Get Ready for Holographic Video

I’m sure everyone has seen the resurgence of  interest in 3D. Hollywood is pumping out 3D films at a fairly mean clip. Electronics companies are making 3D TVs. And augmented reality applications such as the FLARToolKit and Layar are bringing three-dimensional imagery to the Internet. But you haven’t seen anything yet. Trust me.

The London-based company, Dimensional Studios Ltd., has solved the age-old puzzle of how to create 3D imagery without the glasses. Their video projection system, the Musion Eyeliner System, turns video footage into holographic footage.

According to Dimensional Studios, the Eyeliner System uses a DLP video projector, an HD hard-disc player, “Musion Eyeliner Foil + 3D set/drapes enclosing 3 sides,” lighting and audio, and a show controller.

If Dimensional Studios’ projection system is integrated into home PCs and laptops, the possibilities for Internet marketing companies and Webmasters will be endless. When a Web user hovers a mouse over a banner ad, the projection unit could be triggered, piping holographic promotional imagery into the home of the user. Wow!

Samsung Jet Launch – London, Dubai, Singapore & Beijing from Musion Systems on Vimeo.

Keep your marketing on the cutting edge. Launch your next ad campaign through High Concept Media.

How to Boost Subscription Sales

There’s a little-known method that Webmasters can use to increase the conversion rate for their subscription sites. It doesn’t involve using video tours. It doesn’t even involve using faster loading pages.

The method I’m referring to is a tour on how to place an order. This tour shows consumers how to fill out your order form, how to input their credit card information, how to choose a username and password, and how to get help if needed.

Showing screenshots of the order process is a great way to assuage the fears of your prospective customers. They’ll feel more secure if they know that they can complete the order process successfully. Believe it or not, people are often intimated by this process. They wonder if something will go wrong.

So, help your customers with this simple tour. The result will be more revenue for you.

Tree Text Effect

To create text resembling foliage, I used three transparent Photoshop layers. I applied an assortment of layer styles to each layer and added leaf-like shapes to each letter of my text with the Custom Shape Tool.

Click here for the full-sized image.

Click here for the full-sized image.

Camouflage Type Effect

Reproduce the look favored by hunters, sports enthusiasts, and military aficionados. Experience the Camouflage Type Effect. Two versions of this Photoshop layer style are provided: a Web version and a print version.

For your convenience, all the letters of the alphabet have been created in camouflage for the Web version of this text effect. In addition, the camouflage alphabet is supplied in uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as in the following font sizes: 252 pt, 186 pt, 128 pt, and 96 pt.

The camouflage print version is a 300-dpi file that uses the CMYK color mode and includes three camouflage letters in each of the following font sizes: 128 pt, 96 pt, 72 pt, 60 pt, and 48 pt. Creating additional letters is as easy as duplicating both layers of a letter and typing over them.

The font used for this layer style is Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed, but it also looks good with other fonts.

Price: $12
File Types Included: Layered PSD and ASL
Resolution: 72 dpi and 300 dpi

Purchases: 15

Photorealistic Laptop

Spruce up your Web site with a photorealistic laptop. This black laptop is available in three sizes——small, medium, and large. Click here to view the full-sized versions.

Each laptop contains a screen and keyboard on separate Photoshop layers for fast resizing. Also included are separate PSD files for the laptop screen and keyboard.

The screen colors can be changed, as can the chassis.

The keyboard file contains separate layers for the keys, keyboard letters, and keyboard numbers, making it possible to use different colors and different fonts.

Price: $7
File Types Included: .JPG and Layered .PSD
Resolution: 72 dpi
Dimensions: 800×1400

Purchases: 14

Camouflage Typeface Effects

Just to demonstrate what’s possible with Photoshop, I’ve created three typeface effects:

1. Woodland Camouflage
2. Tiger Stripe Camouflage
3. Australian Camouflage

These effects were created with layer styles, and they can be easily applied to any font.

Papervision3D Experimentation

I’ve been following the tutorials in the new book, Papervision3D Essentials, and I’m very excited about the potential of this  new Flash technology. Though there’s a steep learning curve, it’s well worth the trouble to learn this set of custom ActionScript classes. It extends the capabilities of Flash, enabling programmers and designers to add a third dimension to Flash.

Previously, 3D computer imagery was confined to high-end CGI software such as Lightwave, Maya, and 3DS Max. Now, thanks to the hard work of Carlos Ulloa and other programmers, 3D is finally coming to the Net.

While following the step-by-step instructions in Papervision3D Essentials, I created my first primitive, a sphere. This process involved importing the required Papervision classes and then initializing, projecting, and rendering them.

Here’s the Papervision3D sphere in all its glory:

Creating WordPress Themes

I’m going to pretend that my (three year old!) tutorial on creating WordPress themes doesn’t exist anymore. As I mentioned in the intro to this series, a lot of it still holds true, but enough has changed that it’s probably better to just start from scratch. And so I am.

First, you should know a few things that will be indispensable. One such thing is the WordPress Codex – almost everything you need to know is in this bible for WordPress. It’s always the first place I look when I have a question on anything, and 8 times out of 10, I find the answer within it’s pages. Read more about WordPress theme development…

FLARVision: Augmented Reality and Papervision

The basic explanation of Augmented Reality is to superimpose graphics over real-world environments in realtime. In Flash, this is usually done with a webcam and a marker card. When you hold the card up to the webcam, Flash is able to detect the orientation of the marker and superimpose, in this case, a 3d model on top of it.

This technology has been around for a while now and having access to it in Flash is really exciting. Although it is still in its infancy, over time the speed and power of AR will improve to hopefully play an important role in how we view the web. Now is a great time to get your feet wet in order to get a better understanding on how it works. Read more about augmented reality…

First Look: Object Oriented CSS

In October, I’ll speak at Web Directions South 2009 in Sydney about CSS Frameworks. One of the main questions I will answer in my talk is whether or not you should use a CSS Framework in any given project. Since the alternative is writing your own CSS styles from scratch, I’m researching some of the latest thinking on hand-coded CSS.

One prominent voice in this arena is Nicole Sullivan, who has developed a methodology called Object Oriented CSS (OOCSS). She outlined this approach to writing CSS at Web Directions North 2009, and the 48-minute video is available.

Sullivan is a talented and engaging presenter, but I found the video a lot to take in all at once. Since watching it, I have applied the principles of OOCSS to an internal project here at SitePoint, and I feel like I have a better grasp on what it’s all about.
Read more about CSS…

Next Page »