[Edward Wu]

Hi John,

Sure, it’s possible to create elevators, rudder and warping the wing. It just also depends on how complex you need the body of the plane to be. We are able to create complex shapes with lathe tools and our bevel objects. All of the lighting fixtures provided in version 7 were created using a combination of vector objects and lathe objects. So you should be able to make most of the pieces using these tools.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Austin,

No problem at all! Have fun with the project!

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Anastacia,

I’m happy to hear that you’re having a great time learning and using the software. Like you said, ProAnimator has an initial learning curve, but after learning the controls, it is very easy to set up 3D animations even if you had little or no 3D experience previously.

As Brent mentioned with tying in the 2D and 3D objects together, it may take a little playing around to get used to how things tie in together. If you are able to bring the 2D elements into the ProAnimator scene, that would make everything a lot easier for you as they would all be in the same 3D space. I’m not sure if this may be possible for you since I haven’t seen your project yet, but it may help with what you are doing. If you’re having any problems, please do not hesitate to send the project file to me. I’ll be happy to assist with your project any way that I can.

Have fun and we would love to see what you come up with in the end.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Austin,

For the warp you are trying to set up, you can consider exporting the warped object as a .obj model and be sure to bake the transformation. After doing this, re-import the object and the object will have the warp applied to it already. Then, you can parent the warped object to the parent track and it should work without any problems.

Hope this helps. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

For anyone interested in this topic, what helped Robert out the most was setting up the text inside ProAnimator so he can see where his text is in relations to the footage. To do this, we had to first set the ProAnimator layer to use the Comp Camera. Then, jot down the coordinates of the layer you are trying to match. Using Robert’s example project, the layer he was trying to match had position values of 959, 554, and -6773.5.

The most important value is the Z Position. If the Z Position is off, then the object will not match up with the camera at all.

Go into the ProAnimator Set-Up window, create the 3D Text and go into the Pose Controls. Then, set the Z value. Note that the Z value is -6773.5. However, in ProAnimator we will need to set the value 6773.5 instead of -6773.5. After doing this, the text will be sitting relatively close to the layer we are trying to track. Then, we just need to tweak the Y value to get the text to sit on the table.

This was a method that Robert liked because when using the Editor Background feature, it provides a nice visual cue as to where the text is sitting in regards to the footage. Hope this helps anyone who is working on tracking text/logos to a moving footage. Have fun!

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Hans,

At the moment, we do not support 16 bit images for our materials. What type of work are you doing? If it is not something that is really zoomed in or used at a really high resolution, then you may not need a texture map that is so large.

If you are just working with HD sized images where they are 1920 x 1080 sized, then you will not need such a high resolution such as 4000 x 4000. You may be able to just use a 1000 x 1000 sized image or a 2000 x 2000 sized image.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Craig,

It’s my pleasure! If you are still having problems just send the Illustrator file over to me at ed@zaxwerks.com and I’ll take a look at what you are running into.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Craig,

I wonder if you are just using an effect from Illustrator or if the paint splash you described was actually drawn from Illustrator. The first thing to check in Illustrator is to use the Cmd/Ctrl + Y command to go into Outline Mode. In Outline mode, you can see the paths/outlines that are drawn in Illustrator. If you can see the path/outline of your paint splash in Outline Mode, then the paths should import correctly into ProAnimator. If you are not seeing anything in Outline Mode, this means that you are using an effect from Illustrator and this is why nothing is showing up in ProAnimator.

Hope this helps. If you are still having problems, please send the Illustrator file to me so I can take a look at what you are running into. My email address is ed@zaxwerks.com

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for posting the video. I was able to take a look at it and see what you are running into. As Brent mentioned, there are two ways to go about this. You can go with either ways and it will get the look that you want.

The method that Brent mentioned lets you use parenting to quickly attach the text to the table that you are working with. However, the down side to working with this method is that when you are using external parenting, you do not see the results of where the object ends up position-wise. This can cause confusion and frustration as shown in your video since your text jumps in position and it can be hard to wrap your head around where the text is. One thing that I did notice in your video is that you were re-positioning your Null and applying rotation but not seeing the change in the After Effects Comp. Keep in mind that you have to click on the “Update Tracking” button when working with external trackers. Any time you make adjustments to the tracker layer you are working with, you will need to update the tracking. Once you click on the update button, your text will change in position. Then, as Brent mentioned, simply go into the ProAnimator Set-Up window and adjust the size to the Pose, such as increasing the scale to 1500% as Brent mentioned. This may help with what you are currently struggling with since you just need to change the position of the Null in the After Effects Comp, then change the size in the Set-Up window.

The second method is to simply set ProAnimator to use the Comp Camera. Then, go into the ProAnimator Set-Up window and make adjustments to the text. This method may be easier in some regards because the position/size/rotation of the text you see in ProAnimator is exactly what you see in the After Effects Comp. It may be much easier for you to set up the position/size/rotation of the text in ProAnimator since everything relates better to what you are seeing in the After Effects Comp. You may need to make a few adjustments to get the text to sit exactly where you need it to sit, but this may be a more visual approach to lining up the text since you are able to see all the adjustments line up exactly as you see in After Effects.

Hope this helps. If you’re still having problems, please send the project file to me at ed@zaxwerks.com. I’d love to guide you through the steps and get you up and running.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Thanks for the awesome information Brent! The example picture you provided is great as well!

Robert, Brent is spot on with creating the transparent plane using the Ray Trace Reflections and also creating a second shadow catcher plane for the shadows. His tip for using the tracking is very useful as well. It will prevent you from having to make a lot of adjustments. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Best,
Edward