Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Most presentations are created and delivered using the Microsoft
PowerPoint part of the Microsoft Office productivity suite. On an Apple
computer, the equivalent program is Keynote; there is also a version of
Microsoft Office available for Apple devices such as Macs and iPads.
Presentation graphics generally distill what the speaker says into bulleted
summaries, and bar and pie charts. Such presentations may accompany
a detailed report or be used as part of a marketing pitch—for example,
showing why a company is better to do business with than its rivals. The
most effective presentations have only a handful of slides and feature
minimal details, allowing the audience to focus on what the presenter
says. To make your point effectively, avoid creating long and boring pre-
sentations crammed with far too much information.
Computer-Aided Design Software
Computer-aided design
(CAD) software is used when designing any
sort of item that has a physical form (rather than being flat like a photo).
It uses the same basic idea as the two-dimensional vector graphics that
you learned about earlier in this chapter, but it models them to have
height, width, and depth. This is also known as
3D modeling.
computer-aided design (CAD)
The process
of using computer software to produce technical
drawings that include the product's precise scale,
simulate its textures, and show it in full three-
dimensional detail.
Three-dimensional drawings are built around a
wireframe
. This is a sort
of skeleton on which details of the computerized object or character are
overlaid. The wireframe is created by extruding the flat shape to give it
volume and depth.
wireframe
A 3D vector drawing that consists
only of drawn lines, without any surface textures
applied.
The object is also given mass and assigned textures and properties such
as skin, hair, bones, or fabric. Each of these elements has a predefined
(but separately editable) set of attributes. For instance, the attributes
of a brick wall would include strength, inflexibility, and resistance to
wind and people bumping into it. The wireframe can be rotated so
the designer can check that all the design elements and perspective are
correct.
Once all the attributes have been added to an object created using a
CAD program, the object is
rendered
to give it the appearance of a solid
form by applying surface texture and color. For example, in Figure 6.9,
which shows a rendered image in AutoCAD, notice how the image sur-
face of the handheld vacuum includes two different surface textures: One
looks like solid plastic, and the other looks semi-transparent.
render
To apply a surface texture and fill to a
wireframe image to give it a solid appearance.
Rendering can require huge amounts of computer power. Especially
detailed designs can take many hours to render. If you want to design in
3D, you will need a powerful desktop computer with a multi-core CPU,
lots of memory, and a high-quality graphics card.
