3D, Zaxwerks in FCP or…???

[Tom Daigon]

Proanimator works with After Effects. I have used it for many years. It has a short learning curve and is capable of very sophisticated animation of 3D text, logos and even imported 3D models. Its not in the same league as Lightwave or Maya, but you can sit down and play with it for a few hours and end up with an animation that will wow your clients. I think you can demo it to make sure you like it before you buy it.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / FCP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com

[Kevin Rag]

Thanks Tom. I’ll probably have to go with the FCP plugin, ProAnimator FX. It can’t be too different from the After FX ver you use. Will give it a go and keep you posted. It can’t import photoshop files can it? From what I know it can only import AI file for converting to 3D. Is there any work around? I get PSD or JPEG files from clients. Do I have to open these files in Illustrator and save ’em as AI files? Is that the only way?

Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.

[Cody Walters]

I have Pro Animator for Final Cut and Motion and it works great. Like Tom said, it gives you very sophisticated 3D animation and the built in presets make it very simple to achieve a basic and professional looking animation. I’ve also used Motion and basic key frame animation inside of Final Cut for logo animations and it did the job. After Effects also does a great job too. It all depends on how complicated or basic your logo animation will be.

Cody Walters
JW Studio LLC
Houston Video Production
Houston Wedding Videographer

Final Cut Studio 3
Adobe CS5 Master Suite
Panasonic HVX-200
Canon 7D

[Kevin Rag]

I’ve downloaded the demo version of ProAnimator FX. The only file it’d import is an Illustrator file. Am not sure if it’s because it’s a demo ver or that’s how ProAnimator works. So, I still have to open Jpeg or Photoshop files in Adobe Illustrator and save as an Illustrator file. Is AI the only way to go for creating logos for ProAnimator?

Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.

[Bret Williams]

Kannan, you generally can’t create 3D models from bitmap (PS) files. The difference between an Illustrator and a Photoshop file is vectors. Illustrator files are resolution independent and made up of vector based art. A 3D model also needs to be based on scaleable vector art to have smooth edges and lines at any size. A company should always have an eps or illustrator file of their logo available.

[Kevin Rag]

Thanks for the explanation Bret. From what I’ve seen of ProAnimator FX, it’s really cool. Would probably buy it after getting used to it. Do you know any other software that does something like this?

Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.

[Mark Suszko]

I do, but it is old software on the PC side.

Nevertheless, if you have a laptop or something to run it on, Crystal 3D Impact Pro is what I use right now and it is both super-cheap and super-easy.

https://www.crystalgraphics.com/web/3dimpactpro.main.asp

It can import B&W line art and convert it to an extruded 3-d model, which is handy when the client wants a 3-d version of their custom logo and all they can hand you is a business card. While it is marketed for making flying spinning extruded logos, you can actually do a lot more with it, just by making and combining/grouping simple shapes and then grouping/nesting the canned animated camera moves, to create something much more complex than you’d think this software can do. I made a fly-thru animation of a table full of pill bottles, for example, using just multiple versions of a circle, with different extrusions, materials presets and edge treatments selected. I’ve used it to sketch out 3-d set and lighting designs. This is a sort of stripped-down version of the venerable Crystal TOPAS software, with keyframing replaced by a menu of canned moves and speeds that cover 90 percent of what you’d normally need to do with a logo.

DGMW: the thing you really want to have is the Zaxworks. Until you can get that, this other option might be sufficent to render out an AVI that you can then import into your timeline.

Blender is a cross-platform app that’s free, open-source and can do wonderful things but the learning curve is steeper. The brilliance of the Zaxworks product is that it is equally accessible to every level of user from entry level to pro, and gives you as much or as little help as you want.