[Edward Wu]

Hi Jake,

I checked your records and you will be eligible for the free upgrades when we release our updates.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ben,

Sorry to hear about the disappointment that you ran into when you tried to run your plug-ins inside of CS5. Would you mind letting me know whom the software is registered under? Once we have the purchase information, I can see what we can do for you.

If you’d like, you can e-mail me at ed@zaxwerks.com and we can discuss this through e-mail.

In the mean time, if your company has purchased the CS4 suite, you can use the plug-ins within After Effects CS4 or use ProAnimator as a standalone and export your movies with an alpha channel. Then, you can import your movies into After Effects CS5.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ben,

Sorry to hear about the disappointment that you ran into when you tried to run your plug-ins inside of CS5. Would you mind letting me know whom the software is registered under? Once we have the purchase information, I can see what we can do for you.

If you’d like, you can e-mail me at ed@zaxwerks.com and we can discuss this through e-mail.

In the mean time, if your company has purchased the CS4 suite, you can use the plug-ins within After Effects CS4 or use ProAnimator as a standalone and export your movies with an alpha channel. Then, you can import your movies into After Effects CS5.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Mark,

3D Serpentine is not compatible with After Effects CS5 at the moment. We are currently upgrading our plug-ins so that they are 64-bit compatible. We are expecting the updates to be completed by the end of Summer.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Jeff,

The best way to copy or duplicate a pose/animation is to select the pose you want to copy, then go to the Object Animations menu and select “Save Preset”. Then, choose to save only the selected segments. Then, go to where you want to paste the pose/animation on the timeline, and select “Append Preset” from the Object Animations menu, This will paste the selected segments into your timeline. You can use this same technique to copy and paste poses/animations from one track to another.

To set up the camera so that it faces your text head on, go to “Camera Mode”, and in the “Views” drop down menu, select “Front”. This will have your camera facing your text directly. You can then go to another camera pose and pull the camera out. That will then create the camera roll animation that you are looking for.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi John,

Right, you need to create closed paths. An open path with just an arc will not work.

To turn on Outline mode, press “Command/Control + Y”. Using this command lets you toggle between Outline and Preview mode.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Rick,

1) Like Scott mentioned, you are running into an issue with undocked panels conflicting with the ProAnimator interface windows. Dock all your panels with After Effects, and you won’t run into the issue anymore.

2) When importing the Illustrator file, check the “Move to Center” option.

Also, check the Object List to see if the objects have been imported into ProAnimator. You can see this in Object Mode by opening the Object drop down menu. If you can see objects in the Object drop down menu, but not in the scene preview, it means you are running with really long spikes. To fix this, use the Select All command, and go to the Object tab. Next, go to SpikeBuster and increase the value to “110”. This will remove all the spikes. Then, go to “Camera Mode”, and under “View”, select “Fit All”. This should fit all your objects into the preview window.

If you’re still having problems, please let me know.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Scott,

What you’re running into is that all the shapes are in one layer, so the program interprets this as you wanting to perform a cut out on the shapes. This is why you end up getting a rectangle with the state punched out. To fix this, take each element of your logo, and place them into a separate layer in Illustrator and re-save the Illustrator project. Then, when you import the Illustrator file, each layer will become a different object.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi John,

You are probably running into a spike issue. To fix this go to the Object tab, and increase the value of SpikeBuster. You can turn the value up to 110 if it helps remove the spikes.

If SpikeBuster does not fix this issue, please check your Illustrator file to see that you do not have any invisible paths. To check for this, go to Outline mode and check for any extra outlines that you may have, and remove them. You can switch back to the Preview mode after you remove any extra paths you have in the project. Also, be sure to close any paths you have in the project. If there are any unclosed paths, this may cause spikes to appear.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ron,

To use objects from other 3D programs, first import them into ProModeler/ProAnimator/3D Invigorator. Then, align the object properly, and export the model as a “.zxo” file. Next, place the .zxo file into the “Documents > Zaxwerks > 3D Serpentine AE > End Caps” folder. Afterwards, you will be able to apply the object as a head or tail end cap.

Best,
Edward