3D for the Web : Interactive 3D animation using 3ds max, Flash and Director (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) PDF
Preview 3D for the Web : Interactive 3D animation using 3ds max, Flash and Director (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)
Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page i 3D for the Web Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page ii Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation Debra Kaufman, Series Editor 3D for the Web: Interactive 3D animation using 3ds max, Flash and Director Carol MacGillivray and Anthony Head Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation Susannah Shaw Producing Independent 2D Animation: Making & Selling a Short Film Mark Simon Essential CG Lighting Techniques Darren Brooker Animation in the Home Digital Studio: Creation to Distribution Steven Subotnick A Guide to Computer Animation: for TV, Games, Multimedia & Web Marcia Kuperberg Digital Compositing for Film and Video Steve Wright Producing Animation Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi The Animator’s Guide to 2D Computer Animation Hedley Griffin Visit focalpress.com to purchase any of our titles. Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page iii 3D for the Web Interactive 3D animation using 3ds max, Flash and Director Carol MacGillivray and Anthony Head Illustrations Carol MacGillivray and Anthony Head AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page iv Focal Press An imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 30 Corporate Drive, Burlington, MA 01803 First published 2005 Copyright © 2005, Carol MacGillivray and Anthony Head. All rights reserved The right of Carol MacGillivray and Anthony Head to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science and Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ((cid:2)44) 1865 843830, fax: ((cid:2)44) 1865 85333, e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’ British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0 240 51910 8 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.focalpress.com Typeset by Charon Tec Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, India www.charontec.com Printed and bound in Italy Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page v Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 – 3D for beginners: basic buttons 5 Why we all love buttons 5 Introduction to modeling in 3D: building blocks 6 How to make a simple 3D button 7 Preparing a button for the Web 16 Bitmap graphic formats 19 Get your button on the Web 21 Exercise: making the turtle button 30 How to animate a turtle button 36 Converting our turtle into an animated button 40 Interview with Mach-Parat 44 Chapter 2 – Interface design for 3D websites 53 Website issues 53 Creating a product-based 3D website 54 Exercise: a realistic approach to 3D 55 Exercise: the fun approach to 3D 64 Creating the ‘wow’ factor – sexy graphics 68 Making a website in Flash 69 Creating a multi-page website 71 Finishing off a Flash website 77 Designing 3D websites 79 Interview with Who’s We Studios 82 Chapter 3 – An introduction to real time 3D 89 Working in 3D 89 3D engines 90 Maintaining a frame rate 90 Creating content for real time 3D 91 Exporting to Shockwave 99 Putting the knowledge into practice – creating a sound toy 100 Exercise: making the sound toy 101 Introduction to Macromedia Director 107 The important parts of the Director interface 107 Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page vi vi Contents Making our sound toy move 112 Interview with Eduardo Carrillo 117 Chapter 4 – Designing and making characters 123 Animation – the chores and the charms 123 Character design 125 Modeling in 3D 127 The eyes have it 128 Creating a quirky character for Flash 134 Creating the Hitme character 135 Forward and Inverse Kinematics 137 Applying the Skin modifier 140 Animating the Hitme character 143 Making the animation interactive 147 Interview with Neostream 152 Chapter 5 – Making characters for Shockwave 159 Deciding how to model and animate 159 Animating and exporting using linked hierarchies 160 Making a single mesh character 164 UVW mapping 171 Material mapping the Keystone character 173 The Unwrap UVW map modifier 176 Interview with Electric Puppet 184 Chapter 6 – Animating for 3D interactivity 191 A live-action movie 191 Biped 192 Using Physique to attach your mesh 197 Animating the Biped for a game 201 The waiting game 201 Walk cycles 205 Exporting our character 206 Importing into Director 212 Adding a camera 218 Interview with Titoonic 220 Chapter 7 – Building virtual environments 229 A real and a virtual world 229 Terrains 231 Terrain building in a 3D application 233 Terrain building in Director 235 Trees 237 Water 245 Sky, clouds and backgrounds 252 Creating a new world 259 Interview with Ezone 261 Prelims.qxd 8/12/04 14:57 Page vii Contents vii Chapter 8 – Making a 3D game 269 A generic approach 269 Marketing and financing 269 Planning 270 Game design 271 Physical point of view 272 Avoiding objects (collision detection) 278 Making a game world 287 Assembling a game 299 The future for 3D on the Web 308 Appendix 311 Index 313 This page intentionally left blank Introduction.qxd 8/12/04 15:24 Page 1 Introduction This is a book about bringing high quality 3D animations to the Web. It is a much needed book in a market that is shifting rapidly. The advent of broadband has increased the viability of using 3D to seduce, entertain and inform on the Web. This is a unique book that deals with making 3D arti- facts, specifically designed for Web delivery. You will be shown how to make stunning interactive 3D animations that will elevate your website to cutting-edge status. The book is aimed at Web designers new to 3D, students, 3D modelers and animators and all Digital Artists. Whatever your current skill level, from begin- ner to advanced user, there will be something for you in this book. If you are a novice to the world of 3D then this book will teach you the basics and guide you through to an advanced level. If you are already knowledgeable in 3D then there are plenty of tips and tricks to further hone your skills and create complex and believable animations, games and environments. To those of you who have picked up this book and are new to 3D, you prob- ably have one big question: ‘What’s so special about 3D?’ My reply would be that 3D has immediate appeal far beyond that of a 2D graphic representation. To see how attractive 3D is, try this simple test. If you were visiting a web- site and wantedto search for a book. Which icon would you rather click on? My guess is the one on the right.
The list of books you might like
