Foundation Swift 3D

By Alex Hallajian, Kris Honeycutt, William McBee, David Sharek, Bill Spencer, Lums Thevathasan

Foundation Swift 3D is the ultimate guide to out of the box 3D design. Combining simple but professional 3D editing techniques with a full guide to using Swift 3D in object construction, animation, enhancement, and production, Foundation Swift 3D also features a chapter on transferring your projects into Flash MX.

Foundation Swift 3D really does unlock the power of 3D on your desktop. It covers all you need to know, before you need to know it, backing up every piece of theory with solid practical tutorials. With a case study running the length of the book and organized so you get practical, hands-on experience of everything that you learn, this book will bring you all that this new, and unparalleled version of Swift 3D has to offer.

Developed in association with Electric Rain, the makers of Swift 3D, Foundation Swift 3D contains all the insider information, tips, tricks, and techniques that you would expect from a book written and reviewed by Swift 3D v3's Support Manager, Documentation Writer, beta testers and developers, and moderators of support forums.

Whether you're entirely new to Swift 3D v3, have some experience of an earlier version, or have used v3 extensively, this book is packed with essential information from the true luminaries of the Swift 3D world that will extend your knowledge to true professional level.

With Foundation Swift 3D, your world is just a few chapters away!

Summary of Contents

1 What is Swift 3D?
2 A Primer for Working in 3D
3 Gaining Control… Manipulating Objects within 3D Space
4 Back to Basics… Modeling with Primitives
5 Saying it with Style… Working with Text
6 The Next Dimension: Introduction to Extrusions
7 The Lathe Editor… Taking This Baby for a Spin
8 Case Study One: Building the Dream Machine
9 Bringing in the Big Guns… Working with Imported Files
10 The Wonderful World of Color... Applying Materials
11 Setting the Stage… Layout and Environment
12 The Fine Art of Illumination… Lighting Your 3D Scene
13 The Eyes of Swift 3D… Working with Cameras
14 Action! Animation Basics
15 The Art of Motion… Keyframe Animation
16 The Preview and Export Editor
17 Case Study Two: Bringing it all Together
18 Big Things Come in Small Packages… Optimizing Your Files
19 The Swift 3D / Flash MX Advantage
20 Case Study Three: Postproduction in Flash MX
Appendix A: Menus and Keyboard Shortcuts
Appendix B: Online Resources
Index

This book is part of friends of ED's 'Foundation' series

The Foundation series is perfect for beginners to a technology, because it doesn't assume any previous knowledge. Each book in the series takes you step by step through your chosen technology, starting with the absolute fundamentals and working through all aspects of the technology, ultimately providing you with a firm grasp of the basics that will enable you to create your own applications or web sites. You will learn by following complete examples at every stage of your journey, often by extended case studies that you will build upon throughout the book. The Foundation series will give you the broad and solid base you need in order to progress to a higher level of expertise.