Zaxwerks PROANIMATOR, PROMODELER USER MANUAL

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 4 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, ProAnimator, and ProModeler are a trademarks 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.

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 42

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

WHAT’S NEW IN VERSION 4? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

BASIC CONCEPTS

Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Surface Set-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Scene Set-Up & Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

ANIMATION TUTORIALS

ProAnimator Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Creating An Animation in Five Clicks . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Changing The Text In An Animation. . . . . . . . . . 34

Changing The Speed Of An Animation . . . . . . . . 35

Changing The Camera’s View

Of The Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Rendering An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Rendering A Single Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Saving A Single Frame Rendering. . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Rendering The Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Rendering Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Changing The Timing And Speed

Of An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

What is A Pose? What Is A Transition? . . . . . . . 42

Creating A New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Creating The 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Adding An Animation Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Changing The Track Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Moving Splice Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Adding More Hold Time To

The Beginning Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing The Position Of A Segment

Without Changing Its Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Slowing Down The Motion Of A Transition. . . . 47

Resetting An Animation Back

To A Saved Preset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Increasing The Length Of

An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Setting The Loop Points For

The Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Shortening The Length Of

An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Selecting Segments That Are

Difﬁcult To Click On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Changing Object Motion During Transitions . . . . . . 53

Changing The Curve Of A Motion Path . . . . . . . 53

Changing The Direction Of

The Arch In The Path. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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Controlling When Objects Start To Move. . . . . . 56

Controlling The Order Of Objects

As They Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Adding Start Ease And End Ease

For A Professional Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Changing The Positions Of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Moving Objects To New Positions . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Spreading Objects Apart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Bunching Objects To A Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Making Objects Spin As They Move . . . . . . . . . . 67

Randomizing Object Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Shufﬂing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

ANIMATION CONTROLS REFERENCE

Easy/Advanced Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Track Segment Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Selecting All Objects On A Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Track Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Add Camera Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Duplicate Selected Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Move Selected Objects To Track... . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Reset Selected Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Delete Selected Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Select All Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Flip Selected Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Object Animations Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Add Object Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Set As Starting Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Save Preset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Rename Preset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Delete Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Append Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Last Applied Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Object Animations Preset List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Object Animation TRY Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Camera Animations Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Add Camera Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Save Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Rename Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Delete Preset.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Append Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Last Applied Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Camera Animations Preset List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Camera Animation TRY Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Animation Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Current Time Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Current Time Readout (The GOTO Field). . . . . . . . . 86

Project Start Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Project Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Frame Rate Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Shutter Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Time Line Track Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Solo / Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

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Animation Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Play Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Work Area Start And End Markers . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Jump To Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Back One Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Play Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Forward One Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Jump To End Of Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Loop With Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Show/Hide Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Animation Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Animation Poses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Pose Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Animation Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Path Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Primary vs. Secondary Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Pose Positioning Controls For Objects . . . . . . . . . . 100

Advantages Of Using The Pose Controls. . . . . . . . . 101

Easy Controls For Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Bunch/Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Randomize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Shufﬂe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Local Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Advanced Controls For Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Start At Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Advanced Move Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Numeric Move Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Scale Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Local Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Common Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Distribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Range Control for Circle

& Square Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Distribute Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Pose Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Pose Action Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Use Common Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Making Adjustments For Smoothness . . . . . . . 125

Visibility Actions For Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Visibility Action Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Using Visibility Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Pose Action Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Pose Start / End Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

What Is A Tweak? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Reset Tweaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Reset Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Reset All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Transition Controls For Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Easy Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

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Ease - Start & End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Cascade Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Arch Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Advanced Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Cascade Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Ease Amount. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Start Gaps & End Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Clump Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Transition Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Keyframe-Based vs. Generated Paths . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Start/End Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Advanced Arch Amount. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Arch Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Advanced Arch Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Direction Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Arch Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Overshoot Start/End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Flatten Start/End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Twist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Path Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Path Action Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Making Adjustments For Smoothness . . . . . . . 163

Visibility Actions For Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Visibility Action Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Using Visibility Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Pose Grouping And Transition Grouping. . . . . 166

The Effect Of Grouping On Timing. . . . . . . . . . 167

Groups And Hard Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

When To Use A Hard Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Group Text By (Para/Line/Word/Char) . . . . . . 170

Make Independent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Animation On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Add To Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Rename Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Select/Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Select All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Pose Controls For Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Transition Controls For Cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Camera Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Start Ease / End Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Ease Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Camera Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Start Smoothing / End Smoothing. . . . . . . . . . . 177

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MODELING, SURFACING, & LIGHTING

Basic Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Creating And Working With 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Applying Object Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Changing The Depth Of An Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Coloring Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Coloring Objects: Method 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Coloring Objects: Method 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Coloring Objects: Method 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Editing 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

How To Set The Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Using Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

How To Set The Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Saving A View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Think Like A Photographer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

How To Render An Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

How To Get The Background To Drop Out. . . . . . . 203

Advanced Tutorials

How To Create a 3D Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

How To Make Objects Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Moving 3D Objects - Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

How To Reset 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Moving 3D Objects - Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Camera Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Camera Shortcuts Exercise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Adjusting The Thickness of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

How To Apply An Edge Proﬁle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

How To Apply A Single Material To An Object. . . . 223

How To Add A Second Material To An Object . . . . 225

How To Split A Proﬁle To Fine Tune

Material Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

How To Create An Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Coloring The Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

How To Make Lights Cast Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

How To Move Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

How To Save A Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Additional Types When Working With

Illustrator Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

MODELING, SURFACING, & LIGHTING

Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

The Start Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Create Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Text Entry Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Setting The Block Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Font Popup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Kerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Width Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Height Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Baseline Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Justiﬁcation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

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Create Whitespace Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Center Text Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Text Window Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Cleaning Up Problems With Font Models . . . . 248

Open Illustrator Artwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Show All Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Open By Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Open As Layer Cycling Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Use Illustrator Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Dismantle Incoming Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Move Objects To Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

3D Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

The PROJECT WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Scene Preview Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

The CAMERA CONTROLS

Camera Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Camera Manipulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Camera Tumble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Camera Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Camera Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Camera Dolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Camera Manipulation Shortcut Keys . . . . . . . . 267

Zoom Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Small Camera Tab Area

Views Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Lens Popup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Antialiasing Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Super Fast Final Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Resolution Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Pixel Aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Alpha Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Backgrounds Images And Movies . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Onscreen Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

The LIGHTING CONTROLS

Light Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Light Manipulation In The Scene Preview . . . . . . . 277

Lighting Manipulator Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

The Lights List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Turn On This Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Disable All Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Light Editor Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Light Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Light Color Picker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Light Color Eyedropper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Light Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Shadow Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Shadow Darkness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Shadow Softness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Light Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 48

Light Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Save Light To Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Lights Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Lights Swatch Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Apply Swatch To Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Duplicate Light Swatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Delete Selected Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Lighting Styles Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Lighting Styles Swatch Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Save Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Apply Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Duplicate Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Delete Selected Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Clear Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

The OBJECT CONTROLS

Object Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Object Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Object Nudging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Object Tumble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Object Roll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Object Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Object Dolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Drag Using Object’s Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Object Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Primary And Secondary Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Adding To And Removing From Selections . . . . . . 303

Drag Selecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Select All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Deselect All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Using Manipulation Tools For Selecting . . . . . . . . . 305

Small Object Tab Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Object List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Bold Object Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Italic Object Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Bullets In The Object List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Reset Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Make Invisible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Delete Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Duplicate Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

The Object Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

User Prefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Clear Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Clear Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Large Object Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Object Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Reload Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

File Name Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Object Faceting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Draft Quality vs. Best Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 4 9

Generate Model Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Spike Buster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

New Looks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Spike Buster And Edge Offsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Unbustable Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Edge Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Outside Edges vs. Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Edge Proﬁle Popup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Edge Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Edge Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Use Same Proﬁle for Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Use Same Material for Hole Edges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Use Same Scale for Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

CUSTOM EDGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

How To Create A Custom Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Each Layer Becomes A Single Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Where Do Custom Edges Appear In The Menu? . . 333

Setting The Scale Of A Custom Edge. . . . . . . . . . . . 334

What Types Of Paths Can Edges Be? . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Crossing The Y Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Crossing The X Axis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Editing A Proﬁle While The Project Is Open. . . . . . 337

Importance Of The Starting Point For Mapping. . . 338

How To Tell Where The Seam Will Be . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Edge Proﬁle Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

The OBJECT STATS DIALOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

MESHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

IMPORTING 3D MODELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Move Objects To Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

EXPORTING 3D MODELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Exporting All, Selected, Or Visible Objects. . . . . . . 350

Baking Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

LAYER CYCLING OBJECTS

What Is A Layer Cycling Object? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Understanding Layer Cycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Example Uses For This Technique. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

How To Prep The Vector File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

How To Make A Layer Cycling Object . . . . . . . . . . . 357

The Layer Cycling Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

The Frame Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Total Frames Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Frame Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

The Playback Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Start Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Show Before Start Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Change Every. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 410

Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Random Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Exporting Layer Cycling Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Combining Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Using Cycling Objects Inside ElectricImage. . . . . . 365

Using Cycling Objects Inside Other Programs . . . . 368

Wireframe And Hidden Line Rendering . . . . . 380

How To Give Objects A Wireframe or

Hidden Line Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Making The Lines Thicker Or Thinner. . . . . . . . . . . 382

Setting The Color Between The Lines . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Making The Lines React To Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Making Lines Shine With Reﬂections. . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Applying Grid Lines Across Object Faces. . . . . . . . 385

MATERIALS

Materials Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Materials Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Moving And Rearranging Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Selecting Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Materials Tab Swatch Commands

Duplicate Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Select All Unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Delete Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Material Editor Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Loading A Material Into The Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Loading By Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Loading By Double Clicking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Material Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Material Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Eyedropper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

New Material Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 4 11

Cartoon Coloring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

How To Give Objects Cartoon Coloring . . . . . . . . . 387

Absolute Coloring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

How To Give Objects Absolute Coloring. . . . . . . . . 389

2D Graphics In A 3D World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Absolute Coloring For Pop Art Looks . . . . . . . . . . . 391

The Stroked Pop Art Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

The Modiﬁed Pop Art Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Making TV Screens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Making 3D Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

The Matte Color Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Masking Out Unwanted Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Using Matte Objects To Create Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Using 3D Mattes For Object Replacement . . . . . . . 397

Making 3D Objects Circle Around

2D Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

The Shadow Catcher Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Setting Up The Camera For A

Shadow-Catching Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Duplicate Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Save Material To Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Clear Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

TEXTURE MAPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Picking A Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Sizing and Positioning The Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Map Enabler Checkbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Image Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Decal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Highlight Sharpness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Highlight Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Highlight Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

How To Make A Highlight Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

How To Give A Material A Highlight Map . . . . . . . . 412

Creative Uses For Highlight Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Bumpiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Making Better Bump Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Transparency Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Reﬂectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Reﬂection Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Highlights And Reﬂections By Surface Type . . . . . . . . . 421

How The Color Channels In A Map Are Used . . . . . . . . 424

Channel Usage by Map Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Material Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

New Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

OBJECT STYLES

Object Styles Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Applying Object Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Linking Objects To Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Renaming Object Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Adding Notes To An Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Object Styles Swatch Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Save Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Unlink Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Remove Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Duplicate Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Select All Unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Delete Selected Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Moving Object Style Swatches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Regenerating Object Style Swatches

That Have Been Deleted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

MATERIAL SET-UP & ASSIGNMENT

Material Set-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Material Assignment window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Material Set-Up Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Display splits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Zaxwerks ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide V. 412

Split tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Grabber hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Dolly tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Zoom tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Palette Commands Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Clear All Splits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Fit All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Swap Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Delete Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Material Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Palette Checkbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

USER PREFERENCES

Shadow Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Duplication Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Hard Shading Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Save Project Data As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Show Floor Grid In Preview Windows . . . . . . . . . . 450

Floor Grid Y Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

OpenGL Texture Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Real Time Slider Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Restore To Factory Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

ProAnimator Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Differences Between The Invigorator PRO

And ProAnimator Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

ProAnimator Plug-in Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

How To Enter ProAnimator’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

How To Close ProAnimator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

How To Make A ProAnimator Animation Match

With Your After Effects Animation . . . . . . . . . . 462

Synchronizing The After Effects And The

ProAnimator Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Making The ProAnimator Camera Follow

The After Effects Camera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Important Note About Merging 3D Images

From Two Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Making The After Effects Camera Follow

The ProAnimator Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Applying ProAnimator Object Motion To

After Effects Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Speeding Up The Import Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Using After Effects Layers As Texture Maps . . . . . 470

Layer Map Offsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Exchanging Files Between Plug-in And

Standalone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

SPECIAL TOPICS

Opening Version 3 Projects in Version 4 . . . . . . . . . 476

To Convert Or Not To Convert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Merging Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Changes To Swatch Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

How Swatch Handling Now Works. . . . . . . . . . 479

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Beneﬁts Of The New Swatch

Handling System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Range Dragging For Double Arrow Sliders. . . . . . . 481

Ofﬂine Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

How Do Materials Work?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Understanding Vector Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Creating Basic Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Creating Grids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Preparing Your Vector Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

How To Edit An Illustrator File And Get The

3D Model To Use The Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Using Clip Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Overlapping Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

The Holes In Objects Are Filling In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Spikes On Smooth Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Spike On Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Using Scanned Artwork to Create Models . . . . . . . 508

Working With Objects Outside The View

Of The Camera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Making Projects Render Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

TROUBLE SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

APPENDIX: The Edge Proﬁles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

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Introduction

This user guide covers the ProAnimator and the ProModeler software.

The ProModeler is used for creating 3D models and rendering still (single) images. The ProAnimator is used for creating 3D models, animating them and rendering movies. The two programs are very similar. If you took the ProModeler and added an animation window you would have the ProAnimator.

This user guide is divided into four major sections. The ﬁrst section is a series of tutorials on how to create animations with the ProAnimator.

The second section breaks down and explains the animation capabilities, feature by feature.

The third section is a series of tutorials on text creation, logo creation, surface coloring, manipulating the objects, moving the camera, setting up lights and ﬁnally rendering. These features are the same in both the ProModeler and the ProAnimator. Since these features are nearly identical in both programs, the word ProAnimator is used to talk about the software. However if you have the ProModeler just understand that we are talking about your program too. When there are differences in the way the two programs work, these differences will be noted in the text.

The fourth section breaks down and explains each feature for modeling, surface coloring, object and camera manipulation, and lighting.

For further assistance we have additional resources on our Web site: www.Zaxwerks.com. These include a User Forum, Troubleshooting page, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and demonstration movies.

Have loads of fun with your new program! ProAnimator and ProModeler ROCK!

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Installation Instructions

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System Requirements

System Requirements - MACINTOSH

- G4 Power Mac (G5 recommended)

- Mac OS X 10.2.8, 10.3.9, 10.4.6

- Apple’s OpenGL system extension

- QuickTime 5 or above

- 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 above

- 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 ProModeler

The ProModeler does not use an automatic installer. There is only one step to install the software.

If you are installing from a CD ... 1- Find the ProModeler folder on the CD and drag it into the Applications folder (Mac) or Program Files Folder (PC).

If you are installing from a downloaded ﬁ le ... 1- Unstuff or Unzip the download, then drag the ProModeler folder into the Applications folder (Mac) or Program Files Folder (PC).

To launch the ProModeler, open the ProModeler folder and double click on the ProModeler application.

Installing ProAnimator

The ProAnimator can run as either a standalone or a plug-in. If you only want to run it as a standalone follow the directions for installing the ProModeler. If you want to run it as a plug-in do the following:

If you are installing from a CD ... 1- Find the ProAnimator folder on the CD and drag it into the Applications/Adobe After Effects/Plug-ins folder.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP!

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP! The ProAnimator/ProModeler folders contain

The ProAnimator/ProModeler folders contain many ﬁ les and folders. DO NOT touch the

many ﬁ les and folders. DO NOT touch the contents of the main folder. During installation,

contents of the main folder. During installation, drag ONLY the top level ProAnimator/ProMod-

drag ONLY the top level ProAnimator/ProModeler folder and all these other ﬁ les and folders

eler folder and all these other ﬁ les and folders will be moved to the Applications folder too.

will be moved to the Applications folder too.

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Fill in all ﬁelds then click the OK button.Fill in all ﬁelds then click the OK button.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP !

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP ! On some Windows systems you may have trou-

On some Windows systems you may have trouble typing into the Authorization Window. If this

ble typing into the Authorization Window. If this is the case, open a program such as NotePad

is the case, open a program such as NotePad and type the information there. Then copy and

and type the information there. Then copy and paste the information, one line at a time, into

paste the information, one line at a time, into the Authorization window.

the Authorization window.

If you are installing from a downloaded ﬁle ...

1- Unstuff or Unzip the download, then drag the ProAnimator folder into the Applications/Adobe After Effects/Plug-ins folder.

We recommend that once the ProAnimator is installed, you open the ProAnimator folder, make a Shortcut (Alias) for the standalone version and put it on your desktop.

To launch the ProAnimator standalone double click on the Shortcut (Alias).

To use the ProAnimator plug-in, launch After Effects, create a new comp, create a new Solid that is comp sized, then from the Effect menu choose Effect > Zaxwerks > ProAnimator.

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: IPMS40-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.)

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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.

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 there will be a “Register” button. Click the “Register” button then enter your Permanent Authorization Code.

A Permanent Code looks like this: IPAS40-A1234-B1234-C1234

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Click this link on the Zaxwerks Home page to

get to the registration page.

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.

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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What’s New In Version 4?

Welcome to version 4 of the ProAnimator and ProModeler. This is a huge upgrade from version 3. We have improved the programs so you can work faster, create prettier images, and build more interesting animations.

1 - Workﬂow Enhancements

New features that help you work faster and keep more organized. This includes new features such as an Ofﬂine camera, real time slider interactions, merging scenes, a new central ﬁle system for swatches and the ability to use movies as texture maps or backgrounds.

2 - Animation Enhancements

New features that enable you to do previously impossible animations. Highlights include duplicating tracks, ﬂipping tracks, path actions for creating new types of motion, new scaling controls, new types of object distribution, locking and soloing of tracks and a feature to animate cascading visibility.

3 - Modeling Enhancements

Now you can make spheres, cube, cones and other shapes, reuse your text and logo models in new projects, and handle foreign language fonts (not double-byte). If you are a ProModeler user you get the whole text engine as a new feature too.

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4 - Surfacing Enhancements

New kinds of material controls elevate the look of your images to new levels. Highlights here include Wireframe, Shaded Wireframe, Reﬂective Wireframe, Hiddlenline, Filled Hiddenline, Cartoon Coloring, Absolute Coloring and Highlight mapping. Materials can be mixed and matched for outstanding new looks. There are also two special purpose materials, one for catching 3D shadows and applying them to 2D background images, and the other for turning any 3D object into a mask. These surfacing enhancements are included in both the ProAnimator and the ProModeler.

5 - The Plug-in version.

ProAnimator now works as a plug-in too. This means you never have to leave your compositor in order to create amazing ProAnimator 3D elements. As a plug-in all elements are “live” so you can make changes to any part at any time of the production process.

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Basic Concepts

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BASIC CONCEPTS

The ProAnimator 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 ProAnimator 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 ProAnimator 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 3D programs.

Surface Set-Up

The ProAnimator 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

DEFINITIONS

Modeling

The creation of the objects and adjustment of

The creation of the objects and adjustment of their shape.

their shape.

Surface Set-Up

The paint job that is applied to the surface of

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

the objects. Often called “Surfacing”.

Scene Set-Up

The positioning of the objects and lights

The positioning of the objects and lights within the 3D scene and the positioning of the

within the 3D scene and the positioning of the camera which views the scene and takes the

camera which views the scene and takes the picture.

picture.

Animation

Moving the objects or camera over time.

Rendering

Creation of the ﬁnal 3D image or movie.

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

“Taking the picture”.

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try it you will see how the ProAnimator 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

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 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.

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Beginning Tutorials Creating An Animation In Five Clicks

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

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP: You must have the program installed 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 ﬂ at 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.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 ﬁ nd the ﬁ rst red button labeled “TRY”. It is next to the button labeled “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 ﬁ ve mouse clicks!

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Drag and Drop an Object Style to color the letters.Drag and Drop an Object Style to color the letters.

Click TRY to auto-create an animation.Click TRY to auto-create an animation.

The colored bars represent the animation.The colored bars represent the animation.

Click the Stop button to halt playback of 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 ﬁ rst 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.

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Drag the end of the Transition segment to the left to

speed things up.

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.Select the camera and the Tumble tool.

The Roll tool.

The Track tool.

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The Dolly tool.

A draft quality rendering.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.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 ﬁ le 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 it 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 ﬁ le 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 ﬁ le as the RGB image. This enables you to open the ﬁ le in Photoshop or other image editing programs that accept Alpha channels and get perfect antialiasing by loading the Alpha channel as a selection.

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Click the Render Frame button to render a

ﬁ nal quality image at the current time.

Click the Render Movie 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 ﬁ nal movie click the Render Movie button. This will render the movie based on the options set on the camera tab.

After clicking the Render Movie button you will see a ﬁ le dialogue where you can name the movie, choose the ﬁ le format and where to save it. After clicking the Save button you will then see the QuickTime or AVI 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 fulﬁ l both of these requirements. One is the Animation compressor, the other is the TGA compressor. Both of these compressors are standard QuickTime options. If you’re on Windows, the Indio compressor works well. There may be others that will work with your speciﬁ c editing hardware. Once you have selected a compressor 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 ﬁ le.

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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.)

Render the whole

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

Choose the size for the ﬁnal ren-

for the ﬁnal ren-

dering.

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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. Let’s look at how to change the timing of an animation to better ﬁt the requirements of a project.

Pose Segments

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.

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 can 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 ﬁ rst 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.

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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 lets 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.

2- Type the words “Moving along” to rename the track.

3- 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 ﬁ nal pose is reached.

Move the mouse cursor so it is over the place where the ﬁ rst 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 whole segment.

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Double click the name to change it.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.

Drag on a Splice Point to change the length of the segments.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 ﬁ rst 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 much shorter. 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 ﬁ nal position they hold there until the time marker reaches the end of the ﬁ nal 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. To make objects move slower...

1- 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 move much more slowly than before.

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

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

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

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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.)

Shift Click between two points to select multiple segments.

Hold the Option (Alt) key and drag the end to the 8 second

mark to scale the duration of all selected segments.

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Work Area

Start Marker

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.

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

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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 ﬁ rst 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 ﬁ rst two seconds.

321

Select a large segment then use the arrow keys on your

keyboard to move the selection to a small segment.

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.

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.

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The motion paths of the Angle Slide animation.The motion paths of the Angle Slide animation.

When you select a transition in the Time Line the mo-

tion paths will be displayed in the 3D window.

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.

The Arch Slider.The Arch Slider.

An Arch of 10 gives the paths a slight curve.An Arch of 10 gives the paths a slight curve.

An Arch of 50 gives the paths an extreme curve.An Arch of 50 gives the paths an extreme curve.

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.

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 ﬂ ies 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 ﬁ nishes its move before the next letter starts to move. In other words the ﬁ rst letter moves to its end position before the second letter starts to move.

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Then the second letter completes its move 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.

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

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 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 ﬁ nal position.

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 ﬁ rst 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 transition.

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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 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. Cur-

The Move controls.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.

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1st Pose

2nd Pose

3rd Pose

rently 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- 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.

By default objects move

forward.

Double click the center but-

ton to move objects back.

Click the UP arrow to move

objects up.

Click the DOWN arrow to

move objects down.

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.

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- 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- Drag the Move slider from its current position of 1000 to a value of 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- 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- 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.

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

Drag the green oval to rotate

the letters around the Y axis.

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

green oval on the rotation tool.

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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- 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.

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

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

Objects that have been both Randomized and Shufﬂed.Objects that have been both Randomized and Shufﬂed.

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.

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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Animation Controls

Reference

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Easy/Advanced Controls

These buttons let you switch between the Easy set of animation controls and the Advanced set. Both sets of controls are seen below the timeline in the “Details” area.

The Easy controls are a subset of the Advanced controls. For instance when in Easy mode you can only control the Arch and the Arch Direction of a path. When in Advanced mode you have the same Arch and Arch Direction controls but you also have many more controls for setting things such as the center of the Arch, the Twist in the path, and for making objects overshoot the start or ends of the path.

You don’t have to be a Rocket Scientist to use the Advanced controls, there are just more options for creating more interesting animations. However once you get used to them you’ll ﬁ nd yourself working in Advanced mode with no trouble at all.

Track Segment Labels

You can label any track segment on the time line. To do this just double-click on the segment. This will open a text ﬁ eld on the track where you can type anything you want.

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Use these buttons to switch between

the Easy or Advanced Controls.

The controls are revealed below the Timeline

Double-clicking a segment lets you label it.Double-clicking a segment lets you label it.

in the Details area.

The Track Commands menu.The Track Commands menu.

Selecting All Objects On A Track

To select all of the objects controlled by a track, hold down the Command key (Mac) or the Alt key (Win) and click anywhere on the track or the track’s name.

NOTE: In previous versions of ProAnimator double-clicking on a track segment was the shortcut for adding a new pose. This is no longer the case. Double-clicking now opens the label ﬁ eld. To add a pose Option-click on a segment or use the Make Object Pose command found at the top of the Object Animations menu.

Track Commands

The Track Commands popup menu contains commands that affect the tracks on the timeline. Following are the commands and their function.

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Add Camera Track

This command creates a track so you can animate the camera. You are always looking through the camera lens so you don’t need a camera track unless you want to animate the camera. Use this command to create the camera track, then double click on the track to create a Pose, or use the “Make Camera Pose” command. (See Make Camera Pose later in this user guide.)

Duplicate Selected Tracks

As the name says, this command will duplicate all tracks that are selected including all of the objects on these tracks, the poses and transition segments and all of the controller settings that create the animation.

You can use track duplication as a way to create multiple versions, (duplicate the track then edit the text to make the new version), or to create additional background elements, (duplicate the track then offset the timing to double the number of moving objects without overlapping them.)

Create a camera track when you want to animate the camera.Create a camera track when you want to animate the camera.

This command duplicates a track

and all the objects on that track.

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This command puts objects onto their own track.This command puts objects onto their own track.

Move Selected Objects To Track...

This command can be used in two ways. If you have some objects that are being animated by one track and you want to animate some of them on their own, select them and use this command to move them to a new track.

Say for instance you have the word “Monday” and all the letters are sliding in from the right. But then you decide you want the M to drop down from the top and all the other letters slide in as a second step. To do this select the M and choose Move Selected Objects To Track and then pick the sub item “New Object Track” this will remove the M from the ﬁ rst track and put it on the second track. Now the M can be animated by the new track.

You can also use this command to combine objects that are on two separate tracks. For instance if you import a logo, create some text and want to animate them together, just select the text and move it to the logo’s track.

Reset Selected Tracks

The Reset Selected Tracks command removes all of the animation and tweaks that have been applied to a track returning it back to its original state.

Reset puts a track back to the state it

was in when ﬁ rst added to the project.

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Delete Selected Tracks

Use this command to delete a track and all of the objects being controlled by it.

Select All Segments

This command will select all of the Pose and Transition segments for whichever track you select from the submenu. Once selected you can drag the segments left or right in the timeline, or you can click the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard to delete the segments. Deleting segments will remove the animation from the objects but leave the objects and the track.

Flip Selected Segments

The Flip Selected Segments command will reverse the sequence of any selected pose or transition segments. For instance if you have an animation where the objects move from left to right across the screen, ﬂ ipping the segments will make them go from right to left.

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This command will reverse a sequence of segments.

So Poses 1, 2, 3, 4 will become Poses 4, 3, 2, 1.

Use this command to lock objects

into a neutral, starting position.

Object Animations Menu

The Object Animations menu is the control center for managing animation presets. You can save presets, delete and apply presets and also create individual Poses. The following commands are found in the Object Animations menu.

Add Object Pose

When you select this command an Object Pose will be created at the current time. If the Time Marker is already over a Pose segment you will get a message saying you cannot create a Pose here. However, if the Time Marker is over a Transition segment, a new Pose will be created that splits the Transition into two independent Transition segments.

Set As Starting Position

The Set As Starting Position command is used to lock Illustrator objects into a neutral position prior to applying animation presets.

When working with Illustrator objects it is typical that you have to do a little work to get them into the correct starting position. For instance since Illustrator does not have a Z dimension all 3D objects created from Illustrator ﬁ les start life on the same plane. This means that if you have overlapping objects, such as a group of stars on a blue background, the 3D stars will be buried inside of the large rectangular 3D slab. Once imported all you have to do is move the stars forward to put them in front of the rectangle.

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However if you don’t use the Set As Starting Position command before you apply Object Animation presets the stars will snap back to their original starting positions inside of the rectangle.

To help you out in case you forget, when you apply an Object Animation preset the ProAnimator will look to see if you have tweaked any objects and give you a message asking if you want to use the current positions as the starting position.

Save Preset...

Using this command will save the animation on the selected track, putting it into the Preset List. Thereafter it will appear in the list as an animation that can be applied to any other set of objects on a track.

Presets that have been saved will appear in the Animation Presets folder and can be copied to other computers and exchanged with friends. When you are saving presets there are several important points to remember so that the animation will work for other projects. See the section on saving presets for more information about this.

This message will appear if you have tweaked

objects and forgotten to lock them in place.

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Rename Preset...

This command will let you change the name of a preset. As you click and hold on this command you will see a submenu of presets pop out to the side. Select a preset and a window will open letting you type in a new name.

Delete Preset...

This command will let you delete a preset from the menu. As you click and hold on this command you will see a submenu of presets pop out to the side. Select a preset and it will be deleted.

Append Preset...

This command will add an animation after the last segment on the selected track. It works on one track at a time. As you click and hold on this command you will see a submenu of animation presets pop out to the side. Select one of these presets and the animation will be added to the track.

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Last Applied Preset

When you choose an animation from the presets list, its name will appear here. This is especially helpful if you are using the TRY button. You can click the TRY button over and over and then look at this menu to see the name of the last animation that was applied to your objects.

Object Animations Presets List

The bottom of the Object Animations menu consists of the animation presets. Selecting a preset will erase all animation segments on the selected track, apply the preset at the project Start Time, position the Work Area markers to surround the new animation and start the preview play back.

If you do not want the existing animation segments to be erased, use the Append Preset command.

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Object Animations TRY button

The TRY button will select one of the presets from the Object Animation Presets list and apply it to the objects on the selected track. If an animation already exists on that track it will be erased prior to the new animation being applied. Once applied, the Work Area markers will be adjusted to match the length of the animation, and the animation will begin playing back in the 3D window.

Use the TRY button to get something happening fast.Use the TRY button to get something happening fast.

By holding down the Option (Alt) key then clicking the TRY button you will get the previous animation selected by the TRY button. If you want to see which animation the TRY button selected, look in the Object Animation menu. (See the Last Applied Preset section earlier in this user guide.)

Camera Animations Menu

The Camera Animations menu is the control center for managing camera animation presets. You can save presets, delete and apply presets and also create individual Poses for the camera. The following commands are found in the Camera Animations menu.

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Add Camera Pose

When you select this command a Camera Pose will be created at the current time. If the Time Marker is already over a Pose segment you will get a message saying you cannot create a Pose here. However, if the Time Marker is over a Transition segment, a new Pose will be created that splits the Transition into two independent Transition segments.