In order to create 3D lettered signs in lights, you will need to first create an object. Open Illustrator. Type your letters on the page. Adjust the font to the style you would like. Click on "effect". Then, click on "3D". This will allow you to rotate the image for the angle ...more
In this clip, Corey Barker of Layers Magazine demonstrates how to generate 3D reflections with video when working within Adobe's popular image editor, Photoshop. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this free video software tutorial. For ...more
There are a lot of things out there in the design world that people have seen and liked, but didn't know how to make. LIke vector lights. Watch this Illustrator video tutorial to take a look at those cool glowing, color changing, fading, bright, neon-like, fanning spread of gl ...more
Tom Green wraps up his Flash 3D series with this project which uses all of the functions he has covered in his previous tutorials. For more Adobe software tutorials from Layers Magazine, search Layers Magazine on WonderHowTo. WonderHowTo indexes all Layers Magazine tutorials ...more
The new Flash CS4 includes 3D tools that allow users to rotate perspective around a movie clip. This tutorial goes over some of the basic controls. For more Adobe software tutorials from Layers Magazine, search Layers Magazine on WonderHowTo. WonderHowTo indexes all Layers Ma ...more
Columbus Day celebrates Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492. In most of the New World, it's celebrated on the 12th of October, the day Columbus actually discovered the Bahamas. But in the United States, the holiday is observed on the second Monday in October. ...more
This extensive video series is all about making your own simple steam engine and boat, which is known variously as the "putt-putt" or "pop-pop" boat. Science Toy Maker gives the full details on making your own homemade steam engine model boat, which is similar to the one seen ...more
Recently, buyout talks between Google and Groupon ended with Groupon turning down Google's $6 million offer. But with Amazon backing LivingSocial, should they have? Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing's for sure— Groupon has a great voice, and they're sharing it with ...more
Three-dimensional printing is one of the many wonders of modern technology. It's the first step towards real life Star Trek replicators and Timeline-esque teleportation chambers. While we aren't at the level of reconstructing strands of DNA, it's already possible to make tons ...more
Creating any object you want is as simple as point and click if you have a 3D printer at home. If you don't have one handy, there are a few companies that offer printing services online. But to help services realize your design in extruded plastic, you have to make a 3D comput ...more
In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to creat a 3D environment with a skybox within Papervision 3D. Whether you're entirely new to 3D Flash design or a seasoned developer merely looking to better acquaint yourself with Papervision3D, you're certain to be well-served by thi ...more
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been widely used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance missions—even armed combat. But there are other beneficial applications of an unmanned aircraft, such as search and rescue operations, scientific exploration, lo ...more
Designing 3D graphics is one of the most challenging and lucrative fields of computer design. This video for beginning 3D graphics artists features a tutorial on how to make materials and textures in Blender, one popular 3D modeling software suite. Making this pair of pants wi ...more
Adobe After Affects is a great piece of software that allows you to make movie quality videos with great design and beautiful picture. If you want to know how to construct three dimensional objects, take a few minutes and watch this video! It takes you through simple, easy-to- ...more
Want to know how to patent an idea, but you just don't know how to go about doing it? It doesn't take a lot of money to get a provisional patent. The real thing you want to know is the process of taking an idea that you have all the way up to getting it patent. I will take you ...more
When you're just a child, there's nothing better than a clown and a few balloon animals to make your birthday party one to remember. There's just something unforgettable about experiencing a balloon twisting in action—the contortion of the balloon, that rubber smell, and the i ...more
If you liked the idea of cutting duplicate keys from a personal 3D printer, then you might be interested to know that researchers at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have successfully designed the smallest 3D printer to date. The prototype device is smaller than ...more
Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and previous director of the Netherlands Institute of Architecture, reports on the world's first postage stamp to employ augmented reality. Dutch advertising agency Gummo, the NIA and the Dutch postal service teamed up to pre ...more
Video games are the most prevalent type of interactive media, but certainly not the only one. The interactive music video for the song "3 Dreams of Black" by supergroup ROME and digital artist Chris Milk utilizes the latest web design technology, video game influenced art and ...more
Setting up shadows takes just as much time and attention as setting up lights. You can think of all of your illumination as one half of your lighting design, and shadows as the other, equally important half. Shadows can add richness to the tones and shading of your image, tie ...more
Are you really into making your own greeting cards? Then you should definitely introduce quilling into your craft oeuvre. Quilling creates a rococo 3D effect that makes every design you adhere to a card more interesting. Check out this video to learn how to make quilled Chris ...more
A short tutorial for people designing their own levels, you can add a skybox to create a variety of 3D and fog effects. You can also add a sense of distance and horizon by manipulating the size of your level.
Want to create full 3D text but don't have fancy 3D modeling software? Never fear. With Adobe Photoshop CS5, it's easy to generate 3D, glossy header text. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular graphics editor or a seasoned design professional looking to get better acquainted w ...more
See how to apply a transparent texture to design objects in AutoCAD 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular 3D drafting application or a seasoned professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the newest iteration of the program, you're sure to be well serve ...more
Take full of Photoshop CS5's new 3D text tool with this free video lesson. Whether you're new to Adobe's Creative Suite or a seasoned graphic design professional after a general overview of Photoshop CS5's most vital new features, you're sure to be well served by this video tu ...more
This spinning 3D greeting card may look complicated, but don't let that deter you from trying this card design out. A little hard work means a lot to those you will be giving the card to. This video will show you the steps to making this beautiful spinner card, which is a love ...more
Render shadows only in 3D Studio Max using vray. Once the tutorial is over you will also learn how to use the other options in the render elements, which uses similar methods. Skyrill Design brings us this tutorial
Check out this video tutorial to learn how to design a photorealistic tree with Blender. To make this tree with Blender, you will be using textures and mesh transparency. To start off, you'll first need to find a picture of a tree and save it as a transparent PGN file. Blende ...more
See how to use mesh preparation and sculpting in Mudbox in this video tutorial. Designed by professional artists in the film, games, and design industries, Autodesk Mudbox digital sculpting and texture painting software gives 3D modelers and texture artists the freedom to cre ...more
See how to use displacement maps and rendering in Mudbox in this video tutorial. Designed by professional artists in the film, games, and design industries, Autodesk Mudbox digital sculpting and texture painting software gives 3D modelers and texture artists the freedom to cr ...more
In this video we cover downloading Papervision 3D using tortoise svn then using those Papervision classes with open source code in Flex 3. This tutorial was created by Amanda Verrette of Northern Kentucky University of Mike Lively's Instructional Design Group. Watch as she sho ...more
This tutorial demonstrates how to use ICLONE, a 3D Animation Package. Matt Overwine of the NKU Instructional Design Team introduces you to ICLONE, whre to find it and how to start using it.
This tutorial is on using SketchUp to draw a simple 3D model with textures and using Google's 3D Warehouse. In addition, the potential for use with Ppervision3D is discussed through SketchUp's 3D collada export. Mike Lively, Director of Instructional Design at Northern Kentuck ...more
This 3D modeling software video covers multiple tools that will help you be more accurate and precise when building in SketchUp. SketchUp has many tools that make it easy to be creative when designing buildings or models, but it's just as important that they be accurate. Learn ...more
This Adobe Illustrator tutorial shows you how to create a 3D monitor effect with moving streamers on it. If you are creating a graphic layout or web design that needs a flat screen monitor and moving images on that monitor, this tutorial will teach you how to impose your own i ...more
In this software tutorial you will learn how to turn a regular photo into a 3D looking image or make the photo pop out in a pseudo-3-dimensional way using Inkscape. This is a clever way to use Inkscape to play with photos and could be used for graphic design or scrapebooking t ...more
Learn how to setup a Reference Plane to use for modeling objects in Maya. A reference plane or image plane in Maya is used as a template to make sure the proportions and surfaces of a model look the same as the original design. This is an important part of any 3D modeling. Wat ...more
This After Effects tutorial from Andrew Kramer shows you how to create a 3D title plate with growing elements. You'll be using Evolution to enhance this simple design and control the growth effects. Create a fancy title plate in After Effects CS3. Click through to watch this v ...more
Thanks to the advent of smartphones and mobile apps, Scrabble has spread like wildfire across the globe, whether it be Scrabble or one of its many popular word game spinoffs, such as Words with Friends, WordWise and Kalimat. There have been over one million Scrabble sets sold ...more
Last Thursday, on October 7th, indie game developers from around the world walked down a red carpet in Santa Monica, California in the hopes of winning an IndieCade award. We previously discussed the IndieCade festival and conference, but the award show is a smaller, more incl ...more
Sorry guys, despite the headline, this one isn't an actual How To. But the process behind the creation of Portuguese brewer Sagres' chocolate crafted website is fascinating, and we would gladly welcome any lengthy step-by-step tutorial. Created in promotion of the brewery's ne ...more
New to Maya (AKA Autodesk Maya)? Not to worry. This tutorial will save your day! Not only will you learn how to use all the basic tools in the graphic design software, but you will also create your first impressive 3D model - a house made from polygon shapes. This simple hous ...more
No two snowflakes are alike. The same goes for people. But a snowflake can easily compliment one's own individual charm, although finding your perfect soulmate snowflake is quite a challenge. Or... it was. TBWA\London has designed a way to pair you with the most compatible sn ...more
Artist Sarah Yakawonis uses a technique called quilling to craft complex anatomy art with paper. Quilling, as defined by Wikipedia: "The use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper is wound around a quill to creat ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to create amazing 3D text in GIMP. First, start a new image with the width and height that you want. From here, select the text editor and then type in your text. After this, change the font to what you want and then change the size and color as ...more
Want to create 3D shapes in flash easily, without doing any real 3D modeling work? Watch this video and learn a few basics. An Adobe Flash tutorial video that is essentially divided into three sections. The 1st section teaches how to create a rounded filled circle with spheric ...more
In this video, we learn how to use custom map or UVW map in 3D Studio Max. First, go to the material editor and add a custom map to it using a hardwood deck. Change the material to cedar fence, then change the size as you would like it. As you continue to edit the different su ...more
Our little sister nearly burst our eardrum when she squeled in glee at seeing cute as a button baby penguins tap dance and jive in the movie "Happy Feet." Baby penguins, being rather spherical in shape and super fuzzy, often become a little girl's favorite animal, and it's eas ...more
In this clip, you'll see how to create custom shaped light sources using simple meshes and adding an Arch&Design shader to it to render the scene with Mental Ray. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint ...more
Drawing cars is one of the most fun and practical things that a 3D artist can spend their time on and get employed doing. This video is a walkthrough for making a 3D model of a rim and tire of a car. It should be good practice for getting you ready to start designing your own ...more
This video will show you the ins and outs to cooking turtles. No! We're not talking about turtle soup here— these are breakfast turtle flapjacks. These turtle pancakes are perfect for starting off the day right— with a happy and fun breakfast meal. Great for children. To make ...more
Stampin' UP! punches make just as fun designs as their line of stamps. In this tutorial, learn how to fashion basic flowers out of punches. These flowers make great additions to your scrapbooking or greeting card crafts. Add a little extra touch to your paper designs with thes ...more
This video shows ways to spice up your stitching using beads and charms. It’s a great way to add 3D aspects without having to do complicated techniques. Examples of good places to add beads are eyes, punctuation marks, and similar things. They can be used instead of stitches s ...more
BeautifulYou TV presents how a watermelon nail art design is painted. The nail painting starts off with a white line drawn between the base and the tip of the fingernail. Pink is used to cover the base and light green for the section from the white line moving towards the fing ...more
Do you want to add some 3D effects in your 2D designs? Open illustrator and draw an oval tool holding shift key. Then draw an ellipse with a different color and place it on the oval. Take blend tool,then click on ellipse shape and then oval one for a gradient effect. Draw anot ...more
This video shows how to make simple 2D shapes into 3D. The video starts out making three different 2D shapes, and copy and pasting them into the Xera 3D program. The shapes can then be moved so that they are on top of one another, and different colors. When finished one of the ...more
This 3D animation demonstrates how to fold the famous origami model "Hungry Bat", a great Halloween fold! Just take a piece of square paper, and fold along with this 3D animation to get the Hungry Bat! Memorize it (it's really easy!) and show off your skills at your next Hallo ...more
Boris Blue 2 is an Avid AVX plug-in and standalone 3D compositor for Windows XP. Based on the familiar Boris interface, Blue is designed for video editors and compositors who want to create stunning 3D looks without the learning curve and render times associated with 3D applic ...more
The technique shown in this 3ds Max tutorial is meant to be a design modeling technique. Watch and learn how to model the Beijing Olympic Stadium in 3D Studio Max. A form that resembles the stadium was modeled then sliced randomly to get edges in an editable poly. Those edges ...more
This 3D software tutorial shows you how to use images to affect models in 3D Studio Max. Using the displacement modifier in 3ds Max we are able to use either image data or procedural texture maps to drive geometry in a design model. Modeling with images is a great way to model ...more