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3D for Print

Animation and print each carries its own unique set of challenges for 3D artists, but our strength is in print, and we do 3D rendering with that in mind.

Gamma and Gamut

Gamut refers to the range of any object or device to display or perceive color. The human eye is generally considered to have the widest gamut.

Gamma is the name given to the midpoint of that range.

Rendered images, especially from Windows machines, tend to render very very darkly compared to what a printing press and its prepress requires. The entire image often comes off looking gloomy and under lit, while additional lights serve only to blow out highlight details.

The reason for this, when you think about it, is obvious. A piece of paper is obviously going to have a different capacity to present colour than a monitor or projector. Light from a printed page has passed through several layers of semi-opaque inks, reflected off the page, and worked its way back through those same inks before striking your eye. Looking at a monitor or projector is rather equivalent to staring into a flashlight.

Hence the tendency for the printed image to seem dark. If you know what you're doing, its easy to compensate.

All of the images above have been used in magazines and newspapers, for packaging, in brochures or flyers.

Resolution

Your television screen uses 640 pixels of colour information across the entire screen and 480 from top to bottom. That is sufficient information to produce a crisp image of approximately 2.3" x 1.6" on a printed page. With the increased demand for picture information, comes huge file sizes, incredibly long render times, and a much greater need for smoothing. A mistake on a frame of animation lasts a fraction of a second; on a printed page, it's there forever, and must be repaired. (preferably before rendering!)