Product Reviews

The 3D Layers feature in the Extended version of Photoshop CS3 lets you place, rotate and edit the textures of 3D objects. And that's about it. No ability to edit or create models, and only the most basic rendering. It's an enabling technology, rather than a complete solution. And that's why the announcement of Strata 3D[in] caused such a stir: it's a complete 3D modelling and rendering application, built right into Photoshop.

In fact, Strata 3D[in] is a standalone application, rather than a true plug-in. But it's called from within Photoshop and it returns its results directly to Photoshop, so it operates as much like a plug-in as we could wish for. Comprising three separate applications, the components are available either separately or as a complete suite. Each module performs a different task, the whole adding up to an enormously powerful set of tools for the Photoshop artist.

The core application is Strata Design 3D[in], which provides the modelling, texturing and rendering part of the equation. The Model[in] plug-in includes all the familiar modelling tools: objects created using primitives or lathing, extrusion and path extrusion techniques can be converted to polygon meshes, which can then be further modified using subdivision surface modelling to create more complex and organic forms. It's also possible to import paths from Illustrator as basic outlines. With full control over multiple lighting, atmospheric effects and shadows and a large range of built-in textures, the full range of 3D tools can be brought to bear to create new models from scratch, or to edit existing ones.

Texture editing is comprehensive, with control over specular bump and colour, diffusion, ambient lighting, refraction, glow, caustic and bump mapping, and reflected environments. The default three-way editing view showing top, front and isometric views can be modified to show any combination you choose, in as many panes as you want to open; a button at the top of each pane isolates that view for full-screen viewing.

Once a model has been created in Design 3D[in] clicking a button on the toolbar will return the model to a Photoshop layer for positioning. Since all textures are editable in Photoshop, items such as reflections can easily be replaced with the background scene in the image you're working on, to produce a perfect match with your image. Models can easily be re-edited in Design 3D[in] and the process of switching back and forth between there and Photoshop is straightforward and quick.

A second component of Design 3D[in] is Match[in], which makes use of Photoshop's Vanishing Point filter. Once a grid is set up here, it can be returned to Photoshop as a 3D layer. Because of some inaccuracies within Photoshop's handling of the conversion process, this 3D layer needs to be adjusted to match the background view in Photoshop - a minor irritation, but not a long process. Once this is completed, Match[in] will recognise the ground plane in the image, and will automatically place any 3D objects on that plane, matching the perspective of the original scene: the original Photoshop document is shown in the background to aid positioning.

Once objects have been positioned in Photoshop as desired, it's time to use the third component: Render[in]. This produces perfect radiosity renderings of your object, complete with specular highlights, shadows cast by each light, HDRI lighting, volumetric effects and reflections in the ground plane. Again, clicking on a button on the toolbar will return this 3D render directly to Photoshop. This is where the genius comes in: rather than being returned as a single layer, the rendered model appears as a group containing a dozen or more layers. The basic model is on one, and all the highlights, specularity, reflections, shadows, atmospheric effects and ambient lighting appear on their

ADVERTISEMENT

own layers. This means that the effects can be edited individually in Photoshop: shadows can be blurred and lowered in opacity, reflections can be distorted to ripple on rough ground planes or faded with layer masks, highlights can be reduced or enhanced, and so on.

A separate group contains layers for the object mask and shadow mask, so these can be quickly selected. To ease editing even further, there's an object selection mask that displays each of the elements in the original 3D model in a different colour: it's easy to use the Magic Wand to select any item here, so that it can be modified independently in the resulting render. It's an inspired solution to the rendering issue: rather than having to work with a single image, every component of the render can easily be tweaked to create the perfect result.

Even if you aren't an accomplished 3D artist, Render[in] can be used to produce perfect renders from the wide range of models freely and commercially available. Thanks to Adobe's plug-in support for browsing and importing the growing collection of models freely available in the Google 3D Warehouse library, finding the right model is easier than ever: and Render[in] produces a quality of render that's vastly superior to the basic OpenGL solution that's built into Photoshop.

The second plug-in in the suite is Strata Foto 3D[in], which performs a seemingly impossible task: building a 3D object from a series of photographs. To test the technology, we took 16 photographs of a model head of Mikhail Gorbachev, placed on a printout of the registration background supplied as a PDF. These included shots from all the way round the head, as well as a couple from above to capture the texture of the top of the head. These images were all combined in a single Photoshop document, and layer masks created to outline the head. Using the new Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop CS3, this turns out to be a painless and quick task.

Invoking the Foto Model[in] plug-in compiles all these images and, in a matter of minutes, builds a polygon mesh from them. Rather than simply watching a progress bar, we can see the model as it's gradually refined, smoothed and textured - the original photographs are mapped seamlessly onto the finished model. Even better, we can interact with the model while it's being refined, turning it around to see the progress from all sides. When the process is completed, the model can be saved to disk or returned directly to a Photoshop layer.

And the results are astonishing: within minutes we had a 3D model of Gorby that we could spin around directly in Photoshop. The base, which of course we couldn't photograph on the grid, is automatically smoothed and coloured using an average of the colours surrounding it, producing a seamless blend. Of course, Foto 3D[in] isn't applicable to every purpose - it would have trouble recognising and reproducing the straight lines of an iPod, for instance. But the objects it has difficulty with tend to be precisely those that are easy to model in the first place: Foto 3D[in] excels at modelling organic, smooth-surfaced forms, which are hardest to model by hand. It's a truly extraordinary technology, which can be used for modelling shoes, rocks, food, sculptures - anything with rounded edges. And perfectionists will appreciate the ability to take the completed model back into Model[in] to tweak the subdivision mesh.

The final plug-in is Strata Live 3D[in], which converts Photoshop documents containing 3D layers into interactive content. 3D PDF[in] builds PDF documents that can be viewed with Adobe Reader 8 (the first version to support 3D models); 3D Web[in] outputs the results as a combination of Jpeg, html and Java files for incorporation into a website. The Java implementation means that models will work in any modern browser, without the need for additional plug-ins. Both offer a choice of four different navigation bars, with a variety of other output options. The final component, 3D for Scripting, creates .xmm files that can be imported into Strata Live 3D for further editing.

Strata 3D[in] provides 99% of your 3D modelling needs within an intuitive, comprehensive environment. Integration with Photoshop is seamless and occasionally inspired. Whether you're a seasoned 3D modeller, or a dedicated Photoshop user who only wants to import and render models found in the Google 3D Warehouse, Strata 3D[in] will revolutionise the way you work.