Zaxwerks PROANIMATOR TUTORIALS

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials 1

Zaxwerks Inc. 5724 Camellia Ave. Temple City, CA 91780 (626) 309-9102 phone (626) 309-9142 fax http://www.zaxwerks.com

Sales: sales@zaxwerks.com Tech Support: support@zaxwerks.com

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and does not represent product specifications or commitment on the part of Zaxwerks. Zaxwerks assumes no responsibility or liability for any error or inaccuracies that may appear in this document.

The Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator is a trademark of Zaxwerks Inc. After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. FreeHand is a trademark of Macromedia Inc. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows 2000 and Windows XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. All other product names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

BASIC CONCEPTS

Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Surface Set-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Scene Set-Up & Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

ANIMATION TUTORIALS

ProAnimator Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Creating An Animation in Five Clicks . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Changing The Text In An Animation . . . . . . . . . 20

Changing The Speed Of An Animation . . . . . . . 21

Changing The Camera’s View

Of The Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Rendering An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Rendering A Single Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Saving A Single Frame Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Rendering The Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Rendering Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Changing The Timing And Speed

Of An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

What is A Pose? What Is A Transition? . . . . . . 28

Creating A New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Creating The 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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Adding An Animation Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Changing The Track Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Moving Splice Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Adding More Hold Time To

The Beginning Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Changing The Position Of A Segment

Without Changing Its Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Slowing Down The Motion Of A Transition . . . 33 Resetting An Animation Back

To A Saved Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Increasing The Length Of

An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Setting The Loop Points For

The Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Shortening The Length Of

An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Selecting Segments That Are

Difficult To Click On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Changing Object Motion During Transitions . . . . . . 39

Changing The Curve Of A Motion Path . . . . . . . 40

Changing The Direction Of

The Arch In The Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Controlling When Objects Start To Move . . . . . 42

Controlling The Order Of Objects

As They Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Adding Start Ease And End Ease

For A Professional Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing The Positions Of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Moving Objects To New Positions . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Spreading Objects Apart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Bunching Objects To A Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Making Objects Spin As They Move . . . . . . . . . 53

Randomizing Object Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Shuffling Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

MODELING, SURFACING, & LIGHTING

Basic Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Creating And Working With 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Applying Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Changing The Depth Of An Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Coloring Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Coloring Objects: Method 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Coloring Objects: Method 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Coloring Objects: Method 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Editing 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

How To Set The Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Using Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

How To Set The Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Saving A View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Think Like A Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

How To Render An Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

How To Get The Background To Drop Out . . . . . . . 81

Advanced Tutorials

How To Create a 3D Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

How To Make Objects Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Moving 3D Objects - Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

How To Reset 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Moving 3D Objects - Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Camera Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Camera Shortcuts Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Adjusting The Thickness of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

How To Apply An Edge Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

How To Apply A Single Material To An Object . . . 101 How To Add A Second Material To An Object . . . 103 How To Split A Profile To Fine Tune

Material Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

How To Create An Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Coloring The Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

How To Make Lights Cast Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

How To Move Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

How To Save A Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Additional Tipes When Working With

Illustrator Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

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Installation Instructions

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

System Requirements

System Requirements - MACINTOSH

- G3 Power Mac (G4 recommended)

- Mac OS 9.1, 10.1 or 10.2.6.

- Apple’s OpenGL system extension

- QuickTime 5 or 6.1

- Color monitor capable of displaying at least 1024 x 768 in Millions of colors

- 128 MB RAM, (256 MB recommended)

- 100MB unused hard-disk space

- CD ROM drive

System Requirements - WINDOWS

- Intel Pentium III or 4 processor

- Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro or Home Edition

- OpenGL system .dll file

- QuickTime 5 or 6.1

- Color monitor capable of displaying at least 1024 x 768 in True color

- 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended)

- 100MB unused hard-disk space

- CD ROM drive

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Installing the Software

The Invigorator does not use an automatic installer. You only need to do one step to install the software.

If you are installing from a CD...

1- Find the ProAnimator (or ProModeler) folder on the CD and drag it into the Applications folder on your main hard drive.

If you are installing from a downloaded file...

1- Unstuff or Unzip the download, then drag the ProAnimator (or ProModeler) folder into the Applications folder on your main hard drive.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! The ProAnimator/ProModeler folder contains many files and folders. DO NOT touch the contents of the main folder. Drag ONLY the ProAnimator/ProModeler folder to the Applications folder and all these other files and folders will be moved to the Applications folder too.

You are now ready to launch the program and create your first Invigorator project. Open the Applications folder, then open the ProAnimator or ProModeler folder, and double click on the program icon.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Fill in all fields then click the OK button.

Entering An Authorization Code For The First Time

The first time you launch the software it will ask you to enter some information. Type your Name and Organization, and type the Authorization Code exactly as it was given to you. Then press the OK button.

A Temporary Code looks like this: A1234-B1234. A Permanent Code looks like this: IPMS30-A1234-B1234-C1234 A Temporary Code lasts for 30 days to give you time to contact Zaxwerks and register the software. Once registered, Zaxwerks will give you a permanent authorization code. (See the next section for infor-

mation on how to enter a permanent code.)

If you already have a Permanent Code there is no need to enter the Temporary Code first. Type the Permanent Code when you see the Authorization window and you’ll be ready to go.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! On some Windows systems you may have trouble typing into the Authorization Window. If this is the case, open a program such as NotePad and type the information there. Then copy and paste the information, one line at a time, into the Authorization window.

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Demo Mode

If you don’t have either a Temporary or a Permanent Authorization Code you can run the program in Demo Mode by clicking the DEMO button at the bottom of the authorization window. Demo mode adds a watermark to the renderings and also limits the program in some ways, but other than that most everything works. Demo mode lets you get an idea of how the program runs so you can see how fast and easy it is.

Entering A Permanent Authorization Code

(If this is the first time you have run the software see the previous section titled: Entering An Authorization Code For The First Time.)

If you have been running the software using a Temporary Authorization Code, double click on the program icon to launch it. You will see a message window saying how many days you have left to run the program. At the bottom of this message window will be a “Register” button. Click the “Register” button then enter your Permanent Authorization Code.

A Permanent Code looks like this: IPAS30-A1234-B1234-C1234

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

How To Get A Permanent Authorization Code

A Permanent Authorization code is sent to you directly from Zaxwerks. Contact Zaxwerks in one of the following ways:

Register by email: register@zaxwerks.com Register online: www.zaxwerks.com/Register_English.html Register by phone: 1-800-549-0250

You will be asked for your Temporary Authorization Code and your contact information so you can receive notices about bug fixes and updates.

Click this link on the Zaxwerks Home page to

get to the registration page.

If you bought the program directly from Zaxwerks you will have received a green Invoice/Receipt with the Permanent codes printed on stickers at the bottom.

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Basic Concepts

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BASIC CONCEPTS

The Invigorator creates its own models and images. It does not process existing footage to give it a “3D effect”. You create models that have depth and size, arrange them in space, and then take pictures of them.

The Invigorator is a true 3D program, but it has differences that make it unique from any other 3D program. There is a tremendous amount of technology and workflow design packed into this program, in order to make it easier to learn and faster to use.

If you are new to creating 3D graphics here is a short overview of the steps involved:

Modeling

The Invigorator creates models out of Adobe Illustrator files and fonts installed on your computer. Models can be modified using the controls in the Object Tab. A selection of over 100 preset edge profiles come built into the program or you can make your own. You can also import models created in other programs.

DEFINITIONS

Modeling

The creation of the objects and adjustment of their shape.

Surface Set-Up

The paint job that is applied to the surface of the objects. Often called “Surfacing”.

Scene Set-Up

The positioning of the objects and lights within the 3D scene and the positioning of the camera which views the scene and takes the picture.

Animation

Moving the objects or camera over time.

Rendering

Creation of the final 3D image or movie. “Taking the picture”.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Surface Set-Up

Animation

The Invigorator has a completely unique way of handling surfaces. Up to six different materials can be applied to each object and those materials can be used in a variety of ways. Once you try it you will see how the Invigorator has finally given artists the tools to create a new generation of 3D title and logo graphics. Graphics like you have never seen before.

Scene Set-Up And Lighting

Setting up a 3D scene has been streamlined to make it easier for 2D graphic artists to make the jump to 3D. A scene can have as many objects as you need and objects or groups of objects can be rotated and positioned independently. Up to six lights can be used, and once you get your lights perfect they can be saved and reused in future projects.

Object manipulation within the 3D scene is done in a way that’s completely new. Single and multiple objects can be manipulated with speed and fluidity. There are a full compliment of short cut keys. Even nudge keys are supported.

Animation is created in a new way that is visual rather than technical. Feedback is continuous so you can watch the animation as you edit it. There is no need to stop and render a preview.

Rendering

The rendering engine is designed for the rigors of professional production. It creates beautiful images of any resolution with excellent antialiasing, image mapping, soft shadows, transparencies for glass and chrome effects. Images and movies come with alpha channels for compositing without the need to key the source footage.

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Animation

Tutorials

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ProAnimator Introduction

Hello and welcome to the world of the Invigorator ProAnimator!

The ProAnimator is different than any other animation program. Other animation programs make you fiddle with things like keyframes and velocity curves. The more objects you are animating the more keyframes you have to fiddle with. Projects can get very complicated very quickly.

The ProAnimator, on the other hand creates animations in a new and unique way. The creation of an animation is more like directing a movie. The user is freed to create and design rather than be forced into the roll as technician. Start to finish is only a few steps and animating one object or 50 is the same amount of work.

There are several ways to create your animation. The first we’ll look at is how to use a preset to make the entire animation in just a few clicks.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Beginning Tutorials Creating An Animation In Five Clicks

Our first project will show you how fast it is to create an animation from start to finish using the presets supplied with the software.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP: You must have installed the program properly for the factory presets to be present. If the TRY button doesn’t do anything or you don’t see any presets in the menus when doing the following project, you must quit and reinstall the program following the installation instructions.

1- Double click the ProAnimator icon to launch the program.

2- When you see four large buttons click the “Create 3D Text” button.

3- Type the words News Update. Then click the OK button. The flat text will be turned into 3D models automatically. You will now see many pictures of Object Styles on the right side of the main window. An Object Style is a snapshot of all the settings for creating an object’s “Look”.

Type the words that will become 3D.

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4- Click on the top right Object Style (the blue and white one). Hold your mouse button down and then drag to the left. As you drag you will see a dotted rectangle moving along with the mouse cursor. When the tip of the mouse is over one of the text letters let up on the mouse button.

You will see that all of your letters have turned blue and white. This “click down - hold - drag to position - and let up” procedure is called “Drag and Drop”. Drag and Drop can be done with many things inside the ProAnimator.

Below the main window is another window which may be partially hidden if your monitor isn’t big enough to hold them both. Click once on the lower window to bring it to the front. This window is called the Animation window.

5- At the top of the Animation window find the first red button labled “TRY”. It is next to the button labled “Object Animations”. Click it once.

Watch as an animation is constructed before your eyes. The timeline will get several colored bars in “Object Track 1”, the objects will jump to new positions, and the animation will play back over and over.

That’s it. You’ve just created a complete 3D animation, and did the whole thing in five mouse clicks!

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Drag and Drop an Object Style to color the letters.

Click TRY to auto-create an animation.

The colored bars represent the animation.

Click the Stop button to halt playback of the animation.

To experiment with other animations click the “TRY” button again. Each time you click TRY a new animation will be constructed using the text you typed.

Stop the playback of your animation by clicking the Stop button and continue on to the next exercise.

Changing The Text In An Animation

Once you have created an animation you can change the text without having to redo any other work.

1- Stop the animation if you haven’t already done so.

2- Click on the main Set-Up window (the large top window) to bring it to the front, then double click on one of the letters. This will open the same text window where you first typed the words, News Update.

3- Erase the words “News Update.” In their place type “Evening News”. Then click the OK button. If you get a message asking if you want to modify the objects, click “Modify”. In the 3D window you will see the letters change.

The gray Play button only plays the area

between the green and red markers.

4- In the Animation window click the gray Play button to play the new animation. Notice that the animation is the same even though the text is different.

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Changing The Speed Of An Animation

Changing the speed of an animation makes it run faster or slower. As a general rule the faster an animation, the more punch it has. While the slower an animation, the more grand it appears.

PREPARATION: Look at the blue bars in the Time Line. If there is only one light blue bar then you can go to the next step. If not, click the TRY button again and see if this new animation has only one light blue bar. If not, click the TRY button again and again until the program picks an animation with only one light blue bar. Note that there will be three blue bars total. One light bar between two dark blue bars.

To make an animation move faster all you need to do is shorten the length of the Transition segment. A shorter segment means less time, a longer segment means more time.

1- Position the mouse cursor over the right end of the Transition segment (the light blue bar). When you do this you will see the cursor turn into a left-right slider. Click down and drag the end of the Transition to the left, making it shorter. Release the mouse button when the Transition segment is half the length it was. Play back the animation and you’ll see your objects are now moving faster.

Start with an animation having two dark blue bars and a

light one in the middle.

Drag the end of the Transition segment to the left to

speed things up.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Drag the end of the Transition segment to the right to

slow things down.

2- Next, drag the right end of the segment to make it shorter by half and you’ll see the objects moving even faster. You can also drag the right end of the segment all the way to the right and you will see the objects moving slower.

See how easy it is to adjust the timing of an animation? The 3D window will give you real time feedback so you can adjust the timing while watching the animation play. And notice that you are doing this for eleven letters without touching a single keyframe!

Changing The Camera’s View Of The Animation

The motion of the objects and the viewpoint of the camera are independent from each other. Once an animation is created you can move the camera to any position and view the animation from that new position.

1- Keep the animation playing. Click on the SetUp window, the window at the top, to bring it to the front. Find the row of tools below the 3D preview window. These are the tools that let you change the position of the camera, lights and objects.

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2- Click on the Camera button to make it blue (it may already be blue).

3- Next click on the Tumble tool (first tool in the group of five tool buttons).

4- Now you can click the mouse in the 3D preview window and drag left/right or up/down. As you drag, the camera will change position. You can tell that it is the camera moving because the floor and all of the objects move together. You won’t see the camera itself because it is what you are looking through.

Let up on your mouse button to watch the animation play back from a different viewpoint.

The other three tools move the camera in different ways. Take a moment to experiment with them to see what they do.

Tumble -Makes the camera orbit around the objects Roll -Makes the camera tilt side to side Track -Moves the camera left/right and up/down Dolly -Pushes the camera closer to the objects or pulls

it further away.

Select the camera and the Tumble tool.

The Roll tool.

The Track tool.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

The Dolly tool.

A draft quality rendering.

Chapter 2 Rendering an Animation

Now that you have an animation it’s time to render it and save the movie as a file which you can bring into your video editor, compositor or other program.

The 3D window that the animation is created in only shows you a draft mode view. Draft mode has no antialiasing, no motion blur, no shadows, and no reflectivity. Only solid surface colors. That’s because all of these things take extra time to render and the 3D window tries to do things in real time.

There are two ways of seeing what the final image will look like: rendering a single frame of the animation; or rendering the entire animation.

Rendering A Single Frame

Single frame rendering is done to check what the final movie will look like without having to render the entire movie. When you render a single frame all of the rendering features are turned on, so you will see the antialiasing, motion blur, textures and reflections that are usually turned off when doing previews.

A final quality rendering.

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1- To render a single frame click the Render Frame button. The current frame is rendered and will appear in a window. You can leave this window open and do another rendering. You can also save the image in this window to a file if you want to keep it. (See

Saving A Single Frame Rendering.)

By moving the Time Marker to different places in the animation and rendering single frames you can do spot checks to see how the animation is going to look. Once all of these spot checks look good move on to rendering the whole movie.

Saving A Single Frame Rendering

After a single frame rendering is done is will appear in its own window. When you close this window, the rendering will be erased from memory. To save one of these pictures do the following:

- Click on the image to bring it in front of all the other windows.

- Use the File> Save Picture... command. You will be given a file dialogue where you can name the image and choose the format to save it in.

If the Alpha channel checkbox was turned ON during the rendering, you will be saving the Alpha channel into the same file as the RGB image. This enables you to open the file in Photoshop or other image editing programs that accept Alpha channels and get perfect antialiasing by loading the Alpha channel as a selection.

Click the Render Frame button to render a final quality

image at the current time.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Click the Render button to render the whole movie or part

of the move, depending on how the render options are set.

Rendering The Movie

To render the final movie click the Render button. This will render the movie based on the options set on the camera tab.

After clicking the Render button you will see a file dialogue where you can name the movie and choose where to save it. After clicking the Save button you will then see the QuickTime Compression Settings window. Choose the compressor that gives you the best results for the editing or compositing system you will be taking the movie to.

In most cases you will want to save your ProAnimator movie with as little compression as possible. That way you will be able to mix it with other footage in your editor or compositor. You will probably also want to keep the alpha channel so the background of the movie will be removed without you having to “key it out”.

There are two compressors you can use that fullfill both of these requirements. One is the Animation compressor, the other is the TGA compressor. Both of these compressors are standard QuickTime options. There may be others that will work with your specific editing hardware. Once you have selected either one of these compressors you should put the Quality slider at “Best”, and set the color depth menu to “Millions of Colors +”. The “+” sign means you get the Alpha channel as part of the movie file.

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Rendering Options

The rendering options are seen on the camera tab. These options tell the program what part of the animation you are going to render, what size you will be rendering it at and what the quality of the rendering should be.

(See the section on Rendering Options later in this User Guide for explanations of these options.)

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Render with or

without an Alpha

Channel.

The camera tab contains the rendering options.

Render the whole

movie or part of

the movie.

Choose the size

for the final

rendering.

Chapter 3 Changing The Timing And Speed Of Parts Of An Animation

Oftentimes the preset animations will get close to what you want but you may still need to make some adjustments to the timing in order for it to be perfect. Next we will look at how to change the timing of an animation to better fit the requirements of a project.

What Is A Pose? What Is A Transition?

The first step in knowing how to change an animation is to understand a little about how an animation is put together. Animation is the movement of objects over time. To show time the ProAnimator has a Time Line. When you look at the Time Line you can see that time runs from left to right. It starts at Time = 0 and goes to Time = 10 seconds.

An animation is shown on the Time Line as a series of light blue and dark blue rectangles. The dark blue rectangles are called Pose segments and the light blue rectangles are called Transition segments.

Pose Segments

The Time Line

Transition Segments

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A Pose is a snapshot of the position of your objects in space. A pose is very similar to a keyframe, but a single pose cound contain hundreds of keyframes. A Transition is the movement of objects from one Pose to the next. A Transition segment must always have a Pose segment on either side of it. The simplest animation would be three segments: Pose-Transition-Pose. There is no limit to how long an animation can be. You can add segment after segment for a very long and elaborate series of movements.

The length of each segment shows you how long it lasts. The length of a Pose shows you how long the objects will sit at that one position. The length of a Transition shows you how long it will take for the objects to move between two Poses.

If you did the first tutorial you were introduced to changing the length of a Transition segment. There is more than one way to do it so let’s look at this in more detail.

Creating A New Scene

If you are continuing from the last tutorial look under the File menu and pick the New Scene command. When it asks if you’d like to save the current scene click No.

If you are just starting, launch the program and click the New Scene button.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Creating The 3D Text

Look under the Object menu and choose the “Create 3D Text” command.

When you see the text window, type “Moving along” then click the OK button.

Adding An Animation Preset

1- Go to the Animation window and click on the Object Animations popup menu. Find the preset called “Angle Slide”. Choose it. You will see the animation start to play.

During the next series of instructions do NOT stop the playback of the animation. The ProAnimator let’s you keep the animation playing while you make changes.

Look at the Time Line. You can see that a single animation track has been created. This track contains a starting pose, then a transition segment, then an ending pose. To the left of the segments are the words “Object Track 1” this is a name to identify this track.

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Changing The Track Name

1- Double click on the track name. You will see that it becomes highlighted. Type the words “Moving along” to rename the track. After typing click the Return or Enter key on your keyboard, this turns off the editing of the name so you won’t accidentally change it.

(NOTE: if you accidentally clicked and removed the highlight from the name, click and drag over the words to select them again, then type “Moving along.”)

Moving Splice Points

As the animation plays watch the yellow time marker. When the time marker is at the beginning of the animation the 3D objects are positioned below the lower left corner of the preview window. Notice that they stay there for a bit before the letters begin to move. The movement of the letters happens when the time marker is over the light blue Transition segment. Once the time marker gets over the end pose, the letters stop moving and they hold until the end of the final pose is reached.

Move the mouse cursor so it is over the place where the first pose and the transition touch each other. This is called a “Splice Point”. When the cursor is over a splice point you will see that it changes to the Splice Point Editor. Once the cursor changes it means you will be able to change the position of the splice point without moving the other end of the segment.

Double click the name to change it.

When positioned over a Splice Point the cursor will

change and you can then drag the Splice Point.

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Drag on a Splice Point to change the length of the segments.

Adding More Hold Time To The Beginning Pose

1- With the cursor over the first splice point click down and drag the splice point until it lines up with the 2 second mark on the Time Line. Then release the mouse button.

The animation will now hold for 2 seconds at the beginning, then all the letters will quickly move into position before holding again at the end.

Why do the letters now move so quickly? It’s because moving the splice point made the transition segment become much shorter, meaning the letters have less time to move the same distance, so they have to move faster.

Changing The Position Of A Segment Without Changing Its Length

In the previous step you changed the length of a segment by moving its splice point. If you drag on the center of a segment, instead of its splice point, you can change where the pose or transition happens on the Time Line.

1- Click on the center of the transition segment, hold your mouse button down, and drag to the left. You will see that the transition segment sticks to your mouse cursor and moves left as you drag.

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2- Drag left until the segment stops at the left end of the Time Line, then release your mouse button.

You will now see that there is no pause at the beginning. As soon as the time marker gets to time “zero” the letters immediately begin to move. Once they reach their final position they hold there until the time marker reaches the end of the final pose.

What happened to the starting pose? If you look closely you will see that it is still there, but it’s only one frame long. Remember, a transition always has to have a pose on either side, even if the pose is just one frame long.

Slowing Down The Motion Of A Transition

The speed that the letters move is related to the length of the transition segment. The longer the transition, the slower the movement.

1- Do this: Drag the splice point at the right end of the transition all the way to the right. Make sure the cursor changes before you click and drag, otherwise you may not get the desired result.

What happened to the speed of the letters? The transition segment is now 4 seconds long so it takes the letters 4 seconds to move from their starting pose to their ending pose. This makes the letters all move much more slowly than before.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Drag on the center of a segment to change

the position without changing its length.

Drag the right end of the Transition all the way to the right.

Reselect a preset from the popup menu to erase your changes.

Resetting An Animation Back To A Saved Preset

If you change an animation and want to restore it back to the saved version all you have to do is to select the animation preset from the menu again.

Click on the Object Animations popup menu. Find the preset called “Angle Slide”. Choose it. This will erase the existing animation and reapply the preset animation to the objects.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP: If nothing happens, click on the Track’s name so it becomes dark. This tells the program which track you want to apply the preset to.

Increasing The Length Of An Entire Animation

Sometimes you have an animation that you need to make shorter. Other times you have an animation that needs to take up more time. In both of these cases you must scale the duration of the whole animation. Not just change a single segment, but affect all of the pose and transition segments at one time. Here’s how you do it...

1- If the animation is playing, click the Stop button.

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2- Click once on the starting pose to select it. You will see a red dotted line surrounding the pose segment.

3- Next, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard. Keep holding it down.

4- Now click your mouse once on the end pose. Let up on the Shift key after having clicked on the end pose.

You will now see that there are dotted lines surrounding all of the segments on this track. This means that all segments have been selected. Shift-clicking is a very fast way to select all segments that lie between two points. To scale the length of all the selected segments do the following...

5- Hold down the Option (Alt) key on your keyboard. Position the mouse cursor over the end of the last segment. This should be at the 4 second mark. Click and hold down on your mouse button, then drag to the right. You will see the segments grow longer as you drag. Drag until the right end of the last segment is under the 8 second mark. Release the mouse button.

6- Click the gray play button. You will see that the objects now move much more slowly than before. You should also see that the animation doesn’t play all the way through to the end. Once the time marker gets to 4 seconds it jumps back to the beginning and starts over. To make it play all the way through you will need to adjust the end loop point for the work area. (See next step.)

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Shift Click between two points to select multiple segments.

Hold the Option (Alt) key and drag the end to the

8 second mark.

Work Area

Start Marker

Drag the end marker to set the end of the loop.

Play Work

Area Button

Loop

Button

Work Area

End Marker

Setting The Loop Points For The Work Area

The Work Area is the portion of the animation that is played when the gray “Play Work Area” arrow is pushed. If the black Play arrow is pushed the animation plays all the way through from the beginning to very end. But if the Play Work Area arrow is pushed the animation starts playing at the green arrow and stops when it gets to the red arrow. Additionally, if the Loop button is turned on, the animation will play over and over until you click the square Stop button.

The little green and red arrows in the Time Line set the beginning and ending of the Work Area. Between the green and red arrows the timeline is dark gray. This is to let you easily see the work area. Playing only the work area lets you see part of your animation without having to watch other parts that you may not be interested in.

In the last step you made the animation 8 seconds long but only the first 4 seconds is playing back. This is because the red arrow that marks the end of the work area loop is still sitting at 4 seconds. To set the end marker to be able to see the entire animation, position the mouse cursor over the end marker, (the red marker) click down and drag to the right until the marker is at the 8 second mark. Now you can click the Play Work Area button and watch the animation all the way through.

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Shortening The Length Of An Entire Animation

You can shorten an entire animation the same way that you made it longer.

1- Shift-click to select all segments. (Click on the beginning pose, hold down the shift key then click on the end pose.) You will see dotted lines surrounding all of the segments indicating that the whole animation is selected.

2- Next, hold down the Option (Alt) key on your keyboard. Position the mouse cursor over the end of the last segment. When the mouse is in the correct position you will see the cursor change from an arrow to the splice point editor.

3- Click and hold down on your mouse button, then drag to the left. You will see all of the segments grow shorter as you drag. Drag until the right end of the last segment is under the 2 second mark. Release the mouse button and the Option (Alt) key.

Click the Play Work Area button. You will now see the objects moving much more quickly.

You will also see that after the objects stop moving, the animation sits still for quite a while. This is because the the time marker must reach the red end marker before it can loop back to the beginning. To remove the pause, drag the red end marker to the 2 second mark. Now the animation will loop the first two seconds over and over.

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With all segments selected, hold down the Option

(Alt) key and drag the end to the left.

Drag the end marker to the 2 second mark

to play back only the first two seconds.

Click the left arrow key on your keyboard to

move the selection from Position 3 to 2 to 1.

Hold down the Shift key as you click the

arrow keys to add to a selection.

Selecting Segments That Are Difficult To Click On

When segments are made very short it is sometimes difficult to click on them. The ProAnimator has a way to select segments without clicking on them.

1- Don’t hold down any other key. Click on the last segment to the right. This segment is large so it will be easy to click on. With one segment selected you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the selection to the right or left.

2- On your keyboard, click the left arrow key once. You will see the red selection dots move to the transition. Click the left arrow key again and you will see the dots surrounding the thin segment that is the first pose.

If you hold down the Shift key while arrowing left and right you can extend the selection. For instance, now that the start segment is selected, hold down the Shift key and click the right arrow two times. You should now see the dotted selection lines surrounding the entire animation.

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Chapter 4 Changing Object Motion During Transitions

There are a great many ways you can change the motion of your objects during an animation. When a Transition segment is selected, and the animation is not playing, the paths that the objects move along are shown as red lines in the 3D window, and the controls for the selected transition are shown at the bottom of the animation window.

IMPORTANT! Before you continue with this next section you should

1- Create a New Scene, 2- Create 3D text of the word “Transitions”, and then 3- Add the object animation called Angle Slide.

If you don’t know how to do these things please follow the instructions at the beginning of Chapter 2.

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The motion paths of the Angle Slide animation.

When you select a transition in the Time Line the

motion paths will be displayed in the 3D window.

The Arch Slider.

An Arch of 10 gives the paths a slight curve.

Changing The Curve Of A Motion Path

1- When you play the Angle Slide animation you can see that the letters are moving along a straight path. Stop the playback and click on the transition segment to select it. When a transition is selected you can see the paths that objects move along as red lines with red dots on them.

At the bottom right end of the animation window you will see a slider titled “Arch”. When this slider is set to 0 there is no arch or curve in the path. The objects move from their starting pose to their ending pose in a straight line. The Arch slider enables you to curve the path making it look more interesting.

2- Drag the Arch slider to 10 then release the mouse. The paths will now curve upward a little. Drag the Arch slider to 25. See how the paths are now curved quite a bit. Click the gray play arrow to start the animation playing and see how the letters now look like they are dropping into their final position instead of sliding up into position.

3- Drag the Arch slider to 50. Now the letters look like they are dropping into place from the top of the screen. Most likely you can see the letters lifting up before they fall down, but the lifting is happening offscreen. Only the light colored area in the middle of the preview window will be rendered in the final movie. Anything that is happening in the dark gray area won’t be seen.

An Arch of 50 gives the paths an extreme curve.

4- Set the Arch slider to 20, before you go to the next tutorial.

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Changing The Direction Of The Arch In The Path

Up to this point the Arch of the path has been up and over, as if the letters are riding over the top of a hill. We can change this direction. Find the Arch Direction knob located to the right of the Arch slider. See how the arrow on the knob is pointing up.

1- Drag the Arch Direction knob so it is pointing down. Play the animation if it has stopped. See how the letters now swoop up from the bottom of the screen. This has quite a different look than the when the animation was dropping in from the top.

2- Drag the Arch Direction knob so it is pointing to the right, then increase the Arch slider to 50. Now the letters are moving off in the distance before turning and traveling right toward the camera. This is a very cool multi-overlapping look and is very difficult to get with any other software.

3- Often a little change can make a lot of difference. Instead of setting the Arch Direction arrow to the right, which would be the 3 o’clock position on the face of a clock, try setting it to the 2 o’clock or 4 o’clock positions. Experiment with different positions and see the effect.

4- When you are done experimenting stop the animation and pick the Angle Slide preset from the Object Animations popup menu. This will reset the animation to its original form.

The Arch Direction control will make

objects swoop down, or to the side.

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Controlling When Objects Start To Move

In the Angle Slide animation notice how each letter flies on screen a little bit later than the one next to it. The secret is the “Cascade” slider. The Cascade slider controls the timing of objects as they move along their motion path.

1- Stop the animation. Select the transition segment if it’s not already selected. For the Angle Slide animation you’ll see that Cascade is set to 9. Drag the slider so that Cascade reads 0. Play the animation and you will see that now all the objects are moving together. When Cascade is at 0 all objects start moving at exactly the same time.

2- Set the Cascade slider to 20. Now you will see that there is space between each letter. Each letter waits a little bit before it starts to move. This creates a spread-out cascade of letters.

3- Set the Cascade slider to 50 . Now you will see that there is quite a bit of space between the letters. You still get the cascading effect but the spacing is so large that each letter now looks like it is moving on its own.

4- Set the Cascade slider to 100. This is the top end of the range and it means that each letter completely finishes its move before the next letter starts to move. In other words the first letter moves to its end position before the second letter starts to move.

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Then the second letter goes to its final position before the third letter begins to move. This pattern continues until all the letters reach their final position.

One thing to notice is that as you increase the amount of Cascade, the letters move faster . This is because part of the time a letter has to complete its move, is being spent waiting for its turn to go. So once the letter starts moving it has to move faster to get to the final position.

5- Set the Cascade slider back to 9, and start playing the animation if it has stopped.

Controlling The Order Of Objects As They Cascade

If you look at the Angle Slide animation as it plays you will see that the last letter of the word comes on screen first, then the next to last letter, and so on. The final letter to appear on screen is the first letter of the word. The feature that controls the order of the letters as they begin to move is called the Cascade Order.

1- The Cascade Order popup menu is located to the right of the Cascade slider. It is currently set to “Right to Left”. Click on it and choose “Birth Order”. Let the animation continue to play while you make this change The animation will now play with the “T” first followed by the “r” and then the rest of the letters in sequence. Birth Order means the order that the letters were created in.

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The “Selection Order” option lets you choose the exact order

that objects will fly onto the screen.

2- From the Cascade Order popup, choose the Random option. Now the letters build on in random order. This is a very cool look. You can change the order of the random sequence by picking the Random option again. In other words if you don’t like the cascade order that the Random option picked for you, you can choose the Random option again and again until the cascade order is more to your liking. For instance, if you wanted the T in the word Transitions to be the very first letter that flies on, you can pick the Random option over and over until T happens to be picked as the first letter in the order.

The other options fit various other purposes. Top to Bottom, Left to Right, and the others tell you what they do. There is one other Cascade Order option that is very useful. This is the option called Selection Order. What the Selection Order option does is it lets you pick the letters one by one in the order that you want them to move. Let’s do this so you can see what this can be used for.

3- Stop the animation. Click on the Transition segment to select it, then click on the yellow Time Marker and drag it left or right until you can see all the letters on the screen.

4- The selecting must be done in the 3D Scene preview window. Click once on this window. Select the Selection Tool icon. (This is the icon next to the Magnifying glass icon.) Click somewhere in the 3D window but don’t click on an object. This will deselect everything. You should not see any red or green selection boxes surrounding letters.

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5- Now let’s decide which letters we want to fly on first. Say that you want the word to build on from the ends towards the middle. Select the T by clicking once on the letter. If you select it you will see a red wire box around the letter. If you don’t see the wire box try clicking on the letter again.

6- Next hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click once on the “s” at the end of the word Transitions. If you selected it you will see a green wire box around the “s”. If there is a red wire box around the “s” then you forgot to hold the Shift key down. Go to the top of this page and start over.

7- Next select the “r” then the “n” and so on back and forth working toward the middle. Be sure to pay attention as you are selecting. You might not click on a letter. If you don’t the wire box does not appear. Or you may accidentally click on a letter that was already selected. If you do this the wire box will disappear so you will have to select that letter again.

8- Once you have all of the letters selected go to the Animation window and choose “Selection Order” from the Cascade Order popup menu. This locks the selection order into the program’s memory. Now play the animation. You will see the letters cascade onto the screen in the order that you selected them!

Hold down the Shift key then select the objects

in the order you want them to move.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

By the way you don’t need to select every letter. Sometimes you just want a few main letters to come on first and the order really doesn’t matter for the rest of the letters. If this is the case just select the main letters and leave the rest unselected. The letters that were selected will appear at the beginning and the letters that were unselected will follow in birth order.

Adding Start Ease And End Ease For A Professional Touch

Real life objects accelerate when they start to move and decelerate when they slow to a stop. Think of a car. When a car begins to move it speeds up over a few seconds until it gets to full speed. It doesn’t just go from sitting still to full speed in an instant. It takes several seconds for it to get going.

The same thing happens when you stop a car. If you are going 40 and you step on the brake the car does not stop instantly. It takes it a few seconds to slow down first and then it stops.

Start Ease and End Ease are both applied using this slider.

Start Ease and End Ease are animation terms that mean the speeding up at the beginning of a movement and the slowing down at the end of a movement. Start Ease and End Ease are one of the little things that makes your work look really good. Without this feature letters tend to bang into place. With this feature the letters will settle into place. As a general rule the more Ease you use, the heavier the objects will appear.

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Find the Ease slider next to the Cascade control. Notice that it has two slider arrows. The light arrow on the left controls Start Ease, the acceleration of objects as they begin to move. The dark arrow on the right controls End Ease, the slowing down of objects as they near their final pose.

1- Drag the End Ease (dark) arrow to the left so it reads 60. Play the animation and you will see that the letters now settle into position very nicely. By setting this control to 60 you told the program to keep the letters at a constant speed for the first 60% of the transition, and then slow down over the last 40%.

Since the letters begin offscreen there is no need to add Start Ease. You only need to add Ease when you see the letters start or stop while on screen, in the live area that will be rendered.

Dragging the End Ease arrow to 60 makes the objects

slow down over the last 40% of the animation.

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Chapter 5 Changing The Positions Of Objects

Poses are the positions of your objects. An animation is created by placing objects in different positions at different times, and then having the program move the objects from one Pose to the next. We saw in the last section how to change the way that objects move between two poses. Now we will learn how to put the objects into those poses.

IMPORTANT! Before you continue with this next section you should:

1- Create a New Scene, 2- Create 3D text of the word “Positions”, and then

3- Add the object animation preset called CrashZoom. If you don’t know how to do these things read the instructions at the beginning of Chapter 3.

If you followed the IMPORTANT step above you will now be looking at an animation of the word Positions. Notice how the starting Pose has the letters positioned behind the camera so that the first you see of them is when they appear to crash through the screen from behind. The middle Pose has the words come to a rest in the center of the screen, and the final Pose is once again behind the camera as the word flies past the camera and out of view.

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Moving Objects To New Positions

The Move control is one of the tools you will use the most. When you are setting up an animation and placing objects into their positions the tendency is to want to drag the objects in the 3D window. This is the old way of doing it. In fact, in most 3D programs this is the only way you have of positioning objects, but in the ProAnimator we call this Tweaking.

Tweaking is the very last method you should use to position objects. It is the technique you use when you can’t get the Pose controls to do exactly what you want. One advantage of using the Pose controls is that you will be able to save your animations as presets and apply them to any other group of objects, so you should get used to using these controls as quickly as possible.

(For more information about Tweaks see the section called “What is a Tweak?” later in this guide.)

We will use the Move controls to make the objects fly to a different place on the screen. As you play the animation you can see that the second Pose is responsible for the position of the objects at the center of the screen.

Stop the animation playback (by clicking your spacebar), and click on the second Pose to select it. You will see the controls for this Pose appear at the bottom of the Animation window. There are two parts to the Move controller; a set of direction clickpoints, and a slider to set the amount of distance to move.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

The Move controls.

Dragging objects in the 3D window is called Tweaking- you

should NOT tweak objects if you can avoid it.

The Distance slider.

Direction Buttons.

1st Pose

By default objects move

forward.

2nd Pose 3rd Pose

Click the UP arrow to move

objects up.

Currently the slider is set to 0 meaning that the objects aren’t being moved anywhere. They are all sitting at their Home position.

Instead of having the letters fly to the center of the screen let’s have them fly to the top third of the screen. Here’s how you do it.

1- First make sure that the second Pose is selected.

2- Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and drag the Move slider back and forth a few times between 0 and 500. Notice how the letters come closer to you. This is because the center button on the direction indicator is dark. Click on the UP arrow, and drag the slider until the letters are positioned about a third of the way down from the top of the screen. This should be at about

150.

3- Now play the animation. (Tap your spacebar.) You will see the letters flying to this higher position instead of the center of the screen.

4- Leave the animation playing and double click the center button. Now you will see the letters flying to a far away position. A single click on this button moves the objects forward, and a double click move the objects away.

Double click the center

button to move ojects back.

Click the DOWN arrow to

move objects down.

5- Leave the animation playing and click the DOWN arrow. Now you will see the letters flying to a lower third position.

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Pretty amazing how a single click could reposition all of those letters, changing all of those animation paths, and you never even had to stop the animation to do it! This is something you could never do with the Tweak method, and shows you the second main benefit of using the Pose controls: you can make extremely fast changes.

Spreading Objects Apart

With the word now flying to the lower third of the screen, let’s add some spacing between the letters to give it a different look. The Bunch/Spread slider enables you to quickly spread objects horizontally.

1- Tap your spacebar to stop the playback of the animation. The second Pose should still be selected. If it isn’t, click it so you see the red dotted lines around this Pose segment.

2- Hold down the Shift key and drag the Bunch/Spread slider back and forth a few times. See how the letters bunch together as you drag to the left and spread apart as you drag to the right.

Stop dragging when the letters just about fit the width of the screen. This should be around 85.

Drag to the left to bunch objects together.

Drag to the right to spread them apart.

3- Start the animation playing to see the word flying to this spread position.

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Select the first Pose.

1st Pose

Setting Bunch/Spread to -100 puts all the objects on top of

each other, as you can see in the picture below...

2nd Pose 3rd Pose

Bunching Objects To A Point

The Bunch/Spread slider also enables you to quickly bunch the letters into a clump. This is useful when you want the objects to all fly from a single point. Let’s bunch the letters at the first Pose.

1- Stop the animation. Select the first Pose segment. The controls will update to show you the settings used by the selected Pose.

At the beginning of the animation the objects are off screen which makes it hard to see the adjustments we make to the Pose.

2- Hold down the Shift key and drag the Move slider from its current position of 1000 to a valueof 500. This will bring the objects into view so we can see the effect of the Bunch/Spread slider. When we are done with the Bunching we’ll return the Move slider to its original value.

3- Hold the Shift key down and drag the Bunch/Spread slider to the left until it reads -100. This puts all the letters on top of each other.

4- Set the Move slider back to 1000.

5- Play the animation. Now the letters spread out as they move.

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Making Objects Spin As They Move

You can also make objects spin as they move. There are two ways of doing this. One way is to set the rotations as part of the Poses. The second method is to use something called a Path Action which adds a rotation to the objects during the Transition. We’ll show you how to do the first method here. The second method is discussed in the section on Path Actions.

1- Stop the animation. Select the first Pose segment if it’s not already selected.

2- Drag the Move slider to 500 so you can see what you are doing. (By the way, you can also move the camera to see what you are doing, but then you have to worry about getting the camera back to the same position. It’s much easier to drag the Move slider instead.)

3- Hold down the Shift key and drag the green oval on the Rotation control. Watch the letters and stop dragging when they have rotated once around. It may take you a couple of drags to get all the way around. You don’t have to be perfect.

4- Set the Move slider back to 1000.

Drag the green oval to rotate

the letters around the Y axis.

5- Play the animation. Now the letters both spin and spread as they fly into position.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Watch the letters in the 3D window as you drag the

green oval on the rotation tool.

1st Pose

Select the 3rd Pose.

2nd Pose 3rd Pose

Randomizing Object Positions

The Randomize slider gives you a quick way to jiggle object positions. The larger the value the more distance the objects are moved away from their original positions. Each time you click on the slider a new random direction is picked so you can click over and over until you get the pattern you want. For instance sometimes random positioning places two letters on top of each other. If this happens just click on the slider and a new set of random positions will be calculated.

Let’s randomize the positions of the letters in the final Pose.

1- Stop the animation. Select the last Pose segment. Pose number three. The Pose controls will update to show you the settings used by this Pose.

2- Drag the Move slider from its current value (should be 950) to a value of about 500.

3- Hold the Shift key down and slowly drag the Randomize slider. As you drag you will see the letters jumping further and further away from their original positions. Values around 10 leave the word still read-able, but just a little jumbled. As the values increase the letters get more and more jumbled until you can’t read the word anymore. Set the Randomize slider to 40.

4- Set the Move slider back to 950.

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You may see bits of a letter poking into the screen. If you do, it is because the Randomize feature has accidentally moved an object down in front of the camera. Each time you click on the Randomize slider arrow a new set of random directions will be picked, so all you have to do is to click on the arrow and you will see the letters jump to new positions. Click on the arrow over and over until you can’t see any letters on screen.

5- Play the animation. Now as the letters fly from their lower third position past the camera they jumble up a bit making the animation more interesting to look at.

Shuffling Objects

Another type of randomizing can be done by shuffling the objects. Shuffling is the process of substituting one object for another object. The Shuffle control does a variety of different types of shuffling. For instance if you choose the Mix 2 option every two letters may or may not get switched for each other. This will produce a word that is almost the same as the original word. As you mix more and more letters together the word becomes more and more unreadable.

A bit of one letter that has been moved in front of the camera.

Click the Randomize arrow until it goes away.

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1- Select the last Pose segment if it’s not already selected.

2- Click on the Shuffle popup menu and choose the Mix It Up option. This causes all of the letters to get shuffled together with no regard to where the objects started. It creates the maximum amount of shuffling.

Choose “Mix It Up” for the maximum amount of shuffling.

Objects that have been both Randomized and Shuffled.

Now as the animation plays you will see that as the letters fly off screen they go to even more random positions giving each letter a life of its own.

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Modeling, Surfacing and Lighting

Tutorials

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In this series of tutorials you will learn how to create and edit 3D text models, apply basic attributes, set up a 3D scene and render the final image.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! You must have installed the program properly for the factory presets to be present. Be sure to read and follow the Installation Instructions at the beginning of this User Guide.

Creating And Working With 3D Text

Start off with the program closed. If it is already running, Quit or Exit the program.

1- Double click on the application icon to launch the program.

2- When you see the window with four large buttons click the “Create 3D Text” button.

3- Type the words “Coming Up Next...”

4- Change the justification to Centered.

5- Use the Command+A (Control+A on Windows) keyboard shortcut to select all the letters, then change the font to Arial Plain. (If you don’t have Arial on your computer then use

Helvetica or some other font.)

Font List

Justification Buttons

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Change fonts by choosing them from the fonts list.

Click the little arrows to step the values up or down.

6- Double click on the word “Next...” to select the whole word, then change the font to Arial Black. (If you don’t have Arial

Black on your computer then use Helvetica Bold or some other font.)

Once you have selected a font you can use your keyboard’s up and down arrow keys to step through all the fonts in the list.

7- Click the up or down arrows a few times to change the font on the word “Next...” Change the font several times so you can see how easy it is to experiment and find the right font for the job.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! If clicking the keyboard arrow keys doesn’t change the font, use your mouse to click on the font list, pick a font, then release the mouse. Don’t click on anything else. If you click on something after picking a font, the up and down arrow keys won’t work.

Once you are done experimenting select Arial Black from the font list again. Leave the word “Next...” selected.

8- Make the word “Next...” larger by clicking the up/down arrow buttons next to the Size field. If you hold down the Shift key when you click, each click increases the size by 4 points per click. Stop when you get to 96.

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9- Click the cursor between the t and the first dot. Increase the Kerning by picking the 100 option from the Kerning values popup. This will add a little space between the characters.

10- Drag the Block Size arrow to the left so there is a minimum of white space on either side of the letters. If you drag too far to the left you will see the word “Up” wrap down to the second line. Don’t go this far. “Up” should stay on the first line.

11- Click the OK button. This will close the Text Window and create 3D models of the title you just made.

Applying Object Styles

(continuing from the last tutorial)

When you OK out of the text window each character is turned into an independent 3D model. You can see in the Scene Preview window that each character has a red or green wire bounding box around it.

1- Move the cursor to where there are no characters and click once. This will deselect all of the objects and the wire boxes will disappear.

The right half of the interface shows a bin full of little pictures. Each picture represents an Object Style. An Object Style is a group of settings for such things as the Depth, Bevel, and Colors.

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Drag the Block Size arrow to remove excess white space.

Click where there are no objects to deselect everything.

Drop Object Styles onto letters to make them

look like the Object Styles.

Shift-click on each letter you want to add to the selection.

2- Click down on the Object Style in the top right corner. It should be blue with a white bevel. Keep your mouse button down and drag toward the 3D window. You will see an outline of the picture following your cursor. Continue to drag until the point of your cursor is over the “p”. Once in position let up on your mouse button to “drop” the Object Style onto the 3D model. You will see it change to blue with a white edge.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! If you do not see any Object Styles in the right half of the window, then you do not have the program properly installed. Quit the program and install it properly, following the Installation Instructions at the beginning of this guide.

3- Repeat the drag and drop sequence again. Drag the blue Object Style from the bin and drop it onto the U. Notice again that nothing is selected. When nothing is selected dropping Object Styles only affects the single object that is below the point of the cursor.

4- Click on the Selection Tool in the toolbar. Select all of the characters in the word “Coming” by holding down the Shift key and clicking on each letter one at a time. As each object is selected you will see a red or green bounding box appear around it.

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5- Now drag and drop the red and white object style. It should be the first picture in the second row. When you drop it onto one of the selected letters, all selected letters will receive the same Object Style.

Click on an empty part of the Scene Preview window (where there are no 3D objects). This will deselect the 3D models.

6- With the Selection tool still active, position the cursor at the lower right corner of the 3D window and drag up and left. As you drag you will see a red box being drawn from the point of the cursor. Drag the box so that the red box touches a little bit of each letter of the word “Next...”. Don’t let the red box touch any of the letters on the top line. When the cursor is properly positioned let up on your mouse button. This will select all 3D models that the box either surrounded or touched. (NOTE: Some versions of OSX will not show the red box. However the selection process will still work. Just imagine there is a red box there... think different ;-)

Apply an Object Style to many objects by dragging it from the

bin and dropping it onto one of the selected objects.

7- Now double click on the first Object Style in the third row. Double clicking an Object Style is another way to apply it to the selected objects.

The picture of the Object Style you just applied in step 7 looks very reflective but the objects in the 3D window don’t look reflective at all. This is because reflections are turned off when you start the program.

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Click down at point 1 and drag to point 2 to select

all objects the rectangle touches.

Click this button to change the display levels.

Solid with Draft Textures and Reflections

There are two rendering levels: Draft quality and Best quality. Normally the 3D window shows you Draft quality which disables things such as textures, reflections, shadows, transparency and antialiasing. All of these add to the look of the final image, but they take extra rendering time and are not usually needed when creating objects and positioning the camera.

Solid

Wireframe

Putting the Camera into Tumble mode.

8- To see draft versions of the textures and reflections click on the sphere icon on the toolbar. This changes the display level from Wireframe, to Solid, to Solid with Draft Textures and Reflections.

If you click too many times you will see the display level return to wireframe. Once on wireframe click two more times to get to Texture and Reflection mode, and see the reflections on the bottom word.

9- Click on the Camera button in the toolbar, (it may already be selected), then click on the Tumble Tool.

10- Now position the cursor over the center of the 3D window. Click and hold the mouse button down. Drag slowly, left, right, up and down. You will see that you are Tumbling the camera around the objects. You can tell that you are moving the camera because the floor grid is moving too. If you were rotating the objects, the floor would not move. As you drag you can see the reflections moving across the faces of the bottom word.

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Reflections are nice to look at but they can slow down the interaction speed.

11- Click the sphere icon once to change the display level to wireframe, and then click once more to change the level to Solid but without reflections.

12- From the Views menu, pick the High Left view.

Changing The Depth Of An Object

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Object Styles apply all the settings needed to create a model. However sometimes you need to refine those settings to customize your look.

1- Select all of the characters in the top line, (“Coming Up”).

2- At the top right of the window is a tab that says Object. Click on the Object tab to make it active. The Object tab contains all the settings for adjusting the shape of an object.

Choosing a view from the Views menu.

The Object Tab.

In the lower right corner of the Object tab you will see the Depth slider.

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The Depth Slider.

3- Drag the Depth slider arrow to a value of 40. If you watch the numbers in the box just above this slider you will see when you get to 40. Release your mouse button and the models will suddenly get bigger.

To watch the models get bigger or smaller without having to release the mouse button, hold down the Shift key as you drag.

4- Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard, then drag the Depth arrow left and right. You will see the model changing as you drag.

This is a very useful feature! All sliders in the Invigorator work this way. By holding the Shift key down as you drag a slider, you will see the models change as you drag.

5- Stop dragging when the Depth value is at 10.

Now the top text is thin and elegant while the bottom text is heavier with more punch.

Set the depth of the top line of letters to 10.

Coloring Objects

(continuing from the last tutorial)

It is often necessary to change the color from what is built into an Object Style. Here are three ways to do it.

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Coloring Objects: Method 1

When objects have all had the same Object Style applied to them they share the same materials. When you need to change the color of all objects using the same Object Style all you have to do is to change the color of the base material.

1- Select the letter “C” in the word “Coming”.

2- Click the Palette checkbox to display the active material palette used on this letter.

3- Show the Materials Tab by clicking on the tab titled “Materials” which is located at the top right corner of the Set-Up window.

4- Drag the swatch in dock 1 of the palette, (the Red Material), and drop it into the Material Editor dock on the Materials tab. This will load the material and make it ready for editing.

5- Click on the color rectangle to open the color picker, and change the red to a medium pink. OK out of the color picker.

You will see that the swatch ball is now colored pink, and so are the objects in the 3D window. All of these objects use the same material, so by changing the color of the material, all of these objects receive the change.

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Drag the swatch from dock 1 and drop it into the

dock in the Materials Editor.

Click here to open the color picker.

By changing the color of the material, the

objects receive the change too.

Coloring Objects: Method 2

(continuing from the Method 1 tutorial)

Instead of showing the Materials Palette, you can drop new materials directly onto the 3D objects.

1- Make sure that no objects are selected by clicking on a blank part of the 3D window.

2- Show the Materials Tab.

3- Find the black swatch in the top row and find the letter “U” in the word “Up”. Drag the material to the left and drop it when the cursor is positioned over the blue part of the letter “U”. You will see the front and side of the word “Up” turn black.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! When you release the mouse, the position of the arrow is significant. If you miss the colored part, and instead drop the material onto the white bevel, Undo and try again. If you miss the object entirely nothing will happen, so just try again.

NOTE: If you would like to know how to make the front and side different colors, do the Advanced Tutorials.

After completing step 3 you may have noticed that although you dropped the black material onto the “U”, the “p” received the new color too. This is for the same reason that the whole word in Method 1 received the new color. All of these letters share the same Object Style. For individual letter control, read on...

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Coloring Objects: Method 3

(continuing from the Method 2 tutorial)

When you want to change the color of a single object without affecting any other objects, you need to unlink the Object Style first, then apply the new color.

IMPORTANT: For this next exercise you must have the pink material sitting in the Material Editor dock. (see Method 1) If it is not, you must do the following before you go on:

- Click on a pink object in the 3D window.

- You will see a pink swatch appear below the 3D window.

- Drag the pink swatch to the editing area, and drop it in the Material Editor dock.

1- Make sure that no objects are selected by clicking on a blank part of the 3D window. Then select the “p” by clicking once on it.

2- Show the Object Styles Tab by clicking on the tab titled “Object Styles” which is located at the top right corner of the Set-Up window.

3- Find the Swatch/Library... menu in the top right corner and choose the “Unlink Object Style” command from it. This will not change the appearance of the “p” but it unlinks the object so you can change its color without affecting any other objects.

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4- Show the Materials tab, and drag the pink material from the Material Editor dock and drop it onto the black part of the “p”. The “p” will now be colored pink.

Now let’s color the “C” black.

1- Click on the “C” to select it. Make sure it is the only object selected.

2- Show the Object Styles Tab.

3- Choose the “Unlink Object Style” command from the Swatch/ Library... menu.

4- Show the Materials tab, and drag the black material from the first row of the bin, and drop it onto the pink part of the letter “C”. The “C” will now be colored black.

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Editing 3D Text

(continuing from the last tutorial)

You can change text at any time and the new text will take on all the colors and shape settings of the existing letters. Usually this is a simple matter of just typing new text. However when there is more than one Object Style being used in the same text block, you need to know the way the Invigorator applies Object Styles to new objects.

Say we want to change the words “Coming Up Next...” to “Appearing Tuesday...” And we want the look of the new title to match the look of the old title; meaning we want the first “A” to be black, the rest of the word pink, and the word “Tuesday” to be gold and silver.

If we open the Text Window and erase all the letters, when we type in the new ones they will all be colored the same as the “C” because the “C” was the first letter in the text block.

When only some of the letters are selected at a time, the Invigorator uses the first letter in the selection as the “Master” and all the new text is made to match the master. So by selecting the letters in three groups, it will keep all three of the Object Styles used in this title. Here’s how to do it...

Double click on a letter to open the Text window,

1- In the 3D window, double click on one of the letters. This will open the Text Window.

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2- Select only the letter “C” in the word “Coming”.

3- Type an “A”, which is the first letter in the word “Appearing”.

4- Select the letters, “oming Up”, which are the rest of the letters on the top line.

5- Type “ppearing”, which are the rest of the letters in the word “Appearing”.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! If you make a selection then hit the delete or backspace key before typing the new text, the attribute matching won’t work as described in this section. All you have to do is to make a selection and start typing.

6- Select the whole bottom line. (“Next...”)

7- Type “Tuesday...”

8- Set the justification to Left Justification.

Do not drag the Block Size arrow. If you change the position of the block size arrow, it will change where the text is inserted into the scene. This may push the text off the screen.

9- Click OK. You will see the new title in the 3D window with the same “look” as the old title.

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How To Set The Lighting

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Lighting is set from the Lighting tab.

- Click on the Light mode button to reveal the lighting controls.

The Invigorator’s lights have parallel rays, they are not cones like you would find on a spotlight. Parallel lighting is much easier to use. You can’t accidentally put a light behind an object, or point it in the wrong direction.

Adjusting the direction lights are pointing is very easy. Find the lighting manipulator below the 3D window. The arrow with the red box around it is the light that will be manipulated.

- Click and drag on the lighting arrow. You will see it move as you drag. Once you stop dragging, the lighting in the 3D window will update to show you the effect.

You can also manipulate the lights by dragging in the 3D window.

- Select the Lighting Tumble tool if it’s not already selected, then drag in the 3D window. You will see the lighting change as you drag. Note that you don’t see the light itself, you see the effect of the light on the objects in the scene.

To move one of the other lights select it from the Lights list.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Click this button to reveal

the lighting controls.

Click and drag in

this window to move

the selected light.

The Light Tumble tool.

Select other lights

from the Lights list.

Turn on

shadows here.

Set light

color here.

Set the

brightness here.

This swatch

previews

what the light

will look like.

When you do this you will see the red box switch to a different arrow. Then you can drag to move this other light.

Each light can have its own color. Each light can also cast shadows. Turn on these features in the Lighting tab.

Using Lighting Styles

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Just as objects can have Object Styles, lights can have Lighting Styles. Lighting Styles contain the settings for all the lights in a scene.

The Lighting Editor.

The Lighting Styles Tab.

1 - Click on the Lighting Styles tab.

Here you will see presets for many different lighting setups. You can apply a Lighting Style by either dragging and dropping the icon into the 3D window, or by simply double clicking on the icon.

2 - Start at the top icon and work your way down the list. Double click on each icon, then take a look at the effect it has on the objects in the 3D window.

Especially look at the difference between the Lighting Styles called: Side Lights, High Key, and Footlights. Each of these has the main light coming from a different direction. See how changes in lighting can change the mood of the image.

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3 - Scroll down to the bottom of the list. These Lighting Styles have variations in color, not just in intensity. Apply each Lighting Style and see the effect. Notice how lights with strong colors tend to override the colors applied to the objects. For instance, with Melrose and Sunset you pretty much loose any sense that the front faces are pink.

4 - End by applying the Red Light District Lighting Style. This one doesn’t affect the faces too much but it applies a nice red glow to some of the edges.

How To Set The Camera

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Camera manipulation is just as easy as moving the lights. You click the Camera Mode button, to tell the program you want to move the camera, then you select one of the manipulator tools and drag in the 3D window.

Say for instance that you want to look at the title from below instead of above.

1 - Select the Camera Mode button.

2 - Select the Tumble Tool.

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The Melrose Style.

The Red Light District Style.

Viewing the scene from a low angle,

with the Floor Grid turned ON.

3 - Click in the 3D window and drag directly up. You will see the objects rotating to a different position. Actually it is the camera that is rotating around the objects. You can tell this because the Floor Grid is moving along with the objects. If the objects were rotating the floor would be still.

4 - Stop dragging when the bottom of the word “Tuesday...” is parallel to the bottom of the 3D window.

At this point the Floor Grid is getting in the way. The Floor Grid doesn’t render in the final images and we can turn it off any time we want.

5 - Find the Grids popup menu. Choose the Floor Grid menu item to toggle it OFF. Notice that there are other types of grids here too. A Title Safe grid, a Lower Third grid, even a special grid called “4:3 Inside 16:9”. When you are using an HD resolution (16:9) format, this grid shows you what will appear within a standard TV (4:3) screen if you cropped off the sides.

With the Floor Grid turned off you can see the image much better. You can also see the effect of the red lights much more strongly from this lower angle. That’s an important point to remember. The effect of the lighting will change as you view a scene from different directions.

The Floor Grid Turned OFF.

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Saving A View

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Sometimes you need to save a camera view. For instance if you had to move the camera to check positioning and then wanted to return to that previous view, a saved view will get you back with a single click.

If you did the last tutorial, the camera should still be looking at the title from a low angle. To save a view do the following...

1 - Click on the Camera Mode button, (if it isn’t already blue.)

2 - Find the “Views...” popup menu.

3 - Choose the “Save View...” command from the Views popup.

4 - You will see a window to name the view. Type in a name and click the Save button.

The preset you just saved will now appear in the “Views...” menu. To return to this view at any time just select this preset.

Use the “Save View...” command to save a camera view.

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Naming the saved view.

Take a little time right now and experiment with the rest of the camera manipulation tools. See what each does. For practice here are some other views of this title. See if you can match them. You will need to use all four camera manipulation tools to do it, but you won’t have to move the objects themselves.

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Think Like A Photographer

It’s important to remember that when you work with the 3D Invigorator you are using a real 3D program. 3D programs simulate a photographer’s studio. You can move objects, set lights, and reposition the camera.

You are always looking at the scene through the lens of the camera. The Scene Preview window shows you what the camera sees. What you see through the Camera lens is what you will get in the final rendering.

Thinking like a Photographer helps you figure out what to do. For instance, moving one object closer to the camera will make only that object bigger. However, moving the camera closer to some objects will make all objects bigger.

If you are taking a picture of a group of people and you can’t see them all in the camera’s viewfinder, what do you do? Have everyone move back? Or move the camera back? Both would work, but one is easier.

Once you start to think like a person shooting a picture with a camera, things make more sense.

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How To Render An Image

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Once the objects have been created, colored and lit, and the camera and lights are ready to go, it’s time to render the final image.

1 - Click the Render Frame button to render a final quality image at full resolution with all features turned on.

If you are using the ProModeler the Render button does the same thing as Render Frame. It will render a single frame and put it into a display window. If you like the image you can save it to disk by using the File> Save Picture... command.

A Best Quality rendering is shown in a display

window when the rendering is completed. However,

it has not yet been saved to disk.

To save a rendering to disk use the “Save Picture...” command.

If you are using the ProAnimator, there are two Render buttons. Render Frame will render a single image. If you like the image you must save it to keep it. The other Render button will render a movie. (See the section called Rendering the Movie in the

Animation Tutorials section.)

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How To Get The Background To Drop Out

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Usually when you get done creating a picture the next step is to take it into some other program to combine (composite) it with other images. Having a good alpha channel is key to the compositing process.

To create an alpha channel do the following:

1 - Turn on the Alpha channel checkbox.

This checkbox is turned on by default so it may already have a checkmark in the box.

The main problem comes when you save the image or the movie. If you don’t save the image in a format that supports alpha channels, the alpha channel won’t be there when you take it into Photoshop or your compositing or editing program.

Fortunately the ProModeler only saves renderings to PICT or TARGA file formats and both of these support alpha channels. However if you have the ProAnimator, you have to make sure that you choose a file format that has “Millions+” in the Compressor Options. The “+” sign means alpha channel. So saving a movie in Millions+ means you will have the RGB image as well as the Alpha channel in the same movie file.

The RGB Channels. The Alpha Channel.

The alpha channel makes the background drop out so all you see are the 3D objects. The Invigorator creates perfect alpha channels so there is no need to render the objects over a green or blue background, then try to key out the background. All you need to do is turn on the creation of the alpha channel then save to the correct format when the rendering is done.

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The Advanced Tutorials assume that you know all of the skills covered in the Beginning Tutorials. If you find yourself lost, or things are moving too quickly, stop and do the Beginning Tutorials first. Then do the Advanced Tutorials.

Advanced Tutorials

Let’s create a 3D logo and work through some of the problems you may run across. Logos are oftentimes more difficult than straight text because they usually have overlapping elements and there is a need to preserve the integrity of the original design.

The “look” of the logo is often the point about which a client gets the most picky. So the great challenge with doing 3D work is how to give the logo a 3D look while still preserving the look of the logo. Sounds like a paradox, but it’s not too hard to overcome. Let’s start with creating the logo as a 3D model and we’ll discuss the design challenges as we go.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! You must have installed the program properly for the factory presets to be present. Be sure to read and follow the Installation Instructions at the beginning of this User Guide.

How To Create A 3D Logo

Start off with the program closed. If it is already running, Quit or Exit the program.

1- Double click on the application icon to launch the program.

2- When you see the window with four large buttons click the “Open Illustrator File” button.

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3- Go to the Tutorials folder and find the “Kings Crest Logo.ai” file. Do NOT double-click on the file or click the Select button.

4- Before you open the Illustrator file put checkmarks in front of the following options:

Turn ON:

- Open By Layers

- Use Illustrator Colors

- Move Objects to Center

Do not turn ON:

-Dismantle Incoming Groups

-As Layer Cycling Object

5- Now click the Select button.

This will open the main Set-Up window and create 3D models out of the paths in the Illustrator file.

6- Turn off the Floor Grid, then select the Dolly tool and drag your mouse up to move closer to the models.

What happened? The 3D logo looks terrible! This is because there are many overlapping pieces in this logo. When the logo was in its 2D form, the “stacking order” of the pieces kept it all readable. (Look at the picture to see what the logo looks like in

its 2D form.)

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The 2D logo.

First look at the 3D version.

When you are in a 3D program there is no such thing as stacking order. The only thing that matters is whether an object is closer to the camera than some other object. Since an Illustrator file doesn’t have any Z information, all of the models start off with the same Z position, so all the overlapping parts are equally close to the camera.

This confuses the camera so it shows part of one object and part of another creating a visual mess. What’s worse is that as the viewpoint of the camera changes different parts of the models will flash into view because the camera can’t figure out which of these overlapping objects to show. To get rid of the mess all we need to do is to move the objects so some parts will be closer to the camera than others.

Object Mode Button

Object List

How To Make Objects Invisible

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Let’s turn off the visibility of the text objects so we can concentrate on the center part of the logo.

1- Click on the Object Mode button to reveal the small tabbed area below the tool bar.

2- Click on the Object List and choose the Deselect All item. You will see all the green and red selection boxes disappear.

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TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! Click on the Object List again and look at it. If it contains names such as Shield, King Text, Face, Eyes, etc. then you can proceed with the rest of the tutorial. If it says things like Object 1, Object 2, Object 3, Group 1, Group 2, etc. then you did not properly do Step 4 of the previous tutorial on “How To Create A 3D Logo”. Quit the program and start the Advanced Tutorial again.

3- In the Object List choose the “King Text” item.

You will see a red wire bounding box appear around the word “King” indicating that it is selected.

4- Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard, and from the Object List choose the “Entertainment Text” item.

You will see a green bounding box appear around the word “Entertainment”. Click down on the Object List and look at the menu items for the two objects you have just selected. Notice that they are written in BOLD. This is to let you know that these two items are selected.

Click off the Object List making sure that you don’t accidentally deselect the objects, by clicking on a menu item.

5- Make the objects invisible by turning on the “Make Invisible” checkbox. Find this checkbox just below the Object List.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

When items in the Object List are selected,

their names will be written in bold.

Tu rn ON “Make Invisible” to make all selected objects invisible.

Drag up to push the Shield away and

move it behind the other objects.

Moving 3D Objects - Part 1

(continuing from the last tutorial)

So far you have only moved the camera. You can move individual objects by using the manipulation tools while in Object Mode. You should still have the Object Mode button selected from Step 1 of the last tutorial, and you should still have the Dolly tool selected. (If these two buttons are not blue, select them now.)

1- Click once on the Shield to select it.

A single click with any manipulator tool will select objects as long as you don’t drag, just click. This keeps you from having to use the Selection Tool each time you want to make a selection.

2- Click down in the 3D window and drag up until the blue of the Shield is no longer visible on the front of the yellow Face object. What you are doing is moving the Shield backwards.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! If you have the ProAnimator you will see a message saying that you are about to Tweak something. Read the section called “What Is A Tweak” in the Animation section for important information about tweaking objects. For the purpose of this tutorial however, just click the OK button and repeat Step 2 again.

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3- Click once on the Face object to select it, then click down in the 3D window and drag down to pull the Face forward. Stop when you can see the face clearly.

4- Click on the Crown to select it, then drag down to pull it forward until it is in front of the Face object.

Next we need to select the Eyes, but this object is partially hidden by other objects. The best way to select the Eyes is to do it from the Object List.

5- In the Object List select the Eyes object, then drag in the 3D window to pull the eyes forward until they are in front of the Face.

At this point the logo is looking fairly good. However there is one big problem which the next step will show to you.

6- Switch to Camera mode by clicking on the Camera button, then choose the Front View from the Views... menu.

What happened? All the objects have been shifted sideways! When you were dragging the objects forward and backward you were pulling them straight toward the camera, and since the camera was looking at the objects from an angle the objects were being pulled out of alignment.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Drag down to pull the Face forward.

Drag down to pull the Crown and Eyes forward.

Double click the Selection Tool as a shortcut for the Select All command.

Click the Reset button to return objects

to their original positions.

How To Reset The 3D Objects

(continuing from the last tutorial)

We need to reset the objects back to their starting positions so you can learn a different way to move them. But first let’s return the camera to the previous view.

1- From the camera Views... menu choose the High Right view.

2- Switch back to Object Mode.

3- Double click on the Selection Tool. This is a shortcut for the Select All command which selects all visible objects.

4- Click the Reset button, located below the Object List.

What happened? The objects jumped to the top corner of your screen! The reason why is that the Reset button moves the objects back to their original positions where they were created in the Adobe Illustrator program. When you first opened the file you had the “Move To Center” option turned on. Move To Center repositions all of the objects to the center of the world so they are easier to work with. When you clicked Reset it removed the dragging you did in the last tutorial but also removed the centering process. However, to get the objects back to center is easy.

Use Move To Center to bring all selected

objects to the center of the world.

5- Click the Move To Center button, located next to the Reset button. Now the objects will be back where you expect them to be.

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Moving 3D Objects - Part 2

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Now let’s learn how to move objects forward and back without pulling them off to the side. Pay attention because this technique will be very useful in your future projects.

1- Click on the background to deselect all objects, then click once on the Shield to select it. You should see only one bounding box and it should be around the Shield.

2- Select the Dolly tool, then click and drag down in the 3D window. As you drag you will see that the Shield is being pulled straight toward you. You are looking “through” the camera’s lens so the Shield is being pulled straight toward the camera. This is why the parts were pulled out of alignment.

What we need is a way to move objects forward or back, but without pulling them off to the side.

3- Release the mouse button and use the Undo command from the Edit menu. This will return the Shield to its previous position. If it only gets part way there you may have let go of your mouse before the dragging was completed so just select Undo again, and again until the Shield is back to where it started.

Click on the shield to select it.

If you Undo too many times you can the use the Redo command to step forward again.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Dragging down pulls the shield directly toward the camera.

4- Turn on the “Drag Using Object’s Axes” checkbox, located directly above the Object List. Remember where this checkbox is. It is the key to keeping your objects in alignment.

The Shield should still be selected.

5- Click and drag down in the 3D window.

Notice that the Shield is now moving toward the left side of the screen instead of coming straight at you. What’s happening is that the Shield is moving forward and back along its own axis instead of the camera’s axis. This means that it will stay aligned with all the other pieces. With the “Drag Using Object’s Axes” checkbox turned on you are able to move objects forward and back directly along their Z axis. If you drag up you will see the object go behind the other objects and off into the distance.

6- Drag the Shield until it is just behind the other pieces.

7- Select the Face and drag down to pull it forward just a bit.

8- Select the Crown and drag down until it is just in front of the Face.

Dragging up and down will now make the shield

move back and forth along its own Z axis.

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9- In the Object List select the Eyes, then drag in the 3D window to pull the eyes forward until they are even with the front of the Face.

Getting objects to align can sometimes be hard to do. There is a technique for doing this that can be helpful. As you drag, look for the red wire box surrounding the eyes. Pull the eyes forward until you can easily see the red wires, then push the eyes back until the lowest of the red wires just disappears behind the yellow of the Face.

10- Select the “Crown Insignia” from the Object List and pull it forward until you can see it in front of the Crown.

Pull the eyes forward until you see the red wire box, ...

Now let’s check how the logo looks from the front.

11- Switch to Camera mode, and pick the Front view from the Views... menu.

As you can see the logo pieces are still aligned and readable. In the next sections we will fine tune the look and turn the logo into a finished piece.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

...then slowly push them back until the red wires just disappear.

The shortcut for Camera Tumble.

The shortcut for Camera Dolly.

Camera Shortcuts

(continuing from the last tutorial)

As you are working on a logo you will find that it is useful to be able to move the camera to look at the objects from different angles. Up to this point we have been moving the camera by switching to camera mode, selecting a manipulation tool, and then dragging in the 3D window. That’s three steps. However the camera has shortcut keys that will let you move it around in one

step. Here’s how....

1- Hold down the Spacebar and the Command key on your keyboard, (Alt key on Windows). Then drag left/right in the 3D window.

This is the shortcut for Camera Tumble. It’s easy to remember because it is the spacebar and the key right next to the spacebar. You can drag left/right/up and down with this tool to look at every side of the object. You will find that this one shortcut is used all the time so take a second and memorize it.

2- Select the Front view from the Views... menu.

3- Hold down the Spacebar and the Control key on your keyboard, (same keys for Mac and Windows). Then drag up/down in the 3D window.

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This is the shortcut for Camera Dolly. It’s easy to remember because it is the spacebar and the key furthest away from the spacebar. Drag up while holding these keys down to dolly up closer to the object, and drag down to pull back away from the object. You are moving the camera remember, so up pushes the camera closer to the object and down pulls the camera away from the objects. You will find that this is the second most-used shortcut and it is worth memorizing too.

4- Select the Front view from the Views... menu.

5- Hold down the Spacebar all by itself. Then drag left/right in the 3D window.

This is the shortcut for Camera Tracking. It’s the most easy to remember because it works just like the spacebar in Photoshop. Holding down the spacebar and dragging is like moving the view of your Photoshop canvas.

Notice that all of the Camera shortcuts use the spacebar.

For the rest of the tutorials instead of telling you to switch modes and select this or that tool, we’ll just say “Tumble the camera to look at the sides of your objects,” or “Dolly-in to get a closer look at how the two parts interact.”

The shortcut for Camera Track.

Let’s take a second and do an exercise to get you more familiar with these shortcut keys.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Tracking the Camera acts like the grabber hand in Photoshop.

1 & 7

Camera Shortcut Exercise

(continuing from the last tutorial)

1- Select the Front view from the Views... menu.

2- Using only the shortcut keys, Dolly-in close on the Eyes.

3- Track so the K is centered.

4- Tumble so you are looking at the objects from the left.

5- Dolly out until you can see all objects.

6- Tumble so you are looking from the front.

7- Track so the objects are centered and you are back where you started.

Got it? Great. Then let’s move on.

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Adjusting the Thickness of Objects

(continuing from the last tutorial)

When objects are first created each object is made the same thickness. The next step toward completing our logo is to make each object the proper thickness.

1- Tumble the Camera so you are looking at the objects from the right.

You can see from this view how far apart the objects are spaced. You can also see that parts of objects are too thick and stick out where they shouldn’t. Usually the thicker an object is the more solid it appears. The thinner it is the more delicate it feels. The thickness of an object is controlled by the Depth slider. Find the Depth slider at the bottom right corner of the Object Tab.

2- Select the Shield. Drag the Depth slider to 0. Release your mouse button.

As soon as you release the mouse the Shield gets completely thin. A Depth of 0 creates a plane. However, notice that the Shield didn’t change shape until you released the mouse button. If you hold down on your keyboard’s Shift key while you are dragging the slider, you will see the object change depth as you drag.

3- Hold down the Shift key and drag the Depth slider to 30.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Look at the logo from the right...

A Depth of 0 creates a plane.

While you are dragging notice that the front face of the Shield is staying in the same place. As the Depth gets larger the object grows toward the back. It does not get bigger around its center. That’s because Depth doesn’t scale the object, it rebuilds the object with new dimensions. If you use the Scale tool the object will expand or contract about its center.

4- Tumble the Camera to a 3/4 view. (Use the Shortcut keys!)

Use the Select Invisible command to select the invisible objects.

The White Holes object is sticking out behind the Face.

5- Select the Face object, and set its Depth to 12.

6- Select the Eyes object, and set its Depth to 2.

7- Switch to Object Mode and use the Object List to select the Crown Insignia object. Then set its Depth to 4.

8- Pick the Select Invisible command from the Object List. This will select the invisible text objects. Next uncheck the “Make Invisible” checkbox. This will make the text objects reappear.

9- Give the King Text object a Depth of 12, and the Entertainment Text object a Depth of 4.

We’ll leave the Crown the same Depth that it already is. That leaves us with the White Holes object. If you Tumble the camera to the side you will see that this object sticks out behind the Face object. All it is supposed to be is a background color to prevent

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you from seeing through the mouth and eye sockets of the Face. The White Holes object is needed or else you’d see the blue of the shield and that would spoil the look of the logo.

In order to put the White Holes object in the correct place we will need to use all of the techniques that we’ve learned so far.

1- Select the White Holes object, then set its Depth to 2.

2- Pick the Dolly tool and turn on “Drag Using Object’s Axes” mode.

3- Drag up and down and watch the object pass through the other objects. Watch the lower corner of the red bounding box and position the object so that it is near the back of the Face object but not behind it.

4- Tumble and Track the Camera to look at the logo from the front.

Pretty good! We’re almost done.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

Watch the red lines. As you drag

they will move through the Face.

The Material Set-Up window shows you a cross-section type of

view so you can see which Edge Profile is applied to the object.

How To Apply An Edge Profile

(continuing from the last tutorial)

Edge Profiles are the bevels used to dress up the object. There are over 100 profiles built into the program and you can make your own too. Think of an Edge Profile as fancy molding that goes around the perimeter of your objects.

1- Select the Shield object.

2- Click on the Material Set-Up button, located above the 3D window.

The 3D window will be replaced by a window showing you the Edge Profile being used by the Shield. Imagine that you are above the Shield, looking down at it, and you take a slice through its center. You would have the front of the Shield at the bottom of the slice, and the back of the Shield would be at the top of the slice. Look at the Material Set-Up window and see that this is what it is showing. We’ve labeled the Front and Back in the window so you can remember what you are looking at.

This cross-section view also shows you the Edge Profile applied to the outside edges of the Shield on the left, and on the right would be the Edge Profile applied to the holes in the Shield, if it had any.

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The Edge Profile being used by the Shield is called the Medium Bevel. If you look at the top right corner of the Object Tab you will see the name “Bevel, Medium” in the first menu. This menu is where you select the profiles. Let’s change the Edge Profile to something that you might see on a wooden plaque.

3- Click on the Edge Profile menu, find the Stacks submenu and then find the “Tiers, Rounded” item. Select it.

The Material Set-Up window now shows a three-level bevel.

4- Click on the Scene Preview button, located above the 3D window, to go back to the 3D image of the logo.

The Shield now has a triple-level bevel on it.

Next, let’s apply the Edge Profile called Power Groove Bevels, to the “King Text” object.

1- Select the King Text object.

2- Display the Material Set-Up window.

3- Click on the Edge Profile menu, find the Inset Face submenu and then find the “Bevel, Power Grooves” item. Select it.

The Rounded Tiers Edge Profile as it appears

in the Material Set-Up window.

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator - Tutorials

The Power Grooves Edge Profile as it appears

in the Material Set-Up window.

You can see that this Edge Profile has lots of angles on it. These angles catch highlights very nicely.

4- Switch back to the 3D Scene Preview window.

Unfortunately the King Text object doesn’t look much different than it did before because it’s colored black. When you open up Illustrator files with the “Use Illustrator Colors” option turned ON, any objects that are colored black in Illustrator will end up black in the Invigorator. Black looks fine on the printed page but 3D models that are painted black don’t look very good at all.

To help out the logo we need to choose a few new colors that will enhance the look.

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Zaxwerks PROANIMATOR TUTORIALS

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

Installation Instructions

System Requirements

Installing the Software

Entering An Authorization Code For The First Time

Demo Mode

Entering A Permanent Authorization Code

How To Get A Permanent Authorization Code

BASIC CONCEPTS

Modeling

Surface Set-Up

Animation

Scene Set-Up And Lighting

Rendering

ProAnimator Introduction

Changing The Text In An Animation

Changing The Speed Of An Animation

Rendering A Single Frame

Rendering The Movie

Rendering Options

What Is A Pose? What Is A Transition?

Creating A New Scene

Creating The 3D Text

Adding An Animation Preset

Changing The Track Name

Moving Splice Points

Adding More Hold Time To The Beginning Pose

Changing The Position Of A Segment Without Changing Its Length

Slowing Down The Motion Of A Transition

Resetting An Animation Back To A Saved Preset

Setting The Loop Points For The Work Area

Shortening The Length Of An Entire Animation

Selecting Segments That Are Difficult To Click On

Changing The Curve Of A Motion Path

Changing The Direction Of The Arch In The Path

Controlling The Order Of Objects As They Cascade

Adding Start Ease And End Ease For A Professional Touch

Moving Objects To New Positions

Spreading Objects Apart

Bunching Objects To A Point

Making Objects Spin As They Move

Randomizing Object Positions

Shuffling Objects

Creating And Working With 3D Text

Applying Object Styles

Changing The Depth Of An Object

Coloring Objects

Coloring Objects: Method 1

Coloring Objects: Method 2

Coloring Objects: Method 3

Editing 3D Text

How To Set The Lighting

Using Lighting Styles

How To Set The Camera

Saving A View

Think Like A Photographer

How To Render An Image

How To Get The Background To Drop Out

Advanced Tutorials

How To Create A 3D Logo

How To Make Objects Invisible

Moving 3D Objects - Part 1

How To Reset The 3D Objects

Moving 3D Objects - Part 2

Camera Shortcuts

Adjusting the Thickness of Objects

How To Apply An Edge Profile