[Edward Wu]

Hi Aqeel,

What you’re running into is that 3D Serpentine and 3D Invigorator uses different 3D space. This is why even though your 3D Serpentine object flies behind the 3D Invigorator object, the object still shows up in front of the 3D Invigorator object. This is determined by the After Effects layering hierarchy. So, to have the effect that your 3D Serpentine object is flying behind your 3D Invigorator object, you will need to use some masking for the 3D Invigorator object.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Christina,

Sounds like you’re having success with the .3ds version when you are able to see the objects in the Object List. What is happening is that the objects are huge, so the camera is zoomed way out in order to try to fit everything. In the process, the objects/camera probably end up outside the clipping range. To see the objects, you can do one of the following:

Select one of the objects from the Object List, and go to the Views pulldown menu, and select “Fit Selected”. This will take the camera and place it in front of the selected objects. The other option is to scale the objects down so you will be able to see them. When importing the objects, you will see the setting “Scale”. Enter 10 to scale the objects to 10%, and you should be able to see all the imported objects.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Mark,

I don’t know of any specific formula unfortunately. You can probably get the best results for a specific project through trial and error since it’s all based on how fast your animation plays out. If your animation is very fast, you can consider increasing the angle to 220 for example, as well as increasing the Motion Blur passes to 8. If your animation is really slow and you lower the shutter angle to 50, then you may want to keep the Motion Blur passes at 4, or lower the passes to 2. it all depends on your animation, and whether the results go with the look that you’re going for.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Mike,

Glad Serge was able to help you with the animation.

As for the CS5 Compatibility, we’re still working on the conversion. We’re ironing out all the issues for the next versions of 3D Invigorator and ProAnimator to make sure it works super smooth, so it’s taking a good amount of time. Once we make everything the best we can get it to, we’ll definitely release the newest versions.

We appreciate your patience. Sorry for any inconveniences in the mean time!

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Stephen,

Unfortunately, there are no ways to move the ProAnimator camera numerically. The only way to move the ProAnimator camera around is using the Camera Manipulation tools.

You can move Objects numerically by clicking the objects, and changing the “Move X,Y,Z” settings to move your objects. Or, you can click on the Object and go to the Stats button to type in specific values for the Object Position, but there isn’t a way currently to change the Camera Positions numerically.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Mark,

The Motion Blur and Shutter Angle all depends on the animation. If your animation is very fast, you will need to increase the number of passes for your Motion Blur to make your animation look smooth. The Shutter Angle controls how long the Motion Blur is. If you increase the Angle, the Blur will last longer as well. So, if you increase the Shutter Angle, be sure to increase the number of passes as well to make the blur appear smooth.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Stephen,

What you’re running into is that you’ve created a Camera Track and is currently selecting the Camera Track. This is why the Pose/Transition Controls are gone, and replaced with the message that you are currently seeing.

To get the Pose/Transition controls back, select the Object Track you want to edit, and click on the Pose or Transition.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Stephen,

If you want to combine the objects from two Object Tracks together, select the objects from one Object Track. Next, go into the Track Commands menu, and select “Move Selected Objects to Track”. Then select the Object Track you want to move into and your objects will be placed into the selected Object Track.

If you want to combine two animations together, you can go to one Object Track, and save the animation as a Object Animation preset. Then, go to the other Object Track, and under Object Animations, select “Append Preset”.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

The max camera distance is 30,000 units (which is the same distance as the After Effects cameras), so that’s probably why you are not seeing a difference when you set the units to 100,000 units.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Nico,

For the file extension, add “.zxp” which stands for Zaxwerks Project.

Best,
Edward