Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

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Creating Unique Structures with the 3D Invigorator

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

In this tutorial, Joe Mason shows you how to create the unique structural look you often see in high impact broadcast graphics. Joe shows you from start to finish just how easy it is to make everything look great. He works in 3D Invigorator but the techniques apply to ProAnimator too. You won’t believe how simple it is to make high quality production graphics.

Topics discussed:

• Illustrator shape setup

• Customizing depth, bevel and edge offset settings in 3D Invigorator.

• Creating materials with different wireframe and reflectivity maps.

• Setting up splits in the Edge Profile editor.

• Alternating materials for each profile split.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

Click to watch Joe Mason’s tutorial!

Posted in 3D Invigorator Pro, General, Tips, Training, Tutorials | 5 Comments »

Workflow In Zaxwerks ProAnimator By Rob Birnholz

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

In this tutorial, Rob Birnholz shows you the entire workflow for ProAnimator! He starts from the Illustrator File, all the way through to the animation process. This comprehensive two-part tutorial provides all the details so you can comfortably set up a logo, apply all the materials, and add all the final touches of a professional looking logo.

Topics discussed:

Part 1:

• Illustrator logo setup.

• Customizing depth, bevel and edge offset settings in ProAnimator.

• Adding a sense of depth to the look of the skyline.

• Creating Splits in the Profile Editor and assigning different materials.

• Setting up lights and shadows.

• Applying a camera animation.

Part 2:

• Integrating the ProAnimator project into After Effects.

• Adding a background in After Effects.

• Setting up Layer Maps for Reflections and Bump surfaces.

• Using the Composition Camera and Lights.

• Applying other filters and effects for the finishing touches.


Click on the links below to watch the video tutorials:

Click to watch Part 1 of Rob Birnholz’s tutorial

Click to watch Part 2 of Rob Birnholz’s tutorial


Posted in General, ProAnimator, Tips, Training, Tutorials | No Comments »

Working with Shadows Tutorial

Friday, April 9th, 2010

In this tutorial, we’re going to go over all the details of working with shadows. If you ever wondered about how to get shadows to work with your 3D objects, what settings to use, or how to speed up your projects, you’ll want to watch this video tutorial and find out!

Topics discussed:

• Creating a floor to set up the shadows in 3D Serpentine, 3D Warps, and 3D Invigorator.

• Creating a Light, and positioning it correctly.

• Working with Light Intensity, Shadow Darkness, and Shadow Diffusion.

• Setting up the Shadow Quality and Shadow Catcher.

• Optimizing the setup in After Effects for faster previews.

• Setting up lights in 3D Invigorator and working with Shadow Catcher materials.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

Click to watch the Working with Shadows Tutorial

Posted in 3D Flag, 3D Invigorator Pro, 3D Serpentine, 3D Warps, General, ProAnimator, Tips, Tutorials | No Comments »

3D Warps – Making a Jumbotron Column

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

In this tutorial, John Dickinson covers how to combine a lot of different effects together to create a captivating jumbotron! In this extensive tutorial, John covers many effects such as our very own Layer Warps, as well as Trapcode Shine and Magic Bullet Looks.

Topics discussed:

• Learn how to identify the field order of footage and interpret it collectly.

• Learn about using CC Ball Action, Glow, Levels and Curves.

• Turn the jumbotron into a 3D column mounted on grungy wire mesh using Zaxwerks 3D Layer Warps.

• Fine tune the look by adding animated arrows plus a touch of Trapcode Shine and Magic Bullet Looks.


Support Motionworks by purchasing the CS4 project file too!

Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

Click to watch John Dickinson’s Jumbotron Column Tutorial

Posted in 3D Warps, General, Tips, Tutorials | No Comments »

Advanced Control of Invigorator Pro: Part Two

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

In this tutorial, Serge Hamad covers how to use the primitives from 3D Invigorator and the depth control to create an interesting city scape animation where the buildings expand. Serge goes over how pivot points are created, and how to precisely control your pivot points to work with your animation.

Topics discussed:

• Learn about the center of a set.

• Setting up multiple cubes and positioning them for the city scape.

• Setting up different buildings to different sets.

• Adjusting the depth scale, and keyframing them for the animation.

• Setting the depth, and repositioning the pivot points.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

Advanced Control of Invigorator Pro: Part Two

Posted in 3D Invigorator Pro, General, Tips, Tutorials | No Comments »

3D Flag and ProAnimator Tutorial

Monday, December 14th, 2009

In this tutorial, John Dickinson shows you how to create a great animation that integrates both 3D Flag, and ProAnimator. John goes over how 3D Flag can be used for more than just a flag. The plug-in works well for banners, or even an animated fabric background. The tutorial covers tips and techniques on project setups, and After Effects tips to create a good looking animation.

The tutorial is covered in two parts, so be sure to watch both tutorials!

Topics discussed:

• Setting up 3D Flag to create a banner.

• Pre-composing each part of the banner, and masking them to create 3 separate banners.

• Adjusting the pre-roll to create a realistic looking animation.

• Creating 3D Text with ProAnimator and setting up the lights and animation.

• Using Displacement Maps to create a moving shadow for the text.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

3D Flag & ProAnimator Tutorial Part 1

3D Flag & ProAnimator Tutorial Part 2

Posted in 3D Flag, General, ProAnimator, Tips, Tutorials | No Comments »

Pivot Point Tutorial Part 1

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

In this tutorial, join Serge Hamad as he takes you alongside his pencil animation project. Learn how to adjust the pivot point correctly so that you can have your 3D Invigorator objects integrate the way you want with your After Effects objects. See how a good pivot point can allow your pencil to trace the path perfectly.

Topics discussed:

• Setting up the pencil animation.

• Importing the pencil into 3D Invigorator.

• Creating and setting up the null layer for the pencil to follow.

• Tips to set up a precise pivot point.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video tutorial.

Click to watch the Serge’s new video tutorial!

Posted in 3D Invigorator Pro, Tips, Training, Tutorials | 1 Comment »

Zaxwerks Plugins vs. 3D applications

Monday, December 7th, 2009

In the recording of Maltaannon’s live video broadcast, he discusses the topic of Zaxwerks Plug-ins versus 3D applications. If you are wondering about the advantages of why you would want to use Zaxwerks plug-ins in After Effects, take a look at the discussion.

Topics discussed:

• ProAnimator’s setup vs. using a 3D application.

• Creating an animated Layer Map.

• Importing 3D Objects into ProAnimator.

• Working with UV mapping.

• Using 3D Serpentine to create fast noodle effects.

• Working with custom cross section shapes as the serpentine body.


Click on the image above, or the link below to watch the video discussions.

Click to watch the recording of Maltaannon’s Live video session

Posted in 3D Serpentine, General, ProAnimator, Tips | No Comments »

Digital Juice Fonts in ProAnimator

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

For those of you who has worked with Digital Juice Fonts, you may have wondered “These are great looking fonts, but is there a way to get them to work in ProAnimator?”

For the people not familiar with Digital Juice Fonts, DJ Fonts is a program packed with high resolution fonts that are customizable for your project needs. There are a wide variety of creative fonts that include metallic type, ribbon type, ornamental, all the way to watery and cookie fonts. There are a ton of fonts to play with, and now you’ll be able to integrate them all into ProAnimator!

Even if you do not own the Digital Juice Fonts, it’s highly recommended that you watch the trio of tutorial movies that we’ve released. There are so many tips into ProAnimator, and how to export files in Photoshop so you can open them in ProAnimator. You can’t afford to miss out.

With the techniques you’re going to learn, you’ll be able to take the DJ Fonts, and with a couple of steps, be able to bring them into the 3D world of ProAnimator.

Learn the following:

• Creating the text in DJ Fonts, and saving it as a Photoshop layer.

• Setting up the work path for ProAnimator in Photoshop.

• Creating texture maps.

• Loading the file in ProAnimator to extrude the text to 3D.

• Applying the texture maps to the 3D Text.

• Customize lighting, and creating shadows.

• Setting up and customizing the animation.

• Handling special cases in Digital Juice Fonts.

Click on the link below, or the image below to watch the video tutorial:

Digital Juice Fonts in ProAnimator Tutorials

Posted in General, ProAnimator, ProAnimator FX, Tips, Tutorials | 3 Comments »

3D Serpentine Tutorial by Eran Stern

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Join Eran Stern as he guides you through the 3D Serpentine controls, and how to create his cool Autumn 2009 Blockbuster Movies intro!

Learn the following:

• Path Creation – drawing one individual path, and having all the elements of 3D Serpentine tie to that path.

• Assigning multiple text elements to one instance of 3D Serpentine.

• Changing different head and body serpent colors.

• Creating the cascading animation for all the extruded text.

• Offset the circle design.

• Applying a reflection map to all the 3D Serpentine elements.

• Adding additional camera animations and particle effects.


Click on the image above, or the link below to check out the tutorial!

Eran Stern’s 3D Serpentine Tutorial

Posted in 3D Serpentine, General, Tips, Tutorials | 11 Comments »

ProAnimator FX Tutorial Movie

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Embryo has released a new tutorial on Noise Industries Generators combined with the effects of ProAnimator FX. Watch Zak Peric’s tutorial on how to to create a news reel for a imaginary TV Station.

Zak Peric is a freelance artist and lecturer teaching for Creative Computing at Tower Hamlets College and London College of Communication.

You can follow more of his tutorials on his website:
Embryo

Watch the tutorial from the original source below:
Tutorial Movie

Watch the completed animation below:
Completed Tutorial Animation

Posted in General, ProAnimator FX, Tips, Training, Tutorials | 1 Comment »

3D Invigorator Video Training

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

John Dickinson from Motionworks has re-released his 3D Invigorator Pro training videos. If you use 3D Invigorator Pro or ProAnimator, it’s highly recommended that you watch the movies.

- These are the topics covered in his training videos:
- Creating Layer Maps (3D Invigorator Classic/Pro/ProAnimator)
- The Wireframe Material (3D Invigorator Pro/ProAnimator)
- The Absolute Color Material (3D Invigorator Pro/ProAnimator)
- The Cartoon Material (3D Invigorator Pro/ProAnimator)
- The Matte Color Material (3D Invigorator Pro/ProAnimator)
- 3D Object Tracking Part 1 (3D Invigorator Pro)
- 3D Object Tracking Part 2 (3D Invigorator Pro)

Be sure to click on the link to download all the videos and tutorial files!

Posted in 3D Invigorator Pro, General, Tips, Training, Tutorials | No Comments »

NAB 2009 and 3D Serpentine are here!

Monday, April 20th, 2009


Meet John Dickinson, and the rest of the Zaxwerks crew as we demonstrate Motion Graphic techniques and products to make videos look great.


Join Zax as he is demonstrating features for the TV crew.

If you are attending NAB, be sure to visit our booth at SL 2529G where we have all our products at NAB special pricing, and watch as we unveil our newest product, “3D Serpentine”.

3D Serpentine brings big-time 3D effects
to Motion Graphics and Video artists. Creating 3D noodles, also called path extrusions, is no longer difficult nor time consuming. Now you can do them live, right inside of Adobe After Effect

If you know how to make a 3D path in After Effects you can create fanciful 3D noodles with the 3D Serpentine plug-in.

Create cool 3D effects like moving film strips, shooting stars, animated marquee signs, swirling tubes, winding helixes, twisting extruded text, arrow pointers and self-tying ribbons.

Early reviews of 3D Serpentine have already started coming in:

“3D Serpentine will completely redefine how After Effects artists approach 3D motion graphics design. Dynamic 3D lines, extruded sweeping 3D text, and action-intensive 3D graphics no longer require animators to leave the After Effects environment that they already know so well … A MUST HAVE.”

- Ko Maruyama CREATIVEMAC.COM

For more information, check out:

Posted in 3D Serpentine, General, Tips, Training, Tutorials | No Comments »

NAB 2009 Motion Graphic Workshops

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Check out these new workshops from Jim Kanter!

Jim is a media specialist/trainer whose work takes him all over the world working with a wide range of clients. He specializes in Apple-based systems.

3D Motion Graphics with ProAnimator

Las Vegas Convention Center: N254
April 19 * 9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Long considered a secret weapon of savvy motion graphics designers,
Zaxwerks ProAnimator has made creating eye-popping 3D text and logo
animations quick and easy. At the same time, it also allows tremendous
flexibility to create and customize sophisticated 3D text, objects and
animation. Available as a standalone application or plug-in that works
in After Effects, Motion and Final Cut Pro, you will learn how to use
this powerful tool to easily create great 3D elements in your
projects.

Audience: Motion Graphic artists just starting to learn about the
benefits of ProAnimator.

Introduction to Illustrator for Motion Graphics

Las Vegas Convention Center: N254
April 20 * 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Now part of the Production Premium bundle, Adobe Illustrator has
become an important tool for video. New users will learn about the
many tools and techniques that will allow them to easily create paths,
shapes, blends and complex gradients. Master the pen tool, text
manipulation, creating paths, shapes and masks, preparing outlines for
building 3D objects, converting photos into vector art, and how to
integrate these elements into After Effects, Motion and Zaxwerks
applications.

Audience: Motion graphic artists and editors new to using Adobe Illustrator in video.

Posted in General, Tips, Training, Tutorials | No Comments »

ProAnimator FX Quickstart Movies

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

ProAnimator FX Quickstart Movies

ProAnimator FX video tutorials are now available!

These two tutorial movies show the basic setups of how to work within Motion and Final Cut Pro.

The Motion quick start movie will guide you as you create a Color Solid Generator and apply ProAnimator FX to the Color Solid. You’ll learn the basics of creating a 3D text, how to apply an animation preset, apply a material to the 3D text, and also seeing your animation in the Motion interface. You’ll also learn where to change your render settings to improve your workflow.

The Final Cut Pro quick start movie will show how to apply a Color Solid from the video generators and how to apply ProAnimator FX from the video filters. This introductory movie will show you the general layout of the new interface as well as where the basic controls are located. You’ll also learn how to change interfaces to improve your work flow. In addition, this movie will guide you on how to apply preset animations, object styles, material swatches, and also how to work with the animation controls and the timeline. Finally, when you are finished applying all your changes within the ProAnimator FX interface, you will see how to change rendering settings for ProAnimator FX.

After watching these two tutorial movies, you’ll be ready to create 3D animations inside of Motion and Final Cut Pro!

Posted in General, ProAnimator FX, Tips, Training, Tutorials | 2 Comments »

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