Give your videos a unique and professional touch by creating your own logo in Cool 3D Production Studio. There are unlimited possibilities in this program and in this tutorial I’ll use the Hollow bevel effect for my logo.

This tutorial is available in the form of a PDF document and can be downloaded here.  The finished project is also available for download here.

The following output samples have been provided to illustrate the finished project:

Ktp_Logo.wmv (Windows Media 179 KB)
Ktp_Logo.mov (Quicktime 400 KB)

1. Cool 3D opens with an Untitled Edit Window ready for you to begin a new project. Save your new project by going to File>Save, or use the Windows keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+S). I have called my project "KTP Logo".

2. To use the same settings that I have used in my project, go to Project>Dimensions..., choose Standard and click the down arrow to choose a suitable size for your project. Click OK.

Project Dimensions Dialog

• Project>Display Quality and check Draft. (Change this to Fair or higher later if you need your preview to appear clearer, but the higher the quality the longer Cool 3D takes to render your preview after each change.)
• Project>Display Output, which is the quality you will use when you export your video, use Best
• Project>Curve Quality should be set to Best. If you find that your objects are taking a long time to render a preview, try lowering the quality of the Curve property, but remember to set it back to Best before you make your final movie file. (I have found the Optimal setting for both final Curve and Display Outputs unnecessary and take much longer to render, but that is up to you. Experiment. )
• Project>Apply Video Filter make sure that PAL is ticked.

4. Set your preferences, by going to File>Preferences.

Project Preferences Dialog

As you can see by this Preferences box, I choose to set my frame rate for new documents to 5fps even though I output my projects at 25fps. I find 5fps is usually good enough for previewing my animations and renders much quicker than 25fps. Cool 3D extrapolates the values in the timeline when I change my fps to 25 and the number of frames to match the actual time taken for my animation to run.

5. Open the Insert Text dialogue box by clicking on the letter T in the Object Toolbar. You can also open the Text box by going to Object>Insert Text, or using the function key F3. I have chosen "Copperplate Gothic Bold...size30...bold" and used the capital letters "KTP". Use any fat font for this exercise. Click OK and the text appears in your Edit Window.

Insert Text Dialog

If you want to make changes to your text at any time, click on the Edit Object icon, in the Object Toolbar which will bring up the Insert Text box. You can also access this box by going to Object>Edit Object, or use the function key F4. Select your text in the dialogue box before making changes to the selected text and click OK.

6. Now apply the Hollow Bevel effect to your text. In the EasyPalette click on the + sign next to Object Style, then the + next to Bevel and select Hollow. The EasyPalette will present you with a number of thumbnail options to choose from. Double click on a thumbnail image and the effect will appear in your Edit Window. Double click on each one until you get an effect you like.

7. Once you have chosen the effect, it can be modified in the Attribute Panel. If the panel is not showing click on the third option down on the Toolbar Manager, usually situated to the right of the main window

You can also open the Attribute Panel by going to View>Toolbars Manager and putting a tick next to Attribute Panel. This picture shows the modifications I made to the Hollow Bevel.

Attribute Panel Dialog

If you are following along with this project then your project should now look something like this:-

Project Window

8. Now that you have done all this hard work you don’t want to lose it so make sure you Save it and continue to save on a regular basis. Also, at this stage I recommend using the Save As command and saving the project as something like "KTP Logo Version 1".Close the project you have just created, i.e. the "KTP Logo Version 1" and open the original project, "KTP Logo", which Cool 3D automatically closed when you used the Save As command. If you follow this procedure during your project, if things go a bit crazy and even the undo facility doesn’t get you out of strife, you can always open up an earlier version to work on. You will not have to go back to scratch. (Not that I ever mess up, of course!)

9. The next step is to make the Logo look more attractive by adding some colour or texture to it. I’m going to add both, but before I do, it is a good idea to put a background in similar to the one you will be using in your video production. That way you can be sure that this logo will look right when it is overlayed in your video editing program.

In the Attribute Panel click on the downward arrow in the Property List and choose Background and in the Background Mode choose an image file you have stored on your computer, or you can click on View Thumbnails at the bottom of the Attribute Panel which will open up image backgrounds that Cool 3D has supplied for your convenience. You can also choose a solid colour, gradient colour or even a video as your background. I have chosen a still image I intend using at the beginning of my video movie

Attribute Panel Dialog

10. In the Property List of the Attribute Panel, this time select Texture and by clicking on View Thumbnails, you will be presented with a choice of textures from the EasyPalette. You can also go straight to the EasyPalette and click on the +sign next to Object Style>Material Attributes>Image Texture. I have chosen a metallic, earthy, embossed texture for my project because it picks up some of the colours in my background image. Double click on the texture and it will appear on your text object. You can also click and drag the texture onto your object.

Project Window

11. At this point I think the logo blends in with the background a little too well. To make it stand out I have chosen to apply the texture to the back and front faces only, and not to the side face or on the front and back bevel edges. To remove the texture from these faces go to the Face Toolbar and select the front bevel face, side face and back bevel face; and deselect the front face and back face.(The three faces in the middle of the toolbar should be the only ones indented.)

Faces Toolbar

When you have done this, uncheck the box next to Use under Texture in the Attributes Panel and the texture will be removed from these selected faces. The colour left behind is that chosen by Cool 3D. I will apply my own colour to these three faces.

12. Change the attribute in the Attribute Panel from Texture to Color. Deselect the side face, so that now only the front and back bevel faces are indented and chosen. Click on the View Thumbnails and select an off-white colour, by double clicking on it. I have chosen the first color available in the EasyPalette.

EasyPalette

13. Next select the Side face, which is the middle button, by deselecting all of the other buttons. (The name of each button is displayed when you move your mouse over it). Choose the Color property in the Attributes Toolbar, click on the colour swatch, and when the color picker opens click on a dark burgundy and click OK. If you are following along then your creation should now look like this:-

Project Window

Don’t worry too much about the artistic merit of this creation. You can do whatever you like; I am simply demonstrating the techniques involved.

14. At this stage I suggest you save your project. I have also saved mine as another version. Next I am going to animate my creation.