COVERING OUR TRACKS NOVEMBER 2000
by John
Mantzefield
copyright 2000
(The
version of COT article is a shorter edited version of
what originally appeared in our magazine) This month's
cover was inspired by an article in MacAddict magazine
regarding the QuickTime Player in the upcoming next
generation Operating System called OSX. One of the
great features of OSX is the new user interface which
is simply known as "Aqua".
Before beginning this project I had been looking at various 3D programs that could replace Strata Studio Pro. while Strata was adequate in some ways I felt that it was lacking in it's 3D modeling features. After researching all of the 3D programs on the Mac platform I chose Cinema4D-XL v6.1 (distributed in the USA by Maxon Inc.). Cinema4D-XL (C4D) is the top level of a 3 tier package that offers more features the higher you go. Some of C4Ds main strengths are an extremely flexible user interface that can be highly customized and also the fact that icon tool bars can be created and placed anywhere on the screen.
MAKING THE COVER
I used C4D and Adobe Photoshop (along with other Plug-Ins that will be mentioned later) in the creation of the cover. The main image components consist of a background image and the QuickTime player that were created and rendered with C4D. A composite image of the non-linear editing software (Final Cut Pro) was placed on top of the QT player window and some video stills (captured from Hi-8 videos) were composited into a Layered Photoshop image that was later saved as a grayscale TIFF image.
The background image was created in C4D as a flat rectangular shaped with bump mapped “DV” letters which added the raised textures to the concrete surface mapping. By repeatedly cutting and pasting the white letters "DV" in 3 different sized patterns (in Photoshop) I was able to make the embossed effect in C4D. This was further enhanced by adding spotlights in C4D to create shadows and highlights on the many "DV" letters on the background plane.
The QT player was modeled with C4D tools that allow objects to be made with: SPLINES (lines that define an objects shape in 3D space), BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS (drag-and-drop operation for hole cutting, etc.), OBJECT DEFORMATIONS (dragging control
Before beginning this project I had been looking at various 3D programs that could replace Strata Studio Pro. while Strata was adequate in some ways I felt that it was lacking in it's 3D modeling features. After researching all of the 3D programs on the Mac platform I chose Cinema4D-XL v6.1 (distributed in the USA by Maxon Inc.). Cinema4D-XL (C4D) is the top level of a 3 tier package that offers more features the higher you go. Some of C4Ds main strengths are an extremely flexible user interface that can be highly customized and also the fact that icon tool bars can be created and placed anywhere on the screen.
MAKING THE COVER
I used C4D and Adobe Photoshop (along with other Plug-Ins that will be mentioned later) in the creation of the cover. The main image components consist of a background image and the QuickTime player that were created and rendered with C4D. A composite image of the non-linear editing software (Final Cut Pro) was placed on top of the QT player window and some video stills (captured from Hi-8 videos) were composited into a Layered Photoshop image that was later saved as a grayscale TIFF image.
The background image was created in C4D as a flat rectangular shaped with bump mapped “DV” letters which added the raised textures to the concrete surface mapping. By repeatedly cutting and pasting the white letters "DV" in 3 different sized patterns (in Photoshop) I was able to make the embossed effect in C4D. This was further enhanced by adding spotlights in C4D to create shadows and highlights on the many "DV" letters on the background plane.
The QT player was modeled with C4D tools that allow objects to be made with: SPLINES (lines that define an objects shape in 3D space), BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS (drag-and-drop operation for hole cutting, etc.), OBJECT DEFORMATIONS (dragging control
handles
to alter the overall shape of objects) and NURBS
(Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines - a drag-and-drop
process that makes smooth shapes from square cornered
objects like the QT player’s outer frame).
Click
and enlarge the image to the right - it shows how one
of the buttons was created in C4D by using the
Boolean/Subtract feature. What this means is that
objects can be grouped together and used to subtract
mass from one another to yield a completely different
shaped final object. The round object on the left side
was merged into the box on the right to form (via
Boolean/subtract) the recess which holds the button
with the black triangular icon.
The
image to the right shows C4Ds Object Manager which
allows you to easily keep track of the numerous 3D
parts that make up a complete scene . Here you can see
a portion of the QT Player and it's hierarchical levels
that show how each part of the player is related to the
other parts. Move the top part in the list and
everything below will follow it. There is a
parent/child relationships between the parts/objects
and/or Tool Functions where the items below
automatically inherits the operations of the item above
it.
The center window of the QT player is made up of two parts. The lower half consists of a screenshot of Final Cut Pro, Apple's high-end non-linear digital video editing software. The upper half is video still images of the PMUG classroom on the left and Mac Camp at Silver Falls on the right. The Final Cut user interface portion of the image was tweaked in Photoshop to make it match the perspective of QT Player that was rendered in C4D. Two Photoshop Plug-In filters from the Eye Candy series were used to add shadows to the QT player image giving it more depth and realism.
The center window of the QT player is made up of two parts. The lower half consists of a screenshot of Final Cut Pro, Apple's high-end non-linear digital video editing software. The upper half is video still images of the PMUG classroom on the left and Mac Camp at Silver Falls on the right. The Final Cut user interface portion of the image was tweaked in Photoshop to make it match the perspective of QT Player that was rendered in C4D. Two Photoshop Plug-In filters from the Eye Candy series were used to add shadows to the QT player image giving it more depth and realism.
