Police & Fire department badges in Zaxwerks

[Steven Wills]

Sorry, here’s the link to the logos.
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/334/2928

(admin: This may be in the wrong location. Feel free to move it as needed).

[Fernando Mol]

You may want to watch this tut.

https://zaxwerks.com/training/?p=468

I hope this helps

[Edward Wu]

Hi Steven,

For the 3 badges, here’s what I recommend.

In Illustrator, draw just the outline of the Police Badge, the Fire Department logo, and the EMS logo. If you try to create the 3 badges using the hundreds of outlines that are on the layer, it would be impossible to work with. So, with just the outline of the logos, you can apply the texture map onto the logo shape.

After drawing the outline of the logos, crop each badge with no margins. Then save each image as an image to apply as a texture map.

Hope this helps. If you’re still having issues, please let me know and I’ll help you out.

Best,
Edward

[Steven Wills]

Thank you both for the valuable input.
It’s coming along and I’m re-grouping all 299 layers (of just the Police badge), into about 15 separate groups in A.I. and it imported well into ZW it seems. Part of the problem was (is) getting the “groups” to stay together in ZW…I’m still working on that part.

After speaking to the designer of the AI file, she said she could have made my life a whole lot easier if
she had known what I was attempting, but we’re past that part now. Each part (line) was hand drawn, and looks great for her print purposes, but as you well know, that doesn’t translate well sometimes to Zaxwerks.

ZW has always been a tremendous program for my simple needs, but now I’m taking the plunge into much deeper water, and sometimes integrating Zaxwerks and Ai, with After Effects can be a daunting task, but well worth the time spent.

I was a little panicked (ok, a lot) when I posted yesterday, but once you break it down to the elements you need, it becomes much more manageable.

I’ll keep you up to date on the progress…and thanks for the assist.

[Edward Wu]

You’re welcome.

If what you are doing is very time consuming, try my suggestion of just tracing the Police Badge. Using the Pen Tool, you should be able to trace the outline of the Badge. You can just copy and paste the outline of the Badge into a new Illustrator file once you are finished, and import that shape into ProAnimator. You didn’t mention which program you were using specifically, but based on your description, it seems like you are using ProAnimator as a standalone.

If you are using ProAnimator, to keep the shapes together, select a Transition, and under “Transition Grouping”, select the command “Make Hard Group”. This will force all the objects to stick together, and you should have no further issues with your objects falling apart.

Let me know if you’re still running into any issues, and I’ll do my best to assist.

Best,
Edward

[Steven Wills]

Yes, I’m using ProAnimator as a standalone.

I haven’t gotten to the animation part yet since I’m still trying to keep my groups like the leaves (about 150 parts), eagle and sunburst layers etc together (but on separated layers). Right now I’m trying to move (separate) them in “z” space so I can see and identify all the elements, and give each one the details needed. Even after grouping in AI, I still have 299 elements in ZW though. My thinking is I may need to group just the parts I need in AI, then delete the others, and save them individually, and then import them into ZW. Then do it all over again with the other parts.

Since this will probably animate in from z space, I will need the layers to fly “in” by layer, so they can fly in one after the other (ie, building the badge from the back to the front). I doubt that part will be very difficult.

It’s a very enlightening experience to take this on, but the only way to the top of the mountain, is to press on. Thank goodness I have plenty of time to make this…and I know it will make me a better animator for sure. Adding bevels and color etc is not a problem at all, Zaxwerks makes it very easy.
“I” just need to spend more time learning the program but in “this” area, very few even know of the program, so there is no help locally available, but it’s good to know a life raft is nearby. Thank you.

[Fernando Mol]

A tip to simplify complex drawings in Illustrator is this:

Select the object you want to simplify (a logo)

Go to the menu >Object >Rasterize

Then, with the rasterized artwork selected, choose from the toolbar “Live Trace”.

Experiment with the options until you got the look and quality you need.

Then, click the Expand button.

This is not a bulletproof technique and it works better with big objects, so you may need to do this separately for each logo.

I hope this helps

[Edward Wu]

I see. If that’s the case, then perhaps you create the sections where you want to pop such as the two banners and the circle with the star. This way, you would have a few sections of the badge pop, and you wouldn’t need to work with 150 layers. However, if you are going to work with all the pieces of the project, it’s best to isolate the objects into different layers. For example, one layer may contain the leaves, one layer contains the eagle, another contains the top banner, bottom banner, etc.

This way, you still have all the elements of your project, and ProAnimator should be able to handle the shapes if you don’t have any overlapping shapes in one layer. Keep in mind that all the paths still need to be closed paths though.

You’re welcome, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Best,
Edward

[Steven Wills]

Nice shortcut, and I see where it would work with larger objects….it didn’t quite come out right, but I’m sure it’s me being impatience. I will keep it in mind from now on. Actually, this is beginning to become somewhat fun. I’ll experiment with a few other tests soon to see how I can improve the look.
Thanks!

[Steven Wills]

…”it’s best to isolate the objects into different layers. For example, one layer may contain the leaves, one layer contains the eagle, another contains the top banner, bottom banner, etc….”

That’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish, although I’m having some difficulty getting just the “leaves”
section to come in “together” in ZW…then just the star, then the circle etc. I have been only working on one (enlarged) logo at a time to simplify things, and I believe it’s the way I’m grouping them in AI (before sending it to ZW) that may be the key to my “layers” problem in ZW. I”m not sure.

So now that I’m beginning to understand this better, I think I should re-start from the beginning (tomorrow) and apply all that I have learned from (all of) you, and it might make this learning curve a lot less steep. I apologize for taking too much of your time, all of you have been more than gracious and kind.

Thank you. I’ll keep you apprised.