3D in Photoshop: The Ultimate Guide for Creative Professionals


Product Description
This is the first book of its kind that shows you everything you need to know to create or integrate 3D into your designs using Photoshop CS5 Extended. If you are completely new to 3D, you'll find the great tips and tricks in 3D in Photoshop invaluable as you get started. There is also a wealth of detailed technical insight for those who want more. Written by the true experts - Adobe's own 3D team - and with contributions from some of the best and brightest digital artists working today, this reference guide will help you to create a comprehensive workflow that suits your specific needs. Along the way, you'll pick up troubleshooting tips and advice from the industry experts and you'll be inspired by many examples of full color, original works of 3D art.
If you're already using Photoshop for your digital art and want to learn how to incorporate your 3D components into one workflow, you'll discover new ways of working with Photoshop that you probably never knew existed. Find out how to quickly generate beautiful 3D extrusions from text layers, selections and more. Brush up on your painting, texture creation and editing skills, and learn how to composite 3D to 2D scenes. You'll also discover the secrets to creating Lenticular images. It's all here in this comprehensive guide - the next best thing to sitting side-by-side with an Adobe expert while you create 3D magic.
</p>3D in Photoshop: The Ultimate Guide for Creative Professionals Review
Summary: 3D In Photoshop is aimed at beginners, but useful as reference for pros just starting to leverage 3D in Photoshop.I just got through my 2nd pass at this new title from Zorana Gee and Pete Falco (and the rest of the Photoshop engineering crew). The first two parts are all about every tool in the CS5 3D arsenal. Leaving pretty much no stone unturned, these seven chapters read very well - they are aimed at telling what you need to know about a given tool or setting, without getting bogged down in endless examples. This reference section could easily be used as the foundation for classroom studies, and is set up in a logical way, making everything easy to find and clear.
Part 1 is a brief introduction to 3D concepts, In these twenty or so pages, you get everything you need to know to dive in. While not amazingly detailed, this section is aimed at complete novices to 3D, helping with vocabulary and ideas. But even if you are familiar with 3D, this is a good place to browse for learning how the Photoshop team views 3D (the concepts are aimed squarely at Photoshop's capabilities). There's also some good insight to ray tracing challenges with different materials.
Part 2 starts in on the tools that Photoshop uses to generate and manipulate 3D content. This is where you should start if you are already familiar with general 3D work, and are adding Photoshop to your arsenal. Again, the layout is clear and broken down into reference-like chunks. You'll get a look at everything Photoshop does, including some of its limitations.
Also scattered through this section are tips on getting the most of out the tools; it ends with a chapter on performance and optimization, but there are other tidbits to find so be sure to dig into the text.
Part 3 (the entire 2nd half of the book) is given over to actual examples and studio-grade work flows. Kicking things off is one of my Photoshop heroes, Bert Monroy, doing something near and dear to my heart: compositing realistic images with 3D. The only thing I find a bit odd is the end of Bert's chapter where he shows an animation example. It certainly is worth putting into the book, but doesn't quite fit with his example. That being said, don't miss it :)
One thing that distinguishes the first two parts from the third is tone. In the first two parts, as I mentioned, it's all about getting you the info you need very quickly. It's not conversational, but not long enough in any given section to be dry. The work flows and examples are all given over to the voices of their respective authors, so expect some differences in style and structure. For example, Bert's section reads like he's sitting there with you, explaining what's going on and to some extent why he makes certain choices. I like this style, and it suits the material, but it's not for everybody.
Corey Barker takes a more tutorial-like approach, which many folks will find much easier to deal with. There are steps to follow along with, and again, it fits the examples. Corey walks you through several ways to use Repouss�, including some ideas that are not immediately apparent. His final example is more like Bert's in that he discusses the concepts he just presented rather than lays out the cookbook.
Stephen Burns rounds out the critical skills list with a chapter on texturing a scene. This is probably one of the trickier things to learn about in Photoshop's 3D world, as the tools are not geared towards a full-blown materials system. Instead, Burns shows you how to work with and enhance existing materials. I should clarify that: Photoshop is not meant to replace heavy-duty materials editors for UV applications, procedurals, shaders, etc. But what it can do exceedingly well is manipulate the 2D source files for the materials it supports. With Stephen's examples, you can see how to apply photographic textures as well as manipulate existing textures for a good overall render.
Photoshop super star and class clown Russel Brown (Doctor, actually) takes his usual left turn and presents a chapter on lenticular images - those printed images with a plastic cover that seem to move when you change the viewing angle. No conversation here! This hardcore technique requires some special materials, and feels like it was included to give you something to aspire to. It's almost a show-off chapter, and one I can't wait to try out.
At the end of the book you'll find appendices on file formats and interoperability. Become familiar with these as they will help you trouble shoot many common problems when dealing with a complex 3D work flow involving other applications and sharing files.
I have to say that this is an entirely enjoyable work. I'm familiar with several of the personalities involved, and conversant with quite a bit of the material, so believe me when I tell you this is a must-have for anyone getting into or using 3D in Photoshop CS5 Extended. While professional 3D artists and advanced Photoshop users may only need the first half, it's still a great reference to keep on the shelf.
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