Software and limitations

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is used to edit and create bitmaps. Photoshop has a wide range of photo manipulation tools which can be used to add effects, add completely new elements and change the look and feel of the photo using colour balancers etc. It can also be used to create graphics with a high level of detail and allows the user to have maximum control over the graphics. It uses layers to make editing a lot easier and allows the inclusion of very complex effects. It also allows the graphics designers to create a certain effect and then have the ability to delete it later if they don’t like it.

Photoshop’s has many very useful tools. The move tool is pretty self-explanatory; it is used for moving layers around and can also be used for moving multiple layers at once. The select tools are used for selecting portions of a layer or multiple layers which can then be used for a variety of uses. The freehand draw tools are the pencil tool and the brush tool. These tools can be customized to create different effects and there are also presets to choose from. The rotate tool is used to rotate layers or parts of layers. You can select an anchor point as a pivot of rotation. The flip tools can flip a layer either horizontally or vertically. The crop tool is used to cut out parts of an image by literally reducing the dimensions of the image. The group tool is used to group layers for better organisation and easier editing of a lot of layers at once. It puts the layers in a group so any editing that is done to the group will affect all of the layers. The resize tool is used to resize layers either proportionally or non-proportionally. Multiple layers can be resized at the same time. The blur tool does what it says, it blurs the area you are "painting". The tool has a strength setting which is used to define how much blur you want. The sharpen tools is used to make the edges of things look less blurred and sharper. It works the same as the blur in that you "paint" the area you want to sharpen. The invert tool is used to completely change the colours to their opposite to create a completely different feel to an image.

Photoshop is primarily used for editing still 2D images and currently has very little use for 3D and animation. The current version (CS6) has some 3D features but these are very limited and programs like Cinema 4D still beat them in every way. It also has some features for animation but these are limited and are done far better by programs like Flash. Photoshop can also seem very intimidating to its new users because of the vast amount of tools and options so it is more aimed and professionals and usually requires teaching to learn to use it.

Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D is a 3D modelling and animation application. It allows the user to easily switch between its interfaces for modelling, animating and texturing. The program is relatively simple to learn because of its clean layout unlike other 3D software like Maya. It has very powerful modelling and animation tools. It also allows for very easy integration with programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. You can also script certain elements so they work in sync. For example, if one light source is reduced by 10%, you could set up a script so another light source is reduced by half of that each time. Cinema 4D has many selections of tools including modelling, lighting, animation, scripting, advanced selection, meshing, simulation, character creation tools etc. It also has camera tools which can be animated to create the effect of a camera moving etc. It also contains its own rendering tool which is used for the final render of a project. This tool allows you to set the resolution, frames per second, file type etc.

Cinema 4D, like any 3D animation program, can seem very complicated due to things like Nurbs, mesh, splines and N-Gons. This is why it is limited in the fact that it is hard to learn and almost impossible to learn without some form of teaching. Cinema 4D has little compatibility with other programs so it is difficult to send a file to someone else using a different 3D animation software package. It is also very expensive and people would only buy it if they were using it for commercial purposes and not only as a hobby.