Papervision3D Essentials ~ Most Ebooks

Format:pdf|Publisher: Packt Publishing (July 24, 2008)|Author:Jeff Winder & Paul Tondeur Language: English|ISBN 978-1-847195-72-2|Size:5.3 Mb| http://most-ebook.blogspot.com/

This book is Create interactive Papervision3D applications with stunning effects and powerful animations.

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What this book covers

Chapter 1—Setting Up is a step-by-step introduction on how to configure Flash CS3, Flash CS4, Flex Builder, or Flash Builder for creating Papervision3D projects. Several ways of downloading the Papervision3D source code are discussed and you will publish an example project to make sure you have configured your authoring tool correctly to get along with this book.

Chapter 2—Building Your First Application will guide you through the steps that lead to building your first Papervision3D application. If you are new to working with classes and object-oriented programming, a brief introduction will help you on your way. Once this topic has been covered, the chapter continues by explaining what a scene in Papervision3D is made of and how to build a basic application.

Chapter 3—Primitives covers primitives, which are basic building blocks for Papervision3D applications. It shows how to create a plane, sphere, cylinder, cone, cube, paper plane, and an arrow. An explanation about how vertices and triangles form a 3D object is included.

Chapter 4—Materials examines how to use the available Papervision3D materials and properties such as interactivity, smoothing, animation, and tiling. You will build a 3D carrousel, made of materials that are discussed throughout this chapter.

Chapter 5—Cameras explains how to affect the way you see objects in 3D space by altering the settings of the camera. Some of these settings originate in real-world cameras such as focus, zoom, and field of view. Other settings are common in 3D, but don't have an equivalent in the real world. All available camera types will be discussed. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to work with a target camera, free camera, debug camera, and spring camera.

Chapter 6—Moving Things Around discusses how to animate your 3D objects and camera by moving or rotating them. You will not only learn how to manually animate objects on enter frame but will also be shown how to use Tweener—a tweening engine that makes it very easy to animate your objects and add all kinds of easing.

Chapter 7—Shading introduces the presence of light in order to add several levels
of shade to 3D objects. All available shading types will be discussed, from very lightweight flat shading, to better looking but heavier shading types such as Gouraud shading, cell shading, Phong shading, bump maps, and environment maps.

Chapter 8—External Models is about working with models and animated models that have been created in external programs. A handy list of advice is included that can be used by modelers who are in need of creating a model for use in Papervision3D. The workflow between a few modeling tools and Papervision3D is explained in detail. You will learn how to export models from Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, and Blender. Several models will be imported into Papervision3D such as the Utah teapot and an animated mill.

Chapter 9—Z-Sorting covers how Papervision3D draws its renders to the viewport and the issues with determining which object should be drawn first. Several strategies to solve these issues are discussed such as viewport layers and quad tree rendering. Examples that are made with an external 3D model will be used
to demonstrate these solutions.

Chapter 10—Particles discusses the lightweight particle object, which is a 2D graphic that always faces the camera. The concept of a particle is discussed in detail and we will walk through several examples that demonstrate how you create particle materials, particle fields, emitters, and billboards. We will take a look at Flint, which is an external particle system that provides easy ways to emit particles.

Chapter 11—Filters and Effects covers how you can add all kinds of filters and effects to your renders. Adding glows, shadows, blurs, blend modes and alphas are demonstrated in detail, as well as effects like fire, fog and reflection. We will create an illusion of depth of field by applying several levels of blurs to objects, depending on their distance to the camera.

Chapter 12—3D Vector Drawing and Text covers vector-based shapes in 3D space. They can either be lines, shapes, built-in vector text, or vector text generated by an external typography tool.

Chapter 13— Optimizing Performance discusses how to speed up the performance of your Papervision3D applications. An introduction on what performance exactly is will be given, followed by a broad range of tips and tricks that guarantee the best possible performance.