Ram & Reason:  Getting Creative: Four Programs that Bring out the Artist in All of Us

        By Rob Rice   November 2004

 

It’s easy to think of the personal computer as nothing more than machine, an electronic tool that helps us to accomplish some task. Yet we all have a creative element to us, no matter how underdeveloped it may be. With skilled hands, that creativity can take the sewing machine and repair some torn pants or create a colorful decorative quilt. A chain saw can cut down a tree or sculpt a bear out of the trunk.

 

Still, the unglamorous home computer can do something that most machines cannot and that is teach as you create. None of the software in this article was created for that purpose, albeit one has been adapted as an introduction to the product. But don’t expect the classic “Lesson 1” approach, these programs are “hands on and get to it.” So let’s have a look at four programs that bring out the artist in us, and by the way, are also free!

 

One type of program that I have deliberately omitted from this article is the photo editor. There are numerous good editors out there and they get a lot of attention so I will save them for another time. Instead we will look at programs that are more like our first example, Ambient Design’s ArtRage. According to Ambient Design:

 

ArtRage is a painting package designed to provide a realistic and fun simulation of using paint on a canvas, along with pens, pencils, crayons, and other tools. . .  ArtRage is all about playing with paint without the mess, and having fun in the process. You can paint your own image from a blank canvas to completed work, or load in a picture to trace and have the tools pick their colours for you as you paint over it.

 

Designed with the Tablet PC in mind, I quickly learned to appreciate the simple and good looking design of ArtRage on my good old desktop PC. A four year old can operate it, in fact I even tested it on a four year old who was happily scribbling all over the canvas within moments. But if you are thinking that simply because a child can operate it is meant for children, guess again. ArtRage is capable of producing some extraordinary art; just have a look at the example on this page (From Ambient Design’s website). Available on the Windows 2k/XP platform; “Windows 95/98/Me should work but are unsupported. ArtRage works with a mouse, but it works best with a graphics tablet or on a Tablet PC”.

ArtRage is a terrific product, but Alias Systems’ Maya is in a class all of its own. So what is it?

 

Maya Personal Learning Edition is a special version of Maya® software, which provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use. It will give 3D graphics and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics (CG) an opportunity to explore all aspects of the award winning Maya Complete™ software in a non-commercial capacity.

 

Free for non-commercial use, the Maya Personal Learning Edition has almost every feature found in the full commercial version of Maya Complete™ including new character animation technology, Adobe Photoshop integration, enhancements to modeling and dynamics, mental ray rendering and the ability to preview vector rendering. Numerous other features are also included.

 

Users have access to the main toolsets of Maya Complete, including modeling, animation, paint effects, particles, dynamics and Maya's software and hardware rendering. The Personal Learning Edition restricts users to non-commercial applications through the display of a moving watermark on images as well as through the use of a special non-commercial file format.

 

Maya, unlike ArtRage has a steep learning curve, but it is also considered a professional program. The Complete version retails for about $2000 while the ultimate version tops out at $7000. This is what makes the Personal Learning Edition so desirable, the chance to really learn a professional program for free. And if you run into trouble there are numerous websites and forums that are loaded with good advice and excellent tips.

Available on the Windows® 2000/XP Professional and Mac® OS X operating systems.

 

                 

                        

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wished you could make your own custom icons? Whether it’s the tiny icons that represent a file or the bigger one that sits on the Windows desktop, SnideSoft’s SnIco Edit does a fine job. Free for personal, non-commercial use, SnIco Edit not only creates icons, but also easily extracts them from executable and DLL files.

 

My first encounter with SnIco Edit was version 1.5. Simple and quick, I still use it today. Version 2.1.1 is the latest build as of this writing and it is much more sophisticated, able to build icons, cursers, as well as animated cursers and icons. But it can still import icons and the “Fast New Icon” feature will allow you to create an icon in a matter of minutes. Many of the tools will be familiar to anyone who has used Paint. Play with it, and pretty soon you will be known as the “Graphics Guru”. Works with 95/98/ME or NT/2000 (XP?).

 

  

What would the world of computing do without student projects? So many great and, at times, cutting-edge programs have been shared with the world by someone stuck in a classroom, struggling to get a passing grade, PFE is one such example. A dedicated text to 3D renderer, it is shareware that is free for personal use. The only request of the author is feedback, even if it’s only in the form of a photo of your dog. Here is what the author has to say about it,

 

PFE is a software designed to load any true-type font you like and render full parameterized 3D text. You can set the lighting of the scene in real-time and modify the numerous parameters that define the text such as the level of detail of the mesh, the font, the bevelling or the materials. Then you can either choose to export the result whith (sic) all the 3D data to VRML and OpenGL source files or render it to a superior quality, antialiased jpeg file whilst applying some special effects such as glow or lens-flare.

 

VRML export with lights and materials. You can adapt the Level of detail of the text in order to generate low polys (small size) VRML files. User friendly.  Render full antialiased still images and set the Jpeg compression ratio.

Superior quality antialiasing. You can apply a glowing effect on the text. You can render a lens flare effect wherever you want on the text.

 

So drawing and painting not your thing? How about typing? Just type in the text that you want to be rendered in 3D, select a few options and boom, it’s done. PFE is not too difficult to figure out. Just give yourself a little time and you will get the hang of it. I was able to figure out the program and produce this image in about ten to 15 minutes.

So go ahead, download these programs and have fun with your computer. Unleash that raging creativity that lies within!

 

ArtRage http://www.ambientdesign.com/index.html

 

Maya http://www.alias.com/eng/index.shtml

 

SnIco http://www.snidesoft.com/index.html

 

PFE http://membres.lycos.fr/pfeweb/

 

 

Rob Rice is a member of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City and a computer specialist working in Anchorage Alaska. You can email Rob at, articles@isp.com