This week for Favorite Friday we combine an awesome reel, fun occasion, and great cause!

The Mermaid Parade

All you Coney Islanders will know what this is, but for those of you that don’t here is the synopsis on the Mermaid Parade:
The Mermaid Parade is artists, it’s community, it’s Brooklyn weirdos, it’s people flying in from all over the world and, most importantly, The Mermaid Parade is YOU. Every year since 1983, it has enabled artistic New Yorkers to find self-expression in public. It’s an American celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals of the seaside, and it showcases over 1,500 creative individuals from all over the five boroughs, kicking off the summer with incredible art, an entrepreneurial spirit and unflagging Coney Island pride.

Last years parade enticed 750,000 visitors!

3D photographer Jay Kusnetz used his love of 3D to create some amazing pictures from last year’s Mermaid Parade, as seen in the 3D Stereo reel below.

But here’s the problem…Hurricane Sandy came along.
Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the Coney Island community. It also destroyed our historical museum and performance space at 1208 Surf Avenue. We rely on the income from our popular side-show and gift shop, along with registration fees, to pay for the Mermaid Parade. With our building severely damaged and donations slowing to a trickle, our not-for-profit has had virtually no income. In many ways we’re still underwater. What this all means is that the 31st Mermaid Parade now has a budget shortfall of $100,000. This is an impossible gap for a tiny not-for-profit arts organization like ours.

So, they have a Kickstarter project going to raise the money for the parade. I urge you to check it out and watch their fun video! Click here!

And, if all goes well, June 22nd, 2013 will be an awesome day!

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For my 26th birthday I bought myself a pair of Rollerblades! May sound crazy, but I love them!! So it made me think that this would be a good topic for Retro Wednesday!

When I was younger, I used to Rollerblade whenever I had the chance. We lived in the country so there wasn’t much pavement. But, I was able to utilize our small deck. The deck has a round table in the middle, so for hours I would roll around and around the table with my cassette player Walkman attached to my hip.

Thankfully now I live on a completely paved driveway and I even have a paved mile and a half walking trail behind my house. So, tell me, what 26 year old – Rollerblade loving – paved driveway livin’ – person wouldn’t want Rollerblades?! :-)

Do you have any fun Rollerblade memories? Or any retro toys? Like hula hoops, skip-it, LEGO, the list could go on for eternity!

Enjoy this fun commercial below. It’s not actually for Rollerblades, but it shows a lot of blade-skills!
Now I guess I just need to get myself some Sunny-D!

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Here is round two in our series of “Did you know?” posts. These posts will include helpful facts, tips, and information for building your custom reels on our Celebrate website.

Did you know that even when your pictures look out of order on the reel, it is actually still in the same exact sequence as when you created it?

Ok that sounds confusing right? But, many customer’s get worried when they see the “flattened” preview of their reel. Like this….

This is a great example because you know she has put these frames in the exact order to make her sentence “Will you go to Snowball with me?”

Looking at the reel this way, the images do look randomized AND you may wonder why your images are now upside down. However, there is a method to the madness!

The main factor to remember is that the reel is round and rotates clockwise inside the viewer. Hence, some photos will be upside down when looking at it this way, but correct when viewed in the viewer. Also, during each click of the “advance lever”, the frames skip.

Still confused? Here is a GREAT example that shows the sequence of the frames:

Now does it makes sense? Cool!

If you still need more help grasping this (it’s crazy, I know!), take a look at one of our reel example videos on our YouTube Channel or below. The video shows you exactly how the reel rotates inside the viewer.

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Happy Favorite Friday!
Does everyone remember the awesome Alaskan Brown Bear reel and viewer sets?

Well now, we have the accompanying Alaskan Humpback Whales reel!

And of course, Janet mixed her wonderful photography with the help of artist, Victoria Hand Design, to create a super fun label for the reels.

Janet’s goal is to sell the Brown Bear and Whale sets to visiting tourists aboard the Alaskan cruise ships. She told me that the ships started rolling in this week! So a big GOOD LUCK to Janet!

To see Janet’s previous order and learn more about her, click here- Alaskan Brown Bear Reel & Viewer Sets

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Here is a good way to get your kids to clean their room…tell them it’s “Clean Up Your Room Day!”
Or maybe you are a little behind on Spring Cleaning? Here is the day to get motivated! (For a fun little history on where Spring Cleaning comes from, click here)

Remember back in the day when cleaning your room actually meant having more of an adventure than anything? You found the toys you forgot about and created new imaginative story-lands.

What cool things did you have in your room growing up?

Did you have a standing army of G.I. Joes? OR maybe you used Cabbage Patch kids as your theater audience.
Did you have tea parties with Pillow People? OR maybe you build entire cities of LEGOs and Lincoln Logs.
Did Lite-Brite and Simon fill your room with colors?

My dad made me a beautifully crafted toy box. But, I mostly remember the toys being out of it more than they were in it!

And isn’t it funny how sometimes it’s the simplest “toys” that are the most fun. For instance, laying blankets over top of chairs and creating a fort was by far one of my favorite things to do. This happened a lot when “cleaning” my room!

Well, we hope that we have created at least a little inspiration for your cleaning escapades today! When you find something fun, be sure to tell us about it!

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Did you know that May is National Bicycle Month?

Well it is! And we’re proud to be living in a region that is very supportive of bicyclists (Portland, of course!). Do you bike to work/school/everywhere?
I love riding my bike! I do it mostly for enjoyment and am lucky that I live right by a neighborhood paved trail!

I remember first learning to ride a bike. Training wheels were easy. But my dad was the kind of guy that, once he took the training wheels off, would just push ya and sent you on your way. “That’s how you learn!” he would say. Although it was difficult at first, I did pick it up rather quickly. What kind of fun bicycle memories do you have?

Adding to the festivities, the week of May 13 – 17th is “Bike to Work Week“, with “Bike to Work Day” landing on Friday the 17th. To Celebrate, let’s do a contest!

Send us your bike related pictures for a chance to win 1 free Celebrate set! We need the pictures by Thursday, May 16th…Winner will be chosen by the Image3D staff on Friday, May 17th (Bike to Work Day)!
You can send your pictures via email to Media@Image3D.com, Facebook (preferred method so everyone can see your cool pics!), or Twitter.

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Here is the first in our series of “Did you know?” posts. These posts will include helpful facts, tips, and information for building your custom reels on our Celebrate website.
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Did you know that you can add 3D captions to your reels by using our Reel Builder’s text tool?

It’s true! And how cool is that? Simply input text within our reel builder’s text tool, and the text will automatically be in 3D! (this does not work if your text is on your picture before you upload it).
Here is more helpful information regarding text….

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Adding text to your reel is just plain cool. But, there are some tips we would like to share to help ensure you get an awesome reel.

*Adding 3D Text With Our Text Tool
*Pictures With Text Already Included
*Choosing the Right Text Size
*Picking Smart Colors and Fonts

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Adding 3D Text With Our Text Tool
First and foremost…one of the coolest things about our Reel Builder is that you have the option of adding 3D text to your frames!

To add 3D text, all you need to do is use our text tool when building your reel. You can change the color, manipulate the size, and move it to any desired position around the frame.

When you move your text around, you will notice guidelines pop up alerting you how far your text can go. It is very important to make sure your text does not go outside the guidelines. For the best results, keep your text away from the guidelines altogeher.



The reason your text cannot go beyond the guidelines is because of the 3D technology working behind the scenes. You know how you see 14 images on the reel, when really there is only 7 frames? This is because you need a left eye image and a right eye image for each frame. The way 3D works is by shifting the layers on the left side to the right and the layers on the right to the left. So, if you have it too far over, it risks being cut off during this shift. This is especially true if your text is placed where the corner is rounded.

Therefore, it is best to keep your text away from the guidelines and away from the very top corners of the frame.

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Pictures With Text Already Included

Now sometimes, customers like to get really creative and design their text-filled frames outside of our Reel Builder, in Photoshop, for example. This is great, but there are a few very important points to consider.

This picture looks nice, right? All the party information is informatively typed out, it’s designed evenly, and fills out the entire frame completely.

But uh oh! After uploading the picture, your text falls outside of the text guidelines.
It is essential to stay within the guidelines, otherwise your text will be cut off.



Now, you only see the guidelines if you are using our text tool. So, after uploading your picture with text already on it, you will need to test that your words are inside the guidelines. To do this, add a “dummy” text line. Just type something into the text tool and move it around the screen. You will be able to see the guidelines and compare it to your text. Then, just be sure to delete the text box by clicking the big red X.

The reason your text cannot go beyond the guidelines is because of the “viewer technology” working behind the scenes. You know how you see 14 images on the reel, when really there is only 7 frames? This is because you need a left eye image and a right eye image for each frame. The way it works is by shifting the layers on the left side to the left and the layers on the right to the right. Then, when you look at it through the viewer, they converge back to the center. So, if you have it too far over, it risks being cut off during this shift. This is especially true if your text is placed where the corner is rounded.

This next picture shows the importance of staying away from those rounded corners.
See how this picture is nicely filled up with text? See what happens when it is uploaded…



The rounded corners cut it off!
To fix it, you can zoom out on your picture, but keep in mind that now your picture will not fill up the entire frame.
A better solution? Leave yourself plenty of “bleed space” around the edge of your pictures. This will leave a buffer of empty space and ensure your text will not be cut off.



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Choosing the Right Text Size
When adding text to your picture before uploading, it is imperative to make sure that you do not make your text too small. What may look fine in Photoshop, does not always work with the reel and viewer.
Remember, your images are being shrunk down to a size that is less than 1 inch by 1 inch. If your text is really small and you choose a font that has fine lines, it will get distorted and be illegible.

Take this picture for example. I typed a large amount of text and it looks great and totally legible.
But, adding it to the Reel Builder shows a different story…

A good an easy way to test if your text size is big enough is to use our text tool as an example.
Upload your text-filled picture. Then, type in a few words from your text, and choose the smallest font size we offer. Now, put it next to your text and compare. Is your text smaller that our smallest size text? If so, you will need to increase the size of your text before uploading.
Or, better yet, use our text tool to ensure your text can never be too small.



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Picking Smart Colors and Fonts
This is important for both do-it-yourself and using our text tool!

Rule of thumb is just to pick good background/font color combos.
For example you wouldn’t do silver on top of white, because it just doesn’t pop. But now silver on top of black, that pops!

It is also recommended that you do not use overly-cursive or funky type. If you must, make sure it is very large.
Remember, your images is being shrunk down to a size that is less than 1 inch by 1 inch.

Here is an example of a cursive-type font. The picture doesn’t look too bad, but once it is shrunk down for the reel, it gets harder to read. Also, the background is so busy that it decreases visibility when mixing it with cursive font.
Just think of your recipients eyes! Would Grandma be able to read what it says?

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Last weeks Favorite Friday featured a crazy cat, now we gotta highlight the adorable dogs!

This reel comes to us from Jen Moser at Paw Prints Pet Photography.

All of us here at Image3D are big dog lovers. How could I not pick this reel?
Between the 8 of us that work here we have labs, boxers, border collies, blue healers, and Australian shepherds.

What kind of dog do you have?

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Get ready to laugh at this week’s Favorite Friday reel!

This week we have a cat…a cat that is trying to ruin it’s owners life.
Ok, not really, but trying to prove so makes for a hilarious reel!

Thanks for the reel Lee R.! It made me laugh out loud!

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If you read the title of this post and thought, “huh?!”, think again!
There is really such a thing as 3D makeup!

Think of all the zombies on The Walking Dead, for example. That’s not just some eye shadow. That’s some serious in your face makeup effects. Same with beings from other planets on Star Trek and the like.

Photo source: Flickr

Halloween anyone?

Another 3D trend I recently became aware of…3D nail art!

Photo source: 3D-Nails.com

Then, to add to this, you can make your entire look complete with some 3D fashion!

Thought 3D was just for the movies? Think again! :-)
 
 

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