I've just started to experiment with using the 'Material Depth'. Is there an optimum for say, flowers or frames. In my opinion they seem to look better with lower points, is that supposed to be the case? Any help would be appreciated.

To be honest the material depth effect will very from object to object, so there is no right or wrong answer. If you are wanting to add depth to an object on your page, you do not have to just use the material depth option. You can use various effects to add depth to your publication, such as outer shadow, inner shadow, bevel and emboss, etc... To access the filter effects, just right click on the object or image and select "filter effects"

I know what you mean. For flowers I would use a fairly low setting, just enough to give a nice 3D effect with making the flowers look fake; when I made the tree trunks for my Esmee and the Teddies page, I used a really large setting on the material depth to give a flat piece of material at least the impression of a being a rounded tree trunk. Hope that helps!

Hi for flowers I never usualy go above 0.5 as it can look a bit fake as Hils says, sometimes the slightest of shadowing is even better especially if the element is glittery or sparkly as material depth tends to make things like that look dull, hope that helps a little x

Can I take it that material depth is just a quick version of 3D bump map??

If you apply a material depth and then click the 'fx' button you'll see that the 'Bevel and Emboss' effect has been applied. The '3D Bump Map' effect gives the item a textured look.

Alfred

Like Alfred says, the material depth button simply adds a quick and dirty bit of bevel and embossing - sometimes it is ok, just enough to make something stand out or appear to have depth... but other times it doesn't always look right?

I would encourage people to play around with the colour of the shadows and highlights for a more realistic effect. The default shadow is black and the highlight is white, but if you access Bevel and Emboss (via fx button), you can use the colour picker to choose shades that are more in keeping with the object you are working on.

Best regards
Iris

Sorry to be obtuse, but this is the first I have heard of it..and I am dying to try it out!
Jo

Hi Jo,

It's actually a slider, not a button, and it's at the bottom of the Effects tab.

Alfred

And it's very handy and very quick! As Iris says, sometimes there are better options, but I'm rather fond of it, I use it a lot and I tend to go there before I go to filter effects and see whether I like the effect or not - just because I'm always short of time these days