[Edward Wu]

Hi Mike,

If the DVD object file that you downloaded includes a Reflectivity map, load it into the Reflectivity section and increase the Reflectivity section and it should work pretty well for you. If it doesn’t include a Reflectivity map, try looking for a texture map online to use for the Reflectivity. You may find free maps online that work well for what you’re trying to set up.

If you can’t find any maps online, try creating the reflectivity map in Photoshop. You can probably start with creating a radial gradient with creating white streaks going from the center of the circle and going out towards the edges of the disk. If you have a DVD laying around, you can pick it up and look at how the reflections are appearing. Then draw a similar shape using black and white areas in Photoshop. The image that you draw doesn’t have to be very complicated.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Robert,

Keep the ProAnimator Layer 2D. The ProAnimator plug-in should always be applied to a Color Solid that is Comp-Sized.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Robert,

With ProAnimator version 6, you’ll have the option to track your 3D Objects to any After Effects 3D Layer. You’ll be able to track your ProAnimator text to the After Effects layer that contains the tracking data (or any other 3D Layer) and the text will move along nicely. Along with Layer Tracking, we have also added our new Ray Tracer Renderer. With this, you’ll be able to create Ray-Traced Reflectivity, Shadows, Refraction and Ambient Occulusion. This will allow you to create reflective surfaces that reflect other objects, shadows that fade with distances, and highly realistic glass materials. In addition, with ProAnimator 6, you’ll be able to take any object or logo, and break them into little pieces. It’s going to be a very fun release.

We’re looking to release the plug-in early next week. Once the release is available, you’ll receive an e-mail notification.

In the mean time, with ProAnimator version 5, what you can do is first have the After Effects Comp Camera be tracking the footage. Then enable the option “Use Comp Camera” in the ProAnimator controls. By using the Comp Camera, your ProAnimator text will change in perspective with all the camera changes that it tracked to the footage.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

No problem at all. Thanks for the update and I’m glad to hear that everything is working for you now.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Carl,

Sorry for the delay. We’ve been hard at work for the release of ProAnimator and 3D Invigorator PRO version 6. We are very close to release and hope to have the release available by this week. We have been ironing out all the little issues to try to make the release extra smooth.

We’ll be sure to let you know when the product is released. Thanks so much for your patience and interest! We’re hoping you’ll be pleased with the results once it’s available.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Colin,

Try adding a Reflectivity Map. When you add a Reflectivity Map to an object, this makes the object reflective and will react intensive to lighting. With the right angle and lighting, it will really light up your object and may turn the object white from the lighting.

This should get the effect that you want on the object. Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Jessica,

Try re-downloading the product and re-installing the plug-in. Sometimes the download may be corrupted and cause the installation to not work properly.

Please use the download link below to re-install the plug-in:

3D Serpentine Mac Version Download Link
https://zaxwerks.com/downloads/3DSerpentine_AE_current_mac.zip

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Stefan,

To do this, you will need to import an Illustrator file into ProAnimator. For the Illustrator file, prepare each layer with the shape of the object. You will need to change the shape of the object in each layer. After setting up the Illustrator file, save the file with no compression.

Then, in ProAnimator, import the Illustrator file and be sure to enable the option “Open By Layers”. What this will do is it will create an object and each frame in ProAnimator will correspond to each layer in Illustrator. As you are playing the animation frame by frame, the ProAnimator object will change accordingly and create the “write on” effect that you’re looking for. So you can imagine this similar to artists drawing a different picture on each page and flipping through the pages quickly to create the effect of the animation.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Roger,

Like you mentioned, the advantages to working with 3D Text in After Effects is that you have the text directly in After Effects’ 3D Space. However, the disadvantage with working with the 3D in After Effects is that it is much slower to work with and it takes much longer to render than with the 3D Invigorator PRO plug-in.

Also as you mentioned, there are more controls for you to work with in 3D Invigorator PRO. So you can customize the bevel settings and apply realistic materials with bump or reflectivity maps and also have the option to deform (bend, fold, twist, etc) your text. In addition, if you create most of your layers in 3D Invigorator PRO, everything will in the same 3D space so you will not have to worry about the After Effects 3D Space. You will be able to use the Comp Camera as well, so anything you create fit with the camera movements in After Effects.

If you are interested in ProAnimator, will also be able to create your animations much quicker than with the use of our Animation Controls panel. All the animations are set up with slider bar controls and menu options. You also have the ability to work with Object and Camera animation presets. This lets you take any of the animation presets, and customize it for your project needs. The best part is that the play-back in ProAnimator is in real-time. So you will not need to worry about waiting for the RAM preview to see what your 3D animation looks like.

With ProAnimator Version 6, we will also add Ray Tracing, Object Fragmentation, Grid Shaders, Layer Tracking and more. This will let you create top of the line work, while taking a fraction of the time to set up.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Georgina,

Are you using 3D Invigorator PRO version 5.1.0? If not, be sure to download the latest version of the plug-in.

To download version 5.1.0, please visit our download page below:

https://zaxwerks.com/download/

If you are working with version 5.1.0 and still running into an issue with the Set, please send the project file to me at ed@zaxwerks.com. I’ll take a look at your project set-up and see what is causing the issue for you.

Best,
Edward