Advice on which After Effects Plug-in to buy – Invigorator Pro, Element 3D or Shapeshifter

[Edward Wu]

Hi Anastacia,

3D Invigorator PRO is the easiest program to jump in. If you are familiar with After Effects and Illustrator already, there is almost no learning curve in terms of working with 3D Invigorator PRO. You would simply import the Illustrator paths, drag and drop any materials or object styles that you like onto the objects, and animate the object using After Effects keyframes. It doesn’t get any easier than that. As we been talking through emails, I mentioned that you can also map different images onto your objects. So if you are working with the stained glass shape you were talking about, you would also be able to apply the stained glass image onto the Illustrator object as well.

If price is an issue, you can also consider 3D Invigorator Classic. It does everything you wanted, but at a much lower price point. Personally, I would go with 3D invigorator PRO because you are getting a much larger feature set such as our advanced lighting systems, ray-trace rendering, and other features such as deformations and the ability to import and export 3D models. If price isn’t an issue, I would go with ProAnimator hands down. It’s simply the fastest in terms of creating advanced animations with all the fancy effects such as lighting, flares, and setting up cool animation paths. It does have a little bit of a learning curve, but the speed of the workflow is much faster than any program out there once you watch a few tutorials about the controls. To watch our video tutorials, visit our training page: https://zaxwerks.com/training/

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, you can reply to the post or to my emails.

Best,
Edward

[Brent Willett]

Hi Anastacia.

Edward gave you a good rundown of the difference between Zaxwerks products. But I thought I’d give you a little insight into Element 3D. Element is a great plugin, and a really good way to be able to use existing 3D models inside of After Effects. But from my point of view as a motion graphic designer, it seems to be more geared toward special effects work.

Element is extremely tough to deal with if you want to put a logo together, especially from Illustrator files. It is able to extrude masks that are on an After Effects layer, but if your Illustrator file is a logo, or something else with multiple parts and different colors, you’d have to have each separate part of the logo as one mask on individual After Effects layers. Then you have to go into the setup window, extrude and color each one individually, then go back into After Effects and line everything up. Even if you have your masks in place in relation to each other on the After Effects layers, since you have to handle each one individually inside of Element, they all come out centered and at different sizes. It can be an extremely frustrating process.

Plus, Element doesn’t have any true shadows, only ambient occlusion (which darkens the areas where pieces meet), nor does it have reflections. It does render fast, though.

Zaxwerks ProAnimator and Invigorator are both geared for turning an Illustrator file, such as a logo, into 3D objects very quickly and easily. All you do is import the AI. Whatever is on a layer in Illustrator comes in as a layer in Zaxwerks. All the pieces are in place and already extruded. You just have to adjust the Z (front and back) position of the pieces (of course you can adjust a lot more if you want). You can even have the file come in with the Illustrator colors.

Like Edward said, if you already know After Effects, Invigorator is the easiest to learn. But I prefer using ProAnimator as a plugin. It has a bunch of ways to animate multiple objects almost automatically, it has real shadows as well as ambient occlusion, reflections, the ability to warp objects, fantastic lighting features with flares and trusses and fixtures, refractions when using transparent materials, easily customizable edge profiles, and more.

It’s versatility is what makes it so great. You can do something as simple as flying in a logo, or you can build a big 3D scene with lots of animating pieces and complicated camera moves (especially if you use the After Effects camera).

I’ve never used Shapeshifter, so I can’t speak to that one.

I hope this helps at least a little.

Thanks,
Brent

[Chris Bobotis]

Hi Anastacia,

I am surprised to read that you find Shapeshifter difficult to learn. Use the AE text tool then use Shapeshifter AE right on that layer right in the AE comp window. Same with AE masks, shape layers, imported eps etc.etc. Check this out: vimeo.com/81165213

For what it is worth, I think all 3 products are great and each has it’s strength and weaknesses. Mettle (FreeForm Pro & Shapeshifter), VCP (Element 3D) and Zaxwerks have each done a wonderful job with their offerings and I would recommend that you, eventually, get them all.

They are all very powerful in their own ways and complement each other very well.

Cheers,
Chris
mettle.com

Cheers,
Chris
mettle.com

[Anastacia Tohill]

Hi Ed

Thanks for your advice and your emails, you have been really helpful. I decided not to buy Element 3D as there was no trial version of the software and without being able to try the software I felt I could not buy it. I decided not to buy Shapeshifter as I tried to use it and felt it was too advanced for me. The software can do amazing things so I think it is just I am not technical enough to use it at this time having never really animated in 3D before. As you know I have decided to buy either Invigorator Pro or ProAnimator mainly because I found the software so intuitive and simple to use and that was from just playing around with the software. It is a very visual interface and I managed to import my Illustrator File and was amazed at how it automatically creates it in 3D which can then be edited. There are a lot of editing features so you can customize the design, as long as you create the shape correctly with paths in Illustrator the 3D part of the process is easy to use. I like how all the textures can be mapped onto the graphic shape and also that you can create your own textures to map onto it which is exactly what I wanted. For me it was ease of use and finding something which would create what I wanted without having to know too much technical 3D knowledge. I am now working through the tutorials to decide between Invigorator Pro and ProAnimator. Thanks again for all your support and help.

[Anastacia Tohill]

Hi Brent

Thank you for your advice, I do appreciate it. This is the first time I think I have used this Forum to ask a question and it has been so helpful. I read the forums quite a lot for advice and learning.

I agree that Element 3D is an amazing program from what I have seen of its capabilities as indeed all of these plug-ins are. I ruled out Element 3D as there was no trial version of the software and felt I could not take a chance on buying something which I could not try first. I think it is important to try the software or you may not be able to use it and it may not be what you are looking for. As this is the first time I have used 3D I don’t have 3D skills in making models or own any 3D software so I would be unable to use this tool in Element. From what you are saying it is quite hard to do a simple logo and it uses Illustrator masks and not paths.

I just left a reply to Ed and I have decided to buy either Invigorator Pro or ProAnimator as I found it so simple and intuitive to use, amazing software. As you mentioned you can create something very quickly and it automatically extrudes the Illustrator file for you which you can edit. When I managed to do it I was blown away by how quick and easy it was as I have no experience of 3D, so it has opened up a whole new world for me.

I didn’t know it could bring the Colours in as well from Illustrator that is great. I am working through the tutorials now to decide on which software from Zaxwerks to buy. The only thing which I am not sure about with ProAnimator is that you animate within the plug-in with preset behaviours and not on the AE timeline. I am not sure how much you can customise the animating but will have a go at the tutorials.

Thanks again for your help and replying to my post.
Anastacia

[Anastacia Tohill]

Hi Chris

Thanks for replying to my post and for all your help and advice as I have also been in contact with you by email. I have to say all of the help and advice I have received from everyone has been excellent, both through this forum and through emails from you and Ed. I also have been in contact with Videocopilot and they have been very helpful as well.

I am very impressed with all the 3D plug-ins and totally agree with you that each of them have strengths and weaknesses. If I could afford it I would buy all of them but I can’t so I made my decision in the end not on price but ease of use for me – that will be different for everyone. Someone else would probably find Shapeshifter very easy to use but I am just starting out so I wanted something which was really intuitive and visual. I managed to create the frame of my 3D window quite quickly which for me is amazing. If you understand Illustrator and closed paths then the process is very simple to use.

I am also as you know intending on buying Freeform Pro as I am following the tutorials on the Tuts Website for Animating and Rigging a character puppet (Daniel Gies). It has taken me quite a while to get through the tutorials but I am getting there. I intend using Freeform Pro to hopefully create my 2D character into a 2.5D and this tutorial shows you how to do it using AE, Freeform Pro and a lot of scripting.

Thanks again for all your help Chris and will let you know how I get on with Freeform Pro.

Anastacia

[Brent Willett]

Hi Anastacia.

I’m happy to help. And I agree with you, Element 3D is a great plugin. I use it frequently in conjunction with Zaxwerks ProAnimator for one reason or another to composite together different types of elements. One great thing about both of those programs is that they can use the After Effects camera, so everything stays together in the same 3D space. I also like to use Zaxwerks 3D Flag, and 3D Serpentine in this way too, mixing them in with the scene.

Another great feature of both ProAnimator and Invigorator is that they can import 3D files, like obj and 3ds files, so if you need to bring an airplane into After Effects, you don’t have to have Element. You can do it with Zaxwerks too, making either ProAnimator or Invigorator kind of an all-in-one solution.

I’m glad you were able to check out a Zaxwerks demo, and have found it easy to use. They really do make it easy to dive into 3D without knowing anything about 3D to begin with.

For what it’s worth, I would recommend ProAnimator over Invigorator in the long run, I use ProAnimator for all my heavy lifting. Edward’s right, there is a little bit more of a learning curve with ProAnimator, but that only applies to the timeline. Everything else is very easy to pick up right away. The only thing about the timeline is shifting how you think just a little bit, but not drastically. It uses poses instead of keyframes, but you can think of a pose as kind of a container for a whole bunch of keyframes.

Basically, you get your object where you want it in one pose by using the position, rotation, and scale controls. What you’ve done is essentially set keyframes for all of those properties all at once. Then you move down the timeline, and double click to add another pose. Now you move your object to where you want it to be. All the parameters you change are held in that pose, once again kind of like setting a whole bunch of keyframes, but it does it automatically. And now you have your animation.

At the base level, that’s all you have to do. You can end up doing a lot more with your animation by using the controls that are in the transition that is created between the two poses, and with the controls inside of the poses themselves, but you don’t have to. If you want it to stay simple, keep it simple. And you are in complete control of how long an animation is by dragging the poses back and forth. It’s just like moving After Effects keyframes around except you don’t have to select a whole bunch of them, it’s just one pose.

There are some presets that you can choose if you want, but you don’t have to use those. Personally, I always create my animations from scratch.

And, yes, this is all done inside of the ProAnimator interface. But there are a couple of things you can do in After Effects. I already mentioned using the After Effects camera. But you can also link tracks in ProAnimator to an After Effects null (or other layer).

Definitely check out the tutorials. Zax and Alex have put out a bunch of good ones lately that explain the basics very well.

You can’t go wrong by choosing either Invigorator or ProAnimator. But as you get more comfortable with things, ProAnimator will give you more options for different kinds of animations. Some of which are very cool. Did I mention fragmentation? 😉

Good luck, and have fun!

Brent

[Chris Bobotis]

Thanks Anastacia,

Thanks for the kind words and I am intrigued to see what you are doing with Invigorator/Pro animator. Please post samples images here when you can.

Cheers,
Chris
mettle.com

[Anastacia Tohill]

Hi Chris

I did not know I could post sample images. Unfortunately I can’t really at the moment as I am working on my animation which will hopefully be finished in 2016 so I can’t show anything online until the film comes out. I am doing a stop motion and 2D animation film so quite a lot of work ahead of me. Thanks Chris will be in touch. Anastacia

[Anastacia Tohill]

Hi Brent

Thanks for you message and useful information.

I think Zaxwerks is great for someone like me who has never done 3D before and just starting out. As I said before it has opened up a whole new exciting world for me.

I started using the CS6 extrude feature and was amazed but it is quite slow and then I could not find a way of mapping a texture onto my object and I found it limiting. It is Ok for simple shapes and text but then I am not an expert. I then decided to look at plug-ins so I was quite pleased to discover so many plugins out there, thank goodness there are people who make this software. I have also bought several plug-ins from aescripts and aeplugins which is great and they are quite cheap as well.

At the same time I discovered Freeform Pro as I am following quite a big tutorial by Dan Giles on how to create a 2.5D character using scripting in AE and the puppet tool and Freeform Pro . I have mainly be concentrating on the face and I am soon to try the Freeform Pro part of the tutorial so will post what I have found. I have never done scripting and although it is hard even I have managed to get it to work, well sort of. Dan Giles makes it look so simple. I have never done scripting either in AE.

It is also good to know that these plug-ins work well together but unfortunately I can’t afford to buy them all but who knows in the future if I get into it I may well do.

That is something that I am keen to have – being able to animate everything in the same 3D space but within the AE timeline as I know how to use it which is why I am not sure about ProAnimator but I am still going through the tutorials so will post what I have decided to buy once I have done that. I think poses sound good but not sure how much you can customise them and as I am animating the scene in After Effects including characters etc I am not sure how that will work for me at the moment. I like the idea of creating the 3D object and then being able to bring it into the AE timeline where I have animated the rest of the scene. It is quite a long animation I am doing for the 2D part of the film – around 5mins. If ProAnimator could do both then I would buy it as you have the best of both worlds. You did mention that you can create a null to control it so I will try that as well. It is important to me to be able to control everything so you can animate it exactly how you want it.

Thanks for explaining the poses, it does sound very good so will have a play and let you all know what I think. As long as I can put it back into the AE timeline to incorporate it in the rest of the animation then that would be fine. And that sounds good about fragmentation. I want the glass to separate and break/shatter but not sure how to do that yet just pleased I have managed to do the frame.

I would be interested in seeing some of your work on how you combine Zaxwerks and Element to use the camera and keep everything in the same 3D space. Have you done an online tutorial of this? I have not looked at Zaxwerks flag or serpentine but will do. Just thought do they do add on texture materials you can buy for Invigorator and ProAnimator?

Thanks Brent and will let you know how I get on.
Anastacia