Once it’s been read in and out, there’s hardly we can do more with the daily newspaper. Except for using it to pack some things like fruits or bread over even glass art objects. However most of the times it lands up on that towering stack in some remote corner of your den. But a student at California College of the Arts has moved over petty recycling uses of newspaper and come up with the most ludicrous application of used ones. Working on a basic principle, Kimberly Kulka has constructed a chair such that it can accommodate all your papers in a rolled up fashion.
Here's a great effect that will bring some energy to your subject. We'll be wrapping this singer's arm with a glowing beam of light, adding sparkles, and adjusting the colors to make it all seem magical.
Firstly, create a new layer, then grab your Pen Tool (P) and draw out a spiraling path, as if you have a snake wrapped around the arm.
Then select the Brush Tool (B) and set your diameter to 7px, with the Opacity and Flow at 100%, and your foreground color set to white. With your path still on the artwork, go back to the Pen Tool, right click on the canvas, and choose "Stroke Path." A menu will appear with the Brush set as the Tool. Check "Simulate Pressure" and press OK. This will make the beginning and end of your stroke thinner.
Now you need to delete the parts you want hidden behind the arm. With your stroke layer selected, choose "Add layer mask" at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select areas of the arm you want in front of the stroke -- use your eye and imagine how this path will wrap around the arm. Make sure your mask is active by clicking on it, and fill these selected areas with black. They should now be cut out, appearing as if they're behind the arm.
Right click on your stroke layer and choose Blending Options. A Layer Style menu will appear, where you'll be adding an Inner and Outer Glow to the stroke, making the edges of it glow with a blue hue. Use the settings below:
Make a copy of your stroke layer and right click on the Layer Effects icon. Choose "Clear Layer Style" -- we simply want to blur this layer (about 6 pixels) to add another layer of glow. Everything's looking nice and illuminated here, so let�s add some sparkles. With your Brush Tool, add some quick spots around your glowing path with varying small brush sizes (3 - 5px). Make as many as you want here, as you're always free Erase undesired sparkles.
We're now going to make a secondary stroke to create another level of motion. Use the Pen Tool to go over your original path, but make it a bit different and overlap parts. Select a smaller diameter brush this time with a 50% opacity, and stroke the path as before.
Our energy beam is nearly there. To make the effect more dramatic, you can adjust the overall hue of your photo. Create a new Curves adjustment layer, and tweak the colors to get a vibrant blue atmosphere. Download the Curves preset below to load it in your document. After your colors are locked in, use the Dodge Tool (O) (with a diameter of 35 pixels and the exposure set to 25%) to brush in some highlights underneath your beam, directly on the background photo. This makes it appear as if your beam is casting light on to the arm.
For the last part of this effect, we'll add one more layer of shimmer. Hold down Ctrl and click on your main stroked path in the layers palette -- your path should now be selected. Go to Select › Modify › and Expand the selection by 7px, then feather it by 10px.
Now select your background photo layer and apply a Plastic Wrap filter, found in your Artistic filters. This will add some wispy lines around your path. Set the Highlight Strength to 20, the Detail to 6, and the Smoothness to 8. Finally, lightly Gaussian Blur your background layer with the feathered selection still active.
Ford India raises the competitive bar on luxury and style with the introduction of the special edition Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXI bolstered with leather upholstery.The special edition Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXI with leather comes replete with premium styling and features including plush leather seats, medium stone interiors, a premium cubic finish on the fascia, gear shift and parking brake and metallic accents on trim.Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXIIn addition the Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXI Leather also has ABS with EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), as standard making it a real value. The special edition new Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXI will be available only on the petrol variant.
Nigel Wark, executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India said, "The Ford Fiesta continues to be one of our bestselling products and registered impressive sales during the festive season. We are building on the success and offering customers with a special edition of the 1.6 ZXI Duratec variant. The stylized features and plush leather interiors with additional safety features make it even more appealing and prove to be great-value premium sedan."
Starting today the limited edition Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXI with leather will be available at Ford dealerships across India at an aggressive price of Rs.6,44,000 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
The Ford Fiesta is a car known for its superior drivability and handling and continues to receive rave reviews from the auto experts and analysts. The Ford Fiesta was rated as the Best Driver's car in its class by Autocar in 2008, it was ranked No 1 by AutoBild in its ultimate handling test in 2009. The awards and the accolades showcase the fact that Ford Fiesta delivers style, together with outstanding quality and performance that consumers desire.
The Ford Fiesta comes with a 2 year/ 1,00,000 kilometers warranty with an optional 'Extended Warranty' that covers the car against all electrical and mechanical failures for an additional period. Along with the new Scheduled Service Plan (SSP), first in the country Roadside Assistance (RSA) and other Ford Service initiatives, add on to make owning a Ford Fiesta a delightful experience.
That’s right, as in those things that are filled with pages that have words on them. Books. I’ve been starting to accumulate a good collection of coding, design and UI (user-interface) books, and I thought I might share with you a list of some of my favorites or perhaps the ones that I have learned the most from. There’s no doubt in my mind that the publishers of these books will include my acclaim for them in future editions (just for the record, I’m not getting any kickbacks for this, but wouldn’t it be awesome if I was?!).
Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML
The Head First series is by far my favorite “computer language” series. They lay the content out in an easy-to-read, digestible manner, a way in which the information actually sticks to your brain. They do this using three main methods:
telling stories
visualizing
using attention-grabbing tactics
They also have a great sense of humor, which, along with the previously mentioned methods, keep the books from being dry and dull. In fact, I’ve actually enjoyed reading them. Another helpful thing is the exercises that the books include.
Anyways, HF HTML and CSS was an excellent book that taught me how to create valid strict xHTML and CSS markup. If you’re looking to learn HTML and/or CSS, look no further than this book.
As with HF HTML and CSS, HF SQL is another great installment in the Head First series. Everything that I said above applies to this book (and every other one in the series). It’s how I learned SQL!
This book taught me the basics of programming, such as variables, types, loops, casting and overloading. It also shows you how the browser runs your code so you have a better understanding of how everything works. If you’re looking for a basic foundation for programming or just want to make your websites more interactive, this is your book.
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug is an incredibly useful resource when it comes to web and application design. Web usability is a very important aspect of design, and this book teaches it in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way. It covers:
user patterns
designing for scanning
wise use of copy
navigation design
home page layout
usability testing
Definitely a must-read for any web developer or designer.
This book is intended for those with no formal training. It’s for those people who need to put together a business card, letterhead, pamphlet or newsletter, but don’t have no experience in design. However, it also has very useful information for web designers as well. It teaches the main principles of design:
proximity
alignment
repetition
contrast
The Non-Designer’s Design Book has great before-and-after examples and quizes that help you understand and apply these principles. There also a section on color and another section on typefaces and the principles that go with fonts:
concord
conflict
contrast
All in all, a great book for both people with no design background and even those who do. I find its information very applicable for web design, and it practices what it preaches with well layed out content.
The numerous free AutoCAD video tutorials have been expertly put together by Apex Web Media and made by Shaun Bryant.
AutoCAD 2010 has new features that make tasks easier and faster too. This free AutoCAD VTC course enables CAD users with the fundamentals needed to learn AutoCAD 2010 with importance on how to get started with the basic 2D tools. Each link leads to a free AutoCAD video tutorial. This free AutoCAD video tutorial is available from Cadtutor.net
interior design furniture this collection of 104 royalty free 3D objects is available for download. Perfect for furnishing your interior design spaces and architectural renderings.
Is a digital sculpting and painting program that has revolutionized the 3D industry with its powerful features and intuitive workflows. Built within an elegant interface, ZBrush offers the world’s most advanced tools for today’s digital artists. With an arsenal of features that have been developed with usability in mind, ZBrush creates a user experience that feels incredibly natural while simultaneously inspiring the artist within. With the ability to sculpt up to a billion polygons, ZBrush allows you to create limited only by your imagination.Designed around a principle of circularity, the menus in ZBrush work together in a non-linear and mode-free method. This facilitates the interaction of 3D models, 2D images and 2.5D Pixols in new and unique ways.
One of the core functions of ZBrush has always been to provide artists the ability to create in an environment that allows for complete freedom of expression. The lack of technical barriers that make working within ZBrush feel like real world sculpting and painting is why so many have created such ground breaking work.
With GoZ there is no need to invest time in setting up shading networks for your normal, displacement, and texture maps. With a single click of a button, GoZ will transfer your mesh to a GoZ-enabled application of your choice, and instantly set up all the appropriate shading networks for you. Upon sending your mesh back to ZBrush. GoZ will automatically remap the existing high-resolution details to the incoming mesh, GoZ will take care of simple operations - such as correcting points & polygons order - as well as more advanced operations that require complete remapping. The updated mesh is immediately ready for further detailing, map extractions, and transferring to any other GoZ-enabled application.
Miami, FL - May 2009 i3DTutorials announces their latest training product for Autodesk 3ds Max, Rendering with mental ray in 3ds Max 2010". This latest offering from the growing i3DTutorials library of Autodesk 3ds Max training products, introduces 3D artists to the advanced concepts and production workflows needed to render imagery of professional quality using the industry standard mental ray renderer. Emphasizing production proven techniques and taking users step by step through demanding production scenes that mimic the complex scenarios and challenges commonly found when lighting and rendering for production, Rendering with mental ray in 3ds Max 2010" discloses the professional techniques and knowledge needed to begin mastering the powerful mental ray renderer. Key highlights include Global Illumination, Final Gather, advanced lighting techniques, Caustics, as well as Sun and Daylight Systems. New features only found in 3ds Max 2010 are also covered, such as new viewport rendering modes, new Final Gather options, and much more. Discover production workflows and techniques designed to take full advantage of mental ray's speed and quality. Addressing the need and demand for professional industry training, Rendering with mental ray in 3ds Max 2010 teaches the techniques needed to truly take advantage of the power of Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 and mental ray.
For more information about Rendering with mental ray in 3ds Max 2010, please visit:
SolidWorks Premium software integrates a broad range of mechanical CAD, design validation, product data management, design communication, and CAD productivity tools in a single, affordable easy to use package.
Go from concept to virtual prototype faster than you ever thought possible with the desired quality using a single easy to use application. SolidWorks Premium is so complete, you can progress from a product concept to a highly accurate virtual prototype without employing any other software.
I quite agree with Je Sung Park when he says that disposable cameras and cell phones have gained acceptance, so why don’t we take the next step and bring out a disposable computer. His Recyclable Paper Laptop is quite a raw version and could do with some refinement. It uses recycled paper or pulp material all packed in layers. This is so that you can easily replace the damaged portions (even corrugated paper will tear easy). The vibe of a Paper Laptop is intriguing, I kno eventually someone will figure out the tech bit, so let’s see who will take the bait.
The transition to more eco-friendly vehicles is relatively easy for mass volume vehicles but what about luxury manufacturers? How can they maintain their luxe and driving appeal while embracing the new “green”? The Aston Martin Volare proposes an easy fix by adopting fuel cells. The stacks are located in the front while the tanks are stored in the rear above the car’s axle - perfect weight distribution.
I like the idea but saying a vehicle will be powered by fuel cells is almost a no brainer. It’s been done so I just wished this concept offered a little something more than Vantage DNA. The proportions are slightly tweaked with much crisper shoulder lines and a floating rear deck but it’s not enough. In fact the rear looks almost Scandinavian. All in all, good idea.
Rhino is a great help to evaluate the performance of product design. Here's an animation of the car passing through walls of plastic bubbles at 80 mph, which reveals complicated slipstream patterns behind the body. The simulation was performed on commercial CAE software SC/Tetra using the 3D model data created in Rhinoceros.
Year: 2009 Version: sr5 Developer: McNeel Platform: x86 Compatibility with Vista: unknown
System requirements: * Pentium, Celeron, or higher. * 200 MB disk. * 512 MB RAM. 1 GB or more recommended. * OpenGL videokatra. * IntelliMouse recommended. * 3-D digitizer optional. * 3-D printer optional.
Language: English only Tablet: the presence of Extras. Information: Instruction for the treatment applied Tools: V-ray 1.01.71 (watermark fixed) + Flamingo v2.0 Size: 1.2 GB
This article explains the term NURBS, describes basic properties of NURBS curves and surfaces, and gives examples how they are used in 3D modeling.
To understand this article you should have basic knowledge about vector and 3D graphics.
Curves in computer graphics
Curves are found in various areas of computer graphics. They are used when creating 3D models, vector images, animations, or for example in definition of TrueType fonts. There is a great variety of curves. Some are easy to use, some are flexible enough to describe a large variety of shapes, and some are simple enough to be implemented and accelerated by graphics hardware.
Each control point influences the final curve according to assigned blending function. A blending function defines the weight of the control point at each point of the curve. A value of 0 indicates that the control point is not affecting a point on the curve. If the blending function reaches 1, the curve is (usually) intersecting the control point.
Each control point in rational curve is assigned a weight. The weight defines how much does a point "attract" the curve. Only the relative weights of the control points are important, not their absolute values. A curve with all weights set to 1 will have the same shape as if all weights are set to 100. The shape only changes if weights of control points are different.
Lets make the last point of the first (green) curve equal to the first point of the second (violet) curve - this saves us 1 point leaving us with 7 total control points. We have replaced one control point with an external condition.
The third (blue) curve and the fourth (yellow) curve share ending points just like in previous case, but and also share the same tangent direction at the junction point. There are two external conditions and only 6 control points are necessary to describe the curves.
B-Splines use external conditions to put multiple pieces together while keeping the original concept of control points. The neighbor curves share some control points. External conditions are either implicit (uniform curves) or explicitly given by a knot vector. Knot vector defines how much information should be shared by neighbor curves (segments).
Knot vector is a sequence of numbers, usually from 0 to 1, for example (0, 0.5, 0.5, 0.7, 1), and it holds the information about external conditions mentioned earlier. Number of intervals defines number of segments (3 in our case: 0-0.5, 0.5-0.7, 0.7-1). Numbers in knot vector are called knots and each knot has its multiplicity. Multiplicity of knot 0.7 is 1, while multiplicity of knot 0.5 is 2. The higher the multiplicity, the less information share the neighbor segments. When multiplicity is equal to the degree of used curves, there is a sharp edge (green and violet curves on the image).
So far, we were talking about curves - one-dimensional formations. The principles can be applied to higher-dimensional objects like surfaces or volumes. Surfaces are used when creating 3D objects, for example landscape while volumes can be used to define a non-linear transformation.
Examples of NURBS curves
Following screenshots demonstrate different uses of NURBS in 3D graphics.
Surfaces or revolution can roughly approximate relatively large amount of different shapes.
Surface was created by moving a 2D NURBS curve along a path defined by another 3D NURBS curve.
The left image demonstrates a surface created by revolving a 2D NURBS curve around Y axis. The curve itself consists of 3 pieces (knot vector: 0, 0.2, 0.6, 0.6, 0.6, 1). Join between the two upper pieces is smooth, because the multiplicity of knot 0.2 is 1 and curve degree is 3. On the other hand, knot 0.6 with multiplicity 3 causes a sharp edge.
The right image shows a surface created by sweeping a 2D curve along a 3D trajectory.
NURBS surfaces need relatively large amoutn of control points, which makes them hard to control.
The middle part of the text is magnified and the text is bent using a 2nd degree NURBS volume.
Left image shows a NURBS surface and its control points. NURBS surfaces are used rather rarely in their pure form because the number of control points is usually large (4x4 in our simple case) and the surface becomes hard to control.
When working with NURBS in their pure form, there is one very useful operation: inserting new knot. A knot can be inserted into a NURBS curve without changing the shape of the curve. The desired side effect of this operation is an additional control point that provides finer control of the related region of the NURBS curve or surface.
There are other operations with NURBS, like elevating degree, removing knots, or computing control point positions from points laying on a curve, but they do not reach the usefulness of knot insertion.
Conclusion
This article described the fundamentals of NURBS from users point of view by demonstrating their properties on simple examples.
While NURBS curves are relatively simple and anyone can learn to effectiveley use them after a bit of practice, NURBS surfaces are much harder due to the large amount of control points. Therefore many applications offer various methods that simplify and limit their capabilities.
The problematic of curves in computer graphics is much larger than this introductory article indicates; readers are advised to seek other sources of information and to gain first hand experience.
As a new blog feature, I’ll be posting a monthly product promotion and possibly a mid month product sale. So, to kick of the month of November, I present to you my latest stock 3D product: the Tactical Tomahawk.
I especially enjoyed researching and modeling this particular product. The weapon has a unique character to it, as it blends ancient style and utility with modern design and metal working principles. Although I had initially intended to sell this stock 3D product without texture maps, I decided to go full stop and work up a diffuse color map, a normal map and a specular map.
Overall I seriously enjoyed the project and I hope that you will enjoy the result.
Though most of the weapons I create are main stream, Special Forces armaments, I occasionally work up a few odd armaments. One such weapon is the SPP-1 underwater pistol. Although few games or mods feature underwater or near water combat, particularly in regard to the Russian Spetsnaz, it is no wonder that few people seek this model out. Although it is quite a niche, I do believe that on the grounds of uniqueness, it deserves a presence. So if you’re thinking of developing a game which involves Russians and water borne combat, this is the weapon for you. PS. If you are developing a game which involves Russians and water, I’ll do up an APS underwater rifle as well.
3DTotal.com is currently looking for talented artists to submit their best 2D and 3D CG artworks for consideration of inclusion in our upcoming title, 'Digital Art Masters: Volume 5', which is to be published by Focal Press, an Imprint of Elsevier.
Below is a direct link to the Call for Submissions page on the 3DTotal website, where you will find all the information you need to prepare and submit your artwork for consideration of inclusion in Volume 5 of 3DTotal's Digital Art Masters book project.
If you have any questions at all about this book project, or our previous volumes, or if you would simply like further information then please contact [email]dam@3dtotal.com[/email].
ERinGo is predictably this rotund vehicle that can go from a one-wheel car to a three-wheeler, depending upon the deep curves you wish to take. The main central wheel balances the car while in motion, and its panels house the electric motors and other machinery of the car. The two-seater has two steering wheels, allowing either of the drivers to take control. Naturally when one steering is being used, the other gets locked. Two smaller-side wheels get deployed intuitively to stabilize the car when parking or hitting the curves.
As a concept “Green” vehicle it looks neat in this round avatar, but will the design functionality actually work, we really can’t predict.
This small Tutorial will show the methods I use to create grass, everything was created using Adobe® Photoshop 5.5 and a mouse. Below are some step by step images showing the various stages and a brief description outlining the easy methods used to create them.
Step one
Above in step one I have 2 layers : a Background layer and a layer containing a simple blade of grass. I achived this simple shape by creating a sphere then using the Elliptical Marquee Tool to cut out a nice curved shape. I then experimented with the Filter/Distort/Wave Filter to get it to this shape, it was then coloured green.
Step two
In Step two you can see I have duplicated the grass twice, I just used the Free Transform Tool to make them slightly different sizes and shapes. The round circles you see are the brush sizes I used to burn very gentle on various parts of the grass (the brushes i used were soft) we want to get a nice 3D look which is why I am adding shadows where one blade of grass lays on top of another.
Step Three
In Step three I have continued duplicating layers, changing there shape and sizes slightly with the Free Transform Tool, Also as you can see I have started changing the color of some of the grass and have continued using the burn tool as I did in step two. We have quite a few layers now so I grouped some of them together (I made sure not to group all of them as I will need some single strands of grass as I continue.
Step Four
Above in Step Four I have duplicated a layer containing about 5/6 strands of the grass, have made it smaller and then using a soft brush have erased it very slightly.
Step Five
It is just a matter of doing the same now, duplicating changing shape and size slightly , flipping them, erasing here and there , changing color : always making the lower parts slightly darker using the burn tool. Also adding in some of the single strands I kept (in this case the ones I had coloured Yellow.
Finished Grass
And here is what I ended up with by just continuing to duplicate, erase , change color, shade etc. It is just a matter of building up Layer upon Layer, making the layers at the bottom darker , making some strands thinner or taller but everything here has been created using that single blade of grass we started with.
What I have basically created here is the "Raw Material" i needed, in this case the grass I have done here was needed for "The Scottish Widow" image. When I had laid out all the grass I then started using the Airbrush to change hues as and where I needed , I erased parts adding more shadow and lastly highlights.
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