[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Jen,

You can create paths in Photoshop, then export them in AI format. However, it’s no where near as flexible or powerful as doing it in Illustrator. If your artwork is the least big complex, you’ll want Illustrator’s full range of vector tools.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi shogun,

custom edges are often applied to a very small filled circle you create in an Illustrator document. Make it very small.

Bring that circle into Invigorator and apply the custom edge to it.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Scott,

The short answer is yes and no.

The only animatable deformation in Invigorator is adjusting Z scale. You can accomplish shearing by doing one of the following:

1) Apply a deformation effect to the Invigorator layer or a pre-rendered movie. This option may not work depending on what you have the 3D sets doing.

2) Use layer cycling to deform the objects over time. This is a very powerful option. Essentially you use Illustrator’s sheer and tweening tools to create a multilayered Illustrator doc, with each layer being a frame of animation or state of deformation of the object.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Pixeleyed,

Which default texture are you using?

I would check several things:

First, be sure you’re using the latest version. This may be a bug corrected long ago.

Second – check the Illustrator doc to be sure you don’t have odd points or duplicate shapes in the same artwork. You might be seeing overlap in Invigorator from two objects in the same space.

If that’s not it, look to see whether the point near the problem area looks normal… sometimes control handles can be flipped and that can mess up the geometry.

If the Illustrator art checks out, you may want to try playing with the geometry in Invigorator. You can use the meshing controls to build a very tight mesh and adjust the hard shading angle if there’s still an issue. There’s a chance this may help, but I wouldn’t think so.

If you want to send the name of the material you’re using and the Illustrator art, I’ll see if I can replicate the problem. jokerstrom1 (at) mac.com

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

I’m not sure what you mean by raggedy edges… feel free to post an image to this thread or email one to me… jokerstrom1 (at) mac.com.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Ed,

Try the spikebuster controls. The slider can get rid of the spikes that sometimes happen at sharp corners or where you bezier controlers on a point are flipped around in your Illustrator document.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Td,

Glad you figured it out. One other trick: Apply a stroke to any open path then use the Outline Path command to turn the open path into a closed path that looks like a stroked open path.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Tom,

My guess is that your paths are not closed and Invigorator is closing them at each end. There may also be a problem if you have not created compound paths to create the “holes” in the filmstrip. Send the file to me if you want…

jokerstrom1 (at) mac.com

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi SA,

The short answer is no. That kind of animating requires parenting, inverse kinematics and other features you’ll find in apps like Lightwave, Maya, Cinema, ElectricImage, etc.

Invigorator and ProAnimator are designed for other kinds of 3D animation – specifically logo and type animation. Of course that’s just the beginning, but as always, choose the best tool for the job. No one tool will be the best for every job.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi jonereb,

Make sure you’re using the latest version of Invigorator – check http://www.zaxwerks.com. Do convert any text in the graphic to outlines, do uncheck the “use compression” box when you save the file. Do save it as Illustrator, not eps. Do not use bit-mapped based effects like blends in the art.

Does this help?

Jon