3D Sphere Generator - v1.5,  © 2004 Richard Rosenman Advertising & Design. Release date: 07/16/02, Updated 06/04/03.


INSTALLATION:

Simply unzip "3dsphere.zip" and copy "3dsphere.8bf" to your "\Photoshop\Plug-Ins\" folder, or whichever plugin folder your host program uses. Load your program, open an image, go to the plugins menu and select the plugin.


DESCRIPTION:

This filter will generate a 3D sphere and allow you to configure virtually all of it's properties. An image with a 1:1 aspect ratio is recommended for generating accurate spheres.

Radius: This defines the size of the sphere. A maximum value of 100 will create a sphere with a diameter equal to the image's horizontal resolution.

Light X,Y,Z: This defines the X, Y and Z coordinates (position) of the lightsource. X controls the horizontal, Y the vertical, and Z the depth.

Intensity: This defines the strength of the lightsource. Be careful as high values can 'burn out' the sphere.

Dither: This variable scrambles the pixels within the sphere which helps eliminate banding but adds grain.

Flatten: This defines how flat or coned the shape of the sphere is. Higher values make the sphere appear more like a button and lower values make the sphere appear more like a spike.

Diffuse Color: This defines the color and brightness of the sphere in the illuminated area. This is always used in conjunction with Ambience and Tint.

Ambient Color: This defines the color and brightness of the sphere in the non-illuminated area.  This is always used in conjunction with Diffuse and Tint.

Tint Color: This defines the tint which affects both the Diffuse and Ambient colors of the sphere. Since this is strictly an additive color, it can also be used to control brightness, although this must be done carefully since it can 'burn out' the sphere. This is always used in conjunction with Diffuse and Ambience.

Ellipse: This defines the horizontal and vertical ellipsical shape of the sphere. 

Backlight: Toggles on and off a light directly opposite the main light which illuminates the sphere from the back.

Anti-Alias: Sample the edges of the sphere against the background for a smoother edge.

Reset: Reset all values to their default state.

Realtime: Applies all effects (in realtime) on 'mouse drag' instead of on 'mouse release'.


KNOWN BUGS:

3D Sphere Generator has problems with aliasing on transparent layers and it will attempt to alias the edge against the underlying non-transparent layer. Because of this, it is recommended you generate spheres on a single, non-transparent layer until this issue is fixed.


FIXES:

1.1 - Progress Bar now works.
1.2 - Plugin filesize is now less than half of v1.1.
1.2 - Previews are now substantially faster than previous builds.
1.3 - Fixed stretching interface.
1.5 - Re-organized user interface.
1.5 - Added Realtime display option.
1.5 - Recompiled with updated compiler.


HOMEPAGE:

http://www.richardrosenman.com
