport layout: 1. Select View > Viewports from the Main Menu. 2. Choose one of the available Viewport o

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1. Click on the Viewport Menu button located in the top left corner of the Viewport you want

ame menu and select Show All Viewports, or choose

Viewport Menu Button

Just like in the Scene Editor, each Viewport has a menu button in the upper left corner that ince

Viewport Menu:

to maximize. 2. Choose Maximize from the menu. 3. To minimize a Viewport go to this s

View > Viewports > Show All Viewports from the main menu. The Viewport layout will go back to its previous configuration.

contains different Viewport options. Many of the menu options are the same as in the SceneEditor, but there are also settings that are specific to just the Advanced Modeler Viewports. Sthe features included in this menu encompass a variety of topics, they will be covered individually in the upcoming sections on the Viewport.

Axis Guide

I have to confess that after years of using Swift 3D on a daily basis, if you put a gun to my head

d and asked me to list the colors of the X, Y and Z axes in the Viewport I might not get it right. Although Swift 3D does not usually threaten its users with weaponry, in the case of the AdvanceModeler Viewports you may need to be a little more cognizant of those axes colors. One key to becoming a good modeler is acquiring the ability to make changes to your models while

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seamlessly jumping around the various views. Choose the wrong view to make a tail for ymonster and you might end up giving him a really long… well, extra appendage. Since we'd likto avoid these types of embarrassing modeling mishaps at all cost, a constant visual aid is provided allowing you to reference just what direction you are looking into your scene from atimes. This Axis Guide is displayed right smack in the middle of each Viewport.

our e

t all

Axis Guide Perspective View: Axis Guide Orthographic View:

The axes are colored the same as in the Scene Editor so that X = Red, Y = Green and Z = Blue.

Turning Axis Guide On and Off

If at any time this tool gives you a hard time and you need to remind it just who's boss, you can

Constrain Axis

In addition to being a visual aid, the Axis Guide can be used as a constraining tool as well.

To constrain an axis: + click on any of the axes on the actual

2. all of the Viewports,

3. n the axis or

For more detailed information on axis constraint please see the Constrain Axis portion of the

Orthographic Viewports (Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Right)

Ok, I admit, I had to peek, but it really doesn’t matter since each axis also comes with an X, Y or Z label.

turn off the Axis Guide by going to the Viewport Menu and toggling off the Show > Axis option.

Certain functions, such as moving meshes, can be constrained along the X, Y or Z axis.

1. CTRL + SHIFT guide (the red, green or blue lines or their end points). You can also choose Transform > Constrain > X, Y or Z [CTRL + SHIFT + X, Y or Z] from the main menu. (This can be helpful if the camera view has been panned so that the Axis Guide, which is always centered at 0, 0, 0, is not visible.) The selected axis will turn white inand the point at the end will turn into an arrow, indicating that it is the constraining axis. To turn off constraints, either click back ochoose it again from the menu.

upcoming section on Transform Tools.

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ht) are

, thus reducing the chance that you will move, rotate, scale, etc. your

2.

f rate

2D Orthographic View

In the Advanced Modeler, all of the standard views (Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Rigshown in fixed 2D Orthographic Viewports. In addition, just like in the Scene Editor there is one Perspective View that allows you to look at your scene from all different angles. One of the harder things to get used to within this interface is working with a 3D model within a purely 2D view. We will try to make that transition as easy as possible for you in the upcoming sections, but also realize that you might need to take some time orienting yourself using basic models before you tackle building your own personal concept car.

The 2D Orthographic Viewports provide many advantages when it comes to 3D modeling. These are a few reasons why:

1. In an orthographic view, all objects are shown straight on and maintain their right angles and parallel linesselection in an unintended direction. You can think of this as sort of an "alignment safety zone." All objects, regardless of the distance between them along the Z axis (actually, the relative Z axis for each Viewport), will appear at their actual size. This is important because when modeling objects you often want to be able to compare exact sizes othings and the orthographic view eliminates any distortion that prevents making accucomparisons.

: Same Scene, Perspective View:

When working in an orthographic view you are confined to manipulating objects along 2 out of the 3 axes. This allows you to be very precise with your movements without having to mess with a

Pannin

the Orthographic Viewports are identical to panning and zooming the he Scene Editor.

Camera in the Advanced Modeler is identical to the Default Target . Refer to the entry on Cameras for information

on working with the Perspective Camera.

bunch of different tools. Instead, you can use a single tool to manipulate your objects from different views depending on your desired result. And thanks to the Axis Guides you have a constant reminder of just which 2 axes you have to work with in each Viewport.

Front/Back Viewports: X and Y Top/Bottom Viewports: X and Z Left/Right Viewports: Y and Z

g and Zooming

Panning and zooming Standard Cameras in t

Perspective Viewport

Working with the PerspectiveCamera or the Target Camera in the Scene Editor


Viewport Display Modes

he graphical display of object meshes in the Advanced Modeler is similar to the Scene Editor. Texture Smooth Shaded, Smooth

me, as well as the option to Draw Backfaces. (Refer to Display Modes section of Scene Editor Viewports section.)

s

isplay, which means they cannot be edited while the Edit Mesh button is enabled.

Show > Wire Overlay: When the Show Wire Overlay option is e

ded, Smooth Shaded or Texture Smooth Shaded modes.

an choose to turn off the isplay of any materials that have been applied to your models. Turning off the display of aterials can help to enhance Viewport rendering speed.

hat this means is that the display ces" of an object, or the mesh of the object that is facing away from the

ports you might not even notice that Draw Backfaces is turned on until you change the orientation of the object in the scene. Since the 2D camera only looks straight

TFrom the Viewport Menu button, Viewports can be set to Shaded, Flat Shaded or Wirefra

Objects and their meshes take on different display states during the selection process, which idiscussed in the upcoming section on Selection. Also, when you are editing a mesh, all other objects in the Viewport will take on a gray stippled d

The Advanced Modeler also comes with these two additional display modes:

turned on, the wireframe of the mesh is shown over the top of thFlat Sha(Note: Showing the Wire Overlay makes it difficult to see the results of any function that serves to smooth a surface area.)

Show > Materials: Through the Show Materials option you cdm

Draw Backfaces

By default, Draw Backfaces is enabled in all of the Viewports. Wis ignoring the "backfacamera. In the 2D View

into the scene, and not from the sides, it’s as if your 3D scene has been squished into a 2D plane so that there is no way to see the faces of objects that are perpendicular to the camera nor those facing away from the camera. If you take a look at the screen shots on the right you can clearlysee that having Draw Backfaces turned off makes the object visually less dense.

Draw Backfaces OFF: Draw Backfaces ON:

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To draw backfaces: 1. Click on the Viewport Menu Button. 2. Select Draw Backfaces. A checkmark will appear next to that option indicating that this

feature is toggled on. 3. To turn off Draw Backfaces simply select it again to toggle it off.

Getting Started Primitive-Based Meshes

As discussed in our earlier section on 3D Terminology, Primitives in the Scene Editor are parent objects that are derived from a mesh. In the Advanced Modeler, this type of parent relationship is not possible, so the primitives made available here are simply meshes based on the primitive shapes that you find in the Scene Editor. As a result, you only have access to each Primitive’s property page before that primitive gets inserted into the Viewport.

Let’s look at it this way. You’ve inserted a sphere-based mesh into the Viewport, and using your impressive, new-found modeling skills have molded that sphere into a dolphin. That dolphin does not in any way resemble the sphere it spawned from, so you can’t possibly to go back and change any of the sphere’s original properties and expect Swift 3D to have a clue as to what you expect to happen.

Inserting Primitives

So, as you have probably guessed, inserting a primitive in the Advanced Modeler will not be the same as that nice, simple click of the mouse that you can use to achieve such greatness in the Scene Editor, but it is not rocket science either. When you click on one of the Primitive buttons in the Advanced Modeler, all you have achieved is opening that primitive’s property page in the PToolbar. This is your key that you must first set the sizing and segmentation properties of the primitive, or simply leave the settings at their default values if you so choose. Since there is anentire chapter, adeptly called Primitives, that is devoted to a

roperties

ll of

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the primitives and their properties, if you have any questions about these properties pleaseto that chapter.

refer

There is one difference that I do need to mention. The Sizing properties are not existent for most primitives in the Advanced Modeler because to insert a primitive mesh you click and drag out the primitive in the Viewports until you are happy with its size. The primitive's size is automatically kept proportional when dragged out in the Perspective Viewport; however, you must hold down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) while dragging out the primitive to maintain proportional sizing in the Orthographic Viewports. The Torus and Cone primitives are the exception as they still include some size settings (the top and bottom radius of the cone, and the major and minor radius of the torus), which can’t be adjusted when dragging out those primitives. Those settings exist as ratios, however, instead of exact units used by those same primitives in the Scene Editor.

To insert a primitive: 1. Set the Editing Mode button to its Mesh Editing or Object Editing state depending on

whether you want to add the mesh to an existing mesh or create a separate mesh object. If you do not have an existing mesh in the scene, the state of this button will not matter.

2. Click on the Primitive button of your choice from the main toolbar. 3. The properties specific to that primitive will appear in the Properties Toolbar. (See the

chapter on Primitives for detailed information on all of the properties available to each primitive.)

4. Make any changes to the default settings. Use the preview window to determine when you have the correct settings since once the primitive is inserted you cannot go back and change these settings.

5. In any of the Viewports, click and drag the cursor until the primitive reaches the size you require. When working in the Orthographic Viewports, hold down CTRL (Win) or OPTION (Mac) to maintain the primitive’s proportions as you drag it out.

When you drag out a primitive in one of the Orthographic Viewports, the starting position of the primitive will always depend on where it was drawn. Primitives created in the Perspective Viewport will always get inserted around the (0, 0, 0) coordinate.

Model Gallery

The Model Gallery provides you with 3D models to use as is, or as a starting point for your modeling project. As with all of the other galleries in Swift 3D, the Model Gallery works on the drag-and-drop premise. Models will always get inserted as separate objects whether you are in Mesh Editing or Object Editing mode, and if they contain hierarchy, their animations and hierarchy will also be maintained.

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To insert a model from the model gallery: 1. In the Advanced Modeler, select the Model button on the left side of the main Gallery

Toolbar to bring up the Model Gallery. (Note: Models can be accessed from the Scene Editor as well.)

2. Go through the tabs and choose a model. 3. Click-and-drag the model to any location within any of the Viewports. The model will get

inserted at the coordinate from which it was originally saved into the gallery.

The Model Gallery can also be used as a repository for your own models that you create in Swift 3D.

To save a model to the model gallery: 1. Models can only be saved to the gallery

from the Scene Editor, so click on the Scene Editor tab to bring the model back into the Scene Editor.

2. If the model is not already selected, click on it to select.

3. From the File menu, choose "Save Model..."

4. From the Save Model dialog, choose a name and location within the Model Gallery for your model.

5. Click Save.

Editing Models in the Gallery

A mesh model added to the Model Gallery can only be edited in the Advanced Modeler workspace. Once a model is placed into the scene it no longer has any connection to the original model stored back in the gallery, so when you finish editing you must go through the steps for saving a model to the gallery. The original version will remain untouched in the gallery. If you do not desire two copies of the model, either overwrite the previous model by using the same name when saving, or simply delete the previous version from the gallery.

You can right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on any thumbnail within the Model Gallery to bring up the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can delete, rename or relocate any gallery content. For more detailed information on how to share Gallery content and managing Galleries in Swift 3D, see the section on Galleries in the Scene Editor chapter.

General Properties General Property Page

Modeler Options

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The following two settings are strictly intended to help increase internal rendering performance while working in the Advanced Modeler:

Auto Smoothing - Swift 3D will automatically smooth surface areas of a mesh unless you otherwise define smoothing groups (see the section on Smoothing Groups at the end of this chapter). As you work with a mesh, pushing and pulling various parts, it requires additional internal rendering power for Swift 3D to constantly update the display of surface smoothing. By default, this feature is therefore turned off. Note: If the Show Wire Overlay option is enabled you will not notice any difference to smoothing.

Redraw All Viewports - By default, as you move, rotate, scale, etc. a mesh, that action only takes place in the active Viewport. Once the action is complete, the other Viewports will then update their views as well. However, if you need to see the action take place in all of the Viewports as it is occurs, check the Redraw All Viewports option. Again, by only having the redraw take place in one Viewport at a time, performance is enhanced.

Settings

Nudge Increment - This setting controls how far your selected object will move when nudged with the keyboard arrow keys. The default increment is set to .10 units, however this can be designated in the User Preference dialog. Since each grid represents one unit, using the default setting of .10, it will take ten nudges to move an object from one grid line to the next. Holding down the SHIFT key while nudging with the arrow keys will move an object ten times the set nudge increment.

Object

Name - This grayed out area shows the name of the object currently selected in the Viewport. This name can only be edited from the Object property page in either the Scene Editor or the Advanced Modeler.

Statistics - The statistics provided on this page show the total number of vertices, edges, faces and surface groups of the mesh at the object level. So even if just a single vertex of a mesh is selected, these statistics will display the totals for the whole mesh that the vertex is a part of. If you are selecting individual areas of a mesh in Mesh Editing mode and need to see the total number of vertices, edges, and faces in that currently selected area, these statistics are provided in the status bar located along the bottom of the interface. If a mesh is not selected, the status bar shows the total statistics for the entire model currently being edited.

Polygon Limitations - The Advanced Modeler has a limitation of 65,535 total vertices or faces.

Selection Select Tools

No, still not to the fun stuff yet, but I can guarantee that unless you master the fine art of selecting vertices, edges, faces and surface groups (and not just any ones, mind you, but the ones you intended to select) you will get extremely frustrated when you start modeling. So stay focused and we'll get through this fast.

The selection process in the Advanced Modeler works differently than in the Scene Editor because selection can be done on five levels: vertex, edge, face and surface group. There are

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separate selection tools for each of these elements that are accessible from the main toolbar or the Select menu.

The following shortcut keystrokes/hotkeys are also available for each Select tool: Select Vertices: V; Soft Select: T; Select Edges: E; Select Faces: F; Select Surface Groups: G; Select Smoothing Groups: P.

Mesh Selection

When in Editing Mesh mode, you have access to the Select Vertices, Soft Select, Select Edges, Select Faces, Select Surface Groups, and Select Smoothing Groups tools. Each mesh element has a different visual representation in the Viewport when selected. A vertex is always indicated by a square icon; an edge by the straight line that forms the side of a triangle, as well as its two end points (vertices); and faces and surface groups by all three edges of the triangle (and shaded interior if the Viewport is set to a shaded display mode).

Whether you are selecting an object or mesh element, one of these Select tools is enabled at all times. (NOTE: The Move, Rotate, Scale or Extrude transform tools can be enabled at the same time as any of the Select tools. If both are enabled, the cursor will move back and forth between a selectable state or transform state depending on what area of the mesh the cursor is over. For example, if the cursor is over a mesh element that is already selected, it will show the Move, Rotate, Scale or Extrude cursor, depending upon which of those tools is also enabled. If the cursor is over an element that is not yet selected, you can continue selecting. See upcoming section on Transform Tools for further information.)

Select Cursor

Since the Advanced Modeler is very mode oriented, many of the functions come with their own cursor icons in order to serve as a visual reminder of which mode or tool is currently being using. The Select tools are all represented by the default pointer cursor. The Select cursor can also have a plus sign or minus sign next to it that indicates if part of the mesh is being selected or de-selected.

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Mouseover Selection (Editing Mesh Mode Only)

In holding with our goal to make Swift 3D an intuitive experience, we have done our best to make the selection process as easy as possible. The Advanced Modeler therefore comes with a selection feature called Mouseover that highlights the mesh or surface area in light blue if you are selecting an object and yellow if you are in Editing Mesh mode. Mouseover shows what would be selected if you decide to click down with the mouse. Note that I emphasize “would be” because mesh that is highlighted in Mouseover cannot take on any applied functions.

When in Editing Mesh mode, the Mouseover display state of the mesh varies depending on whether you are in Select Vertices, Edges, Faces or Surfaces mode. For example, if you are in Select Face mode, the face that the cursor is directly over will turn yellow (the mesh and/or the shaded interior, depending which Viewport display mode is selected). Once the cursor moves away from that face, the face will no longer remain highlighted.

Multiselect in Mouseover

You can hold down the SHIFT key while moving the cursor to multiselect elements in mouseover so that instead of losing a highlighted area as the cursor moves off of an element the highlight is maintained. Clicking down will then serve to select these elements.

Turning Off Mouseover

In addition to being mesmerizing, the Mouseover selection state is computationally intensive, so if you are trying to acquire as much speed as possible turn off Mouseover from the Selection property page. By default, Mouseover is also only shown in the active Viewport in order to enhance performance. If you want to see the Mouseover state drawn in each Viewport, check the Redraw All Viewports option on the General property page.

Mesh Mouseover Mesh Selected

Object Mouseover Object Selected

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Selecting and Deselecting

To select an area of the mesh or the object that is highlighted in Mouseover, simply click down to “lock” the selection. Note that when you click down a plus sign will appear next to the cursor indicating the mesh is being selected and not deselected. When not in Edit Mesh mode, selected objects will turn blue. When working in Mesh Editing mode, selected surface areas and faces will turn orange, while selected vertices and edges will turn red. (NOTE: The vertex that is selected first will always turn green in order to indicate that it is the vertex used as the reference point for Soft Select, Weld and Flatten, features that will be discussed in upcoming sections of this chapter. The vertex that is selected first is not detected when marquee selection is being used so all vertices selected this way will remain red.)

After a selection is made, you can switch from one selection tool to another and still hold onto the selection, but the selected area will switch to that type of element. For example, if you select some faces and then choose the Select Vertices tool, those same polygons will remain selected, but by their vertices instead of faces. If you are switching from vertex or edge selection to face selection, only faces that have three vertices or two edges selected will get selected. You cannot move from vertex, edge, or face selection mode to surface group selection mode and maintain a selected area unless all of the vertices, edges and faces of a surface group are selected.

Deselecting is done by holding down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) while clicking on selecting elements or drawing a marquee box. Note that as soon as you hold down the CTRL or OPTION keys a minus sign will appear next to the cursor that indicates you can only deselect mesh elements while those keys are depressed.

To select an object, surface, face, edge or vertex: 1. Choose either the Select Vertices [V], Edges [E], Faces [F], Surface Groups [G] or Object

[O] tool from the main toolbar. 2. Move the cursor over the element of the mesh that you want to select. 3. When that element becomes selectable it will turn yellow, which is its mouseover state. 4. Click to select the element.

To deselect an object, surface, face, edge or vertex: 1. Hold down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) and click back on any selected

element to deselect it. (Note that since the cursor still hovers over that element it will turn back to the yellow mouseover state until the cursor moves away from it.)

2. Click anywhere in the background to deselect all current selections.

Nick’s Tips When selecting vertices, edges, faces or surface groups it never hurts to give the

Perspective View a spin just to make sure that you have not inadvertently selected something you had not intended to include. Just click-and-drag in the Perspective Viewport to rotate the camera

153


around the object. If you find an unexpected element did indeed become selected, simply choose the appropriate selection tool and deselect the element. A quick glance at the Orthographic Viewports can be revealing as well.

Multiple Selection

When in Object Editing mode you can only select one object at a time since the purpose of the Advanced Modeler is to work on a single mesh and not multiple objects at once. Therefore, all of the following multiple selection processes only apply when you are in Mesh Editing mode and selecting surface groups, faces, edges or vertices.

To select multiple surfaces, faces, edges or vertices: 1. Choose either the Select Vertices [V], Edges [E], Faces [F] or Surface Groups [G] tool

from the main toolbar. 2. Click on that element in the Viewport, and continue to click on other elements of the

same type until you have all the desired elements selected. (Note: You do not have to hold down the SHIFT key to multiple select.)

3. If you make a mistake and need to deselect a selected element, hold down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) and click back on that element to deselect it. Click in the background to deselect all current selections.

OR,

1. Choose either the Select Vertices [V], Edges [E], Faces [F] or Surface Groups [G] tool from the main toolbar.

2. While holding down the SHIFT key, drag the cursor over the elements you want to select (without clicking down). As the cursor moves, all of the elements it rolls over become held in Mouseover state.

3. When you are done highlighting, click down to lock the selection and then let go of the SHIFT key.

Marquee Selection

Marquee selection is the process of clicking down the mouse and dragging a bounding box around areas of the mesh that you wish to select or deselect. Parts of the mesh do not have to be completely within the drawn marquee box to be selected or deselected. Surface groups, faces, edges and vertices will be selected or deselected if the marquee box touches any portion of their structure. Marquee selection also does not detect which mesh element is selected first, which is crucial to the Align To > Surface tool, and plays a role in helping to fine tune the Flatten and Weld commands.

To select multiple surfaces, faces, edges or vertices using a marquee box:

Click-and-drag a marquee box around the area of the mesh you wish to select.

To deselect using a marquee box:

While holding down the CTRL key (Win) or OPTION key (Mac) click and drag a marquee box around the elements you wish to deselect.

NOTE: Marquee selection will always select or de-select any front facing polygons that are captured within its bounding box, not just the polygons closest to the front of the Viewport. For

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Advanced Modeler

example, if a front facing mesh is located directly behind the mesh you are trying to select, its front facing polygons that are captured within the marquee box will also get selected. If this is not desirable you will need to use one of the other multiple select options offered, such as holding down the SHIFT key while in Mouseover. See also Enable Multiselect option.

Additional Selection Options

From the Edit menu you also have access to a few more selection options when in Mesh Editing mode only:

Select All will select all objects in the Viewport. The CTRL + A (Win) or COMMAND + A (Mac) shortcut keys can also be used to perform this function.

Select Inverse allows you to reverse the current selection so that all vertices, edges, faces or surface groups that were not selected become selected, while the current selection becomes deselected. The CTRL + I (Win) or COMMAND + I (Mac) shortcut keys can also be used to perform this function.

Troubleshooting Selection Problems

Flip Normals

If you encounter a situation in which you cannot select certain areas of a mesh it is likely that the surface normals are facing in the wrong direction. Use the Transform > Flip Normals feature to reverse the direction of the surface normals.

NOTE: To select the back facing polygons, either go to the Selection property page and turn off Ignore Backfaces, or select all of the surfaces with outward fthe Edit > Select Inverse option to select just those surfaceswith normals facing inward.

acing normals fir

st, and then use

Orthographic Views

When working in the Perspective Viewport or any of the camera views in the Scene Editor, if you zoom in too far on an object it is very clear when the camera lens bumps into an object and begins to pass through an object. The same does not hold true for the Orthographic Viewports, so if you are zoomed in on a mesh and find that you cannot select any of its elements, try zooming back out a bit and try again.

Selection Property Page

Enable Mouseover

Although Mouseover serves as an extremely helpful selection aid, it also requires more computation time. You can turn off the Mouseover feature from the Selection property page by unchecking the Enable Mouseover option.

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Ignore Backfaces

By default the Ignore Backfaces option is disabled, which means that both front and back facing polygons are available to be selected. If you do not want back facing polygons to be selected, turn this feature on. This obviously takes a bit of pressure off of the whole selection process because you do not have to worry about accidentally selecting any elements lurking in the background.

To select backfaces: 1. From the Viewport Menu choose Draw Backfaces. Note:

You do not have to turn Draw Backfaces on in order to select backfaces. This is just a convenience if you choose to use it, and might not make any difference depending on the angle the object sits in relation to the camera.

2. From the Selection property page, uncheck the Ignore Backfaces option.

3. In the Top View, draw a cylinder of average size. 4. Choose the Select Vertices tool. 5. In the Top View, click on one of the vertices located on

the front outer edge of the Cylinder. 6. Once the vertices are selected, take a look in either the

Left or Front Viewport and notice that all of the vertices that lay behind that one vertex, and were therefore obscured from view in the Top Viewport, have also been selected.

Ignore Backfaces = Off

Vertex Selected in

Top Viewport Front View Showing

Back Vertices Selected

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Advanced Modeler

Enable Multiselect

The Enable Multiselect option turns on and off the ability to select all front or back facing polygons, whether the polygons are in view or not. By default this option is turned off. When Multiselect is turned on, all polygons located behind a selected area (visualize an arrow piercing straight through a mesh and striking any meshes that lie directly behind) will get selected as well. To change this feature to select only front facing polygons, make sure the Ignore Backfaces option is

enabled.

front facing polygons that are captured within its bounding box.)

select d faces selected in Front Viewport:

(Note: Marquee selection ignores the state of Enable Multiselect and will always select

Example of Enable Multi turned on an

Soft Select Mode

Soft Select

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Soft Select allows you to create what is essentially a magnetic field surrounding a single vertex. As with a magnetic field, the rate at which the intensity or strength of the pull that exists within the field decreases the further away you are from its magnetic source. In the Advanced Modeler, when you use Soft Select to select a single vertex, a range of vertices radiating out from this vertex become selected as well, which you can envision as the magnetic field. So when you push, pull, rotate or scale from the original vertex, the degree to which the surrounding vertices are drawn along with that vertex lessens the further away from the original point they are located. This feature is extremely cool because it allows you to quickly create a smoother, more natural looking transformation on the surface of the object.

Entering Soft Select Mode

The Soft Select option can be accessed from the set of Select tools located on the main toolbar, through the Select , or by using the shortcut [T]. Once you enter Soft Select

mode your first order of business is to choose the center of the magnetic field, which will be a single vertex. Along with that vertex, a default range of vertices surrounding that single vertewill become selected as well. As you roll the cursor around object you will see all of the vertices in the current Soft Select range highlighted in yellow (read next section on Vertex Radiufor information on how to adjust the size of this area). The Soft Select area will not become permanently locked until you click ona vertex.

menu

.

To soft select: Sphere primitive mesh into th

ver is on.

ertices that will be included in the

5. rtex Radius slider until the area encompassed by the Soft Select is as

6. vertex to lock the Soft Select range. Note that the cursor will automatically turn

7. ponential.

Vertex Radius

Within the Selection property page you have the option to elect

x the

s

e Viewport. that Enable Mouseo

As soon as you click down, the center vertex from which the soft select area is determined will turn green and the rest of the vertices included in the soft select will turn red. At this point in the process, choose either the Move, Rotate or Scale tool to begin manipulating the selected area

1. Insert a 2. Go to the Selection property page and make sure 3. Choose the Soft Select [T] tool from the main toolbar. 4. Roll the mouse over the sphere to detect the range of v

Soft Select. Adjust the Vedesired. Click on ainto the Move cursor, but you can switch to the Rotate or Scale tool as well. From the Soft Select property page, set the Curve Type to be Parabolic or Ex

8. Adjust the Form Factor slider to control the intensity of the curve's falloff. 9. Use the Move, Rotate or Scale tools to manipulate the selected area.

redefine the size of the surface area included in your Soft Sby adjusting the Vertex Radius slider. Moving the slider to the left will decrease the area included in the Soft Select, while moving

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Advanced Modeler

the slider to the right will increase the range. Before the Soft Select area is locked down you cmove this slider to its different settings (2 through 10) and as the cursor moves over the mesh you will see the changes in the size of the Soft Select area. Once the Soft Select area is permanently selected you can no longer adjust the Vertex Radius unless you deselect the Soft Select by clicking in the background and go back into Soft Select mode.

an

If you are not able to refine your selection accurately enough, you may need to create additional

Also keep in mind that the way your mesh is balanced and the direction that edges are turned will

Curve Type

The next decision to make in the Soft Select process is whether

pe.

Form Factor

The intensity or falloff of the Curve Type can be controlled to

the value will generate.

Soft Select = Parabolic: Soft Select = Exponential:

faces within the desired Soft Select area so that the Vertex Radius control has more vertices to choose from. This can be done through the Subdivide feature, which is discussed later on in thischapter.

have a major impact on which vertices are included in the Soft Select region. See Balance Mesh and Turn Edge for details on these using these features.

you want the pull or push of the Soft Select field to take on a nice, smooth rounded shape or more of a sharply pointed shaA smooth curve is achieved by choosing the Parabolic Curve Type, while the Exponential Curve Type results in a sharper curve.

through the Form Factor slider. This slider ranges from .01 1.00, with .01 representing the gentlest curve and 1.00 the steepest. And if there is any doubt, the graph located aboveslider serves as a great way to visualize what type of fall off each

Edit Menu

These additional selection-related functions can be found under the Edit menu:

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Hide/Unhide: Mesh can be hidden from view by either choosing Edit > Hide Selection [CTRL + E], which will hide your current selection, or Edit > Hide All [CTRL + H], which will hide all mesh currently contained within the Viewports. To view a mesh that has been hidden, choose Edit > Unhide All [CTRL + U]. An option also exists on the Surface Groups property page for hiding individual surface groups. Refer to the Surface Groups section at the end of this chapter for further information. As in the Scene Editor, the Object property page also has an option for hiding entire objects.

Duplicate Selection: When you choose Edit > Delete Selections, all selected meshes or objects will be deleted. (Note: The exception is that you cannot delete the base object, or the object at the top of the hierarchy in the Advanced Modeler. That object can only be deleted from the Scene Editor.) When in Editing Mesh mode, the mesh must be selected using either the Select Faces or Select Surface Groups tools in order to be deleted. You cannot delete selected vertices or edges.

Delete Selection: When you choose Edit > Delete Selection, all selected meshes or objects will be deleted. (Note: The exception is that you cannot delete the base object, or the object at the top of the hierarchy in the Advanced Modeler. That object can only be deleted from the Scene Editor.) When in Editing Mesh mode, the mesh must be selected using either the Select Faces or Select Surface Groups tools in order to be deleted. You cannot delete selected vertices or edges.

Undo: Edit > Undo [CTRL + Z (Win) or Command + Z (Mac)] is accessed through the Edit menu or the button on the main toolbar. The Undo stack (list) in the Advanced Modeler is kept separate from the Scene Editor Undo stack; however, once you leave the Advanced Modeler its Undo stack is cleared as soon as an undo-able function is performed in the Scene Editor. (The Scene Editor Undo stack is always maintained no matter which editor you are in.) It is important to understand that a complete copy of your model gets placed into the Undo stack each time the model is altered, which can definitely use up a lot of memory. Once you’ve reached a point where you are sure you no longer need access to the Undo stack you can manually clear it using the Edit > Clear Undo function.

Redo will redo any action you have undone, so it will not benabled until you first Undo an action. This function is accessedby going to Edit > Redo [CTRL + Y (Win) or Command + Y (Mac)] or clicking the Redo button on the main toolbar.

ecome

Surface Groups Surface Groups Overview

The polygons or triangular faces that make up a mesh also sto create the surface area for that model. Polygons can be grouped together with other polygons in order to define a ssurface area. The two primary advantages to forming surface groups are:

erve

pecific

1. It allows you to quickly select areas of your model that you will frequently be manipulating as an entire piece.

2. It allows you to apply different materials to different surfaces of your model.

The concept of Surface Groups can easily be understood by considering the box primitive. When you insert a box primitive into the Viewport and drag a material onto it, the material gets

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applied to the entire box mesh. The reason is because all six sides of the box belong to the same surface group. Using the Advanced Modeler's Surface Groups feature you can break down the box so that each side consists of its own surface group. Not only does this make it easier to select the individual sides of the box, but separate materials can now be applied to each side since the they have been made into separate surface groups.

An important concept to understand is that no hierarchy exists between surface groups. Surface groups all exist at the same level and polygons cannot be a part of two different surface groups. In addition, surface groups do not need to consist of groups of contiguous polygons. For example, going back to our box, if you want to apply the same material to the top and bottom of the box, these areas can be incorporated into the same surface group.

To create a surface group: 1. Insert a box primitive mesh and click on the Edit Mesh button. 2. Using the Select Faces tool, select the two polygons that serve to make up one side of

the box. 3. Select Surface Groups from the Properties Toolbar. 4. Click on the Group Selection button. Selected areas can also be grouped by right clicking

(Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the selection and choosing Group > Selection from the context menu.

5. The new surface group will be given the name "Regroup01" by default.

Nick’s Tips You might not realize it, but you have already been introduced to surface groups in the

Scene Editor. Extrusions and Text objects automatically contain three separate surface groups: face, bevel and edge. Since selection in the Scene Editor can only be performed at the object level, these surface groups are only accessible when applying materials. However, when you bring an Extrusion or Text object into the Advanced Modeler you can select each of these surface groups separately using the Select Surface Groups tool.

Surface Groups Property Page

Surface Groups List Box

The List Box located at the top of the Surface Groups property page displays the names of the surface groups currently present in the Viewports of the Advanced Modeler. If you have not yet defined any surface groups, the default name for the mesh in the Viewport will appear in the list. For example, when a sphere gets inserted, the default surface group of "Sphere01-All Surfaces" will appear in the list box.

Once a new surface group is defined, the name of that surface group will appear in the list box with the default name of "Regroup01." The polygons defined in the new surface group will be removed from their previous surface group since polygons can only be a part of one surface group at a time.

Naming Surface Groups

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Surfaces groups can be given more meaningful names by simply selecting the default name from the list box and typing a new name in the field located just below the list box.

Selecting Surface Groups

Once a Surface Group is defined, that surface area can now be selected as a whole. Use either of the following two methods to select surface groups:

From the Surface Groups property page, click on the name of the Surface Group you wish to select in the list box. Click on the Select button. All of the faces in that Surface Group will now become selected in the Viewport

or,

1. Choose the Select Surface Groups tool [G] from the Main Toolbar. 2. Click on any of the faces that are a part of the Surface Group you wish to select. 3. All of the faces included in the surface group will become selected.

Hide/Show Surface Groups

Surface Groups can be hidden from view using the Hide and Show buttons found in the Surface Groups property page.

To hide/show surface groups: 1. Select a surface group from the list box. 2. Click on the Hide button located under the list box. Selected areas can also be hidden by

going to Edit > Hide Selection or Edit > Hide All. 3. To show (unhide) a hidden surface, select the surface group from the list box. 4. Click on the Show button. 5. All hidden areas can also be shown all at once by going to Edit > Unhide All.

Group All and Ungroup All

The Group All and Ungroup All features can only be accessed by right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the mesh to bring up the context sensitive menu.

The Group All command will select the entire mesh and place it into a new group (Regroup0X).

The Ungroup All command will ungroup all surface groups and return them to the first surface group listed in the Surface Group list box.

While there is an Ungroup All feature there is no way to ungroup specific surface groups because there is no object level surface group that the polygons can be returned to. Therefore, when you want to remove an existing surface group what you need to do group those polygons into another surface group.

To delete an existing surface group: 1. Select the surface group from the list box and click the Select button so that the polygons

included in this surface group become selected in the Viewport.

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Advanced Modeler

2. From the list box, highlight the surface group you want to group the selected polygons with and click on the Select button again.

3. Click on the Group Selection button. Note that both surface groups get joined into a new surface group so it may be necessary to rename the group.

And Separate Selection

And Separate Selection is an advanced use of the Surface Groups feature because not only does it create a surface group, but it separates or cuts that surface group from the mesh. This feature can only be accessed by right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the mesh to bring up the context sensitive menu, and then going to Group > And Separate Selection.

Transform Tools Transform Tools

The Transform tool buttons, located on the main toolbar, remain disabled until a vertex, edge, face, surface group or object is selected. Once one of the transform tools is selected that function can be performed ONLY when the cursor is over a selected mesh element. The cursor will turn into one of the transform cursors shown below in order to indicate when that function is available. Since the main state of the cursor is its selection state, if the mouse is not over a selected element the cursor will remain as the normal pointer cursor, allowing you to continue selecting mesh elements. This workflow greatly facilitates the ease of moving back and forth between selecting and moving, rotating, scaling or extruding mesh elements since you can be in both a selection and transform mode at the same time.

Selecting Transform Tools

The Transform tool buttons, located on the main toolbar, remain disabled until a vertex, edge, face, surface group or object is selected. Once one of the transform tools is selected, the program is placed into a mode that only allows you to move, rotate, scale or extrude. In order to remove the program from any of these modes, select a different tool.

In addition to clicking directly on the Transform buttons on the main toolbar, you can also select these tools using tfollowing two methods:

he

1. By right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface and selecting the desired transform tool from the context sensitive menu. Using this method gives you the option to choose different constraints, such as the X, Y or Z axis. Options available to each transform tool are detailed under each tool.

2. Through the Transform menu on the main menu bar, or using the shortcut keystrokes designated in this menu. I highly recommend memorizing the shortcut keys as they will definitely help to facilitate your modeling workflow. The keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys for the transform tools are as follows: Move - M; Rotate - R; Scale - S; Extrude - X.

Transform Cursors

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Once any of the Transform tools have been selected, the cursor will change in order to give you a visual representation of when that tool is enabled (i.e., when the cursor is over a selected mesh element).

Move Rotate Scale Extrude

Since you will often find yourself in a workflow that jumps back and forth between selecting and transforming, these cursor icons are extremely helpful at reminding you which tool is currently selected. With tool in hand, you are now ready to click in any of the Viewports and manually perform that function.

Transform Tool Property Pages

When you select one of the Transform tools, the property page specific to that transform tool will appear in the Properties Toolbar. The Transform Tool property pages all provide you with the ability to perform that transform in numeric increments, as well as the option to constrain those movements to a particular axis. In addition, any default properties essential to these functions will be contained within these property pages. Details specific to each property page will be discussed in the upcoming sections.

Constraining Transforms

When you use one of the Transform tools in any of the Orthographic Viewports that transform is automatically constrained to just the two visible axes or that single plane. In addition to the constrain features offered by the Axis Guide (refer to earlier section on Axis Guide), you can also constrain a transform using any of the following methods:

1. Hold down the SHIFT key while performing the transform. Faint constraining lines will appear as a visual aid.

2. When choosing a transform tool from the context sensitive menu, indicate along which axis you would like the transform to be constrained.

NOTE: Any constraints specific to the Viewport in which you are performing a transform will automatically override constraints chosen through the context sensitive menu. For example, if you choose to constrain movement of an object to the Y axis by selecting Move > Y from the context sensitive menu, if you then try to move the object in the Top or Bottom viewport, which is automatically constrained to just the X and Z axes, you will not be able to move the object along the Y axis. The exception to this rule is rotating, which can be performed around any axis in any Viewport.

Constraining Transforms in the Perspective Viewport

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Advanced Modeler

In the Perspective Viewport a transform can be performed along the plane of the camera’s current rotation. As you rotate the camera around, that plane will change. Unlike the Scene Editor Viewports, however, objects cannot be moved towards the camera or away from the camera, which means you cannot Move, Rotate or Extrude along the axis that is pointing perpendicular to the camera. If the axis pointing towards or away from the camera is the axis along which you need to perform a transform, you must rotate the Perspective view so that you can transform either up or down, or left or right along that axis. To constrain the transform to just one or two of the axes use any of the methods outlined previously for the Orthographic Viewports.

Move

Move Tool

Objects and meshes can only be moved by selecting the Move tool. This differs from the Scene Editor where you can just click and drag on any object. Remember that when you are Editing Mesh mode, if you move an entire mesh that movement occurs in relation to the object’s pivot point only and not the global coordinate system.

Move Tool

The most common and quickest way to move a selection is by choosing the Move tool and dragging the selected mesh to a new location directly within the Viewport. While this does not allow for numerically precise placement of points, it gets you an approximation of where ywant your model to be, and unless you happen to work for NASA this is probably good enoumost folks. By default, the Move tool is set to Free. Set the axis constraints or choose Move from the context sensitive menu to select a different option.

ou gh for

enu. 3. sor will change into the Move cursor.

the selected area to a new location.

The key can also be used to nudge a selection left or right, or up or down.

ed, the Move property page will become visible in the Properties Toolbar. The precise

e

present the amount of movement to be performed along that particular axis; they do

Note that once the Move tool is selected it only becomes enabled when the cursor is over a selected mesh element.

To move a selection manually: 1. Select the object, surface groups, faces, edges or vertices that you want to

move. 2. Select the Move tool [M] from either the main toolbar or the context sensitive m

The cur4. Set any axis constrains if necessary. 5. Click in any of the Viewports and drag

board arrow keys

Move Tool Property Page

As soon as the Move tool is select

positioning of selected meshes along the X, Y and Z axes can bachieved from the Move property page.

Note that the values entered on this page re

not represent the numeric coordinate that the object will be relocated to. The world coordinates of an object’s mesh can only

165


be accessed through the Position property page. You can compare it to entering a nudge increment and then having your mesh nudged in that direction by the number of units entered. Every time you click the Move button the object will move the distance entered.

As you would expect, a positive number will move the selection to the right along the X axis, tion

To move a selection numerically along the X, Y or Z axis: object.

r into any of the numeric input boxes.

The X, Y or Z buttons located below each numeric entry fields can be enabled or disabled to

n just

The Clear button exists only to reset the numeric entry fields back to zero; this button does not

Rotate Tool

"Wait, there's no trackball? How can I possibly rotate an object without a trackball?" Now, now,

t

f

Rotate Tool

When the Rotate tool is selected from the main toolbar its default state is set to Free. Set the

Note that once the Rotate tool is selected it only becomes enabled when the cursor is over a

To rotate a selection manually: groups, faces, edges or vertices that you want to

2. the Rotate tool [R] from either the main toolbar or context sensitive menu.

upward along the Y axis and forward along the Z axis. A negative number will move the selecin the opposite direction along those axes.

1. Select either vertices, edges, faces, surface groups or2. Choose the Move tool [M] from the main toolbar. 3. From the Move Tool property page, input a numbe4. Click on the Move button.

constrain movement along any particular axis. By default, the buttons are all turned off, whichmeans movement can occur along all of the axes. Obviously if you only have a value entered inthe X box, your object will only move along the X axis, so these buttons only come into play if youneed to make precise adjustments. For example, if you want to move a mesh 5 steps along the Y axis and 2 steps along the Z axis, and repeat that process several times, you can enter the numbers at the start and then switch back from constraining movement to just the Y and thethe Z without having to re-enter the numbers each time.

reset the position of the mesh.

Rotate

calm down (and did I hear a sigh of relief from all of those trackball detractors?), I promise it will be OK. While there is no trackball in the Advanced Modeler, there is a built-in virtual trackball thaallows you to rotate your object directly in the Viewport using the Rotate tool. When you are Editing Mesh mode, if you rotate an entire mesh that rotation occurs in relation to the center orotation (the yellow dot) set in the Rotate Tool Property page, not the object’s pivot point (although the two may correspond.)

axis constraints or choose Rotate from the context sensitive menu to select a different option.

selected mesh element.

1. Select the object, surface rotate. Choose

3. The cursor will change into the Rotate cursor.

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Advanced Modeler

4. any of the Viewports and dr

otate Tool Property Page

be accethe Rotate tool.

tions to specify trotation to occur. The point of rotation is designated by

commonly used, will rotate the selected mesh around its

n

oint: This final option allows you to set the e.

To se1. 2. Select the Specific Point option from the Rotate Tool

t the f

you need a visual of where the rotation

Rotation A

Precise angle of rotations can be achieved from the Rotate Tool property page. As with the Move page, you are entering an increment of rotation, so every time you hit the Rotate

button, the selection will continue to rotate by the degree entered. For example, if you enter 25, to

1. Select the object, surface groups, faces, edges or vertices that you want to rotate.

Click in ag the cursor in the direction you want the selection to

ssed by first selecting

he point around which you want the the yellow

ult and most

rotate.

R

The Rotate property page can only

Rotation Center

Use these op

icon that appears when you click down in the Viewport with theRotate tool. Note: When in Editing Mesh mode, this rotation point is local to the selected mesh only.

Center of Selection: This option, the defa

center. When working at the object level, the Center of Selection corresponds to the object's pivot point, which may or may not reside in the center of the object anymoreOrigin: This option makes the selected area rotate arouthe center of the scene at (0, 0, 0). Specific P

. d

exact point around which the selected area will rotat

t a the specific rotation point: Choose the Rotate tool [R] from the main toolbar.

property page. 3. Enter the coordinates along the X, Y or Z axis to se

rotation point. Click down with the Rotate tool in any othe Viewports if point is at while adjusting its X, Y or Z location.

ngles

Tool property

rotate by 25 degrees, and click on the Rotate button, then decide you want to actually rotate it by 28 degrees, you must Undo the 25 degree rotation and then enter 28, or enter 3 to get those 3 extra degrees. Keep in mind that positive numbers will rotate an object to the plus side of an axis and negative numbers will rotate an object towards the negative side of the axis.

To rotate a selection numerically:

167


2. Choose the Rotate tool [R] from the main toolbar. 3. From the Rotate Tool property page, enter the degree of rotation into a

fields back to zero; this button does not

toolbar, its default state is Uniform Scaling.

only becomes enabled when the cursor is over a

ny of the X, Y or Z

4.

The Clear button exists only to reset the numeric entry

Scale

Scale Tool

You can scale vertices, edges, faces, surface e can be performed freely

Scale Tool

When you select the Scale tool from the main

Note that once the Scale tool is selected it

To scale a selection manually: groups, faces, edges

2. r the main toolbar or

3. le cursor. sor away

Scale Tool Property Page

The Scale Tool property page can only be accessed by first

Scale Center

Use these options to specify the point from which you want the t

Center of Selection: This option, the default, will scale the selected area out or in from its center. When working

entry boxes, depending upon which axis you want the rotation to occur. Click the Rotate button.

reset the rotation of the selected mesh.

groups or objects. Scal(along any axis), uniformly (the scale is applied equally to all dimensions of the selected mesh), or constrained to the X, Y or Z axis. When you are Editing Mesh mode, if you scale an entire mesh that scale occurs in relation to the center of scale (the yellow dot) set in the Scale Tool Property page, not the object’s pivot point (although the two may correspond.)

Set the axis constraints or choose Scale from the context sensitive menu to select a different option.

selected mesh element.

1. Select the object, surfaceor vertices that you want to scale. Select the Scale tool [S] from eithecontext sensitive menu. The cursor will change into the Sca

4. Click in any of the Viewports and drag the curfrom the object to increase its scale and towards the center of the object to decrease its scale.

selecting the Scale tool.

scale to occur. The point of scale is designated by the yellow dothat appears when you click down in the Viewport with the Scale tool. Note: When in Mesh Editing mode, this scale point is local to the selected mesh only.

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at the object level, the center of the selection will always correspond to the location of theobject’s pivot point, which might not necessarily be located at the object’s center anymore. Origin: This option causes the selected

ter of the Scale to

d. It is

To scale a selection numerically: oups, faces, edges or vertices that you want to scale.

unt of scale that you want into either .

4.

The Clear button exists only to reset the numeric entry fields back to zero; this button does not

Extrude

Extrude

This feature is only accessible from Edit Mesh mode.

If you have made it this far with Swift 3D you probably reached the understanding that the term

es l

area to sca

ic Point: Allows you to set the exact point from which the scale will occur.

To set the specific scale point: from the main toolbar.

ol property

Scale Amount

When a mesh enters the scene it automatically has a

le from the center of the scene at (0,

page. en

scale of 1.0, so the numeric input boxes in

0, 0). Specif

1. Choose the Scale tool [S] 2. Select the Specific Point option from the Scale To3. Enter the coordinates along the X, Y or Z axis where you want the c

occur from. Click down with the Scale tool in any of the Viewports if you need a visual of where the rotation point is at while adjusting its X, Y or Z location.

the Scale Tool property page all have a default value of 1.0, meaning this is the original scale of the mesh. To reduce the mesh by half of its original scale enter 0.5, while 2.0 would represent double the original scale. If you scale anything by zero the object with disappear because multiplying anything by zero results in zero, and obviously negative numbers are not alloweimportant to remember that as soon as a mesh is scaled, the value 1.0 gets reset to that new scale. Therefore, the next time you click on the Scale button the mesh will Scale numerically based on its current scale, not its original starting scale.

1. Select the object, surface gr2. Choose the Scale tool [S] from the main toolbar. 3. From the Scale Tool property page, enter the amo

the X, Y or Z input boxes, depending upon which axis you want the scale to occur alongTo achieve a uniform scale you must enter the same amount in each box. Click the Scale button.

reset the scale of the mesh back to its original starting point.

"extrude" means to take a 2D object and increase its depth. In the Advanced Modeler, however,you are starting off with objects that are already 3D so extrude takes on a slightly different meaning. Using the Extrude feature you can select faces of the mesh and extrude those facoutward or inward. What happens is that a new set of faces are formed that connect the originafaces back to the mesh those faces were extended from.

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Extrude Before Extruded Outward Extruded Inward

You can choose to extrude those faces freely (without any constraints), along the X, Y or Z axis, or along the direction the faces are pointing, which is the normal. (NOTE: When extruding along the Normal you must move the mouse DOWN in order to extrude in towards the center of the mesh and UP to move the faces outward.) The extrude feature only works with faces; you cannot extrude vertices or edges, so in order for the Extrude function to work you must start with at least one selected face.

Extrude Tool

Before you grab the Extrude tool and start pulling faces away from your objects, one important detail must be noted. Once you release the mouse click to finish the extrude, you completed the formation of a new set of polygons. If you did not extrude the faces out or in

far enough, you must employ the aid of the Move tool to move the faces to the correct locatioyou try to move the faces further outward or inward by clicking down again with the Extrude toostill enabled you will precede to extrude another set of faces, which may not be your intention.

haven. If

l

When you select the Extrude tool from the main

e

To extrude manually: or surface groups t

enu.

r along the X, Y or

NOTE: The new set of faces formed automatically he

Extrude Tool Property Page

toolbar, its default state is to extrude along the

o be extruded.

normals. (NOTE: When extruding along the Normal you must move the mouse DOWN in order to extrude in towards the center of the mesh and UP to move thfaces outward.) Set the axis constraints or choose Extrude from the context sensitive menu to select a different option.

1. Select the faces2. Select the Extrude tool [E] from the main toolbar or context sensitive m

ude the faces freely o

get placed into a separate surface group. If

3. The cursor will change into the Extrude cursor. 4. Click-and-drag the cursor in any direction to extr

Z axes. Click-and-drag the mouse down to extrude inward along the Normal or up to extrude outward along the Norma.

you prefer to maintain one surface group, go to the Surface Group property page and regroup tsurface areas back into a single group. Refer to the section on Surface Groups for detailed information on this process.

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Advanced Modeler

With Move, Rotate and Scale we talked about how these numeric operations are one shot deals, and the same goes for the Extrude Tool property page. With Extrude this takes on even further meaning because if you click the Extrude button for a second time you will be adding a new set of faces. So if you extrude once, and don't like the location where the faces ended up, you must move them to the desired location or undo the operation and try again.

To extrude numerically along the X, Y or Z axes or Normal: 1. Select the faces or surface groups to be extruded. 2. Select the Extrude tool [E] from the main toolbar. 3. From the Extrude Tool property page, choose the

Normal or Direction option. 4. Type a number into any of the numeric entry boxes. 5. Click Extrude.

The Clear button exists only to reset the numeric entry fields back to zero; this button does not reset the mesh back to its original starting point.

Flatten

Flatten is somewhat of a dual purpose tool. Its primary purpose ieither the X, Y or Z axis. While this feature is accessible when working at the object level, really all it can do is take the entire mesh and flatten it like a pancake.

s to flatten the selected mesh to

Selected Faces Faces Flattened to

Z Axis

However, when used on selected vertices, it also allows you to align those vertices into a single row along the X, Y or Z axis. When aligning vertices, the alignment is based on the first vertex that is selected, which is indicated by its green selection state (as opposed to the normal red selection state). Note that marquee selection does not detect which mesh element is selected first, so if you use this method to select multiple vertices to flatten, the vertices will flatten to an average location.

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Selected Vertices Vertices Flattened to

Z Axis

To flatten: 1. Select the surface area that you wish to flatten. 2. Choose Transform > Flatten from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL

+ clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 3. Choose whether you want the surfaces to flatten the X, Y or Z axes.

Mirror

(IMPORTANT: The Mirror function will automatically convert to mesh Extrusions, Lathes, Primitives or Text that have been brought into the Advanced Modeler from the Scene Editor. If you want to hold onto their object properties, use Negative Scaling in the Scene Editor to mirror the object.)

As the name suggests, the Mirror function provides a the mirror image of the selected surfaces or object. Mirror can be performed in three different ways: mirrored along an axis (Mirror > Axis), duplicated and mirrored along an axis (Mirror > Axis Duplicate), and duplicated so that the mirrored object’s edge vertices align (Mirror > Align Duplicate). The first two features will mirror the mesh in the opposite direction along an axis and maintains the location of the mesh in relation to that axis. So if the center of a mesh is located at X = 5, it mirror image will appear at X = -5 when mirrored along the X axis.

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Advanced Modeler

The final mirror feature, which is referred to as Mirror > Align Duplicate, is designed to facilitate the process of modeling one side of a model and then mirroring that side with the intention of welding the two sides together. (This mirror option is only available in Editing Mesh mode.) It works by abutting the side around which the mirror is performed and lining up the vertices.

Object Mirrored Along X

The Align > Duplicate has six mirroring options:

Front to Back and Back to Front: Mirrors the object currently selected along the z axis.

Left to Right and Right to Left: Mirrors the object currently selected along the x axis.

Top/Bottom and Bottom to Top: Mirrors the object currently selected along the y axis.

Half a Mesh Mirrored Front to Back

To mirror: 1. Select the surface that you want to mirror. 2. Select Transform > Mirror from the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL +

clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context sensitive menu. 3. Select either the Axis, Axis Duplicate or Align Duplicate option and choose the axis or

direction along which you want the mirror to occur. 4. A mirrored duplicate of the object will appear along the axis you selected. 5. When modeling a single side of an object with the intention of mirroring and then joining

the two sides together, vertices can be quickly joined by using the SmartWeld function that is detailed in an upcoming section.

Joining Mirrored Objects

When modeling a single side of an object with the intention of mirroring and then joining the two sides together, vertices can be quickly joined by using the SmartWeld function that is detailed in an upcoming section.

Roundness

Roundness is the process whereby selected polygons are rounded outward (increased) or inward (decreased) by moving the vertices of the selected area out or in from a central point. In order for Roundness to have any noticeable affect on a selected area, the function requires a fair amount of vertices and surfaces to work on. For example, if a box with just two faces per side is inserted into the Viewport, when Roundness is applied to that box you will see no discernible difference. However, if you subdivide the box’s faces a couple of times and then apply this feature, the box will begin to round outward or inward.

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Subdivided Box Roundness Increased Roundness Decreased

There is no exact science to using this feature so you can’t just look at your object or set of faces and determine exactly what the results will be when you round. It is the type of feature that you apply once, and if you are happy with the results, great, but if you want more or less roundness you give it another shot. Or, if you do not receive the results you need, you might try subdividing the faces an additional time and then trying the Roundness operation again. Sometimes modeling is all about a little experimentation.

To round: 1. Insert a Cylinder primitive into the scene. 2. Choose Transform > Roundness from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or

CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 3. Choose Roundness > Increase to push the surface area of the cylinder outward. 4. Choose Roundness > Decrease to pull the surface area of the cylinder inward.

Subdivide

Balance Mesh

The Balance Mesh feature can be used to create a symmetrical mesh. This is a one time function that can be applied only to an entire mesh. Maintaining a balanced mesh can be very crucial when models become complex. Balanced meshes will also achieve more expected results when using features like Soft Select.

Before Balance Mesh After Balance Mesh

NOTE: This feature will only work on meshes created in the Advanced Modeler; it will not work on imported 3ds files.

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Subdivide Flat Face

Subdivide is a process that divides faces into 3 or 4 additional faces. This process does not change the existing flat face of an object but simply creates a denser mesh. The primary application for this feature is to provide additional polygons to a certain area of a model in order to allow for more detailed manipulation of the mesh.

Subdivide can be performed on whole surfaces or just selected faces. If you do not first have a surface selected in the Viewport this option will be disabled.

Subdivide Before Flat 3 Face Flat 4 Face

NOTE: Unless you have a reason for needing a face divided in three, you should try to rely primarily on the Subdivide Flat 4 option as it will always provide cleaner and more reliable results.

To subdivide: 1. Select a face or surface using the Select Face or Select Surface tool. 2. Choose Transform > Subdivide from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or

CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 3. Select either the Flat 3 Face or Flat 4 Face option.

Smooth

Smoothing is a process that first takes a surface area and subdivides it by 4. It then adjusts the sharp corners of the original mesh by pulling in their associated vertices, while at the same time pushing out the vertices of the newly created faces. All this works towards creating a new shape that is smoother that the previous shape, so you can literally start with a box and smooth it out to a sphere.

Subdivide Before Flat 4 Face Subdivide Smooth

There are two options for Smoothing: Subdivide Smooth Exclude Border and Subdivide Smooth Include Border. When smoothing an object that is a closed shape, meaning it has no

175


exposed borders, it does not matter which of these options you choose as they will both provide the same results. These two options come into play when you are smoothing a shape that has borders. The Exclude Border option will maintain the integrity of that outside edge so that it is not taken into consideration during the smoothing process. The Include Border option will take into account the border when it calculates smoothing. While the Include Border option will result in a perfect subdivision, and therefore the smoothest surface possible, it produces undesirable results on outside edges by pulling them in, which gives a very jagged appearance to that outside edge.

Exclude Border Include Border

Edge

Divide Edge

This feature is only accessible from Mesh Editing mode.

The Divide Edge function works by dividing the faces that the edge has in common into two atonal faces. While the Divide Edge function can be applied to multiple edges at a time, it is recommended that you do not select edges that share the same face. For example, if you have two edges of one face selected, once the program divides the first edge a new set of edges now exist that will determine how the second edge will get divided, and so forth. As you can imagine, it becomes virtually impossible to predict what type of results will occur.

To divide an edge: 1. Use the Select Edges tool to select an edge or multiple edges. 2. Choose Transform > Edge > Divide Edge from either the main menu or by right clicking

(Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu.

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Turn Edge

The Turn Edge feature allows you to change the direction of an edge to the opposing vertices of its two adjoining faces. (This function can only be applied to one edge at a time.) Depending on whether those two adjoining faces exist on the same plane, the Turn Edge function may or may not affect the outward appearance of the model. In the first set of screen shots below, notice that the Turn Edge operation was performed on edges that separates two faces that exist on the same plane. What this operation did was simply change the direction of the common edge these faces share.

Turn Edge BEFORE

Turn Edge AFTER

In the next example, since the selected edge adjoins faces that exist on different sides of the box, the Turn Edge operation actually resulted in a notching out the surface.

Turn Edge BEFORE

Turn Edge AFTER

The ability to notch out a surface has obvious advantages, but a beginning modeler might be inclined to overlook the more advanced uses of this feature when it comes to the maintaining the symmetry of a mesh. While a cleaner mesh will always be easier to work with as a model progresses in complexity, it is important to realize that an unbalanced mesh will not maintain its symmetry when advanced functions like smoothing are applied to it. In addition, depending on the rendering option you choose, an untidy mesh might provide undesirable rendering results. Again, this is fairly advanced stuff, and when working with simple models it might not even matter, but if you plan to take your modeling to a higher level this type of attention to the structure of your mesh eventually needs to be taken into consideration.

Turn Edge Tool

The Turn Edge tool simplifies the process to a single click. To activate the Turn Edge Tool, Edge Selection must be active and the Turn Edge Mode button, located in the top toolbar, ed on. Once active, you only need to click on an edge to turn it. toggl

To turn an edge using the Turn Edge Tool:

177


1. Click the Select Edge tool. 2. Toggle on the Turn Edge Mode button. 3. Click on the edge you wish to turn.

OR,

1. Use the Select Edge tool to select an edge. 2. Choose Transform > Edge > Turn Edge from either the main menu or by right clicking

(Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu.

Weld

Weld


Performing the Weld command on two or more selected vertices will collapse those vertices into a single vertex. If you click to select the vertices to be welded together, the first vertex selected will serve as the alignment point for the rest of the vertices. An average of all vertices can be obtained by marquee selecting the vertices to be included in the weld since marquee selection does not detect which is the first vertex to be chosen.

Vertices selected on Vertices collapsed to half of a sphere: a single vertex:

To weld vertices: 1. Select two or more vertices using the Select Vertices tool. 2. Choose Transform > Weld from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL

+ clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 3. The selected vertices will now be merged into a single vertex.

Nick’s Tips When welding vertices that are located close together it is often

difficult to determine if anything actually happened. I recommend that when you select vertices to be welded, always check the status bar to make sure the correct number of vertices are selected to begin with. After the Weld or SmartWeld function is performed, recheck the number of vertices to make sure it has been reduced to the proper amount.

SmartWeld

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Advanced Modeler


Welding vertices can be a tedious process if you have more than one set of vertices that need to be joined. This process can be greatly simplified by employing the SmartWeld feature. When SmartWeld is used, any vertices that are currently selected look to see if there are any vertices near them (within a given tolerance) that are also selected, and if so they join and merge. Let the co-mingling begin.

To SmartWeld vertices: 1. Select a group of vertices. 2. Choose SmartWeld from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL +

clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 3. Any vertices that lie within a certain range of other vertices will be joined.

SmartWeld Tolerance Slider

You can set the tolerance level for the detection of available vertices using the SmartWeld Tolerance slider located on the Selection property page. As this setting increases, SmartWeld will weld selected vertices located across a greater range into a single

vertex, therefore making this operation less accurate, or more encompassing.

Nick’s Tips When welding vertices that are located close together it is often difficult to determine if anything actually happened. I recommend

that when you select vertices to be welded, always check the status bar to make sure the correct number of vertices are selected to begin with. After the Weld or SmartWeld function is performed, recheck the number of vertices to make sure it has been reduced to the proper amount.

Delete Empty Faces

As you work with your model performing numerous subdivisions, empty faces get created that allow you to pull newly subdivided faces, edges and vertices away from existing meshes without creating holes in the mesh. While these polygons are necessary to prevent holes from occurring in the mesh, it can lead to empty faces that are not being used and are therefore adding unwanted size to your mesh. These empty polygons can be deleted by going to Transform > Delete Empty Faces. While subdividing is the most common way to create empty polygons, other actions, such as clicking on the Extrude tool and not moving them out, will also lead to empty polygons.

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In the examples shown below, the first box had one side subdivided and the vertex on the top edge selected. The edges where also divided (Transform > Edge > Divide), but only to better display this example since it is the subdivision that creates empty faces. The vertex on the top edge was then moved away from the edge to reveal the empty triangle that was created upon subdivision. In the final example, a Transform > Delete Empty Faces function was performed before the vertex is moved in order to delete the empty triangle that was formed upon subdivision, which then leaves a hole in the mesh.

Selected Vertex on

Subdivided Side of Box Vertex Moved Away from Edge to Reveal

Empty Triangle

Vertex Moved After Delete Empty Faces

Align To Align To Axis

The Align To function allows you to align selected surfaces to either an axis or another surface area. Align To is accessible from the Position menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a surface area to bring up the context sensitive menu.

The Align To > Along Axis aligns the center of the selection to along either the X, Y or Z axis. It is important to understand that the object will move ALONG the axis and not TO that axis. For example, in the top view if you align an object along the X axis, the object will move so that its center lies a X = 0.

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Advanced Modeler

Align To > Along Axis > X Object's Center Aligned to

(Top View) X = 0

Align To Surface


The Align To > Surface feature can be used with Surface Groups only. The surface to which other surfaces are being aligned to is referred to as the target surface. You have the option of aligning other surfaces to a target surface’s X, Y or Z position. You will always be aligning the center of a surface to where the center of the target surface lies along the X, Y or Z axis. (Note: As with the Align To > Along Axis function, objects are aligned along an axis and not to an axis.)

Before Align To Surface Align To > Surface > Z Axis

To align surfaces: 1. Begin by selecting the target surface, which will serve as the alignment point for other

objects. 2. Continue the selection process by selecting the surface(s) that you want to have aligned

to the target surface. 3. Go to Align To > Surface from either the main menu or by right clicking (Win) or CTRL +

clicking (Mac) on a surface to bring up the context menu. 4. Select to align the center of the selected surfaces to target surface’s X, Y or Z center.

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Smoothing Groups Smoothing Groups Overview


If you recall from our discussion of 3D terminology, the face of a polygon is planar (a.k.a. flat). However, you may have noticed that when you create something with a curved surface area, like a sphere, it is displayed in the Viewport (and rendered) as one continuous, smooth surface instead of a series of segmented, flat surfaces. The reason is because surfaces are automatically smoothed, which works by removing the hard edges in between surfaces, blending them to produce one smooth surface.

NOTE: In order to see the changes made to the surface of your model you must have your Viewport Display Mode set to Smooth Shading and have the Show Wire Overlay option turned off.

Assigning Smoothing Groups

In the Advanced Modeler, you can assign Smoothing Groups to different surface areas in order to define where you want Swift 3D to place hard edges. (Surface areas can be assigned msmoothing groups.) Smoothing groups are simply numbersranging from 1 to 32, although in reality you have access to more than 32 Smoothing Groups since the numbers can bassigned to more than one surface. As long as surfaces do not share an edge, smoothing group number assignments canreused as many times as you want.

ultiple far

e

be

t

Now, if you are like me and can't remember what you ate for breakfast, you might be staring at those 32 numbers wondering how you can possibly keep track of groups that are solely defined by numbers. Keep in mind that the purpose of Smoothing Groups is primarily to place a hard edge in between two adjacensurfaces. It does not matter if the two surface areas are assigned Smoothing Group numbers 1 and 2 or 7 and 16; it only matters

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Advanced Modeler

that the numbers are different. So sometimes you can get away with simply alternating betwo Smoothing Group numbers, while other times, depending on your goals, you might have reasons to keep each Smoothing Group in their own separate numbers. Really, the key is that if you think you might need to change the smoothing properties of a particular surface area, thekeep that surface area to its own Smoothing Group number.

tween

n

To assign a smoothing group: 1. In Editing Mesh mode, insert a sphere into the Top Viewport. 2. From the Selection property page, turn off Ignore Backfaces. 3. Using the Select Faces tool, in the Right Viewport draw a marquee box to select the

entire right side of the sphere. 4. Select Smoothing Groups from the Properties Toolbar. 5. Click on Assign to enable the Smoothing Group number grid. 6. Click on number 2 to assign the right side of the sphere to Smoothing Group 2. 7. In the Perspective Viewport, change the display mode to Smooth Shaded, making sure to

turn the Show Wire Overlay option off as well. Notice that there now exists an edge, which is shown by a clear difference in the shading, between the two halves of the sphere.

Selecting Smoothing Groups

When your model begins to get complicated, the potential to lose track of just which surface areas have been assigned to which Smoothing Groups can definitely start to occur. Fortunately, the Smoothing Group number grid has two states to it, Select and Assign. As the name indicates, when the Select button is chosen you can click on a number and the surface areas associated with that Smoothing Group number will all become selected in the Viewport. Notice also that only those numbers that have been assigned to surfaces are enabled in Select, so this is also a gindicator of which Smoothing Group numbers are still availabfor use.

reat le

You can also go about detecting Smoothing Group assignments from the mesh itself. If you hover over different parts of the mesh in the Viewport with either the Select Faces or Select Surface Groups tools (make sure Mouseover is enabled on the Selection property page), you can see the Smoothing Group assignment for each surface because that number will temporarily become depressed. If you actually click down to select a surface, the depressed state of that number will lock until that surface area becomes deselected again.

To select smoothing groups: 1. Start with the sphere created in our previous steps on assigning a Smoothing Group. 2. From the Smoothing Group property page, click on the Select button. When Smoothing

Groups are assigned those numbers become enabled, so in the case of our sphere Smoothing Groups 1 and 2 should be enabled.

3. Click on Smoothing Group 1 in order to select that surface area. 4. Click back on Smoothing Group 1 in order to deselect that surface area. 5. Next, deselect any surfaces that may be selected and then choose the Select Faces tool. 6. Go to the Perspective Viewport and hover the mouse over any of the faces included in

Smoothing Group 1. Notice how Smoothing Group 1 becomes depressed in the Properties toolbar, which is a great way to quickly ascertain smoothing group assignments.

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Clearing Smoothing Groups

Since surfaces can be assigned multiple smoothing groups, the only way to clear a smoothing group is to deselect the Smoothing Group number(s) assigned to a particular surface area.

To clear a smoothing group: 1. Select the surface area that you wish to clear of its smoothing groups. 2. Go to the Smoothing Groups property page and click the Assign button. 3. Click on any of the Smoothing Group numbers assigned to that surface area to clear

those numbers. (Note: This only clears that Smoothing Group number for the selected surface area. It does not clear this smoothing group for any other surface areas that might be assigned to this number.)

Unsmoothing Surfaces

Up until now we have been working on the assumption that we actually want our Smoothing Groups to be nicely smoothed. Using the Unsmooth Selection or Unsmooth All buttons you can create hard ebetween every single polygon in your model. Unsmooth Selectiounsmooth just the currently selected faces, while Unsmooth All unsmooth everything in the Viewport, whether selected or not.

dges n will

with

Once a surface area is unsmoothed, it is no longer associated with any

If you want to resmooth an unsmoothed surface, simply reassign that surface to a Smoothing

Using Smoothing Groups to Control Rendered Outlines

Probably one of the coolest features that comes along with Smoothing Groups is the ability to t,

on

smoothing groups. Unsmoothed portions of a mesh can be selected by clicking on the Select All Unsmoothed button.

Group.

control exactly where outlines get rendered. For example, in the screen shots shown to the righyou can see that different Smoothing Groups have been assigned to each horizontal slice of the cylinder. Upon rendering to Outlines using RAViX, the hard edge is detected between each of these slices, which allows you to customize where outlines get rendered. For more information rendering to Outlines, see the chapter on Rendering With RAViX.

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Advanced Modeler

Mesh Morpher Mesh Morpher Overview

The Mesh Morpher provides you with the ability to animate the vertices of a solid mesh, so any mesh deformation you can subject your models to can now be put into motion. Not seeing a timeline in the Advanced Modeler you say? Animating the mesh morphs that you create in the Advanced Modeler is actually achieved in the Scene Editor (see section on Mesh Morpher in Animation chapter for detailed information). However, before you can get to the point of animating, you need to first setup the bfor your animation within the Advanced Modeler. This is accomplished by creating Morph Groups and Morph Targets within the Morpher properties page.

asis

mesh, a complete mesh object or

To t

Advanced Modeler or

Related Topics: Morph Groups Morph Targets Mesh Morpher Property Page Target Percent

Morph Groups

A Morph Group can consist of a selected portion of an object’s

multiple mesh objects.

crea e a Morph Group:

1. Create a Mesh in the

185


bring in an object from the Scene Editor and enable Mesh Editing.

in order to make working with them easier contain an unlimited number of Morph Groups.

2.

or

To d

1. 2. p does not delete the

object from the viewport, just the Morph Group designation. Also be aware that any ociated with the group will also be deleted.)

To s

1. the Morph Groups list. 2. Select Group is extremely useful when you have a single mesh that has a number of

s:

Mesh Morpher Property Page

e

uring a rg

th

just u

1. 2. ge. This will create a new

me manner as

3.

Select a portion of the Mesh’s vertices.

of groups it is a good idea to give them unique namese Edit

te

3. Click the Create Group button in the Morpher properties page.

The new Morph Group will be automatically assigned a name, such as “Morph Group 01,” however this can be changed in the Morpher properties page. If you plan to have a large number

when animating in the Scen . A scene can

ele a Morph Group:

Select the group’s name from list of Morph Groups. Click the Delete Group button. (Note that deleting a Morph Grou

Morph Targets ass

elect a Morph Group:

Simply click the Select Group button below

Morph Groups created from select faces.

Related TopicMesh Morpher Overview Morph Targets

Target Percent

Morph_Targets

Morph Targets are instances of a Morph Group and are the various states of deformation between which will be animated. Like keyframes in a timeline, Morph Targets act as a starting andending point, between which Swift 3D will automatically fill in thblanks. A Morph Group can have an unlimited number of Morph Targets and d nimation multiple Morph Taused in conjunction (blended might be a better description) with

orphed Target. This isbase/unmodified state of the Mesh Group from whic

ets can be

e h you will work. Creating additional targets is

one another.

To create a Morph Target:

The first Morph Target is created as soon as you create a Morph Group and is named Unm

a b tton click away.

Select a Morph Group from the list. Click the Create Target button in the Morpher properties paMorph Target named “Morph Target 01.” This can be renamed in the sathe previous Morph Group or any other object in Swift 3D. With the Morph Target selected, modify the mesh however you desire.

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Advanced Modeler

4. To create an additional mesh simply click the Create Target button again and modify as desired. This will effectively duplicate whichever Morph Target was currently selected.

While I earlier compared Morph Targets to keyframes, it doesn’t matter in what order you create Morph Targets. Unlike keyframes within a timeline, Morph Targets are not linear in nature and can be used in any order once you’re animating in the Scene Editor. While creating them in order may help you visualize the desired animation, it is by no means necessary. To put your newfound

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NOTE: The number of vertices/faces in a mesh model cannot be changed between Morph uch as deleting faces or mesh subdivision will be reflected in the base model

Morph Groups

exture Mapping. With this feature you can apply a bitmap material from the Material Gallery to a surface or surface group of a

l is mapped to the surface. See Importing Bitmap Tex

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5. n button to make a new surface group. It will be given the name

6. surface

7.

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knowledge to work and start creating cool mesh deformation animations, read the Mesh Mosection in found in Animation.

Targets, so actions sand thus all Morph Targets.

verview Related Topics: Mesh Morpher O

Mesh Morpher Property Page Target Percent

Basic Texture Control Another handy feature within the Advanced Modeler is Bitmap T

mesh, and then control how the materiatures for information on how to bring bitmaps into Swift 3D.

add a texture to a surface group: 1. From the Viewport menu, be sure Texture Smooth Shaded and Show > Materials is

enabled. 2. In Editing Mesh mode, insert a box primitive. 3. Using the Select Faces tool, select the two front facing polygons that make up the front

side of the box. 4. Select Surface Groups from the Properties Toolbar.

Click the Group Selectio"Regroup01" by default. Choose a bitmap material from the Material Gallery and drop it on the selectedgroup in the Viewport. Since the surface group is in a selected

Mode' button on the main toolbar to enable specif

state, you won't be able to see the texture t the surface group by clicking on the

ace group, you can then click the 'Edit Texture ic mapping tools. This sub-mesh editing mode

applied to your surface until yobackground. You should now see t

u deseleche bitmap on one side of the box.

aterial to a surf

Control Mapping of Textures

Once you have applied a bitmap

specifically allows for further control over how the texture is mapped (positioned and displayed) on the mesh surface.

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Since textures are only applied to surfaces or surface groups, Edit Texture Mode will only enathe Face Selection and Surface Group Selection tools. You must select the surface or surfacegroup that the texture has been applied before you can use the editing tools be

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Since textures are only applied to surfaces or surface groups, Edit Texture Mode up tools. You

fore you can use the

Rig up the conmapping commands:

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mesh as if it were a solid object, which will extrude the texture through the mesh from front to back.

Automap Spherical Coordinates: Applies the texture in a wrapping fashion that best fits textures to rounded objects.

NOTE: While in Editing Mesh Mode only, the Viewport displays textures only whendeselected. However, once in Edit Texture Mode the reverse occurs in that textures will only display on selected faces in the Viewport, ready for manipulation and control.

will only enable the Face Selection, Surface Group Selection and Smoothing Gromust select the surface or surface group that the texture editing tools below.

has been applied be

ce will bring

Rotation and

ht clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a textured surfatext menu and allow access to additional texture

Reset Commands: Will reset your MovScale mapping adjustments to their untransformedstate.

Automap Box Coordinates: Attempts to automap thetexture to fit the six faces of a box. Automap Cylindrical Coordinates: Attempts to automap the texture to fit the surface of a cylinder. Automap Solid Coordinates: Applies the texture to the

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Materials Material Overview In the world of Swift 3D, we use the term Materials to describe our colors, and it's not just to be fancy. The reason is that within the 3D world colors are conditional rather than absolute. By that I mean colors can exhibit different characteristics depending on how light is being cast upon them. And unlike the world of 2D vector graphics, within Swift 3D you can control how the surfaces of your objects interact with light; for instance, designating whether a surface is glossy or flat.

It is important to note that colors within the world of 3D-to-vector conversion are even more conditional than normal because of the full spectrum of output styles offered by RAViX. You may create the most amazing colors that exhibit exquisite highlights and convey subtle tones of warmth, but if you render the objects in your scene using a basic output style like Cartoon Average Color Fill you'll be a bit disappointed to say the least. But on the other hand, if the sky’s the limit when it comes to file size, Mesh Shading will make it all worthwhile.

The EMO rendering engine is capable of handling all of the vector-based materials in Swift 3D, but can also do wonderful things with raster-based materials like Bitmap and Procedural Textures. Add to that the ability to have reflective objects interacting with Environments (see section on Environments) and you’ve got some crazy stuff going on in this 3D application.

So for all you graphic designers out there who may be used to print media and the precision inherent in color selection, it's time you let your hair down and play around a bit. When you factor in all of the conditions that go into the final colors shown in your rendered file, there's just no way to be as accurate as you're used to.

It's also important to realize that both the vector and raster materials can be rendered with either rendering engine, but you will find that the raster materials do not end up looking at all accurate when using the RAViX rendering engine. On the other hand, vector materials are recognized and rendered very accurately using EMO.

Types of Materials Standard Materials

There are a whole slew of materials that have been built with vector export in mind. These materials are more conventional in nature, which is why they export well using the RAViX vector rendering engine. All materials can be rendered by either rendering engine, but the Vector Materials are the ones that hold up the best and create the nicest looking vector output.

These materials have been broken up into some general categories that come installed with the application. These categories are the Flat, Glossy, Reflective and Transparent tabs you see along the top of the Material Gallery. Since RAViX can easily handle the properties of these colors they are considered Vector Materials.

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When rendering to vector, the output style chosen will dictate the final look of your material, so read carefully through each Fill Option detailed in the Rendering With RAViX topic.

Related Topics: RAViX Overview Creating Vector Materials Transparent Materials Reflective Materials

Bitmap-based Textures

There's just no way around it, bitmap textures are cool. These materials are created through the process of bringing in a raster-based file created outside of Swift 3D and “wrapping” it onto the surface of your objects. To get a better idea of what I'm describing, let's travel back to our childhood and think about one of those art projects we used to work on in Elementary school. Let's say we've built a small cardboard cube

and the teacher asks us to decorate that cube with some pictures from a magazine. Once we've found that perfect picture (imagine it's of bunnies or a monster truck, depending on what kind of kid you were), you proceed to cut it out of the magazine and glue it onto your cube.

Now those of you who tended to do a little better than the rest of the kids in art class are probably thinking “Yeah, but I don't want to wrap it like a present because then I'd be folding part of the picture under another part of the picture and that wouldn't yield me a smiley face at the end of the day.” Right you are, and Swift 3D is always out to help you obtain that smiley face, so we've come up with four ways to wrap that picture onto your various objects: Planar Solid, Planar Wrap, Planar Spherical and Cylindrical.

Bitmap Textures that come standard with Swift 3D can be found under just one tab in the Material Gallery, and that tab is appropriately named Bitmap. While Bitmap materials can be applied to objects in the Scene Editor, you do not have a whole lot of control over how bitmaps get placed on objects in the Scene Editor. Accurate positioning of bitmap images to an object must be done by using the mapping tools located in the Advanced Modeler.

Note: To see an accurate depiction of a procedural material in the Viewport, you must either set the Viewport display mode to Texture Smooth Shaded or use the Render Viewport Buttons (Scene Editor only) located in the main toolbar to activate the scanline renderer.

Related Topics: Procedural Materials Creating and Editing Materials Creating Bitmap Textures Creating Procedural Color Maps Creating Procedural Texture Maps

Bump Map and Procedural Materials

The raster materials offered by Swift 3D are called procedural materials. Procedural Materials can only be rendered out with accuracy using our EMO Ray Tracer rendering engine. Note: To see an accurate depiction of a procedural material in the Viewport, you must either set the Viewport display mode to Texture Smooth Shaded or

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Materials

use the Render Viewport Buttons (Scene Editor only) located in the main toolbar to activate the scanline renderer.

Procedural materials call upon a series of predefined mathematical calculations that in turn create a very wide variety of changes in the surface of your object. These calculations can be imparted upon the color of your objects, or they can be told to take affect on the surface of the object itself.

To better explain how procedural materials work, I'd like to take a visit to a car repair shop of the future. (I know, I'm reaching in the whole metaphor department, but this is some funky stuff.) Let's say you've taken your car in to be 'resurfaced' because you're just tired of that smooth, uniform silver that it came from the factory with. This shop specializes in two types of resurfacing: Color and Texture.

Procedural Color Mapping

As you enter the color room, your car is sitting in the middle and the technician has a computer that allows him to choose from any color in the palette and then also choose from a variety of patterns those colors can be applied with. The computer drives a whole bunch of spray nozzles that are told to spray their respective colors in their respective patterns across the entire surface of the car. So you tell the technician that

you'd like your car to look like a brick wall, only with the brick color being blue and the mortar color being green. The technician punches in your color values, selects the pattern to 'Brick' and the nozzles start flying around your car. Before you know it, the computer has painted your car to look like a blue and green brick wall. This is what we refer to as a Procedural Color.

Procedural Texture Mapping

Next we head to the texture room where a second computer sits. You tell the technician that smooth is so ‘20th century’ and you'd like to go with the new Golf Ball look that's so hot these days. Sure enough, a couple of settings are tweaked and a whole bunch of robotic arms appear and begin waling away on your car with ball peen hammers. In short order you're driving away from the shop in a car that has been

colored to look like a brick wall and dented to look like a golf ball. You're plenty pleased with the results, but slowly it dawns on you that you still have to explain this new look to your spouse who sort of liked your silver Audi. Note: Procedural Textures are not supported in the 3DS file format, so any procedural textures applied to your model will not be maintained when exporting to 3DS.

Bump Map Texturing

And lastly, in a sudden flash of vanity, you decide to have your family coat-of-arms applied to the hood of your car. The technician says that he has a solution for that as well - the "Bump Map" - and all he needs is a digital copy of your family's symbol in thform of an image, and he can make it so. So you point him to a JPEG and he loadsthat image into the computer. But rather than having the colors and shapes in the

image get burned onto the outside of the hood, the computer looks for variations in color withithe image, finding the places where the background varies from the foreground. Now a new robotic arm appears that looks more like a giant ink stamp and after opening the hood it slamsitself into the underside of your hood. When the dust settles, there is a giant reverse-indenta(like it's sticking out instead of in) in the exact shape of your family coat-of-arms stamped intohood of your car. So much for resale value...

e

n

tion the

Related Topics:

Creating Bitmap Textures

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Creating Procedural Color Maps Creating Procedural Texture Maps

Material Gallery Working with the Material Gallery

The Material Gallery is where you go to access the world of color. Swift 3D comes with a great selection of materials to choose from, and they are all stored under the different categories in the gallery. Since you can also create your own materials in Swift 3D, or import bitmap images, you also have the ability to add your own materials to this gallery.

The Material Gallery can be accessed from both the Scene Editor and the Advanced Modeler. You can drag and drop all materials in either editor, but precise placement of bitmap materials can only be attained using the Advanced Modeler’s Bitmap Texture Mapper.

Material Gallery:

Applying Materials

All materials, whether vector, bitmap or procedural, work under the principal of drag-and-drop, so everything in the Material Gallery can be applied much like you would apply paint to a canvas. Materials can be applied to surface areas in either the Scene Editor or the Advanced Modeler. The surface area of a Primitive or Lathe object is considered to be one single surface area, which means only a single material can be applied to those objects. Objects like Text and Extrusions are automatically created with predefined surface areas (face, bevel and edge), so these objects can accept three different materials on each of these surfaces.

Through the Advanced Modeler you also have the ability to group different portions of an object’s mesh together in order to define your own custom surface groups. Refer to Surface Groups in the Advanced Modeler for detailed information on this process.

To Apply a Material from the Material Gallery: 1. Select the Show Materials button from the left side of the Gallery Toolbar. 2. Use the category tabs and scroll bar to choose an appropriate material for your object. 3. Click-and-drag from the material sample window into your scene.

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Materials

4. As soon as you see the 'Plus' sign appear next to your pointer icon it means you're over an object. Note: There may be a pause before you see the plus sign if the material was created from a high resolution or overly large bitmap file.

5. Release the mouse button and that object will accept that material.

Note: If you applied a raster material to an object, you must either set the Viewport display mode to Texture Smooth Shaded or use the Render Viewport Buttons (Scene Editor only) located in the main toolbar to activate the scanline renderer in order to get an accurate depiction of the material.

Applying Materials to Multiple Objects

After you drag-and-drop a material onto an object, a copy of that material is now stored in your current scene and is linked to that object. If the same material is then applied to another object, instead of a generating a second copy of that same material (read: inflating file size), the second object now also references the first material copy that was made. Say you now repeat this process eight more times, so picture 10 objects referencing one material copy. There are two scenarios that can happen from this point:

1. You decide that you actually want a different material applied to one of the objects. This scenario is fairly simple and works exactly how you would expect. Apply a new material to that object and a copy is made of the new material, which that object now references instead of the original material that was applied to it. The remaining nine objects continue to reference the original material.

2. You decide that the material you've applied to all of the objects is not quite right, and you want to apply a different one. Since all 10 objects are linked to one material, you can apply the new material to all of these objects at the same time by holding down the SHIFT key while you click-and-drag the new material onto one of the objects (it does not matter which one). All 10 objects now reference the new material.

Both of these scenarios hold true whether or not you have the Animate button toggled on or off, but keep in mind that with the Animate button toggled on, if the keyframe indicator is not resting on frame 1, you may be animating your material.

Do not confuse this feature with permanently editing materials or editing the instance of a material. Keep in mind that after you apply a material, a copy of that material gets made that the object now references. So, if you make any changes to the original material through the Material Editor, you have to reapply the material (which is where that SHIFT key can come in handy) so that the copy stored by the scene is updated.

Material Drop Surface Target

The Material Drop Surface Target button, located to the left of the Material Gallery, determines whether a material gets applied to each individual surface group of an object or the entire surface area of the object or mesh. The default state of this button (indicated by its blue, yellow and gray bands) is toggled off, meaning that materials will apply only to individual surface areas. When the Material Drop Surface Target button is toggled on (indicated by light blue glow), materials will only apply to the entire surface area of an object or mesh.

Material Drop Surface Target button toggled off

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Material Drop Surface Target button toggled on

NOTE: When this button is toggled on, you cannot apply materials to different surface areas via the Material property page.

Saving Materials to the Material Gallery

When a 3ds or dxf file is imported into Swift 3DSwift 3D, the only way to access the materials referenced in that file is through the Materials property page. The same is true for a .t3d file created on another machine. In both cases, all of the materials are stored in that specific .t3d file, but do not automatically get saved to the Material Gallery for use in other .t3d files.

A material can be permanently saved to the Material Gallery by dragging and dropping it from the Material Preview Window of tMaterials property page to the Material Gallery. The material will automatically get placed under the category tab that is showand will maintain the name it was given before it was brought inSwift 3D. (If the name already exists under that category tab,[1] will get appended to the end of the file name.) Once the material is stored in the gallery, you can change any of this information using the Material Editor, just like you would any other gallery content.

he

ing to

a

Material Property Page Material Property Page

While sparse in details, the Material page of the Properties Toolbar has many important purposes. Within this page resides the Material Surface List, which lists all surface areas associated with the selected object in the scene. When a surface is selected from the list, the material applied to that surface area is displayed in the Material Preview Window. While Primitives and Lathes, will only have one surface area, Text and Extrusions get created with three surface areas, Faces, Bevels and Edges. And, if you define Surface Groups in the Advanced Modeler, these will also be displayed in this list box, so this list can get quite lengthy.

Applying Materials to Specific Surfaces

The Material property page can be used to apply a material to a specific surface of an object. There are times when dropping a material onto a surface can be difficult, especially if the object is very small or far away from the camera, so this process gives you that added control.

To apply a material to a specific surface from the material property page:

1. Select a surface in the Material Surface List.

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Materials

2. Drop your desired material onto the Material Display Ball in the Material Property Page, rather than the scene itself.

NOTE: When working with objects that have multiple surface groups defined, such as Extrusions, the Material Drop Surface button, located to the left of the Material Gallery, must be toggled off for individual surfaces to accept separate materials.

Applying a Material from One Object to Another

A second function of the Material Property Page is that it serves as a convenience tool. You can drag-and-drop materials directly from the Material preview window in the Properties Toolbar onto any object in your scene, which can save you from the process of searching the Material Gallery for the exact material you may have applied earlier.

To drag-and-drop a material from the material property page: 1. Select the object that has the material you want to apply to another object. 2. Go to that object’s Material Property Page. 3. Drag-and-drop the material from the Material preview window onto the other object.

Editing an Instance of a Material

Finally, the Material Property Page allows you to customize a material that has already been applied without having to change the original material. This is often referred to as editing the instance of a material since you are not actually making any permanent changes to the original material that resides in the Material Gallery. Permanent changes can only be made through the Material Editor, which is accessed through the Setup menu. Editing the instance of a material is a really nice feature since you don't always want to add a new material to the gallery every time you need a variation of an existing material.

To edit the instance of a material: 1. Select the relevant object and double-click on the Material preview window in the Material

Property Page. 2. From the Edit Material dialog, adjust the material’s properties. (See Creating and Editing

Materials section under Material Editor for information on this dialog.)

Material Editor Material Editor

While Swift 3D comes with a good base of both vector and raster materials, our goal is to simply give you a fair idea of what types of materials are possible. With the Material Editor, we are providing you with the power to edit these existing materials or create your own. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

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The Material Editor is accessed by clicking on either the Add Material or Edit Material button from the Gallery Setup dialog, or by double clicking directly on a material in the Material Gallery. From the Material Editor you can view and edit the properties of existing materials or create new materials.

To edit an existing material or create a new material: 1. Select Setup > Materials. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to the

material you would like to Edit. (You can also make a Copy of an existing material using the Copy Material button if you want to work from a starting point.)

3. If you are adding a new material, click on the Add Material button, and if you are editing an existing material, click on the Edit Material button.

4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. Adjust all of the settings until you have a material you are happy with. Use the Generate

Preview button to see the progress of the material as you edit or create it. 6. Click the OK button to close the Material Editor and Save your new or edited material. 7. Click the OK button to close the Gallery Setup.

If you created a new material, you will now find that material under the tab in the Material Gallery that corresponds to the category in the Gallery Setup. An edited material will be found in the same tab it was originally located, unless you choose to place it under a new category in the Gallery Setup dialog.

Now this is just an overview of the process involved with creating or editing a material, and obviously there is much more that goes into the creation of a material. The Material Editor is divided into the following 3 sections: Finish, Color and Texture. Read through these sections first, but then if you still have questions on how you would actually go about creating a specific type of material, continue onto the "Steps for Making Materials" section for specific examples on creating a solid material, procedural color map, procedural texture, as well as transparent and reflective materials.

Name

The least daunting of all the features within the Material Editor is the Name, which is the name that gets displayed within Swift 3D when you roll over each material within the Material Gallery. This is the material's common name and you should try and use descriptive names so you can more easily recognize what materials you have stored in the Gallery. You'll notice that all of the materials that come with the program have the prefix of ER. In order to differentiate between vector and raster materials we have further refined the names by adding an ER Vector and ER Raster to the beginning of each name. You are of course free to use any file naming convention you choose.

Finish

All of these settings have to do with how the material, and thus the object’s surface, interacts with light.

Ambient refers to uniform reflected light. Even if an object has no direct light cast upon on it, it's

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usually illuminated by ambient light since those crazy light rays are always bouncing around and coming at us from every angle. Therefore, the color of the surfaces this ambient light is reflecting off of can have an effect on the color of an object. For example, if you place a yellow ball in a blue room, the ball will still be yellow, but it will have a slight blue tint from all of that blue ambient lighting. The darker the material's base color, the less the Ambient Color will affect the overall material characteristics. Double click on the Ambient Color box to bring up the Color Selection dialog box.

Reflection Color defines the material’s reflective abilities. Anytime a material has its Reflection Color set to a color other than pure black it will begin to take on reflective properties. The lighter the Reflection Color, the more reflective it becomes. If you are trying to maintain the base color of a material you'll want to stay with shades that fall in between black and white, but you have the freedom to apply any color you want to the Reflective Color. Just keep in mind that lighter Reflection Colors will begin to supersede the base color of a material. Double click on the Reflection Color box to bring up the Color Selection dialog box.

Highlight Strength and Highlight Size relate to the glossiness of a material. When Trackball Lights cast their light rays onto objects, they have the ability to create highlights, or hot spots, on the objects upon which they shine. These highlights can be controlled with the Strength and Size sliders. If you are trying to create a totally flat finish to your material (think no highlight at all) you want the two sliders to be all the way to the left. As you increase the settings of the sliders to the right you will find the highlight growing in intensity and size respectively.

Related Topics: Color Texture Creating Solid Vector Materials

Color

These settings all have to do with the material's base color, whether you are creating just a solid material or generating very complex colors maps that will occur across the surface of your objects. You have control over the colors that go into the material, and also the pattern by which those colors will be applied.

Pattern

By default the Pattern dropdown list is set to Procedural Solid when creating a new material. This simply designates the material as a solid material without any additional bells and whistles. The Pattern setting also allows you to choose from a variety of pre-determined schemes, such as brick or marble, that will take any colors you choose and mix them across object surfaces.

Scale and Noise

The Scale and Noise properties apply only when you have selected a pattern other than Procedural Solid. Scale has to do with how many times the pattern of colors you've chosen is

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applied across the surface of an object. By default it is set to 1, and you'll note that the Scale box is unchecked. To adjust the amount of times the calculation gets applied you'll need to check the Scale box and then begin messing with the slider control.

NOTE: When you first check the Scale box you will not have applied any different settings yet. Thus, if you click the Generate Preview button you will not see any change in the material.

The Scale slider is fairly sensitive, and the further to the left you slide it, the more times you're pattern of choice will be repeated across an object. All of the materials pretty much slip into a realm of homogeneity once you get the slider too far to the left because the pattern is repeated on such a small scale it turns very finely speckled. Conversely, you'll find that sliding the Scale control too far to the right will not yield any new cool materials because it simply doesn't change after a certain point.

The Noise setting is the big disrupter, just like a dog barking when you're trying to get to sleep. It takes an organized pattern like the one you've chosen and begins to scramble it in a random fashion. By default, the Noise control is disabled, but as soon as you uncheck the box you enter the world of disturbance. The further to the right you slide the control the more interference or disruption you will be adding to your material. Every material will react differently to the Noise setting, so just start fiddling and you'll quickly realize when and how you want to utilize this feature.

Color Selector

The Color Selector, the colored rectangle, is where you actually designate the base color of the material you're creating. If you double click on the window you will access the Color Palette (WIN) or the Color Picker (MAC). From here you can delve into the wonderful world of hues, saturation, luminosity and the like, all of which are not covered in this Help System.

The Color Selector box takes on a new aspect when you choose any of the Procedural Color options other than Solid. Yes, this is the big one, because without more than one color to play with, Swift 3D won't be able to create anything more complex than a standard color. All of the Patterns except for Procedural Solid and Textures need to have at least two colors, even if ever so subtly different, to work their magic.

The way to add a color to your spectrum is to single click anywhere inside of the Color Selector box or in the gray area just below the color selector.

This will add a control arrow to your color selector with the default color as its reference. You can add as many control arrows as you'd like just by clicking along the color window in new locations, and all of their default settings will be based on the color that is just above where the control arrow is inserted. To change the color setting of the control arrows you simply double-click on the arrow itself and you will open the Color Palette (WIN) or the Color Picker (MAC). From here you can manipulate the controls to get your desired color and click OK, which will insert that particular color into your spectrum just above the color control arrow.

To adjust the position of the color along the spectrum, simply click-and-drag on the arrow and release the button when you've hit the desired spot. Control arrows can be dragged across one

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Materials

another without a problem. To delete a control arrow, and thus the color associated with it, simply select the arrow with a single click (it will turn black) and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Transparency

The Transparency slider allows you to adjust the opacity of a material. The higher you set the slider, the more transparent the material becomes. If you crank it all the way to the right you will create a material that is completely transparent, much like glass.

Brightness

Brightness is a fairly straightforward property. The slider simply controls how light or dark the material is.

Related Topics: Finish Texture Creating Solid Vector Materials Transparent Materials

Texture

This is a very interesting realm of material application because with texture mapping you aable to alter the surface of your objects withoactually changing their geometry, or how they're constructed. Procedural Texture Mapping is the process of applying mathematical propersurface such that the surface interacts with ligas if it were not exactly smooth. In some cayou can apply Procedural Textures that turn your material into something entirely unrecognizable from what it was before.

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ties to a ht

ses

Pattern

The Pattern categories of Procedural Texture Mapping are identical to those of Procedural Color Mapping. Each of these categories applies their own unique properties to the surface of a material.

Scale and Noise

Both Scale and Noise work within the same constraints as previously mentioned under the Color section, with the difference being that they impart their will upon the texture of the material surface rather than the color. They also share the same sensitivity as well as behaviors as you get too far to the right or left.

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Amount

With Procedural Textures you have the additional control of the Amount setting. This slider-based control simply increases the intensity of the texture being applied as you slide it to the right. The Amount control is not as sensitive as the Scale and Noise, and you can think of it as increasing the depth of the textures as you increase its value (move it to the right).

Related Topics: Finish Color Creating Solid Vector Materials

Preview Window and Generate Preview Button

This is where you can test out your various concoctions before actually leaving the Material Editor. Although there's nothing like a real world test to see if you've stumbled upon a super-sweet material, you can at least get a glimpse of what it might look like when applied to some sample objects. Also, when you click the Generate Preview button you'll be creating the thumbnail that gets inserted into the Material Gallery when it's all said and done.

To Create or Edit a Material

Solid Vector Colors

This example applies to colors found under the Flat and Glossy tab of the Material Editor/Gallery.

To create or edit a solid vector color material: 1. Select Setup > Materials. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to the



4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. Double click on the Ambient Color box and choose the ambient color you desire. 6. If you want your material to be reflective, double click on the Reflective Color box and

choose a light color, such as light gray. 7. Adjust the Highlight Strength and Size sliders to the right to make a glossier material and

to the left to make a flatter material. 8. Under the Color area, double click on the Color Selection box and choose your base

color. 9. Slide the Brightness slider to the right to brighten up your color, and to the left to darken

it. 10. Click on the Generate Preview button to see your results. 11. When you are happy with your new color’s settings, click OK.

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2. Select t e

12. If you created a new material, the Display Name will appear under the Category that was highlighted.

13. Click OK to close the Gallery Setup dialog, and your new color will be added to the Material Gallery under the tab with the corresponding category name.

Related Topics: Finish Color Texture

Procedural Color Maps

This tutorial applies to materials found under the Metal, Pattern, Stone and Wood tabs of the Material Editor/Gallery.

To create or edit a procedural color map (ex. Marble): 1. Select Setup > Materials.

2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to the material you would like to Edit. (You can also make a Copy of an existing material using the Copy Material button if you want to work from a starting point.)


4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. In the Color area, click on the Pattern drop down list and choose Procedural Marble. 6. Click about a third of the way over from the left within the Color Selector box (or

anywhere along the gray area just below the box) to add a control arrow. 7. Double click on the control arrow to bring up the Color Palette (WIN) or Color Picker

(MAC), choose a color and click OK. 8. Add another control arrow about two thirds of the way over from the left, double click on

that control arrow, choose a color and click OK. 9. Check the Scale checkbox and move the slider about a third of the way across to the

right. 10. Check the Noise checkbox and move it about a fourth of the way across to the right. 11. Click on the Generate Preview button to see your results.

Related Topics: Bitmap-Based Textures Creating and Editing Materials Material Properties

Procedural Texture Maps

This tutorial applies to materials found under the Texture tab of the Material Gallery.

To create or edit a procedural texture (ex. Bumps): 1. Select Setup > Materials. he Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to th




4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. Under the Texture area, click on the Pattern dropdown list and choose Procedural

Bumps. 6. Check the Scale checkbox and move the slider so that it is just about a fifth of the way

over. 7. Double click on the Color Selector box in the Color area and choose a light color, like

orange. 8. Click on the Generate Preview button to see your results. 9. The Procedural Texture settings can be mixed and matched with any of the settings

previously mentioned.


Bump Maps

To create a Bump Map: 1. Select Setup > Materials. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to add a new material. 3. Click on the Add Material button. 4. Type in a new Name. 5. Under the Bump Map and Procedural Textures area, click on the Pattern dropdown list

and choose Bitmap Image. 6. Select the Browse button, navigate to the image you want to use for your bump map and

click Import. 7. Adjust the Bump Strength depending on how much relief you would like the material to

exhibit. 8. Click on the Generate Preview button to see your results.


Transparent Materials

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Really the easiest way to create a transparent object is by clicking on the Transparent tab in the Material Gallery and dragging-and-dropping one of the preset transparent materials onto your object. Done.

So that was the easy way. If you want to use the Material Editor to make a transparent material from scratch, or take an existing material and add transparency to it, then we totally grant you permission to go for it.

To create a transparent material or add transparency to an existing material:

1. Select Setup > Materials. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to the



4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. Under the Color area of the Material Editor, choose a color, then move the Transparency

slider all the way over to the right if you want a completely transparent object, or somewhere in between if you want just a slightly transparent object.

6. Click on Generate Preview to see your new transparent material.

NOTE: The Preview Window in the Material Editor uses Ray Tracing to generate the image. Transparency is a very complex property to calculate in the world of Ray Tracing, so when you create a material that is even partially transparent you should be prepared to wait for a bit while Swift 3D generates the Preview Image for the Material Palette. This includes when you're simply saying OK to the current settings because a preview must be generated in order to close the Edit Material dialog box.

Related Topics: Creating and Editing Materials Vector Materials Refraction Index Rendering Transparency SmartLayer SWFT Files

Reflective Materials

Reflection Color defines the material’s reflective abilities. Anytime a material has its Reflection Color set to a color other than pure black it will begin to have reflective properties. The lighter the Reflection Color, the more reflective it becomes. If you are trying to maintain the base color of a material you'll want to stay with shades that fall in between black and white, but you have the freedom to apply any color you want to

the Reflective Color. Just keep in mind that lighter Reflection Colors will begin to supersede the

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base color of a material. Note: Reflections are not supported in the 3DS file format, so any reflective material applied to your model will not be maintained when exporting to 3DS.

Obviously, the easiest way to make your object reflective is to go to the Material Gallery, click on the Reflective tab, and drag-and-drop one of the pre-made reflective materials onto your object. If you want to create your own reflective material, or edit an existing material to make it reflective, this can be done through the Material Editor.

To create a reflective material or make an existing material reflective: 1. Select Setup > Materials. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new material or navigate to the



4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing a material). 5. Double click on the Reflection Color color box to bring up the Color Palette (WIN) or

Color Picker (MAC). 6. Choose a light gray color. Click OK. 7. Click on Generate Preview to see your new material.

Include Reflections

Once you have applied a reflective material to your object, you obviously need other objects in your scene, or you need to apply an Environment (see upcoming section on Environments) in order to get something for your reflective material to reflect. Then one of the most crucial steps occurs in the Preview and Export Editor. If you choose to render out with EMO, reflections will come along as part of the deal. But, if you are rendering out to vectors using RAViX, reflections are only rendered if you check the Include Reflections option under the Fill Options page of the Preview and Export Editor Properties Toolbar. Detailed information on the Include Reflections option can be found in the RAViX Overview section.

Related Topics: Creating and Editing Materials Vector Materials Refraction Index SmartLayer SWFT Files

Working With Bitmap Textures Importing Bitmap Textures

NOTE: Bitmap Textures get exported to a separate PNG file when exporting to XAML. This PNG file only gets created when the XAML is actually exported to file (File > Export Scene to XAML); it does not get created when copying the XAML code to the clipboard (Edit > Copy XAML).

Bitmap Textures are created by importing an external file into the Material Editor, whereby Swift 3D will turn that flat raster image into a wrappable texture.

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File formats supported for importing Bitmap Images to create textures are BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF and TGA.

To import a bitmap texture: 1. Click on Setup > Materials. 2. Select a Category from the list on the left

side and then click on Add Material. 3. Type in a Display Name. 4. From the Pattern drop down list under

the Color area, scroll down to the very end and choose Bitmap Image.

5. Navigate to the bitmap image you would like to import and click Open. A preview of your bitmap image will appear in the Color area.

6. To import a different image, you can now just click on the Browse button. This will replace the previously imported image.


Bitmap Wrap Types - Automapping

Automap Box Coordinates: Attempts to automap the texture to fit the six faces of a box:

Automap Cylindrical Coordinates: Attempts to automap the texture to fit the surface of a cylinder:

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Automap Solid Coordinates: Applies the texture to the mesh as if it were a solid object, which will extrude the texture through the mesh from front to back:

Automap Spherical Coordinates: Applies the texture in a wrapping fashion that best fits textures to rounded objects:


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Applying Bitmaps in Scene Editor

Bitmaps can be applied to objects in either the Scene Editor or the Advanced Modeler. Upon initial application, all bitmaps are automapped according natural texture coordinates that are built into each object. These automaps are automatically applied to objects based upon the wrap that makes the most sense for the object. Here is what you can expect when applying bitmaps to objects in the Scene Editor:

Extrusions: Bitmaps are automapped using Solid Coordinates, with the bitmap centered onto the face of the extrusion.

Text: The Solid Coordinates option is also used, but Swift 3D maps the bitmap across all of the characters that make up a text string.

Primitives: The box, plane, and pyramid use Box Coordinates; the sphere, geosphere and polyhedron use the Spherical Coordinates; and the cylinder and cone use the Cylindrical Coordinates. Since the torus has such a unique shape, it is the exception to the rule so bitmaps are applied with a customized wrap. Imagine taking a photograph and wrapping it around the outside perimeter of a torus so that the side edges of the photograph meet. Then, take the top and bottom edges of the photograph and wrap them around the tube. That is the torus map.

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Box Pyramid Plane

Sphere/GeoSphere Polyhedron Cylinder

Cone Torus

Lathes: Like the torus, bitmaps are wrapped to lathes according to a special wrap.

If you have more specific mapping requirements, use the Edit Texture mode (in the Advanced Modeler, click on the Edit Mesh button, then the Edit Texture button) to further refine the automapping and placement of the bitmap. Using the Bitmap Texturing System yexperiment with applying different automaps, which are accessible by right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the mesh while in Edit Texture mode, as well as moving, scaling, and rotatinthe applied bitmap. Read more about working in Edit Texture mode in the section on Bitmap Texturing at the end of the Advanced Modeler Chapter.

ou can

g

NOTE: As soon as an object is converted to mesh by clicking on the Edit Mesh button in the Advanced Modeler, the natural texture coordinates that get created with that object are lost. The wrap will remain unchanged until you go in Edit Texture mode and begin to move, rotate or scale the placement of the bitmap. You can always re-automap the Box, Cylindrical, Solid or Spherical wraps since these are wrapping types that come with Swift 3D, so this is not a big deal for most objects. However, with the torus and lathes, which use custom texture coordinates, you will never be able to get that original wrap back without creating a new torus or lathe in the Scene Editor and reapplying the bitmap.

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Basic Texture Control

Another handy feature within the Advanced Modeler is Bitmap Texture Mapping. With this feature you can apply a bitmap material from the Material Gallery to a surface or surface group of a mesh, and then control how the material is mapped to the surface. See Importing Bitmap Textures for information on how to bring bitmaps into Swift 3D.

To add a texture to a surface group: 1. From the Viewport menu, be sure Texture Smooth Shaded and Show > Materials is

enabled. 2. In Editing Mesh mode, insert a box primitive. 3. Using the Select Faces tool, select the two front facing polygons that make up the front

side of the box. 4. Select Surface Groups from the Properties Toolbar. 5. Click the Group Selection button to make a new surface group. It will be given the name

"Regroup01" by default. 6. Choose a bitmap material from the Material Gallery and drop it on the selected surface

group in the Viewport. 7. Since the surface group is in a selected state, you won't be able to see the texture

applied to your surface until you deselect the surface group by clicking on the background. You should now see the bitmap on one side of the box.

Control Mapping of Textures

Once you have applied a bitmap material to a surface group, you can then click the 'Edit Texture Mode' button on the main toolbar to enable specific mapping tools. This sub-mesh editing mode specifically allows for further control over how the texture is mapped (positioned and displayed) on the mesh surface.

Since textures are only applied to surfaces or surface groups, Edit Texture Mode will only enable the Face Selection and Surface Group Selection tools. You must select the surface or surface group that the texture has been applied before you can use the editing tools below.

NOTE: While in Editing Mesh Mode only, the Viewport displays textures only when faces are deselected. However, once in Edit Texture Mode the reverse occurs in that textures will only display on selected faces in the Viewport, ready for manipulation and control.

Since textures are only applied to surfaces or surface groups, Edit Texture Mode will only enable the Face Selection, Surface Group Selection and Smoothing Group tools. You must select the surface or surface group that the texture has been applied before you can use the editing tools below.

Right clicking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on a textured surface will bring up the context menu and allow access to additional texture mapping commands:

Reset Commands: Will reset your Move, Rotation and Scale mapping adjustments to their untransformed state.

Automap Box Coordinates: Attempts to automap the texture to fit the six faces of a box.

Automap Cylindrical Coordinates: Attempts to automap the texture to fit the surface of a cylinder.

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Automap Solid Coordinates: Applies the texture to the mesh as if it were a solid object, which will extrude the texture through the mesh from front to back.

Automap Spherical Coordinates: Applies the texture in a wrapping fashion that best fits textures to rounded objects.

Environments Environments

Although Environments are not materials that get applied to your objects, they can have a big impact on how certain materials behave. They are also constructed very similarly to materials, which is why they are included here within the Materials section. Environments have a direct impact upon reflective materials and they are best utilized when rendering raster output using the EMO Ray Tracer, although

RAViX will do its best to render them as well. The best way to think of an Environment is as if it was a material you apply to an imaginary room your 3D scene sits within. The reason why they only affect reflective materials is because those are the only ones that can give the camera a glimpse of what that imaginary room looks like because Environments are never actually directly rendered.

Much like the materials we’ve already discussed, you can use a standard Solid Color to define an Environment, or you can use a Procedural Color Map to define something a little more interesting. You also have the ability to import a bitmap image file and use it as your environment, in which case it will use the Spherical wrapping model to stick that image to the walls of the spherical room that holds your scene.

Once you’ve dropped an Environment into your scene you may or may not see a change. First of all, you’ll never see the background of your scene change because the Environment doesn’t act like the background, nor is it ever rendered. The best way to know what Environment is currently applied to your scene is to click on the Environment category in the Properties Toolbar.

Secondly, only the reflective materials within your scene will be capable of showing the effects of an applied environment. If you have reflective materials within your scene you may want to perform a Render Window or Render Rectangle to get a realistic display of how that Environment is affecting your scene. If you don’t have any reflective materials applied to objects, nor do you intend on including any, then don’t bother messing with the Environment setting at all.

Related Topics: Creating an Environment Environment Gallery Environment Property Page Reflective Materials

Environment Gallery

The Environment Gallery is the place to go to change the surroundings of your 3D scene.

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To apply an environment:

1. Select the Show Environments button from the left side of the Gallery Toolbar. 2. Find an Environment you’d like to apply to your scene. 3. Click-and-drag from the Preview window into your scene. 4. Release the mouse when your cursor is over the background (not over any objects). 5. If your entire scene is obscured by objects you can also select the Environment category

in the Properties Toolbar and then drag from the preview window onto the Environment Display window in the Properties Toolbar.

Once you’ve dropped an Environment into your scene you may or may not see a change. First of all, you’ll never see the background of your scene change because the Environment doesn’t act like the background, nor is it ever rendered. The best way to know what Environment is currently applied to your scene is to click on the Environment category in the Properties Toolbar.

Secondly, only the reflective materials within your scene will be capable of showing the effects of an applied environment. If you have reflective materials within your scene you may want to perform a Render Window or Render Rectangle to get a realistic display of how that Environment is affecting your scene. If you don’t have any reflective materials applied to objects, nor do you intend on including any, then don’t bother messing with the Environment setting at all.

Related Topics:

Materials Palette

Animation Palette

Creating an Environment

This example goes through the steps for creating a Environment from a procedural gradient. Environments can be made from solid materials, procedural or bitmap.

To create or edit an environment (ex. gradient): 1. Select Setup > Environment. 2. Select the Category under which you would like to Add a new environment or navigate to

the environment you would like to Edit. (You can also make a Copy of an existing

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environment using the Copy Environment button if you want to work from a starting point.)

3. If you are adding a new environment , click on the Add Environment button, and if you are editing an existing environment , click on the Edit Environment button.

4. Type in a new Name (or leave existing name if editing an existing environment). 5. Choose Procedural Gradient from the Pattern dropdown. 6. Click anywhere within the Color Selector box to add a control arrow. 7. Double click the control arrow and choose a color from the Color Palette (WIN) or Color

Picker (MAC) and click OK. 8. Drag the control arrow all the way to the left. 9. Add another control arrow by clicking in the Color Selector box, double click on its control

arrow, choose a color and click OK. 10. Check the Scale box and move its slider a little to the left. 11. Check the Noise box and leave the slider at its default starting point. 12. Click Generate Preview to see what you’ve created. 13. If you like what you see then click OK.

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Lighting Lighting Overview I don't want to get personal here, but has this ever happened to you? You're trying on clothes in a department store and you look faaaaaantastic. Then you get home and put on the same garment for the first time in real life and you feel like suing the store for defamation of character.

Ok, here's another one for you. There's a Hollywood actor that you know pretty well, and in prior movies his body has never been something you'd refer to as 'ripped.' Then you see him starring in an action flick, or a boxing movie or something where obligatory sans-shirt scenes are abundant, and your jaw drops. Suddenly the guy looks like he's got a Batman Suit on.

Both of these scenarios set your mind to pondering the forces at play in the world of self-image. Does everyone's physical appearance really vary to the degree we perceive? I'd make you guess what's going on in both of these situations, but you'd just cheat and look at the title of this chapter.

Lighting is a crucial component in the process of interpreting our visual surroundings, and this holds true in the world of 3D graphics as well. Once you've laid out your 3D scene, a crucial step in the design process is to determine a lighting scheme that complements your creation. If you're trying to make something look warm and handsome you might use the same concepts that department stores use in their dressing rooms. If it's a heavily contrasted and shadowy effect you're shooting for, then the bare-chested fight scene in the movies might be a better model to use. Whatever the case may be for you, Swift 3D provides a variety of different lighting tools and techniques to help make your scenes stand out.

Nick's Tips

Before you spend tons of time designing the ultimate lighting scheme, you should consider what types of Output Options you will be using to render your final scene. The accuracy of your lighting scheme when rendering with RAViX depends completely on the Fill Option you choose, so it may not benefit you at all to create a detailed lighting setup, only to find that your chosen style of output does not do it justice. I highly recommend spending some time reading the chapter on Rendering with RAViX so you understand the forces that will be at play in your scene come render time. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the fill quality you render your scene with, the more accurately your lighting scheme will be depicted. And if you plan on making the jump to raster output using the EMO rendering engine, lighting becomes even more important due to the photorealism EMO is capable of producing.

Related Topics: Types of Lights Trackball Lighting Scene Lighting Lighting Properties

Types of Lights There are two main types of lights that can be applied in Swift 3D. Depending on what type of effect you're trying to achieve, you can use either Point or Spot Lights, or mix and match as you

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see fit. A total of 16 lights can be active in the Viewport, but note that OpenGL only supports the display of 8 lights, so if you go beyond 8 lights what you see in your Viewport may not be the same as your rendered scene.

Point Lights

Point Lights are akin to a standard incandescent light bulb hanging from a cord in a room. This light will send rays in all directions and illuminate anything in the path of those rays. Point Lights create an effect of general illumination and cast more light than a Spot Light,

but in a broader area. These lights work well for the majority of 3D scenes since they more closely resemble the types of lighting we see in our daily lives.

Spot Lights

Spot Lights behave like a flashlight, thus their representative icon within Swift 3D. They cast a focused beam of light in a specific direction. Although you can adjust how that beam behaves (discussed in the Lighting Properties section) they do not cast any light outside of

that beam. These lights are best designed for creating very specific types of effects like a light moving across the face of an object or several objects, each with their own specific lighting.

Related Topics: Trackball Lighting Scene Lighting Lighting Properties

Lighting Gallery By far the easiest way to light a scene is by making use of the Lighting Gallery. The Lighting Gallery contains a variety of pre-made, drag-and-drop lighting schemes that come in the form of stationary lighting or animated lighting. Lighting schemes that reside in the gallery can only contain Trackball lights, so any scene lights cannot be saved to the gallery.

To apply a drag-and-drop lighting scheme: 1. Click on the Lighting button on the left side of the main Gallery Toolbar to bring up the

Lighting Gallery. 2. Choose a lighting scheme (previewing the animated schemes by clicking in the preview

window). 3. Click-and-drag the lighting scheme anywhere in your Viewport. (Repeating the process

replaces the previous scheme.)

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Lighting

4. If you applied an animated lighting scheme, use the playback controls located under the Animation Timeline to preview the animation.

You can also create and save your own lighting scheme to the gallery as well. You can either save it under an existing tab within the gallery provided , or create a new tab through the Gallery Setup. All lighting schemes get saved to the .t3l file format.

To save your own lighting scheme to the lighting gallery:

1. Design a lighting scheme using Trackball Lights only.

2. Go to the File menu and choose “Saving Lighting...” to bring up the Save Lighting dialog.

3. Choose the category under which you want the new lighting scheme to reside in the gallery. You can click on the New Category button if you wish to create a new category.

4. Invent a Name and Display Name for the lighting scheme. The Name gets used as the base file name while the Display name is what gets shown beneath the thumbnail in the gallery.

5. If the lighting scheme is animated, use the Set Display Frame controls to choose what frame of your animation to show in the preview window.

6. Click OK.

A lighting scheme added to the Gallery can only be edited by clicking and dragging it back to the Viewport. Once the scheme gets placed back into the Viewport it no longer has any connection to the original scheme stored back in the Gallery, so when you finish editing you must save a new copy to the Gallery. Either overwrite the previous scheme or go back and delete it. For further information on how to share Gallery content and managing Galleries in Swift 3D, see the section on Galleries.

Light Properties Once a light is selected, you can view that light's characteristics in the Properties Toolbar.

Naming Lights

As with objects, you can name your lights, which is a great way to keep track of multiple lights. When you rename a light, its new name will appear above the animation timeline as well.

Light Color

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You also have control over the color of each light. By double clicking on the Color window you access the Color Palette (Win) or Color Picker (Mac), which allows you to choose from pre-made colors or create custom colors of your own. Light color cannot be animated.

Nick's Tips

A great way to get just the right amount of light cast into a scene is through the process of coloring lights rather than adding or subtracting them. When you want to change the intensity of your lighting, select the light and double click on the light's Color in the Properties Toolbar. To reduce the intensity of the light, choose a darker shade of gray. Because the default color of all lights is white, you cannot increase the amount of light without adding an additional light, so messing with the light colors is always going to be a subtractive process. You can also create cool effects by coloring your lights rather than applying materials to the actual objects.

Soft Shadows

When rendering to any of the raster formats (GIF, JPEG, etc.) you can enable specific lights to cast shadows that are softer around the edges, which often provides a more realistic rendering. By default the Light Size setting is set to 0.00 which will provide hard edges on your shadows, but if you increase this setting (numbers between 0.1 and 1.0 are a good starting point) you will end up with renderings that have shadows with nicely blurred edges.

Active

The Active checkbox allows you to turn the selected light on or off, so you can play with lighting schemes without having to keep adding and deleting lights.

Shadows

By default, the Shadows option is turned on for every new light added to the trackball or scene. You can designate up to 32 lights as shadow casting. If you are planning on using shadows in your final output, but only want certain lights to cast those shadows, you need to make sure to go through each light that will not be casting shadows and uncheck the Shadows option.

When rendering to vector, designating which lights will cast shadows is only step one in the process of getting shadows to render out. Once you have all of your shadow settings covered in the Scene Editor, when you head over to the Preview and Export Editor, under the Vector Fill Options you also need to check the Include Shadows option. Shadows will also be covered in more detail in the Rendering with RAViX section. When rendering to raster, the EMO Ray Tracer will automatically honor the shadow options set in the light’s property page so no further steps are required.

Hide and Lock

These properties work the same as hiding or locking an object.

Specular

As with Shadows, you have the option to make more than one light cast specular highlights on your object, and this is controlled through each light’s Property Page. All trackball and scene lights by default are specular, which refers to the light’s ability to create a bright spot on glossy

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surfaces. If you check the Include Specular Highlights in the Preview and Export Editor, you must uncheck this option for those lights that you do not want to cast specular highlights.

Spot Light Options

With Spot Lights, you have three additional options that control the characteristics of the light's beam. Fade Angle adjusts how wide the spot light will shine. Cutoff Angle refers to how wide the spot light's hot spot is. Tightness controls how quickly the light's intensity transitions between the hot spot and the fade angle. The higher the number, the quicker the light dims.

Trackball Lighting Trackball Lighting

Swift 3D’s Lighting Trackball is fast, intuitive, and for most scenes completely effective. Before you jump into its use, you should understand what those lights on the trackball represent and how they relate to your scene.

It's fairly easy to envision lights on that trackball shining into the center of your scene. The difficult part is realizing how big that sphere is. If you imagine that the sphere of lights is as close to the objects as possible, while still encompassing all of the objects within the scene, and then double that imaginary radius you'll be there. This means that a

your lighting scheme. s your scene grows in spatial scope, so does

Nick's Tips:

If you've created a scene where all of the objects stay within a certain area, or if you've got an object spinning in the center of your scene without any movement at all, the lighting trackball is really a nicely functioning unit. But if you have a scene where objects are coming and going from your Viewport with a lot of motion involved, you will probably want to go with a lighting scheme where your lights are placed directly into the scene (read on for information on that process).

Related Topics: Types of Lights Scene Lighting Lighting Properties

Adding and Subtracting Trackball Lights

Adding and Subtracting lights is a very simple process of using the buttons located to the right of the Lighting Trackball. You can add up to 16 total lights to your scene, but you may find that after adding a few additional lights you don't really need any more. Once a light is selected, you can delete it by clicking the Remove Trackball Light button.

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Positioning Trackball Lights

The Lighting Trackball is selection sensitive, so you can only move one selected light at a time. To select a light, click on it once and you will see it turn into a red wireframe, indicating that it is selected. To position your Trackball Lights you'll be using the Lighting Trackball just as you would the Rotation Trackball. You'll notice that as the lights move from the front of the Trackball to the back, and visa versa, they grow bigger and smaller to give a visual clue as to which side of the trackball they are on. You should also note that the Lighting Trackball displays your lighting scheme according to whichever camera view (Standard and Perspective only) you have active.

For information on how the trackballs function, please refer to the Rotation Trackball section in the Working With Objects chapter. Remember that as you work with these lights, they are always going to point into the center of your scene. If you get to a point where you just can't get the effect you're trying to achieve, it's probably time to start using the Scene Lights.

Related Topics: Trackball Lighting Scene Lighting Lighting Properties

Scene Lights Scene Lights

The advantage to working with lights directly in the scene is the additional control you gain. Although the trackball lights function very well, there are situations when positioning a light in the scene is very nice, if not necessary. The first case that comes to mind is when you need a light to shine in a specific direction or onto a specific object. Another situation is if you need to create a complex lighting animation, or if you need to animate two or more lights independently.

Free Lights

Fci

T

Twr

ree Lights come in the form of either a Point Light or a Spot Light and can be ontrolled like any other object in your scene. When you select them, they will appear n the Rotation Trackball as an object, and animation is done just as you would an

object, with the only difference being that this particular object is casting light.

arget Lights

arget Lights are also available in Point or Spot Light form. You gain the most control ith Target Lights because they come complete with a pivot point. In this case we'll

efer to that point as the Target point because a Target Light will always point directly at that point. The beauty of this system is that you do not have to fuss with the aiming of the light. All you need to do is place the target point where you want that light to shine and you’re done.

Related Topics: Types of Lights Trackball Lighting Lighting Properties

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Lighting

Selecting Scene Lights

In a best case scenario, lights can be selected in the Viewport by a simple click of the mouse. Selected lights turn red to indicate their selected state. Selecting Scene Lights can start to get a little tricky when working with a complex scene because oftentimes the lights are obscured from view by other objects. When this happens, the best thing to do is simply select the light from the Hierarchy system, which is accessible from the Properties Toolbar (Win) or View > Hierarchy (Win/Mac).

Positioning Scene Lights

Positioning lights in the Viewport is no different from positioning objects so we won’t spend too much time rehashing what has already been talked about in the chapter on Working With Objects. You can either click-and-drag the light to a new position in the Viewport, or all Scene Lights can be positioned through the Light Position page of the Properties Toolbar, which allows for precise control over a light’s position in the scene. Control ovelight’s position is treated just like those of any object within S3D—you can assign a number to the X, Y and Z coordinates.

r a wift

on the target point of a Target

is

e

.

To add and position a free light: Light or Spot Light button

2. tion.

lbar and key in the exact

4.

To add and position a target light: ight or Spot Light button and your light will appear in the

2. target light using the same techniques outlined under the Free Light section,

3. e that the target point moves

4. nd go to the Light Position page of the Properties Toolbar and

You also have the ability to positiLight. The positioning of the light’s target point, unlike that of regular objects, can only be done independent of the light. Thmeans that when you move a light, the target point will always remain in the same spot, and when you move the pivot point, thlight will always stay in exactly the same spot. Once again, you can control the position of the light and its target point by clickingand dragging either with the mouse or using the numeric coordinate system found under the Position Property Page

1. Click the Create Free Point and it will appear at its default location in the Viewport.Use your mouse to click-and-drag the light to a new loca

3. With the light selected, go to the Light page of the Property Toocoordinates of where you want it to move. With the light selected, use the nudge keys to move the light to a new location.

1. Click the Create Target Point LViewport. Position thebut notice that the light moves independently of the target. Click on the target point and drag it to a new position. Noticindependent of the light. Click on the target point akey in new coordinates under Target Position.

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Cameras Cameras Overview Shut your left eye.

I'm serious, go ahead and shut it. Now place your face right up against this page (or your screen if you're reading the electronic version). Now move your head around and look at some different things in the room. Hey, what else do you have to do right now… just do it. Ok, now get up out of your chair, run into the next room, spin around 3 times and then stand on your head. No? All right, forget it. The point is you've got two well-used cameras already built into your head, so there's not too much mystery involved with cameras.

You can open your left eye now.

The cameras within Swift 3D work in a similar fashion to your eyes. You can look at different things by moving your head around. You can see things up close and from far away by altering the space between your eyes and your subject matter. And if you're not pleased with your view, you can get up and reposition your cameras somewhere else. Another similarity is that all Swift 3D cameras show a Perspective view, where the laws of physics decide how large objects are in relation to the camera. And, if you decide the laws of physics aren't all they are cracked up to be, you can always switch to an Orthographic views, where these laws are disregarded.

The cameras within Swift 3D can be used in two primary ways. First, they can be used as frames of reference. In other words, used to look into the world of Swift 3D from different perspectives while creating your 3D scene. Second, they can be used to record any action that takes place in your scene. If you've got a scene with no movement, think of your camera as a single-frame picture camera, and if you've got any sort of animation then consider it more of a video camera. And just like a video camera, certain Swift 3D cameras can be physically moved around and pointed at things as you record the movement in your scene.

Related Topics Standard Cameras Default Target Camera Free Cameras Target Cameras Properties Toolbar Orthographic View Layout Properties Camera Properties Environment Properties Hierarchy Properties

Camera Mode

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To maneuver any camera view within Swift 3D, you must hold down the ALT key (Win) or the COMMAND key (Mac) to enter into Camera Mode. The cursor will change to the Camera cursor to indicate you are in this mode.

Viewport Menu Swift 3D offers seven different cameras by default with the ato add as many custom cameras as you like. You select which camera you would like to use from the Viewport Menu buttonlocated in the upper left corner of the Viewport.

bility

IMPORTANT: To move the camera’s view you must first hold down the ALT key (Win) or COMMAND key (Mac) to enter into Camera Mode. Refer to the section on Cameras for detailed information on panning, zooming, rotating and rolling the different cameras.

Related Topics: Free Cameras Default Target Camera Standard Cameras Target Cameras Orthographic View Reference Grid Viewports

Camera Property Page Name

If you are using one of the Standard Cameras, this option will be grayed out, but you can rename any Free or Target Camera that you insert into your Scene. This is helpful for keeping track of multiple cameras.

Lens Length

I really don't want to bore you with the intricacies of lenticular optics. (Actually, I have no idea what lenticular optics means, but the “I don't want to bore you with” stuff sounds so much more intelligent than the “I have no idea what” stuff. But I'm going to fake it anyway.)

When you lengthen the lens of a camera, it magnifies the image. Because it magnifies the image, you must move the camera farther away from your scene to get an all-encompassing view of your objects. An additional side effect of having a very magnified view is that the camera's field of view becomes very concentrated. In other words, the longer the lens, the smaller the scope of what can be seen through that lens.

222

Cameras

When you shorten the length of a camera lens, you are getting a very broad view of your scene. In the process of broadening your view it will seem as if your camera is moving away from the scene, even though that is not the case. To get the scene to fit the scope of the Viewport, you must move the camera very close to the scene's center. In doing this, you will find that in the shortened lens' efforts to show a very wide field of view, distortion begins to occur around the edges of the camera view.

It's important to recognize the difference between adjusting the lens length and zooming the camera. Within Swift 3D, when you zoom a camera in or out on your scene, the camera actually physically moves (see section on Zooming under Standard Cameras for more information). When you adjust the lens length, you are simulating the change in the optics of your camera view.

Hide and Lock

These properties work the same as hiding or locking an object.

Nick's Tips

Optics, schmoptics, you just want to know how to use this setting. OK, here's the skinny. Shorten your lens length if you want to create a cool 'fish eye' effect where objects are distorted as they move around within the camera view. I find that somewhere in the teens (11 to 19) works great. Lengthen your lens length if you're doing any tight fly-through animations because you will be less likely to experience objects coming through the clipping plane (essentially busting through the front of the camera). You can also simulate an orthographic view by using a very long lens because as you increase the length, you lose the sense of a perspective view.

Related Topics Standard Cameras Default Target Camera Free Cameras Target Cameras Properties Toolbar Orthographic View Layout Properties Camera Properties Environment Properties Hierarchy Properties

Standard Cameras Standard Cameras

There are six Standard Cameras that come with Swift 3D. I use the term ‘come with’ because you don't have to do anything to create them. The Standard Cameras are Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Right and Left. It might help to think of a big cube that surrounds your scene and each one of these cameras exists on the outside of that cube, looking in on the Swift 3D world. These

223


cameras can serve as simple reference views or as integral parts of your animated scene. Each of these cameras can be used as the view that gets rendered upon export, but they cannot be animated themselves. Any camera animations need to be performed with the Free and Target Cameras or using the Perspective Viewport.

You can change the camera view of each Viewport by clicking on the Viewport Menu button in the upper left hand corner of the Viewport and choosing an available camera from the list.

Related Topics: Default Target Camera Free Cameras Target Cameras

Panning

The Standard Cameras are most beneficial when your animation does not involve any camera movement, but rather just the movement of objects. The limitation in panning the Standard Cameras is that they always face the exact same direction, as if they could only move along the surface of that imaginary cube I mentioned earlier. For example, the Front Camera always looks exactly along the Z axis. When you pan these cameras, it's more of a sliding motion (left, right, up and down) rather than a pivoting motion (as if you were standing in one place and pointing your camera in different directions).

To pan a standard camera: 1. Hold down the ALT key (Win) or COMMAND key (Mac) to enter Camera Mode. 2. Drag anywhere in the Viewport. The cursor will change appearance to indicate that you

are panning the camera. If you have the reference grid turned on you will see the grid lines, as well as any objects moving around in the Viewport, but remember it is actually the camera that is moving.

3. As soon as you release the mouse button, the camera pan icon will disappear.

or...

1. Click and drag on the Viewport Camera Pan icon. 2. Drag the cursor around the Viewport to position the camera.

Zooming

Zooming a Standard Camera in or out will actually move the camera's location in 3D space. Because the camera is essentially the Viewport you are looking through, you don't see the camera actually moving. Instead, your scene appears to move closer or farther away from you. If you were to compare this process to using a regular picture camera, it would be akin to physically walking closer to or farther away from whatever it is you want to take a picture of. This differs from the terminology of picture cameras because zooming with a picture camera is actually done by changing the length of the lens. You can create a similar effect to zooming by changing the Lens Length (see the previous section on Lens Length under Camera Property Page), but there are other changes that happen to the view of your scene.

224

Cameras

To zoom a standard camera: 1. Hold down the ALT key (Win) or COMMAND key (Mac) to enter Camera Mode. 2. Right click-and-drag (Win) or CTRL+ click-and-drag (Mac) anywhere in the Viewport. The

cursor will change appearance to indicate that you are zooming the camera. 3. Drag the cursor upward to zoom in and downward to zoom out.

or...

1. Click and drag on the Viewport Camera Zoom icon. 2. Drag the cursor up to zoom in and down to zoom out.

Frame Options

Additional controls that facilitate zooming in or out on particular areas of your scene can be found in the Viewport Menu:

Frame All: All objects, lights and cameras in the Viewport will be framed in the camera view.

Frame All Objects: All objects only will be framed in the camera view. Frame Selection: Any selected objects will be framed. Reset View: The view will be reset so that the camera will again be focused at the center

of the scene. Any zooming that has taken place will not be restored.If you want to look at it mathematically, it repositions your camera so that its coordinates are X = 0 and Y = 0, while Z remains the same. This function only works with the six Standard Cameras.

Reset Camera Location

Clicking the reset button, which is located at the bottom othe buttons found on the left side of the Rotation Trackball, will open a menu which includes Reset CLocation at the bottom. This has the same functionathe Viewport Menu’s Reset View option and is available when no objects are selected within the Viewport.

f

amera lity as

Related Topics

Frame All Objects Button

Located on the main toolbar, the Frame All Objects button has the same functionality as

so that al

Related Topics

Default Target Camera

Standard Cameras

the Frame All Objects feature that is located in the Viewport Menu. A simple click will position the camera directly in front of all of your objects while zooming either in or out l of the objects are visible with only a slight buffer of space around the edge of the

Viewport.

Standard Cameras

225


The Default Target Camera is a hybrid betweThe big advantage this camera has over the S

en the Standard Cameras and the Target Camera. tandard Cameras is that it can be aimed. If you

remember the earlier cube analogy, the Default Target Camera can be positioned anywhere on t

fault Target Camera has a target ly way to pan the camera up,

down, left or right is by clicking directly on that

down the ALT key (Win) or

get Point

s

2. int to rsor.

3. a in ction.

Zoo

ss of physically moving the camera closer or from its target point. Zooming can therefore be done by clicking anywhere in the

background.

t step 1 from “To pan the Default Target view.” the camera’s Target Point to activate the

ng downwards.

Or...

Click and drag on the Camera Zoom button located in the top right corner of the Viewport.

Ro

ooming, the Default Target View can also be rotated and rolled. moves the camera 360 degrees around the camera’s Target Point.

Rolling the camera is the process of tilting the camera left or right.

the surface or within the cube, and aimed in any direction. The disadvantage of the Default TargeCamera over the Target Camera is that any camera manipulation has to be done through the Viewport rather than moving the actual camera.

Panning

Since the Depoint, the on

target point.

To pan the Default Target view: 1. Hold

COMMAND key (Mac) to enable the camera. The camera’s Tarwill appear in the center of the Viewport. The Target Point designatewhere the camera is aimed. Click on the camera’s Target Poactivate the Camera Pan cuDrag the cursor to pan the camerany dire

ming

Like the Standard Viewports, zooming is the procefarther away

To zoom the Default Target view: 1. Repea2. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on

Camera Zoom cursor. 3. Zoom in by dragging upwards and zoom out by draggi

1.

tating and Rolling

In addition to panning and zRotating the camera literally

To rotate the Default Target view: 1. Repeat step 1 from “To pan the Default Target view.”

226

Cameras

227

rt except on the camera’s Target Point. A thin gray circle k in order to rotate or roll the

Or...

Click and drag on the Camera Arc Rotate button located in the top right corner of the Viewport.

To roll the Default Target view: 1. Repeat step 1 from “To pan the Default Target view.”

ate the Default Target view.” amera.

Wha single green arrow within the Rotation Trackball that

tion to lock camera roll in the User Preferences dialog.

also have access to the same Frame All, Frame All Objects and Frame Selection options as the Standard

Standard Cameras

meras

talking some serious cameras. With both the Free Camera and the Target Camera, the cameras themselves actually show up in the Viewport and can be m

camera ani

e Camera or Create Target Camera buttons from the Main Toolbar, you will see a light blue rectangular-looking object appear in the Viewport (Target Cameras also

2. Click anywhere in the Viewpowill appear as a visual indicator of where you must cliccamera.

3. Click-and-drag anywhere within the circle to rotate the camera. NOTE: If you rotate thecamera so that it is looking straight up or down the Y axis, the camera’s rotational movement becomes very sensitive.

1.

2. Repeat step 2 from “To rot3. Click-and-drag anywhere outside the circle to roll the c

en you roll the Default Target Viewport, you’ll also notice

indicates which way the top of the camera points. You can use this arrow as a nice visual aid if you lose track of how thecamera is tilted in the Viewport, or you can also control the roll of the camera by rotating the camera directly in the Rotation Trackball (note that the Lock Spin button within the trackball is locked on.)

NOTE: You have the op

In addition to panning, zooming, rotating and rolling the Default Target View, you

Viewports. These options are located in the Viewport Menu.

Related Topics

Free Cameras Target Cameras

Scene CaScene Cameras

Now we're

anipulated as objects. This allows for much better camera control and facilitates mation like you wouldn't believe.

Adding Cameras to the Scene

When you click the Create Fre


come with a blue target point). This represents the camera, but in order to actually view what the camera is seeing you must first change the view of one of the Viewports. New cameras get assigned a default name of Free or Target Camera01, Camera02, etc. and they can be selected from the Viewport Menu. You can create multiple Free and Target Cameras, but you may wastart naming them to keep track since cameras are all represented with identical icons in the scene.

nt to

Free Camera Target Camera

Nick's Tips

ferences in life, and here's mine. When working with Free or Target Cameras, I like to use the left Viewport as my camera view and use the right Viewport as my scene vi rt

ameras

done by clicking within the Camera's Viewport, like a Standard Camera, or by clicking directly on the camera icon itself in any other Viewport. Once you select

select the camera via the Hierarchy toolbar. This is a simple process of scrolling through the Hierarchy list and clicking on the corresponding camera’s name. If you

re named as such because they can be pointed in any direction.

We've all got pre

ew, keeping it set to the Top view most of the time. My rationale is that the left Viewpois always the one that gets rendered upon export, and when I'm doing camera animations the likelihood is high that I'll want to render what that camera actually sees. As far as the Top view goes, I feel this particular view gives you the best reference of where things are in the scene, much like a Plan view in architectural drawings. Of course this can vary depending on how yourscene is constructed.

Selecting Scene C

Selecting Scene Cameras can be

the camera it will turn red.

You also have the option to

have more than one camera in your scene, this is where giving cameras meaningful names will come in handy because it might come down to trial and error figuring out which camera is Free Camera01 vs. Free Camera06. Once a camera is selected in the Hierarchy list it will turn red in the Viewports and indicating that it is ready to be worked with.

Free Cameras

Free cameras a

228

Cameras

Free C

Free cameras are named as such because they can be pointed in any direction.

Positioning (Panning and Zooming)

n be positioned using any of the following three methods:

ameras

Free Cameras ca

1. Once the Free Camera gets inserted, you can move it

2. You can also control its movements (panning and e

3. e

You can choose which method is most appropriate, but I find that using the Free Camera's view for zooming and the secondary view for camera positioning works pretty well.

Rotating

two methods:

1.

that the Fre

Or,

1. rt2.

Notice that two arrows appear in the Rotation Trasho oaxis previous section


around by dragging the camera icon in the secondary Viewport, just like a regular object.

zooming) through the Free Camera's Viewport, much likyou would a Standard Camera. Through the numeric coordinate system found under thCamera Position property page.

The Free Camera can be rotated using either of the following

Select the Free Camera icon in one of the Standard

e Camera icon now appears in the Rotation Trackball. Use the Rotation Trackball as you

menu, select the Free Camera to be active in either of the Viewports. Click anywhere in the background of the Free Camera Viewport.

ckball. These arrows are used as references to

See on aiming the Default Target Camera for more details on this process.

Camera Viewports. 2. Notice

would with any object to rotate the Free Camera in any direction.

Using the Viewpo

w y u which way the camera is pointing (blue arrow) and which direction the camera's vertical is (green arrow). This is also where you would aim the Free Camera.

Related Topics Standard Cameras

Target Cameras

Target Cameras

229


Better known as ‘The ultimate Swift 3D camera,’ Target Cameras give you the same control over the camera's positioning, but add the ability to aim the camera at specific locations in

t point.

Positi

in one of the Standard Camera views and dragging it to a new location. This is the equivalent of

ooming a Standard Camera. NoCamera moves independently of its target point. This means that

the scene via the targe

oning

As with the Free Camera, the Target Camera can be positioned by clicking on the camera icon

panning or z tice that the Target

,

when you move a Target Camera, the target point will always remain in the same spot, and when you move the target point, the Target Camera will always stay in exactly the same spot.You can also animate the positioning of the Target Point separately from that of the camera itself.

Because the Target Camera has the addition of its Target Pointits Camera Position page also allows you to numerically position both the camera and its target point.

A final way of positioning the Target Camera is to use the Camera Arc Rotate button located in the top right corner of the

Viewport.

Rotating

Rotating th arglocation, a cu

e T et Camera can be done by agging it to a new s dis ssed in the previous sectio the Target Camera is selected as

an active Viewport, it can be rotated us Default Target

Topics Standard Cameras

Free Cameras

Camera Views ime to render your scene, whichever Viewport is currently active will be the one

that is rendered.

e, which means you cannot render your

clicking on its Target Point and drn. In addition, when

ing the same method as rotating the Camera.

Rolling

Use the same methods for rolling a Default Target Camera to roll the Target Camera.

Related


Rendering When it comes t

Swift 3D can only render one camera view at a timanimation from multiple camera views. If rendering from more than one camera is required by your project, render each camera view separately and then composite the files in Flash.

230

Animation

231

Animate Button This all-powerful toggle button located just below the Animation Timeline slips you in and out of animation mode. When this button is toggled off, nothing you

do to your scene or the timeline will affect your animation. When it is toggled on, any changes you make to your scene will be recorded as keyframes in the timeline and thus affect your overall animation. The best way to use this button is to set up your entire scene first, turn the Animate button on, and then proceed to develop your animation.

Related Topics: Working with Keyframes Animation Timeline Toolbar Keyframe Animation Keyframe Properties

Animation Timeline Toolbar Animation Timeline Toolbar

The Animation Toolbar is used to make your scene come to life (but it won’t come to life unless you click on the Animate button). Whenever your scene changes over time, the Animation Toolbar displays the relevant information. The timeline is divided into frames, much like the individual frames of a movie. The more frames, the longer the movie, unless you start to mess with the Frames Per Second control that will animations by changing each of the individual frseveral keyframes and let Swiftway to go).

Animation Toolbar:

be discussed in a moment. You can either create ames (takes awhile—don't bother), or create

3D interpolate or ‘tween’ the animation in between (definitely the

Related Topics:

Animation

233

play. he scene to the first frame of your animation.

he scene back one frame. ene to the next frame.

Last Frame: Advances scene to the last frame of your animation.

smoothly your animation will play. But the more frames that get exported to a file, the larger that s always a subjective decision to get made here. The default of 12 frames

lf to be very effective for use on the Web but it's important to note that s into Flash, it will override any adjustments you make in Swift 3D etting.

mes Per Second setting can be adjusted by going to Setup > User Preferences.

ll render your final file with regards to creating looping animations. If you are creating a linear animation where your last frame is not the same as your

n u

D ly

This will in no way affect whethersh. By default, all

automatically loop when played in the Flash Playerloop unless told to do so with specific Flash commands.

NOTE: The default state of the Loop Animati Setup > User Preferences.

Animation Gallery Animation Gallery

The drag-and-drop animations are the easiest way with some common animations within the Animation Gallery that cover the basics. You know, spin right, clockwise spin, 45-degree right spin. The typical animations you might want to apply. To preview the animations just click on the thumbnail image and you'll see a small-scale rendition of the action. To apply them to your image just click-and-drag from the Preview Window onto

wish to be animated. When you apply an animation from this gallery, the

Play: Does just that. Stop: The opposite ofFirst Frame: Moves tPrevious Frame: Moves tNext Frame: Advances sc

Frames Per Second

The Frames Per Second Control allows you to adjust how quickly the frames of your animationwill play after exporting to a file. The more frames that get viewed each second, the more

file will be, so there iper second has proven itsewhen you import Swift 3D fileand revert back to its default s

NOTE: The default Fra

Loop Animation

This button determines how Swift 3D wi

first frame, you want to turn this button off. If you're attempting to create a seamlessly looping animation where your first frame is identical to your last frame, you should turn this button o(default configuration). You see, when your last frame is the same as your first frame and yoloop the entire animation, you'll end up with two identical frames in a row, which will manifest itself as a pause in your final animation. When you toggle the Loop Animation button on, Swift 3automatically skips the rendering of your final frame so that you don't end up with that unsightpause.

or not your animation loops when played in the Flash Player or SWF animations rendered from Swift 3D will

, and all SWF files imported into Flash will not

on button can be adjusted by going to

to get your scene moving. We've supplied you

when imported into Fla

whatever object you


Animate toggle button does not automatically turn on so if you want to edit the animation you the Animate button. The default length of the drag-and-drop animations is

20 frames, but that can be easily adjusted (see Adjusting Animation Length). need to first toggle on

3. Click-and-drag from that animation's preview window.

Applying more than one drag and drop animation

You can apply a spin, deformation and fly by animation all to one object if you so choose.

You n p thatcas ation as w

An

n this but t object intext while the Drop Target button is toggled on, each individual character will spin around their resp

If yo n while dr the Animation Drop Target butt

Scenes can get very confusing when you start to animate individual characters in text objects. I an apply spins to characters since changing their paths really creates te an animation for an individual character or individual object within a

CTRL + clicking (Mac) on the timeline and selecting Delete All Keyframes.

To apply a drag-and-drop animation: 1. Click on the Show Animations button in the Gallery Toolbar. 2. Choose an animation that you like.

4. Move your cursor over the object or group of objects and release the mouse button. 5. Click the Play button on the Playback Controls to view your animation.

However, you cannot apply two animations from the same category, such as two different typesof Common Spins. If you try to do this the second animation applied will simply override the first animation.

ca , however, create a nested animation by applying one animation to an object, then grou object with other objects, and then apply a second animation to the grouped object. In this e, the original object will carry out its first animation while partaking in the second animell. You can nest these animations several layers deep.

imation Drop Target

This feature only applies to Text or Grouped objects. When this button is off, any drag-and-drop animations will be applied to your entire text object or grouped objects as a whole. Whe

ton is toggled on, drag-and-drop animations are applied to each of the characters in a texdividually or each individual object in a group. For example, if you drop a spin onto your

ective axis.

u want to apply a drag-and-drop animation to just one character, hold down the CTRL buttoagging the animation to the desired character. Make sure

on is not toggled on.

wouldn't do much more thchaos. If you need to delegroup, hold down the CTRL key as you select that character or object. Its animation properties will appear in the animation timeline and you can delete the animation by right clicking (Win) or

234

Animation

235

Saving an Animation to the Animation Gallery

As you l animations, you may come age, mind you, but the animation schem imations and turn them into drag and drop adate.

and-drop

oose a name and location within the Animation

e Set Display Frame controls to choose what frame of your animation to

view window.

the e n

s Animation Gallery to bring up the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can delete,

Advanced Keyframe Animation nimation

they work is an important step in creating animations quickly. Sure, you can tell Swift 3D exactly what you want your scene to look like in

e better off using the built-in tweening functions associated with the Animation Timeline. Basically, keyframes represent points in an animation where

become more familiar with Swift 3D and start generating some cooacross something you'd like to save for later. Not the ime. Swift 3D allows you to take your self-created annimations for easy application at a later

To create your own drag-animation:

1. Design an animation you like. 2. Select the object that has the killer

animation you want to preserve. 3. From the file menu, choose “Save

Animation...” 4. This will bring up the Gallery Setup

dialog, from which you can ch

Gallery for your scheme. 5. Use th

show in the pre6. Click OK.

An animation added to the Gallery can only be edited by clicking and dragging it back onto an object. Once the animation gets placed back into the scene it no longer has any connection to original animation stored back in the Gallery, so once you finish editing you must go through thsteps for adding a new animation to the Gallery. If you do not desire two copies of the animatiosimply overwrite the previous animation or go back and delete it from the Gallery.

You can right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the palette window surrounding the thumbnailwithin therename or relocate any gallery content. For more detailed information on how to share Gallery content and organizing/managing Galleries in Swift 3D, see the section on Galleries in the Scene Editor chapter.

Keyframe A

Understanding keyframes and how

every frame, but you'd b

you can make important changes take place. In between the keyframes, Swift 3D will make all the decisions on how your scene changes automatically. The keyframes simply give Swift 3D reference points to work from while it decides how to create the transitional frames using the tweening process.


To create a basic keyframe animation using the timeline:

1. Create a scene with at least one object. 2. Toggle the Animate button on. 3. Click-and-drag the Current Frame Indicator to the desired frame number, setting your

animation length. 4. Manipulate your object(s). For each Animation Property that you change there will be a

corresponding keyframe added to the timeline. 5. To view your animation, press the Play button.

Related Topics:

Ani i

Sta a

Wit Animation

u want. For example, you may want a spinning text object to

hen

n animation:

t half of the

the pause, start and stop animation control bars and click- entire keyframe.

t technique involves scaling an entire animation at

Animate Button mat on Timeline Toolbar

rt nd Stop Keyframe Controls

hin the Animation Timeline, each keyframe has a Start Animation and a Stopcontrol. Within one frame the controls are set to the same value so there is no pause. Adjusting these controls allows you to stop one aspect of an animation for as long as yo

pause mid-spin so it's easier to read. We've

same on the righ

position your cursor over the Red Bar in between the and-drag to reposition the

used the universal “Green equals Go, Red equals Stop” color scheme to make it obvious wan object is going to move, rotate or change size, and when it is going to stop doing those things.

To pause a1. Toggle the Animate button on. 2. Position your cursor over the left half of the keyframe bar. 3. When you get the Left Directional Arrow, click-and-drag to where you want your

animation to begin its pause. 4. If you want to adjust the Animation Start Time, do the

keyframe. 5. To adjust the location of

Related Topics: Animate Button Animation Timeline Toolbar

Adjusting Animation Length

This feature is a big time saver because it allows you to scale your animations without having to adjust every single keyframe involved. The firsonce. In this case, every single keyframe of every single object, camera and light will be adjustedin proportion with each other simultaneously.

To scale an entire animation: 1. Toggle the Animate button on.

236

Animation

2. Click-and-drag on the bar located just beyond the last upper section of the timeline where the frame numbers are displayed.

frame of your animation in the

Select the object whose animation length you would like to alter. 2. Toggle the Animate button on.

at the end of your object's Animation Properties (e.g. tion, Scale, Rotation, etc.).

d ending frame.

RelAni eAnimati

Copying and Pasting Keyframes

If you have the need to create a keyframe identical to an existing keyframe, you can use the Copy/Paste Keyframe function. The most common use of this is when you have an animation that you would like to loop; having the same starting and ending keyframes insures a smooth loop in

ggle button earlier in this chapter for more

To copy and paste a keyframe:

ur cursor over the frame you would like to paste the keyframe into. 5. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on that frame and choose Paste Keyframe from

keyframe feature can also be helpful when you want to reverse your

a e

Related Topics:

3. Move the marker to your desired ending frame. 4. Release the mouse button.

To scale the animation of an object: 1.

3. Click-and-drag on the long barPosi

4. Move the marker to your desire5. Release the mouse button.

ated Topics: mat Button

on Timeline Toolbar

your animation. (See the section on the Loop Toinformation on looping animations.)

Keyframes cannot be copied from one project to another, but if you copy an animated object from one project to another, its animation will come along for the ride.

1. Select the object whose animation you would like to edit. 2. Toggle the Animate button on. 3. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the keyframe you would like to copy, and

choose Copy Keyframe from the context menu. 4. Move yo

the context menu.

Nick’s Tips

The copy and paste animation. For example, if you are creating an animation that has a text string and you want each letter of that text to start out of view and then fly into the center of your Viewport, it is easiest to start creating the animation with your text already in place in the center of the Viewport. From there, you can move the keyframe indicator over and move each letter so that they fly away from the center of the Viewport and out of sight. Now all you need to do is copy the first keyframe tospot beyond your final keyframe, and then copy the final keyframe into the first frame. Adjust thnew final keyframe back to where you want the animation to end, and you have reversed your animation. Another option is to export your initial animation and use Flash’s Reverse Animation feature.

237


Animate Button Animation Timeline Toolbar

Deleting Keyframes

There are a few different methods of deleting parts of your animations depending on how much of the

To e to edit.

3. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac) on the keyframe you would like to delete. te Keyframe from the menu.

t, camera or light animation:

) anywhere in the timeline. 4. Select Delete All Keyframes from the context menu.

4. Choose Edit > Delete All Animations. message appears, click OK.

ReAni eAni i

Lin

Linear Frame Spacing has to do with how much your objects move between each frame as they eyframe. This feature can be adjusted on a per keyframe basis and is

cking (Win) or CTRL + clicking (Mac) on individual keyframes in the e. Linear Frame Spacing is listed in the context menu that appears, with its on

checkmark placed in front of it in the menu.

d off (unchecked), which allows Swift 3D to automatically . This

3D will move the object at a consistent meaning the object moves the same amount of distance

betw n

animation you would like to get rid of.

delete an individual keyframe: Select the object whose animation you would lik1.

2. Toggle the Animate button on.

4. Choose Dele

To delete the selected objec1. Select the object or camera whose animation you would like to delete. 2. Toggle the Animate button on. 3. Right click (Win) or CTRL + click (Mac

To delete all object animations: 1. Choose Edit > Delete Object Animations. 2. When the warning message appears, click OK. 3. To delete all animations:

5. When the warning

lated Topics: mat Button mat on Timeline Toolbar

ear Frame Spacing

transition through a kaccessed by right cliAnimation Timelinand off state indicated by the

The default is to have this feature turneease objects into and out of a keyframe is accomplished by adjusting the distance an object travels between frames as it approaches and leaves a keyframe. Since this is an automatic setting that slows an object down as it enters a keyframe and speeds it up as it leaves the keyframe, you do not have any control over how fast or how slow objects enter and leave keyframes.

When Linear Frame Spacing is turned on (checked), Swiftspeed throughout the animation,

ee each frame of the animation.

238

Animation

NO point to

Ea g

keysmoscacondynami

right clicking (Mac) on

orphing, Color, Shape

ReKeyAni i

Animation Path Mode Editing the Animation Path

frame in the path is represented by a square red icon, which is called the Keyframe Control Point. This icon can be moved to a new location anywhere along the x, y or z axis just like

bject. You will also have access to each control point's Bezier control

TE: This setting is only applicable to path animations, where objects are moving from one another.

sin

New easing controls work with the frames in your animation timeline to oth out position, rotation, and

ling transitions. These easing trols add more realism to the motion

cs of your 3D animations.

This feature is accessed by(Win) or CTRL + clicking individual keyframes and selecting Properties. This will open the KeyframeProperties dialog box, where you can adjust Ease To/Ease From by moving their respective sliders to the left and right. Changes made to the slider will be reflected in the graph, displaying the degree of motion over time.

Easing applies to every transform possible, including Mesh MAnimations, etc.

lated Topics: frame Animation

omat n Timeline Toolbar

All animation paths of objects, lights and cameras can be edited by clicking on the Animation Path Mode button located to the left of the Animate button on the Main Toolbar. This button

will not become active until you first click on the Animate button to go into Animating mode. Once the Animation Path Mode button is selected, if there is an animation path present it will become visible in each Viewport. Since you can enter into Animation Path Mode at any time during the animation process, if you have not yet created an animation then the path will not become visible until you start adding keyframe.

Each key

you would move an o

239


handles, which are designated by green squares. In order to move an entire path to a new ting the object itself.

th Mode is turned on, if you position an object by clicking on the ich is also the object's pivot point) a new keyframe will not get added

ve to click on a surface area of the object that is away from the Keyframe Control Point and then drag the object to a new location.

Be

Onc ier Pat

Each keyframe control point can be designated as a Corner, Curkeyframe control point will be a Curve Point by default. You can either change the point type after t

A C ehowpoinAdjimpact on the animation path.

and exiting the point. Although you

If you need precise control over the exact location of each keyframe control point you can adjust

location, this is done by reloca

NOTE: When Animation PaKeyframe Control Point (whto the timeline. Clicking on the Keyframe Control Point only adjusts the position of that keyframe, regardless of whether or not the red keyframe indicator is moved to a new point on the timeline. Therefore, to insert a new keyframe you ha

zier Path Properties

e in Animation Path mode a new page will appear in the Properties Toolbar called Bezh.

Point Type

ve or Tangent point. When you create an animation each

he animation is made, or if you

fines nt since these

as no

ndles (the green squares) that e of the animation path entering

can control the entry and exit, n path are linked to each other so

know ahead of time which type of point you want you can choose the point type before you create each keyframe .

orn r Point does not contain any information that de the animation path enters or exits that poits are always connected with perfectly straight lines.

usting the Bezier handles of Corner Points therefore h

The Curve Pointand therefore co

is defined by something called a Bezier curve mes with ha

provide control over the shap

the two halves of your animatiopositional changes to one half of your point may have an effect on the other half of the Bezier curve.

The Tangent Point is very similar to the Curve point but it allows you to control each side of the curve's control points separately. The tangent point is designed to allow your animation path to enter and exit the point with completely different paths.

NOTE: If the Bezier handles for a Curve or Tangent Point are not displayed, CTRL (Win) or Option (Mac) + click and drag on the green control point to pull the Bezier handle out for display and editing.

Position

the X, Y and Z position of the points by entering the exact coordinates.

Orient to Path

240

Animation

When the Orient to Path option on the Bezier property page is checked, Swift 3D will take the object that is being animated and align it along the path according to its starting rotation. As the

es through the keyframes along the path, Swift 3D will lly rotate the object accordingly in order to maintain its

oint, so you can also move the pivot point in order to he animation path.

u must also define the Up Axis in order to tell Swift 3D which as the top reference. This feature is designed to ur objects as the path direction crosses over any of

wn list you have the following Up Axis options: X Axis, Y Axis, or Z Axis. The basic rule of thumb with the Up Axis setting is to choose the axis that is most

erpendicular to your animation path, which in this case is the Y Axis. So, for example, if you only along the X and Z planes, meaning that the

ut moving forward or backward and left or right, the logical as a stunt plane that was flying in loops, so that its circular

ade when animations are introduced with paths that move

most logical direction for that object.

th, the object certain the airplane

paths were combined so that the

along the Y axis, if the Up Axis was set to Y the plane's rotation will flip 180 degrthe Y

You

e orientation that Swift 3D sets for the object as it moves along a path. Use the local rotation setting, found on the Rotation property page, to further refine

object movautomaticaorientation to that path. Note that the orientation of the object is dependent on the location of the pivot pcontrol which point of the object is pinned to t

In addition to its forward direction yoprimary axis (X, Y or Z) you would like to useprevent any unnecessary flipping about of yothe axes. From the Reference dropdo

phave set an airplane along a path that moves airplane is maintaining its elevation bUp Axis would be the Y Axis. And if it wmotion was along the Y and Z axis, the Up Axis would be the X Axis.

Of course these examples are both straightforward path animations that move only along 2 axes, so decisions need to be m

along all three axes. Since you can only select one Up Axis, you need to choose the

Depending on the pamay flip its rotation atpoints. Going back toexample, if the two animation

plane stayed along the X and Z axis and then did a vertical loop

ees as the animation path became parallel with

Airplane animated along the X and Z planes with Up Axis set to Y

axis.

will find the local Axis Guide always shown within the Rotation Trackball is an extremely helpful reference when choosing which axis to orient the object along. Once an Up Axis is

chosen, a yellow guide point will also appear that indicates the Up Axis for that object.

Nick’s Tips You are not limited to th

an object's rotation during the animation. Keep in mind that when an object is set along a path, it is its bounding box that maintains its orientation to the path, so when you change its local rotation you will not disrupt the global orientation of that object to the path. Going back to the plane

241


example, if the plane is moving in a circle and you want to have the plane bank inwards as isimply set the local rotation of the plane to achieve t

t flies, his effect.

ents to the path can previously discussed path editing techniques. If you edit that path be able to apply the newly edited path to a different object you

need to save it as a new animation to the Animation Gallery.

h Morphing Mesh Morpher Property Page

le

nd targets share the same relationship as is explained in the

odeler is selected, you will notice that a layer is added in the Animation Timeline for each of the

ct the mesh model to be animated. 3. Select the frame in which you would like your mesh animation to end.

om the Properties Toolbar. 5. Select a Morph Target other than Unmorphed Target.

Setting Objects to Existing Paths

If you want to set other objects in your scene to an existing animation path you must first save thepath to the Animation Gallery. After the path is saved, you can apply it to other objects in the scene. Once the path is applied, you can select the object and go to the Bezier Path property page to set how you want that object to orient to that path. Any other adjustmalso be made using any of the keep in mind that if you want to

Mes

As with many things in Swift 3D, the Mesh Morpher is accessibfrom the Properties Toolbar when an appropriate object is selected in the Viewport, in this case a mesh model. These properties include a list of Morph Groups and their associated Morph Targets, as well as Target Percent. While groups a

Advanced Modeler chapter, their use is different once you are working in the Scene Editor.

When a mesh model that has been set up with Morph Groups and Targets in the Advanced M

object’s Mesh Groups, excluding the Unmorphed Target.

Related Topics: Mesh Morpher Overview Morph Groups Morph Targets Target Percent

Animating a Mesh Morph

To animate a mesh morph:

1. Toggle the Animate button on. 2. Sele

4. Select Mesh Morpher fr

6. Set Target Percent to 100. 7. Click the Play Animation button to preview your work.

242

Animation

Congratulations! While a simple example, you’ve now created youp endless possibilities. However, before you run off to create a feextravaganza you should first read up on the advantages of us

Related Topics: Mesh Morpher Overview Morph Groups

ur first mesh animation, opening ature length animated

ing the Target Percent property.

we don’t know how many frames may be in any given animation the animation’s length. The real power of Target Percent

into play when you have more than one modified Morph Target. By default Unmorphed Target is assigned 100% and additional Morph Targets default to zero.

p to a keyframe, it includes all of that groups associated Morph eir Target Percents are set to something other than zero, they make

is where the real power of the Mesh Morpher becomes Percent for multiple Morph Targets to various percentages, they

ect an entirely new appearance. As a result, multiple morph me time. Combine this feature with the fact that you can have d Morph Targets, and control how they blend using Target s are truly limitless.

Swift 3D allows you to animate either uniform or understanding non-uniform scaling is to know that every Swift 3D object has three different Scale Axes: width, height and depth. When you selePropertiethree se

Morph Targets Mesh Morpher Property Page Target Percent

Target Percent

First of all, as you no doubt noticed if you used the numeric steppers to set Target Percent, this setting moves the animation from the initial Morph Target to the end target. This is the same as dragging a frame indicator though a timeline, however since it is expressed as a percentage ofcomes

When you assign a Morph GrouTargets; however unless thno visible change to the model. Thisapparent. By setting the Targetare blended to give the mesh objgroups can be animated at the saunlimited Morph Groups, unlimitePercent, the animation possibilitie

Related Topics: Mesh Morpher Overview Morph Groups Morph Targets Mesh Morpher Animation Mesh Morpher Property Page

Animation Examples Animating Scale

non-uniform scale of an object. The first step in

ct an object and go to the Scale page of the s Toolbar you will see the object's default settings of 1.00, 1.00 and 1.00. These are the

ttings that you can animate, and the process is different than changing the sizing of an object (covered in the Scaling section of the Working With Objects chapter).

To animate uniform scaling of an object:

243


1. Toggle the Animate button on. 2. Select the frame you would like your scaling animation to end. 3. Click the Scaling Mode button.

in the Propu wish

Related Topics:

3D what you want your object's etting the program keyframes appear

ls: o your object in the first frame of an existing animation. te button on.

e Current Frame Indicator to the frame you'd like your material animation to end. second material.

Animation Timeline Toolbar

Animating Materials Ani iAni i

An a

A v s ting scheme. You can accomplish this t cene Lights.

4. Click-and-drag on the object to resc5. Release your mouse button when it's the correct size.

ale it proportionately.

n to end.

NOTE: The Scaling Mode button is a one-time deal, so if you want to make further scaling adjustments you'll need to click that button each time.

To animate non-uniform scaling of an object: 1. Toggle the Animate button on. 2. Select the frame you would like your scaling animatio3. Select the object you would like to scale. 4. Click on the Scale page5. Adjust the Scale Axis yo

erties Toolbar. to animate, or change all three.

ation, and l

l see the relatedperty.

Animation Timeline Toolbar Animating Scale Animating Materials Animating Lights Animating Cameras

Animating Materials

The animation of materials is basically the process of telling Swiftcolor to be at the start of your animation and at the end of the animdo the rest for you. As soon as you animate a material, you wilin the Animation Timeline under the Material animation pro

To animate materia1. Apply a material t

the Anima2. Toggle3. Move th4. Apply a

Related Topics:

Animating Scale

mat ng Lights mat ng Cameras

im ting Lights

ery lick feature in Swift 3D is the ability to animate your ligh fea by either animating Trackball Lights or by animating S

244

Animation

To animate trackball lights: 1. Create a scene with at least one object. 2. Adjust your Trackball Lights as desired. 3. Toggle the Animate button on.

urrent Frame Indicator to the end of your desired lighting animation. ball Lights as desired. w animated, with their positions being tweened from the start frame to

frame. You can track their movement by watching the lighting trackball while the n plays.

ne lights: 1. Create a scene with at least one object.

sired lights into the scene and adjust their positions accordingly. 3. Remove any Trackball Lights as needed (not required).

red lighting animation.

Animating Scale

eras and the Default Target Camera; you cannot animate the Standard Cameras.

rget camera: ith at least one object.

Camera Dropdown List to select the Default Target Camera. lt Target Camera (pan, zoom or rotate) where you want the camera

tton on. 5. Select the frame you would like your camera animation to end by moving the red Current

tive Camera by either panning or zooming the camera in the Viewport or by using the Rotation Trackball to point the camera in a different

ing the red Current Frame Indicator.

4. Move the C5. Adjust your Track6. Your lights are no

the endanimatio

To animate sce

2. Insert the de

4. Toggle the Animate button on. 5. Move the Current Frame Indicator to the end of your desi6. Change the location of your Scene Lights as desired.

Related Topics: Animation Timeline Toolbar

Animating Materials Animating Lights Animating Cameras

Animating Cameras

In Swift 3D you can only animate Free and Target Cam

To animate the default taa scene w1. Create

2. Use the3. Position the Defau

animation to start. 4. Toggle the Animate bu

Frame Indicator. 6. Adjust the position of the Perspec

direction.

To animate a free or target camera: 1. Create a scene with at least one object. 2. Insert a Free or Targeted Camera. 3. Position your camera where you want the camera animation to start. 4. Toggle the Animate button on. 5. Select the frame you would like your camera animation to end by mov

6. Adjust the position of your camera.

245


You can create as many keyframes as you'd like to insure your camera animation is just as it sho b ith your camera anim o

Rel

Animating Materials

Anim i

Hie

The i n play an integral part in creating more complex animations. The same parent/child and sibling relationships that can help

ene effectively can be the key to unlocking some amazing animation

s of parents and children that work for object manipulation within your scene ts, lights and cameras when they are in motion. For example, if you create

child of a box, when you animate that box you will also be animating the relationship with each other.

of to demonstrate this technique of relational animations would be ws how the moon rotates around the earth while the earth rotates

around the sun. Since the earth is stuck in orbit around the sun, it would be considered its child.

arth and Moon. chy toolbar.

n rotating around the earth, and then the earth rotating

By establishing the relationships ahead of time you can simplify the animation process and allow creative animations.

lationships between objects, you will not notice any differences in ss you decide to further animate the objects. Once those relationships are

etain the animation information for the objects, but will no longer be able to s with one another since they would have been disassociated with one

Hierarchy

Groups Within Hierarchy

uld e. You can also animate any objects and lights in conjunction wati ns.

ated Topics: Animation Timeline Toolbar Animating Scale

Animating Lights at ng Cameras

rarchical Animations

un versal scene properties contained within the Hierarchy system ca

you organize your sccapabilities.

The basic principlewill hold true for objeca sphere that is thesphere based on their

The best example I can thinkcreating a 3D scene that sho

And in turn, since the moon is in orbit around the earth, it’s considered a child of the earth.

To create a “solar system” animation using Hierarchy: 1. Add three spheres to the scene that represent the Sun, E2. Go to the Hierar3. Create the relationships between the three objects, making the earth a child of the sun

and the moon a child of the earth. 4. Create an animation of the moo

around the sun.

yourself some more

If you decide to change the rethe animation unlebroken, Swift 3D will rrelate those objectanother.

Related Topics:

Selecting Objects Within Hierarchy Parent/Child Relationships

246

Animation

247

The i r or Lathe Editor is referred to as Path Morphing. Both the Extrusion and Lathe Editors include their own animation timeline that behaves the hat only the ill appear within the layer area, rather than the pro ieach on

Path Morphing

ab lity to animate paths in the Extrusion Edito

same way as the main timeline in Swift 3D. The only difference in these timelines is tpaths of either your extrusion or lathe object wpert es of those paths. This way you can keep track of multiple paths without having to select

e individually.

To animate a path: nimate button into animate mode.

ame Indicator to the place you want to insert a keyframe. nts you want to animate.

ill automatically insert keyframes accordingly.

the Scene Editor you will notice when you select the extrusion a Path in the Main Animation Toolbar timeline. You will probably have to enlarge

the Animation Toolbar in order to see the Path animation in the timeline.

the types of points over time. For instance you can’t turn a Tangent

hat path.

ReExtLathKeyfram

1. Toggle the A2. Adjust the Current Fr3. Move the point or poi4. Swift 3D w

When you return toanimation now exists

NOTE: You cannot change Point into a Curve Point part way through an animation. Also, if you delete or add points to an extrusion or lathe part way through an animation, those points will either be deleted or added to the extrusion for the entire animation of t

lated Topics: rusion Editor e Editor

e Animation

Previewing and Exporting

ldn't come up with a reason NOT to double our output power by including

both a vector renderer - known to many as RAViX - and a raster renderer - a.k.a. EMO. These two powerhouses are responsible for taking your beautifully crafted scene and turning it into an actual file that you can use. And the wonderful thing about this flexibility is that your single scene can have many afterlives once it leaves the world of Swift 3D. Use RAViX for your lightweight Flash work. Use EMO for your high-bandwidth video production. Or use them both together for insane effects that are super realistic, yet small in size.

But I'm getting ahead of myself since both of these rendering beasts have their own chapters to brag about their output capabilities. We're here to learn about the workflow of the Preview and

the renderer you're using. You can then delve into ters on Rendering with RAViX and Rendering with EMO in order to find out

how g

RelPreviewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting

EMO Ray Tracer Overview

There is a definite workflow to the Preview and Export Editor that needs to be discussed in order a firm understanding of just how you go about previewing your work and

rk to file. For new users, probably the most confusing point is just when the ace. Really, the most important thing to realize is that you cannot preview or

ene until you first render it.

So here's the workflow—love it or leave it. First you choose your output options. Then you render a preview. Finally, if it all looks good, you export to a file. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

How to render a preview and export a file: 1. Click the Preview and Export Editor tab. 2. Choose either Vector or Raster and set your Output Options. 3. Click Generate Selected Frames or Generate All Frames. 4. Watch RAViX or EMO render your preview. 5. Click Export Selected Frames or Export All Frames. 6. Name your file and click Save.

Now this is obviously an overview of the many things you can accomplish within the Preview and Export Editor, so you will most likely want to continue reading.

Preview and Export Editor Overview Why have just one rendering engine when you can have two? Well, our engineers asked the verysame question and cou

Export Editor since it is similar regardless of the subsequent chap

to et the most out of the two different engines.

ated Topics:

Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview RAViX Overview

Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting

to make sure there isthen getting your worendering takes plexport your sc

249


Related Topics: Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview RAViX Overview EMO Ray Tracer Overview

Render Preview Render Preview

As previously mentioned, this section of the Preview and Export Editor is where you actually perform the rendering of your animation, but it also allows you to have much more control over the individual frames of an entire animation, pre- and post-render.

The three main uses for the editing feature of the preview system are as follows: 1. Choosing which frames of your animation you would like RAViX or EMO to render. This is

very useful when you just want to sample some different output options and get a feel for what it will look like after the entire animation is rendered. Also, there are often situations where you only need to have certain parts of an animation rendered and exported to a file.

2. Viewing sections of a rendered animation. For example, if you'd like to see what your animation would look like if you only exported every second frame. Or maybe there are certain frames that seem unnecessary but you want to view the animation with and without them to make sure.

3. Choosing which frames of your animation you want included in the final exported file.

Animation Preview Reel:

Related Topics: Export to File Overview Generate All Frames Generate Selected Frames Select Every Nth Frame Selecting Frames Lock Selected Frames Preview Playback Controls

250


251

If you were to imagine RAViX or EMO as wild, toothy beasts locked up in a cage, seething with s into your animation, this te All Frames button. One

way or the other, a click of this button will begin the rendering process. Due to the nature of 3D

of

e displayed within the Preview Editor as well as within the Preview Window. The images displayed in the editor are merely thumbnails of

Render Preview Overview ew

This feature allows you to apply a special flavor

GenSelSelLocPre

Select Every Nth Frame

e if it had less frames. Since 3D in Flash is done with a series of frames, being able to reduce the number of frames exported from

Generate All Frames

boundless energy waiting for the opportunity to sink their rendering fangbutton is the key to that lock. Or you can just think of this as the Genera

animation, your 3D scene will get rendered one frame at a time to create a series of images that, when played sequentially, make up an animation.

As the rendering takes place you will see a few things happening. Along the bottom of the interface the Status Bar will show the progress of each frame and there will be a Cancel button that stops the rendering process. If you choose to cancel the process of creating a preview, allyour Output Option settings will remain as you left them and the already rendered frames will beavailable for viewing and export. You will see each fram

your actual file, but the image displayed in the preview window is the real deal. It's basically an exact replica of the images that your final file will consist of.

Related Topics:

Export to File OverviGenerate Selected Frames Select Every Nth Frame Selecting Frames Lock Selected Frames Preview Playback Controls

Generate Selected Frames

ing to selected frames so that when you unleash

ering.

RAViX or EMO they will only ravage those designated frames before returning to their cage. To choose certain frames of your animation, please refer to the upcoming section on selecting frames. If you need to refer to your animation to determine which frames you want rendered, youcan move back and forth between the Scene Editor and the Preview and Export Editor without de-selecting frames already slated for rend

Related Topics: Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview

erate All Frames ect Every Nth Frame ecting Frames k Selected Frames view Playback Controls

Often times you'd like to see what your animation would look lik


Swift 3D can help save dramatically on file size. By selecting every Nth frame you can save time while still knowing exactly what the animation looks like

Export to File Overview

eally easseleSHIFT kone youwithout the appropriate key depressed, you will end sele

SmartL

If yo r or higher via the Swift 3D Importer and have chosen to separate stationary and moving objects

f the Output Options, there is one thing you’ll want to watch out for.

You see, the process of knowing what objects are stationary and what objects are moving from frame to frame is dependant on knowing exactly what’s happened in the frame before the one that’s being rendered. When you render out your scene, RAViX tracks the activity from frame to frame so it can write all of the proper information that Flash will need into each frame of the final SWFT file. But once you start selecting unrendered frames from a pre-rendered sequence the concept of knowing what happened in prior frames gets a little shakey.

So, once you’ve rendered a specific series of frames, you can export them as long as you don’t select any unrendered frames before you proceed to the Export step. If you do, the rendered frames will be cleared and will need to be re-rendered in order to be able to export them.

But if you are simply rendering out your entire animation and then exporting it, or even selected And if you do not have the Separate Stationary and

n turned on, there will be no selection restrictions and the Preview and

in rendering or save file size in exporting,before you create a file.

Related Topics:Render Preview Overview

Generate All Frames Generate Selected Frames Selecting Frames Lock Selected FramesPreview Playback Controls

Selecting Frames

The process of selecting frames is integral to using the Preview Editor. Fortunately, it's ry. Clicking on a frame will select an individual frame. Holding down the CTRL key while cting will allow you to select multiple frames that are not in a sequence. Holding down the

ey will allow you to select all of the frames in between the last frame you selected and the select next. Once you have the frames selected, if you click on an unselected frame

up de-selecting all of your frames and just cting the individual frame you just clicked on.

ayer and Swift 3D Importer Note

u a e planning on using the SWFT file format to bring your rendered scene into Flash MX

within the General section o

pieces of it, this will never even affect you.Moving Objects optioExport Editor will work just as it always has.

Related Topics: Render Preview OverviewExport to File Overview Generate All Frames Generate Selected Frames

252


Select Every Nth Frame Lock Selected Frames

will disallow you from selecting, or even

Select Every Nth Frame

a preview, these controls allow you to view the results. They function ociated with the Animation Timeline in the Scene Editor.

red a preview of your animation, that rendering will be available for export to file until you either render another preview or go back into the Scene Editor and change

oint your preview will disappear and you will need to render

Generate Selected Frames me

The final step in creating output from Swift 3D is the Export to File be happy with the scene or

w window, because that is exactly

Preview Playback Controls

Lock Selected Frames

When messing around with the selection process, it's easy to errantly erase a carefully selected set of frames, so the Lock Selected Frames buttonseeing the frames that are not selected.

Related Topics: Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview Generate All Frames Generate Selected Frames

Selecting Frames Preview Playback Controls

Playback Controls

Once you have rendjust like the controls

ered ass

NOTE: After you have rende

anything about your scene. At that panother preview before exporting to a file.

Related Topics: Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview Generate All Frames

Select Every Nth FraSelecting Frames Lock Selected Frames

Export to FileExport To File

function. At this point you shouldanimation you see within the previewhat your final file will consist of. The process of exporting to a file is very quick, so don't freak out and imagine you have to wait through

253


the rendering process again. All you're doing at this point is naming your file and having Swift 3D write the pre-rendered information to a file. This typically takes a few seconds, but with very large files it may take a minute or longer.

: first rendered your scene via the Render Preview step. utton you would like.

d choose where you want it to be created.

Export Selected Frames g vs. Exporting w

our original animation via the Render Preview step, e. There is no way to export frames that are a part of

Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting Render Preview Overview

ew

w

How to export a file1. Make sure you have2. Choose the Export b3. Name your file an4. Click Save.

Related Topics: Export All Frames

Previewing vs. RenderinRender Preview OvervieExport to File Overview RAViX Overview EMO Ray Tracer Overview

Export All Frames

This will create a file that contains every single rendered frame of your animation. If you have chosen to only render certain frames of ythose are the ones that will go into this filyour original animation without first rendering a preview of those frames.

Related Topics: Export Selected Frames Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting Render Preview Overview Export to File Overview RAViX Overview EMO Ray Tracer Overview

Export Selected Frames

This option lets you export only the frames that you have selected in the Preview Editor.

Related Topics: Export All Frames

Export to File OverviRAViX Overview EMO Ray Tracer Overvie

254

Rendering With RAViX

version and still going strong so our users can rest assured that

ctor rendering technology under .

ector-based 3D animations is program's side of things, but

nd from the user's renders out a scene that

wift 3D it looks at all of the objects t approach is to turn it into me objects. You could think of RAViX as an artist looking at a scene.

based on the artist's goals and skills. Depending on decides to take you can end up with a fairly wide variety of drawings.

The big difference with Swift 3D is that all animations are built one frame at a time. Much like a

d.

’ve discovered to date). For this reason, I don’t recommend attempting to render incredibly long animations of complex scenes. When you start

you are likely to start encountering out of absolutely have to create very long animations with complex scenes

consider rendering them out in smaller chunks and then stitching sh. But keep in mind that Flash might not be particularly thrilled about

view

put Options

RAViX OverviewSwift 3D was built around the concept of rendering 3D scenes to vectors, and the enabling technology that drives that vector rendering process is RAViX. This proprietary technology is now in its fourth

they have the best vethe hood of their application

The process of creating vvery complex from the really pretty easy to understaperspective. When RAViXyou've built within Sand determines what the besa vector rendition of those saThere are many ways to draw that scene which approach the artist

hand cartoonist creates the old-time flip books of image after image, RAViX renders out frame after frame of your animation so it looks to be animated when played back at your desired spee

Nick’s Tips

The process of converting your 3D scene to vectors is very memory intensive—there’s just no way around it (at least none that we

throwing 1,000+ frame animations through RAViX memory errors. If you(50,000+ polygons) you maythem back together in Flayour big files either.

Related Topics: Vector Output OverGeneral - RAViX Fill Options Edge Options

Vector Out

255


256

This is really where the big-time ift 3D to give designers serious ir or

three primary eneral is where we put all the

in the other two categories. It covers pes, and how you want RAViX to treat certain

ess.

Target File Type - RAViX

iX

decisions get made. We built Swoutput looks like. Depending on the desired effect, file size, application, file, the choices are all contained within this section of the rendering

each option carefully so you truly understand what sort r rendered file. It could mean the difference between a post-render

... that looks nasty,” and “OOOOHHHHH...me likey!”

control over what thetetc. of your final vec

dialog.

It is well worth your while to read throughof forces are at work on youexclamation of “What the

Related Topics:

RAViX Overview General - RAViX Fill Options Edge Options

General General

The Output Options can be broken up intocategories, and of course Gcontrols that didn't belongthe basics of file tyaspects of the rendering proc

Related Topics:

Curve Fitting Detail Level Combine Edges and Fills

Target File Type

Target File Type - RAV


257

t different file formats to choose

WFT)

L)

these file types is different, so if you ill need to render

pe Swift 3D

machine.

The main advantage that you gain by(again, it

a layered SWFT file when it is turned off, but there will be no separation of moving and stationary objects. SmartLayers are covered in more

on Using Exported Files.

e - RAViX WF)

The ubiquity of the Flash Player has allowed the SWF file format to become the de facto standard for vector graphics on the Web. It has become the low-bandwidth solution for creating animations, interactivity and now 3D to be displayed across multiple platforms and devices.

Depending on what your publishing goals are, you have eighfrom:

Swift 3D Flash Importer (SAdobe Flash (SWF) Adobe Illustrator (AI) Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) Extensible Application Markup Language (XAMScalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Flash for Video (FLV) Audio Video Interleave (AVI) QuickTime (MOV)

It is important to note that the rendering process for eacrender with the File Type set to SWFT and decide yoagain. By default, the Target File Type is set to the SWFT file format, but if you have a certain file type that you typically render to you might want to consdefaults to by going to Setup > User Preferences.

Swift 3D Flash Importer (SWFT)

The SWFT file format is Electric Rain’s proprietary format that can be read by the Swift 3D Importer, which is installed with Swift 3D if you happen to have Flash MX or higher installed on your

h ofu need an SWF file you w

ider changing the file ty

using the SWFT file format ’s only relevant to users of Flash MX or higher) is the

ability to render your scene using our SmartLayer Technology. This unlocks the ability to bring inyour animations with various components broken out into separate layers within Flash.

Separate Stationary and Moving Objects

This checkbox is only available when the SWFT file format is selected as the Target File Type. When it is turned on, RAViX will automatically render out a separate layer for the stationary and moving objects in your scene. You will still create

detail in the chapter

Related Topics:Target File TypAdobe Flash (SSmartLayers

Adobe Flash (SWF)


258

One limitation of Flash is the fact that there is no support for 3D natively within the Flash Player (i.e., an internal rendering engine). Of course, Swift 3D would probably not exist if this were the case, so it's not really a limitation for Electric Rain. What Swift 3D needs to accomplish in order to translate your 3D animation to 2D vectors is to write out exactly what Flash should be displaying in each and every frame. In other words, we have to export a keyframe for every frame of your animation.

And therein lies the limitation. Since Flash doesn't know how to tween 3D objects between keyframes, very long animations can be quite large in file size. Your 3D scene may only be 5K when you render out one frame, but if you have an animation that's 100 frames long, you're going

CD yed locally on a network, file size is not an issue. But most users are using Flash to

display their 3D content over the Web, in which case file size plays a big factor in deciding on a

ial information on how to balance your 3D animation quality with your file size concerns.

RAViX (SWFT)

Adobe Illustrator (AI)

der your 3D files accurately enough so that when you import it into a 2D vector drawing program, it's like it was hand drawn. The implications of this are subtle, but deep. The

ate scalable 3D images is a powerful option, since bitmap 3D exports have their

h Swift 3D, you can export to AI or have to mess with pixels,

t option, the two gradient shading fill options, rea and Mesh, become unavailable. This is due to the fact that RAViX's Level 3 file support only xtends to EPS files and does not include the AI file format at this time. So if you want to include

these features in your exported file, you need to use the EPS file format.

rovides Level 2 support for AI files, this option is grayed out and just indicates rt.

EPS)

to be looking at a final file that's approaching 500K.

Now a relevant consideration is where you're going to be publishing this file. If it's going on aor displa

design.

I highly recommend taking a look at the section on Output Options to gain cruc

Related Topics:Target File Type -

rter Swift 3D Impo

Swift 3D can ren

ability to crelimitations.

Let's say you want to create a 3D version of your logo. WitEPS and you'll have a scalable version of that logo so you don't resolution and other assorted complexities of raster graphics.

You'll notice that when you choose AI as an exporAe

File Level

Swift 3D only pLevel 2 suppo

Related Topics: Target File Type - RAViX

Encapsulated PostScript (


You'll notice that when you choose EPS as an export option, the two gradient shading fill optioArea an

ns, d Mesh, are available, but these options are not available when exporting to the AI file

format. This is due to the fact that RAViX's Level 3 file support only extends to EPS files and does not include the AI file format at this time. This makes EPS the most versatile export format for generating scalable print media.

If you're exporting an animation to the EPS file format, upon export you will end up with a series of EPS etc. You will want to avoid using any numbe havoc on the sequential naming proces

File Leve

Since Swift 3D only provides Level 3 support for EPS files, this option is grayed out and just indicates Level 3 support.

anguage (XAML)

rs is that XAML export provides quick and easy solution for creating 3D interface elements, as well as the opportunity

e complex markup for the

it may be Visual Studio 2005 may then be used to code

r cross-browser, cross-platform display.

nta ion Foundation) should be selected when creating desktop applications and Windows XP (SP2) operating systems.

Target File Type - RAViX

files labeled ‘filename001.eps’, ‘filename002.eps’,end up wreakingrs in your file name since they will

s.

l

Related Topics: Target File Type - RAViX

Extensible Application Markup L

What's XAML (pronounced zammel) you ask? XAML is an XML-based markup language for creating interface elements

in Windows Vista applications. What that means to Swift 3D useyou with ato leverage existing Swift 3D content for an entirely new delivery medium. With a single click you can export a 3D model to XAML, eliminating the need to hand codgeometry, lights, cameras and animation that make up the scene.

Once exported, a 3D XAML file can be imported into Microsoft Expression Blend where combined with 3D data, images or video. MSinteractive and powerful functionality.

Target Platform

This setting is used to export the appropriate XAML format based on if the final product will be displayed solely on Windows or on other operating system.

Silverlight is used fo

WPF (Windows Presews Vista

tfor the Windo

Related Topics:

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

259


SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics in Extensible Markup Language (XML). Is SVG going to be the next vector graphics wave of the future? I have no idea. But I do know that Swift 3D exports to SVG, so at least you have the option if you need it.

Upon writing to the SVG file format, you have a couple of extra options to think about. As soon ayou choose

s SVG from the Save As Type dr

menu items will become active.

Compressed does just that—squash your final file obvious advantage is th

tage is that ou're looking to incorporate your SVG file, you'll

e

Native means that the scripting that drives your animation is included within the SVG code itself.

on and ion.

Topics: Target File Type - RAViX

mats

ve (AVI)

ost-production application. In addition, once a the video file formats, the animation is converted to

raster. The benefit of exporting your vector animations to a video file format is that you can create a video that uses various Fill and Edge options.

opdown list, the Animation Level and Compressed

eight to nine times what it would be if left at it's easier to publish to the Web when

you lose editability, so if ywant to leave it uncompressed until you have a final

Aside from those features, your Output Options are identical to those of SWF and EPS exports.

SVG Options

Upon writing to the SVG file format, you have a couple of extra options to consider. As soon as you choose SVG from the Save As Type dropdown list, the Animation Level and Compressed menu items will become active.

Compressed

uncompressed. The compressed. The disadvanSVG animation into anotherproduct.

Animation

Animation Level refers to how you want your SVG files to be built. The two options you have arNative and Script.

Script will generate two files for you: one SVG file that contains the frames of your animatione HTML file that contains JavaScript that drives your animat

One difference you may want to pay attention to is if you have a long animation (more than 40 frames or so) you will start to see the file size increase when exporting with the Native Animation Level.

Related

Video File For

Audio Video Interlea

Swift 3D only supports the export of animations to AVI and does not provide support for any audio. Audio must be added in a pvector animation is exported to any of

260


Audio Video Interleave, designated by its .avi file extension, is the standard audio/video file format developed by Microsoft and is available on Windows only.

Video Compression

When you choose to render to the AVI file format, as soon as you hit Save from the Export File dialog AVI pops up its own Video Compression dialog that allows you to choose certain compression options.

ssing your video. Codecs are basically standard methods for coding and decoding data. The Codec dropdown list will be populated by whatever

have installed on your machine. Note that not all codecs are created equal, ss better than others; and since the goal of the game on the Internet the most economic way possible, some codecs have emerged to be

cs installed to their machines as well.

e following error message will appear asking you to choose a different codec:

Compressor

The Compressor dropdown list allows you to choose what codec (an acronym for compression/decompression) to use for compre

Codecs you currentlywhich means some compreis to distribute your video inmore widely used than others. Keep in mind that when you choose a certain Codec for export, those videos can only be viewed by people who have those code

If a codec fails to initialize, th

e settings present in the Video Compression dialog are codec dependent so are only enabled if that Codec allows for those options to be set.

When enabled, Compression can be set between a range of 0 to 100, with 100 representing the quality the bigger you can expect

t the file uncompressed by selecting Full Frames

Configure

, click on it to view any additional Codec-specific settings. Important: upport or questions about any of these settings can only be received from the provider of that

provide support for Codecs.

The rest of th

Compression Quality

highest quality. As with any setting of this type, the higher the the resulting file size to be. You can also expor[Uncompressed] from the Compression dropdown list and use another application to compress the files.

When this button is enabledSCodec. Electric Rain does not

Key Frame Every

261


Some compression types allow you to set at which interval you want to have keyframes set, which controls the quality of the video. The way this setting works is by telling the codec how many frames to render by just looking at the difference between one frame to the next before looking at a whole frame again. Every time the codec looks at a whole frame, it keyframes that

V)

does not provide support for tion. In addition, once a

the animation is converted to

rious Fill and Edge options.

troduced support for video content with its own FLV video file format in Flash MX and the Flash Player 6. FLV files contain encoded audio and video data that is highly optimized

ble

played directly into the Flash Player like SWF files can, but must first be brought into Flash, or another application that supports FLV files, and then republished. In addition, Swift 3D

s not write out metadata (video length, size, frame rate, etc.) to FLV files; however, FLV metadata injectors are available over the Internet. Macromedia has a great set of articles at

d FLV. You can choose to have your video rendered based on either Quality or Bandwidth.

When this setting is enabled it means that the quality of the FLV will remain constant across all re the slider is set, the quality will remain at that level throughout the

high will run the movie at a constant bandwidth of

frame. The smaller the interval the better the quality, but the bigger the file size, while increasing the interval will result in the opposite. When this option enabled and you choose not to check it,the Codec will do all the control over keyframing.

Flash for Video (FL

Swift 3D only supports the export of animations to FLV andany audio. Audio must be added in a post-production applicavector animation is exported to any of the video file formats,raster. The benefit of exporting your vector animations to a video file format is that you can create a video that uses va

Macromedia in

for delivery through the Flash Player. This keeps the Flash Player footprint as small as possiby using a single video rendering format.

Working With FLV: For those of you who are new to the FLV file format, note that FLV files cannot be

currently doe

its web site in the Developer Center that focus on ways for delivering your Flash video so definitely head that way if you need more information on how to add Flash Video to your projects.

[All of the following settings can be changed after rendering without having to re-render the file.]

Encoding Focus

While Flash Video does not make use of Codecs, you do have the ability to set what is referred to as the “Encoding Focus” of the rendere

Quality

frames. So no matter whevideo. Note that setting this slider all the way to750kbs.

Bandwidth

If you choose the Bandwidth setting, the quality of the FLV will vary in order to maintain the Bandwidth that you designate in the numeric entry box. The Bandwidth setting is in kilobits per

262


second and ranges up to 750kbs, which is equivalent to setting the Quality slider all the way High.

to

the FLV file format is that it takes the very first frame at the next frame and just encode the

me two. Complete frames are called keyframes while the es. As this process progresses, it is inevitable that

rade. What the Keyframe Interval option allows you to do is to set process to start over with a full frame. For

Keyframe Interval is set to 15 this means that every 15th frame will be encoded in the larger the interval, the smaller the final file size will be, but the quality of the file

to get the right

. The benefit of exporting your vector animations to a video file format is that you can create a video that uses various Fill and Edge options.

udio/video file format, developed by Apple Computers, requires the proprietary

[All of the following settings can be changed after rendering without having to re-render the file.]

Codecs

The Codec dropdown list allows you to choose what codec (see definition under section on Audio Video Interleave - AVI: Video Compression) to use for compressing your video. Again, this list is

imization Settings

Edges and Fills

rting to the SWF or SWFT file formats RAViX can export your lines and fills nstruction. If you choose not to Combine Edges and Fills, when you import

Keyframe Interval

The way that the video encoding works for and encodes the complete frame. It will then lookdifferences between frame one and fraframes in between are referred to as delta framthe quality of the video will degat what keyframe interval you want the encoding example, if thefull. Obviously will also be lower. This is one of those settings where you will have to test in order balance that works for your project.

QuickTime (MOV)

Swift 3D only supports the export of animations to MOV and does not provide support for any audio. Audio must be added in a post-production application. In addition, once a vector animation is exported to any of the video file formats, the animation is converted to raster

The QuickTime aApple QuickTime Player.

dependent upon which codecs you currently have installed on your machine.

Image Quality

You can set the Image Quality of your QuickTime output using the “Image Quality” slider located below the Codec dropdown list. As with most settings of this type, you need to figure out how to balance your own quality/size needs to get the most appropriate output for your project.

File Opt

Combine

This little feature got one of those “it does what?” (along with a right-side face scrunch) reactions when the engineers first described it to me.

Basically, when expowith two forms of co

263


your vector file into Flash you will have lines and fills that can be separated without breaking object apart. If you choose to Combine Edges and Fills (the default setting), your lines and fillscan't be separated from each other in Flash unless you break apart your object.

The advantage to having them combined is that your files will be smaller. Plus, most of the time you won't need to gain control over each individual line segment. The advantage to having them uncombined is that you can separate your outlines

the

and fills without having to break them apart.

Related Topics: iX

Compression

r

r our

comes to balancing accuracy and slider and the second is the Detail Level. Again, it's tough to

give you an exact formula that works for every model. If that formula existed we would have hard- but it really varies from model to model and animation to animation.

unless you don't like your t on up towards Curves and

your liking or your animation is a Lines and see if it helps.

is a bit like a musical instrument; you've got to practice it a little before the subtleties readily apparent. That's the melodramatic way of saying, “Try some different stuff and

Curve Fitting ype - RAViX

Target File Type - RAV

Curve Fitting Detail Level

Curve Fitting

The elegant curve… so supple… so smooth. So file size friendly! That's right, curves are good fomore than just art, they're good for bandwidth too. You see, since vectors are drawn mathematically, it takes more pieces of information to draw 10 line segments than it does one continuous curve.

So why the slider, you ask? Don't I always want to draw curves? Not exactly.

Although, in theory, curves should give you better results, in practice it's not always the case. There's something about the way Flash geometry is calculated that often results in irregular curves. If you take a semi-smooth object in Flash and optimize its curves as much as possible, chances are you'll get some distortion of your outline. Unfortunately the same holds true fovector output.

There are really two things you can play around with when it file size. The first is this Curve Fitting

coded the settings,

All I can do is make a recommendation. Leave the slider where it is output quality or file size. If your file is too fat (file size wise), crank isee if you get good image quality. If your image quality is not tolittle jumpy where you have got curves, crank it down towards

Swift 3D become see what works for you.”

Related Topics: Two PassTarget File TCompressionDetail Level Combine Edges and Fills

264


Two Pass Curve Fitting

When this option is checked, RAViX will take a second pass the render while attempting to fit groups of

edges with a curve. Note that this will also increase the rendering

rface because the tendency is to crank it up as high as possible because obviously detail is a good thing. Unfortunately, by doing

This is one of those case-by-case controls that may need to be fooled around with to get the best

he Detail Level setting also plays a role in how RAViX detects Outlines At Intersections.

that tolerance is loosened. This etting is disabled. So what and RAViX is still drawing

vel until you get the appropriate

Tips

t on Automatic. By using Low first, you can get a quick rendering that will most likely be of good

t flaws, try moving the slider to the middle and then all the

ision, you can also alter your rendering times and output

unky, don't say I didn't warn you because there is no guarantee of rendering quality when you start tweaking both settings at once. Certainly there is

through the edges in

time.

Related Topics: Combine Edges and Fills Curve Fitting Compression

Detail Level

Crank it up! Wait, don't crank it up! Wait, it all depends. By default, this option is set to Automatic, which lets RAViX make the decisions for you. You have the option of unchecking the Automatic setting and adjusting the slider to a lower or higher level of detail.

I'm always hesitant to put these types of controls into a user inte

this you end up with slower rendering times and larger files.

results. And just when you think you've figured out what the best setting is, you throw a new scene in and it's a whole new ball game.

NOTE: TAs the detail level is increased, the tolerance RAViX uses for determining Outlines At Intersections is tightened up and as the detail level is decreased, affects the way Outlines At Intersections are drawn only when this sthis means is that if you turn off the Outlines at Intersections settinglines where objects intersect, you need to decrease the detail le

output.

Nick's

Despite the fact that our default setting for Detail Level is Automatic, I'd advocate trying the Low setting until you get output that doesn't look good. It speeds up rendering time by a bunch, and I usually don't see any flaws showing up on Low that I don't also get with it se

quality. And if you see any significanway to High to see if you can get a cleaner render.

In addition to this Detail Level decaccuracy by using smaller or larger dimensions in the Layout setting of your scene. If you're really trying to increase the speed of RAViX, you can make your scene really small and set the Detail Level to Low. But if your file comes back all f

plenty of room for experimentation here, and you'll most likely find your own comfortable balance between rendering speed and file quality.

265


Related Topics: Target File Type - RAViX Curve Fitting Combine Edges and Fills Compression

Save Render Settings

button located at the bottom of the General page, you have the ability er of render profiles. Simply click on the Save Settings button and

mpted to name your profile. Profiles can be saved anywhere you want and can be eir .ep3 file extension.

Note: The Save Settings feature does not save out the Target File Type or any of the settings type. Default File Types can only be set from the User Preferences dialog,

in the Scene Editor by going to the Setup menu (Win) or from the Swift 3D

gs, navigate to the fault.e3p file.

throws in a couple of ‘Glaze Effects’ for you to have fun with.

You can break up the eight different styles of fill rendering into Flat Fills and Gradient Fills. Although there

they all have one thing in common: only your objects. The big difference between

s of flat colors get used in the wo Gradient Fill options apply vector gradients to

and the difference between the two is how detailed

Through the Save Settingsto save out an infinite numbyou will be proidentified by th

specific to each filewhich is accessedmenu (Mac). All other settings on the General, Fill Options and Edge Options pages are saved.

To load back in a previously saved profile, select the Load Settings button and navigate to theprofile you wish to use.

If at any time you want to reset the default render settings, click on Load SettinPrograms folder under your Swift 3D\Version 5.00 directory and choose the De

Fill Options Fill Options

Here's a little analogy for you...

Creating solid objects with clay is pretty straightforward. You mold it, you bake it, you're done. But creating them with vectors is a little more involved—sort of like applying the glaze to your clay model. It brings out the next level of artistry. Well, Swift 3D gives you seven different types of ‘Glaze’ to work with, and then

And now I'm done with that lame analogy.

two main categories:are five Flat Fill options, flat colors get applied to the five is how many shadeprocess. The tyour objects, the gradients get.

266


267

out both fills and outlines, if you want to render just Outlines and Not Filled.

Edge Options

lor Fill

Color Fill olor Fill

Area Gradient Shading hading

Include Specular Highlights

gle Color Fill

does to render this fill option is take the diffuse color

to use.

is greatly enhanced because the outlines will define the surfaces, while the fills will give the image its solidity.

If you're looking for the true ‘cartoony’ look, this can be an effective output style. However, you may find that exporting outlines is necessary to give your characters and o

Edge Options

Note: While RAViX can render no fills, make sure the set the Fill Type dropdown list to

Related Topics: RAViX Overview

Cartoon Single Color Fill Cartoon Average CoCartoon Two Color Fill Cartoon Four Cartoon Full C

Mesh Gradient S

Include Reflections Include Shadows

Cartoon Sin

This option is Swift 3D's most basic fill export type. Although it exports very small files, the quality of resulting animations is very simplistic. What RAViX

for each object in your scene, and applies that color to the entire object. There are several situations where the Cartoon Single Color Fill is appropriate

If you have models that are broken up into several smaller sections with differing materials applied to them, the colors can often give you a better sense of shape without needing to define your edges.

If you are exporting with outlines, this fill level

bjects more definition.

Related Topics: RAViX Overview Fill Options

Cartoon Average Color Fill

Hi, my name is Nick, and I'm a Cartoon Average Color Fill freak!


Seriously, since the inception of this rendering option, I have exported more animations using er fill options combined. In my humble, non-designer opinion, it gives on of eye-pleasing 3D effect and modest file size.

. When you choose to export an animation using the Cartoon Average n, RAViX will separate your objects into groups of polygons that occur on similar

surfaces and apply a flat fill to each one of the surfaces based upon its angle towards your light

ith

artoon Two Color Fill

next step up in quality from r Fill (duh) and you can see

that the addition of another color begins to really define this case, RAViX is calculating the

d which should be

Average Fill than all the othht combinatiyou just the rig

Let me explain how it worksColor Fill optio

sources.

The true beauty of Cartoon Average Color Fill shines through when you animate an object. RAViX will recalculate each surface's brightness for every frame of your animation. When you play the animation back, your eyes are tricked into seeing gradients when none are actually present.

Of course there are situations where Cartoon Average Color Fill does not do objects justice. Wfairly smooth, organic models there are very few surfaces defined by hard edges and the powerof the Cartoon Average Color Fill is lost. In those cases you might as well be exporting with Cartoon Single Color Fill.

Related Topics: RAViX Overview Fill Options Edge Options

C

This export format is thethe Cartoon Single Colo

the 3D shape. In angles of your lights and determining which parts of each surface should be lighter andarker.

Because there is more vector information going into the file (additional colored fills), your files will be larger than the Cartoon Single Color Fill option, but if you compare them side-by-side, you may find the sacrifice to be very worthwhile.

On the other hand, if you're dealing with gefor example), you won't find much benefit e

ometric shapes that consist of many flat planes (a box xporting with two, four or full color fills because it

appears a little unnatural to have flat surfaces broken into several shades of a single color. With ppropriate. those types of objects, the Cartoon Average Color Fill would be a


268


Cartoon Four Color Fill

With four colors being applied to each surface, you will ming into your models. e begins to become an issue.

length of your animation and target ay find Cartoon Four Color Fill to be a

width is not an issue or your ted via CD, DVD, locally

media, the details that start to option are nice.

Edge Options

Cartoon Full Color Fill

et s

il ls,

the bigger the exported file.

In my honest opinion (shhh, don't tell the engineers), if you're lonot an issue, the Mesh Gradient Shading is a better option than this. But if you're going to be rendering an AI or EPS file, this format gives you the highest quality possibleformats

RelateRAViX Overview

nt Shading

as pushing the pretty heavily. It

was before we released a version of RAViX that had

life, the choice becomes a little less clear cut, but they are both very powerful fill styles when it

see some realism cosizUnfortunately, file

Depending on the audience, you mlittle too heavy. But if bandproject is going to be distribuon a network, or in print come out with this output


This export format is about as realistic as you can gwithout actually applying gradients. What RAViX doehere is apply a custom shade of the applied material toevery single polygon of each surface. It's still applying flat fills, but in a very detailed manner. Due to the detainvolved, the higher the polygon count in your mode

oking for a high level of detail and file size is

since you can't export gradients with those .

d Topics:

Fill Options Edge Options

Area Gradie

I remember a time long ago when I wArea Gradient Shading export option

the Cartoon Average Color Fill option. Now that they're both in my

269


comes to creating a good level of realism without jacking your file size through the roof. But firslet me explain how the bloody thing works.

t

When you choose to export an image or animation using the Area Gradient Shading feature,

e ntent in a pretty tight manner.

ice while the flat surfaces will maintain a more even appearance. When objects are mostly

smooth, the gradients can become a little overbearing.

Fill Options

t Shading

d Pooh-Bah of fill options. At this point the world when it y. What it

accomplishes is nothing short of amazing, but then ,

big, really fast. And even low poly models with short animations can generate files too big for

ctor output, you can show your detailed l. Not true with any bitmap formats.

ften cases where you only need one detailed image for the Web, thus avoiding the compounding effect of sequential keyframe animations. And then there are all those

esign purposes. But much like a V-12 engine, whether you use it or not, it's always nice to know you've got the power under the hood.

Fill Options Edge Options

RAViX looks for groups of polygons that occur on similar surfaces and applies one radial gradient to each surface. It determines those surfaces by the presence, or lack thereof, of hard edges in your model. By applying a limited number of gradients to your file, RAViX can generate some niclooking co

Models that work well with this export option tend to be more faceted (created from many distinctly defined surfaces) in nature. I find that scenes with a combination of flat and smooth surfaces work the best with Area Gradient Shading because the curved surfaces will exhibit ngradients

Related Topics: RAViX Overview

Edge Options

Mesh Gradien

This is the Granin time, there's nothing better in comes to vector rendering qualit

again, I'm not a 3D artist and can be easily impressedso you can judge for yourself.

If you choose to render your file with Mesh Gradient Shading, each polygon in your scene receives a lineargradient fill. That means that high polygon models will get really

reasonable use on the Web.

So what's the point, you ask? Scalability. With the verenderings at any size and they will always look identicaBesides that there are o

cases where you might be using Swift 3D for multimedia presentations that are not distributed through the Web.

So I'll leave it up to you to decide if Mesh Gradient Shading is useful for your d

Related Topics:RAViX Overview

270


Include Specular Highlights

ot. When to

s

ain reasonably sized files.

By default, all lights within Swift 3D are created with the option to create Specular Highlights turned on.

ff choosing only one or two lights on your objects, so you must turn this feature off in the light’s Property Page

ties Toolbar.

ls: The number of specular levels you want to render your scene with will control rom the base color to the brighter color shown in the specular ight but typically if you set it to two or three you'll see a very nice

softening of the speculars that goes a long way to convince a casual observer that you've got tually don't.

should pay close attention to the your scene. The reason is that the shape of

when the segmentation settings are too low. If you find

p the primitive).

Edge Options

flections

Ooohh, baby, this one's cool. Since we live in a world ld our world of 3D

Specular Highlights are really just a way to trick the eyes into thinking something is 3D when it's nwe walk around in our every day life we are subject these glints or gleams off of shiny surfaces, and the Specular Highlight option in Swift 3D is a way to re-create those visual cues without having to use a heavy rendering style. Now you can create 3D looking objectand animations using a combination of cartoon shading and specular highlights and maint

Often you’re better oto create highlights

of the Proper

Specular Levehow abruptly the shading goes fhighlight. The settings go up to e

some photorealistic stuff going on when you ac

Nick's Tips

When using the specular highlight option yousegmentation settings on any primitive objects withinyour specular highlights often suffersirregular looking highlights showing up in your scene, the first thing to do is double check the segmentation settings (number of polygons that make u


Include Re

rife with reflections, so too shouvectors. At least that's the way our engineers feel about it. So now that Swift 3D includes materials that have reflective properties, RAViX can calculate realistic reflections that occur in objects with reflective materials. Basically, any material that has its reflection color set to something other than black will exhibit

271


reflective properties if this option is turned on when rendering with RAViX.

Reflection Depths

reflection depths, but realistically you probably want to stay in the one to three range for two reasons: 1) rendering time increases every time you

't

ious in your application of reflective materials if you're concerned with file se them because it's a damn fine feature, but think about where the

g to add real value to your image or animation. There tends to be certain re reflection really makes objects pop off the screen. Most small detailed surfaces

reflective and they'll only slow rendering speeds and increase file size when designated as such.

ated as shadow casting

t in your scene:

e shadows is placing a plane object beneath your scene and designating a

few of your overhead lights to cast shadows.

ore complex objects, when you choose to render shadows you can get enerated when parts of your object get in between the shadow casting light

f the object. These are called self-shadows.

This number corresponds to the number of times reflections can be bounced back and forth between objects. Have you ever looked in a mirror and seen something that you wouldn't expect to see, and when you look closer you realize that it's a reflection of another reflection? RAViX has the ability to calculate up to eight of these

increase this setting because more calculations have to be accounted for; and 2) file size increases because there's more detail being written into your final file, and most often you wonbe seeing a noticeable increase in file quality.

Nick's Tips

Be very judicusize. By all means

reflections are goinsurfaces whedon't need to be

Related Topics: RAViX Overview Fill Options Edge Options Reflective Materials

Include Shadows

Shadows take 3D to the next level of realism. Now obviously, they're not for every situation, but in certain instances they can make a scene really come to life.Upon export, if you turn on Include Shadows, every light within your scene design(see Lighting Properties) will interact with the objects and cast realistic shadows on a variety of surfaces. Also, when shadows are cast upon one another (overlapping) RAViX has the ability to calculate realistic shadow densities where those shadows intersect. These are the places where you might find shadows being cas

Object Shadows: In scenes where there are multiple objects, shadow casting lights can create very cool shadows that fall onto other objects within thscene. A popular use of

Self Shadows: With msome nice effects gand the rest o

272


Shadow Density and Color

The colors of the shadows cast in the scene can be adjusted by double clicking on the color box and

choosing any color from the Color dialog.

Shadow density is controlled through the slider located underneath the color box. Move the slider towaright to increase the sha

rds the dow density and to the left in

decrease shadow density.

ease when exporting with shadows. Also, ten into your files with shadows, you will

Lighting

Transp

define transparent surface areas if hard edges exist. In the first example below, note that RAViX ate the shading between the surface areas of the cube, but not the sphere. le, the sphere has had its Smoothing removed, which allows RAViX to better

reas (but may not provide the look you want either).

Sphere With Smoothing Sphere Unsmoothed

Color

Edge Options

NOTE: You can expect to see your render time incrsince there will need to be more vector information writsee an increase in the size of your files as well.


Properties

arency

There are no specific fill settings in RAViX for rendering out an object's opacity. RAViX will simply respect the transparency set in the Material Editor.

One important thing to note when rendering transparent objects is that smooth objects will render out with a 2D appearance if they have any opacity applied to their surfaces. RAViX can only

was able to differentipIn the second exam

define its surface a

Related Topics:

Hidden Transparent Edges Material Editor Transparent Materials

Edge Options

273


Edges, edges and more edges. We learned our lesson after first releasing Swift 3D—edges mean different things to different

t ahead and beefed up our edge rendering options to make sure our users could get exactly the look they

RelatedRAViX OFill Optio

Line Color

s to choose from the Edge Type dropdown list: Not Outlined, Outlines, Entire Mesh, and Pen Outlines. While all of these options reside neatly within one dropdown list,

es and Pen Outlines are interchangeable, with Pen Outlines simply , because RAViX must use completely different calculations to draw

regular Outlines versus Pen Outlines. For the most part you will get very similar results between

te understanding of what results you can

t the

people. So we wen

wanted.

It's important to mention that you can export edges only, or combine them with any of the fill options. And remember that the additional edge information being written into your vector file is going to beef up your file size over whatever it would be with just fills.

Topics: verview ns

Edge Type Include Hidden Edges Include Detail Edges Detail Edge Angle Line Weight

Pen Outlines

Edge Type

You have four option

don't assume that Outlingiving you a fancier line

regular Outlines and Pen Outlines, but there are exceptions so please read carefully through all of the Edge Type options to make sure you have a compleexpect from each option.

Outlines

I like to call this one 'Hard Edges' because that's whaRAViX looks for when it's detecting where to drawoutlines. If you need RAViX to pick up any furtherdetails you can use the Detail Edge control to do a bitof fine tuning. Read more about Detail Edge in the upcoming section.

274


275

When you think 'Wireframe,' RAViX thinks Entire Mesh. Essentially what's going on herexporting the outlines of every scene. The tighter the mesh is,RAViX will export, and the larg

ithin each object's Properties Page, or by bringing objects into the

ck

For renderings that need a more artistic, cartoon look, Pen Outlines are definitely the way to go. he same settings as Outlines, but also come with specific settings that allow e look of the pen strokes.

Include Hidden Edges

The Include Hid le when rento Outlines and Mesh Outlines.section that overviews Edge Types, RAViX must use different

to draw Pen Outlines, and due to the way determines Pen Outlines, RAViX cannot detect edges

den. It's a bummer, but true. So if Edges, you have to sacrifice that

.

What are hidden edges?

the wireframe concept in that it of your model, giving it a

he best way to describe it is visually. The

Entire Mesh

e is Swift 3D is single polygon in your the more polygons er the final file size

becomes.

The only way you can alter the detail of your exported image is to either reduce or increase the number of polygons in your scene. You can control this by using the Segmentation settings w

Advanced Modeler and editing their mesh. Very smooth (high-poly) objects can turn almost blawith lines and very rough (low-poly) objects will begin to look like they were exported using the Outlines option.

Pen Outlines

Pen styles respect tyou to customize th

Related Topics: RAViX Overview Edge Options Fill Options

den Edges is only availab As mentioned in the previous

dering

calculations in orderRAViXon surface areas that are hidyou absolutely need Hidden Pen Outline look

This feature is a variation of exports the front and the back edgestransparent look. T


first image on the right is a box without the hidden edges exportededges included.

That should pretty much clear things up for you. Just rememberfile size w

and the second has the hidden

that you will be increasing your ith the Hidden Edges being drawn because you're creating more information in that final

vector file. And unless you have a very low polygon model, I wouldn't recommend using this probably see way too many lines feature with the Entire Mesh outline option because you will

show up upon rendering.

NOTE: You cannot render out both Hidden Edges and Outlines atdeter

Intersections it from also detecting Outlines At Intersections at algorithm. I swear. The engineers showed it to me you have Hidden Edges checked and you try to

Edges option will automatically become unchecked, s a bug. If you do, we will know that you did not read

objects to show any back edges ually being viewed through a transparent material.

s. They way RAViX mines which edges are hidden prevent

the same time. It's just not supported by the

ersections, the Hidden please don't report this a

tation.

nsparent Edges

l cause transparent in a more realistic manner by taking into account that these edges are act

Note: While Hidden Edges of opaque objects cannot be rendered to Pen Outlines, the Hidden ent Edges setting is supported by Pen Outlines. No, we are not just trying to mess with

you; there is some very rational logic behind this insanity. RAViX needs to be able to see surface ause transparent materials are back edges in order to draw Pen

aterial Editor Transparent Materials

ransparency

utlines at Intersections

hen two objects intersect, a decision must be made when rendering with outlines whether or not you want an outline to be rendered at that point of intersection. The two examples below

and it can't be done. So, you will notice that ifcheck Outlines At Intand visa versa. Sothe documen


Hidden Tra

This feature wil

Essentially, these edges are rendered in a slightly lighter color than if you were using just the “Include Hidden Edges” feature. As you can see from the two rendered cubes below, the difference is definitely subtle.

Hidden Edges Hidden Transparent Edges

Transpar

areas in order to draw Pen Outlines on edges, and becconveniently transparent, RAViX can see through to theOutlines. See, perfectly logical.

Related Topics: Hidden Transparent Edges M

T

O

W

276


show two intersecting objects rendered with and without outlines at the point where the two objects intersect. By default, RAViX will render outlines where two objects intersect. If you do not

mply need to uncheck the Outlines at

where two objects intersect even if the se of the role the Detail Level setting on the

e plays in determining how RAViX detects Outlines At Intersections. As the detail level is increased, the tolerance RAViX uses for determining Outlines At Intersections is tightened

loosened. This affects the way Outlines isabled. So what this means is that if you

is still drawing lines where objects u get the appropriate output.

d by the algorithm. I swear. The engineers showed it to me and it can't be done.

So, you will notice that if you have Hidden Edges checked and you try to check Outlines At tersections, the Hidden Edges option will automatically become unchecked, and visa versa. So

please don't report this as a bug. If you do, we will know that you did not read the documentation.

Outlines at Intersections

Turned Off Outlines at Intersections

Turned On

Outlines at Intersections setting)SmartLayers. Both intersecting respect this setting.

need to know the “why When the target file ty

s turned on, RAViX will procing and stationary. With the edges being split up into two groups, RAViX

two groups of edges independent of the other and is therefore unable to een edges that are not in the same group.

Include Detail Edges

u want to define such as all of lly bring out the detail and third

want RAViX to render the outline, however, you siIntersections setting.

It is possible for RAViX to draw outlines at the pointOutlines At Intersections setting is turned off becauGeneral pag

up and as the detail level is decreased, that tolerance isAt Intersections are drawn only when this setting is dturn off the Outlines at Intersections setting and RAViXintersect, you need to decrease the detail level until yo

NOTE: You cannot render out both Hidden Edges and Outlines at Intersections. The way RAViX determines which edges are hidden prevents it from also detecting Outlines At Intersections. It'sjust not supporte

In

IMPORTANT: If you have two intersecting objects and one is animated and one is stationary, RAViX will ALWAYS render outlines at the point of intersection (regardless of the state of the

if your output options are set to the SWFT file format with objects have to be either stationary or moving for RAViX to

” of every thing, here are the gory details about how pe is SWFT and the Separate Stationary and Moving

ess all edges of the scene and divide them up into

For those of you whoSmartLayers work.Objects option i

vtwo types: moprocesses thedistinguish where edge intersection occurs betw

There are obvious places to find edges and less obvious places, and the Include Edge Detail control allows you to delineate where that line is drawn.

The lowest level of edge detection comes when you are only looking for an outside edge—essentially an outline around your objects. But there is typically much more to an object that yothe interior lines that readimension of an object.

By choosing to turn this feature on, you are telling RAViX to start looking for those interior edges. The

277


next decision comes with choosing how much detail you want to call out, which gets decided through the Detail Angle control.

ss edges will be detected. Sort of counter-intuitive, but hey, it's the geometry, not us.

angle differences between the different faces of your objects, so there's not o describe which edges will be detected under which angle settings because it

n how your objects are constructed. The best bet is to mess around until you get te number of edges being detected and rendered out.

Include Detail Edges

Line Weight

This field allows you to designate the weight of your lines upon rendering. There's a range from hairline (0.0) to 10 point.

g above 1

Related Topics:

er. Double click on the color box, choose your color, and bingo, your edges will be that color. Since I'm completely unqualified to go into color theory, that's about

Related Topics: Detail Edge Angle RAViX Overview Edge Options Fill Options

Detail Edge Angle

This function allows you to adjust how sensitive RAViX is to the Detail Edge detection. The way itworks is the lower the threshold angle, the more edges will be detected, and conversely the higher you go, the le

It all hinges upon thereally a good way treally depends othe appropria

Related Topics:

RAViX Overview Edge Options Fill Options

NOTE: When rendering to Pen Outlines, a Line Weight of at least 1.0 is recommended in order toseen the changes in the pen angle. Also, if you're exporting to Flash (SWF), you’ll have to zoom way in on a rendering to actually notice any changes in line weights until you start gettinpoint of thickness.

RAViX Overview Edge Options Fill Options

Line Color

This one is pretty much a no-brain

as far as I'm going to take that one.

278



Pen Outlines

Pen Style Outlines

Pen Outlines are accessed from the Edge Type drop down list. This style of outline provides more of a hand-drawn cartoon rendering of an object's outlines. Pen Style Outlines are most effective when the Line Weight is set above 1.0 so that you can see the changes in line weight along the object's edges. Additional Pen Outline settings are Pen Shape, Pen Angle and Pen Aspect.

As previously mentioned, the Hidden Edges option is not supported by Pen Outlines, which is why this option is grayed out.

Pen Preview Window

The Pen Preview window provides you with a preview of what

n provided that allows you to zoom in on the Pen Preview window. The default setting for this slider is all the way to the left, which shows

Related Topics

Pen Shape

e and Ellipse:

the shape, angle and aspect of the pen will look like as you change these settings. The preview shows the actual line weight that is set in the Line Weight option. Since it is virtually impossible to see the preview of line weights less that 5.00, a Zoom setting has bee

you the actual thickness of what the line will look like when rendered. As you move the slider to the right, the magnification of that line increases.

Pen Angle Pen Aspect Pen Shape

The two options for the Pen Shape setting are Rectangl

279


280

erence you will see in these settings is at the corners and ends of the outlines. With the Rectangle option you will see sharper corners and with the Ellipse option those corners will be

.

Pen Angle

determines the anglell increasingl ust the Pen Aspect further from

n. As you adjust your Pe (use the Zoom tool if the pr

en in your fingers:

The main diff

softer and more rounded

Pen Shape = Rectangle Pen Shape = Ellipse

Related Topics Pen Angle Pen Aspect Pen Style Outlines

The Pen Angle setting g wi

at which the tip of the pen rests on the conceptual y affect the outlines as you adj

n Angle you will see the results within the Pen eview is too small), as if you were rotating a

canvas. This settinits centered locatioPreview windowcalligraphic p

This setting, combined with the Pen Aspect, can have a dramatic affect on your rendered output.

Pen Angle = 10°

ics Pen Shape

Pen Style Outlines

Pen Angle = 90°

Related Top

Pen Aspect

Pen Aspect


The Pen Aspect slider controls the width of the pen point. Note that as you adjust each of the positions, a preview of the results can be seen in the Pen Preview Window er if the preview is too small).

osition for this slider is located in the middle:

sliders to different slid(use the Zoom

The neutral p

Moving the slider to the left will result in a taller profile:

Moving the slider to the right will result in a wider profile:

The following is an example of the type of results you can get from adjusting the Pen Aspect slider:

Pen Style Outlines

ect Slider Set to Neutral

Pen Aspect Slider Set to Far Right

cs

Pen Asp

Related TopiPen Shape Pen Angle

281

Rendering With EMO EMO Ray Tracer Overview Although Swift 3D has its roots in vectors, it has evolved to also become fluent in the realm of raster output. Flash users have been expanding their repertoire beyond pure vector content and are commonly incorporating raster images and animations into their projects. For this reason, we include a secondary rendering engine within Swift 3D that is geared to satisfy users looking for richer looking 3D

EMO uses a specific technique known as Ray Tracing to turn your scene into a raster file. Ray Tracing is a rendering technique whereby complex mathematical calculations are performed to determine how the lights, colors and objects within the scene affect the overall appearance of the scene. I don't want to bore you with too many details regarding the insane equations that govern this rendering process (which means I have no clue how EMO's Ray Tracing actually operates behind the scenes in Swift 3D). Suffice to say that by calculating how real light rays would naturally interact with the objects in your scene EMO is able to render

Aside from more realistic rendering, EMO opens some more doors in the creation environment as well. Because EMO is able to analyze the interaction of light with a surface more accurately than RAViX, you have the ability to apply textures to your objects in the form of Bitmap and Procedural Textures (see chapter on Materials for more information on these concepts).

General

l category. Since EMO is a Ray Tracing rendering engine, it strives to mimic photorealism and thus does not need the ariety of options associated with RA iX.

verview

ype - EMO

n Color Depth Antialias Quality

content. This rendering engine is named EMO (short for Electric Motion) and it's at your disposal.

incredibly realistic files.

All of the Output Options for EMO are contained within the Genera

v V

Related Topics: racer OEMO Ray T

Target File TFile Level - EMO Bitmap Compressio

283


Target File Type Here you can decide what file format you want to export your final rendering to. By default, the Target File Type is set to the SWF file format. You can change the file type Swift 3D defaults to by going to View > User Preferences. It’s important to note, however, that no matter what file type is chosen, the rendering process will be identical. For this reason you can render a scene once and then export it to a variety of raster files without having to render the scene again.

Bitmap Formats

Flash Player (SWF) - Although the SWF file format started out as a vector format, it now supports raster imagery as well. Swift 3D has the ability to render frame-by-frame raster animations and place all of the frames into a single SWF file that can then be imported into Flash.

Windows Bitmap (BMP) - BMPs are bitmap files that use the common Windows file format for storing color images. This file format is the native format for Microsoft Windows and many Windows programs support this format.

JPEG Format (JPG) - JPEG files are a standard supported by almost all applications, browsers, media players, etc.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) - PNG (Portable Network Graphic) is a non-patented, lossless compression format for creating graphics.

Tagged Image Format (TIF) - TIF is one of the most common graphic image formats. TIF files are commonly used in desktop publishing, faxing and 3D applications.

True Vision TARGA (TGA) - TGA files are another standard Windows format that support both 24 and 32 bit colors.

Video File Formats

[See Video File Formats section in Rendering With RAViX for complete details on these file formats.]

Flash for Video (FLV) - Macromedia introduced support of video content with its own FLV video file format in Flash MX and the Flash Player 6. FLV files contain encoded audio and video data that is highly optimized for delivery through the Flash Player. This keeps the Flash Player footprint as small as possible by using a single video rendering format.

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) - AVI is the standard audio/video file format developed by Microsoft and is available on Windows only.

QuickTime (MOV) - The QuickTime audio/video file format, developed by Apple Computers, requires the proprietary Apple QuickTime Player.

Related Topics: EMO Ray Tracer Overview General Output Options - EMO Flash for Video (FLV)

284

Rendering With EMO

285

e same. No matter what you save your file as, it Player, and will import into a version of the he level you choose.

Bitmap Compression

n

g to be doing any pomight want to pay extra attention to the Bi

EMO Ray Tracer Overview ptions - EMO

including. All of the t JPEG, which only supports 24 Bit, and SWF, which

only supports 32 Bit. Obviously 32 Bit colors are more rich, but there is little difference between em and the default settings should work fine for you.

EMO

ality the boundaries of two different colors are averaged

together in order to smooth out edges to the viewer's eye. It's a fairly common process performed by most applications and players, and it's at your beckoned call when rendering scenes with EMO. The process involves blowing up the image a certain number of times, then averaging the

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) QuickTime (MOV)

File Level These three Flash file types are all pretty much thwill play back in any compatible version of the Flash Flash authoring tool that is equal to or greater than t

Related Topics: EMO Ray Tracer Overview General Output Options - EMO

This option is activated only for JPEG, PNG and SWF formats. (All of the video file formats - AVI, FLV and MOV - come with their own compression settings that are described in the section on Rendering With RAViX.) The slider goes from Size, which provides the smallest file, to Quality, which creates the nicest image. It's important to realize that if you are going to be importing your rendered files into Flash for inclusion into a larger project, then Flash will do the final compressioon your raster images. This means that you should be rendering using at least the default compression settings so you don't end up precluding Flash's compression abilities. On the other hand, if you are not goin st-production work on your rendered files then you

tmap Compression settings because there is a very wide range of output quality associated with the two extreme settings.

Related Topics:

General Output O

Color Depth This setting has to do with the number of colors the renderedformats support 24 and 32 Bit colors, excep

file is capable of

th

Related Topics: EMO Ray Tracer Overview General Output Options -

Antialias QuAntialiasing is a process whereby pixels along


pixels and finally shrinking it backand 4x4, with the numbers repres

down to the original size. Thus the settings are None, 2x2, 3x3 enting how many times the image is blown up in size. Each

level of magnification results in a higher quality file but also increases the overall render times.

Related Topics: EMO Ray Tracer Overview General Output Options - EMO

286

Working With Exported Files Files Overview

thatlike yourself utilize Swift 3D to accomplish a

And now you've got this red hot rendering and you're er bigger picture you have envisioned.

end up creating from Swift 3D? There are really six S, XAML, Papervision3D, or any raster format

what of a divergence of strategies based on which at your options.

Working With Exported

Swift 3D is more of a tool than an application, meaning that designers

rall production goals.to whatev

file did you main answers to that question: SWF, SWFT, 3D

ek

,

tion to

SmartLayer SWFT Files les u

r us and chnolog

proprietary file format we use to ft 3D to Flash. No longer are we

ype options back in the Output Options section of the Preview and Export Editor. If you chose to use the SWFT file

ntent from Swift 3D to Flash MX or higher then you’re in the right place.

ave either Flash MX or higher installed on your machine then tically installed for you so you should be all set to begin

higher after you installed Swift 3D you can also

So you've got this great looking output and you're wondering “What's next?” Well, since we hate to leave you completely out in the cold, we've got a few answers for you. Chances are you're creating your 3D animation to incorporate into a larger project. We realize

certain part of their oveitching to integrate it in

The first question is what type of

including raster-based SWF. There is somexported format you’ve created, so let’s loo

Publishing SWF files directly to Web Although the majority of Swift 3D users are creating 3D animations to augment their Flash designwe realize that there are plenty of people who have no need to do any further SWF editing within Flash. Swift 3D creates SWF files that are ready for direct publishing to the Web or distribuanyone who has the Flash Player on their computer or handheld device. For this reason you can use any number of HTML editing applications to incorporate your SWF files into HTML-based Web sites.

SmartLayer SWFT Fi sing the Swift 3D Importer

importer for Flash because we knew it would for our RAViX rendering engine. Those new doors come in the y that enables Swift 3D to write layering information into the

transfer 3D information from Swi

listing of Target File T

We were pretty pumped when asked us to do an open some new doors foform of our SmartLayer te

handcuffed by the SWF file format, and by unshackling our files, we can pass the power and flexibility on to you, the designer.

This new format is the SWFT file that was a part of your

format to get your co

Swift 3D Importer

When you install Swift 3D, if you hthe Swift 3D Importer was automaimporting SWFT files. If you installed Flash MX or manually install the Swift 3D Importer yourself.

How to manually install the Swift 3D Importer for Flash MX and MX 2004:

287


1. Make sure Flash is not currently open. 2. Navigate to the folder where Swift 3D is installed on your computer. 3. Open the “Version 5.00” folder. 4. Open the “Flash Importer” folder.

“Swift3DImporter.” (This is a .dll file on Windows.) st run/importers folder of your Flash MX or higher installation. porter” file into that folder.

Now the next time you fire up Flash MX or higher you will have the Swift 3D Importer enabled, allowing you to bring in SWFT files from Swift 3D.

Importing SWFT files

To import a SWFT file into Flash MX or higher: 1. After rendering your file using RAViX (EMO is unable to use the Swift 3D Importer), open

up Flash MX or higher. 2. Choose File > Import to Library. 3. Choose “Swift 3D Importer (*.swft)” from the “Files of type” dropdown list. 4. Navigate to your exported SWFT file and click OK.

That's it. Our importer will handle everything else file and automatically creates an individual movie cit after the file name.

Layers

When you open up the Movie Clip in Flash you'll see that RAViX has written you a series of layers that all combine to make up the entire animation you rendered from Swift 3D. Here are the potential layers that will be created within Flash, working our way up from the bottom of the stacking order:

Colors Layers

These layers make up the foundation of the basic fill style you chose before rendering your file. For example, if you opted for the Cartoon Average Color Fill style, you'll find all of the colored shapes RAViX created upon rendering within these layers.

Colors (Stationary): Often things aren't always moving in your scene. Unfortunately, since 3D in Flash is a frame-by-frame process we've had to draw out every object in every frame. With the ability to write information to separate layers we're not forced to draw every object for every frame. The big deal with this feature is that you can conserve on file size by only including a single frame for objects that aren't moving over time.

Colors (Motion): As the name implies, these layers include information about all of the objects that change in appearance from frame to frame. There's nothing novel about how we're doing this

5. Copy the file6. Navigate to the .../fir7. Paste the “Swift3DIm

for you. The Swift 3D Importer takes that SWFT lip within your current movie's Library, naming

288

Working With Exported Files

289

s of your file we've you.

If you rendered with Outlines, Mesh Outlines or

e followed by a series of static frames.

Outlines (Transparent): Any outlines rendered around a transparent surface will be placed in areas, if you render

nd opaque areas and one for transparent areas.

lective materials applied to them within Swift 3D will end up in this layer. It's important to note that it's not the object itself showing up in this layer, but any other objects in

Flash, and this

because it's the same as it's always been. But if you look to the various aspewritten into the layers of Flash you'll see some additional flexibility available

ctto

Pen Outlines set, you will have at least one layer

istenc

Outline Layers

of outlines appearing in your Flash file after import. If your scene consists of stationary, animatedand both opaque and transparent objects, you could have up to three layers worth of outlines.

Outlines (Stationary): As is the case with the Colors layers, in many Swift 3D files there are objects that do not move for a series of frames, and this layer will consist of the outlines of those objects. You will find a keyframe that marks the start of those objects’ ex

Outlines (Motion): Anytime objects are moving from frame to frame, this layer will include the motion of the outlines of those objects, represented by a series of keyframes.

this layer. Note that if an object has both opaque and transparent surfaceoutlines the outlines will get split up into two layers: one for outlines arou

Pens (Stationary): This layer is the same as the Outlines (Stationary) layer, but is generated when you render to Pen Outlines.

Pens (Motion): This layer is the same as the Outlines (Motion) layer but with Pen Outlines.

Pens (Transparent): This layer is the same asOutlines.

the Outlines (Transparent) layer but with Pen

Shadows Layer

If you chose to include shadows in your file, a layer will be created that contains all of the shadow information grouped together. To gain access to the actual fills of the shadow objects you can break apart the group and adjust the fills individually.

Highlights Layer

These layers are created when you turn on the Include Specular Highlights option within the Fills category of the Preview and Export Editor. These highlights will be grouped together and will include the number of gradations specified within the Output Options of Swift 3D.

Reflections Layer

Any objects that had a ref

the scene that are reflected off of the surface of the original object.

Transparent Layer

Materials that have a transparency setting of anything above zero will reside in this layer. The colors you see within this layer will all have alpha settings less than 100% within


layer should remain on top of the stacking order since they are meant to show other layers ben

If you choose to import the SWFT file directly onto your stage or into an existing Movie Clip via the cked up on top of wha e to Libr laced into the Root of your Library and has been named using the file name.

ell you straight up that chances are you can come up with way nherent in these layers available to you. But I can

ith a couple of scenarios that immediately

cene with shadows, and you'd like to soften them up a

ll swoop. objects transition between a

wireframe state and a fully shaded state. With

your movieof your rendering accessible, it's very

necessary garbage tha

real geniuses of Swift 3D (that's

Updating Imported SWFT Files

If you go back and change your Swift 3D file in some way and would like to re-import your freshly tified if the file name is the same. If this is the case,

to overwrite the existing Movie Clips in your Library. epending on your situation.

ms ’ve taken strides to make sure the new

3, 4 or 5 file, you'll just need to access it in a different way than with the Swift 3D Importer.

eath them via their alpha settings.

File > Import process, you'll find that all of these layers simply get statev r layers are already included on the main stage. If you choose to do a File > Import

single frame rendering) has been pary, you will find that a Movie Clip (or symbol if it’s a

Utilizing SmartLayer Technology

Now I'm no Flash guru, so I'll tmore novel ways of utilizing all of this flexibility icertainly stick out my neck and get the ball rolling wcome to mind.

Scenario 1: ered a slittle to match the rest of your Fla

You've rendsh design. With the shadows being on a layer you can

quickly do an Edit Multiple Frames and tweak their alpha settings in one fe Scenario 2: You're trying to create an effect where

Color and Edges on separate layers this

as far as is humanly possible. With each of these components easy to go through each layer and delete out any

t's not actually doing much for the overall animation quality. You'd like the objects in your scene that aren't moving to be rendered out

since they will only be included in your FLA as a ring system you can render your scenes several times

hen recombine different layers from different files in

I'll leave it up to the .

becomes a cinch using a similar process as the Shadow scenario. Scenario 3: Your client is stressing about download times and wants you to bring down

the file size of

un Scenario 4:

using a more realistic shading stylesingle keyframe. With this new layeusing several different fill styles and tFlash as you see fit.

That's really just scratching the surface, butyou) to push this great feature to the limit

rendered SWFT file into Flash, you will be noFlash MX or higher will ask you if you'd likeYou can choose the appropriate response d

SWF Files in Flash Importing SWF Files Into Flash

We know not everyone upgrades their software and that some people use alternative prograthat can import SWF files. With those folks in mind, weRAViX SmartLayer features don’t go unused by all of our customers. Since we can’t utilize the layering information we write for the Swift 3D Importer for Flash MX or higher, we've taken a different approach for other users. Most of the crucial information is still contained within a Flash

290


To import a SWF file into Flash: 1. Open the version of Flash you are using. 2. Choose File > Import.

e to the file you wi

If you are using the Flash 4 File Level w

in that fraproblem.

Swift 3D would have written into different layers using the importer. If you're dealing with a single nt

1. Select the imported object on the stage.

g the objects that are now available.

ach layer that wougroups of objects sharing the same characteri

k your frames going to be a tedious process of p of objects onto

dit Multiple Fra

you must do a Modify >

part you can edit the images as you would any other objects in Flash.

f

3. Navigat sh to import and click OK.

hen exporting gradients from Swift 3D, you'll need

me to overcome the bug. Flash 3 and Flash 5 do not exhibit this

At this point the animation will appear on your main stage, but you can always bring the file directly into your library with the File > Import to Library command.

NOTE:to delete the first dummy frame of the animation. This process exists due to a bug in the Flash 4 authoring environment where very little of your animation is even viewable within the application. It plays just fine in the Flash Player, but working with invisible objects is no fun so we include some extra information

Working With SWF Files in Flash

Breaking Out to Layers

Now you just have to break apart the frames of your image to gain access to the objects that

frame it's very easy, but if you have a longer animation the process of separating out the differelayers is a little more time consuming.

To break apart a single frame SWF:

2. Do a CTRL + B to break apart the object. 3. Begin selectin

You'll see that e ld have been created within the SWFT file is still accessible as stics. Your transparencies are all grouped together,

apart all at once. After that it's a separate layer across multiple frames. You also won't get the

mes button along the bottom of the Timeline.

as are your shadows, your speculars and so on. It's just a matter of a few commands in Flash to get those object groupings separated out onto their own layers.

If you do have a longer animation, you can at least use the Edit Multiple Frames command within Flash to help breagetting each groubenefits of being able to separate stationary and moving objects when you use the SWF file format to get your Swift 3D renderings into Flash.

To edit multiple frames in Flash: 1. Click the E2. Drag the End Onion Skin bracket to the end of your animation. 3. Drag a marquee box around the entire scene to select all the objects in all the frames.

Once you have done this all of the imported artwork is selected, butBreak Apart command to actually be able to edit the lines and fills of your artwork. Once the frames are broken a

If you have brought your animation in as a movie clip, you may want to center your animation within the movie clip stage so that when you place the clip into your main scene it will appear centered on where you drop it. To do this you just go through the same process of selecting all o

291


the frames of your animation and then click-and-drag them all at once to the center of your mclip, represented by the small cross-hat

ovie ch in the center of the stage.

s definitely a point where

To optimize your vector files in Flash:

odify > Break Apart.

Pla

Raste

If you'veprocess

To 1. 2. 3.

to import the entire sequence. You can choose

ile Format e

ast

es. It

Optimizing in Flash

As you probably know, Flash has an optimize function that converts lines to curves, thus lowering file size by reducing the amount of mathematical information needed to draw the vector lines and fills. With a little tweaking, you can get your file to tighten up, but there ithings start to lose their original shape.

1. Click the Edit Multiple Frames button along the bottom of the Timeline. 2. Drag the End Onion Skin bracket to the end of your animation. 3. Drag a marquee box around the entire scene to select all the objects in all the frames. 4. Select M5. Choose Modify > Curves > Optimize (Flash 4) or Modify > Optimize (Flash 5, MX) or

Modify > Shape > Optimize (MX 2004, 8 and CS3).

y with the slider and see how much you can tighten the belt of your final SWF file.

r Files from EMO

utilized the EMO Ray Tracer to generate your rendered file then there is only one for bringing your file into Flash, and it's the straightforward File > Import command.

import raster files (JPEG, BMP, TGA, PNG, TIF and SWF) into Flash: Choose File > Import. Navigate to the file(s) you exported from Swift 3D and click OK. If you've rendered sequential files (animation) choose the first file of the sequence.

If your file consists of a single frame image then it will appear on a new layer within Flash. If the file was the first of a sequence of files then Flash will prompt you with a dialog asking if you'd like

the appropriate option, and if you choose to of keyframes for each frame of your animation. After

hers you've worked with in Flash. import the sequence then you'll get a seriesthat, the images will behave just like any ot

Of course there are plenty of other uses for EMO’s raster output depending on what you're trying to create, but since Swift 3D is primarily geared for people who use Flash we'll leave the logistics of integrating your exported files into other applications up to you.

Related Topics: EMO Ray Tracer Overview

Exporting to the 3DS FEarly on in the evolution of Swift 3D our users were amazing us with how far they pushed Swift3D’s admitedly limited modeling tools of the time in the pursuit of visualizing their ideas. After thintroduction of the Advanced Modeler the quality of their creations has pushed the envelope pa point we never expected. However, with the increase in complexity and detail so to has the timemany of these dedicated Swifters spend modeling, texturing and animating their masterpiec

292


is because of this dedication (and near deafening requests) of our users that we have introduced the i he popular 3DS file. This feature opens up the possiblities of sharing Swift 3D created models app t nded.

, keyframe animation, lighting

a few conditions that you should be aware of:

1.

2. Any font, extruded or lathed objec

To export to 3DS:

ve.

NOTE: Due to 3DS file lim

http://www.erain.com/produc

Also e working with the late u d we want your exp n

n

abil ty to export true 3D data from Swift 3D to twith users of other 3D software, video editing

lica ions and even in the new Adobe Photoshop CS3 Exte

From the File menu in the Scene Editor you have the option to export an entire scene or justselected objects to the 3DS file format. Export Scene To 3DS will take your entire Swift 3D scene and convert it to a 3DS file, including model meshes, texturesand cameras, while Export Selected Object To 3DS will include all selected objects, any animation applied to them, as well as all lighting and cameras. The exact elements maintained when the 3DS is opened or imported into another program varies from program to program, so you may have to consult the documentation of the program you are using to import your 3DS file to see what limitation that program may impose. As a test, you can always import your 3DS file back into Swift 3D.

During the export process to 3DS there are

Mesh Morpher animations, Environment and Background Color settings are not

ts will be converted model mesh.

e > Export Scene To 3DS or Export Selected Objects To

, give it a name and click sa

itations, any materials with a Color Pattern other than

maintained.

3. Trackball lighting will be maintained, but converted to the equivalent of scene lights. 4. While basic color, bitmaps and transparency will be maintained in materials, highlight size

will change, while reflectivity and Procedural Textures are ignored.

1. In the Scene Editor, choose Fil3DS.

2. Navigate to where you wish to save the file

Procedural Solid or Bitmap will be omitted from the exported 3DS file.

Export to Papervision3D Papervision3D is an open source project that is continually evolving. With the upcoming release of Papervision3D 2.0, Swift 3D’s functionality and workflow will likely change, which means the "Current Workflow" documented below may be outdated. Please visit the following page for the latest documentation on how Swift 3D works with Papervision3D:

ts/swift3d/papervision3d/

ay, an, pl ase login to the Product Update Site on occasion to ensure that you’re

st b ild of Swift 3D. We expect some important changes along the werie ce with this new functionality to be the best that it can be.

Current Workflow (last updated December 5, 2007)

So, just how easy is it to create a Papervision3D project? Well, if you already have a model created, it's a matter of seconds before you will have a real 3D Flash movie with mouse rotatioand zooming of your 3D model. Here's how it works:

293


294

Step 1: Export your 3D Model or Scene to Papervision3D

Step 2: Open the Folder that Swift 3D Created

Inside, you will see all of the files that make up the project:

The com and org folders are Papervision3D folders that you don't need to worry about. You will (1Default.png and 7Default.png in the image above). The ERMain.asp file

t for your scene. The .dae file is the Collada file of your 3D Model or ou're primarily interested in at this point.

see any texture files includes all of the actionscripScene. The .FLA is the Flash file that y

Step 3: Open the .FLA file in Flash

You will see a nice little message from us (shown below), along with some 3D Nav buttons that you can use or delete if you would like (or redesign to your liking):


295

Ste

Do and adm

p 4: Preview your Papervision Scene

a CTRL + ENTER for a Flash preview of your interactive Papervision3D scene. Grab a beer ire your work.

Exporting Exporting to the 3DS File Format Early on in the evolution of Swift 3D our users were amazing us with how far they pushed Swift 3D’s admitedly limited modeling tools of the time in the pursuit of visualizing their ideas. After the introduction of the Advanced Modeler the quality of their creations has pushed the envelope past a point we never expected. However, with the increase in complexity and detail so to has the time many of these dedicated Swifters spend modeling, texturing and animating their masterpieces. It is because of this dedication (and near deafening requests) of our users that we have introduced the ability to export true 3D data from Swift 3D to the popular 3DS file. This feature opens up the possiblities of sharing Swift 3D created models with users of other 3D software, video editing applications and even in the new Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended.

From the File menu in the Scene Editor you have the option to export an entire scene or just selected objects to the 3DS file format. Export Scene To 3DS will take your entire Swift 3Dscene and convert it to a 3DS file, including model meshes, textures, keyframe animation, lighting

t To 3DS will include all selected objects, any animation applied to them, as well as all lighting and cameras. The exact elements maintained

to see what limitation that program may impose. As a test, you can always import your 3DS file ack into Swift 3D.

uring the export process to 3DS there are a few conditions that you should be aware of:

1. Mesh Morpher animations, Environment and Background Color settings are not maintained.

2. Any font, extruded or lathed objects will be converted model mesh. 3. Trackball lighting will be maintained, but converted to the equivalent of scene lights. 4. While basic color, bitmaps and transparency will be maintained in materials, highlight size

will change, while reflectivity and Procedural Textures are ignored.

To export to 3DS: 1. In the Scene Editor, choose File > Export Scene To 3DS or Export Selected Objects To

3DS. 2. Navigate to where you wish to save the file, give it a name and click save.

NOTE: Due to 3DS file limitations, any materials with a Color Pattern other than Procedural Solid or Bitmap will be omitted from the exported 3DS file.

Exporting to T3D It is possible to export a 3D scene to a .T3D file for use in another Photoshop project or within another version of Swift 3D. This process will include all objects, lights, cameras, animations, etc. within that file.

To export your scene to a .T3D file: 1. Choose File > Export .T3D. 2. Name your file and click Save.

and cameras, while Export Selected Objec

when the 3DS is opened or imported into another program varies from program to program, so you may have to consult the documentation of the program you are using to import your 3DS file

b

D

297

Appendix A: Menus

es out Swift 3D can be

, Close, Save and Save As are all standard functions you'll see on most program.

3DS file.

tion allows you to save an animation to the Animation Gallery. Gallery.

XF files, a popular 3D model file format.

ne To 3DS allows you to export an entire scene as an AutoDesk 3DS file.

AutoDesk 3DS file. Papervision

3D project. bjects

have been ) wift 3D menu item on Mac) is computer-speak for Vaya con

Unlimited Undo is music to my ears. No matter how good you are at using a program, ds, “Whoa, what happened?” It's times like these I reach

a prayer to the RainMaker.

Scene Editor Menus Swift 3D (Mac Only)

About Swift 3D will give you a listing of relevant information like who the software is licensed to, the product ID number, what version you own and what build number you're working with. Some of this information is very pertinent to getting prompt and accurate email tech support since we need to know exactly what version of the software you have to answer certain questions.

Preferences brings up Swift 3D's User Preferences dialog. From the User Preferencdialog a variety of default settings for features found throughadjusted.

Hide Swift 3D hides the Swift 3D interface from view. Hide Others hides any other programs open in the background from view. Show All brings all open programs into view. Quit Swift 3D closes down the program.

File

New, Open

New From 3DS is a command that lets you build a new scene based on an imported

Open Recent lists recently worked on Swift 3D files (Mac only). Save Anima

Save Lighting allows you to save a lighting scheme to the Lighting Save Model allows you to save an extrusion, lathe or mesh to the Model Gallery. Import allows you to bring in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) or Adobe Illustrator (AI) files

and turn them into three-dimensional objects. You can also import D

Export Sce Export Selected Object To 3DS allows you to export all selected 3D objects in a scene

as an Export Scene To Papervision3D allows you to export an entire scene to a

Export Selected Object To Papervision3D allows you to export all selected 3D oin a scene to a Papervision 3D project.

The Recent Documents line will list the recent Swift 3Ddocuments youworking on. (Windows only

Exit (Windows only - see SDios.

Edit

you'll eventually mutter the worfor the Undo button and say

299


Another prayer can be said to the Rainmaker for the ability to Redo any of my unwanted Undos.

clear out the Undo stack (this will free up memory and increase

The Delete command gets rid of unwanted objects by erasing whatever is selected in your scene.

Cut, Copy and Paste behave like normal, but they only work for objects within Swift 3D, not items from the clipboard that were created in other programs.

Delete Object Animations will delete any animation applied to the 3D objects in your scene, while leaving untouched any lighting or camera animations.

Delete All Animations wipes your animation slate completely clean. Scaling Mode is a backup of the Scaling button, giving you the option of resizing an

object. Animating Mode is what you need to be in when creating animations within your scene. The Primitives list allows you to insert any of t The Lights The Cameras list allows you to insert either of

You can also reset the position of The Reset options will return your objects to t

categories listed. Select All will select every object in your scene.

View

Changing the look of the interface isn't somethisome additional space to enlarge your Viewporsmall screen or with low resolution.

The Status Bar is the thin row of information thatscreen. It's useful when you're exploring the your image since it displays the

Property Tools Trackball Tools Gallery Tools displays or hides the Materials and Animations Toolbars. Lighting Tools displays or hides the Lighting Toolbar and associated buttons. Edit Tools shows or hides the Main Toolbar across the top of the screen. The Animation Timeline is a window that's necessary if you are doing any animation

editing, but if you are making a still scene, ditch the sucker because you won't need it. Hierarchy displays or hides the Hierarchy toolbar. Show All Viewports will return both Viewport into view if one has been Maximized. Zoom Viewport allows you to change the size of your Viewport. You are not actually

changing its dimensions like you would in the Layout Properties, rather, just its size relative to the interface.

Animation

Stop Playing Animation and Play Animation turn the animation off and on. First Frame and Last Frame reset or advance the animation to the beginning or the end. Previous Frame and Next Frame allow you to move your animation back or forward by

a single frame. Loop toggles the Loop function on and off, determining how your animation gets

exported.

Clear Undo willperformance).

he Primitives found on the Main Toolbar. list allows you to insert the Scene Lights from the Main Toolbar.

the two cameras from the Main Toolbar. any of your standard cameras.

heir original state within each of the

ng you really need to do unless you are looking for t. This becomes important when working on a

runs along the bottom of the Swift 3D interface and when it comes time to export

progress of the rendering process. displays or hides the Properties Toolbar. displays or hides the Rotation Toolbar.

300

Appendix A: Menus

Setup

Animations opens the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can manage and organize the Animation Gallery.

Materials opens the Gallery Setup dialog, which allows you to

lery Setup dialog, which allows yironments from scratch.

edit existing materials and

Gal ou to edit existing

e

Arrang

objects. to do with extruded objects and how

ow

dows shows you what Swift 3D documents you currently have open. By

but remain open.

He

hes into the Web Assistant on Windows and into your

e who the software is licensed to, the product ID number,

s very pertinent to getting prompt and accurate email tech support since we

py of this program registered. We have not

ave already registered your copy with us during the

ic Rain Web Site brings you directly to our main site where you can find out more about our company and our other products. The site launches into the Web Assistant on Windows and into your default browser on the Mac. Technical Support Site takes you to the support portion of our Web site where you can

s

n the CD itself. As needs arise,

create new materials from scratch. ns the Environments ope

environments and create new env Lighting opens the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can manage and organize th

Lighting Gallery. Models opens the Gallery Setup dialog, from which you can manage and organize the Model Gallery. From the User Preferences dialog a variety of default settings for features found throughout Swift 3D can be adjusted. (Windows only - see Swift 3D menu item on Mac)

e

The Group and Ungroup commands allow you to control associations between The Combine and Break Apart commands have

they are related with each other.

Wind

Next will move you to the next open Swift 3D 3D document. Open Winselecting from this list you will activate that document and your current document will disappear

lp

Online Help will launch a Flash Help system based on this User Guide. The advantage to using the Online Help is that it is fully searchable and always accessible, and it may contain additional information on features that were implemented after the User Guide went to print. Online Help launc

on lik

default browser on the Mac. About Swift 3D (Windows only - see Swift 3D menu item on Mac) will give you a

listing of relevant informatiwhat version you own and what build number you're working with. Some of this information ineed to know exactly what version of the software you have to answer certain questions. Register Online is how you get your coincluded a registration card in the box so the only way you can register Swift 3D is electronically. Hopefully you hinstallation. Electr

gain the quickest access to answers for most technical support issues. The site launcheinto the Web Assistant on Windows and into your default browser on the Mac. Web Tutorials Site will bring you to our online tutorials area. If you have the CD version of Swift 3D, most of the available tutorials are included o

301


however, we will be creating new tutorials so you should check in once and awhile. The tutorials launch into the Web Assistant on Windows and into your default browser on the

es will give you information on any product updates and access to the he

into the Web Assistant on Windows and into your default browser on the

ExVie

e allows you to place a bitmap image behind the editor interface for

add points to an existing object. Shape Tool allows you to adjust point positions.

oints added will be Curve

ill be Tangent

-

ndant to hitting the Delete key.

he points in your extrusion.

See

He

See

Mac. Product Updatmost recent build of Swift 3D. You must be a registered user to access this Web site. Tsite launches Mac.

trusion and Lathe Editor Menu w

Zoom allows you to physically choose what magnification you'd like to be viewing your extrusion paths at, ranging from 25% to 800%. This is a backup for the Magnifying Glasstool.

Point Properties will open the corresponding dialog where you can control the style, position and nudge preferences of each point of your path.

Animation Timeline displays or hides the Animation toolbar. Background Imagreference or tracing purposes.

Edit

Undo works as it should. This is the menu equivalent of CTRL + Z (Win) or Command + Z (Mac) and clicking the Undo button on the Extrusion Editor toolbar.

Add Point Tool allows you to

Zoom Tool allows you to zoom in or out from your drawing. Corner Point Mode puts you into a mode in which all the points added will be Corner Points. (This is the default setting.)

Curve Point Mode puts you into a mode in which all the pPoints.

Tangent Point Mode puts you into a mode in which all the points added wPoints.

Close Shape will close the path you are currently working on. Create Circle, Rounded Rectangle Path, Star Path, Plus Sign Path, Arrow Path, N

Gon Path will all insert the corresponding pre-made path. Delete gets rid of whatever is selected. This is redu Copy will copy the selected path. Paste will paste the copied path.

Paste in place will paste the copied path in place. Select All selects all of t

Window

Scene Editor Menu System for explanation of options.

lp

Scene Editor Menu System for explanation of options.

302

Appendix A: Menus

303

nced Modeler Menu File

ire .t3d file. ult for

del.

Edit

the one step processModeler chapter for specific steps

Clear Undo

ormance).

Select All will select everything in the Viewports. Select Inverse deselects the current selection and selects all of the vertices, edges or

Select

ertices tool.

Transf

axis constraints.

Adva

Save and Save As will save the ent Save Modeler Default Settings will save all of the modeler's settings as the defa

when you enter the Advanced Modeler to create a new mo

Editing Mesh puts you into a mode for editing an object’s mesh. Texture Mode allows you to edit bitmaps textures applied to a mesh.

All of the Primitives available through the Advanced Modeler can be inserted into the Viewports from this menu. (Note: Inserting from

Primitives in the Advanced Modeler differs of the Scene Editor. See section on Primitives in the Advanced

on carrying out this function.)

e undone. will clear out the Undo stack (this will free up memory and increase

serves to make a copy of the object or elements currently selected in the

Undo is unlimited and will undo just your modeling efforts. Camera movement is not included. Redo will redo any action you hav

perf Duplicate

Viewports. Delete Selection will delete your currently selected objects or elements. Hide Selection will hide from view currently selection objects or elements.

Hide All will hide all objects currently contained within the Viewports. Unhide All will bring back into view any objects that have previously been hidden.

faces that had not been selected. So it basically reverses the selected area of an object.

Vertices enables the Select V Edges enables the Select Edges tool.

Faces enables the Select Faces tool. Surface Groups enables the Select Surfaces tool. Object enables the Select Object tool. Smoothing Groups enabled selection of Smoothing Group surfaces.

Soft Select enables the Soft Select tool.

orm

Constrain Axes allows you set the X, Y or Z axes as constraining axes. Move enables the Move tool and allows you to refine

Rotate enables the Rotate Tool and allows you to refine axis constraints. Scale enables the Scale tool and allows you to refine axis constraints. Extrude enables the Extrude tool and allows you to refine axis constraints.

Mirror will provide a mirror image of your object along the X, Y or Z axes. Flatten will flatten the mesh of the selected area.


ooth.

the Edge option you can Divide an edge (with two vertices selected, the faces that both vertices have in common are divided into two faces) or Turn an edge (with two

the direction of the shared

Flip Normals will reverse the direction the surface normals are facing. Delete Empty Faces will delete any polygons whose surface area is within a given tolerance of zero in order to clean up a mesh.

Positi

as.

Setup

See Scene Editor Menu System for explanation of options.

Help

See Scene Editor Menu System for explanation of options.

PrFile

een generated. es selected in the Render Preview

ns along the bottom of the Swift 3D screen. It tells you how many polygons are being rendered and let’s you keep track of where the rendering is at, all very useful information, especially when rendering long, complex animations.

e Preview and Export Editor’s Properties Toolbar.

Roundness will round your selected object or faces outward or inward. Subdivide will subdivide the selected object or faces by 4 or by 3, as well as subdivide and sm

Weld will collapse selected vertices into a single vertex. SmartWeld will weld selected vertices to those vertices within a certain tolerance region as defined through the Selection property page. From

opposing faces selected the Turn Edge function changededge).

on

Align To allows you to align selected surfaces to an axis or other selected surface are

View

Gallery Tools turns the Gallery Toolbar off or on. Property Tools turns the Properties Toolbar off or on. Status Bar turns the Status Bar off or on. Viewports allows you to arrange the setup of the Viewports.

eview and Export Editor Menu

Save and Save As do just that. Export All Frames will export all frames that have b Export Selected Frames will export only those fram

area.

View

The Status Bar is the thin row of information that ru

Property Tools displays (when checked) or hides th

304

Appendix A: Menus

Animation Reel displays or hides the Render Preview toolbar.

he animation to the beginning or the end.

Generate All Frames renders out your entire animation. Generate Selected Frames renders out the frames you have selected in the Render Preview area.

Win

See Sc

He

See ions.

Animation

Stop Playing Animation and Play Animation turn the animation off and on. First Frame and Last Frame reset or advance t Previous Frame and Next Frame allow you to move your animation back or forward by

a single frame.

dow

ene Editor Menu System for explanation of options.

lp

Scene Editor Menu System for explanation of opt

305

307

Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts ScMe

Option + Command + H - Hide Others Command + Q - Quit

File le

CTRL + 3 (Win)/Command + 3 (Mac) - Open New File from 3DS

CTRL + S (Win)/Command + S (Mac) - Save File

CTRL + Z (Win)/Command + Z (Mac) - Undo CTRL + Y (Win)/Command + Y (Mac) - Redo CTRL + X (Win)/Command + X (Mac) - Cut CTRL + C (Win)/Command + C (Mac) - Copy CTRL + V (Win)/Command + V (Mac) - Paste CTRL + A (Win)/Command + A (Mac) - Select All Animation > - Next Frame < - Previous Frame Right Click (Win)/CTRL + Click (Mac) on Keyframe - Keyframe Context Sensitive Menu CTRL (Win)/Option (Mac) + click and drag - Pull the Bezier handle away from green control point Arrange Alt + G (Win)/Command + G (Mac) - Group Alt + U (Win)/Command + U (Mac) - Ungroup Alt + C (Win)/Command + M (Mac) - Combine Alt + B (Win)/Command + B (Mac) - Break Apart

Viewport

Object Selection Click - Select object Shift + Click - Select multiple objects by clicking while holding down Shift key CTRL + Click (Win)/Option + Click (Mac) - Select an individual object from a group Object Position Click-and-Drag - Move object to new location in scene Arrow Keys - Nudge selected object to new location in scene

ene Editor Shortcuts nus

Swift 3D (Mac Only) Command + H - Hide Swift 3D

CTRL + N (Win)/Command + N (Mac) - Open New Fi

CTRL + O (Win)/Command + O (Mac) - Open Existing T3D File

Edit

Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts

Point Position

Shift and Drag - Constrain point(s) movement along horizontal or vertical axis Arrow Keys - Nudge selected point(s) toRight + Click (Win)/CTRL + Click (Mac)

new location - Context Sensitive Menu

Path Selection

th with all control points and control handles

Point

Trans

onstrains scaling to the center of selection

ments

(Hotke

Advanced Modeler Shortcuts Menu

File S (Win)/Command + S (Mac) - Save File

mand + Z (Mac) - Undo

ll

Double Click - Selects entire pa

Selection

CTRL (Win) or OPTION (Mac) - Deselect selected Vertices, Edges, Faces or Surface Areas

form

Scaling SHIFT and Drag - Uniform Scaling CTRL + Drag (Win)/OPTION + Drag (Mac) - C Rotating SHIFT and Drag - Constrain rotation to 22.5º incre

ys, Keystrokes)

s

CTRL + Edit CTRL + Z (Win)/ComCTRL + Y (Win)/Command + Y (Mac) - Redo CTRL + V (Win)/Command + V (Mac) - Duplicate

TRL + E - Hide Selection CCTRL + H - Hide ACTRL + U - Unhide All

309


Select V - Select Vertices E - Select Edges

elect Surface Areas - Select Objects

Group ted Vertices, Edges, Faces or Surface

mand + I (Mac) - Select Inverse

TRL + Shift + X - Constrain > X

- Scale

2D Vi

lt (Win) or Command (Mac) - Camera Mode mand (Mac) + Click-and-Drag in background - Pan Camera (Win)/Command + CTRL + Click (Mac) and Drag Down in background -

Zoom Camera Out Alt + Right Click (Win)/Command + CTRL + Click (Mac) and Drag Up in background -

Perspective View

d (Mac) - Camera Mode d (Mac) + Click-and-Drag on Camera Target Point - Pan Camera

mmand + CTRL + Click (Mac) and Drag Down in background -

g Up in background -

ommand + CTRL (Mac) inside Arc - Rotate Camera mmand + CTRL + Click (Mac) outside Arc - Roll Camera

ick on axis guide - To constrain any of the X, Y or Z axes

(Hotke

F - Select Faces G - SOP - Select SmoothingCTRL (Win) or OPTION (Mac) - Deselect selecAreas CTRL + A (Win)/Command + A (Mac) - Select All CTRL + I (Win)/Com Transform CCTRL + Shift + Y - Constrain > Y CTRL + Shift + Z - Constrain > Z M - Move R - Rotate SX - Extrude W - Weld

ewports

AAlt (Win) or ComAlt + Right Click

Zoom Camera In CTRL + Shift + click on axis guide - To constrain any of the X, Y or Z axes CTRL (Win)/Option (Mac) + drag - To maintain proportional size of primitive as it is dragged out.

port

Alt (Win) or CommanAlt (Win) or CommanAlt + Right Click (Win)/CoZoom Camera Out Alt + Right Click (Win)/Command + CTRL + Click (Mac) and DraZoom Camera In Alt + Right Click (Win)/CAlt + Right Click (Win)/CoCTRL + Shift + cl

ys, Keystrokes)

310

Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts

Pre

Render Preview

elect frame

equential frames

(Hotke kes)

view and Export Editor Shortcuts Menus

File CTRL + S (Win)/Command + S (Mac) - Save Animation > (Win)/Command + > (Mac) - Next Frame < (Win)/Command + < (Mac) - Previous Frame

Click - SSHIFT + Click - Select multiple, sequential frames CTRL + Click - Select multiple, nons

ys, Keystro

311

Index 2

2D Orthographic ................................. 29

Layers........................................

Troubleshooting

3

3D Dr

3DS F ....... 131, 132, 292, 297

3DS

................... 131, 132

Cam

Exporting............................... 292, 297

........................ 132

Materials ....................................... 132

Model Mesh .................................. 132

Properties ...................................... 132

Smoothing ....................................... 57

A

Adjusting Animation Length ............ 236

Adjusting Extrusion Properties ......... 112

Adobe Illustrator (AI) ............... 123, 258

Exporting....................................... 258

Importing....................................... 123

Colors........................................ 124

Editing....................................... 110

124

........................ 129

Advanced Modeler...................... 24, 141

Advanced Modeler Default Settings................................................... 136

Advanced Modeler Menu ............. 303

Advanced Modeler Overview....... 135

Advanced Modeler Shortcuts........ 309

bjects .................................... 181

Align To............................................ 180

Ambient....................................... 41, 196

And Separate Selection ..................... 163

Angle point........................................ 102

Animate Button................. 104, 231, 239

Animating Cameras .......................... 245

Animating Lights .............................. 244

Animating Materials ......................... 244

Animating Scale................................ 243

Animation ................................. 236, 238

Cameras......................................... 245

Deleting......................................... 238

Drag-and-drop............................... 233

awings ..................................... 128

iles............

Properties .............................. 132

Animation ..........

eras......................................... 132 Align O

Lights ....................

313


Drop Target................................... 234

Keyframe Animation .................... 235

Lights ............................................ 244

Materials ....................................... 244

Scale.............................................. 243

Starting and Stopping.................... 236

Timeline ........................................ 231

Animation Drop Target..................... 234

Animation Gallery .................... 233, 235

Animation Path ................................. 239

Editing........................................... 239

Animation Path Mode............... 239, 240

Animation Properties ........................ 232

Animation Timeline .................. 231, 233

Animation Properties .................... 232

Fram

Anim

Anim

Apple QuickTime Player .................. 263

Area Gradient Shading...................... 269

Assigning .......................................... 182

Smoothing Groups ........................ 182

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) .......... 260

Auto Smooth ....................................... 57

AVI ................................................... 260

Axis Guide ........................................ 143

Axis of Rotation................................ 117

B

Background Color............................... 40

Balance Mesh.................................... 174

Bevel Property Page............................ 84

Bevels............................................ 84, 86

Bezier ........................................ 239, 240

Bezier Path ........................................ 240

Bezier Path Properties....................... 240

ap............................... 187, 209, 284

ap Compression......................... 285

ap Images .................................. 128

ap Texture Mapper............ 187, 209

ap Textures................ 187, 204, 209

ap Wrap Types .......................... 205

Current Frame Indicator................ 232

es Per Second........................ 233

Loop Animation ............................ 233

Playback Controls ......................... 232

Selection Name ............................. 232

ation Toolbar.............................. 45

ations................................ 132, 239

Antialias Quality ............................... 285

Bitm

Bitm

Bitm

Bitm

Bitm

Bitm

314

Index

Bitmap-based Textures ..................... 190

.......................................... 74

....................................... 109

Break Out Selection .......................... 141

3D m

C

Came

Cameras.. 30, 35, 36, 132, 222, 224, 228,

Ta

Zo

Cartoon Average Color Fill .............. 267

Cartoon Four Color Fill .................... 269

Cartoon Full Color Fill...................... 269

Cartoon Single Color Fill.................. 267

..................... 268

Cl

Co

Co

Co

Box (Cube)

Break Apart

Building................................................. 5

odels ......................................... 5

ra Mode.................................... 221

Cartoon Two Color Fill

Char

Cl

acters Individually....................... 88

Editing............................................. 88

ear Undo........................................ 159

earing............................................. 184 245, 309

Smoothing Groups ........................ 184 Animating ..................................... 245

Click-and-Drag ................................... 60 Camera dropdown list ............. 30, 222

Close Shape Button........................... 103 Camera Properties......................... 222

Closed Shapes ................................... 103 Camera Views............................... 230

Codec ................................................ 260 Cameras - From 3ds max .............. 132

Codecs............................................... 263 Create Camera Buttons ................... 35

Colors............ 40, 41, 124, 197, 201, 285 Frame All Button ............................ 36

Combine Edges and Fills .................. 263 Overview....................................... 221

Combine With................................... 141 Rendering...................................... 230

Combine With Selection ................... 141 Reset Camera Location ................. 225

Combining and Breaking Apart ........ 109 Rotating Camera ........................... 225

mplex Shapes................................ 106 Standard Cameras ......................... 223

mpression ..................................... 260 rgeted Cameras ......................... 229

ne .................................................... 75 om Camera Extents................... 225

315


Co

Co

Co

Co

Co

Co

Cr

Cr

Cu

Cu

Cu

Cu

lete Empty Faces .......................... 179

nstrain Axis .................................... 62 Customer Only Web Site .................... 15

nstrain Rotation Axis...................... 65 Customizing the Interface ................... 19

nstraining...................................... 164 Hiding Toolbars .............................. 21

Transforms .................................... 164 Interface Resize............................... 19

nvert.......................................... 35, 89 Resizing Toolbars ........................... 21

nvert Text to Paths Button.............. 35 Undocking Toolbars........................ 20

pying and Pasting Keyframes....... 237 Viewport Layout ........................... 142

Corner Point ...................................... 240 Cylinder............................................... 76

Create .................................................. 35 D

Cameras........................................... 35 De

Lights .............................................. 34 Delete Selections............................... 159

Objects ............................................ 34 Deleting Keyframes .......................... 238

Create Procedural Textures............... 201 Depth................................... 86, 124, 285

Creating and Editing Materials ......... 195 Depth Bevel ........................................ 86

eating Shapes ................................ 105 Depth Progression............................. 124

ossing the Axis of Rotation........... 117 Deselect............................................. 153

be/Box ............................................ 74 Detail Edge Angle............................. 278

be/Octahedron ................................ 79 Detail Edges .............................. 277, 278

rrent Frame Indicator.................... 232 Detail Level....................................... 265

rve Fitting ..................................... 264 Display Modes .................................... 31

Curve Point ............................... 102, 240 Draw Backfaces .............................. 31

Curve Type........................................ 159 Flat Shaded...................................... 31

Curved-Line Shapes.......................... 105 Smooth Shaded ............................... 31

316

Index

317

Do

w Backfaces .................................. 31

Edge Options..................................... 273

Edge Type ......................................... 274

Edit Menu.................................. 155, 159

Clear Undo.................................... 159

Delete Selection ............................ 159

Duplicate ....................................... 159

Hide............................................... 159

Redo .............................................. 159

Undo.............................................. 159

Unhide........................................... 159

Edit Mesh Button ...................... 136, 139

Editing. 88, 106, 108, 110, 125, 195, 239

Animation Path ............................. 239

Characters Individually................... 88

El

En

Texture Smooth Shaded.................. 31

Wireframe ....................................... 31

Display Options .................................. 33

Divide Edge ...................................... 176

Dodecahedron/Icosahedron................. 79

uble Illuminate ............................. 196

Dra

DXF Files............................ 57, 131, 133

E

Imported AI................................... 110

Imported Files ............................... 125

Instance ......................................... 195

Paths.............................................. 108

Shapes ........................................... 106

Editor Tabs.......................................... 22

lipse ............................................... 279

Email Support .................................. 15

EMO.......................... 283, 284, 285, 292

able Mouseover ............................ 155

Enable Multiselect ............................ 157

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) ......... 123

Exporting....................................... 258

Importing....................................... 123

Colors........................................ 124

Editing....................................... 110

Layers........................................ 124

Troubleshooting ........................ 129

Environment Gallery......................... 210

Environments ...................................... 40

Ambient Light Color....................... 41

Background Color........................... 40

Changing ......................................... 41


Creating......................................... 211 Extrusion Properties...................... 112

Environment Gallery..................... 210 Magnifying Glass.......................... 103

Environment Materials.................. 210 Pen Tool ........................................ 102

Ex

Ex

Fl

Fl

Fl

cluded Shapes ....................... 106, 127 Point Properties............................. 107

Export All Frames............................. 254 Selection Tool ............................... 102

Export Entire Animation................... 254 Tangent Point ................................ 103

Export Overview............................... 249 Undo Button.................................. 104

Export Selected Frames .................... 254 Using ............................................... 99

Export To File ........................... 253, 287 F

Export Entire Animation............... 254 Face ..................................... 87, 146, 175

Export Selected Frames ................ 254 Family Parameters .............................. 80

port to Papervision3D................... 293 FAQs ................................................... 14

Exporting File Formats ........................................ 51

3DS ....................................... 292, 297 File Level .......................................... 285

Extrude.............................................. 169 File Shortcut Buttons .......................... 34

Extrude Tool ..................................... 170 Fill Options ....................................... 266

Extrude Tool Property Page.............. 170 Fills ................................................... 127

Extrusion Editor ............ 23, 99, 104, 113 Finish................................................. 196

AI and EPS Files........................... 109 Flash.................................................. 292

Angle point.................................... 102 Flash for Video (FLV) ...................... 262

Close Shape Button....................... 103 at Face............................................ 175

Combining and Breaking Apart .... 109 at Shaded.......................................... 31

Curve Point ................................... 102 atten ............................................... 171

318

Index

319

Fl

Fr

Ge

Ge

Ge

Gl

Gr

Gr

Gr

H

Pa

Se

High

High

Ic

Ig

Im

ip Normals ..................................... 155

ame Options................................... 225

Frames............................................... 252

Selecting........................................ 252

Frames Per Second............................ 233

Free Cameras .................................... 228

Free Transform Tools ....................... 109

Full Release......................................... 10

G

Gallery Toolbar................................... 46

Gallery Content Location................ 50

Gallery File Formats ....................... 51

Gallery Management....................... 47

Gallery Setup Dialog....................... 48

Saving to the Gallery ...................... 49

Sharing Gallery Content ................. 51

neral.............................. 149, 256, 283

neral Property Page ...................... 149

nerate All Frames ......................... 251

Generate Selected Frames................. 251

GeoSphere........................................... 74

obal Rotation................................... 67

id ................................................... 100

ouping Objects ................................ 71

Group All ...................................... 162

Selecting.......................................... 60

oups Within Hierarchy.................... 44

Help System Standards ......................... 9

Hidden Edges .................................... 275

Hidden Transparent Edges................ 276

Hiding ................................................. 21

Objects ............................................ 54

Toolbars .......................................... 21

Hierarchy..................................... 42, 159

Groups............................................. 44

Hierarchical Animations ............... 246

rent/Child Relationships.............. 43

lecting.................................... 42, 59

light Size ................................... 196

light Strength............................. 196

Hotkeys ............................. 307, 308, 309

I

osahedron ......................................... 79

nore Backfaces............................... 156

age Quality.................................... 263


Im

Im

In

In

dows ............................... 272

In

In

In

In

In

In

J

G Format (JPG)........................... 284

port Problems................................ 129 stance ............................................. 195

Troubleshooting ............................ 129 Editing........................................... 195

ported SWFT Files ....................... 290 terface .............................................. 19

Updating........................................ 290 Customizing .................................. 142

Importing........................................... 299 Resizing........................................... 19

3DS Files....................................... 131 Toolbars .................................... 20, 21

AI and EPS Files........................... 123 tersections ...................................... 276

Bitmap Textures............................ 204

DXF Files...................................... 133 JPE

clude Detail Edges ......................... 277 K

clude Hidden Edges ....................... 275 Key Frame Every .............................. 260

Include Reflections ........................... 271 Keyframe Animation ................ 235, 239

Include Sha Keyframe Control Point............ 239, 240

clude Specular Highlights.............. 271 Keyframes . 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240

Inserting ........................................ 73, 83 Copy and Paste.............................. 237

Cameras......................................... 227 Deleting......................................... 238

Lights .................................... 217, 218 Linear Frame Spacing ........... 238, 239

Primitives ........................................ 73 Start and Stop................................ 236

Text Object...................................... 83 Keystroke Shortcuts .. 307, 308, 309, 311

stallation........................................... 12 L

Troubleshooting .............................. 12 Lathe Editor ........ 24, 115, 122, 302, 308

stalling ........................................... 287 Axis of Rotation............................ 117

Swift 3D Importer ......................... 287 Copying and Pasting ..................... 118

320

Index

Creating a Lathe Object ................ 116 Line Weight ...................................... 278

Lathe Editor Menu ........................ 302

Lathe Editor Shortcuts .................. 308

Lathe Properties ............................ 119

Point Properties............................. 107

Properties ...................................... 119

Layers................................................ 124

Layoug Settings .................................. 39

Layout ................................... 32, 38, 142

La

Li

Li

Li

Li

Li217, 218, 219, 239, 244

Animating ..................................... 244

Properties ...................................... 215

Scene Lights.................................. 218

Trackball ....................................... 217

Types............................................. 213

Lights - From 3ds max...................... 132

Line Color ......................................... 278

Li

Lo

ck ............................................ 55, 153

M

M

M

M

M

M

Creating................. 195, 200, 201, 202

near Frame Spacing ....................... 238

ad Settings .................................... 266

Local Rotation..................................... 67

Lo

Selection........................................ 153

Lock Rotation Axis ............................. 65

Lock Selected Frames ....................... 253

Loop Animation ................................ 233

Layout Bounding Box......................... 32

yout Properties ................................ 38 acromedia Flash............................. 257

ghting............................................. 213 Magnifying Glass.............................. 103

ghting Gallery................................ 214 aintenance Builds ............................ 11

ghting Properties............................ 215 aterial Editor .................................. 195

ghting Toolbar ................................. 46 aterial Gallery ................................ 192

ghts ..... 34, 41, 46, 132, 213, 214, 215, aterials ................................... 132, 189

Animating ..................................... 244

Applying ....................................... 192

Applying to Multiple Objects ....... 193

Editing........................................... 195

Material Gallery ............................ 192

Naming.......................................... 196

321


Properties ...................................... 194 Move Tool Property Page ................. 165

Saving ........................................... 194

Mesh...................... 87, 90, 113, 132, 136

M

M

M

M

M

M

M

N

gative Scaling ................................. 70

ks Tips ........................................... 13

Nu

O

Ob

Ob

Naming............................................ 54

ultiple Objects.......................... 59, 193

Selecting.......................................... 59

esh Gradient Shading..................... 270 ultiple Selection............................. 154

Mesh Morpher................................... 185 ulti-Point Type Shapes .................. 105

Animating a Mesh Morph............. 242

Mesh Morpher Properties ............... 58 Naming Objects .................................. 54

Mesh Morpher Property Page ....... 242 Ne

Morp Groups................................. 185 N-Gon ............................................... 104

Morph Targets............................... 186 Nic

Target Percent ............................... 243 Normals............................................. 138

Mesh Quality....................................... 87 Nudge Keys......................................... 61

Mirror.......................................... 70, 172 Numeric Rotation................................ 67

Negative Scaling ............................. 70 Numeric Scaling.................................. 69

Model Gallery ................... 101, 117, 148 merical Positioning ........................ 62

3D Models..................................... 148

Extrusions ..................................... 101 ject Properties................................. 53

Lathes............................................ 117 jects ................................................ 53

orph Groups................................... 185 Grouping ......................................... 71

Morph Targets................................... 186

ouseover Selection......................... 152 Pivot Points ..................................... 63

MOV ................................................. 263 Primitives ........................................ 73

ove Tool......................................... 165 Rotating........................................... 65

322

Index

Scaling............................................. 68 Pen Angle.................................. 279, 280

Selecting.......................................... 58 Pen Aspect ................................ 279, 280

Setting Object to Path ................... 242 Pen Outlines .............................. 279, 280

Oc

On

Op

Pasting Keyframes ............................ 237

Pasting Objects............................ 72, 118

Path Morphing .......... 111, 121, 126, 247

Paths............................ 89, 108, 240, 242

Editing........................................... 108

Orient ............................................ 240

PDF of User Guide.............................. 13

Pe

145, 146, 239

Pivot Points ......................................... 63

Plane.................................................... 77

Playback Controls ............................. 232

Point Properties................................. 107

Point Type......................................... 240

Polygons............................................ 137

Polyhedron .......................................... 78

Polyhedron Families ....................... 78

Family Parameters ...................... 80

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) ... 284

Preview and Export Editor. 25, 249, 304,

................................................... 311

Preview Playback Controls ........... 253

tahedron.......................................... 79 Pen Shape.......................................... 279

line Forum...................................... 15 Pen Tool ............................................ 102

timize.................................... 265, 292 rspective Camera........................... 225

Perspective Viewport ... 28, 36, 142, 143, Orient To Path................................... 240

Orthographic Viewports.................... 144

Orthographic Views .......................... 155

Outlines ............................................. 276

Outlines at Intersections.................... 276

Output Options.................................. 255

P

Pan..................................... 224, 307, 309

Papervision3D................................... 293

Parent/Child Relationships.................. 43

311

Preview and Export Editor Menu . 304

Preview and Export Editor Shortcuts

323


Previewing vs. Rendering vs. Exporting................................... 249

Preview Window/Generate Preview. 200

Primitives ............................................ 73

Cone ................................................ 75

Cube/Box ........................................ 74

Cylinder........................................... 76

Geosphere ....................................... 74

Inserting .......................................... 73

Plane................................................ 77

Polyhedron ...................................... 78

Primitive Meshes .......................... 147

Pyramid ........................................... 75

Sphere ............................................. 73

Torus ............................................... 77

Procedural Color Maps ..................... 201

Procedural Materials ......................... 190

Procedural Textures .......................... 201

Properties Toolbar............... 37, 240, 242

Publishing ......................................... 287

Web............................................... 287

Pyramid ............................................... 75

Q

Quick Tour .......................................... 19

Ra

ctangle........................................... 279

ation .............. 251

Re

Re

Re

QuickTime (MOV) ........................... 263

R

dial Smoothing.............................. 120

Raster Files........................................ 292

RAViX ...................................... 255, 256

Re

Redo .................................................. 159

Redo Buttons....................................... 37

Reference Grid .................................... 32

Reflection Color................................ 196

Reflective Materials .......................... 203

Refraction Index.................................. 56

Render Preview................................. 250

Lock Selected Frames ................... 253

Playback Controls ......................... 253

Render Entire Anim

Render Selected Frames................ 251

Select Every Nth Frame ................ 251

Selecting Frames........................... 252

nder Viewport Buttons ................... 36

ndered Outlines............................. 184

ndering.............................. 7, 230, 249

3D Output.......................................... 7

324

Index

Camera Views............................... 230 Save Render Settings ........................ 266

Re

tate Tool Property Page ................ 167

Ro

S

Negative Scaling ............................. 70

Shear ............................................... 70

Scale Axis ........................................... 80

Scale Tool ......................................... 168

Scale Tool Property Page.................. 168

Scaling........................................... 68, 69

Mode Button ................................... 69

Objects ............................................ 68

Scaling Button..................................... 35

Scaling Objects ................................... 68

Scene Cameras .......................... 227, 228

ting........................................ 228

Sc

Sc 9

Scene Editor Shortcuts...................... 307

Scene Lighting .................................. 218

ndering Options .............................. 58 Save Settings..................................... 266

Edge Options......................... 273, 274 Saving ......................................... 49, 194

Fill Options ................................... 266 Galleries .......................................... 49

Raster ............................................ 283 Materials ....................................... 194

Vector............................................ 255 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) ...... 259

Reset Camera Location ..................... 225 Scale.................................................... 70

Reset Position Button.......................... 63

Reset Rotation Button ......................... 68

Resizing............................................... 21

Toolbars .......................................... 21

Rotate Tool........................................ 166

Ro

Rotating............................................... 65

Rotating Camera ........................... 225

Rotating Lights...................... 217, 218

Rotating Objects.............................. 65

Rotation............................................... 67

Local vs. Global .............................. 67 Selec

Rotation Toolbar ................................. 45 ene Editor .......... 19, 29, 207, 299, 307

undness ......................................... 173 ene Editor Menus .......................... 29

Save Animation................................. 235

325


Se ...... 119

Select All........................................... 155

Select Cursor..................................... 151

Select Every Nth Frame .................... 251

Select Inverse .................................... 155

Select Tools....................................... 150

Selecting... 42, 58, 59, 60, 183, 219, 228,

Se

dows ............................................ 272

........................... 127

Sm

Sm

Sm

Sm

Sm

Sm

gmentation............................... Editing........................................... 106

Excluded Shapes

Shape Tools................................... 104

Sharing ................................................ 51

Gallery Content............................... 51

Shear ................................................... 70

Shortcuts ........................... 307, 308, 309 252

Silverlight.......................................... 259 Frames........................................... 252

Sizing .................................................. 88 Grouped Objects ............................. 60

SmartLayer Layers............................ 288 Multiple Objects.............................. 59

SmartLayer SWFT Files ................... 287 Objects ............................................ 58

SmartLayers ...................................... 290 Objects Within Hierarchy ......... 42, 59

Utilizing ........................................ 290 Scene ............................................. 219

artWeld ........................................ 178 Scene Cameras .............................. 228

ooth Shaded ................................... 31 Smoothing Groups ........................ 183

oothing ........................... 57, 175, 182 Selecting Frames............................... 252

Groups........................................... 182 Selecting Objects ........................ 58, 159

oothing Angle ................................ 57 Selection............ 153, 159, 307, 308, 309

oothing Groups ...... 57, 182, 183, 184 Locking ......................................... 153

Assigning ...................................... 182 lection Name ................................. 232

Clearing......................................... 184 Selection Tool ................................... 102

Selecting........................................ 183 Sha

oothness ......................................... 87 Shapes ............................................... 106

326

Index

327

So

Sp

Sp

Sp

St

St

Su

Su

Su

F Files.......................... 257, 290, 291

Sy

T

Ta

Ta

ft Select ......................................... 157

Solid Vector Materials ...................... 200

ecular Highlights........................... 271

here ................................................. 73

ot Light Options............................ 215

andard Cameras ............................. 223

Star 1 ................................................... 79

Star 2 ................................................... 80

Starting Animations .......................... 236

Stopping Animations ........................ 236

raight-Lined Shapes....................... 105

Strokes............................................... 127

Style Gallery ....................................... 86

Styles............................................. 85, 86

bdivide .......................................... 179

Delete Empty Faces ...................... 179

btracting Lights............................. 217

Surface Groups Overview................. 160

rface Groups Property Page .......... 161

SVG................................................... 259

Sweep Angle ..................................... 119

SW

SWFT Files ............................... 257, 288

Importing into Flash...................... 288

Swift 3D Importer ..................... 257, 287

Installing ....................................... 287

stem Requirements.......................... 10

Tagged Image Format (TIF) ............. 284

Tangent Point ............................ 103, 240

rget Cameras ................................. 229

rget File Type........................ 256, 284

Target Percent ................................... 243

Technical Support ............................... 14

Tetrahedron ......................................... 78

Text ............................................. 83, 127

Applying Materials To.................. 193

Convert Text to Mesh ..................... 90

Convert Text to Paths................ 35, 89

Inserting .......................................... 83

Sizing .............................................. 88

Text Property Page.......................... 83

Texture .............................................. 199

Texture Smooth Shaded...................... 31

Textures............................................. 132

Timeline ............................................ 231


Toolbars .............................................. 21

Hiding ............................................. 21

Resizing........................................... 21

Undocking....................................... 20

Torus ................................................... 77

Trackball Lighting .................... 213, 217

Transforms ........................................ 164

Constraining.................................. 164

Transform Cursors ........................ 163

Transform Tool Property Pages .... 164

Transform Tools............................ 163

Transparent Materials ............... 202, 273

Troubleshooting .......................... 12, 129

Import Problems............................ 129

Installation....................................... 12

True Vision TARGA (TGA)............. 284

Turn Edge.......................................... 177

Tutorials .............................................. 13

Two Pass Curve Fitting..................... 265

U

Undo.................................... 37, 104, 159

Undocking Toolbars............................ 20

Ungroup All ...................................... 162

Un

Un

Un

Up

Ve

144, 146, 225

Axis Guide .................................... 143

Background Color........................... 40

Display Modes .............................. 146

Orthographic Camera...... 29, 144, 155

Properties ........................................ 39

Reference Grid ................................ 32

Viewport Layout ........................... 142

hide All......................................... 159

installing......................................... 12

smooth............................................ 57

Unsmoothing Surfaces ...................... 184

Axis ............................................. 240

Updating............................................ 290

Imported SWFT Files ................... 290

User Guide .......................................... 13

PDF ................................................. 13

User Preferences ................................. 21

V

Vector Materials................................ 189

ctor Output Overview................... 255

Vertex Radius.................................... 158

Video Compression (AVI)................ 260

Viewports... 26, 28, 31, 32, 39, 142, 143,

328

Index

Viewport Menu ....................... 28, 143 W

W

ML............................................... 259

ireframe ........................................... 31

Workflow between Editors ............... 138 W

Web ............................................. 14, 287 orkflow Overview ............. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Publishing ..................................... 287 X

Web Assistant ............................... 16, 25 XA

Web Support ....................................... 14 Z

Weld.................................................. 178 Zoom................................. 103, 224, 225

Windows format (BMP) ................... 284 Zoom Camera Extents....................... 225

329

Date post:	29-Oct-2015
Category:	Documents
Upload:	animationeasy
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