TriDef Photo Transformer - Tutorials

Quick Start And Tour

Training objectives

At the end of this tutorial you will be able to:

  • Open Photo transformer
  • Open Source Image
  • Identify Photo transformer windows
  • Identify Photo transformer tools
  • Add Depth Data points
  • View Depth Map
  • Apply transparent points
  • Preview 3-D
  • Save a TriDef Photo file
  • Quit Photo transformer

Startup

  1. Start Photo transformer by choosing Start > (All) Programs > DDD > TriDef Photo transformer > Photo Transformer

  2. The first window you see is the empty Drawing window and a floating Toolbar (See Figure 1, below). The Drawing window is where you add Depth Data.

  3. Choose File > Open.

  4. An Open dialog will appear; Find the Files of Type menu at the bottom and choose TriDef Photo files.

  5. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DDD\Tutorials\TriDefPhotoTransformer

    Please Note: The Application Data folder is Hidden by default, so you may need to change your Windows Explorer options to see it.

  6. Click on Tutorial1-2.TriDefPhoto and click Open.

    Tip: You can also open files by dragging them from the desktop and dropping them on the open Photo transformer window.

  7. Choose View > Depth to open the Depth window (See Figure 1, below). The Depth window is where the Depth Map is displayed. This Depth window is still black.

  8. Click on the top bar of the Drawing window (not the middle) to bring it back to the front.

    Tip: If you click in the middle of the window you may accidentally add some depth data. If a big white spot appears on your Depth window, press Ctrl+Z to Undo.

Window Overview

Figure 1. The Photo transformer windows displayed from top to bottom in the order you will encounter them while Depth Mapping.

Toolbar

 

This is the Toolbar. It has all of the tools you will need to create a Depth Map, and is always available.

These tools will be described throughout these tutorials.

 

Adding Depth Data

To add Depth Data to your image, paint it with shades of gray that correspond to the distance from the person viewing the image. You paint the nearest object white, the furthest object black, and the objects between in various shades of gray. The next section will guide you through this process step by step.

There are two number scales you can use to refer to these shades of gray: Percent (0-100) and Value (0-255 gray scale). The first thing we'll do is make sure we're in Percent mode.

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences

  2. Click the Depth panel.

  3. Find the Depth Scale section and make sure the Percent option is selected.

    You should now see a % symbol on the Toolbar.

  4. While in Preferences, make sure a couple of settings are where they need to be for the tutorials:

    • Set Search Radius to 40
    • Set Tolerance to 40
    • Set Source Blur to 2
    • Set Bias X,Y to ON

    If you had to change anything, click Apply.

    These settings will be covered in Tutorial - Advanced Depth Map Settings.

  5. Click the Close (x) button.

The strength of Photo transformer is that you don't have to completely cover the entire image with Depth Data: it can use just samples of Depth Data to create the complete Depth Map. This topic is covered in more detail in Tutorial Adding Depth Data' but here is the basic technique.

Look at the picture of the boy in the tyre. In this tutorial you will just be Depth Mapping the boy and the tyre, and leaving the rest of the Depth Map the default black of the Background.

Tip: In simple image like this one a Background can be used to create most of a depth map automatically. This is covered in more detail in 'Tutorial - Backgrounds'.

The front of the tyre is the closest object to the viewer, so it will be Depth Mapped in white (100%). Most of the boy is behind the front of the tyre, so he needs to be a shade of gray. He's not as far away as the car in the background, so he will still be a reasonably light shade of gray (about 80%)

  1. Click to select the Free Draw Tool Freehand Draw Tool from the Toolbar.

    These are the other drawing tools you will learn about later:

    Line Draw Tool  line Draw

    Poly Draw Tool  Polygon Draw

    Box Draw Tool  Box Draw

    Ellipse Draw Tool  .Ellipse Draw

  2. Click on the Depth Picker on the bottom of the Toolbar to select the depth value (shade of gray) to paint on the image. Choose white for the tyre.

    The Current Depth box displays the currently selected depth value. You can also type 100 into this box.

    Color Picker

  3. Click around the tyre to create a rough outline of dots, plus a few more for any large areas. Put a few spots on each of the boy's hands as well.

    This is the kind of rough effect you're looking for:


    Boy In Tyre Depth Data
     

  4. To see what effect you are having on the Depth Map, look at the Depth window. You'll see the beginnings of a white donut shape in the middle, probably with some spillage. We'll come back to that later.

    Go back to the Drawing window.

  5. Click on the Depth Picker to select a light gray (or type in 80 and press Enter), then draw Depth Data points on the boy.

    You'll need to add a few to the inside of the tyre (the black area above the boy's head) plus the ropes the tyre is hanging from.

  6. Look at the Depth window again. If there are any holes in the tyre or the boy, add some more data points in either white (100) or light gray (80).

    Now it's time to fix up the overflowing parts with transparent points.

Transparent Points

Transparent Points can help to define the edges of objects against the background. They appear on the screen as red dots. You will get more practice with these in Tutorial - Working With Depth Data, but here is a start.

  1. At the top of the Depth window there is a Source checkbox and slider. This allows you to view a blend of the 2-D Source image and the Depth Map. Click to select the checkbox, and drag the slider to about 50. This creates a 50-50 blend of Source and Depth.

  2. Click the red transparent button at the bottom of the Toolbar. The Current Depth box now turns red.

    Tip: Press T to switch between drawing Depth Data points and drawing transparent points.

  3. Click on the Depth window wherever white or light gray appears outside the edges of the tyre or the boy. You should see the shape of the Depth Map starting to look more precise.

  4. Look at the Drawing window. You should see red spots around the outside of the boy where you just clicked. You can add transparent points to either the Drawing window or the Depth window.

Preview in 3-D

If you have not done so already, use the TriDef Control Panel to select your 3-D Display. See the main Help topics for more information.

  1. Choose View > 3-D Preview.

    A 3-D Preview Settings window will open, and a 3-D Preview.

  2. To change the 3-D effect, adjust the 3-D Scene Depth and 3-D Focal Point controls then click Update Preview.

    For example, if you click on the Eyedropper Tool tool next to the 3-D Focal Point controls, then click on the boy, this puts the boy at the screen level and the tyre just a little in front of the screen. If you then experiment with 3-D Scene Depth you can adjust how far in front of the screen the tyre appears. This is a very rough Depth Map now, but you should see some 3-D.

  3. You will learn about the 3-D viewing options in Tutorial - 3-D Previews and Outputs

  4. To close the 3-D Preview, press Escape or click the Close Preview button.

Finishing a session

At the end of a session you save your work as a TriDefPhoto file.

  1. Choose File > Save As

    Tip: When working from scratch, you would just use File > Save.

  2. A Properties dialog will appear. leave it for now and just click OK.

  3. When the Save dialog appears, choose TriDef Photo from the Save As Type menu.

  4. Name this file Student.TriDefPhoto, and save it anywhere you like.

  5. To exit Photo transformer, choose File > Quit.

Next: Tutorial - Backgrounds