User Guide

ADOBE ATMOSPHERE 37
User Guide
Chapter 4: Atmosphere Overview
Adobe Atmosphere is a professional authoring tool for assembling and creating 3-D interactive stage sets. This new
embedded multimedia type gives the web or document designer the ability to present a rich variety of interactive
content, including three-dimensional objects, sound, streaming audio and video, SWF animations, and physical
behaviors, all within the context of a live theater performance.
The Atmosphere platform includes Atmosphere – an easy to use but powerful authoring tool designed to enable
the creation of Atmosphere content; Atmosphere Player, web browser and Adobe Reader plug-in for navigating and
interacting with 3-D environments on the Web and in PDF documents; and Atmosphere Collaboration Server which
enables user communication and object synchronization. This chapter focuses on Atmosphere, the tool you use to
build Atmosphere content.
Workfl ow
Asset Creation and Acquisition
Atmosphere scenes are composed of multiple assets. These assets can come from a variety of places. They can be
created directly in Atmosphere, loaded from a library of pre-built objects, imported from other 2D and 3D design
applications, or created at run-time using the Atmosphere Player’s JavaScript API (Application Programming
Interface). Assets of an Atmosphere scene can contain geometric, appearance, animation, and interaction
information. Some of the assets that make up an Atmosphere scene are:
•
2D Text Created at run-time
•
2D Sprites Loaded at run-time
•
Props 3D Objects which are created in an external design application and either imported into a scene using
Atmosphere or loaded at run-time
•
Surface Objects 3D objects which are either created by importing other formats into Atmosphere and converting
to this native type or converted by Atmosphere, then exported and loaded at run-time
•
Solid Objects 3D objects which are created in Atmosphere and either placed into a scene by Atmosphere or
exported and loaded at run-time
Script Objects - Imported into a scene using Atmosphere
This phase of the Atmosphere workfl ow includes asset creation (Solid Objects), asset import (Props, Surface Objects,
Solid Objects, Script Objects), and asset import and conversion (Surface Objects).
Atmosphere can import 3-D models, including animations, saved in the standard Viewpoint Media format (MTX
and MTZ). 3-D objects created in Atmosphere can be wrapped with textures, which can be still or video images.
Atmosphere supports video in AVI, WMV, MPEG and MOV (QuickTime) formats and still images in GIF, JPEG and
PNG formats. Applications like Adobe Photoshop and Image Ready and Adobe Premiere can be used to prepare still
images and video for use in Atmosphere.