#Altimira Composer
18 messages in this thread
I'd like to post my humble remarks on the Composer program after a few days
working with it. Amazing! Once you grasp the concepts and clear out "the old
way of doing things" in a "paint" program the possibilites are incredible. The
fact that everything is done in 32 bits makes using the Alpha channel in 3DS
for maps and masks much clearer<BG>.
If you work with quality stills and/or create a lot of your own maps and masks
you owe it to yourself to get the program, $495 for a limited time, $795 SMRP.
Jack Powells manuals are the quality you would expect and the tutorials get you
up and over the hurdle of new terminology in a day or two.
GET IT NOW!
TedB
Thanks for the kudos, Ted. I'll pass your remarks on to Alvy and the gang at
Altamira.
– J
WHere can I get more info on Altamira Composer, or a demo, anything…
Call 415/332-5801 to find out more about Altamira Composer.
– J
Jack;
Disregard my last message about "Texturing" I must have had drain bamage 🙂
when I tried to accomplish this a while back. It worked wonderfully now. Or
maybe it was the new release. Either way, it worked.
Some other things I would like to ask however are;
1. I have a composition, and I want to move it to be directly in front of the
Composition Guide. If I select all, and then try to use Align, and center
image, all pieces center on the guide. Then they are not where they should be
in relation to each other (but they are centered perfectly). <g> Is there an
easy way to do this that I am missing?
2. Have you considered doing a "tutorial" on colorize. This is one of the
features I purchase AC for. There is only one paragraph and a sentence on how
to accomplish this. Could this be expounded upon?
If you feel long winded, I'm all ears, – eh I mean eyes. 😉
I think others would benefit from this also. You can practice on us, and we
will beta test your words for you. <g>
Have a Happy New Year, Jack, Gary, All Yost'ers and everyone.
Thanks,
Dennis
Since this is actually the ASOFT forum for Autodesk products, and not actually
the Altamira forum, I can't really fill the messages here with advice about how
to use Composer.
HOWEVER, since the folks at Altamira have evidently seen fit to take off for
the holidays, and Composer is such an excellent companion product for 3ds, I
will say this:
1) Group your images first, then use the Align button of your choice, followed
by clicking on the Composition Guide (or any none-image part of the screen).
2) Colorize? What's to say? Once you get used to the idea that the images
really consist of two parts (not counting alpha), that is the luminance
(intensity/grayscale/black-to-white/etc.) of the image, and the color values of
the image, you start to see how the various tools simply manipulate these
values separately. For example, the Colorize tool applies color to an image
without affecting its luminance. In exactly the same way, the Color Map
intensity tool applies the color of one image to the current image without
affecting the current image's intensity.
MINI-TUT: Load the Model picture. Using a deep red color, draw a filled spline
that just covers her lips, and render the spline colored (red). Blur the spline
1 pixel to soften the edge. Now, click on Intensity Map, and then click on the
Model image. Result: She now has deep red lips. This produces exactly the same
effect as painting over her lips using the Colorize tool in the Touchup menu.
However, you can easily change the color: Click on the Full Image button,
change your current color to blue (or whatever), make sure the lip-spline image
is active, and then click on Color Atop button. Result: The spline is solid
blue. Now repeat the Intensity Map process and her lips are blue. Yet another
way to accomplish the same thing: Click on Texture Full, and then click on the
Model to copy the original lips to the spline. Turn the Opacity slider way down
to about 30-40. With the Full Image button on, and the lips-spline active,
click on the Colorize tool. Result: The lips are tinted slightly blue. Repeat
the clicks to increase the blue effect.
As Gary says: There ya go.
– Jack
Rachid:
We carry Altamira Composer, and were the first to start selling it, 'way back
at Siggraph. We'd be happy to send you more info, or whatever you need.
Greg Pyros [Pyros Partnership, Inc] gpyros@pyros.com 26-Dec-93 at 2:17p PST
They claim to have been sending out upgrades for a couple months. When should
we expect ours?
Doug:
Did you register your program? If so, get me your serial number and I'll
contact Altamira for you. If not, get me the registration card, and I'll try
to streamline the process for you.
Greg Pyros
Yes, I bought it from you and registered it. Nicholas Clay said they were
sending out the first updates around Comdex. I'll call them directly if I can
find a phone number… Thanks for the help…
Greg,
PLease do send me any information available on Altamira Composer and
if there is a demo available please send it also. My address is:
Rachid Molinary P O Box 361986\ San Juan, PR 00936-1986
Thanks,
Rachid
>>Jack Powells manuals…
Ohhh….. That's why J's such a big fan of AC! <g,d,r>
Yeah <g>. But I don't get any kickback on sales, so there's no real motivation
on that front. I'm a fan of Altamira Composer because, apart from its
programmers, I've used it longer than anyone and have a good idea of its
potential.
– J
I have been using AC since October and concur that it is ENORMOUSLY useful with
3DS. In fact, I would say about 80% of the things I used Anipro for I am now
doing with AC with much better results. Great Program.
Michael B.
That's pretty much how I see it — a great partner for 3ds.
– J
Jack;
I'm so glad to have found out you know Altamira Composer. <G>
I called the telephone number for Altamira Composer and received a message that
they would be out until 1/3/93, so I posted a notice here asking how to access
more memory in AC. JKJ was good enough to find my problem in my config.sys
file, so I am cooking now in AC. And since you wrote the manuals, I was
wondering if it is possible to do the following?
I scanned a photograph. I used the spline tool to very carefully trace over
the complex shape that I wanted to pick up. In my learning phase, instead of
picking up the image, I painted it black. Can I now use the image painted
black to get a copy of the image behind it? In exactly the same shape as the
"mask" in front of it? It is still perfectly aligned with the image.
There is a way to do this right? <g,d,&r>
Dennis
(see previous message)
– J
>>pick up image behind…
Hey Dennis – in case Jack can't answer right away and if I understand what
you're trying to do, I you simply make your target object active, choose
Texture Full from the menu or toolbar, then click on your source image
(original image). I'm learning this too…
What I can't figure out yet is how to un-transparentize an object. Once I apply
something with the transpanancy slider down, I can't get rid of the
transparency regardless of what I do later. Any clues?
I can't wait for a core of Composer experts to develop. The program so
powerful and the manual just seems to scratch the surface.
JKJ