Macromedia Extreme 3D 1.0/EXTREME_3D.iso/nt_info/labs.txt

Text File | 1996-01-19 | 16KB | 402 lines

THE EXTREME 3D LABS

The Extreme 3D labs are a collection of movies that demonstrate many of
the things you can do with Extreme 3D.

The movies are located in the LEARNING directory on the Extreme 3D
CD in either the MATERIALS or the LIGHTS subdirectory.


MATERIALS LAB

The materials lab shows examples of Extreme 3D's default materials and
demonstrates how individual material attributes contribute to the look of a
material.

All of the examples are animated, so you can see how changing one
attribute affects the material's overall appearance.


BASIC CONCEPTS

These movies show how the basic surface material attributes affect the
appearance of the final material.

Many of the default materials use a combination of two surface materials,
allowing independent control of the basic attributes for each surface
material. These examples also demonstrate a few ways that you can
control the mixture of two surface materials within one material.


DIFFUSE & AMBIENT

Filename: DIFF&AMB.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie demonstrates how the diffuse and ambient sliders of a
material's surface color affect the final surface color.

The Diffuse slider controls the intensity of the material's surface color
wherever light strikes the object. When the diffuse value is low, the
material's surface color may appear to be many shades darker than the
color you selected.

The Ambient slider controls the material's sensitivity to the global ambient
color. Its main purpose is to give color to shaded areas of objects. (To
learn about how the ambient light color affects the scene, watch the movie
called "Ambient Light Color" in Global Effects.)

OBJECT 1: Ambient value is 0; Diffuse value animates from 1 to 0.
The object shows none of its blue surface color when the diffuse value is
0.

OBJECT 2: Diffuse value is 0; Ambient value animates from 1 to 0.
Since there is no Diffuse color, the cone has no appearance of depth. Use
this technique to achieve a more flat or cartoonish look to your animation.

OBJECT 3: Ambient value is 1; Diffuse value animates from 1 to 0.
As with object 1, the color's intensity changes with the diffuse value. In
this case, though, the high ambient value contributes to the object's
appearance, so all color isn't lost when the diffuse value is low.

OBJECT 4: Diffuse value is 1; Ambient value animates from 1 to 0.
Notice that the shadows lose color (become more defined) as the ambient
value decreases, while the surface color remains constant.


SPECULAR & ROUGHNESS

Filename: SPEC&RUF.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie demonstrates how the specular and roughness colors work
together to control the shininess of a material's surface.

The specular color controls the intensity and color of the specular
highlight.

The roughness color controls the halo that appears around the specular
highlight and the size of the specular highlight.

OBJECT 1: Default Specular color (light gray); Roughness color animates
from black to white. When the roughness color is black, the specular
reflection is small. The specular highlight grows as the roughness color
animates towards white.

OBJECT 2: Specular color is black; Roughness color animates from black
to white. As the roughness color animates, the specular highlight grows in
size but doesn't change intensity. This is how you can create materials
that have a matte finish.

OBJECT 3: Roughness color is white; Specular color animates from black
to white. As the specular color animates towards white, the specular
highlight becomes more intense. This is good for creating shiny materials.

OBJECT 4: Roughness color is black; Specular color animates from black
to white. Because the roughness color is black, the specular highlight is
small. Only the intensity of the specular highlight increases.


OPACITY

Filename: OPACITY.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie demonstrates how the opacity value controls the transparency
of an individual surface material. Opacity controls which objects can be
seen behind the transparent object; an object won't appear to be
transparent unless there is an object behind it to show through the
transparent surface.

All the materials used in this example use a combination of two surface
materials. You can control the opacity of each surface material
independently.

OBJECT 1 uses an Organic Magic material.
One surface material is already slightly transparent. It maintains constant
opacity while the other surface material becomes more transparent,
allowing the number to show through.

OBJECT 2 uses a Tiles material.
As the opacity value animates toward 0, the cube looks as if it Is made of
a wire mesh material. To get the effect of one material being completely
transparent, set the Surface and Specular colors to black, and set the
Opacity to 0.

OBJECT 3 uses a Solid Pattern material.
As with object 1, one material becomes transparent over time while the
other maintains constant opacity.


MATERIAL PROPORTIONS

Filename: PROPORTN.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

Three of the basic material types, Tiles, Organic Magic, and Solid Pattern,
use a combination of two independent surface materials. Options such as
the material proportions and the pattern scale let you control the mixture
of the two surface materials that comprise the final material.

This movie shows how you can control the material proportions and the
size of the material's pattern to change the look of the final material.

IN THE LEFT COLUMN, each object's material proportions slider is
animating until one of the two surface materials covers the surface
completely.

By modifying the material proportions, you can create countless
combinations of the two materials.

IN THE RIGHT COLUMN, the pattern scale for each material type
animates to a very small value.

If the scale value is very large or very small, the surface may look more
like a solid color. By using two similar surface colors, you can create a
material that looks like a solid color with slight variations in highlights, like
paint.


SPECIAL EFFECTS

These movies demonstrate how to use images such as reflection maps
and texture maps to create interesting effects.


CHROME+GLASS

Filename: CHRM&GLS.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie demonstrates a few combinations you can create with the
Chrome+Glass material, a highly reflective material that reflects an
environment map you select.

ON THE LEFT, the objects use both the Reflections and Render Glass
options. Opacity is animating from 1 to 0.5.

This is the most realistic look for a glass material. The material gets its
color from the Environment Map and the Reflection and Glass colors. The
Opacity value determines how clear the glass looks, with a value of 1
creating the look of frosted glass and a value of 0 creating the look of
crystal.

ON THE RIGHT, the objects use Reflections but not the Render Glass
option. The Reflection color is animating.

This creates a material that looks like chrome. Both the Reflection color
and the Environment map contribute to the material's color. With a chrome
material, the environment map shows a great deal of detail, as it would on
a car's bumper.


MONDO MAP

Filename: MONDOMAP.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

With a Mondo Map default material, you can use images as texture maps
and various types of reflection maps. This movie shows examples of
environment and specular maps.

Like the Chrome+Glass material, the Mondo Map material lets you use
environment maps to reflect an image onto the object's surface.

Specular maps use the specular color defined for the surface to determine
how reflective the surface should be. When the specular color animates to
black, there are no reflections.

OBJECT 1 has an environment map (which is also displayed below the
object). The environment map intensity animates from 0 to 1.

Notice that as the intensity increases, the image appears.

OBJECT 2 has the same environment map at full intensity and a specular
map that gives the surface an interesting texture (both maps are displayed
below the object). The specular color animates from black to white.

When the Specular color is black, there is no specular highlight, so neither
of the maps are visible. As the Specular color goes towards white, the
images begin to appear.


MONDO MAP 2

Filename: MONDOMA2.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie demonstrates bump maps and roughness maps. These are
ideal for experimentation, because results are hard to predict by looking at
the image itself.

A bump map uses the grayscale values of the image to calculate the
height of the map. The roughness map uses the colors in the image and
the roughness color defined for the surface to calculate the material's
roughness. Depending on the colors of the image, you can get a variety
of roughness values with one material.

OBJECT 1 has a bump map, which is also displayed below the object.
The change in the image's grayscale values from one pixel to the next
determine how bumpy the surface will look. As the Bump Scale animates,
the bumps become more pronounced.

OBJECT 2 has a roughness map. As the roughness color animates, the
object's roughness, and therefore its specular highlights, change. Notice
that as the roughness color animates from black to white the surface
becomes rougher.


TEXTURE MAP

Filename: TEXTURE.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie shows texture maps and how their alpha channel options
control the appearance of the texture map on the object.

In a 32-bit image, there are 4 channels of information. Red, Green, and
Blue are the color channels, and the 8-bit alpha channel holds the
luminance, or transparency, information. An alpha value of one is
completely opaque, values between 0 and 1 are levels of transparency,
and an alpha value of 0 is completely transparent. The image that you use
for a texture map must have some alpha information that is less than 1 for
the Alpha options to have any effect.

Turn the page to see the movie. After watching the movie, turn the page
again to learn about the movie.

The sphere has the default texture map applied to it. It is animating
among the four alpha options.

1 - OVERRIDE ALPHA ignores the alpha information in the texture map.
The texture map image is placed on the object as it appears.

2 - COMPOSITE OVER COLOR tints the colors in the texture map with
the surface color for the material. This color is animating.

3 - EXISTENCE OF SURFACE means that the texture map and the object
that it covers completely disappear where the alpha value is 0 (completely
transparent). The letters of the texture map appear because their alpha
values are greater than 0. The alpha value for the rest of the image is 0.

4 - LUMINANCE MAP produces a bright glow where the alpha value is
high. This option is useful for making part of the texture map glow, such
as windows in a building that are lit up at night.


LIGHTING LAB

These movies demonstrate various options, such as shadows, light
cones, and colors, that you can modify for spotlights.


SHADOWS & DUST

Filename: LIGHTS&D.AVI in the LIGHTS directory

This movie demonstrates some of the options, such as dust cones,
shadows, and dust shadows, that are available for spotlights.

The lamp has a spotlight that turns on. When the light turns on, you can
see the effect that it has on the scene. (You can animate all lights turning
on and off.)

Then the Dustiness value is increased to a value greater than 0 so you
can see the beam cast by the spotlight.

Next, Casts Shadows is turned on and a shadow of the ball is cast onto
the table.

Finally the Dust Shadows option is turned on. The beam of light is now
blocked by the objects in its way. When Casts Shadows and Dust
Shadows are not on, light from the spotlight passes through objects. To
speed up rendering during test renders, leave these options off.


COLORED LIGHTS

Filename: LIGHTCLR.AVI in the LIGHTS directory

This movie shows how the color of the light that shines on an object
affects its surface colors.

The lamp has a spotlight with a shadow. As the color of the light animates,
notice how the white material on the sphere and the material on the table
are affected by the change in the spotlight's color. Dark colors, such as
the black areas of the sphere, absorb the light color, so the color changes
are not as easy to see.

Notice that the changes of the light color also appear in the specular
highlight.

At the end of the movie, the light intensity has a negative value. This has
the effect of removing light from the scene, making the area where the
light shines darker than the rest of the scene.


LIGHT CONE

Filename: LIGHTCON.AVI in the LIGHTS directory

This movie demonstrates how you can change the cone size (the cone's
Starting Radius), the cone angle, and the fall off values for spotlights.

The cone size and cone angles control the size and shape of the
spotlight. The fall off values control the distance over which the light's
intensity loses half of its value.

Turn the page to see the movie. After watching the movie, turn the page
again to learn about the movie.

In this example, the light's Starting Radius increases, making the light
larger starting from its base.

Then the light's cone angle increases, which distributes the light over a
wider surface area.

Next, the fall off value for the spotlight decreases. This makes the shadow
and the light less intense as they strike the table.

Finally, the fall off value for the dust cone decreases, which concentrates
the dust closer to the source of the light and makes the dust cone less
distinct. (The Fall Off checkbox must be selected in order for the fall off
values to affect the spotlight.)


GLOBAL EFFECTS

These movies demonstrate the effect of adding fog to your scene and
changing the color of the scene's ambient light. These options affect the
entire scene, but you can control each individual material's response to
the ambient light color.

AMBIENT LIGHT COLOR

Filename: AMBIENT.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

This movie shows how the ambient light color affects the shadows in the
scene. You can set each individual surface material's sensitivity to the
ambient color, so some objects in the scene can be more affected by the
ambient color than others. (See the movie called "Diffuse & Ambient" in
Basic Concepts to learn more about the ambient value.)

Turn the page to see the movie. After watching the movie, turn the page
again to learn about the movie.

In this movie, many of the materials were created to be very sensitive to
the ambient light color. This might not be an effect that you want in your
own scenes. When the ambient light color animates, you can see that it
affects the overall shading in the scene.


FOG

Filename: FOG.AVI in the MATERIALS directory

You can add fog to the entire scene with Global Effects. By changing the
fog color, the fog's transparency color, and the fog depth, you can create
many different effects.

Turn the page to see the movie. After watching the movie, turn the page
again to learn about the movie.

In this movie the fog distance is animating from a high value to a low
value, which creates the effect of the fog moving towards you.

Notice that the scene gets foggier as the fog distance decreases. You can
intensify the effect of fog by adjusting the scene's lighting and changing
the ambient light color.