[Imagiam Lenticular Effects 4 1 F
Virginie Fayad
The lenticular flip effect combines two or more very different images that change from one to the other as the angle of observation of the print changes. The animation effect, meanwhile, is composed of various images with slight differences but that together form a small video sequence. The zoom and morphing effects become variations of this same concept.
In the 3D effects, the lenticular plastic allows each eye to see a slightly different representation of the same scene. The brain integrates both images and thus creates a three-dimensional illusion in the observer without the need for stereoscopic glasses. The flip, animation and 3D lenticular effects can be mixed all together in order to maximize the visual impact of the prints.
The key point of lenticular technology is that the observer sees different images depending on the angle at which the lenticular image is observed. That characteristic is the key for producing the different effects.
Our lenticular software has been designed to cover all needs that exist for the generation of lenticular effects. Many printing equipment manufacturers have already installed our software in their Demo Centers and are recommending it to their customers.
You can print directly on the plastic through UV technology (Offset and Digital) or on a stable paper medium that afterwards must be cold laminated together with the plastic and a transparent double-face adhesive (Inkjet).
Simple image-changing flips (say a winking eye) can be set up relatively easily in a multi-layer imaging program, most usually Adobe Photoshop. This will also work for more complex animations, though a more specialist program such as Adobe Flash might be useful for the initial stages.
Morphing (the changing of one shape into another) is more complex: there are dedicated programs, or the effects are included in some animation programs such as Cinema 3D or Adobe After Effects. Frames from movie clips can be extracted relatively easily.
For true stereoscopic 3D you need a camera system that takes pairs of images from different viewpoints. There has been a handful of 3D digital cameras on the market in recent years, though all seem to have been withdrawn now. The most prominent was the amateur-oriented Fujifilm Real 3D W1 and second-generation W3 cameras (such as that pictured below, currently available second-hand for around USD/EUR500), which had two lenses and sensors plus a built-in lenticular preview/playback screen as well as an optional larger format standalone playback screen.
Quite a lot of the images seen in 3D lenticular prints are not true stereoscopic images at all: they are conventional 2D images whose elements have been separated into layers, with software that fills in the edges of the resulting holes and simulates depth between the layers (and can be achieved easily with the latest version of Photoshop, with its 'Content Aware Fill' tool). This effect works surprisingly well, even though each layer is actually flat.
The little stereo viewer postcards sold in museums, galleries and souvenir shops worldwide use this technique to get 3D out of practically anything, even Renaissance paintings. These will be printed by lithography though.
The production stage of lenticular imaging converts the images into interlaced strips with the appropriate measurements for the lens material, printing process, print size, resolution and halftone setting.
The software is often available in several versions, priced according to the process, maximum size and lens pitch. Low lens pitches and small sizes tend to be low cost, but large formats and high lens pitches are much more expensive.
3DZ is one of the first lenticular software suites and is still being developed in 2015. Its 3D Lenticular Suite 2015 includes applications to do pretty well everything needed at the creative, production and output stages. Its current interlacer is called V7.
Imagiam, in Barcelona, has been selling its Lenticular Effects modular suite since 2000. This runs on Mac OSX or Windows and offers the creation, interlacing and printing of lenticular images with different effects: flip, zoom, movement, animation, 3D, etc. Developer David Garcia says it is used in demo suites by Heidelberg, KBA and Canon/Oc Denmark.
Achieve extremely well-defined shifting, animation and 3D lenticular effects that are resistant to banding and other visual artifacts. The new lenticular interlacing engine in the latest version of our software is the result of more than 20 years of continuous development, improvement and testing.
Imagiam is a pioneer in the development of advanced tools for the creation of photorealistic 3D effects and excels in that area. Convert any flat 2D image into a depth-rich 3D scene using the latest depth mapping techniques. We are experts in this field and in addition to lenticular software we can offer you courses, training and support.
The Calibration Module is essential to perfectly match the interlaced images that produce the different effects with the plastic lenses. Generate files for calibration tests in any range of pitches you may need.
The supported image formats are the usual ones for professional workflows: JPEG, TIFF, PSD and PSB. PDF output is also supported. The new Interlacing Module even accepts files in MPO format, which allows direct import of 3D images taken with Fujifilm 3D cameras.
Imagiam can change the color spaces of the input images on the fly by applying color policies. In this way, it is possible to seamlessly mix images with different color spaces (RGB, CMYK or Grayscale) and generate directly an output with the ICC color profile of your printing device.
Our software can generate GIF animations that mimic on-screen the output lenticular effects once printed. Ideal for exchanging previews with clients during the design phase or for creating web galleries. Input images are automatically rescaled from print resolution to screen resolution and various output parameters (palette size, framerate, etc.) can be adjusted. Other output animation formats are PDF Multimedia and Flash.
Optimize your output quality without wasting resources. The new state-of-the-art lenticular interlacing engine has the option of generating output files with different resolutions in the X and Y axes. The new lenticular resolution mode allows you to concentrate the bulk of the output resolution on the axis that is perpendicular to the plastic lenses.
Our lenticular software supports output interlaced images in PSB format with a width or height greater than 30,000 pixels. Combining this functionality with anisotropic resolutions, it is now possible to produce lenticular effects with unprecedented fidelity to detail while reducing output file sizes to facilitate faster workflows.
The new depth table shows the properties of each object within the 3D scene and allows great control over its depth, volume and added effects. For example, layers linked to a depth map produce a volume bounded by two values that are controlled with a slider. And layers linked to a sequence of images can easily render any flip or animation effect within the 3D scene. Producing rich 3D effects with our software is as easy as adding layers to a single PSD or PSB source file and playing with the depth table.
Imagiam has been designed to process multi-gigabyte files in record time in offset environments with ultra-high resolution images or flatbed with images several meters in size. This includes making use of native 64-bit code and multiple levels of disk and processing caches that provide amazing I/O speeds.
Preview your lenticular jobs at full screen in several different ways to assess the performance of the 3D effects once printed: as a sequence of images, as an anaglyph image or as cross-eyed images.
Our lenticular software has been developed natively on Mac and Windows platforms. Same features, same screens, same menus. Choose your preferred platform with complete freedom knowing that the performance will be the same on both.
The new version automatically rotates 90 degrees the interlaced output images when it detects that the direction of the interlacing and the direction of the lenses of the plastic selected for printing differ.
Because of the huge volume of print we see every day most traditional print finishes up in the bin, let alone being actually read, consequently, wasting all that hard work and expense. Lenticular print however is a different story. Choose from wide variety of eye catching lenticular or holographic effects bringing your vision to life and making your bespoke printed lenticular posters the centre of attention.
Our standard or 3D lenticular posters can be printing digitally or using UV litho. This means you can have as little or as many as you like. If you need them to work backlit on lightboxes just let us know and we will manufacture them accordingly at no extra charge. Posters can be drilled or formed to aid will hanging. If you require an unusual shape this can be accommodated with our die cutting service.
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