Zaxwerks PROMODELER USER MANUAL
The Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator
™
ProAnimator / ProModeler
version 3.0
User Guide
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 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
© 1996 - 2003 Zaxwerks Inc. All rights reserved.
This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied
in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use
only, is subject to change without notice, and does not represent product specifications or commitment on the
part of Zaxwerks. Zaxwerks assumes no responsibility or liability for any error or inaccuracies that may appear
in this document.
The Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator is a trademark of Zaxwerks Inc. After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. FreeHand is a trademark of Macromedia Inc. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows 2000 and Windows XP are registered trademarks of
Microsoft, Inc. OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. All other product names or trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide2
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
BASIC CONCEPTS
Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Surface Set-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Scene Set-Up & Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
ANIMATION TUTORIALS
ProAnimator Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Creating An Animation in Five Clicks . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Changing The Text In An Animation . . . . . . . . . 30
Changing The Speed Of An Animation . . . . . . . 31
Changing The Camera’s View
Of The Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Rendering An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Rendering A Single Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Saving A Single Frame Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Rendering The Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Rendering Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Changing The Timing And Speed
Of An Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
What is A Pose? What Is A Transition? . . . . . . 38
Creating A New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Creating The 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Adding An Animation Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Changing The Track Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Moving Splice Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Adding More Hold Time To
The Beginning Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Changing The Position Of A Segment
Without Changing Its Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Slowing Down The Motion Of A Transition . . . 43
Resetting An Animation Back
To A Saved Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Increasing The Length Of
An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Setting The Loop Points For
The Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Shortening The Length Of
An Entire Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Selecting Segments That Are
Difficult To Click On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Changing Object Motion During Transitions . . . . . . 49
Changing The Curve Of A Motion Path . . . . . . . 50
Changing The Direction Of
The Arch In The Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Controlling When Objects Start To Move . . . . . 52
Controlling The Order Of Objects
As They Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 3
Adding Start Ease And End Ease
For A Professional Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Changing The Positions Of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Moving Objects To New Positions . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Spreading Objects Apart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Bunching Objects To A Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Making Objects Spin As They Move . . . . . . . . . 63
Randomizing Object Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Shuffling Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ANIMATION CONTROLS REFERENCE
Easy/Advanced Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Track Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Add Camera Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Move Selected Objects To Track... . . . . . . . . . . .70
Delete Selected Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Select All Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Object Animations Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Make Object Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Save Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Rename Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Delete Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Append Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Last Applied Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Object Animations Preset List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Object Animation TRY Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Camera Animations Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Make Camera Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Save Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Rename Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Delete Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Append Preset... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Last Applied Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Camera Animations Preset List . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Camera Animation TRY Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Animation Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Current Time Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Current Time Readout (The GOTO Field) . . . . . . . . 78
Project Start Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Project Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Frame Rate Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Shutter Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Animation Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Play Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Work Area Start And End Markers . . . . . . . . . . 82
Jump To Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Back One Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Play Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Forward One Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Jump To End Of Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Loop With Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide4
Animation Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Animation Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Pose Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Animation Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Path Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Primary vs. Secondary Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Pose Positioning Controls For Objects . . . . . . . . . . 89
Advantages Of Using The Pose Controls . . . . . . . . . 90
Easy Controls For Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Bunch/Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Randomize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Shuffle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Local Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Advanced Controls For Poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Start At Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Advanced Move Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Local Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Common Center Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Distribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Horizontal Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Vertical Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Circle X, Y, Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Pose Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Pose Action Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Title Roll (Up/Down) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Title Crawl (Left/Right) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Pitch X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Spin Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Roll Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Free Tumble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Pose Action Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Pose Start / End Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
What Is A Tweak? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Reset Tweaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Reset Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Reset All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Transition Controls For Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Easy Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Ease - Start & End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Cascade Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Birth Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Reverse Birth Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Random Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Selection Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Reverse Selection Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Top To Bottom Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Bottom To Top Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Left To Right Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Right To Left Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 5
Arch Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Advanced Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Cascade Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Ease Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Start Gaps & End Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Clump Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Transition Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Keyframe-Based vs. Generated Paths . . . . . . . . . . 121
Start/End Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Advanced Arch Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Arch Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Same For All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Even Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Reverse Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Two Point Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Three Point Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Random Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Advanced Arch Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Direction Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Same For All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Even Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Reverse Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Two Point Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Three Point Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Random Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Arch Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Overshoot Start/End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Flatten Start/End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Tw ist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Path Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Path Action Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Pitch X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Spin Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Roll Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Free Tumble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Follow 2D/3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Follow 3D With Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Face Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Face Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Pose Grouping And Transition Grouping . . . . 137
The Effect Of Grouping On Timing . . . . . . . . . 138
Groups And Hard Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
When To Use A Hard Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Group Text By (Para/Line/Word/Char) . . . . . 141
Make Independent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Animation On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Add To Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Rename Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
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Select/Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Select All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Pose Controls For Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Transition Controls For Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Camera Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Start Ease / End Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Ease Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Camera Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Start Smoothing / End Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
MODELING, SURFACING, & LIGHTING
Basic Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Creating And Working With 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Applying Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Changing The Depth Of An Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Coloring Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Coloring Objects: Method 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Coloring Objects: Method 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Coloring Objects: Method 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Editing 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
How To Set The Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Using Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
How To Set The Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Saving A View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Think Like A Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
How To Render An Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
How To Get The Background To Drop Out . . . . . . 173
Advanced Tutorials
How To Create a 3D Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
How To Make Objects Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Moving 3D Objects - Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
How To Reset 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Moving 3D Objects - Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Camera Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Camera Shortcuts Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Adjusting The Thickness of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
How To Apply An Edge Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
How To Apply A Single Material To An Object . . . 193
How To Add A Second Material To An Object . . . 195
How To Split A Profile To Fine Tune
Material Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
How To Create An Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Coloring The Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
How To Make Lights Cast Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
How To Move Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
How To Save A Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Additional Tipes When Working With
Illustrator Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
MODELING, SURFACING, & LIGHTING
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
The Start Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Create 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Open An Illustrator File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 7
Create A New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Open Existing Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Create 3D Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Text Entry Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Setting The Block Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Font Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Kerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Width Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Height Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Baseline Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Create Whitespace Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Cleaning Up Problems With Font Models . . . . 216
Open Illustrator Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Show All Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Open By Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Open As Layer Cycling Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Use Illustrator Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Dismantle Incoming Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Move To Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
The INVIGORATOR SET-UP WINDOW . . . . . . . . 227
Scene Preview Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
The CAMERA CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
Camera Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Camera Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Camera Tumble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Camera Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
Camera Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Camera Dolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Camera Manipulation Shortcut Keys . . . . . . . 233
Zoom Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Small Camera Tab Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Views Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Lens Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Antialiasing Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Super Fast Final Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Resolution Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Pixel Aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Alpha Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
The LIGHTING CONTROLS
Light Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Light Manipulation In The Scene Window . . . . . . . 242
Lighting Manipulator Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
The Lights List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Turn On This Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Disable All Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide8
Light Editor Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Light Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Light Color Picker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Light Color Eyedropper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Light Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Shadow Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Shadow Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Shadow Softness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Light Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Light Commands Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Save Light To Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Lights Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Lights Swatch/Library Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Apply Swatch To Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Duplicate Light Swatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Delete Selected Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Load Light Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Append Light Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Save Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Lighting Styles Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Lighting Styles Swatch/Library Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Save Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Apply Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Duplicate Lighting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Delete Selected Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Load Lighting Style Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Append Lighting Style Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Save Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
The OBJECT CONTROLS
Object Mode Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Object Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Object Nudging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Object Tumble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Object Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Object Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Object Dolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Drag Using Object’s Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Object Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Selecting Objects
Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Primary And Secondary Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Adding To And Removing From Selections . . . . . . 272
Drag Selecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Select All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Deselect All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Using Manipulation Tools For Selecting . . . . . . . . 274
Small Object Tab Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274
Object List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Bold Object Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Italic Object Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Bullet In The Object List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 9
Reset Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Make Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Delete Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Duplicate Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
The Object Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
User Prefs Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Clear Objects Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Clear Scene Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Large Object Tab Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
Object Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Reload Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
File Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Object Faceting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Draft Quality vs. Best Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Generate Model Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Front Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Back Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Outside Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Spike Buster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
New Looks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Spike Buster And Edge Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Unbustable Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Edge Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Outside Edges vs. Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Edge Profile Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Edge Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Edge Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Use Same Profile for Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Use Same Material for Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Use Same Scale for Hole Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
CUSTOM EDGES
Custom Edge Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
How To Create A Custom Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Each Layer Becomes A Single Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Where Do Custom Edges Appear In The Menu? . . 304
Setting The Scale Of A Custom Edge . . . . . . . . . . . 305
What Types Of Paths Can Edges Be? . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Crossing The Y Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Crossing The X Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Editing A Profile While The Project Is Open . . . . . 308
Importance Of The Starting Point For Mapping . . 309
How To Tell Where The Seam Will Be . . . . . . . . . . 311
Edge Profile Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
The OBJECT STATS DIALOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
MESHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide10
IMPORTING 3D MODELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
EXPORTING 3D MODELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Exporting All, Selected, Or Visible Objects . . . . . . 321
Baking Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Random Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Exporting Layer Cycling Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Combining Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Using Cycling Objects Inside ElectricImage . . . . . 336
Using Cycling Objects Inside Other Programs . . . 339
LAYER CYCLING OBJECTS
What Is A Layer Cycling Object? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Understanding Layer Cycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Example Uses For This Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
How To Prep The Vector File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
How To Make A Layer Cycling Object . . . . . . . . . . 328
The Layer Cycling Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
The Frame Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Total Frames Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Frame Counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
The Playback Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Start Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Show Before Start Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Change Every . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Play Once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Play Once And Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Ping-Pong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Randomize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 11
MATERIALS
Materials Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Materials Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342
Moving And Rearranging Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Selecting Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Materials Tab Swatch/Library menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Duplicate Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Select All Unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Delete Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Load Material Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Append Material Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Save Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Material Editor Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Loading A Material Into The Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Loading By Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Loading By Double Clicking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Material Name Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Material Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351
Eyedropper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
TEXTURE MAPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Picking A Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Sizing and Positioning The Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Map Enabler Checkbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Image Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Decal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Highlight Sharpness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Highlight Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Bumpiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Making Better Bump Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Transparency Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Reflectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Reflection Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Highlights And Reflections By Surface Type . . . . . . . . 367
Polished Jewelry and Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Glass and Vinyl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Polished Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Satins/Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Paper/Cloth/Rough Cut Stone/Unfinished Wood . 370
How The Color Channels In A Map Are Used . . . . . . . 370
Channel Usage by Map Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Material Commands Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
New Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Duplicate Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Save Material To Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Clear Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
OBJECT STYLES
Object Styles Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Applying Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Naming Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Adding Notes To An Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Update Object Style Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Object Styles Swatch/Library Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Save Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Apply Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Unlink And Remove Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Duplicate Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Select All Unused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Delete Selected Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Load Object Style Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Append Object Style Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Save Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Clear Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Moving Object Style Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
MATERIAL SET-UP & ASSIGNMENT
Material Set-Up button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Material Assignment window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Material Set-Up Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide12
Display splits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Split tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Grabber hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Dolly Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Zoom Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Palette Commands Popup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Clear All Splits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Fit Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Swap Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Delete Selected Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Material Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Palette Checkbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
USER PREFERENCES
Shadow Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Duplication Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Hard Shading Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Save Project Data As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Show Floor Grid In Preview Windows . . . . . . . . . . 400
Floor Grid Y Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
OpenGL Texture Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Save Current Material As Default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Save All Settings As Default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Restore To Factory Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
SPECIAL TOPICS
Sliders Have Continuous Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
How Do Materials Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Understanding Invigorator Vector Shape Objects 413
Creating Spheres And Other Basic Shapes . . . . . . 417
Creating Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Preparing Your Vector Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
How To Edit An Illustrator File And Get The
Invigorator To Use The Changes . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Using Clip Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Overlapping Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
The Holes In Objects Are Filling In . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Spikes On Smooth Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Spike On Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Using Scanned Artwork to Create Models . . . . . . . 435
Working With Objects Outside The View
Of The Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Seeing Chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Making Project Files Smaller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Making Projects Render Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
TROUBLE SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
APPENDIX: The Edge Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide 13
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, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions.
Have loads of fun with your new program! The Invigorator ROCKS!
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide14
Installation Instructions
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System Requirements
System Requirements - MACINTOSH
- G3 Power Mac (G4 recommended)
- Mac OS 9.1, 10.1 or 10.2.6.
- Apple’s OpenGL system extension
- QuickTime 5 or 6.1
- Color monitor capable of displaying at least
1024 x 768 in Millions of colors
- 128 MB RAM, (256 MB recommended)
- 100MB unused hard-disk space
- CD ROM drive
Software specifications subject to change without notice. Software used under license.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Refer to the Zaxwerks End User License for more information.
System Requirements - WINDOWS
- Intel Pentium III or 4 processor
- Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro or Home Edition
- OpenGL system .dll file
- QuickTime 5 or 6.1
- Color monitor capable of displaying at least
1024 x 768 in True color
- 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended)
- 100MB unused hard-disk space
- CD ROM drive
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Installing the Software
The Invigorator does not use an automatic installer. You only
need to do one step to install the software.
If you are installing from a CD...
1- Find the ProAnimator (or ProModeler) folder on the CD and
drag it into the Applications folder on your main hard drive.
If you are installing from a downloaded file...
1- Unstuff or Unzip the download, then drag the ProAnimator
(or ProModeler) folder into the Applications folder on your
main hard drive.
TROUBLESHOOTING TIP!
The ProAnimator/ProModeler folder contains many files
and folders. DO NOT touch the contents of the main folder.
Drag ONLY the ProAnimator/ProModeler folder to the
Applications folder and all these other files and folders will
be moved to the Applications folder too.
You are now ready to launch the program and create your first
Invigorator project. Open the Applications folder, then open the
ProAnimator or ProModeler folder, and double click on the
program icon.
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Fill in all fields then click the OK button.
Entering An Authorization Code For The First Time
The first time you launch the software it will ask you to enter
some information. Type your Name and Organization, and type
the Authorization Code exactly as it was given to you. Then press
the OK button.
A Temporary Code looks like this: A1234-B1234. A Permanent
Code looks like this: IPMS30-A1234-B1234-C1234 A Temporary
Code lasts for 30 days to give you time to contact Zaxwerks and
register the software. Once registered, Zaxwerks will give you a
permanent authorization code. (See the next section for infor-
mation on how to enter a permanent code.)
If you already have a Permanent Code there is no need to enter
the Temporary Code first. Type the Permanent Code when you
see the Authorization window and you’ll be ready to go.
TROUBLESHOOTING TIP !
On some Windows systems you may have trouble typing
into the Authorization Window. If this is the case, open a
program such as NotePad and type the information there.
Then copy and paste the information, one line at a time,
into the Authorization window.
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Demo Mode
If you don’t have either a Temporary or a Permanent Authorization Code you can run the program in Demo Mode by clicking the
DEMO button at the bottom of the authorization window. Demo
mode adds a watermark to the renderings and also limits the
program in some ways, but other than that most everything
works. Demo mode lets you get an idea of how the program runs
so you can see how fast and easy it is.
Entering A Permanent Authorization Code
(If this is the first time you have run the software see the
previous section titled: Entering An Authorization Code For
The First Time.)
If you have been running the software using a Temporary Authorization Code, double click on the program icon to launch it. You
will see a message window saying how many days you have left
to run the program. At the bottom of this message window will
be a “Register” button. Click the “Register” button then enter
your Permanent Authorization Code.
A Permanent Code looks like this: IPAS30-A1234-B1234-C1234
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How To Get A Permanent Authorization Code
A Permanent Authorization code is sent to you directly from
Zaxwerks. Contact Zaxwerks in one of the following ways:
Register by email: register@zaxwerks.com
Register online: www.zaxwerks.com/Register_English.html
Register by phone: 1-800-549-0250
You will be asked for your Temporary Authorization Code and
your contact information so you can receive notices about bug
fixes and updates.
Click this link on the Zaxwerks Home page to
get to the registration page.
If you bought the program directly from Zaxwerks you will have
received a green Invoice/Receipt with the Permanent codes
printed on stickers at the bottom.
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Basic Concepts
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BASIC CONCEPTS
The Invigorator creates its own models and images. It does not
process existing footage to give it a “3D effect”. You create
models that have depth and size, arrange them in space, and then
take pictures of them.
The Invigorator is a true 3D program, but it has differences that
make it unique from any other 3D program. There is a tremendous amount of technology and workflow design packed into this
program, in order to make it easier to learn and faster to use.
If you are new to creating 3D graphics here is a short overview of
the steps involved:
Modeling
The Invigorator creates models out of Adobe Illustrator files and
fonts installed on your computer. Models can be modified using
the controls in the Object Tab. A selection of over 100 preset
edge profiles come built into the program or you can make your
own. You can also import models created in other programs.
DEFINITIONS
Modeling
The creation of the objects and adjustment of
their shape.
Surface Set-Up
The paint job that is applied to the surface of
the objects. Often called “Surfacing”.
Scene Set-Up
The positioning of the objects and lights within
the 3D scene and the positioning of the
camera which views the scene and takes the
picture.
Animation
Moving the objects or camera over time.
Rendering
Creation of the final 3D image or movie.
“Taking the picture”.
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Surface Set-Up
Animation
The Invigorator has a completely unique way of handling
surfaces. Up to six different materials can be applied to
each object and those materials can be used in a variety of
ways. Once you try it you will see how the Invigorator has
finally given artists the tools to create a new generation of
3D title and logo graphics. Graphics like you have never
seen before.
Scene Set-Up And Lighting
Setting up a 3D scene has been streamlined to make it
easier for 2D graphic artists to make the jump to 3D. A
scene can have as many objects as you need and objects or
groups of objects can be rotated and positioned independently. Up to six lights can be used, and once you get your
lights perfect they can be saved and reused in future
projects.
Object manipulation within the 3D scene is done in a way
that’s completely new. Single and multiple objects can be
manipulated with speed and fluidity. There are a full
compliment of short cut keys. Even nudge keys are
supported.
Animation is created in a new way that is visual rather than
technical. Feedback is continuous so you can watch the
animation as you edit it. There is no need to stop and
render a preview.
Rendering
The rendering engine is designed for the rigors of professional production. It creates beautiful images of any
resolution with excellent antialiasing, image mapping, soft
shadows, transparencies for glass and chrome effects.
Images and movies come with alpha channels for compositing without the need to key the source footage.
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Animation
Tutorials
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ProAnimator Introduction
Hello and welcome to the world of the Invigorator ProAnimator!
The ProAnimator is different than any other animation program.
Other animation programs make you fiddle with things like
keyframes and velocity curves. The more objects you are animating the more keyframes you have to fiddle with. Projects can get
very complicated very quickly.
The ProAnimator, on the other hand creates animations in a new
and unique way. The creation of an animation is more like
directing a movie. The user is freed to create and design rather
than be forced into the roll as technician. Start to finish is only a
few steps and animating one object or 50 is the same amount of
work.
There are several ways to create your animation. The first we’ll
look at is how to use a preset to make the entire animation in just
a few clicks.
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Beginning Tutorials
Creating An Animation In Five Clicks
Our first project will show you how fast it is to create an animation from start to finish using the presets supplied with the
software.
TROUBLESHOOTING TIP: You must have installed the
program properly for the factory presets to be present. If
the TRY button doesn’t do anything or you don’t see any
presets in the menus when doing the following project, you
must quit and reinstall the program following the installation instructions.
1- Double click the ProAnimator icon to launch the program.
2- When you see four large buttons click the “Create 3D Text”
button.
3- Type the words News Update. Then click the OK button.
The flat text will be turned into 3D models automatically. You
will now see many pictures of Object Styles on the right side of
the main window. An Object Style is a snapshot of all the settings
for creating an object’s “Look”.
Type the words that will become 3D.
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4- Click on the top right Object Style (the blue and white one).
Hold your mouse button down and then drag to the left. As you
drag you will see a dotted rectangle moving along with the mouse
cursor. When the tip of the mouse is over one of the text letters
let up on the mouse button.
You will see that all of your letters have turned blue and white.
This “click down - hold - drag to position - and let up” procedure
is called “Drag and Drop”. Drag and Drop can be done with many
things inside the ProAnimator.
Below the main window is another window which may be
partially hidden if your monitor isn’t big enough to hold them
both. Click once on the lower window to bring it to the front.
This window is called the Animation window.
5- At the top of the Animation window find the first red button
labled “TRY”. It is next to the button labled “Object Animations”.
Click it once.
Watch as an animation is constructed before your eyes. The
timeline will get several colored bars in “Object Track 1”, the
objects will jump to new positions, and the animation will play
back over and over.
That’s it. You’ve just created a complete 3D animation, and did
the whole thing in five mouse clicks!
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator - ProAnimator / ProModeler - User Guide
Drag and Drop an Object Style to color the letters.
Click TRY to auto-create an animation.
The colored bars represent the animation.
29
Click the Stop button to halt playback of the animation.
To experiment with other animations click the “TRY” button
again. Each time you click TRY a new animation will be constructed using the text you typed.
Stop the playback of your animation by clicking the Stop button
and continue on to the next exercise.
Changing The Text In An Animation
Once you have created an animation you can change the text
without having to redo any other work.
1- Stop the animation if you haven’t already done so.
2- Click on the main Set-Up window (the large top window) to
bring it to the front, then double click on one of the letters. This
will open the same text window where you first typed the words,
News Update.
3- Erase the words “News Update.” In their place type “Evening
News”. Then click the OK button. If you get a message asking if
you want to modify the objects, click “Modify”. In the 3D window
you will see the letters change.
The gray Play button only plays the area
between the green and red markers.
4- In the Animation window click the gray Play button to play the
new animation. Notice that the animation is the same even
though the text is different.
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