ATCP, LLC

I was at a show at our local veterinarian, and I took shots that were all ad-hoc and casual. I just walked around the show and took in what I could. There were rescue dogs from a volunteer rescue organization there, and I took a lot of shots of their shepherds.

I also took a few candid portraits, and one of them provides a great opportunity to show just how dramatic a photoshop makeover can be, as well as fix a common mistake of mine by letting my self be caught in the reflection of the subject.

Here is the original, from thumbnail:

So what we want to do are basically two things:

1. Flatter our subject with touch-ups
2. Remove my reflection from the sunglasses
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Camera RAW is a free extension for Adobe Photoshop CS3. I’m using v4.3.1, and I’m shooting with a Canon 40D.

Loading is easy, just double-click on the .CR2 file, and ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) will load:

The defaults will be loaded, and unless you have changed ACR’s default behavior-or loaded your own-the file at the end of this post will look like the above.

By default, the white balance is set to As Shot, but I find that about 1/2 the time this is correct, or at least what I want it to be (on the creative side). Try Auto:

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This example is best done by simply providing the material. It’s a v-ray material that has depth and density, so water can be done accurately when depth is required. The material is here. Click on any image for the full size image.

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I’ve noticed that folks are still suggesting that doors and windows inside walls still be done with box primitives for walls and boolean subtract those walls with other boxes for windows & doors. With 3ds Max, this is not necessary, nor suggested if you are modeling for speed and flexibility. The solution is to use AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) in 3ds Max.

AEC in 3ds Max is more than a collection of ready-to-go 3d walls, windows, stairs, doors, and other construction components. A few reasons to use them instead of manually boolean-ing include:

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“I made a torus primitive and want to detach a section of it. When I select splines or quads and detach as element or copy, the detached part won’t select by itself; the whole torus is still selected. How can I make the detached section a completely independent object?”

You mention both splines and torus primitive. Splines and the menu that torus’ come from (primitives) are not the same, so I can’t be sure which you mean. Maybe you mean both? You mention editable spline, which only splines can be converted to, yet you also mention “quads”, which may mean a polygon (mostly 4 sides) in an editable mesh/poly, which is really just 2 faces. Forgive me, therefore, if the following has no application to your project. Feel free to fill in the blanks.

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