Edward Wu
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Lucia,
You’re welcome. From what I heard, I believe the next version will address that…. and much much more. 🙂
Stay tuned.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Fred,
Are you getting the “unable to allocate image buffer” error message at the end of the render, or is it happening right when you hit the Render button?
If you submit a screenshot of the error message and also your After Effects scene (minus the footages), I can take a look at your setup and see what you might be running into.
My e-mail address is ed@zaxwerks.com
Best,
Edward -
Hi Gregory,
To map a movie to your 3D Invigorator objects, you will have to use the “Layer Map” feature.
To do this, first import your movie into After Effects. Then, drag the movie clip onto your timeline, and hide the layer. Select the layer that you have 3D Invigorator applied to, then in the Effect Controls panel, find Layer Maps, and select the movie clip for Layer Map 1.
To create a material with the Layer Map, click the little red ball to enter the 3D Invigorator interface. Then go to the Materials tab, and next to the texture map grey box, you will see a pulldown menu with a “-“. Click on the pulldown menu, and you will be able to designate the layer map to the material. Now you can apply your material to your object. When using a layer map, you won’t be able to see what the movie looks like in the 3D Invigorator interface. However, once you go back to the After Effects composition, you will be able to see the movie applied to your object.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Fred,
Motion Blur is determined by the Solid that you applied ProAnimator on. If you set the Solid to enable Motion Blur, then your ProAnimator objects will have motion blur applied to them.
In terms of your ProAnimator Solids, they should be 2D Layers. The Solid should be comp sized, and kept as a 2D layer. Set your animation in the ProAnimator interface, and it will be placed in your After Effects composition.
Hope this helps your setup.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Fred,
The OpenGL renderer is the high speed renderer, but does not render shadows, transparencies, bump maps, or final quality antialiasing. The Invigorator renderer is the final quality renderer, so when you are rendering your project for the final output, always leave it as the Invigorator renderer.
You didn’t mention what was the resolution for your project, but if your project is HD quality, or contains motion blur, then the render time for your project seems reasonable. Your project is currently rendering at about 6 seconds per frame, so if you have motion blur applied, then it will add multiple passes per frame, which will explain the longer rendering time.
a. In the ProAn app, should I make sure the pose is only as long as it will be visible? even if it is not moving after some point?
The pose shouldn’t add to the rendering time if you made your object fade off at a certain point. If the objects stayed on screen but are covered by other objects, then consider removing your objects.
b. Should I make sure the containing solid in AE is trimmed to start and end corresponding with the required visibility of the scene item?
You don’t necessarily have to trim the solid to correspond with the visibility. If the objects are not visible, then they should not add to the rendering time of your objects.
To reduce the render time for your project, look at your project setting and check to see if you are using motion blur, or also have shadow casting for your lights. These settings can add significant render times to your project.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Mike,
Good to hear that it’s worked out for you.
You’re welcome and thanks for the update!
Best,
Edward -
Hi Lucia,
About having to apply a second texture map for the sides, unfortunately, in a case like this, you will need to have a separate map whether it be through a pre-comp or just an image file. I personally can’t think of a different workaround to achieve the effect that you’re looking for, but it’s possible that another user might have the solution that you’re looking for.
As for applying one material to multiple objects, I think I misunderstood you, sorry. I thought you meant something in the lines of dragging and dropping one material onto multiple objects at a time, instead of having to drag and drop the material over and over for each object. To achieve this effect, group your text together inside of Illustrator.
When you group your text together in Illustrator, it forces ProAnimator to recognize the multiple objects as one object, and you will be able to “spread” that one texture map onto multiple objects.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Lucia,
ProAnimator allows you to apply texture maps on the front, back, side, and hole edges. The front and back sides are simply mapped flat, while the side edges are mapped with the material “wrapped” across the sides. While it’s possible to get the look that you’re going for, it does take a bit of work to figure out how to apply the texture map onto the surface, so that it wraps correctly. Below are pictures of different letters.
This is the example look that you had. As mentioned earlier, if you were to go for this type of look, you would have to figure out what the sides look like so you can create a texture map for the side of the object. You will need a separate texture map for the front and the sides, and assign each texture map to the appropriate side of the object.
This is how the texture map usually gets applied onto the sides. The material gets wrapped around the object while you get a clean surface for the face of the letter. It still looks like the letter is sculpted from one material, but the “cookie cutter” is cut from the top instead of from the front.
Likewise, in this setup, you will need the original material for the side, and a one color texture map for the front face.
This setup is similar to the 3D Extruder Custom Effect look that you had. You apply the multicolor gradient on the front face, and a solid color on the side of the object.
Here are the answers to your other questions:
1) To apply a single texture map to multiple objects/faces, be sure to select all the objects and drag and drop the material onto one object. When multiple objects are selected, they will all be mapped with the same texture map that was applied.2) To apply different texture maps to the front and sides of your object, click the Material Setup button, and you will be able to see the edge profile of your object. In the edge profile, you can assign different materials to different faces, as well as assign profile splits to the sides.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Mike,
Good assessment. You’re right. I had forgotten that with Quicktime 7.6, movies that are rendered out are interpreted with “Separating (Lower)” when brought into After Effects. Therefore, in After Effects, select the footage, then go to File > Interpret Footage > Separate Fields > Off.
Hopefully this helps. Thanks for providing the detailed information.
Best,
Edward -
Hi Mike,
it sounds like you’re exporting the movie from ProAnimator as a standalone. Here are the settings you can check to make sure you have smooth edges in your graphics.
Make sure that you have AntiAlias set at 3×3 or above. If you do not have AntiAlias set, then you will have jagged edges around your objects. In addition, the Object Faceting settings also play a part in your rendering. The Draft Object Faceting setting determines how your objects look inside the preview window. The Draft Object Faceting setting should be set to “3” most of the time so that while your objects may look “rough” in the preview window, the program will perform faster as well. The Final/Best Object Faceting value determines the object smoothness when you render out your scene. The lower the value, the smoother the edges are. You can set the Final/Best Object Faceting to a value of “0.5” or “0.1”. This will make the edges smooth for your objects when you are performing the render.
Also, make sure that you have the same project settings for both projects. They should have the same dimensions as well as the same pixel aspect ratios.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Edward