One of the main characteristics of the Italian Renaissance was an emphasis on perspective and lighting. I am noticing a pattern in Apple's new systems (Leopard and Front Row/Apple TV), specifically an emphasis on perspective, lighting and focus. This shows in both versions of Front Row, as the icons in the background being smaller than those in the foreground. In the new Front Row, there is also a Core Image blur. In Leopard there is also both the new 3D dock and in the Cover Flow views. In the two Leopard cases, there is a 3D effect involved. In both cases it is a "fake" effect; that is, it is created not using 3D rendering, but with either static images or Core Image. In Cover Flow, it is done using Core Image and Core Animation, and the 3D dock and the glare is done using an image. This closely resembles the reforms in the Italian Renaissance, which focused on perspective and light.
Most of the reflections in Mac OS X have been accumulated in versions prior to Leopard, the only two new ones that I see are the Dock reflections and the Cover Flow reflections. Core Animation allows for much more dynamic reflections, such as the window reflections on the Dock. Most of this is the result of the Quartz Compositor built into Mac OS X.
No comments:
Post a Comment