[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Doug.

Yes, please send us any problem projects. We’d like to fix any bugs users are finding.

Send files to: matt@zaxwerks.com

Thanks a lot.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Mike.

You shouldn’t need to update the Comp just before rendering,
but it’s probably not a bad idea.

We have the Update button/script because we use some aspects
of After Effects layers that don’t get passed on to us when they change.

For example, if you have applied Reflector to a 3D Solid, and then
move or rotate that Solid, we aren’t told by AE, so we don’t know to
update our reflected Comp.

Therefore, as a practice, if you can put it in your workflow, it’s a good
idea to Update before rendering. In many cases, you won’t need to,
but there’s nothing worse than waiting an hour (or seven) just to see
that the reflections are off.

Let us know if you have more questions.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Gary.

Would you mind giving us more details?
A few key questions:
– What OS (and OS version) are you using?
– Which product (PA standalone or AE plug-in) are you using?
– What are you trying to do with fragmentation?
– What are you doing at the time of the lock-up or crash?

If you’d like to send me a project, and describe where you’re getting a crash,
I’d be happy to take a look.

Send files to: matt@zaxwerks.com

Thanks.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Tom.

The world units we use inside the software are just that – world units.
They’re fairly arbitrary, and aren’t actually related to pixels until you render a frame.

When designing your scene, you can imagine them as being any size you like.
So a world unit can represent an inch, a meter, or a mile. It’s up to you.

When you need to integrate an Invigorator scene with another 3D scene,
or with a 2D picture, you’ll want to consider the natural units of the other
scene/picture. For example, if you’re putting 3D text into a picture of a flower,
you may want to think of a world unit as a millimeter. But if you’re putting text on
a building, it might be easier to think of a world unit as a foot.

As Ed mentioned, rendering a 3D scene at 1000×1000 pixels will take
longer than rendering that same scene at 500×500 pixels, regardless of
how big the objects are in world units.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Roger.

When you drag a material onto an object, a copy of that material gets applied.
This prevents users from modifying the master swatch materials by accident.

If you’d like to apply a swatch without making a copy, hold
the Option key (or Alt key on Windows) while dragging the material onto the object.
Then, if you modify the material, the material in the swatch bin will be updated as well.

Let us know if you have more questions.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Robert.

I spent some time this morning looking at AE’s camera tracker.
The following is a quick tutorial on how to use PA (or the Invig) with AE’s camera tracker.
I’ll be brief. Feel free to ask questions once you’ve looked at everything.

Step 1:
– Create a Comp and bring in the footage which has the camera to be tracked.
– For my example, I used a short video of my daughter.
– Select the footage in the Comp and track the camera. AE will do its thing.

Step 2:
– The tacker will create a bunch of tracked points. I decided to place the 3D name “Callie” on the pumpkin.
– I select three points on the pumpkin and see the target that represents a plane through the points.
– I could move the target around, but it’s in a good spot, so I’ll place the ProAnimator word there.

Step 3:
– I need to create a camera from the tracked data, but I also want something to track with ProAnimator, so I created a solid.
– I name the Solid “track me.”
– I could have created a NULL, but a solid is easier to see in the scene.

– The solid is created right on the target. I rotate it a bit so that it’s oriented on the pumpkin better.

Step 4:
– I created a 2D Solid and applied the ProAnimator effect. I created a New Scene.
– I open the ProAnimator Options (Set-Up) window.
– I created some 3D text and put a shadow catcher plane behind it.
– I’ll use PA’s lights, so I set up the lights so that the shadow projects as I want it.
– I added a Warp track so that it will look like it’s stuck to the pumpkin.

– I click OK to close the PA Set-Up window. I now have everything I need to track the name “Callie” to the Solid layer in AE.

Step 5:
– I select the “Use Comp Camera” checkbox in the ProAnimator effect. (DON’T FORGET THIS PART)
– I then select the “track me” layer as an External Tracker. I’ll use this inside the PA Set-Up window.

Step 6:
– Inside the PA Set-Up window, I select the first Pose of “Track.1.”
– I then select “External Tracker 1” as the Parent of the Pose.
– This tells ProAnimator to move the entire animation of Track.1 to be oriented in the same way as our Solid in the AE Comp.

– I click OK and see that it has indeed tracked to the Solid. It’s just too small.

– Inside the PA Set-Up window, I adjust the Scale of that Pose so that it’s about two times larger.
– Much better.

– I hide the AE Solid I’m using as a tracker and, voila! The name “Callie” looks stuck to the pumpkin.

Final render:
– It could use a little work, but the tracker did a great job. You can see the results by clicking here.

Final project:
– If you’d like to see the AE project, you can do so by clicking here.
  (AE CS6 and ProAnimator 6 required)

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Roger.

Another option for creating a cylinder is to use our lathing tool.
Either choose Object> Create 3D Lathe Object or type Cmd (or Ctrl)+L.

You can edit the shape in the Object Drawing panel.
A thin lathed rectangle can be used to create a cylinder shape.

Let us know if you have more questions.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Mark.

Can you describe specifically what issues you’re seeing with render previews?

We want to make sure we are fixing the problems our users are seeing.

We should have a CS6-compatible update out soon.

Thanks.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Brett.

Please email me with your contact information.
We’ll send you an update with a fix to your “replace layer” problem.

Thanks.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.
Email: matt@zaxwerks.com

[Matt Rhodes]

Hi Brett.

There does seem to be a problem with reloading a layer.
I’m looking into it. Stay tuned.

Matt Rhodes
Zaxwerks, Inc.