Flash 3D design

“Best” Tutorials Of 2009

The Samp — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:55:12 +0000

Here is a collection of Illustrator and vector tutorials of 2009.
The Best Photoshop Tutorials of 2009 – Some are really awesome stuff!
The Best Free Fonts of 2009, don’t know why they are supposed to be “the best”. It’s just a collection of nice clear fonts.
Same here, nothing super-duper-mega-amazing, but a very nice collection of icon sets.

Converting multi-page pdf to images

The Samp — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:46:59 +0000

Older versions of Photoshop (up to CS1) had this really nifty Multi-page pdf to psd function (in file->automate) which could convert easily pdf’s to images with couple of clicks. For some weird reason Adobe decided to remove it from newer versions. Twice a year I have to convert few hundred pages of pdfs to images, so it was kinda of draw back. But, thumbs up for those people who are willing to help us earthly worms!
There are couple of options available:

1) MultiPDFtoPSD.8LI – Install this to Plug-Ins/Automate-folder. Will appear in file->automate. I’m not quite sure in what version this is supposed work. It works fine in CS2, but seems to be a bit buggy in CS3. I’ve had this file for years now, can’t remember where I originally found it.

2) PDF Processor CS3 – Install this to Presets/Scripts-folder. Will appear in file->Scripts. It worked like a charm in CS3 like the file name promises. It can select Single page, All pages or Range of pages to extract. Each page is saved in the same location as the original document. It can resize using Fit Image and run an Action if required. I found this file here ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1882.

Start view of PDF Processor CS3

Bend planes in papervision3D

The Samp — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:40:32 +0000

How to bend stuff and make things a bit more alive in papervision3D plus a lot of interesting stuff available for all Flash 3D enthusiasts:
www.everydayflash.com/blog/index.php/2008/06/11/bending-modifier-papervision3d/

Making a skybox in papervision3D

The Samp — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:25:26 +0000

Adding “worldly” feeling to a 3D scene is almost essential, especially in games.
It is just a box or a sphere that surrounds camera/player. Using blurred texture will give nice effect of distant horizon or view.
Check out mcasperson‘s simple tutorial how to make a Skybox.

Example of a sites using skybox-method:
www.papervision3d.org
ww.ecodazoo.com

ColladaMaya & papervision3D

The Samp — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:40:16 +0000

Here’s couple of video-tutorials on working with Maya and Papervision3D.
Texture Baking and installing & enabling ColladaMaya plugin in Maya. Courtesy of pv3d.org.

Collada Maya plugin is downloadable at sourceforge.

50 Essential Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

The Samp — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:21:23 +0000

I was just surfing the web and stumbled upon this awesome set of tutorials:
50 Essential Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials.

A very nice effect

On designing logos

The Samp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:28:41 +0000

Designing logos is one of the most creative and also frustrating parts of designer’s work. I truly enjoy designing logos as I like things clear and über simplified. Sometimes it’s hard to find inspiration as many times you are forced to start from scratch. Sometimes client has old logo that needs updating. That’s easier because you can see what they have approved earlier and if it’s coloured you get a basic set of colours to start with. I like to think that the font is not necessarily key factor, and a good logo can rock without any text. Anyway here’s couple of examples (All with text :D, but TiimaTalot would/should/could work without):

The Font Feed has posted a nice collection of “The Logos of Web 2.0” for our inspiration.
Get A Freelancer/Freelancer has announced a logo design competition. Grand Prize $15000!

Caution – Cufón is still flawed

The Samp — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:51:51 +0000

I merrily published a website using cufón without checking it with “all major” browsers when I changed the font. My bad, yes. It wasn’t a big surprise when I noticed that something is wrong with Internet Explorer (as usual). For some reason it doesn’t show big “P”s. FireFox&Mozilla work like a water closet though. Of course it depends on font etc…
I don’t know where’s the problem, notice title “ProgaPanda” in content and in top navigation. Here’s some screenshots:
1) FF – big letters

2) FF- Small letters

3) IE (6-8) – big letters
PROBLEM!

4) IE (6-8) – small letters

Check out the difference in Big and Small letters in IE. Just to point out that Cufón does not do perfect job (NOT YET, MAN). But it still does great and it’s something every webdesigner wants. Thanks to Simo Kinnunen for outstanding development.

Using Cufón text replacement

The Samp — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:01:36 +0000

Cufón text replacement is a method implementing fonts to a normal webpage without flash. It is a alternative to sIFR. Best part is that no plug-ins required – only support for javascript. One drawback is that it replaces font very slowly in Internet Explorer, so I hope developer will fix it some day. Before rushing off to make your own website with Cufón, check out my notes.

Step I: Download the javascript file.

Step II: Use this tool. Just choose a font file on local machine, configurate and – BAM – It creates a javascript file, for example myFont_100.font.js

Step III: Upload files to server/local machine. Add following inside head-tag:

And in Body tag for example:

Hello world!

Link

And this to end of page. Just above -tag:

And that’s it! See an example of cufón usage online:
http://www.progapanda.com/

ProgaPanda.com retouched

The Samp — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:46:39 +0000

Top navigation and content headers (H1,H2,H3) are made with Cufon-text replacement.
Title is transparent particlefield made with Flash CS4 & Papervision3D. Rotating logo is Flash & Actionscript 3 and rest of the site is same-o same-o :D

See the changes and get your killer site here:
www.progapanda.com