[Jon Okerstrom]

One last thing.

The screen capture movie showed the long spike coming out of the bottom of the piano guy. This is caused, as I mentioned, by a very sharp corner in the art, where that spike comes from. You can fix it in Illustrator, or use the spikebuster slider in ProAnimator to fix it. Moving it up to 1 or 2 gets rid of the spike for me.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Thanks for the file.

Part of the problem with your illustrator art is that the piano guy has a large rectangular clipping path the same size as your document. You can’t have a clipping path and a compound path in the same object.

I removed that path, which will get rid of the extra shapes beyond the art. I also noticed you have a very sharp corner in this art, which may cause a long spike to grow out of the bottom of the art when you import it into ProAnimator. To fix that, simply use the spikebuster slider in ProAnimator.

You mentioned trying to convert artwork in the gif format, using Illustrator. Converting bit-mapped art like that into vector art is a pretty common task. You can use the auto trace function of Illustrator, but will often have to clean up the art. When you’re done with using the gif as a template, remove it from the file.

That way, ProAnimator has only the vector art to try to interpret.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi hahaiah,

I can give you some basic concepts.

Invigorator and ProAnmator need vector-based Illustrator art. Simple, filled solids created with shape tools, the pen tool or other tools work best. Any text you use in Illustrator must be converted to outlines for it to work.

If you have an open path (one where there is an open or unattached end), PA and Invig will try to close the path, often causing weird lines. If you have a stroked open path, you can use the path>outline function to make it into what Invig and PA like best… a closed, filled path.

If you have used gradient fills or any bit-mapped effects like drop shadows and gradients, those will not be useful to PA or Invigorator.

You CAN apply complex bit-mapped Illustrator art to the faces and edges of your objects, either by using the layer mapping technique or by converting the entire artwork to a bit-mapped file like a targa and applying it as part of a material you create.

There is a section in the documentation dealing with preparing Illustrator files. You might want to take a look at that.

Hope this helps.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Horizon,

Instead of Save As, Look for File>Export>Illustrator legacy. That will allow you to save Illustrator CS files in case you need to do that. I do a fair amount of work with screen printing companies and they like it that way.

If you’re working with ProAnimator 4, you don’t need to do that. Simply Save the file, and unclick the use compression box.

If you want, send me the file: jokerstrom1 (at) mac.com and I’ll take a look at it.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Mike,

Invigorator will attempt to close open paths. One solution is to outline the stroke in Illustrator. This creates a filled solid object representing the half circle. Another alternative would be to create a transparency map to make half of the circle shape invisible.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi N12gfx,

The answer depends on which version of Classic you’re running. I believe the file format for libraries has been changed between version 3.x and 4.x. The libraries in Invigorator 4.0x and beyond were rewritten to keep the file size down.

This may be a case where you need to upgrade Classic to get the compatibility back. Of course, you can simply make a note of the settings you want to replicate and build new materials in the ProAnimator Library.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi DM,

You’re right not to try to resize an animation that’s rendered at the wrong resolution. Better to change the resolution size in ProAnimator or Invigorator/AE and crank out the movie at the correct resolution.

Click the camera icon below the scene preview window. Choose the resolution preset you want or enter your own numbers and choose the proper pixel aspet ratio then re-render your movie.

Does this help?

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi Jimmy,

3D Flag is a separate plug-in for After Effects. It’s also available for some other hosts.

ProAnimator and Invigorator Pro share the same modeling and texturing abilities.They both create 3D text on the fly and handle Illustrator files in the same way. They can both apply movies or other layers/precomps in the AE timeline to object surfaces and can both animate the position of those layer maps.

How these plug-ins handle animation is where the biggest differences exist. Invigorator uses AE keyframes and has a limit to the number of sets (invisible “containers” for one or more objects) ProAnimator uses powerful behavior-based controls in a timeline that exists inside the plug-in. It’s far more capable than Invigorator when it comes to generating incredibly smooth and complex motion paths with minimal effort. It can easily control a huge number of objects that move in relation to eachother and does not have the limitation on the number of sets.

The other key difference is ProAnimator works as a stand-alone application AND a plug-in. When you don’t need AE, you can generate movies with alpha channels without it, for use in your NLE of choice.

I have them both because Invigorator came first and because there may be some instances where its motion controls work best. But if I had to choose one over the other, I would choose ProAnimator, no question about it.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Hi daveyg,

The short answer is to make your bitmapped images large enough so they don’t look pixelated or blocky when they’re closest to the camera, but not so big that ProAnimator is crunching a lot of data for nothing.

The same answer applies whether you’re using layermapping or simply creating a texture with a still image of a logo to be applied to a 3D shape.

For comparison, take a look at the size of some of the reflection and environment maps that come with ProAnimator. You’ll see just how small those images can be, and still work quite well.

Does this help?

Jon

Lastly, I haven’t seen those errors.. .if you can replicate a series osteps during which they happen, send the file and a description of steps you took to cause the error message to Zaxwerks. They’re very interrested in squashing any bugs that crop up.

Jon

[Jon Okerstrom]

Jimmy,

ProAnimataor is best suited for flying text and logos. You can do a lot more than that with it, once you understand how it relates to Adobe Illustrator and begin do think of compex objects as a series of simple shapes. If you’re doing a lot of title work, it’s perfect.

ProAnimator cannot model organic shapes, such as cartoon characters. It can’t create joints or moving links between objects and doesn’t have physics-based IK. It can import objects created in Lightwave and other 3D aps, but texturing imported objects is limited, compared to Lightwave.

Does this help?

Jon