3D Animation in PS !!!

[MrToM]

Who would have thought that 3D animation in PS was even possible..?

I didn't.

With time on my hands over Easter I'd thought I'd try and get to grips with the 3D part of PS, not because I'm ever going to use it but there have been several PS 3D related questions on the forum lately and well, I couldn't answer any of them because I just didn't know enough about the 3D part of PS.

Well.....after a short time playing around with it its pretty clear its not perfect, but, it does do some pretty advanced stuff for an image editor...

Ok, so its no masterpiece and its not going to win any prizes but its pretty impressive considering its not a 'major' part of PS.....there is a lot going on in just that 5 second clip.

Anyway, I'm going to continue playing and see what else this 3D thang can do.

I'll say now though that without my background in professional 3D applications I would be totally lost. Fair play to Adobe for using the right terminology but I can image most people would be lost at the fist fence.....I found very little [useful] documentation on 3D in PS when searching for help.

So that's my Easter plan.....that and copious amounts of chocolate of course.

Watch this space!

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[SCTRWD]

I would turn off the clip plane visibilty for this very animation

I've been always advocating using 3D tools in PS, it lets you do amaizing things...

As for documentation I would suggest Corey Barker articles for starters...

That having been said I'm the first one to admit that there are LOTS of subtle things and oddities when it comes to using 3D tools in PS which deter newebies.

Just don't let the first failings drive you off and drop any further attemps. Remember: if you fail it's just because you haven't come to grips with the rules yet. And there ARE rules, but unfortunately Adobe won't put them forth clearly and you have to tease them out yourself or by reading lots of tutorials

 

[MrToM]

Thanks SCTRWD.

I'm only playing with this because A, I haven't before and B, I can't help others if I don't know it myself.

I dont intend using PS 3D for anything more than just playing around, PS as an image editor its great, as a 3D renderer, its not.

I posted the above purely because I was surprised to see the option for a slice plane, let alone the ability to also animate it.....as well as wireframe, hidden lines, IBL, bump mapping, reflection and UV's (sort of) ....not as any finished 'piece'.

Easter is quite for me so I thought I'd put my time to good use and learn something....I'll check out Corey Barker as you've suggested.

The hard part about it is learning how differently Adobe do everything to anyone else.....3D in itself is pretty easy once you know the basics and is no stranger to me....but the way Adobe does things just gets annoying....at best.

As you say, Adobe don't exactly go out of their way to make things easy.....I'm not surprised there are very few people using the 3D option.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, much appreciated.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[MrToM]

Well, despite the unusually good Easter Weather we're having in the Uk rain still stops play...sort of.

Its more like 'Adobe rains on my parade' stopping play really.....here's what's happened.

Following SCTRWD's advice I searched out a few tutorials and I have to say they are pretty good. Problems started whilst following one tutorial whereby PS crashed my GFX Driver.....total blackout, no warning, nothing.

When it came back to life there was the error message about the GFX driver not being able to communicate with something or other.....and the usual 'Photoshop must be closed' statement.

So, on further checking it turns out to be an error with the 3D printer driver scanning for a 3D printer...well, I don't have a 3D printer so it'll never find one but can I stop PS from looking for one?

Nah.



This is not only using resources but it also periodically resets all my COM ports, not good when I have other things attached via serial ports that i don't want resetting.

Part of this 'resetting' is throwing the GFX driver into turmoil and it just gives up...blacks out the screen and throws out the error message to tell me its not going to play with Adobe....and I don't blame it.

The only way around this I have found so far is to stop the execution of the software that 'Scans' for a 3D printer by using the task manager and manually Ending the process "AGF3DPrinterDriver.exe".....which AFAICT is the file responsible.

Once stopped I can just about use 3D in PS, but I shouldn't have to resort to stopping applications manually.....why is there no option to turn 'Scanning' off?

Typical Adobe.

Anyway, I may have to abandon any further playing until I find the correct way to tell PS I don't have a 3D printer......I've shouted at it but that didn't work....maybe one day.

I've not found anything on the net about 'Scanning' so maybe I'm the only person who doesn't own a 3D printer....I dunno....technology...sheesh.

Regards.
MrTom.