Unlead Cool 3D

Ulead

COOL 3D is a 3D titling and animation software that lets you create high-impact

3D titles and amazing



special effects for use in Web pages, multimedia, videos, presentations, and
documents.

Starting up

The program window is divided into two parts. The upper half

is the working area, which has all the menus and toolbars. From here, you can

choose to work on plain text, graphics or a geometric object. You can also

import graphics file made in other programs, by selecting Import>Graphics

from the File menu. Dimensions of the object you’re working on can be defined

under the Image menu.

Applying animation

The

lower half is where you can choose the animations and effects and apply them

accordingly. There are tons of animated affects to choose from. Apart from

backgrounds, compositions, texture, etc, there are four kinds of special effects

that you can apply to your work. The first is Bevel effect, which lets you

customize the edges of your 3D object in different ways. Object effects let you

create titles that jump, dance, and spin. Transition effects make one object

replace another with effects like jumping, colliding, and exploding, while you

can use Global effects to apply effects like fire, shadow, glow, etc.

You can use the Import>Xmodel command in the File menu to

import 3D objects that have been created in another 3D program. You can then

work on these and apply animation of your choice. You can also choose display or

output quality for an object from the Image menu, and preview your work before

saving it.

Saving your work

After satisfying yourself with the effects and animations

that you’ve applied, you can choose the format to save it in. The supported

ones are GIF, BMP, JPEG and TGA. You could even save your work as a movie file–in

AVI format.

The best part about this program is that you don’t have to

be a graphics expert to use it. The animation controls are easy enough for

novice users and powerful enough for advanced users who want finer animation

settings. So, all you have to do is install COOL 3D from this month’s PCQ CD

and get going with it.