Contents

1. Mascot and me
   Bracer Jack
   I want to first give thanks to the .psd team for making this magazine possible, for without them, I wouldn’t be featured today.In this tutorial, I’ll describe my overall workflow for creating the mascot Little Bracer for version 2 of my personal portfolio site, www.bracercom.com. I’ll cover the initial design through to the final render.
   
2. The real portrait
   Gao Jian
   This 3D work has not certainly used the special skill, although many works have been done by 3D software, it looks like drawing. The following tutorial is mostly focused on the job flow, it doesn’t detailed the instructions for operating, hope readers can find the most suitable way for themselves to do their own artistic work. Sometime wizardly effects also can discard, impressive picture perhaps only because of one not simple idea, or one kind of simple patience.
   
3. Creating a conceptual car
   Alejandro Guzman
   The development of conceptual vehicles can rest on the illustration across photographic manipulation programs to visualize the designers ideas, without they lose the visual qualities of the programs 3D. In this case we will use the Photoshop CS2 for the work of textures and car forms, defining the different materials types from the use of layers and basic tools, imitating the environmental and light properties; to finish, we will include a background developed in the program Caligari Truespace 6.6 to fuse it with the two-dimensional model.
   
4. Dawn, the dinotaur
   Sri Ram
   This tutorial will introduce you to the concepts of creating your own character, by starting with a very rough sketch of what you wish to create and continuing all the way through to your final render. The walkthrough uses the example of my character, Dawn, The Dinotaur, a warrior who happens to be the last of his kind. This article is aimed at beginners who are very new to digital sculpting and character creation.
   
5. Using Strata 3D CX to create layered Photoshop design assets
   Derek Lofgreen
   Using 3D applications to create design elements or assets is nothing new. But I will show you how to use Strata 3D CX to create an element that can be brought into Photoshop as a native layered file. This is gives you the power to post-process the rendered 3D asset within Photoshop and gives you tremendous control over your final image. You won’t need to be an expert at 3D to be successful with this tutorial. The idea is to leverage your skills in Photoshop to achieve the look you want. Hopefully the example you see here will open the door to ideas of other projects that can use this same technique. Perhaps you want to model a piece of jewelry to place onto a photograph of a model, or create an abstract shape for a fine art piece based in Photoshop. The potential applications of this technique are not limited to my example and are really endless.
   
6. Empress
   Fred Augis
   T hanks to the graphics tablet and Photoshop, it is currently possible go much further in the illustration in less time. I present the creation of an illustration to you which I named Empress, where I tried to evoke the high social stature in a royal composition balanced and codes colors. We will see together how to pose easily a texture in record time giving an additional dimension.
   
7. Photoshop 7 layer style blowout
   David Rivera
   Designed for intermediate users, here is a nice little trick which will allow Photoshop users to get the most out of the layer style effects feature. The secret lies in using effects multiple times (explained below). Try experimenting and see what you get. You can convert your new 'style layers' into regular layers and add effects to them repeatedly. The possibilities are endless. However, do keep in mind that you cannot revert converted layers. The only way is by accessing a previously saved version of your work file with effect layers still intact. Enjoy!
   
8. Creating a 3D Logo with Xara3D
   Xara
   It’s easier than you imagine to create eye catching 3D headings and titles. We’re going to show you just a very quick overview of how you might start to create your own 3D heading, ideal for web pages, emails and presentations. What’s more you can export as alpha-channel PNG for further editing or compositing in Photoshop.
   
9. Real or fake?
   TheUncoolhunter.com
   From the beginning of photography till the latest advances of the CS3 and the 3D, the great enigmas of humanity have been authenticated or thrown out of a window by the truthfulness of its images. UFOs, ghosts, apparitions, terrestrial and marine monsters, bizarre sensationalism and beauty are mixed in a constant to-and-through movement where the limits of reality or fantasy are not always clear.
   
10. Planning out a road trip utilizing the Google aps API
    Bill Volpe
    I n this tutorial, I’ll show the reader a number of tricks for using the dynamic Google Maps API: (1) Using prewritten Google Mapfunctions, (2) Customizing the API to your own specifications, and (3) Putting it all together in a simple layout ready to be uploaded to the Web. I will use Macromedia’s Dreamweaver MX 2004 to develop the map; however, you can use any web editing software that you are familiar with.
    
11. The King in 3D
    Borys Nikitiuk
    Let me begin by saying that I am not a 3D guru. Based on what I’ve seen on sites like StrataCafe.com I’ve got a long way to go. I simply enjoy the whole concept of creating virtual objects and worlds. I started my 3D journey with Adobe Dimensions but quickly found that the software just couldn’t do what I wanted it to. I went from that to Bryce. Very cool if you enjoy creating landscapes but prohibitive when modeling objects. The file sizes could get huge and rendering times were measured in days not minutes. Then, one day a friend turned me on to Strata 3D. That was it for me. The interface was easy to navigate and the render times were not bad at all. I’ve tried Maya and Lightwave but for those you need to learn to speak 3D. You know what I mean. Take node 3 and rotate it along the Y axis while extruding on lateral plane... What?
    

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