[Edward Wu]

Hi Cody,

When you apply a matte material onto an object, it doesn’t quite make the object transparent, but rather it’s as if you applied the background color/texture onto the object. So, in your scenario, if you apply the Matte material onto an object, it can mask out an object that is hiding behind it. As you move the object with the matte away, it will uncover the video for you.

Part of the confusion too is that the Matte coloring doesn’t show up in the ProAnimator interface unless you do a test render frame, or the real render. You will just see the object with a gray material applied. To do a test render, hold the control (command on Mac) key, and the “Render Movie” button will become a “Test” button. When you use a test render frame, you can see how the matte coloring works.

Hope this helps you out.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Foucault,

Here is one way you can do this inside of ProAnimator:

If you have all your objects together on one object track, you can spin the “disco” ball with the tweak tools (Selecting Object Mode, holding down the “ctrl” key, and using the Object Tumble tool) at the ending pose, while using the Animation window to apply your object animations (Move XYZ, etc). This way, as you are moving along in your timeline, your objects are moving because you set up your animation in the Animation window, and in addition, during the transition, the the disco ball will spin because you tweaked the ending position.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi John,

I see. I misunderstood. Serge put out a great tutorial that you can look at.

If you want to keep the letters in the same positions, here’s another take. Set up your characters, create the guide layer, and assign the “Track 3D Layer” for your sets. Adjust the “Position” value of the guide layer so that it’s in the same position as your character and draw your path. You’ll notice your letter change in position to correspond with the “Position” change. To fix this, click the little red ball to go back into the Invigorator Setup window, and reposition the letter into its original position. Click OK to go back to the After Effects. In the “Set” pulldown menu, select “Recenter Pivot”. Your letter should now move along with the guide layer.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Richard,

I believe what you’re running into is that you’ve moved the position of the guide layer so when you apply the guide to the Invigorator Set, it applies the position move from the guide layer to the “R”. If you reset the transform, you should be able to set the character back to its default position.

If you need the position the layer guide onto your object so change the anchor point value instead of the position.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Adeeb,

You can take a look at https://www.turbosquid.com

A lot of users get their 3D models from that web site.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ed,

What I would try then, is to take the font that you are using, and edit the outlines in Adobe Illustrator. Manually make the outlines as narrow as possible. You may need to play with this a little bit as I’m unsure how narrow you can make the outlines to be. The more narrow you make the edge, the “sharper” you’ll be able to make it. Keep in mind that the shape you create still needs to be a closed path though. You won’t be able to make 3D objects with just a line.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ed,

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Inside the “Object” tab, go to the “Edges” section and change the Outside Edges for the bevel into “Flare Straight”. You should be able to find “Flare, Straight” under the category “Special Purpose”.

This bevel type should be a preset that comes with the program. If you are still having any issues finding the bevel, let me know.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ed,

I’m not sure how sharp you want this bevel to become. However, using the bevel preset “Flare, Straight” and adjusting the Edge Scale and Edge Offset controls, you can get pretty good results. Here’s a screen shot of my set up.

In case the picture comes out small, the settings are:
Bevel: Flare, Stright
Edge Scale: 92
Edge Offset: -2
SpikeBuster: 15

The rest of the settings are default.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Edward

[Edward Wu]

Not a problem. Thanks for the update!

[Edward Wu]

Hi Ryan,

When you use the “Pathfinder > Subtract” tool to cut out a hole in the television, make sure you use the “Expand” command as well.

Once you use “Expand”, you should be able to see the cut out when you open the Illustrator Object in ProAnimator.

Best,
Edward