3DO Animator User's Guide

About this document

3DO Animator lets artists take advantage of the special features of the 3DO hardware. You can create or edit source art, then convert it to 3DO images and cels and add special effects.

This document helps you use 3DO Animator. It provides:

Background information about art on a 3DO system.
Tutorial-style introduction to all major features of 3DO Animator.
Reference to all menu commands and dialogs that differ from those in Studio/32.

How this document is organized

Below is a list of topics discussed in this document. Click on any of them for more information:

Creating 3DO Images and Cels steps you through creating 3DO images and cels. It also covers using the 3DO palette and adding transparency and translucency to cels.
Animation Basics steps you through several ways for creating a simple 3DO animation.
Working with Custom Brushes explores using custom brushes to create an animation and creating an animated brush from an animated selection.
Advanced 3DO Animation explains how to use the advanced animation features of 3DO Animator. It covers working with the light table, special transition effects, and how to add sound to your animation.
Menu Commands and Dialogs explains the menu commands and dialog boxes specific to 3DO Animator. Use this chapter in conjunction with Chapter 7 and with the Studio/32 manual for a complete explanation of all menu commands.
The Set 3DO Object Type Dialog discusses the Set 3DO Object Type dialog in some detail.

Audience

You don't have to be a programmer to work with the 3DO Animator tool or with this document. You should, however, be familiar with:

The Macintosh interface
Studio/32 from Electronic Arts
Basics of the 3DO system

Note: To learn about Studio/32, use the Studio/32 document included in your package as a separate manual. This document covers only 3DO Animator functionality not available in Studio/32.

System prerequisites

To use 3DO Animator, you must have:

A Macintosh running System 7, with at least 8 MB allocated to 3DO Animator.
The QuickTime application in the System folder.
If you are using the 3DO Artist Card, you need the 3DO Artist Card Driver in the System folder.

3DO Animator Preferences files

The first time you launch the 3DO Animator tool, it creates a 3DO Animator Preferences file. As you receive updates for the software, make sure you remove the old Preferences file and allow 3DO Animator to create a new Preferences file each time. You may have problems running the software otherwise.

Memory restrictions

If an animation becomes too big to fit in the available memory, a dialog pops up and gives you the option to work with part of it disk based. If you don't want to do that, save everything as is, quit 3DO Animator and allocate more memory for 3DO Animator according to your need and your available memory. If you choose to work disk based, give the volume and the name of the temporary file when requested. A default name is proposed, based on the current 3DO Preferences; avoid naming it like your original file. 3DO Animator will access this file when needed. 3DO Animator tries to work as much as possible in memory and access the temporary file only when no more memory is available.