Winner of the 1994 Macworld Magazine World Class Award for Best 3D package, Infini-D is an integrated 3D modeling, rendering, and animation tool that combines broadcast quality output with an easy-to-use interface. It is used extensively for graphic design, brochures, magazine covers, package and product design, multimedia presentations, and desktop video.
Using the power Infini-D offers. . .
You can. . .subscribe to 2D outlines in Illustrator or FreeHand using System 7’s publish & subscribe, and turn them into 3D objects in Infini-D. When you save the Illustrator or FreeHand file, the 3D object will automatically update in Infini-D!
You can. . .create textures in Specular TextureScape, Adobe Photoshop or Fractal Painter, and wrap them around any 3D object! The speed of the Power Macintosh will make this process fast! Plus, Infini-D’s Surface Composition allows you to position an unlimited number of PICT maps on any 3D object!
You can. . .create photo-realistic comps of packaging concepts that will dazzle your clients. With the horsepower of the PowerPC chip in your Power Macintosh, you can produce these comps in an afternoon!
You can. . .metamorphose, or morph, one 3D object into another, creating Hollywood-style special effects — fast!
You can. . .take an EPS logo from Illustrator or FreeHand, turn it into a 3D object, add a bevel and a chrome-like environment map, render it with an alpha channel (mask) and composite it seamlessly against any background in Adobe Photoshop or Specular Collage — in about 10 minutes!
You can. . .take any text or EPS object, use Infini-D’s Animation Assistant to construct a smooth 3D camera path, and render it out as a QuickTime movie, editing it into a final piece using products such as Adobe Premiere, CoSA After Effects, VideoFusion, or Avid VideoShop.
We invite you to experiment this demo version and find out why MacWorld magazine calls Infini-D the “best all-around 3D program.”
System Requirements
Infini-D requires a Macintosh with a Floating Point Unit (math coprocessor) or a Power Macintosh; at least 8 MB of RAM; 4 MB of free hard disk space; a color monitor; System 7.0 or later; QuickTime 1.6.1 or later; Adobe Type Manager 2.0 or later is required to use Type 1 Postscript fonts.
Installation
This version of Infini-D is a fat binary — it can run on either a 68k-based or PowerPC-based Macintosh.
To install the demo version of Infini-D, simply double-click on the Infini-D™ Demo Installer icon and follow the instructions.
Current address and phone numbers
For those of you who might have out of date information, this is where we are:
Specular International
479 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
Tel: (413) 253-3100
Fax: (413) 253-0540
Limitations
Several features of Infini-D have been disabled in this demo version. Scene files can not be saved (although rendered images and animations can be); windows can be no larger than 1/4 of a 13" screen; and only 30 frames of an animation can be saved per session.
Brief Tutorial
While Infini-D is certainly the easiest 3D graphics program to learn, there is still a learning curve associated with it. It is simply impossible to describe all of the features and their uses in a short READ ME document. To get you started, the tool box and the basic environment are described here.
THE INFINI-D WORLD — When you first launch the program, you will be presented with four windows: Top, Front, Right, and Camera. These windows are all different viewpoints of the same 3D space. You can imagine that they are all looking into a fish tank from a different perspective.
The “standard” views (front, top, right) are all fixed in terms of orientation. They can not change the angle through which they view the world. The “camera” view is the view seen through a camera object that is inside your virtual fish tank. This camera can be moved and rotated to any position within the 3D world. If you zoom out in the top view, you can actually see and manipulate the camera object.
To zoom out in the Top View — Click and hold on the Pop-up menu titled “Panels” in the title bar of the Top View window. Move down to “Navigation” and let go. The Navigation Panel allows you to change what part of the world this view is seeing. Click and hold the Magnifying glass with the minus sign in the Navigation panel several times. The camera object will soon come into view.
THE INFINI-D TOOLBOX — Infini-D’s tool set is quite simple. The reds tools are chiefly associated with object manipulation (movement, rotation, and scaling.) The blue tools are for object creation. The green tools are for linking and unlinking objects. The pink tool adds a light source. The yellow tool creates a new camera object (and associated view window.)
The red ball with the dotted line around it is the “Local area ray trace” tool. With this tool selected, drag around a region in a window that contains some objects. That region will be ray traced (complete with reflections, transparency, and shadows.)
The object creation tools include generic primitives (sphere, cube, cone, cylinder, square, and plane); the editable lathe object (looks like a donut); the editable extrude object (looks like a 3D triangle); the freeform object (looks like a wrapped gift); and the terrain tool (looks like mountains).
Objects are created by selecting the desired tool and clicking in one of the view windows. Double-clicking on those objects which are editable will bring you into the appropriate editing environment.
You can create text objects by choosing “Text” from the model menu. If you have 2D EPS artwork that you wish to turn into 3D, choose “Import” from the File Menu, and then choose “EPS…” from the sub-menu. Open your EPS file from the standard Apple Open dialog box.
HAVE FUN! — We suggest that you experiment with the sample models to get a feel for the range of capabilities which Infini-D offers. If you have further questions about the product, or are interested in purchasing the fully functional copy (complete with documentation), please call your local dealer or distributor, or call Specular at 800-433-SPEC.
