|
Photoshop CS tips for 3D by Pete Draper
Pete Draper is a CG artist with over 10 years industry experience. Here Pete presents us with his tips for Photoshop CS specifically aimed at the 3D Artist - some great methods to save time and increase your productivity !
Pete Draper is also the author of a terrific new book :
- all about Creating natural fire, earth, air and water effects without plug-ins ...
Related links ...
www.xenomorphic.co.uk - The online portfolio of ::: Pete Draper :::
email : pete.draper@xenomorphic.co.uk
|
|
|
| |
Introduction -
Not just limited to 2D illustration, Photoshop can seriously aid the 3D artist in his or her day to day routine. With the new panoramic stitching tool, the 3D artist can save time by letting Photoshop CS do the majority of the back-breaking work, just leaving a little clean-up. The new non-destructive pixel aspect viewer tool helps the artist view the image how it is supposed to be seen on the target screen, saving time by not having to pipe the images / animation to the screen for testing and advanced colour correction helps tweak the CG elements to match the background plate, increasing productivity which will please not only the artist, but the client as well! Here we run down some of the more common tools and processes that I think the 3D artist will benefit from the most
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Ageing the Image
The ability to load in Filmstrips (which can be outputted from Premiere (for example) if your 3D package does not support it) is a feature which is often underused. One great example is the ability to add scratches to the film by creating marks right down the strip to give the impression of aged footage. In addition to this, try dropping the levels of one channel in a vertical slice of the filmstrip to suggest weathering or even use a grunge brush to suggest damaged film.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Degrading the Image
Unless you want your renders completely crisp, to remove that CG feel try degrading the render a little. This can normally be done in post in your 3D application, but Photoshop handles it a lot nicer. Double the size of the image, add a little Gaussian Blur to the render
0.5 to 1 should suffice (depending on the size of the image) and add a slight amount of Gaussian Noise to break up any steep contrast and bring the size back down to its original setting.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Fixing Irregular Panoramic Exposures
If you have taken a panorama of, say, a cloud formation, and you have forgotten to lock the exposure while taking the image, all is not lost. By using the new Match Colour feature or by tweaking the levels and/or brightness and contrast you can match up the exposure from one image onto the next. For this to work effectively, it is best to work in layers in one large canvas and not on individual images so you can match the shading in any overlapping areas easily.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Stitching Panorama Images Together
The resulting images for the panorama can then be either manually placed and distorted to fit, or created using Photoshop CSs new Photomerge feature which will overlap and stitch the images together. However, this feature is not completely perfect and some fading between images may be apparent. Therefore you may need to manually cut and paste (or use the Snapshot tool) some of the source images into the new (flattened) image to remove any fading.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Tiling a Panoramic Image
With our panorama completed, we need to get the image to tile horizontally to remove the seam when both sides meet up. To do this, use the Offset filter set to half the image size and 0 Vertical offset so that the edges of the image are centred. Next, paint out (and colour correct if necessary) the seam by using a combination of the Snapshot tool and Healing brush. Offset the image back using a negative amount if desired.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
INSIDE THE MODEL DATABANK
|
|
