Swift 3D: User Guide

SWIFT3D
user guide
Swift 3D
v 1.00
User Guide
PDF Version 1.1
2000 Electric Rain, Inc.
Copyright
This manual and the software described within its pages are furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance of
the terms of such license. Program copyright 2000 Electric Rain Inc. Manual copyright 2000 Electric Rain Inc. All rights reserved. No
part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the expressed written consent of Electric Rain Inc.
Translation: Its ours and you cant have it! THTHPPPT! Unless you say pretty please.
Electric Rain, Inc.

5171 Eldorado Springs Drive
Boulder, CO 80303
www.erain.com
Trademarks
Swift 3D, the Swift 3D logo and Crystal Trackball are trademarks of Electric Rain Inc. Electric Rain reserves the right to seize all your
assetsHey, what are you doing reading this ridiculous fine print. OK, you caught us. Well keep it legal. Macromedia and Flash are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT are
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Adobe and Illustrator are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. All other
product brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Translation: Make up your own stuff.
Credits
Swift 3D was designed by John Soucie, RainMaker.
He had a bunch of help from Mike Soucie, RainMan.
On occasion Todd Robertson, HeavyRain, stuck his head in and said, Stellar work, RainMaker!
Once in awhile Nick Petterssen, RainWriter, threw in his two cents worth - and then asked for change.
The RainMaker was well tolerated by his wife, Sarina Soucie, RainStorm, and his children, Kaitlin and Jessica, the
RainDrops, who still remember who he is. Hey, while were at it lets applaud Frank and Freda Soucie for hatching such
ingenious offspring and give a deep bow to Grandma Ciccarelli for keeping it real, Goddammit!
Wed also like to throw in a bone of recognition to Shelly Futch for her direction and design input and give a firm slap on
the back to all of our beta testers, Mano, Vince, Alex, Georges and others.
The Swift 3D User Guide was penned by Nick Petterssen, RainWriter, and proofed by Christine Pettersen, Running out of
RainThings.
Cover artwork and graphic design was masterminded by Jeff Schaich, the fabulous art guy. (Were still working on his
nickname.) Jeff and Ted Rockwell, Coordinator Extraordinaire, work for Justin Havlick at Zeitgeist Design, an integral part
of what Electric Rain is all about.
Thanks Yall!
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: Introduction.....................................................................9
Im Nick and this is Swift 3D...............................................................................................9
About Swift 3D...................................................................................................................10
System requirements.........................................................................................10
Installation...................................................................................................1 1
About the manual............................................................................................................1 2
Terms and conventions.....................................................................................1 3
Product support...............................................................................................................1 4
CHAPTER 2: Exploring the Interface...................................................17
Creating a new Swift 3D document.................................................................................18
Toolbar shortcuts...........................................................................................................18
The interface.....................................................................................................................1 9
Customizing the interface................................................................................................20
Undocking and docking toolbars.......................................................................20
Resizing toolbars................................................................................................2 1
Setting the scene.............................................................................................................22
Viewport.....................................................................................................................22
Camera View....................................................................................................................2 3
Property Toolbox..............................................................................................................24
Layout..........................................................................................................24
Camera options...................................................................................2 5
Display options...................................................................................2 5
Environment.................................................................................................26
Background.....................................................................................26
Ambient light color...............................................................................26
Apply button.....................................................................................................................26
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Object buttons..................................................................................................................2 7
Text.............................................................................................................27
Sphere...........................................................................................................27
Cone..............................................................................................................27
Torus...........................................................................................................2 7
Manipulating objects........................................................................................................28
Selecting objects...............................................................................................28
Scaling objects....................................................................................................28
Reset transformation button.............................................................................28
Camera controls...............................................................................................................29
Panning.........................................................................................................29
Zooming........................................................................................................29
Camera pan button.............................................................................................29
Secondary camera button..................................................................................30
Zoom camera extents button.............................................................................30
Help Button........................................................................................................30
Crystal Trackballs...........................................................................................................3 1
Object trackball................................................................................................3 1
Lock axis buttons...............................................................................3 1
Lighting trackball............................................................................................32
Lock axis buttons................................................................................32
Add light...........................................................................................32
Add spotlight.....................................................................................3 2
Subtract light...................................................................................32
Gallery Tools..................................................................................................................3 3
Materials Palette.............................................................................................33
Animation Palette...........................................................................................34
Animation Toolbar........................................................................................................34
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Menu Items.....................................................................................................................35
File menu............................................................................................................35
Edit menu............................................................................................................36
View menu.........................................................................................................37
Animation menu.................................................................................................38
Setup menu.........................................................................................................38
Arrange menu.....................................................................................................38
Window menu....................................................................................................38
Help menu..........................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 3: Tutorial...........................................................................41
Opening a new file..........................................................................................................42
Create text........................................................................................................................43
Zooming the camera.........................................................................................................44
Adding an object...............................................................................................................45
Scaling an object..............................................................................................................45
Creating an identical object.............................................................................................46
Grouping objects..............................................................................................................47
Rotating objects...............................................................................................................48
Positioning objects..........................................................................................................49
Panning the camera.........................................................................................................50
Applying materials to objects..........................................................................................50
Adjusting lighting scheme...............................................................................................5 1
Applying drag and drop animations.................................................................................52
Viewing animations..........................................................................................................52
Exporting images..............................................................................................................53
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CHAPTER 4: Objects..........................................................................55
Text............................................................................................................................55
Bevels...........................................................................................................56
Style................................................................................................56
Depth...............................................................................................57
Faces...............................................................................................57
Smoothness....................................................................................57
Sizing............................................................................................................58
Applying materials to surfaces..........................................................................59
Object properties.............................................................................................................61
Draw back faces.................................................................................................6 1
Hide..............................................................................................................61
Shapes........................................................................................................................62
Sphere..........................................................................................................62
Cone.............................................................................................................62
Cylinder..........................................................................................62
Torus............................................................................................................63
Creating a cube..................................................................................................64
Grouping and ungrouping objects...................................................................................65
CHAPTER 5: Materials........................................................................67
Materials and light...........................................................................................................67
Diffuse light.......................................................................................................67
Ambient light.....................................................................................................68
Highlight......................................................................................................68
Creating new materials...................................................................................................70
Editing materials..............................................................................................................72
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CHAPTER 6: Lighting..........................................................................73
Lighting concepts.............................................................................................................7 3
Spot light vs. point light..................................................................................................74
Adding and subtracting lights..........................................................................................74
Placing lights into scene...................................................................................................75
Background and ambient light color...............................................................................76
CHAPTER 7: Animations....................................................................79
Animation concepts.........................................................................................................79
Animation timeline.........................................................................................................80
Frames and keyframes.....................................................................................80
Selection window...............................................................................................8 1
Current frame indicator.....................................................................................8 1
Position........................................................................................................8 1
Rotation........................................................................................................8 1
Scale.............................................................................................................8 1
Animation control buttons................................................................................8 1
Frames per second............................................................................................82
Loop function....................................................................................................82
Creating animations using the timeline...........................................................................82
Deleting animations........................................................................................................84
Pausing animations........................................................................................................84
Animation properties.....................................................................................................85
Drag and drop animations...............................................................................................87
Changing the default length...............................................................................87
Deleting......................................................................................................87
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Animation drop target......................................................................................88

Creating drag and drop animations..................................................................89
Animating lights.............................................................................................................90
Lights on the trackball.......................................................................................90
Lights that have been placed into the scene......................................................9 1
Animated camera............................................................................................................9 2
Standard camera...............................................................................................92
Rotating camera.......................................................................................93
CHAPTER 8: Importing and Exporting................................................95
Importing 3D Studio models (3DS)...................................................................................96
Importing EPS and AI images...........................................................................................9 7
Exporting..................................................................................................................98
Include edges....................................................................................................98
Mesh Shaded...................................................................................................100
Area shaded.....................................................................................................100
Average Filled...............................................................................................100
Flat filled.........................................................................................................100
File size comparison........................................................................................100
INDEX..............................................................................................105
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Before you get confused

This is not a typical manual. I am not your typical manual writer. I am just some guy who lives on a
farm in northern Vermont who happens to be a misplaced member of team Electric Rain. I was asked
to write the documentation for our new product and here it is. Im not a programmer. Im not a
Webmaster. Im not a computer guru. Im an author with just a few simple goals. I aim to explain
Swift 3D in the clearest means possible. I will attempt to answer all the basic questions you may
have about Swift 3D. Finally, I wish to entertain and have some laughs. You see, having purchased
this dynamic software, you too have joined the fun of Electric Rain. We dont sit around in cubicles
churning out apersonal products for unknown customers. We are a small team of creative individuals who thrive on humor, honest communication, strong coffee, and amazing products. So heres
your manual. Dont get confused by the informality.
Relax, enjoy, and just let it rain.
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Whats this Swift 3D thing all about?

Youre obviously familiar with the Internet. Youve surfed. Youve seen some weak Web sites and
youve seen some outstanding Web sites. You may have noticed that many of the better sites are
using Macromedia Flash software to create some wicked animations with interactivity to boot. Hell,
you may be the Webmaster of the Disney site, a great example of Flash wizardry. Regardless, we can
all see the beauty of Flash and its potential as an integral part of the Internets future. But theres a
problem with Flash, and it has to do with three dimensional objects and text. Theyre a bear to make
with Macromedias product.
We have designed Swift 3D to make Flash better. Electric Rains specialty just happens to be 3D
rendering of text and objects. Its what we do best. Swift 3D will allow you to design eye-grabbing
graphics that can be saved in the same format Flash uses. Your Flash-based animations will become
more than just cool 2D animations - they will come alive with realism, and we offer this capability
through our ingenious interface that couldnt be easier to use. With its intuitive design, Swift 3D lets
you sit down and create exquisite 3D graphics without injuring your brain trying to figure out the
program. If you like Flash, youll love where we are headed with this one. I mean, lets face it, if the
real world is three dimensional, shouldnt your Web site be too?
What you absolutely need to run Swift 3D

Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0
200 MHz Pentium processor
32 MB of RAM
Video resolution 800x600x65k
20 MB free hard disk space
CD-ROM Drive
Mouse
Lower Brainstem
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What you really want to be using to run Swift 3D

Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0
300 MHz Pentium processor
64 MB RAM
Video resolution 1024x768x16 Million Colors
20 MB free hard disk space
CD-ROM Drive
Mouse
Cerebral Cortex
Puttin this puppy on your unit

Installing Swift 3D onto your computer is just like installing any other piece of software.
1. Pop the CD-ROM into your coffee cup holder that doubles as a CD-ROM drive.
2. An auto run should initialize the CD. If not, navigate to your CD-ROM and double click the
setup.exe file.
3. Follow the directions and youre done.
OK, there are a few more things involving where Swift 3D gets placed on your hard drive and the
type of installation you want, but if youre looking to mess with those default settings youre
probably not going to be reading this section of the manual. The only thing you really need to know
is that Swift 3D will not ask you for the installation key code (serial number) until you run the
program for the first time after installation. At that point you will be requested to enter the number
found on the back of the CD sleeve (CD version) or within your Order Confirmation email (download
version). Once Swift 3D approves of your secret code, youll be asked if you would like to register
your product online, giving you access to our Customer Only Web site where you can get product
updates, program patches and new technology previews.
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Some ideas about this manual

Theres only so much creativity you can infuse into the structure of a manual. A wise teacher once
told me that being a good educator is a simple process. First you tell em what youre going to teach
em. Then you teach em. Then you tell em what you just taught em. Well, I may not get quite so
repetitive, but heres my basic strategy:
First, well take a look at the interface and the tools youll be using to create your images. Weve
gone to great lengths to design Swift 3D to be as intuitive as possible but a general familiarity with
the program can do a lot to prevent any initial this software sucks reactions due to a simple
misunderstanding.
Theres nothing like actually rolling up your sleeves and using a program, so once youre comfortable with what everything can do, well go ahead and crank out an impressive animated 3D image in
the tutorial chapter.
The last portion of the manual is dedicated to a more in-depth look at all of Swift 3Ds capabilities.
From editing materials to exporting files, Ill give you all the remaining information necessary to
create amazing 3D animations ready to be directly imported into Macromedia Flash software or
another vector editor.
Strewn throughout the manual youll find Nicks Tips, which are tricks, shortcuts and hints that may
expedite your journey through the world of Swift 3D.
Lets talk SWF

You will hear references to SWF files throughout this book. Just so were all on the same page, SWF
is the file format that Macromedia Flash software exports to. Its the format that Flash Player reads.
Its the format that gets published to the Web. And its also the format that Swift 3D exports to. In
the end, its the file format that counts, and thats why it gets mentioned so often.
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Whats that you say?

As is the case with any form of communication, there are some standards Id like to cover so were
all speaking the same language here.
Click means press the left mouse button once and release it.
Right click means press the right mouse button once and release it.
Double click means press the left mouse button twice in rapid succession.
Click and drag means press and hold the left mouse button while you move the cursor.
Select means choose or highlight an item by clicking on it.
Key names are given in caps. (CTRL, SHIFT, ENTER, etc.) When keys should be pressed simultaneously, their names are connected by a + sign.
Menu commands are referred to by their Menu Name > then the Menu Item > followed by any
further Menu Item Subcategories. For example, Setup > Materials means open the Setup menu
and choose the Materials menu item. These commands will also be bolded for your viewing
pleasure.
What the #@&?% is going on here?

Wouldnt it be nice to design a product that everyone understands so thoroughly they never have a
question? Wouldnt it be great if our products always worked flawlessly no matter what sort of
torture users put it through? Well, if thats what youre looking for, can I suggest a pet rock. Unfortunately, in the world of software there are always questions and sometimes even problems that
occur. Fortunately, Electric Rain is in the business of answering questions and providing solutions.
You can access our help system in several ways:
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Online help
While youre working in Swift 3D there is always help just a mouse click away (actually two clicks,
but whos counting). By using the Help button on your main toolbar (See Chapter 2 on Exploring the
Interface) you can access our context sensitive help system. The way it works is if you have a
question regarding an aspect of the interface you click the Help button and then place the question
mark over the item you need help with. By clicking a second time you will bring up a help box that
explains that particular function. This feature is great for answering basic questions and getting to
know the program better.
Web support
Chances are if it happened to you, it happened to somebody else too. For that reason we have an
excellent support section on our Web site. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are organized in an
easy to find fashion and there are also listings of troubleshooting tips. You can visit our Web site at
http://www.erain.com for general information or go directly to the technical support section at
http://www.erain.com/support. You can also connect to our Web help through Swift 3D directly
by clicking on the Help menu. This will give you the three options of going to the Electric Rain Web
site, going to the Swift 3D technical support site or visiting the Swift 3D customer-only site. The
technical support site is the best place for you to find specific answers to questions. The customeronly site is more for information regarding minor upgrades and fixes.
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Email support
If we havent satisfied your needs via the online help or through our Web site, you can use our email
support system. The basic idea is you mail us an explanation of your problem and we email you back
the appropriate solution. However, if youve already explored our other help resources and came up
empty handed, your question or problem is probably a tad more complex and well need some
information to remedy the problem. The following is a list of things that will be helpful for us to
reference as we work on your situation:
1. What type of machine do you have?
2. CPU type and speed?
3. What platform are you running, Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0?
4. How many megs of RAM do you have?
5. What video system do you have?
6. What program, version number and build number do you have? (Under Help > About Swift 3D.)
7. What exactly is happening?
8. What steps lead up to the problem?
9. Are there any files associated with the problem (.EPS, .3DS, or .T3D)? If so, please attach them.
10. Are there any related error messages? If so, please tell us what they are.
Basically, the more information you provide us with, the faster and more completely we can answer
your questions.
All right folks, thats enough small talk. We need to jump into this program so make sure youve
installed Swift 3D and have your stereo juiced with some crucial tunes.
Lets git it on!
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CHAPTER 2: INTERFACE
Exploring the Interface

In this chapter we are going to just poke around Swift 3D and identify everything youll be seeing in
the tutorial. Rather than just naming each tool, button or window, Ill give you an idea of what each
feature does so that you will actually understand its purpose rather than just knowing its name.
As we go through and tour all of Swift 3Ds features, feel free to mess around with each item as I
explain it. At the very least you can move your cursor around to each item and note the little tool
tips that pop up when you hover over an object, as well as the longer description down in the lower
left corner of your screen. If you end up getting some weird stuff going on due to random clicking,
dragging and toggling, just close the document without saving, open a new document and continue
exploring (with a little less clicking, dragging and toggling).
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Creating a new document

Since many of Swift 3Ds functions dont present themselves until you have an open document, start
by doing a File > New command. The first thing youll see is a choice between Create a new empty
Swift 3D document or Create a new Swift 3D document by importing an existing 3D Studio file. For
our purposes well create a new Swift 3D document. For more information on opening 3D Studio files
into Swift 3D refer to Chapter 8 on importing and exporting.
Another option for opening a new document is to use the toolbar shortcuts:
New Document
Save Document
Open Existing
Document
These shortcuts are just like those used in other programs. The first is for creating a new Swift 3D
document and it brings you to the options we just discussed. The second shortcut allows you to
open an existing Swift 3D document with the extension of .T3D, Swifts native file format. The third
button is used to save your document once you have begun to work.
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Now that we have the program up and running, lets do the tour de force. Youre going to be faced
with a screen very similar to this:
Main
Toolbar
Property
Toolbox
Object
Trackball
Menu
Items
Viewport
Lighting
Trackball
Animation
Timeline
Materials/
Animation
Palette
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Bar
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If you dont see the same interface, its possible your display is set to a 800x600 resolution, in
which case some of the toolbars may have been adjusted to accommodate the smaller screen
resolution. If possible, adjust your display properties to a larger size, preferably 1024x768. If your
display cant get a higher resolution, dont sweat, you will still have all the functionality of Swift 3D.
You may just have to move a few toolbars around to fit everything you need on the screen.
Which brings us to our first teachable moment. You can customize the interface by undocking and
docking almost all of the toolbars (the various windows you see) to meet whatever layout needs you
have. Personally speaking, I like them all just the way they are, but you go ahead and tweak to your
hearts content.
To undock a toolbar:
1. Move your cursor near any border of the toolbar you wish to
move until it changes into a Docking Cursor.
2. Click and hold the mouse button and a black border will appear around the toolbar indicating that
you have it in your control.
3. Move the toolbar to your desired location. As you approach the edges of your screen the toolbar
may resize itself to fit into a new docking position. If you would like to leave the toolbar floating,
hold the CTRL key down while you move it.
4. When youve got the black border where you want it, release the mouse button and youre in
business.
To hide a visible toolbar or show a hidden toolbar, use the View menu. Visible toolbars will be
checked and hidden toolbars will be unchecked. The menus are covered more in-depth at the end of
this chapter.
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Another way to manipulate the interfaces appearance is to move the borders between the toolbars,
thus resizing them without changing their location. For instance, maybe you would like to see more
materials displayed so you resize the two trackballs to allow more room for the Materials Palette.
To resize toolbars:
1. Move your cursor near the edge of the toolbar you wish to adjust. When the
cursor changes to the Move Border Cursor depress the left mouse button.
2. While holding down the mouse button, adjust the toolbars border to its desired position.
3. Release the mouse button. Voila!
NOTE: If youve tried to make the toolbar smaller than its comfortable with (theyre sensitive about
looking too diminutive) it will bounce back to its smallest possible size.
If you are working with a small screen or less than 1024x768 screen resolution, or
if you just want to have more room to work with, there are some adjustments you
can make with your toolbars to gain screen space. First, look ahead to the Menu
section of this chapter and read the part about the View menu. Second, depending on the size and shape of your desired image you can undock some toolbars
and leave them floating in convenient places. Each situation is unique and there
are endless combinations so you just have to tweak the interface to accommodate your needs.
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Setting the scene

The scene is simply a term used to describe all of the objects and text that will end up being a part
of your creation. If these objects move over time, your scene will become animated. Its important
to remember that there are an infinite amount of directions you can look into the 3D world of Swift,
but there is only one view that really matters, the Viewport.
The what?
Viewport
The Viewport is your

window into this 3D world
you are about to create.
Some like to imagine its like
looking through a camera
and whatever you see
through the lens is what
viewers will be seeing when
you finally export your
image. We like this imagery
so we have named this the
Camera View. You should
be very interested in what
goes on within the confines
of the Viewport since its
where the only visible action
will take place in the scene.
If you have objects that lie outside of the Viewport they will not be seen in the final exported image
unless they enter the Viewport through an animation path.
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In our daily 3D world its easy to stay oriented since we have familiar reference points like walls,
floors and ceilings to figure out the respective locations of objects such as chairs, plants and people.
Within Swift 3Ds world, there are no objects until you create them, so we have supplied you with a
3D grid based on the X, Y and Z coordinate system. The red line represents the X or horizontal axis,
the green line is the Y or vertical axis, and the blue line (just a point until you alter your camera
view) shows you the depth of your 3D world, or your Z axis. The intersection of these three lines is
sort of ground zero for your scene, and its coordinates are 0,0,0.
Camera view
Camera View Menu
This little drop-down menu allows you to change

your Camera View, or how you look into your
scene. If you imagine a transparent cube
surrounding your scene, you can view your
creation from any one of the six sides of the
cube. So your options are Front (default), Back,
Top, Bottom, Left and Right. You may also
notice that the right view is grayed out and not
an option since this view is taken by the Secondary Camera when it is shown. (More on that
later in this chapter.) One important thing to
realize is that whatever view youre using when you export your final image is going to be the view
used in your finished product.
The Rotating Camera option is designed to allow you to animate a camera view, or change where
your primary camera is aimed. You can animate the other camera views, but only with the panning
function. The rotating camera can pivot around a single axis point, giving you more interesting
animations. Both of these features are discussed in Chapter 7 on animations.
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Property Toolbox
Property List Box
Understanding the Property Toolbox is paramount to

successfully manipulating all of the facets of your scene-tobe. Basically, the highlighted property is determined by
what aspect of the scene you are currently working on. For
example, if you are adjusting the position of a light, the
Lighting property tool will be highlighted. And if you have
an object in your scene selected, the name of that object
will be highlighted in the Property List Box. Layout and
Environment are always shown at the top of your list and
then the appropriate properties of whatever you are
working on are shown below.
Layout
This property allows you to control various aspects of your
scene. When you click on the Layout heading there are
three groups of controls you can mess with.
Layout (Yes, I stuttered intentionally)

You can adjust the size of the Viewport by modifying the
default dimensions. This feature is important since it
determines the dimensions of your scene when you get to
the export stage. You can change these specifications at any
point before exportation, but having a general idea of what
size and shape you want your finished product to be will
help in the design process.
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Camera
The Lens Length setting behaves just like a camera lens. The longer the lens length, the more the
camera will zoom in on your scene. The shorter the lens length, the more distant you appear to be
from your scene. There are other ways of adjusting how close your scene is to the viewer, but this
setting allows you to do it without moving the camera. One thing to note is that, just like a camera
lens, if you shorten the length, distortion occurs as your view becomes more panoramic in nature.
Display
The Display property refers to how and what things are going to be displayed within the Viewport.
Shaded means that any objects will be shown as solid objects covered with whatever material you
have applied to them. For the majority of time this will be the mode most useful to you.
Outline displays objects as wire frames only, with no fill patterns. This mode can be useful when
you have complex 3D models and intricate animation paths since it speeds up the process of
redrawing your objects every time you make a change in your scene.
Box just shows the smallest three dimensional box that each of your objects could fit into. Im not
exactly sure why youd use this feature, but the engineers said it was useful so I didnt argue.
Lights lets you see all of your lights in the Viewport, even though they wont be visible upon export.
Paths will display any animation paths that have been applied to your objects. The path of the
object will be shown as a purple line.
Grids turns on and off the X, Y, Z coordinate system.
Hidden is used to show or hide objects that have been rendered invisible by 3D Studio. More
information on importing these types of files can be found in Chapter 8.
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Environment
You may be asking yourself what the difference is
between background and ambient light color. Or maybe
youre not. I was a bit confused but a simple explanation
cleared it up.
Background
The Background setting controls what you see behind
your objects, no matter what direction you look into your
scene. It has no effect on any of your objects and it does
not get imported into Flash. However, you will see the
background if you play your 3D SWF file in the Flash
Player.
Ambient Light Color

Imagine a large sphere surrounding your scene. Whatever color you choose to apply to the sphere is considered your Ambient Light Color and glossy objects in
Environment Properties
your scene will take on a tint of that surrounding
material. The main way this is used is to lighten or darken objects in your scene.
Apply button
The Apply button is a crucial step in the process
of changing properties. When youre done
adjusting any settings you need to click the Apply
button to have those changes actually take effect.
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Object buttons
These buttons allow you to create text and simple objects (called primitives) within your scene.
They are about as easy to use as a light switch a simple click will place your chosen object onto
the intersection of the X, Y and Z axis lines. Once the object is in the scene you have control over its
characteristics through other means that will be discussed later.
Text Places the word Text into your scene.
Sphere Places a sphere into your scene.
Cone Places a hot fudge Sunday into your scene. (Oh, sorry. I was getting hungry. Its
actually just a cone.)
Torus Places a torus into your scene. (I wont scoff if you call it a doughnut. I do.)
All of these objects arrive in your scene with their default characteristics, including standard size
and gray shading.
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Manipulating Objects
Selecting objects
To change the attributes of your objects you will need to be able to select them.
To select an object, simply click on it and look for a wire frame box to appear around it.
To select multiple objects, hold down the SHIFT key while you are selecting each object.
To select all objects in the scene, choose Edit > Select All.
Once an object is selected, its properties will appear under the Property List box and you can
modify them at will.
To delete an object that has just been selected you can use the Delete key or choose Edit > Delete.
Scaling button
Use the Scaling button when you want to resize an object. Once youve clicked the
button, place your cursor over the perimeter of the object and hold down the left mouse
button. When you get the scale cursor symbol, drag your mouse away from the center of
the object to increase its size and towards the center of the object to decrease its size.
The scaling button is designed to be a one shot deal, so when youre done transforming
an object the button will reset itself.
Reset Transformation button

This feature allows you to undo changes youve made to an object. By selecting an object
and clicking the Reset Transformation button you will move the object back to the
0,0,0 coordinates and remove any scaling and/or rotation youve applied, basically
returning it to its original location and size. Any materials applied will remain and any
animations that affect the object will also stay unchanged.
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Manipulating the Camera

As the director in charge of the scene, you have control over which direction the camera is aimed
(panning) and you can also zoom in and out on your scene (zooming). Both of these functions are
controlled directly by the mouse.
To control camera pan:

Locate the cursor somewhere in the scene where there are no objects. Click and drag
with the left mouse button. Youll see the Camera Pan cursor appear and you can drag
your mouse to adjust the cameras view.
If you want to get technical, the camera is not panning around from a fixed point. Its actually
always pointing straight ahead and just being moved left, right, up and down.
To control camera zoom:

Locate the cursor somewhere in the scene where there are no objects and depress the
right mouse button. Moving the mouse will give you the Camera Zoom cursor. Drag your
mouse down to zoom out and up to zoom in.
Camera Pan button

This button is only necessary when there is no background visible to select within the
Viewport that does not contain an object. The main situation when this would occur is if
an object is very close to the camera. With the Camera Pan button toggled on, the
camera will pan no matter where you click and drag on the scene. Its impossible to
select objects in this mode.
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Its easy to turn the Camera Pan button on and forget about it. Later, youre on
the verge of a nervous breakdown because you cant select the flippin torus you
just created. Theres enough things in the world to get frustrated about so I avoid
this button at all cost.
Secondary Camera button

Its not always easy to tell where your objects are in relation to one another along the Z
axis, making the Secondary Camera function very handy. Its also useful when youre
creating animation paths for the same reason getting a better grip on depth. When you
adjust the view of the secondary camera by panning or zooming, it does not affect the
primary cameras view, and thus the scene. However, any movement or scaling of
objects via the secondary camera Viewport will also take effect in the primary cameras
view.
Zoom Camera Extents button

There may be times during the creation of a scene when you want to adjust your camera
view so that your objects fill the Viewport. The Zoom Camera Extents button does just
this. A simple click will position the camera directly in front of all of your objects while
zooming either in or out so that all of your objects are visible with only a slight buffer of
space around the edge of the Viewport.
Context Sensitive Help button

If youre cruising along and need some guidance on how a particular feature of Swift 3D
works, the Help button can be quite useful. Once you click on the button youll get a
question mark next to your cursor. Clicking your cursor on the feature you are curious
about will open a window with an explanation. For more information on Help see
Chapter 1.
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Crystal Trackballs
Crystal Trackballs are tools that allow you to position both objects and lights. They work like you
were turning a virtual ball with your mouse. Just click and drag on the surface of the ball and it will
turn whichever way you choose. Theyre slick little units and quite easy to use. Lets take a look at
each one individually.
Object Trackball
The Object Trackball is designed to let you adjust the
orientation of objects in your scene. It remains inactive
until you have selected an object. Once you have something selected, the object appears within the Object
Trackball and can be rotated by clicking and dragging on
any part of the trackball itself. You will see the object
spinning or rotating within the trackball and in the actual
scene simultaneously. Simple as that.
Object Trackball
If you would rather have the trackball move in a specific

direction you can use the Lock Axis buttons located on the left to set the direction you wish to
rotate your object. The three options are:
Lock Horizontal will only allow the trackball, and thus your selected object, to move
along its horizontal axis.
Lock Vertical will only allow the trackball to move along its vertical axis.
Lock Spin will only allow the trackball to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.
The Rotation Increment button allows you to set how much the trackball rotates at a
time. For example, if you want to turn an object a specific number of degrees, you
can use this feature to control exactly how much your object rotates.
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Lighting Trackball
This trackball allows you to control the placement,
location and type of lights that illuminate your
scene. Think of the lights as being positioned on
the outside of an imaginary sphere shining into
the center. The spheres size varies depending on
your scene, but is always as small as possible
while still encompassing all of your objects. In
other words, the more spread out your objects
are, the farther your lights will be from the center
of your scene.
Lighting Trackball
If you would rather have the trackball move in a specific direction you can use the Lock Axis
buttons to the left to set the direction you wish to rotate your object, or you can use the shortcuts
mentioned in the following Nicks Tips. The three options are identical to the Object Trackball.
The Add Light buttons let you create as many as 16 lights that shine into your scene.
There are two types of lights: Point Lights, which behave similarly to light bulbs, and
Spot Lights, which direct a focused beam into the center of the scene. To move the lights
around your scene you can select a light with a click and it will become a red wire frame.
Now you can use the Lighting Trackball to position the light exactly where you want it.
Use the Subtract Light button to remove a selected light.
When you want to rotate an object in a specific direction you can use these
shortcuts to lock the object trackball so it can only spin in one direction. After
selecting the object, holding down:
SHIFT will lock the trackball on its vertical axis.
CTRL will lock the trackball on its horizontal axis.
CTRL + SHIFT will lock the trackballs spin function so you can rotate the ball
clockwise or counterclockwise.
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Gallery Tools
The Gallery is a combination of two types of tools,
Materials and Animations
Animations. The two buttons on the left of
the toolbar control which set of tools are available.
Materials Palette
Toggle Button
Animation Palette
Toggle Button
Materials Palette
Materials are sort of like colors, only better. Each material consists of an Ambient Light, a Diffuse
Light and a Highlight, which are covered more in-depth in Chapter 5 on materials. The prefab
materials supplied with Swift 3D are all drag and drop enabled so you can click and drag any of them
from the palette directly to the object you wish to modify. If you find our selection limiting or just
tres gauche, you can design your own materials. (Again, covered in Chapter 5.)
Materials Palette
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Drag and Drop Animation Palette
Animation
Display
Window
Swift 3D comes with a handful of predefined animations that you can apply to any object placed
into your scene. These drag and drop enabled animations are the absolute simplest way to add
motion to your scene. To preview any of these animations, just click on the Animation Display
Window. In Chapter 7 youll learn how to create more complex animations as well as design your
own drag and drop animations.
Animation Toolbar
The Animation Toolbar is used to make your scene come to life. Any time a scene is changed over
time, through drag and drop or manual animations, the Animation Toolbar stores that information. Its a powerful tool that gets discussed in Chapter 7.
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Whats on the Menu for the day?

Although many of the menu functions are redundant with
features weve already discussed, there are some additional
important items to cover.
File Menu
New, Open, Close, Save and Save As are all standard
functions youll see on virtually any program.
Save Animation has to do with creating your own drag and
drop animations - discussed in Chapter 7 on animations.
The Import command allows you to bring in Encapsulated
PostScript (EPS) files and turn them into three dimensional
images that can be further manipulated in Swift 3D.
Export is the command you use when you are finished with
your scene and wish to create a vector file for use in a vector or SWF editor. Well go through this
process in the tutorial and discuss it at length in Chapter 8 on importing and exporting.
Send is one of those super-cool features that makes us feel like were really neck deep in the
information age. Its also one of those techy tools that Ive never ever used. It opens your default
email program and creates a new message with your current Swift 3D document already attached.
Summary Info lets you enter the detailed information about your document like Author, Title, etc.
The Open Documents line will list all the recent Swift 3D documents you have been working on.
Exit is computer-speak for Vaya con Dios.
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Edit Menu
Unlimited Undos is music to my ears. No matter how good
you are at using a program, youll eventually mutter the
words, Whoa, what happened? Its times like these I reach
for the Undo button and say a prayer to the RainMaker.
The Delete command gets rid of unwanted objects. It erases
whatever is selected in your scene.
Cut, Copy and Paste behave like normal, but they only
work for objects within Swift 3D, not items from the clipboard that were created in other programs.
Camera Pan Mode is the menu version of using the Camera
Pan button. It lets you move the camera when the background is not available for you to click on.
Scaling Mode is a backup of the Scaling button, giving you the onetime option of resizing an object.
Under the Create command you will find a list identical to the options in the Object Toolbar. Text,
spheres, cones and toruses (or is it tori?) can all be created via this menu command.
Add Point Light and Add Spot Light are alternate methods of creating additional lights that shine
into your scene. Theyll appear on your lighting trackball, just as if you clicked the corresponding
buttons. Remove Selected Light gets rid of...OK, you get the picture.
Reset Transformation does exactly the same thing as the Reset Transformation button. (Hey, I
warned you there was some redundancy.)
Select All will select every object in your scene.
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View Menu
Changing the look of the interface isnt something you really
need to do unless you are looking for some additional space to
enlarge your Viewport. This becomes important when working
on a small screen or with low resolution.
The Status Bar is the thin row of information that runs along
the bottom of the Swift 3D screen. Its useful when youre
exploring the interface and when it comes time to export your
image since it displays the progress of the rendering process.
Property Tools displays or hides the Property Tools.
Trackball Tools displays or hides the Object Trackball.
Gallery Tools displays or hides the Materials and Animations Toolbars.
Lighting Tools displays or hides the Lighting Trackball and associated buttons.
Edit Tools shows or hides the toolbar across the top of the screen that contains the New, Open,
and Save shortcuts, the Object Tools and the Camera Tools.
The Animation Timeline is a window thats necessary if you are doing any animation editing, but if
you are making a still scene, ditch the sucker. By making it go bye, bye (sorry, theres a one-yearold in my life) you can free up some serious space for the Viewport.
Show Secondary Camera is redundant to the button of the same name on the Edit Toolbar.
Zoom Viewport allows you to change the size of your Viewport. You are not actually changing its
dimensions like you would in the Layout Properties, rather, just its size relative to the interface.
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Animation Menu
These menu functions are repeats of the Animation Control
buttons. Stop Playing Animation and Play Animation turn
the animation off and on. First Frame and Last Frame reset or
advance the animation to the beginning or the end. Previous
Frame and Next Frame allow you to move your animation back
or forward by a single frame. Loop toggles the Loop function on
and off, controlling whether or not the animation plays once or
plays over and over.
Setup Menu
This menu allows you to open the Animation and Material editors.
These are both covered more in-depth in Chapters 6 and 7.
Arrange Menu
Once you have more than one object in your scene, the ability to Group and
Ungroup your objects is a nice feature. By selecting the objects you want to
group and choosing Group under the Arrange menu you will create one object
that contains all of your selected objects. Now when you move one, you move
them all. If you choose to separate the objects, select them and choose
Ungroup.
Window Menu
This menu controls what document is currently displayed on your screen and
tells you what other documents are currently open. You can switch from
document to document by selecting whichever one you wish or you can use
the Next command to move on to the next document in your list.
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Help Menu
The Help Menu gives you all the available options of
finding out more about Swift 3D and Electric Rain.
Context Help does the same thing as the Context
Sensitive Help button described earlier. When you
choose this option you will get the little question mark
with your cursor and you can position it over anything
in the interface and click again to find more information regarding that feature.
About Swift 3D will give you a listing of relevant information like who the software is licensed to,
the product ID number, what version you own and what build number youre working with. Some of
this information is very pertinent to getting prompt and accurate email tech support since our
engineers need to know exactly what program you have before they can answer certain questions.
Register Swift 3D Online is how you get your copy of this program registered. We have not
included a registration card in the box so the only way you can register Swift 3D is electronically.
Hopefully you have already registered your copy with us during the installation.
Electric Rain Web Site opens your Web browser and brings you directly to our main site where
you can find out more about our company and our other products.
Swift 3D Technical Support Site will take you right to the support portion of our Web site where
you can gain the quickest access to answers for most technical support issues.
Visiting our Swift 3D Customer Only Site will give you information on any product updates, new
technologies or other Swift 3D related stuff. You must be a registered user to access the Web site,
which will automatically detect whether you fit in that category.
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CHAPTER 3: TUTORIAL
Youve been through tutorials before so you know the gig. Yeah, its lame jumping through hoops
just because some documentation writer says so, but theres really no better way to get the feel of a
program. So bear with me. Were going to keep it short and sweet so you can start whipping out
your own creations, which is really what its all about.
In this tutorial were going to take a crack at the following tasks:
1. Create a new file.
2. Add some 3D text to your scene.
3. Mess around with the camera view.
4. Place a few objects into your scene.
5. Manipulate those objects to show off their good looks.
6. Add materials to your text and objects.
7. Adjust the lighting scheme.
8. Animate the text and objects.
9. Export the file to a Flash format (SWF).
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If you get lost, confused or turned around at any point, fall back and have some fun with the Undo
feature under the Edit menu. Get back to a point you were happy with and resume your work.
So lets hit it.
Open a new document

Goal: Get up and running
1. Open Swift 3D.
2. Choose File > New.
3. Choose Create a new Swift 3D document.
4. Take a look around the

interface. All the toolbars
should be displayed.
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Create text
Goal: Get some 3D text into your scene
1. Click the Text button.
2. A big Text will appear in your viewport.
3. Highlight the word Text in the Property
Tools Dialog Box.
4. Type Swift 3D to replace the original text. (The program will

not crash for those moxy-laden people who type in a more
original piece of text, but keep it
on the short side.)
5. Select the Sizing property.
6. Change the depth to 0.600.
8. Click the Apply button.
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Zoom the camera

Goal: Zoom out on your text so it fits within the Viewport
1. Position your cursor in the Viewport but away from your text.
2. Right click and drag your cursor towards the bottom of your screen.
3. Your cursor will become the Camera Zoom Cursor
and the camera will zoom out.
4. Continue to drag the

cursor down until
your text fills about
half of the Viewport.
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Add an object
Goal: Drop a sphere into your scene
1. Click the Sphere button.
2. Click and drag on the Sphere and
position it just to the left of your
text.
Scale an object
Goal: Get familiar with resizing objects
1. Click the Scale button.
2. Click and drag on the Sphere near its outside edge.
3. Slowly drag towards the center of the sphere to make it slightly
smaller than it was.
4. Release the mouse button when you have the desired size.
NOTE: The Scale button is a one shot deal, so if you need to adjust your scale after the first try
youll need to click the scale button another time.
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Create an object identical to an existing object

Goal: Add another sphere thats the same size as the first
1. Select the Sphere in your viewport.
2. Choose Edit > Copy.
3. Choose Edit > Paste. A new sphere will appear in the exact
position as the original sphere.
4. Reposition your new sphere just to the right of your text by
clicking and dragging on the object.
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Group objects
Goal: Create one object out of three objects for easy manipulation
1. Click on the left Sphere.
2. Hold the SHIFT key down and click on your text.
3. Continue holding the SHIFT key down and click on
the right Sphere.
4. Check the Object Trackball to confirm what
youve selected.
5. Under the Menu toolbar choose Arrange >
Group.
6. Your three objects are now grouped as one object.
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Rotate grouped objects

Goal: Enhance that 3D look
1. Select your text and spheres by clicking on any of
the objects.
2. Position your cursor over the Object Trackball.
(Your text and spheres are displayed inside.)
3. Hold the left mouse button down and rotate the
trackball to see how it rotates the objects.
4. Rotate your objects so they face slightly up and
slightly to your right.
5. Release the left mouse button.
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Position grouped objects

Goal: Relocate your object exactly where you want it
1. Position the cursor over some part of your
object.
2. Click and drag your objects to the upper right
corner of your Viewport.
Pan the camera

Goal: Get familiar with moving the camera left, right, up and down
1. Position the cursor in the background of the Viewport (not on any of your objects).
2. Hold the left mouse button down and move it to get the Camera Pan cursor to appear.
3. Drag the cursor around the screen to see the
camera pan left, right, up and down.
4. Pan the camera so your objects are back into
the center of the Viewport.
NOTE: Yes, that was counterproductive, but now
you can get a good glimpse of that X, Y, Z
coordinate system we talked about in Chapter 2.
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Apply materials to objects

Goal: Make your text and objects look cool by giving them color
1. Click on the Materials Palette button in the Gallery
Toolbar.
Materials Palette
Toggle Button
2. Make sure the Material Drop

Surface button is toggled on (all red),
allowing you to drop the selected
material onto the face, bevel and
edge of the text.
3. Find an amiable material
and position your cursor
over its preview window.
4. Drag and drop the material onto your text.

5. Do the same for your two spheres using a different material.
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Adjust the lighting scheme

Goal: Create a lighting setup that highlights your scene
1. Click the Add Spot Light button.
2. Position your cursor over the Lighting
Trackball.
3. Click and drag on the trackball and position
the spotlight so that it shines on your text from the
upper right side. Release mouse button.
4. Click on one of the Default Lights. It will become
a red wireframe when it is selected.
5. Using the trackball, position it near the spotlight.
6. Select the other Default Light.

7. Click the Remove Light button.
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Apply drag and drop animations

Goal: Get your scene moving the easy way
1. Click the Animation Palette button in the gallery
toolbar.
2. Click the Regular Spins tab.
3. Find the Horizontal Right animation. Click the e-rain
logo to preview the spin.
Animation Palette
Toggle Button
4. Click and drag the

animation logo from the
gallery onto your text.
View your animation

Goal: See what youve created
1. Click the Play button on the Animation Control Bar.
2. Sit back, relax, and using your best French accent say, Im a three dimensional genius.
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Export your image

Goal: Turn your image into a vector animation
1. Choose File > Export.
2. Name your document.
3. Click Save.
4. Write your Mom a quick email.

Itll make her happy. Plus, youve
got a moment or two to kill.
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Swift 3D is now going to render your animation. What happens is your image will be turned into a
whole bunch of shaded triangles. This process is what makes Swift 3D so unique because it can take
a standard image that looks like a bitmap and turn it into a vector-based image, thereby saving you
some serious time and space. Unfortunately, this process can take a bit of time, which is a good
reason to keep your animations short and sweet, leaving the more complex animations and
tweening to the Flash editors.
If your Mom doesnt have email you can sit back and watch your processor max out as it calculates
every little curve and angle, creating a complex wireframe mesh of your image. The real time-sucker
is the fact that it has to be done for each frame of your animation. But hey, have you ever tried to
create realistic 3D with Flash? Wed be looking at writing a novel to your Mom rather than email.
When the 3D rendering is complete, you will be the proud owner of a file with the SWF extension.
You can then import this SWF document into Flash or another vector authoring program and use
your new animated image however you see fit.
And thats the tutorial. Short and sweet, as promised, but we hit most of the major functions of Swift
3D. Of course, theres a lot more to the program and many more things you can do other than just
creating a spinning piece of text sandwiched between two spheres. In the following chapters youll
get more in-depth information on all of Swift 3Ds functionality, but for now, consider yourself a
competent designer of cool graphics that move. Hey, you should put that on your resume.
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CHAPTER 4: OBJECTS
In the tutorial you got a chance to throw some basic shapes into your scene, apply some materials
to their surfaces, and create some basic animations with those objects. In this chapter, were going
to delve a little deeper into the manipulation of objects and see which aspects of your creations you
can change.
Totally Text
Text is considered an object. The way Swift 3D turns text into an object is by taking each character,
giving it some depth (extrudes it), and applying a default bevel to the edges. Any font you have
installed on your computer can be utilized by Swift 3D to create text objects. Some fonts look better
than others when they are endowed with that third dimension. Straightforward fonts give you
straightforward results, while wild and crazy fonts do wild and crazy things on your screen. The best
way to test what looks good and what doesnt is to experiment and keep track of your favorites.
Once you click the Text tool and the word Text appears in your scene, the fun begins. You can
replace the text with your own by highlighting the word in the Properties Tools and typing
whatever you like. Use the Font dropdown menu to choose the style of text you desire using the
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preview function to guide your selection. You can adjust the

alignment of your text with the Alignment buttons shown. The
Character Map button gives you a display of all the weird
characters that come with each font, but arent shown on your
keyboard.
Bevels
Bevels refer to the transition between the front and back
surfaces and the side surfaces of your text. When you are using
3D text, adding bevels will create another surface for light to
reflect off of, thus creating a more interesting effect. Swift 3D
allows you to apply five different types of bevel effects.
Styles
Bevel Style Menu
Text Properties
Square A 90 degree angle, giving your text only three total

surfaces front, side and back (i.e. no bevel).
Beveled A 45 degree plane, as if you ran a knife along the
front corners of your text at a 45 degree angle.
Outer Round A smooth, convex, rounded transition between
the front surface and side surface, as if you sanded the front
corners down.
Inner Round A smooth, concave, rounded transition, as if
you gouged out the front corners of your text.
Step Down As if you glued your text to the front of a larger
version of your text.
NOTE: You are not actually removing material from the characters, you are adding thickness to them.
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Depth
With the Depth control you are manipulating how quickly
the text makes your desired transition from front and back
surfaces to side surfaces. The higher the number, the longer
the transition, ergo, the more depth you apply to your bevel,
the thicker you text becomes. Get carried away and youve
got some funky looking stuff, not that funky is a bad thing.
Face
By default, the bevels are applied to both the front corners
and the back corners so you will see the same thing going on
when you view the backside of your text. To control which
faces are beveled, choose front, back or both under the Face
options.
Smoothness
This slider controls how accurately curves are drawn on
your text. If you adjust towards Fine, your curves will
smooth out, but the amount of lines it takes to render the
text increases, and so does your file size. Adjusting towards
Coarse will make any curves appear more angular and
reduce file size. The general rule of thumb is leave it alone
unless you have a good reason not to.
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Sizing
You have five controls over the sizing of Text. Width, height
and depth are straightforward, and so are inter character and
inter line for that matter. There are three ways of adjusting the
numbers for each of these characteristics: type in your desired
number, nudge the number up or down by clicking the corresponding arrow on the spin button, or position the cursor
between the arrows on the spin button and when you receive
the double lines you can click and drag up or down. Any
numerical changes will use the center of the text as a baseline.
So if you increase the depth, the front of the text will move
towards you (if its facing the camera) and the back of the text
will move away from you.
Sizing Properties
Default Depth
Increased Depth
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Applying materials to surfaces

When you create a piece of text (or import an EPS image
see Chapter 8 for details) you end up with characters that
have three types of surfaces. Faces refer to the front and
back of the text. If you had a two dimensional character it
would have a front and a back face and nothing more.
Edges are what happens when your text gets depth. They
are the surfaces that are perpendicular to the front and
back faces. Finally, by default, your text gets beveled edges
on the front and back with a depth of 0.030.
With all these edges to work with, theres a lot of creative
options as far as where and what materials are applied.
There are two main ways to control this process.
Using the drop surfaces in the materials property tools is
one such way. By clicking on the Material heading in the
Property List Box you can choose what surface a drag
and drop material gets applied to. Once you have chosen
the surface, you can drag your desired material to the
Material Sphere located just below the surface options.
You can also use this sphere to reference the materials
already applied to each surface.
Materials Properties
Another method, often the quickest, is to drag the material directly onto the text in your Viewport.
Now here you have to be cautious since the material will drop onto whatever surface the cursor is
located over. If your text is nice and large and your bevels are deep and obvious, a moment of
concentration will give you quick and accurate results. If these conditions dont exist, you may want
to use the first technique via the Property Tools. Either way, your cursor will show a little + sign
when you are over a surface that will accept a material.
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If you are looking to apply a single material to all three

surfaces of your text at one time, use the Material Drop
Surface toggle button located to the left of the Materials
Palette. When the little icon is all red, materials will be
automatically applied to all surfaces. When the icon is red,
yellow and blue (default), you have to either drag your
material to the exact surface desired or use the Property
Toolbox to choose your surface.
Applying materials to children

(Not little Johnny, mind you)
When your create a text object, it is considered one main object that consists of individual grouped
characters, but the characters within the word are considered Children and can be somewhat
manipulated independently.
To apply different materials to individual characters, hold down the CTRL key while dragging and
dropping your desired material. You will see each character get a bounding box as you drag the
material over it. Release the mouse button when you are over your chosen character.
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Object Properties
The Object Properties are applicable to text objects and
all other objects as well. You have two settings to deal
with no matter what type of object you have selected.
The Draw Back Faces option will tell Swift 3D to render
all sides of your objects, even if they arent showing in
your scene. For the most part you can leave this turned
off, but if you have any desire to get creative and place a
camera inside of an object, you will need to have Draw
Back Faces turned on to be able to see any of those inside
surfaces.
The Hide command will make your selected object
disappear. It will still be a part of your scene, but it will
remain invisible. One important thing to remember is that
for the object to actually be hidden, you must also
uncheck the Hidden option under the Layout Properties
which tells Swift 3D whether or not to show hidden
objects.
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Taking Shape
Sphere
A Sphere is a sphere is a sphere. There is really only one
aspect of this shape you can control the radius. Even
rotating a sphere will yield zero results since they are
perfectly symmetrical in all three dimensions. Pretty
boring, yet they have a thousand uses.
Cone
Sphere
Cone Properties
When you drop a Cone into the scene its just that, a cone.
However, a cone is actually a cylinder with a closed end (picky,
picky, I know), so when you create a cone you have the option of
turning it into a cylinder by checking the Cylinder option in the
Property Tools. With a cylinder you can only control its radius
and length, but with a cone you have control over its top radius,
bottom radius and length.
Cylinder
Cone
Something
Else
With both objects you can choose to

uncheck the Closed box which allows you to
see into them, as if they were created with
paper rather than clay. You cant apply
different materials to the outside and inside
of these open shapes.
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CHAPTER 4: OBJECTS
Torus
The doughnut. Hey, nothing wrong with a little vocabulary, I suppose. The Torus is simply defined by two
numbers, the Minor Radius and the Major Radius. The
minor radius is the distance from the center of the shape
to the inside of the doughnut (sorry, old habits die hard).
The major radius is the distance from the center of the
shape to the outside of the doughnut. Swift 3D actually
uses these numbers to determine the proportions of the
torus, so if you scale the object they will remain the
same.
Torus Properties
Torus
(doughnut)
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Cube
Achieving a cube in Swift 3D is a little different than
using the object buttons. Instead, you actually use a
text character to create a 3D square and then give
the character sufficient depth or extrusion to make
it a cube. Here are the steps:
1. Create a block of text by clicking the Text button.
Cube
2. Clear the word Text from the Property Toolbox.

3. Find a font with a solid square in its Character Map.
4. Select the Solid Square and click Apply.
5. Choose the Bevel Property and set Style to Square.
6. Choose the Sizing Property and increase the Depth of the
object. If youre using Wingdings, 0.6 will give you a perfect
cube.
7. Sit back and say to yourself, Man, I hope they put a cube
button in Version 2.0.
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Grouping and Ungrouping

The Arrange > Group command will take any selected objects and join them together to create one
object. This allows you to move them around your scene as one unit. It also allows you to animate
multiple objects together, which can save time over moving each object individually. If you want to
break your objects apart after you have grouped them use the Arrange > Ungroup command.
Aside from the materials that come with Swift 3D, feel free to invent as many as you like and store
them in the Materials Palette with the pre-made ones.
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CHAPTER 5: MATERIALS
Before you start whipping out materials there are a few tidbits of information regarding lighting that
you should know (if you dont already). There are three properties that control what materials look
like and how they behave in a scene:
Diffuse Light is direct, angle-dependant light. It refers to light from a distinct source that directly
strikes an object; for instance, if you hold an object under a reading lamp. In Swift 3D, diffuse light
defines the color of the object, so if you choose green for your diffuse light, youll have a green
object. Diffuse light is brightest when the light source is shining directly on the object, or at a 90
degree angle from the surface face. As that angle of incidence decreases (becomes more parallel to
the surface) the diffuse light will become more and more dim, thus the angle-dependant stuff
mentioned earlier.
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Ambient Light refers to uniform reflected light. Referring to our talk about environment vs.
background, we used the analogy of the room. Even if an object has no direct light on it, its usually
illuminated by ambient light since those crazy light rays are always bouncing around and coming at
us from every angle. Therefore, the color of the surfaces this ambient light is reflecting off of can
have an effect on the color of the ambient lighting. For example, if you place a yellow ball in a blue
room, the ball will still be yellow, but it will have a slight blue tint from all of that blue ambient
lighting.
Highlight is the bright spot an object gets when a distinct light source is directed at it. The glossier
an object is, the more distinct the spotlight will be. By changing the color of the highlight, its like
changing the color of the light source being aimed at the object, as if you had a colored spotlight. In
Swift 3D, you can also adjust the size of the highlight on an object via the Materials Editor.
Materials Editor
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These are some general rules to think about when youre concocting your own witchs brew of
materials:
Diffuse Light defines the basic color of an object. Mess with that first.
Ambient Light adds to the brightness of an object so a bright ambient light will lighten your diffuse
light selection.
The darker the Highlight Color, the more of a flat finish you create. Black gives you a totally flat
material.
Conversely, the lighter the Highlight Color, the glossier the finish you create. White is totally
glossy.
Highlight Size simply adjusts how much area of your object gets covered by the highlight. You can
slide the bar to see its effects.
Checking the Emits Light box creates a neon effect that makes the object glow from the inside.
Double Illuminate has to do with some complicated things Swift 3D does when it determines how
to shade each individual polygon in an object. Basically, by creating a material thats double
illuminate you are telling Swift 3D to apply that material to both sides of every surface, even if they
arent visible. For example, if you make a cube and place your camera inside that cube, with a
double illuminate material you will be able to see the inside surfaces. Without a double illuminate
material you would just see black. We feel that double illuminate materials are more versatile so all
of the materials that come with Swift 3D are double illuminate.
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To create a brand new material:

1. Choose Setup > Materials.
2. Select the Category your new material will
best fit into.
3. Click the Add button.
4. Give your new material a Name and a

Display Name.
Gallery Setup
5. Adjust your Ambient, Diffuse and

Highlight parameters by double
clicking on the color display box below
each category.
Materials Editor
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6. When the Color Palette appears you can either choose an existing color or create your own. To
create a custom color click on the Color Matrix to determine Hue and Saturation and then
adjust the Luminosity slider bar.
7. When youre happy,

click the OK button.. If you
think you might like to use
that color again, choose
Add to Custom Colors
before you click OK. Also,
the Color Palette comes
with its own built-in help
system.
Color Palette
8. After youve adjusted all three parameters, adjust the Highlight Size with the slider bar.
9. If you want your object to Emit Light (neon effect), check that box.
10. If you want your material to be Double Illuminate, check that box as well.
11. Click the OK button.
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To edit an existing material:

NOTE: The materials provided with Swift 3D are not editable directly. To create a material based on
an existing one, you just make a copy of the material, edit it to your liking and save it with a new
name.
1. Choose Setup > Materials.
2. Select the material you would like to
copy.
3. Click Copy.
4. Select the new material created.
5. Click Edit.
6. Give your material a new Name and
Display Name.
7. Adjust your parameters the same way
you would when you create a new
material.
Gallery Setup
Remove will wipe out any existing materials forever and ever and Move lets you switch materials
from category to category. And, in case youre wondering where these materials are stored, theyre
in the Materials Folder wherever you installed the program.
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CHAPTER 6: LIGHTING
Setting your three dimensional stage is an important part of getting great looking images, but good
lighting is really what makes your creation jump off the screen. Talk to any movie director about the
importance of lighting and youd better grab a cup of coffee, because youre in for the long haul.
Well, were not Speilberg, but we can certainly know enough to have some fun.
First, its crucial to understand where the lights you are creating and manipulating actually reside.
Lets talk about that crystal trackball for a minute. Its fairly easy to envision point lights and spot
lights attached to that sphere, shining into the center of your scene. The difficult part is realizing
how big that sphere is. The rule is that your sphere of lights is as close to the objects as possible,
while still encompassing all of the objects within the scene. In plaintalk - the bigger your scene, the
bigger the sphere of lights.
What this means is that as you create and move objects around in your scene, the lighting scheme
will interact with the objects producing different effects. For this reason its a good idea to lay off
any detailed lighting designs until youve got your scene fairly stable.
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CHAPTER 6: LIGHTING
Choose your weapon - Point Light vs. Spot Light

As we talked about in Chapter 2, Point Lights are like light bulbs and spot lights are like flashlights.
So if you are looking for specific effects, choose your weapon carefully. Point lights cast more light
overall. Its easy to flood out your objects and lose the 3D effect with too many regular lights placed
towards the front of your scene. Spot Lights dont cast much light and should be used mostly to
create highlights or bright points in your scene. Spot lights are also very sensitive to the direction
they point, so when we talk about placing lights directly into the scene, spot lights are the most
effective tools.
Adding and Subtracting lights is a very simple process with the buttons. When a light is selected
it becomes a wireframe, and only selected lights can be removed with the Subtract Light button.
Once a light is selected, you can move it around the scene by clicking and dragging anywhere on the
lighting trackball. When a light moves to the back of the scene it gets smaller. You can only move
one light at a time.
Lighting Properties
When you have a light selected, you can view that lights properties
in the Property Toolbox. With a Point Light you have control over
the color of the light and whether it is active or not. By double
clicking on the Color Window you access the Color Palette that
allows you to choose from some pre-made color or create your
own. For a more in-depth explanation of color creation see
Chapter 5 on materials.
Lighting Properties
With Spot Lights, you have these same controls as well as three
more. Fade Angle adjusts how wide the spot light will shine. Cutoff
Angle refers to how wide the spot lights hot-spot is. Tightness
controls how quickly the lights intensity transitions between the
hot-spot and the fade angle. The higher the number, the quicker the
light dims.
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CHAPTER 6: LIGHTING
Placing lights into the scene

There may be occasions when you want a light to
play a more active role in your scene. An example
would be if you had multiple objects in your scene
but you wanted to get a spot light on one particular
object. Another reason to place a spot light into the
scene is if you want to create some animation
effects. For example, you could have an individual
spot light panning back and forth across an object.
See Chapter 7 for more details on animating lights.
To place a spot light into the scene:

1. Click the Add Spot Light button.
2. Click and drag the Spot Light from the lighting
trackball to the Viewport.
3. The light will automatically locate itself at the center
of the Viewports grid (coordinates 0,0,0).
4. You can now treat the light as a full-fledged object, using

the same mouse maneuvers you would use to position
objects. The best way to aim a light placed into the scene
is with the Object Trackball. Although you can resize the
light with the scaling tool, it has no effect on the amount
of light cast. (Read: dont bother.)
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When you drag a light into the scene, the show lights feature turns on automatically so in addition
to your placed light, you will see all other lights shining into your scene. These other lights will be
stippled (lightened) so there should be no confusion as to which lights are in the scene and which
ones arent. All lights, placed or not, will be visible until the image gets exported or until you
uncheck the Lights box under the Display category in the Layout properties.
Think about how you are going to export your image. If you choose Area Shading
to reduce file size, you will lose any complex lighting schemes. (See Chapter 8
on importing and exporting for more information on this subject.)
Background and Ambient Light Color

To be honest, manipulating the Background is of limited use to you since the majority of images
created in Swift 3D will be imported into a SWF editor for further manipulation. When you bring an
exported SWF file into Flash, the background does not come along with it, only the objects. If,
however, you play your Swift 3D creations in the Flash Player, the background is respected and will
appear in your scene.
As for Ambient Light Color, its a subtle effect. For the average user its scope is limited. The main
reason you might alter this setting is to lend a slight tint of color to gray or light colored objects, or
to lighten or darken your objects overall.
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To change your environment:

1. Click on the Environment category in the Property
Toolbox.
2. Double click on the default color for the Background
Color or Ambient Light Color, depending on which you
want to alter.
Environment Properties
3. Use the Color Palette to choose

or make your desired color.
4. Click the OK button.
Color Palette
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CHAPTER 7: ANIMATION
Before we huck our brains into the gripping world of animation, lets chat a tad about applicability.
The basic question you have to ask yourself is, Is it worth it? To determine the answer, you should
take a look at the big picture here. Swift 3D has solved the confounding problem of creating quality
3D images in a vector-based format. Swift 3D also has some great animation tools that allow you to
create dynamic scenes. But Swift 3D is currently just a stepping stone for images on their way to
stardom in another vector-based 2D presentation.
Now lets take a look at Flash and other vector graphics editors. They too can create exciting
animations, and their strongest selling point is the ability to do so without creating large files. So
realizing what you can do best in Swift 3D and what you can do more efficiently in a Flash editor is
very important as you start to create animations.
Two dimensional vector editors do a great job of creating animation paths, or making objects move
around the scene. Also, the tweening function of these editors does nice work with objects that
change size and shape over time. What these editors cant do well is spin, rotate or flip objects,
create realistic animated lighting, animate cameras and, of course, create realistic 3D effects. These
are all the features that Swift 3D specializes in. So, with that said, lets go through all of your
animation options in Swift 3D and you can choose what you do with our program and what you do
with the Flash editors.
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Animation Timeline Toolbar

Selection Window
Animation Control
Buttons
Frames Per
Second Control
Current Frame
Indicator
Loop Toggle Button
Frame Numbers
Timeline Scroll Bar
This toolbar is where you control all aspects of animation in your scene. The timeline is divided into
frames, much like a movie. The more frames, the longer the movie. You can either create animations
by changing each of the individual frames (takes awhile), or create several keyframes and let Swift
3D interpolate or tween the animation in between (fast and efficient).
Keyframes
Understanding Keyframes and how they work is critical to creating successful animations. Basically, keyframes represent points in an animation where you can make important changes take
place. In between two keyframes, Swift 3D will make all the decisions on how your scene changes
using its tweening function. The keyframes simply give Swift 3D reference points to work from while
it decides how to create the transitional frames.
Each keyframe has a Start Animation and a Stop Animation control. Within one frame the
controls are set to a value of one so there is no pause. Adjusting these controls allows you to stop
one aspect of an animation for as long as you want. For example, you may want a spinning text
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object to pause mid-spin so its easier to read. Weve used the universal Green equals Go, Red
equals Stop color scheme to make it obvious when an object is going to move, rotate or change size,
and when it is going to stop doing those things.
Animation Toolbar features

The Selection Window of the animation timeline shows what object the displayed timeline
corresponds with. When you have more than one animated object, each will have its own set of
animation characteristics. When no objects are selected, the timeline shows the animation characteristics for the Front View or camera.
The red Current Frame Indicator shows what frame your scene is currently in. Once an animation
has been created you can use this red bar to preview your animation or move to a specific frame for
further editing. The dark gray bar behind the current frame indicator shows the total number of
frames in your animation.
There are three animation properties an object can have: Position, Rotation and Scale.
Position When objects change their location on the X, Y, Z coordinate grid.
Rotation When objects rotate around a separate pivot point.
Scale When objects change size. You can also get this effect when the camera zooms in or out.
The Animation Control buttons act like controls on your VCR:
Play Does just that.
Stop The opposite of play.
First Frame Moves the scene to the first frame of your animation.
Previous Frame Moves the scene back one frame.
Next Frame Advances scene to the next frame.
Last Frame Advances scene to the last frame of your animation.
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The Frames Per Second Control allows you to adjust how smooth your
animation will be upon export. The more frames that get viewed each
second, the more continuous your animation will be, and visa versa. The
default of 12 has proven itself to be the most effective for use on the Web,
and when you import Swift 3D files into Flash it overrides any changes and
reverts back to the default of 12 frames per second.
The Loop Toggle button turns the looping function on and off.
The Timeline Scroll Bar gives you an easy way to view the end of longer animations.
To create a basic keyframe animation using the timeline:

1. Create a scene with at least
one object.
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2. Click and drag the Current Frame Indicator to the desired frame number, setting your
animation length.
3. Manipulate your object(s). If you

change an objects location, a
keyframe will be inserted under the
Position characteristic. If you rotate
an object, a keyframe will be inserted
under the Rotation characteristic.
And guess what happens if you Scale
an object? Yup, more of the same.
4. To view your animation press the

Play button.
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To delete an animation:
1. Select the object you
want to de-animate.
2. The objects name will
appear in the
Selection Window.
3. Right click on either the main timeline or the individual animation properties, i.e. position,
rotation and spin, and select Delete All Keyframes.
NOTE: This command only deletes the selected objects. All other objects that have animations are
not deleted. Often times the camera will get animated without you realizing it, so make sure you
check that if you are trying to get rid of all animations.
To pause an animation:
1. Insert a Keyframe where you want to pause the animation by moving the Current Frame
Indicator to that frame and making a slight alteration in your scene.
2. Position your cursor over the left half of the
keyframe bar.
3. When you get the Left Directional Arrow,
click and drag to where you want your
animation to begin its pause.
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4. If you want to adjust the Animation Start Time, do the same on the right half of the keyframe.
5. To adjust the location of the pause, position
your cursor over the Red Bar in between the
start and stop animation control bars and click
and drag to reposition the entire keyframe.
Animation Properties
When you right click on any of your keyframes there is
an option to control Properties. With this feature you
can adjust how the animation behaves as its played.
The three main adjustments you can make are
Tension, Continuity and Bias. These features are
designed to influence how paths and scaling behave,
not spins.
Default Settings
Tension controls how smoothly the animation flows

through the keyframe. With less tension the animation
will flow more naturally through each keyframe. With
more tension the animation will have a more abrupt
feeling as it moves through each keyframe.
Low Tension
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Continuity is a similar control only it allows you to force

the animation past its designated keyframe. For example,
if you apply a high continuity to a scaling animation where
the object is getting smaller then larger, the object will get
even smaller than the keyframe, then bounce to the
keyframe size, then get smaller again before it finally
increases in size to the next keyframe.
High
Continuity
Bias allows you to control whether an animation flows

equally through a keyframe or whether it favors one side
or the other. For example, a curved path animation would
be more heavily curved on the side you adjust the bias
towards.
Left Bias
1. Remember what Swift 3D is good at and what Flash editors are good at. Dont
spend hours on a complicated Swift animation, only to find that you could have
done the same thing in a 2D vector animation program and kept your file size
smaller.
2. Make your animation as short as you can while still maintaining decent quality. The more frames
to your animation, the longer it will take to render and the larger your file size will be.
3. Make sure that you are in the proper frame before you make any changes to your scene. Its easy
to play your animation, stop it, and change something you dont like. Whatever frame you stop your
movie on is going to be the frame that gets changed, and if youre using tweening functions to create
your animations, you can goof up your work pretty quickly.
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Drag and Drop Animations

As we demonstrated in the tutorial, Drag and Drop Animations are the easiest way to get your
scene moving. Weve supplied you with some common animations that are not overly complex. To
preview the animations just click on the thumbnail image. To apply them to your image just click,
drag and drop them on whatever object you wish to be animated. The default length of the drag and
drop animations is 40 frames and they all have starting, middle and ending keyframes under their
respective animation categories.
To change the length of a drag and drop animation:

1. Move the Ending Keyframe to lengthen or shorten the animation time.
2. Adjust the Middle Keyframe to keep the animation proportional (i.e. halfway between the start
frame and the end frame.)
To delete a drag and drop animation:

1. Right click on the Animation Timeline.
2. Choose Delete All
Keyframes.
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Animation Drop Target

When this button is off, any drag and drop animations will be applied to your entire object as a
whole. When this button is toggled on, drag and drop animations are applied to each of the characters in a text object individually or each individual object in a group. For example, if you drop a spin
onto your text while the Drop Target button is toggled on, each individual character will spin around
their respective axis.
Toggled On

Toggled Off
If you want to apply a drag and drop animation to just one character, hold down the CTRL button
while dragging the animation to the desired character. Make sure the Animation Drop Target
button is not toggled on.
Scenes can get very confusing when you start to animate individual characters in
text objects. I wouldnt do much more than apply spins to characters since
changing their paths really creates chaos. If you need to delete an animation for
an individual character, hold down the CTRL key as you select that character. Its
animation properties will appear in the animation timeline and you can delete
the animation by right clicking on the timeline and selecting Delete All Key
Frames.
Thats a sweet animation I just made!

As you become more familiar with Swift 3D and start generating some cool animations, you may
come across something youd like to save for later. Not the image, mind you, but the animation
scheme. Swift allows you to take your self-created animations and turn them into drag and drop
animations for easy application at a later date.
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To create your own drag and drop animation:

1. Design an animation you like.
2. Select the Object that has the killer
animation you want to preserve.
3. Choose File > Save Animation.
4. Select a Category your animation will fit
into.
5. Invent a Name and a Display Name for
your animation.
6. Use the Set Display Frame controls to
choose what frame of your animation to
show in the preview window.
7. Click OK.
There are a few things to consider before you fill up your animation palette with
nifty creations. The animation youre turning into a drag and drop will have the
same number of frames as your original. Also, complex animations that look
weird when you make them, will look even weirder in the preview screen.
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Animating lights
A very trick feature in Swift 3D is the ability to animate your lighting scheme. You can accomplish
this feat by either animating the overall lighting scheme (i.e. the lights on the lighting trackball), or
by animating individual lights that have been dropped into the scene and turned into objects. (See
Chapter 6 for more information on placing a light into the scene.)
To animate the lighting scheme:

1. Create a scene with at least one object.
2. Adjust your Lighting Scheme as desired.
3. Move the Current Frame Indicator ahead to

adjust the length of your animation.
4. Change your Lighting Scheme in the ending keyframe by

rotating the lights on the lighting trackball.
Your lights are now animated, with their positions being
tweened from the start frame to the end frame. You can track
their movement by watching the lighting trackball while the
animation plays.
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To animate a light that is part of the scene:

1. Make sure you are in the frame that you want the light to become animated (usually the first).
2. Create a Spot Light with the Add Spotlight button.
3. Drag and drop the Spot Light from the Lighting Trackball
to the Scene. Youll see your freshly placed light pop up in
the Object Trackball.
4. Select the Spot Light and move it where you want in the
scene. Right click and drag will move it forward or back.
Use the Object Trackball to aim the Spot Light.
5. Using the Current Frame Indicator choose the frame
you want your light to stop moving (usually the last).
6. Adjust the position of your light.
7. Your Spot Light will now have a tweened path and spin.
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The animated camera

Swift 3D allows you to animate any of your camera views by using the Pan function. It also provides
one camera view that moves from a pivot point which can lead to very realistic look around
animations.
To animate a Standard Camera:

1. Create a scene with the camera positioned where you want to start its animation.
2. Move the Current Frame Indicator
ahead the number of frames that you
want your camera to be animated.
3. Click and drag on your scene where there

are no objects. You will see the Camera
Pan cursor.
4. Position your camera where you want
your cameras animation to end.
5. Your camera is now animated with a
tweened path from its starting point to
ending point.
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To animate the Rotating Camera:

1. Create a scene and choose Rotating Camera from
the Camera View menu.
2. You will see your cameras directional information
appear in the Object Trackball. The Green
Arrow is the cameras vertical axis and the Blue
Arrow is the direction your camera is looking.
3. Aim your camera using the Object

Trackball.
4. Move the Current Frame Indicator ahead
the number of frames that you want your
camera to be animated.
5. Adjust your camera using the Object
Trackball.
6. Your rotating camera is now animated, with
a tweened rotation.
The big difference between these two animated camera options is that Swift 3Ds
Standard Cameras are designed so that when you pan them they are actually
being repositioned on a two dimensional plane rather than actually panning. The
Rotating Camera acts like a real camera would as it pans - moving around from a
fixed point. The Rotating Camera will create more realistic animations as if you
were moving your head around and looking at various objects in your scene.
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CHAPTER 8: IMPORTING & EXPORTING
If youve worked with other graphics programs, youre probably familiar with the export command
and should avoid boredom by skipping this short intro. If youre not sure what the difference is
between Save As and Export, read on.
While you are creating your masterpiece in Swift 3D, the file being generated is in the T3D format. So
if you want to insure you have an editable back-up of your work, or if you need to save an unfinished project, the Save As and Save commands work just like any other program. When you are
totally done designing your image or animation, the Export command creates a vector file that Flash
uses (SWF), which can be imported directly into Flash. Once the file is exported, you can no longer
manipulate it using Swift 3D so you want to also do a Save As before you quit Swift 3D. This will give
you both the exported file and a T3D file for future editing.
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Importing
3D Studio models
You have surely noticed that when you
create a new file in Swift 3D you are
immediately asked if you want to create a
brand new empty T3D file or if youd like to
open a file based on an existing 3D Studio
model (3DS). Now I needed a little explaining from the powers that created Swift 3D as
to the difference between this process and
just importing an image like you would an
Encapsulated PostScript file (EPS), and this
is what I understood. When you bring a 3D
Studio model into Swift 3D, our program reads the objects, materials and lighting schemes that were
created in the original 3DS scene. This process is not really a simple importation of an object since
3DS files have all this associated baggage that Swift 3D has to deal with. In other words, rather than
importing a 3DS file, you are opening it into Swift 3D.
Another thing that comes along with these 3DS files is the rotating camera function. In Swift 3D the
rotating camera pivots around itself, sort of like its on a tripod. In 3DS you can designate a cameras
target point so that the camera rotates around a fixed point. Swift 3D respects that functionality and
you end up with another option in the Camera View menu that gives you access to that imported
camera view. You will find that view at the top of your Camera View menu list.
When you bring your 3D Studio model into Swift 3D, the model could appear as a grouped object or
an ungrouped object. It depends completely on whether it was grouped upon export in 3D Studio, so
your best bet is to select the object and look in the Arrange menu to see what your models status is.
If its ungrouped and you would like it to become one object, do an Edit > Select All and then an
Arrange > Group and youll be in business.
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Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and Adobe Illustrator (AI) files

Swift 3D will take almost any vector EPS image and turn it into a three dimensional object, while
retaining its original 2D shape. You will lose any previously applied colors but those can be controlled from within the Swift 3D program. So vector-based drawing programs that export to the EPS
file format can now function as preliminary design tools for later use in Swift 3D. In addition, Swift
3D supports the importation of Adobe Illustrator (AI) files.
The only complication you may have is if you have imported a bitmapped image into your drawing
program and then exported it as an EPS or AI image. Swift 3D does not recognize these bitmaps, so
after importing some cool artwork, you may find yourself screaming in horror at what our program
has done to your image. Keep this in mind if you have pre-made files youre trying to render as 3D
objects or if you are designing new images for use in this program. NO BITMAPS!
To import an EPS or an AI file into Swift 3D:

1. Open a new file.
2. Choose File > Import.
3. Locate the image you want to import.
4. Click Import.
5. You can now manipulate the imported
EPS image as you would any object
created within Swift 3D.
NOTE: If your image is made up of more than one shape, it will arrive into Swift 3Ds interface as a
grouped object. You will not be able to change its properties until you have ungrouped it. You will
then have access to the same properties you would have if the original EPS image was a single
object. Those Properties are Bevels, Sizing, Material and Object.
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Exporting
When you go to export your
image you will be faced with
several options and formats.
Generally, there will be a
standard that you use when
exporting, but its important to
know what all these functions
are so if you have any special
needs youll know how to meet
them.
Frames
If your scene is animated you
can export All Frames, the
Current Frame or you can
choose exactly which frames
you want exported.
Include Edges
If you choose to export your image and Include Edges, Swift 3D will give you the option of
exporting only the Outlines or the Entire Mesh version of your image. This option definitely cuts
down your file size, but realize that if you dont also choose a fill option you will only be looking at
lines after export. The Line Weight dropdown allows you to choose how thick you want your lines
to appear in the exported SWF file.
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Fill Objects
If you export your image as just fills you will end up with the shading and coloring of your scene, but
there will be no lines separating the surfaces of your objects. This is a very common export form to
use, producing very realistic images that can be used as solid objects in Flash. Besides, my high
school art teacher used to preach, There are no true lines in nature. Whatever you say, Mr.
Hodomarski.
Exporting your image as both outlines and fills will create two separate images layered on top of one
another. One will be the lines between all of the surfaces of your objects and the other will be the fill
patterns that give your objects their solidity. The only advantage this export format has over just fills
is that when you bring your image into Flash you can keep the two separate and create some cool
effects. Its your image - its your decision. If you use this format and want to keep the lines and fills
together as one image, make sure you group them together as one object when you import them
into Flash.
There is a limitation to the complexity of objects you can export from Swift 3D. Its safe to assume
that anything you design within the program itself will have no problem being exported. Its when
you start bringing in very complex models from outside sources like 3D Studio that you might exceed
our current polygon limit. If this happens, you will be greeted with a kind message from our engineers saying that your image is just too overwhelming for our current version of Swift 3D. And trust
us, well be working like dogs to get you a new version that can handle absolutely everything you
throw at it.
File Level
You will see an option to export to Flash 3 or Flash 4 under the File Level option. Aside from the
obvious reason of what version of Flash you own, there is another factor that may influence your
decision at this junture. Youll need to jump ahead to the section on how Swift 3D imports into Flash
for more information on what to choose for this export feature.
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Mesh Shading, Area Shading, Average Fill or Flat Fill

Mesh Shading is the best you can get. It shades each polygon in
the mesh producing greater accuracy. Your exported image will
basically look exactly as it did in your Viewport within Swift 3D.
You will retain all of the lighting, reflections and details of your
image, but youll also end up with a file thats pretty sizeable.
Best shading - Largest file size
Area Shading is a step down from Mesh Shading. Your

image is going to lose complex lighting schemes and wont
display more than one reflected light source on each surface
of your objects. On the other hand, your file size will be
drastically reduced. Good shading - Medium file size
Average Fill is a comfortable medium between having actual

gradient shading and not having any lighting influences in
your scene. This is a variation on Flat Filling where each
surface receives a flat color, but the color chosen depends on
that surfaces orientation to the light source. This export
format provides good 3D realism while keeping file size pared
down significantly. Good Shading - Small file size.
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Flat Filled is the most primitive of export formats, with the

exception of using the Lines Only format. Basically this format
chooses the designated diffuse color for each surface and shades
the entire surface that color. Again, file size is drastically reduced
over the Mesh Shaded format, but image quality is pretty weak.
This example has the Outlines included.
Cartoon shading - Smallest file size
Include Edges - Outlines vs. Entire Mesh
Outlines is the simplest of export options. It just shows the hard

edges of your objects, or the places where distinctly different
planes adjoin. If you are using the flat shading export format the
outlines can help considerably in defining your objects without
adding much file size.
Entire Mesh is a more elaborate version of Outlines. This

export format shows every intersection between planes that
exists. As shapes become more complex and have more
curved surfaces, the mesh becomes more and more elaborate. This feature can give you interesting wireframe effects
when used without a fill pattern.
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So whats the REAL difference?

One way or the other, youre most likely going to be importing your image into a Flash editor. What
you do with it from there will decide how you want to export it from Swift 3D. If your Flash file is
heading for the Web, you can pretty much bet that Area Shaded is going to be the most realistic
export format for you. It retains fairly good quality while shrinking your file size down considerably.
Just to give you an idea of how much your file size will be reduced, youre looking at a bare minimum of two times smaller than a Mesh Shaded export. On average, your exports will be eight to ten
times smaller (now were talking some serious shrinkage). And if youre lucky, depending on the
type of image youve produced, you might achieve a reduction of 20 times the Mesh Shaded
version.
Now maybe your creation is headed for a use other than the Web. If youre designing an image or
an animation where the whole bandwidth issue is not a factor, then knock yourself out and go with
a Mesh Shaded export. Youll end up with the best quality possible and load time isnt an issue when
your exported file is running directly from a CPU.
Both Outlines and Entire Mesh have their uses, but realize that if youre going for a realistic looking
3D image, the lines just dont get you there. If gradients are not a priority for you, Average Fill
provides a nice 3D effect and the file size will be a bit smaller than an Area Shaded export. And as far
as Flat Filled is concerned, dont waste your time unless youre going to be using it in conjunction
with outlines.
There are times when the quality of an Area Shaded export actually exceeds that
of a Mesh Shaded export. Generally, the more simple your scene, the more this is
likely to be true. For example, 3D Studio models tend to have lots of curved
surfaces and complex polygons so you will lose some quality by exporting in the
Area Shaded format. However, simple objects can actually look better as Area
Shaded exports.
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Some import issues with Flash 3 vs. Flash 4

Although we would love to say that the transition between Swift 3D and Flash is seamless, there are
a few problems within Flash that are still causing our program some difficulties. Currently, there is a
problem with Flash 4 when importing Swift 3Ds gradient shaded scenes. If you use the Flash 3 option
when exporting and open your SWF file into Flash 3 you will not encounter the problem. However, if
you export using the Flash 3 option and then import that file into Flash 4, there will be an apparent
loss of some, or all of the polygons in the scene. Actually, the polygons are still there, just not
visible. The problem is bothersome but not destructive, and when you export the movie from Flash 4
to a SWF file, the Swift 3D scene will still be intact and fully visible. You can also test this statement
by choosing the Test Movie option in the Control menu in Flash 4.
Swift 3D provides a work-around to this problem when you select Flash 4 as the file level in the
Export Vector File dialog box. When you open your SWF file into Flash 4 there will be an extra frame
at the beginning of the animation exported from Swift 3D. This extra frame contains the text Swift
3D Message: Delete this frame and save as a .FLA file. The good news is that once you have the
animation (or single frame) imported into Flash, you can delete the extra frame. As long as you save
the imported SWF as a FLA file, you should never have the polygon dropout issue bother you again
(for that file). Keep in mind that if you export the file as a movie from Flash, and then re-import it,
you will see the polygon dropout problem again. Sorry for the bad news, but at least we have a
temporary solution for it until Macromedia solves the issue.
Finally, there is one more problem between Swift 3D and Flash that is yet unresolved. It too involves
dropped polygons. On occasion, some of the polygons will be missing from the scene after import
into Flash. This problem occurs in both Flash 3 and Flash 4 and is different from the one discussed
above. In this case, you may experience a few polygons missing within a few frames in a 10-20 frame
average animation. It could be more if your model is very complex or you may never see it in a
given animation. This problem occurs most often with Mesh Shaded scenes and very rarely with
Area Shaded scenes and never (we think) with Flat Filled scenes. We are currently working with
Macromedia to remedy this problem.so check our Customer Only Web site for up-to-date information regarding a fix for the problem.
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OK, were done here, except for the Index of course. Thanks for
putting up with my eccentricities and informalities. I hope you
enjoyed this manual, and more importantly I hope you enjoy Swift
3D. Its a marvelous program that should save folks some serious
time while providing a great venue for 3D creativity. If you have
any comments regarding the manual please write me at:
npetterssen@erain.com
Until Version 2...See Ya!
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Index
Inde
x
Index
A
About Swift 3D 10
AI images
importing 97
Ambient light 68
Ambient light color 26, 76
Animation
pausing 84
scale 81
viewing 83
Animation control buttons 81
Animation menu 38
Animation palette 34
Animation properties 85
bias 86
continuity 86
tension 85
Animation timeline 80
Animation toolbar 34
Animations
about 79
camera 92
drag and drop 87
applying 52
creating 89
frames per second 82
lights 90
loop 82
INDEX
positions 81
rotating camera 93
rotation 81
viewing 52
Apply button 26
Applying materials 50
Area shading 100
Arrange menu 38
B
Background 76
Bevels 56
C
Camera 29
animating 92
manipulating 29
panning 29, 49
rotating 93
secondary 30
view 23
zooming 29, 44
Camera pan button 29
Camera View 23
Cone 62
Context sensitive help 30
Creating
new document 18, 42
text 43
Crystal trackballs 31
Cube 64
Current frame indicator 81
Cylinder 62
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D
Diffuse light 67
Drag and drop animations 34
E
Electric Rain Web site 39
Environment 26
ambient light color 26
background 26
changing 77
EPS images
importing 97
Exporting 53, 95
area shading 100
entire mesh 101
file size comparisons 102
fill objects 99
flat filled 100
frames 98
include edges 98
mesh shading 100
outline 101
F
File menu 35
Flash 4 103
Flat filled 100
Frames 80
Frames per second 82
G
Gallery tools 33
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INDEX
Group 47
Grouping and ungrouping 65
H
Help 13, 30
email support 15
online help 14
Web support 14
Help menu 39
Highlight 68
I
Importing 96
3D Studio models 96
AI images 97
EPS images 97
Installing Swift 3D 11
Interface 17
exploring 17
Introduction 9
K
Keyframe animation
creating 82
Keyframes 80
L
Layout
camera 25
display 25
box 25
grids 25
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hidden 25
lights 25
outline 25
paths 25
shaded 25
layout 24
Lighting 73
about 73
adjusting 51
animating
light in scene 91
placing lights into scene 75
point light 74
properties 74
spot light 74
trackball 32
Lighting trackball 32
lock axis buttons
shortcuts 32
Lights
animation 90
Loop 82
M
Manual conventions 13
Materials
ambient light 68
applying 50
diffuse light 67
double illuminate 69
editing 72
emits light 69
highlight 68
palette 33
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INDEX
Materials palette 33
toggle button 33
Menus 35
animation 38
arrange 38
file 35
help 39
setup 38
view 37
window 38
Mesh shading 100
N
New document 18, 42
shortcut 18
O
Object
scaling 45
select all 28
trackball 31
Object buttons 27
cone 27
sphere 27
text 27
torus 27
Object properties 61
Object trackball 31
lock axis buttons
lock horizontal 31
lock spin 31
lock vertical 31
rotation increment 31
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Objects
adding 45
copying 46
grouping 47, 65
manipulating 28
positioning 49
rotating 48
scaling 28
selecting 28
P
Panning 49
Point light 74
Position 81
Position objects 49
Property toolbox 24
environment 26
ambient light color 26
background 26
layout 24
R
Registering Swift 3D 39
Reset transformation 28
Rotate 48
Rotating camera 93
Rotation 81
S
Scale 81
Scaling 45
Scaling objects 28
Scene 22
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INDEX
Secondary camera button 30

Select all 28
Selection window 81
Setup menu 38
Shapes 62
cone 62
cube 64
cylinder 62
sphere 62
torus 63
Sphere 62
Spot light 74
SWF files 12
System requirements 10
T
Technical support 39
Text 55
bevels 56
depth 57
face 57
smoothness 57
styles 56
creating 43
materials 59
children 60
sizing 58
Toolbar
resizing 21
undocking 20
Torus 63
Tutorial 41
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V
View menu 37
Viewing animations 52
W
Window menu 38
Z
Zoom camera extents 30
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INDEX

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SWIFT3D

Electric Rain, Inc.

Animation drop target......................................................................................88

Before you get confused

Whats this Swift 3D thing all about?

What you absolutely need to run Swift 3D

What you really want to be using to run Swift 3D

Puttin this puppy on your unit

Some ideas about this manual

Lets talk SWF

Whats that you say?

What the #@&?% is going on here?

Exploring the Interface

Creating a new document

Setting the scene

The Viewport is your

This little drop-down menu allows you to change

Understanding the Property Toolbox is paramount to

Layout (Yes, I stuttered intentionally)

Ambient Light Color

Text Places the word Text into your scene.

Sphere Places a sphere into your scene.

Reset Transformation button

Manipulating the Camera

To control camera pan:

To control camera zoom:

Camera Pan button

Secondary Camera button

Zoom Camera Extents button

Context Sensitive Help button

If you would rather have the trackball move in a specific

Drag and Drop Animation Palette

Whats on the Menu for the day?

Open a new document

4. Take a look around the

4. Type Swift 3D to replace the original text. (The program will

8. Click the Apply button.

Zoom the camera

4. Continue to drag the

Create an object identical to an existing object

6. Your three objects are now grouped as one object.

Rotate grouped objects

Position grouped objects

Pan the camera

Apply materials to objects

2. Make sure the Material Drop

4. Drag and drop the material onto your text.

Adjust the lighting scheme

6. Select the other Default Light.

Apply drag and drop animations

4. Click and drag the

View your animation

Export your image

4. Write your Mom a quick email.

preview function to guide your selection. You can adjust the

Bevel Style Menu

Square A 90 degree angle, giving your text only three total

Applying materials to surfaces

If you are looking to apply a single material to all three

Applying materials to children

With both objects you can choose to

2. Clear the word Text from the Property Toolbox.

Grouping and Ungrouping