3DZ 2.

0
Light, Pro, Advance
(c) 3DZ/ES 2000 www.3dz.co.uk Program to produce artwork for lenticular imagery 3D-Pictures * Animations * Morphing * Multi-Image Effects 3DZ lets you produce 3D images, animated images or changing images for lenticular screens. The procedure is very simple and success is guaranteed if you stick to the correct sequence in the following workshop. There are 4 versions of 3DZ Demo Version Changing images for 75 LPI screen with a live print area up to 16cm x 16cm Light Version Changing images and 3D images or animations made from up to 10 source images. For all screens of 1 to 150 LPI, live print area up to16 cm x 16cm. Pro Version Changing images and 3D images or animations from up to 30 source images. For all screens of 1 to 150 LPI, live area up to 250cm x 250cm. Advance Version Changing images and 3D images or animations of up to 30 source images. For all screens of 1 to 150 LPI, live print area up to 250cm x 250cm + LayerManager + VideoManager+ PitchTest. On the program CD you will find a few examples for first attempts. Recommended operating system: MS Windows NT 4.0 SP4./98/2000 As the final artwork for an A4 print is over 150 Mb, you will need enough hard disk space. Updates and information are available from www.3dz.co.uk You can also obtain screens from www.3dz.co.uk

The Principle
Lenticular images are based on the optical characteristics of cylindrical lenses, as shown in the diagram below.

The source images, which have been cut into strips are placed under the lenticular schreen so that the image information plays back with a spatial separation. Thus it is possible, for example, to produce a stereoscopic image, which can be viewed without any exterior aid (such as 3D glasses), in its original colours. Animations are created when up to 30 source image strips, which each represent a frame of the animation, are placed under a lens. The eye, moving across the image, then sees a different frame in the animation depending on its position in regard to the lenticular screen,. Quickly tipping the lenticular picture back and forth gives the impression of a flowing animation. For flip pictures, the lenticular screen and the source images are turned through 90, so that it is a vertical rather than a horizontal shift in viewing position which guides you into the next image.

Geometry for the origination of 3D images.

You can produce 3D images (stereograms) with every 3D program. (eg 3D Studiomax, Lightwave,Maya etc.) The illustration shows a typical configuration for this type of picture. The object is positioned so that its centre point is located at the point around which the camera is supposed to turn (Look_At_Point) The illustration shows the camera in the position of the first image (-5) For the subsequent images the camera turns through one degree anti-clockwise around the Look_At_Point. For these first experiments take note of the camera aperture angle (here 50) and the distance from camera to object in relation to the size of the object. The proportions shown here should form the basis of your first attempts. This is typical artwork for a changing image, where the text can be seen from one angle, but not from another.

GETTING STARTED - USING 3DZ STEP 1

Do not load any source images in at this stage

First set the LPI ( lenses per inch) value of your screen .

This default setting is 75 LPI.

If you use our pitch test, you can optimise the LPI setting with the sliding rule which is to the right. Next select number of source images required

In this example we require 10 frames (10 source images) Now set the required height and width of print

This is our required final printing output size in cm/inches 3DZ will calculate the minimum required resolution for the source images and a list with further possible resolutions.

Now choose from this list the resolution which should correspond to the resolution (in pixels) of your source images, if your images do not correspond to these pixel dimensions, then create or re-sample/re-scale them to this pixel resolution now.

NB Generally it is sufficient to accept the standard resolution. This is particularly true for calculations of more than 2 source pictures. However, in certain circumstances where the source image resolution/printer ouput resolution is very low (see example below), and/or you are only using a very low number of frames or the relationship between image size and screen lpi is low, eg. 15cm x 20cm at 30lpi (as this can cause variations in final printed output size alignment problems when mounting your Lenticular image to the Lens sheet).

example: result of 2 frame low resolution source images

It is adviseable to create new artwork at one of the higher pixel resolutions selected from the pixel resolution list below. Selecting the second entry in the list is usually sufficient to overcome any problems except in the case of low image size/screen lpi (in this instance it is adviseable to select the third or fourth entry in the list). Choosing a very high pixel resolution will probably create an unacceptably high printer output resolution. This will definately be the case if using many frames. As a general rule of thumb, higher resolution source images (avoiding excessive output printer resultion) = higher size/alignment accuracy.

Should your source pictures have a different resolution than the one chosen, you will have to rescale the pictures in an appropriate graphics program to get the required print size.The graphics format of source pictures can be windows bitmap (bmp) or Targa (tga). In both cases the pictures must have 24 bit colour depth and be uncompressed. You will find the appropriate settings under the >save as< menu of your image processing software. All source images have to have the same size in the in the same data format. The output data format corresponds to the format of the source images. Now save your project!

STEP 2
If you closed 3DZ while you were re-sampling your images, or have reset any of the settings, now is the time to open your saved project file.
Now you can load your source pictures into the program.

Using the re-sampled or base source images you are now ready to load these into 3DZ.

Click on the button Image #1 in order to load the first source image. Once the first source image has been successfully loaded, the file menu will open:

From here you can choose the following source images with a double click. The pictures will be placed in the correct position automatically.

Automatic adaptation of the print size. If the source images you have chosen do not correspond to the required resolution for the print size which is set, the program will try to adapt the result new print size to the resolution of the source images. If you have the Light Version, the maximum resolution possible for automatic resetting 480 x 480 pixels = approx. 16cm x 16cm printed size Now save your project!

STEP 3
RENDERING The Render Button indicates the expected size of the file to be saved. If there is insufficient memory, there will be a warning indication.

A status indicator will inform you about the progress of the calculations. The top status bar tells you about the status of multiple-up images, the lower one informs you about the status of the individual image. You can interrupt the rendering process at any time. With the final picture a file called Filename.txt ( print instructions for (filename) txt)will be set up which will contain all the necessary information for the printable version of this image. This file is an essential part of the picture and must always be kept together with the picture so that an appropriate lenticular print can be made later.

Do not close the program yet

STEP 4
PRINTING

At the bottom of 3DZ you will find the print settings.

Given a set pixel size for the resulting picture, these values will determine the size of the printed image, which must fit under the lenses of the screen with pixel precision. Place these values at which you wish to print the picture in the print-size setting of the image processing software.

(Paintshop Pro 6)

If your image processing software will not accept the PPI value (Photoshop),then enter instead the values for the desired print size in the print size menu of your image processing software.

(3DZ)

(PhotoShop) Under no circumstances select options which would lead to a new calculation/resizing/sampling of the rendered Lenticular image. Make sure that there are no other options which change the size of your image which are active in your image processing. (eg in Paintshop the print setting in the page layout must read 100%.) Now print out at the highest possible quality on the best possible medium. A lesser print quality on general purpose paper will not produce satisfactory results. Would would advise the use of printable films.

Some principles on print resolution

There is one strip for all the source images under each lens in the lenticular screen. Therefore if you choose 10 source images, there will be 10 image strips under every lens. Supposing you choose a 75 LPI Film, then, provided you choose the standard/minimum resolution of the source images, you will have an information density of 750 pixels per inch. This information density has to be converted 100% by the printer to obtain a perfect lenticular image. Your printer must be able to print a real physical resolution which must at least correspond to the necessary Pixels per inch resolution. Test the resulting print under your lenticular screen, by squeezing both between two sheets of glass, lining the print up with the lenticular screen, as the printed lines must be absolutely parallel with the lenses and there must be a strip of each of the source images under each lens ( so that under lens#1 there are the first strips of all of the source images. Under lens #2 are all of the second strips etc) Lining up correctly can be tricky, but it can be achieved by carefully turning and sliding the print and screen. It is important that there is perfect all over contact between screen and print. The smallest gap (which might be caused by the printing ink causing the paper to curl) will prevent a perfect separation of the parts of the image through the lenticular screen.

Print on film is preferable to print on paper.

Pitch Test/Optimising Print

According to the manufacturers there are small variations from one lenticular screen to another in the actual number of lenses per inch compared with the specified number. In order to compensate for these production tolerances you can either check the exact LPI value of the screen or you can get to the optimum result through several print tests. If you do not use the 3DZ Pitch Test program and you are not happy with the result of your prints, and the end result looks stripey, then adjust the print size for your tests, by 1 pixel per inch up or down, until you do achieve a perfect print. (thus you are changing the print size to the actual LPI value of your screen) The tolerance you have established through trial and error will (generally)hold true for all lenticular screens from one production batch and this therefore has to be done only once. If you do use the Pitch Test then further corrections may not be necessary. The printed image shouid be 100% in register to the lenticular screen.

USING THE BARRIER SCREEN METHOD

If you activate the check box Render Barrier-Screen, then, after calculating the interlaced image the program will calculate exactly the corresponding barrier strip mask. Print out the mask and picture on the same printer on film using the same settings. Whilst with the lenticular pictures, the image information is influenced by the optical characteristics of the lenticular screen, with barrier screen images, the parts of the images which are not supposed to be visible from certain angles are hidden by a mask. Picture and mask are separated from one another by a 2-3mm sheet of glass,acrylic sheet or PETG sheet. (normal picture glass has this approximate thickness)

With 10 sources images this mask consists of a sequence of 9 black and one transparent strip. With a simple flip image from two source images, the mask would consist of alternate strips of black and transparent. Because of the covering of parts of the image, the whole picture is considerably darker, so that both the interlaced image and the mask should be printed on film. The sandwich of film and sheets of glass is then lit from behind, like a transparency. The LPI setting with the Barrier-Screen-Images, has the same meaning as with lenticular screen images. However, it is normal to have a lower resolution, and as a rule the larger the final picture, the further back the image should be viewed and the lower the resolution must/can be.

3DZ Advance
With Version Number 2.0 the Advance version has had the Layer Control, Video Control and Pitchtest Modules added.

The window you need to get to this module will open if you click the Plugins button, or by clicking on one of the little vertical buttons you can see on the right hand side of the window

Layer Control

With this module you can produce a so-called 2D/3D image from 2D graphics The layers You need at least two images, which you place onto the levels you want. The midground level is always on the level of the lenticular screen, the foreground is in front and the background gives depth behind .

If artwork which has been loaded ends in (name)01.bmp, the program will test whether there are as many following sequentially numbered files as you want to calculate pictures. If these graphic files exist, then you can go to the Option Next. Activate Next so that you progress from calculation to calculation to the next level. You can for example set to animated or 3D levels.

Transparency In order to see the levels behind the front levels, you can choose up to five transparent colours per level. (the background level has no transparent options.) Practice: use the following procedure: Load the image examples from the directory 3D layer control examples on the 3DZ CD into the corresponding layers of the Layer Manager. The images will be indicated in the corresponding windows in their full format and they can be moved using the mouse. Now click on the right mouse button, in the fore- and mid-ground, on the colour which you want to make transparent. Further right mouse clocks will produce further transparent colours. The maximum number is five. The colour which you have chosen is shown continuously in one of the colour fields under the artwork, the RGB values will be shown and the transparency value is set to 100%.

In order to cancel one of the colours chosen to be transparent, you simply click in the colour area, which indicates the transparent colour. You can also set the RGB values Manually and set the transparency value for the colour you have chosen for special effects (eg. Windows) between 0 and 100%,

Now set the required depth The default (3) is sufficient for most work. The number of images for a smooth movement should be 10. The options for the background image are as follows: The spatial effect is seen when you tip the finished lenticular picture and the foreground moves to the left in relation to the mid-ground, whilst the background moves to the right. This is achieved by moving the levels to one side from one

calculation to another. As the images must have the same original size, the lateral movement of the levels means that there are areas at the edge of the pictures which cannot be seen in all their levels.

Option 1 Adjust the background image avoids this effect through the scaling of the background image in register. However, the content of the background images is then shown slightly bigger then shown in your layout. Option 2 Repeat row of pixels Just repeats the previous image information, if no new information is available. Option 3 Calculate white does not substitute the missing picture information. Try it out with the demo graphics indluded. Now you can start the layering process by clicking on the Render button. The save file dialog will open, requesting a file name. The files will then be rendered and saved in sequence. Return to the 3DZ main window, locate the layered image files. These source images are now ready for loading and interlacing using the standard pocedures as described from Step 1.

Video Control

With the Video Control you can capture single images very simply in the Windows Avi format

Simply load the video and wind on to the correct place. With Rec you take a single image. With Rec + Step you produce a single image, however your video is wound on by the number of pictures which is set in the field to the right of Rec+ Step. The red fields on the right symbolise the pictures taken, which will be saved in a directory of your choice, numbered sequentially. The maximum number of image is 30. Return to the 3DZ main window, locate the sequenced image files. These source images are now ready for loading and interlacing using the standard pocedures as described from Step 1.

3DZ PITCHTEST MODULE

Lenticular screens consist of a field of optical lenses, the pitch of these lenses is measured in Lenses/Lines Per Inch (LPI). According to the manufacturers of lenticular screens there can be deviations between the indicated number of lenses by inch and the actual number. These deviations can be caused for different reasons, but are generally inherent within the manufacturing or materials processing. A lenticular screen specified to be 75 LPI, can in practice be marginally different: e.g. 75.46 LPI or also 74.8 LPI This apparently small difference is of great importance and must under all circumstances be taken in to account, in order to obtain high quality reproduction of rendered 3-Dimenensional and motion lenticular images.

The 3DZ Pitch Test program

Proceed as follows: 1. Enter the LPI value in to 3DZ Pitch Test program (LPI as specified by the manufacturer of your lenticular screen) 2. The program then specifies the dimensions and resolution to print the pitchtest.gif image at. 3. Print the test pattern (pitchtest.gif) with this information using the same image processing software and printing steps as for the main 3DZ program.

Example pitch test printout section

4. Put the printed pitch test sheet under the lenticular screen, and align with the bottom auxiliary lines at the lower edge of the test pattern, parallel to the screen layout. Align the bottom fine line with the first lenticule (lens strip) and make sure that the subsequent thicker lines also locate under the next lenticules (taking into account that there will be a white(clear) line in between. The lenticular screen should be in full contact with the test pattern and should look something like this:-

Interpreting the results Reading from the top margin of the test pattern locate the number where the strip is most continuous. This will be a continuous white(clear) strip. In this case -6 or 7. Now enter this value into the program.

The program now calculates the actual number of lenses per inch. In this case 75.45 and 75.53 LPI. That perfect value for this lenticular screen is 75.49 LPI being in the centre of the two. The resulting LPI can now be entered into the the main 3DZ program using the optimise buttons. NB This procedure usually only needs to be applied once per batch of lenticular screens. However it is possible to get variations within a batch, or possibly you may have screens from mixed batches. Therefore it is worth keeping hold of your test pattern or performing the procedure again should you be in any doubt. (c) 3DZ/ES 2001 www.3dz.co.uk