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Beyond the Presets
-by Tony Celeste
Introduction

Cool 3D has quickly become one of the most popular 3D graphics programs ever created. However, there is one aspect of the program that many users still haven't discovered: Beyond the Easy Palette and its presets, Cool 3D is a very powerful 3D package that allows you complete control over the entire image editing process. In this article, I'll take a closer look at fine tuning your Cool 3D images by going "Beyond the Presets".

Getting Started

You should be certain that both your Easy Palette and Attribute Toolbar are visible. Click "View" in the Main Menu for a list of all of your tool bars. A check mark is placed next to the name of any toolbar that is currently visible.

If you're not already familiar with them, it's a good idea to take a few seconds to familiarize yourself with each of the options in the Easy Palette menu:


Object Style: The Object Style section contains the main controls for editing your object's actual properties such as surface color and bevel.

Templates: The Templates section provides already built objects and animations that you can add to your image.

Camera: The Camera settings allow you to save your image as though you were looking at it from different angles and/or distances.

Background: The Background settings allow you to set a background color or import a background image.

Object Effects and Global Effects: These sections are used for creating advanced image animation.

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In this article, I'll be taking an in depth look at the Object Style, Templates, Camera, and Background settings. Next month, in Part II of this article, I'll take a closer look at creating Cool 3D animations using the Objects Effects and Global Effects.


The Object Style section is divided into 5 subsections: Gallery, Bevel, Light & Color, Texture, and Motion. The motion section, which provides basic animation controls, should not be confused with the Object Effects and Global Effects Sections, which provide more advanced special effect animation controls.

Most of the Object Style sections allow for fine tuning of the section's effects by using the Attribute Toolbar (which is located right below the Easy Palette).

I want to make clear that in exploring "Beyond The Presets", I'm not saying that you should avoid using presets. The Cool 3D Presets often provide a rough draft of what you want your image to look like. However, once that rough draft stage is reached, it very nice to be able to fine tune your image using Cool 3D's powerful controls.


The Texture Controls

I usually begin by adjusting the texture settings. Click on Texture in the Easy Palette Menu. The Attribute Toolbar adjusts itself to display Texture attributes:


For this image, I'm going to import a texture I created with KPT 5 and PhotoImpact 5. You can import textures from your hard drive or any disk using the open button near the middle of the Attribute Toolbar. You can import textures from the clipboard using the paste button on the attribute toolbar. Here's a look at the texture:


Using the wrap mode allows you to apply four different methods of wrapping the texture around your text or object. The "flat" selection is probably the wrap mode that you're the most familiar with, but experimenting with the other selections (cylindrical, spherical, and reflection) can create some interesting results. Here's a look at the above texture applied with each of the four wrap modes:
Flat
Cylindrical
Spherical
Reflection

The remaining controls on the Texture attribute toolbar work as follows:

Mapping: The 3 mapping controls offer options for positioning, rotating, and re-sizing how the texture fits over you image.

Filter: Applies a filter that is similar to a very mild blur filter directly on the texture without blurring the image.

Clear Tint: Allows to to remove any previously applied color and work with a white image.

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