[Edward Wu]

Hi Gary,

ProAnimator version 3 is our earliest release and should be the version that is compatible with Mac OS 9.

If you are interested in downloading that version and trying it out on your system, please email me at ed@zaxwerks.com and I will send you the download link.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Tj,

Can you send your project file to me? My email address is ed@zaxwerks.com

Please let me know when this occurs and if possible, steps to reproduce the issue. If you do not have any steps, please let me know when you discover keyframes are being added. Are you finding them after coming out of the Set-Up window? Thanks.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Chris,

For your first question, ProAnimator Standalone should work without any problems on your current configuration. You can render the animation out as an image sequence or as a movie file and import the animation into After Effects or any other editing program you are using.

As for your second question, I’m afraid I won’t be able to provide much feedback for that because I don’t have all of those programs. However, if you have a computer that has all of those programs running, then ProAnimator fly on that machine.

P.S. If you’re interested in upgrading, you can still do so without a new machine since ProAnimator 7 will work on your current machine and can work as a standalone. You can still have the same workflow of rendering out your animation and importing the animation into After Effects or any other editing program. For $30 more, you can have both the Standalone Application as well as the After Effects Plug-in.

Hope this helps and good luck with your search for your new machine!

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Doug,

That’s great. Yeah, it’s always interesting to venture outside the box and use other programs to create the graphics. I’m glad you’re having fun using After Effects with Invigorator PRO as a combo.

For the Shadow Softness and a lot of other controls, you’re right that you can manually type in values that are higher or much higher than the slider bar allows. The slider bar was implemented to prevent users from running into slowdown if they drag values that are too high. So, any time you see a slider with a numeric field, you’ll be able to type into the field to enter your own values.

Have fun with the software.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Doug,

No worries. There are a lot of new lighting features in version 7, so that’s why some controls are different in version 7.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Douglas,

The Ambient Occlusion helps add a level of realism for your shadows but is not used as a main source of casting shadows. What Ambient Occlusion does is it darkens areas where objects are close to one another. To improve the quality of the Ambient Occlusion Shadows, you’ll want to switch the control from “Faster” to “More Accurate” in the Lighting Globals panel. In addition, increase the amount of rays and it will help soften the shadows. You’ll want to also lower the Ambient Distance and the Ambient Darkness so the shadow is more subtle.

To create lights that cast shadows, select a Light Set and set up a Parallel Light or a Spot Light. Then select the light and go in the Object Controls panel. Enable the Shadow Casting control. You will be able to adjust the Shadow Darkness and the Shadow Softness for the light. This will be the main source of light that casts shadows. To create a basic blurry light, simply increase the Shadow Softness value and the Shadow Map Size (located in the Lighting Globals panel) you will have a great looking shadow.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Wade,

Interesting, the OpenGL and Invigorator Renderer should yield the same results as the Ray Trance Renderer. The Ray Trace renderer does render slower and from your results, it seems like it rendered the animation at a rate of about 18 seconds per frame, which is not too bad depending on what you have in the scene. If you are using Motion Blur or Ray-Trace shadows, this may be why the rendering is taking longer. If you’re still having problems with OpenGL and Invigorator renderer issues, feel free to send me the project file and I can take a look at what is causing the issue for you.

You’re welcome and it’s great to hear that the tooltip post helped with your computer. It’s a conflict with certain Windows computers, but not all computers.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Wade,

Be sure to select the Flare layer and in the Animation Controls window, be sure the setting “Disappears Behind Objects” is checked. This way, the flare will not show up when it is behind another object.

If you’re still having problems even though that setting is turned on, please send the project file to me at ed@zaxwerks.com and I’ll take a look at what you are running into.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi John,

No, they are not the same plug-in.

Layer Tools was released many years back and is a layer manipulation tool for After Effects. There are three main features of Layer Tools. The first is a layer manipulator that allows you to manipulate multiple layers easily within After Effects. With the ability to save and load states, it’s easy to make layer adjustments. The second feature is the fit and face. You can take any layer and have the layer fit the camera, or have the camera fit the layer. Or, you can take any layer and instantly have it facing the camera. This makes it easy to adjust so you don’t have to tweak values so that it faces the camera perfectly. Lastly, the Z-Distribution tool lets you distribute multiple layers in Z-space. This lets you create cool effects where you can travel through hundreds of layers and see different changes in the pictures/layers.

For more information, you can visit the link below:

https://zaxwerks.com/layertools/index.shtml

Merry Christmas!
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Liam,

If you are wanting to punch a hole in the Lathe object (like cutting a shape and pasting in the lathe path in the drawing window), then there’s currently no way of doing that. However, if you are trying to create a hole like a donut, what you can do is pull the path away from the Y-Axis in the drawing window. By pulling the path away from the axis, it will create a hole in the center of the lathe object. The lathe object revolves around the Y-Axis, so if the path is not touching the Y-Axis, it will create a hole in the center.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward