Home   |   Products   |   Downloads   |   Online Store   |   Press   |   Support   |   Mobile

Effect3D Studio allows you to quickly and easily create professional looking 3D clipart without any of the complexity normally associated with 3D design tools. The following example will provide a quick introduction to the Effect3D program, taking you from an blank page all the way through to exporting a professional looking fully animated image. This example covers each of the major steps in the creation process. Expanded treatment of the individual steps is covered in greater detail within the following chapters of this help manual

1. To Launch Effect3D Studio, from the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Effect3D Studio > Effect3D Studio v1.0 or click the Effect3D Studio shortcut if present on your desktop.



2. The Effect3D application will load with the Project page open. As we plan to create a new project, in the Main Navigation Bar click the Select Background button to step to the Background Page.



3. Backgrounds are sorted into categories for easy selection, choose a background category from the Background Category pull down menu, and then choose a background image to apply to your new project.
   
   
   
   
   
4. The Background Gallery shows thumbnail images of each of the backgrounds, apply your chosen Background to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting your selection and pressing the Apply button. You can change the Advanced Settings to alter the way the background image is applied to your project. All updates you make to your project will be shown in the Preview Window.


       

5. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Select Object button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can select the 3D object you wish to use in your project.
   
   
   
   
   
6. 3D objects are sorted into categories for easy selection, in this example choose the Animals category from the Object Category pull down menu, and then choose the Cartoon Sheep 3D object, apply the 3D object to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting your selection and pressing the Apply button.
   



7. In the Preview Window you should see your project starting to take shape. Using the Camera Control select the Rotate Camera button, move your mouse pointer within the Preview Window, hold down the left mouse button and rotate the 3D object to the desired position in the scene. Moving the mouse pointer left and right will rotate horizontally and moving the mouse pointer up and down will rotate vertically. Select the Move Camera button and move the 3D object to the bottom half of the Preview Window.
   
   
                   
   
8. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Rendering Effects button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can select the type of rendering effect you wish to use in your project. You will notice that we have skipped the Select Text page, when creating a project you can either use a 3D object in your project or 3D text, but not both at the same time. For more information about creating 3D text view the Select Text chapter.
   
   
   
   
   
9. There are 24 different rendering effects in Effect3D, these include photo-realistic and non-photo-realistic types. In this example we are going to use the Clay rendering effect, apply the Clay effect to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting the effect and pressing the Apply button.
   
   
   
   
   
10. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Material Effects button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can change the material settings altering how the materials used to cover the surface of your 3D object appear.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Materials are sorted into categories for easy selection, choose a material category from the Material Category pull down menu, and then choose a material apply to your project.
    
    
    
    
    
12. The Material Gallery shows thumbnail images of each of the materials, these can be used to apply a basic setting which you can then further adjust, apply your chosen Material to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting your selection and pressing the Apply button. In this case select Wood1 material setting from the Textures category. You can make further fine adjustments using the Advanced Settings including: Specular, Glossiness, Transparency and how the texture map is applied. All updates you make to your project will be shown in the Preview Window.
    
    
13. As we don't want to keep these changes we have made to the material settings in this example, click the Undo button located above the Preview Window to return to the original settings, if you applied a material setting more than once you may need to undo a number of times. The maximum number of changes that may be undone is 10.
    
    
    
    
    
14. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Animation Effects button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can apply an animation sequence to animate your 3D object.
    
    
    
    
    
15. Animation's are sorted into categories for easy selection, choose an animation category from the Animation Category pull down menu, and then choose an animation sequence to apply to your project.
    
    
    
    
    
16. The Animation Gallery shows animated thumbnail images of each of the animation's, apply your chosen animation sequence to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting your selection and pressing the Apply button. In this case select the Backflip sequence from the Personification category. You can adjust how the animation sequence is applied by using the Advanced Settings. Set the Strength of the animation to a value of 90, set Tempo to ease-in, increase the Frame Number to a value of 20 and keep the Frame Rate set at a value of 10. This will cause the duration of the animation sequence to be set to 2.0 seconds.
    
    
    
    
    
17. Updates you make the animation will not be shown in the Preview Window until you select to play the animation. Click the Play button located in the Animation Control Bar, this will begin rendering the animation sequence frame by frame. You can see the progress of the rendering process in the Rendering Progress Bar, as soon as the rendering is complete the playback will continue to loop at normal speed.
    
    
    
    
    
18. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Lighting Effects button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can change the lighting settings altering how light is cast in the scene.
    
    
    
    
    
19. Preset lighting conditions are sorted into categories for easy selection, choose a lighting category from the Lighting Category pull down menu, and then choose a lighting setting to apply to your project.
    
    
    
    
    
20. The Lighting Gallery shows thumbnail images of each of the preset lighting settings, these can be used to apply a basic setting which you can then further adjust, apply your chosen lighting to your project by either double clicking the thumbnail or highlighting your selection and pressing the Apply button. In this case select Light7 setting from the Standard Lighting category. You can further fine adjustments using the Advanced Settings, there are 4 fully controllable lights. Each light can be individually positioned, turned on/off, colored, and set to cast a shadow. This provides unlimited flexibility to ensure you can light your project perfectly.
    
    
    
    
    
21. In this example we want to add a real cast shadow, in the advanced settings select light #1 and check the Shadow box, adjust the Shadow Blur and Shadow Opacity sliders to provide a realistic looking shadow cast on the floor. You can move the position of the light by adjusting the horizontal and vertical sliders, this can ensure the direction of the shadow being cast can match any existing shadow that appears in the background image.
    
    
    
    
    
22. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Image Effects button to move the the next step of the creation process. In this page you can adjust image settings including brightness, contrast, HSV as well as add a glow or a drop shadow effect.
    
    
    
    
    
23. The Image Processing Page is broken down into 3 sections; Tone - for adjusting the brightness and contrast of the object, background or object & background; Glow - for adding a glow/halo effect around the object; Shadow - for adding a drop shadow to the object
    
    
    
    
    
24. In this example we do not want to add a glow or a drop shadow as we are already using the real cast shadow effect. As the image is quite dark we can increase the Brightness value to 3 to brighten the image. Check both the object and background checkboxes to brighten the whole image.
    
    
    
    
    
25. In the Main Navigation Bar click the Export Image button to move the the final step of the creation process. In this page you can select the export format, set parameters and render the final image. Images can be exported as GIF, Animated GIF, BMP, BMP sequence, JPG, JPG sequence, PRJ (project file) or SCX (Reallusion 3D) format.
    
    
    
    
    
26. In this example we are creating an animated gif file, so select the GIF tab within the Export Image page.
    
    
    
    
    
27. We do not want to use Transparency so ensure all the transparency options are disabled. Enabled GIF Optimization to keep the filesize as small as possible and select the Loop option to force the animation to loop continuously. Also set the Color Number to 128 colors, this will reduce the color depth of the final image but will also help in keeping the filesize more manageable by controlling the number of colors available within the image.
    
    
    
    
    
28. As we are creating an animated GIF ensure the Output Range is set to All, if you wanted to export only part of the animation you could select Range and enter the start and end frame numbers in the From & To fields. A single static image is exported by selecting the Current Frame option and then stepping to the desired frame using the animation control Next Frame and Previous Frame buttons.
    
    
    
    
    
29. When you are satisfied with your project click the Export Image File button to begin the rendering process. This will open the Save As dialog box. Select a convenient location on you system, enter a name for your file in the the Filename box, and then click Save. On a slower machine this can take a few moments.To view your newly composed file locate it on your local system using the Windows File Manager and double click it to open, this will launch your default .gif file viewer.
    
    
    
    
    
30. Finally In the Main Navigation Bar click the Project Page button, which will take you back to the first step of the creation process. Save your newly created project so you can re-use your creativity time & time again. Saving as a project enables you to re-create different models with the exact same look and feel for continuity of your images. Saving Projects also saves time and allows you to keep the parameters of your most dazzling effects. When saving a project objects, rendering effects, effect parameters, backgrounds, lighting effects, and animation settings can all be saved. Projects allows you to re-use your creativity time & time again, enabling you to re-create different models with the exact same look and feel for continuity of your images.