Which 3D FX/Tools?

[Joseph W. bourke]

It depends on what you want for a learning curve. 3D Plugins for AE have the shortest curve, and you would want to consider Element 3D, a brand new release from VideoCopilot, as well as Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro. I don’t know anything about the Boris product, but I assume that it also has some 3D extrusion capabilities within AE.

Now you really hit the learning curve! I’ve been a 3DS Max user for upwards of 10 years, and I’m lucky if I know 30 percent of the features. That said, it has incredible depth and capabilities. If you want to dip your toes in the waters of full 3D packages, you can get Blender for free, although I find the interface pretty arcane and non-intuitive. But the same could be said for Max I suppose, to the new user. There’s also Cinema 4D, used a lot in the broadcast world for flying titles and such – I find it to be not as high quality looking as Max, but it’s probably because many of the users are under tight deadlines, and don’t use it to its full extent. It gets used a lot in multi-layer composites.

If you really want to scratch your head, look at what gets listed in Wikipedia for 3D packages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_computer_graphics_software

But I would say that Max, Maya, and Softimage are the big three as far as capabilities go.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Paul Slemmer]

The simplest, (cheapest?), and definitely fastest option is Video Copilot’s Element 3D plugin. Unlike rest of your options (except maybe Boris,) it’s a completely OpenGL based approach. Bottom line, your 10 second logo animations will basically render in real time with the graphics card you’ve listed. Because it’s not a raytracer, there are some inaccuracies (particularly in reflections and refractions,) but for what you’re doing, I think it’s the perfect fit. I’m definitely not a fan of the images I’ve seen come out of other 3D plugins, including the ones you mentioned. The results people have been getting in the one week Element speak for themselves.

If you are looking to leave AE, I’d probably head for C4D if it’s graphics you’re after. Its philosophy is very procedural, it’s well known for stylized 3D animation, and, from what I can tell, it plays nicer with After Effects. I haven’t taught myself yet, but as a motion designer, I wouldn’t look to anything else. Unless…

I’d also consider Modo… I’ve seen nothing but mindblowingly good things come out of it and it’s shaping up to be a killer all-in-one. Might as well learn modern software, right?

Paul Slemmer
Motion Designer, VeracityColab
pslemmer@veracitycolab.com | http://www.VeracityColab.com

[John Cuevas]

The products from Mettle.com are pretty really cool and add a ton of flexibility & versatility to AE.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[Chris Bobotis]

Thanks for the kind words John and thanks to all of our customers that have made our products such a great success 🙂 We have some pretty amazing things in store for the future, stay tuned.

Cheers,
Chris
mettle.com

[Stephen Smith]

The small amount that I’ve seen about VideoCopilot’s Element 3D looks amazing. Has anyone used it yet? I use Zaxwerks to do 3D logos for clients. Can you bring in a layered Illustrator file or something to create a 3D logo?

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

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[Tom Daigon]

Yes, lots 😀

I use autotrace on jpg and other files to prep them for use in Element.

Check out his Bio-hazard tutorial to see just how versatile and powerful it is.

The only thing it doesnt have is Proanimators sophisticated ability to animate.

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64gigs ram
Caligit HD Pro 2 16TB.

[Stephen Smith]

I’m not a big fan of using Zaxwerks animations abilities. You are getting me way excited about this plug-in. I’m a big fan of Optical Flares.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Vimeo page

[Tom Daigon]

I find Proanimator exceptional for text and logo animation, but Invigorator is awful. Proanimtors “Pose” GUI is genius to me.

In my experience Elements text animating capabilities are extremely limited. Beautiful, but limited.

I think another strength is the ability to import 3D models into AE . Its just allows more creative opportunities.

And its GUI is just as thorough and beautiful as Optical Flares.

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64gigs ram
Caligit HD Pro 2 16TB.

[Walter Soyka]

Just about all these products offer free time-limited or watermarked-output trials. You can take them all for a spin and see which one works best for you.

Personally, I don’t think there’s one right answer. Each one of these tools makes different things easy and different things hard relative to the others. Being comfortable with more than one will ultimately let you turn out better, more varied work more quickly.

I own licenses for Invigorator, Mettle, BCC, and now Element. I use all of them (except BCC 3D Objects) pretty regularly.

However, there are some things that are just impractical to do in 3D with After Effects and piles of plugins, and that’s where full-blown 3D applications come in. C4D has a long history of easy After Effects integration, and it’s a very common pathway for AE artists, but 3ds Max added really nice-looking bi-directional interoperability via state sets with Max and AE. I’ve been using C4D for six years, and I’m thinking about learning 3ds Max now as well.

CINEMA 4D has several strengths that make it particularly good for advanced 3D motion graphics. It’s widely regarded as the easiest to learn of the major 3D packages, though I would still caution you that 3D in general has a pretty steep learning curve. C4D has a nice parametric workflow (premature polygonization is the root of all evil), and it has a great built-in toolset called MoGraph which allows you to easily create and manipulate clones of objects. MoGraph works well with the dynamics system, too, allowing you to create complex animations with minimal keyframing.

Joe’s criticism of C4D’s plastic-looking renders is clearly valid, but the last couple releases have improved the renderer quite a bit — particularly global illumination. C4D’s materials system is pretty paleolithic, but with some experience and render time, you can get very nice renders out of C4D.

One other option is Blender, an open-source 3D modeling, animation, and rendering application. Personally, I find the interface inscrutable — it doesn’t feel like any other app I’ve ever used — but it is free, people are doing great work with it, and even if you choose to learn another package later, the general 3D knowledge you gain working with Blender will transfer (even if the UI behavior will not).

If I have done my job correctly, you should now have more questions than answers. If you want to fly some text around, you can start with Element, ShapeShifter AE, or Invigorator — but as you use them more seriously, you’ll naturally start branching out.

Good luck — and have fun!

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Stephen Smith] “Can you bring in a layered Illustrator file or something to create a 3D logo?”

Element doesn’t import vector art, but it can access masks. AE CS6 has a new feature which allows you to convert vector layers to shape layers, and then in turn you can copy paths from shape layers onto masks on solids. A bit of a detour, and the layers will be a hassle, but it could work to get Illustrator art into Element.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events