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Using 3D filter effects

3D filter effects go beyond 2D filter effects (such as shadow, glow, bevel, and emboss effects) to create the impression of a textured surface on the object itself. You can use the Filter Effects dialog to apply one or more effects to the same object. Keep in mind that none of these 3D effects will “do” anything to an unfilled object—you’ll need to have a fill there to see the difference they make!

 

The Studio’s Styles tab is a good place to begin experimenting with 3D filter effects. Its multiple categories each offers a gallery full of pre-defined mixed 2D and 3D effects, using various settings.

There you’ll see a variety of remarkable 3D surface and texture presets in various categories (Glass, Metallic, Wood, etc.). Click any thumbnail to apply it to the selected object. Assuming the object has some color on it to start with, you’ll see an instant result!

Alternatively, you can customize a Styles tab preset, or apply one or more specific effects from scratch, by using Filter Effects on the Attributes toolbar.

Overview

3D Effects is a master switch, and its settings of Blur and Depth make a great difference; you can click the “+” button to unlink them for independent adjustment. 3D Lighting provides a “light source” without which any depth information in the effect wouldn’t be visible. The lighting settings let you illuminate your 3D landscape and vary its reflective properties.

You may wonder why all the 3D effects seem to have “map” in their name. The concept of a map is the key to understanding how these effects work: it means a channel of information overlaid on the image, storing values for each underlying fill pixel. You can think of the fill as a picture printed on a flexible sheet, which is flat to start with. Each 3D filter effect employs a map that interacts with the underlying fill to create the visual impression of a textured surface.

Bump Maps superimpose depth information for a bumpy, peak-and-valley effect. Using the flexible sheet metaphor, the bump map adds up-and-down contours and the object’s fill “flexes” along with these bumps, like shrink-wrap, while a light from off to one side accentuates the contours.

Pattern Maps contribute color variations using a choice of blend modes and opacity, for realistic (or otherworldly!) depictions of wood grain, marbling, and blotches or striations of all kinds.

 

A – Shape, B – add 3D Lighting, C – add Bump Map, D – add Pattern Map

You’ll notice that Bump Maps and Pattern Maps come in two varieties: “2D” and “3D.” They are all three-dimensional effects—the 2D/3D distinction refers to how each one achieves its result. With the “2D map” variants, you begin by selecting a bitmap from a gallery. With the “3D” Bump Maps and Pattern Maps, you first pick a mathematical function. The function-based maps include data about the interior of the “space,” while the bitmap-based maps describe only surface characteristics.

Multiple effects. You can combine multiple 3D filter effects, as in the illustration above. The effects are applied cumulatively, in a standard “pipeline” sequence: 3D Bump – or – 2D Bump > 3D Pattern > 2D Pattern > 3D Lighting.

• You can’t combine filter effects with “Instant 3D” dimensionality on the same object (see the next topic).

Functions. The rest of this overview gets a bit technical… but if you’re still with us, here goes! The basic Noise function is made from a set of pseudo-random values at discrete points, interpolated by straight lines. By summing noise values at different frequencies, very natural textures can be achieved without the problems of large memory usage or tiling that occur with bitmap textures. The next three functions are based on the basic Noise function.

• Sum is the sum of noise values at different wavelengths;

• SumAbs sums the absolute value of noise functions at different wavelengths;

• SineSumAbs takes the sine of the output position perturbed by the SumAbs function value (try it for great marble effects!);

• Checkerboard function varies linearly between the minimum and maximum values in a saw-tooth shape, while Stripe extends a linear fill into three dimensions.

Lighting. The 3D Effects pipeline uses advanced shading techniques to render the surface. Light sources employed are: ambient lighting and multiple point light sources at infinity. Point light sources gives rise to two types of reflection: diffuse reflection and specular reflection. Unchecking the “3D Lighting” entry is equivalent to lighting the surface with 100% ambient lighting only. You’ll find other 3D Lighting terminology explained in the description of the effect itself below.

To apply 3D filter effects:

1. Click  Filter Effects on the Attributes toolbar, or choose Filter Effects… from the Format menu, or right-click the object and choose Filter Effects….

2. Check the 3D Effects box at the left. The 3D Lighting box is checked by default.

3. Adjust the “master control” sliders here to vary the overall properties of any individual 3D effects you select.

4. Blur specifies the amount of smoothing applied. Larger blur sizes give the impression of broader, more gradual changes in height.

5. Depth specifies how steep the changes in depth appear.

6. The  button is normally down, which links the two sliders so that sharp changes in Depth are smoothed out by the Blur parameter. To adjust the sliders independently, click the button so it’s up.

4. (Optional) If needed, expand the preview pane by clicking the  Show/Hide Preview button. When expanded, the effects are applied only in the preview window. While the pane is collapsed (click the button again), filter effects are applied directly to the object on the page. The former approach lets you work on your effects in isolation without other page objects interfering while fine-tuning your effects. Use zoom in/out buttons or a percentage magnification for detailed work.

5. Check a 3D effect in the 3D Effects list which reflects the 3D effect you can achieve.

3D Bump Map

The 3D Bump Map effect creates the impression of a textured surface by applying a mathematical function you select to add depth information, for a peak-and-valley effect. You can use 3D Bump Map in conjunction with one or more additional 3D filter effects—but not with a 2D Bump Map.

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check 3D Bump Map. Note that the final effect depends greatly on which function and settings you choose (see the next step), so feel free to experiment with those choices first. Use the controls in this dialog to affect the end result regardless of other settings.
  · Z Depth is a factor applied to the initial pixel intensity before the bump map function is applied. Lower settings tend to flatten the initial surface; higher settings to steepen it.
  · B Depth means “Bump Depth” and is a factor applied to the bump map after it has been generated. Lower settings translate into shallower bumps; higher settings, deeper bumps.
  · Use the contour line to (in effect) adjust the “side view profile” of the generated bumps. You’re actually boosting or lowering lightness values on the bump map (see the Note below) but the process is quite intuitive in a visual way. Click on the contour line to add a control node, then drag the line to reshape it and produce a corresponding contour on the bumps. Click the line again to add more nodes as needed. To delete a node, select it and press Delete. For a straight-line plot between nodes, check Linear.
  Note: Contour is a before-and-after or input-output operation using a graph. The horizontal axis represents possible lightness values on the bump map, ranging from black to white, “before” any adjustment; the vertical axis depicts the same spread of values after adjustment. The line relates these Input and Output values to each other, with boxes that provide a readout of any node you select. Initially, the graph depicts “no change”: i.e. each Input value along the horizontal scale corresponds to the exact same Output value along the vertical. Pushing the mid-section of the curve upward, for example, is a way of brightening the middle gray values, because their Output values are now higher than before. It’s intriguing to see how these simple changes translate immediately into the shape of the terrain we are mapping on the image!

• Click Function to choose which procedural function will generate the bump map. Choices in the drop-down list include: Noise, Sum, SumAbs, SineSumAbs, Checkerboard, and Stripe. Once you’ve selected a function, use this dialog to set general parameters, and the Advanced dialog to fine-tune the effect.
  · X-Scale compresses or stretches the effect along the X or horizontal axis.
  · Y-Scale compresses or stretches the effect along the Y or vertical axis.
  · Bias works like a brightness adjustment, with lower settings yielding darker tones; higher settings, lighter tones.
  · Gain works like a contrast adjustment, with lower settings yielding a narrower range of output values between dark and light; higher settings, a wider spread.

• Click Advanced to set additional options for the selected function; actual choices vary, depending on the function. The following notes may be helpful, but try-it-and-see is often the best approach!
  · Wavelength determines (for the basic Noise function) how widely spaced the random values are, or (for oth
  er noise effects) the wavelength of the first noise function to be summed. For Checkerboard and Stripe, it determines the wavelength of the underlying wave.
  · Amplitude is a scaling factor applied to the random values, or the height of the first noise function to be summed.
  · Seed is used to initialize the pseudo-random number generator. Size doesn’t matter; only the sequence changes.
  · Clipping determines what happens if the noise value overflows the allowable range. Saturate means the value “sticks” at the maximum or minimum value. Signed values restart from the opposite extreme, while Unsigned allows values to restart from zero.

• Finally, click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

2D Bump Map

The 2D Bump Map effect creates the impression of a textured surface by applying a grayscale bitmap you select to add depth information, for a peak-and-valley effect. You can use 2D Bump Map in conjunction with one or more additional 3D filter effects—but not with a 3D Bump Map.

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check 2D Bump Map and click the Pattern thumbnail to display the Patterns gallery, then select a pattern sample. To switch to another pattern category, choose a different Category name from the drop-down menu.
  · Supporting buttons let you add or delete the specific pattern you clicked on, add a new category, edit the current category, or delete the current category.
  · Bitmaps may appear in color, but only their lightness information will be used.
  · The galleries are shared with the 2D Pattern Map effect.

• Use the dialog controls to adjust how the effect appears.
  · Depth scales the depth of the bumps that are produced by the process.
  · Scale is a factor applied to the selected bitmap to make it larger or smaller in both X and Y dimensions.
  · The X Curvature and Y Curvature settings determine how convex the bump map surface will appear. Lower values tend to flatten the surface along that axis, so for example if one value is minimum and the other maximum, the surface will take on a cylindrical look. The  button is normally down, which links the two sliders to maintain sphericality. To adjust the sliders independently, click the button so it’s up.
  · Flip-flop determines how the bitmaps are tiled across the plane. Select this option to avoid discontinuities across bitmap boundaries.

• Click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

3D Pattern Map

The 3D Pattern Map effect creates the impression of a textured surface by applying a mathematical function you select to introduce color variations. You can use 3D Pattern Map in conjunction with one or more other 3D filter effects.

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check 3D Pattern Map. Note that the final effect depends greatly on which function and settings you choose (see the next step), so feel free to experiment with those choices first. Use the controls in this dialog to affect the end result regardless of other settings.
  · Blend Mode determines how the pattern’s colors interact with original pixel values in the object’s fill. See Understanding Blend modes for illustrations of the various combinations.
  · Opacity determines the degree to which the pattern covers up image pixels in the fill. Lower values yield more transparency, i.e. more fill pixels showing through.
  · Depth is a scaling factor applied to the initial pixel intensity before the function is applied. Lower settings tend to flatten the initial surface; higher settings to steepen it.
  · Displacement is applicable only if you’ve enabled a 2D or 3D Bump Map (see above). It is a scaling factor applied to the bump map data when combining it with the initial pixel data, before the function is applied.
  · Soften is the number of pixels by which to blur the generated pattern before blending it with the object’s fill. It’s useful for smoothing out any sharp discontinuities or aliasing that may have been introduced by the function.
  · Click the Gradient down arrow to display a gallery of preset color gradients you can apply. To edit the selected gradient, click its sample. (For details, see the subtopic Editing the gradient fill spectrum.)
  · Click the Transparency down arrow to display a gallery of preset transparency gradients you can apply. To edit the selected transparency, click its sample. The Combined box shows the net result of the selected color and transparency gradients. (To review transparency concepts, see Working with transparency.)

• Click Function to choose which procedural function will generate the pattern. Choices in the drop-down list include: Noise, Sum, SumAbs, SineSumAbs, Checkerboard, and Stripe. Once you’ve selected a function, use this dialog to set general parameters, and the Advanced dialog to fine-tune the effect.
  · X-Scale compresses or stretches the effect along the X or horizontal axis.
  · Y-Scale compresses or stretches the effect along the Y or vertical axis.
  · Bias works like a brightness adjustment, with lower settings yielding darker tones; higher settings, lighter tones.
  · Gain works like a
  contrast adjustment, with lower settings yielding a narrower range of output values between dark and light; higher settings, a wider spread.

• Click Advanced to set additional options for the selected function; actual choices vary, depending on the function. For details on the various parameters, consult the notes for 3D Bump Map above—but a try-it-and-see approach may work best!

• Finally, click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

2D Pattern Map

The 2D Pattern Map effect creates the impression of a textured surface by applying a grayscale bitmap you select to introduce color variations. You can use 2D Pattern Map in conjunction with one or more other 3D filter effects. (See the overview above for background and technical details on these effects.)

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check 2D Pattern Map and click the Pattern thumbnail to display the Patterns gallery, then select a pattern sample. To switch to another pattern category, choose a different Category name from the drop-down menu.
  · Supporting buttons let you add or delete the specific pattern you clicked on, add a new category, edit the current category, or delete the current category.
  · Bitmaps may appear in color, but only their lightness information will be used.
  · The galleries are shared with the 2D Bump Map effect.

• Use the dialog controls to adjust how the effect appears.
  · Blend Mode determines how the pattern’s colors interact with original pixel values in the object’s fill. See Understanding Blend modes for illustrations of the various combinations.
  · Opacity determines the degree to which the pattern covers up image pixels in the object’s fill. Lower values yield more transparency, i.e. more image pixels showing through.
  · Displacement is applicable only if you’ve enabled a 2D or 3D Bump Map (see above) for this layer. It is a scaling factor applied to the bump map data when combining it with the pattern.
  · Scale is a factor applied to the selected bitmap to make it larger or smaller in both x and y dimensions.
  · The X Curvature and Y Curvature settings determine how convex the bump map surface will appear. Lower values tend to flatten the surface along that axis, so for example if one value is minimum and the other maximum, the surface will take on a cylindrical look. The  button is normally down, which links the two sliders to maintain sphericality. To adjust the sliders independently, click the button so it’s up.
  · Flip-flop determines how the bitmaps are tiled across the plane. Select this option to avoid discontinuities across bitmap boundaries.

• Click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

Transparency

The uniform transparency of an object (with 3D filter effects applied) can be controlled via the Transparency tab (see first example below). However, for more sophisticated transparency control, especially for simulating reflective lighting effects on glass objects, transparency settings can instead be set within the 3D filter effects dialog (check the Transparency option). The effect can be used to create more realistic transparency by independently controlling transparency on reflective (edges) and non-reflective (flat) areas of the object (see front heart shape below).

To apply transparency to the effect:

• Check Transparency and use the dialog controls to adjust transparency. Two settings are used: a Minimum and a Maximum. The former sets the transparency at the object’s edge (reflective areas), the latter sets the transparency for non-reflective surfaces (the flat object’s fill).

• The minimum transparency value cannot exceed the maximum transparency value. The latter adopts any minimum value if it will exceed the current maximum value.

3D Reflection Map

The 3D Reflection Map effect is used to simulate mirrored surfaces by selection of a pattern (i.e., a bitmap which possesses a shiny surface) which “wraps around” a selected object. Patterns which simulate various realistic indoor and outdoor environments can be adopted, with optional use of 3D lighting to further reflect off object edges.

A Bitmap selector also lets you create your own categories, and to add your own reflection maps (perhaps sourced from 3D modelling websites on the Internet).

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check Reflection Map and click the Pattern thumbnail to display a bitmap selector. Choose an environment category which shows Indoor scenes (e.g., house interiors) or Outdoor scenes (seascapes or landscapes), respectively. From the category, select a bitmap, and click OK.

  The Bitmap Selector dialog also lets you add and delete your own categories and reflection maps using the appropriate buttons.

• Use other dialog controls to adjust how the effect appears.
  · Opacity determines the degree to which the bitmap covers up image pixels in the fill. Lower values yield more transparency, i.e. more fill pixels showing through.
  · Scale is a factor applied to the selected bitmap to make it larger or smaller in both X and Y dimensions.
  · Adjust the Rotation dial, or enter a value, to rotate the bitmap pattern to an angle of you choosing.

• Click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

3D Lighting

The 3D Lighting effect works in conjunction with other 3D effects to let you vary the surface illumination and reflective properties.

Unchecking the 3D Lighting entry is equivalent to lighting the surface with 100% ambient lighting only.

To apply the effect to the selected object:

• Check 3D Lighting and use the dialog controls to adjust the lighting. Two light sources are used: an Ambient Light and a Point Light source at infinity. The Point light source gives rise to two types of reflection: Diffuse reflection and Specular reflection.

• Use the Material Properties section to set surface properties.
  · Diffuse reflection is the amount of the surface’s diffuse (base) color reflected when lit by the Point Light source. Set the value higher for matte materials like chalk or rubber, and lower for metallic materials. The diffuse color of the surface is how it appears when 3D Lighting is unchecked.
  · Specular reflection is a highlight or hotspot; the setting determines the amount of the surface’s Specular Color reflected when lit by Point Light sources. Set the value lower for matte materials like wood or rubber; higher for shiny materials like plastic or metal. You won’t see any highlights if 3D Lighting is unchecked. To change the Specular Color, click the color sample.
  · Shininess controls the spread of specular reflection (see above). Set the value lower for larger and more widespread highlights; higher for smaller, sharper highlights.

• Use the Light Properties section to set the origin and color of one or more Point light sources, which provides all the non-ambient lights for the surface. You can set Ambient lighting which affects the entire surface uniformly and is useful for raising the overall light level if it appears too dark without ambient lighting. Generally, the ambient light level should be set as low as possible so as not to undermine the 3D look.
  · To change the color of the ambient source, click the Ambient Light button and select a color swatch from the menu.
  · By default, a single point light is available to the user () but you can create more. To add a second light source, click the Add button. The new light (e.g., ) is shown to the right of your existing light sources, and is numbered. Repeat the process for more light sources.
  · To change the color of any Point Light source, select the light number, click the Color button and select a different color swatch from the menu.
  · To delete a light source, select it, then click the Delete button. You can’t delete the default light source (numbered 1).
  · To position light sources, imagine point lights being positioned on an imaginary hemisphere above the surface, with the Angle and Elevation controls specifying the selected light’s exact placement and a Color button specifying the selected light’s color. You can drag the crosshair marker within the circle to set your first point light’s position, or type specific values for each parameter. Angle corresponds to “longitude” around the hemisphere, whereas Elevation corresponds to “latitude” above the “equator” of the hemisphere.

• Adjust the Soften slider to specify the amount of blurring applied to the light maps after they are calculated. It’s especially useful to help blend away discontinuities or artifacts introduced by using 3D effects at certain settings.

• Click OK to apply the effect, or Cancel to abandon changes.

Using 3D filter effects