The documentation is thorough and included in .pdf format. For users that are familiar with 3D environs, using the plug-in requires little explanation. For those new to 3D, a review of the manual is critical to learning where and why to look for things in certain places. I was disappointed to find that the .pdf manual doesn’t use any of Acrobat’s great bookmark and linking features. So, navigating through the manual becomes a little cumbersome and eventually becomes annoying. Yes, I’ve been spoiled with technology. There is a super short “Help Sheet” available from within the plug-in interface itself, which is good for memory jog but not for a true explanation of the plug-in.
The best way to describe 3DI is as a “3D primitive tool”. This is by no means a 3D scene builder. 3DI excels at immediate integration of text based objects and geometric objects and shapes. Vector paths can be imported from Adobe Illustrator for truly custom shapes, if required.
In the confines of the 3D primitive thinking, the tool sets for modifying the 3DI work are adequate. Bevels and shaders/textures can all be fine-tuned and adjusted. Lighting and background imagery, if you want to include any, can be changed as well.
The feature sets are borne of film and television needs and requirements, so there are nice touches and co-relational options that just make sense.
One caveat here though, if you’re wanting to create 3D that is not “artificially perfect” looking, modifying the shader results requires generation and application of individual texture maps in PSD that you import back into the plug in. This is a cumbersome arrangement because many of the “dirty” types of visual requirements can be handled much more easily by mathematically driven noise generators – something that is not available in this plug-in.
And this leads to another limitation. If texture maps are used, there is no provision to alter the UV maps to prevent texture map “stretching”. A reality check points to the fact that this plug-in is for creating “perfect” 3D objects, so asking it to behave like more robust 3D packages isn’t really fair. But, still, it should be mentioned as a limitation.
On-screen updating and object moving is immediate and easy, with no weird stuttering or jumping when objects are rotated or moved. The rendered files are very clean and 3DI does great job of anti-aliasing matting, making integration of layers into video programs or additional PSD layers a real no-brainer.
