[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Russ,

It’s a challenge…

One way that works – sort of – is to create a square in Illustrator with bevels already cut into the corners. Use the same bevel in the modeler to get bevels next to the faces. You will get bevels on all four sides – even though the intersection won’t be exactly what you expect.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Adding to what Topher said,

The key is to remember that Invigorator’s 3D space is NOT the same 3D space created within After Effects. When you check “use comp camera,” you’re essentially linking what the Comp Camera does in the AE 3D world with the camera that’s in Invigorator’s 3D world. The illusion that the stuff on your AE 3D layer is in the same space where the Invigorator stuff is located, works most of the time.

You should normally leave the AE layer to which you’ve applied Invigorator as a 2D layer for the reason stated above.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Russ,

You might consider the following:

You might try making a precomp in the same aspect ratio as the cube face and placing the text in that precomp. Changing the size and position of the text while leaving the dimensions of the precomp alone should give you limited control of how the reflection map appears.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Bill,

If I were doing it, I’d make the border of the film strip out of a compound Illustrator object and make each frame image separately.

Without seeing the project, I’d suggest checking the opacity channel for the material or layermap that’s being used to texture the frames.

Does this help? If not, give us more detail about what you’re looking at.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Nicely done, JD.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi John,

You can transfer 3d objects between Invigorator and ProAnimator by exporting the zxo format. Invigorator and ProAnimator can’t open eachother’s projects beyond that.

You should be able to create the same elements in the tutorial with ProAnimator, however. In both Invigorator and ProAnimator, the key thing is to establish a ground plane and keep the objects from crossing over onto the other side and intersecting with eachother.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Donovan,

Check out this tutorial:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/okerstrom_jon/layercycle.php

The concept is the same in Invigorator and in ProAnimator.

Think of it as an electronic version of cell animation – or flip book animation. The idea is that each layer of Illustrator is one frame of the animation. Create a series of Illustrator layers where the elements move or change shape and you can make them move or morph in 3D in ProAnimator.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Jay,

I’ve done that on occasion too. Movement as little as plus/minus 3 degrees is enough. Be sure to use ease to keep the motion smooth.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

The link goes to a sign-in page, not an object.

Perhaps the object is actually one mesh rather than parents and children? Without seeing it, it’s hard to tell.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Brandon,

You have lots of options. You’ll have the most flexibility using ProAnimator inside of After Effects. Doing so will allow you to use the layermap offset option you talked about. As a very easy alternative, you could also use the Werks from Zaxwerks to create a really cool gradient light sweeps, glints and glows. You didn’t say whether you have After Effects – but it really opens up lots of opportunities.

If you use ProAnimator as a stand alone app, you can also use a movie in the reflection map channel in the material editor. You can control when the effects move by changing the length of your movie.

One last option – maybe your video editing app has light sweep effects you could apply to the logo movie.

Does this help?

Jon