Awards and Reviews

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator for Photoshop

by Bill Spence (Indy Media Artists)

Have you ever been designing in Photoshop and wished that there was a really simple way to make stunning 3D text that would POP out in your work? Well now you can! Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator is a full 3D plug-in that allows you to create 3D text and vector objects just as you would in far more expensive 3D packages laid out in a very intuitive plug-in for Photoshop.

• Read the 3D Invigorator for Photoshop review here!

 

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator: Review

by John Hess

Zaxwerks Pro Invigorator has been a staple my After Effects plug-in folder for nearly a decade now. Though motion graphics styles have changed over time currently favoring more clean flat imagery, there will always be a need for a simple yet stunning 3d graphic work. Zaxwerks 3d Invigorator Pro brings that capability back to Adobe After Effects CS5 and adds a bundle of new functional features to help streamline the design process. If your work involves designing graphic elements with After Effects, Zaxwerks 3d Invigorator Pro is one of those plug-ins that’s simply a MUST-HAVE.

• Read the 3D Invigorator review here!

 

The Kleper Report on Digital Publishing - ProAnimator

by Michael Kleper

ProAnimator Version 4.5.1 greatly simplifies the 3D animation process, eliminating time-consuming keyframes, providing sophisticated tools and real-time motion feedback. The program is provided both as a standalone application and an Adobe After Effects plug-in. The program's content can consist of any combination of 3D text and 3D primitives, generated from within ProAnimator, or imported files from Adobe Illustrator, or popular 3D modeling applications, such as Maya, 3D Studio, LightWave, and others.

The workflow can begin in a number of ways, but, the power of the program is most easily seen by selecting the Create 3D Text option when the program is launched. A text window is opened providing a palette to type in text, and select various typographic parameters, such as typeface, line orientation, size, leading, kerning, etc. When the OK button is pressed, the flat two-dimensional text appears in the main ProAnimator window in gray, but in three dimensions. At this point the user can simply drop one of the many Object Styles over the text to apply its appearance features. The user can select from metallics and a wide variety of color combinations. The text can be animated quickly by selecting from some preset behavioral animation paths in the timeline. The user can define and save custom animations as templates and apply them again and again. And that quickly, in a matter of minutes, a three-dimensional animation can be generated. It can be rendered and saved as a file for use in a variety of projects. Just as impressive as the program's speed and simplicity of composing animations, is its native capability to make changes easily to what has been created.

A complete set of tutorials can be viewed at http://zaxwerks.com/training. They clearly demonstrate the ease and flexibility that define this program, and show how fundamentally different this animation program is from any other. The program has many professional features that enable very complex compositing with relatively few steps. Among these are: cascading visibility for animation of text or Illustrator logo components around the surface of a cylinder; new rendering styles that include cartoon coloring and wireframe; track options for soloing, ghosting, visibility, and locking; use of QT and AVI movies as texture maps and backgrounds; a new native file format to save models as reusable, live, editable objects in future projects; and much more.

Reprinted with
permission from The Kleper Report on Digital Publishing
<http://www.printerport.com/kdp>, copyright 2010, Graphic Dimensions,
Boynton Beach, FL.

 

The Kleper Report on Digital Publishing - 3D Invigorator for Photoshop

by Michael Kleper

Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator is an award-winning Photoshop plug-in that provides a complete, sophisticated, creative environment for generating visually stunning three-dimensional objects. Users can quickly create extraordinary 3D logos and other graphic images from text, shapes, or imported Adobe Illustrator files. When the plug-in is launched it generates a 3D extrusion automatically, providing all of the controls necessary to transform the image into an elegant, eye-catching graphic. It simplifies and automates the process of applying multiple effects, such as materials and lighting, through the use of presets, that can be dragged and dropped upon the image, or an image element. Any applied effect can be modified and tweaked until the end result is satisfactory. At any time a rendered preview can be displayed as a wireframe, cartoon, or high-quality image. With the use of Photoshop's Smart Filters and Smart Objects, 3D Invigorator images can retain their editability to respond to last-minute modifications.

Reprinted with
permission from The Kleper Report on Digital Publishing
<http://www.printerport.com/kdp>, copyright 2010, Graphic Dimensions,
Boynton Beach, FL.

 

MicroFilmmaker Magazine Software Review: 3D Invigorator Pro

by AJ Wedding

"Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro 4.0 is a complete program that runs within AfterEffects to give you some 3D capabilities that are easy to understand and use, without requiring an expensive 3D software, or training on how to use a brand new interface.

I came across Zaxwerks at NAB as I was flying through the Plug-in area, and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a demo where they created a 3D logo from scratch in 5 minutes. Any program that can give you those kind of amazing results in such a short amount of time is with a look, and I'd say Invigorator Pro is a must have for any editor."

Overall Score 9.0 / 10 Award of Superiority

• Read the 3D Invigorator review here!

 

ProAnimator FX in Final Cut Pro: Review

by Zach King

"There's a lot of neat stuff you can do. It's very customizable.

...It's a really cool program."

• Watch the ProAnimator FX video review here!

 

Zaxwerks 3D Serpentine: Review

by John Hess

"Zaxwerks 3D Serpentine is an easy and powerful tool to add 3D graphics to your project without having to learn a big 3D program. The programmers have really put together solid package that offers a great deal of flexibility in an After Effects Plugin package. Although some of the work flow might be a bit confusing at first, it quickly becomes familiar and intuitive. Priced at $199, Zaxwerks is an affordable addition to any motion artist’s tool set.

With 3D Serpentine, Zaxwerks gives me yet another excuse for not learning that big expensive 3d package I have sitting on my desk."

• Read the 3D Serpentine review here!

 

Complex Logo Design In Zaxwerks Invigorator Classic

by Kevin McAuliffe

"I have always been fascinated by 3D animation, but I unfortunately don't have the time to sit down and learn a 3D program to really produce great looking animations. A few years back, Zaxwerks released a set of plug-ins called Invigorator (Pro and Classic) that brought the world of extrusion to the "3D" in After Effects. I love the plug-in, but I always found it cumbersome to create complex animations, as time was always an issue. Well, that's not the case anymore. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to create a complex logo in no time flat using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects, and Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Classic."

• Read the article on how to create a complex logo using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects, and Zaxwerks here!