After Effects CS6 offers a new ray tracer and 3D capabilities. But does that mean you’ll no longer need special 3D plugins from Zaxwerks or Boris? John Dickinson talks to Zax Dow about the continued relevance of 3D Invigorator and ProAnimator.
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Archive for the ‘Zaxwerks’ Category
It’s Official! Toolfarm’s Annual Top 10 Plug-in Awards Survey Results
The results are in! Thank you to all who participated this year in our survey, we value your feedback!
We have chosen the prize winners at random and will be contacting them via email shortly. If you entered your contact information to win the G-Technology 4TB G-RAID drive or Michele Yamazaki’s “Plug-in to After Effects” book, keep an eye on your inbox!
Top Ten Plug-ins of 2011, in order:
Adobe After Effects Plug-ins:
- 1st: Trapcode Particular
- 2nd: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
- 3rd: Boris Continuum Complete
- 4th: Video Copilot Optical Flares
- 5th: GenArts Sapphire
- 6th: Red Giant Magic Bullet Colorista II
- 7th: The Foundry Keylight (Included in AE)
- 8th: Trapcode Shine
- 9th: Imagineer Systems mocha
- 10th: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro
Final Cut Pro Plug-ins:
- 1st: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
- 2nd: Boris Continuum Complete
- 3rd: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro
- 4th: GenArts Sapphire
- 5th: Automatic Duck Pro Import/Export FCP (Note: Now Available for Free)
- 6th: Singular Software PluralEyes
- 7th: CoreMelt Complete
- 8th: CHV Plug-ins
- 9th: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro
- 10th: Zaxwerks ProAnimator
Create a 3D virtual set in After Effects with 3D Invigorator
From the Zaxwerks Blog:
This is a three part tutorial lasting 50 minutes. Joe covers the steps to creating a beautiful virtual set, lighting it, inserting the green screen talent and doing the final camera moves. Consider this an Intermediate tutorial because Joe assumes you already know how to open the plug-in and make a Photoshop file.
Topics discussed:
• Creating, positioning and mapping the floor.
• Using 3D Primitives to create columns.
• Importing simple Illustrator files to make furniture.
• Duplicating and rearranging objects.
• Creatively using bevels to make set decorations.
• Setting up lights, light trusses and flares.
• Adding the talent and camera motion.
ALSO: Zax Dow reported in the Zaxwerks Blog that updates for all of their plugins will be arriving shortly. Read about it here.
Prepping complex Illustrator files for ProAnimator
3Ding your logo from an Illustrator file using ProAnimator is generally a painless process. But there are times, especially when you are not the author of the AI file, when things can get messy. Duplicate objects, clippings paths and other AI tricks can create havoc when opened in ProAnimator. In this new tutorial from the Zaxwerks Blog, Prepping Illustrator Files for 3D, you see just such a complex file getting simplified to make life easier when you move into After Effects.
Plug-ins for $99 and under for After Effects/Premiere Pro & Final Cut Pro/Motion
I’m sure most of you are starting to feel the economic crunch, so we’ve put together a section for plug-ins that are $99 and under. These are useful plug-ins by well known plug-in developers like Red Giant, Trapcode, Digieffects, Noise Industries, Nattress and others.
If you’d like to take the plug-in for a test drive before you buy it, most of the plug-ins are available for download on our demos/trial page: http://www.toolfarm.com/demo/demo.php
Free Zaxwerks ProAnimator Training from John Dickinson
Zaxwerks ProAnimator Training: Making it Look Great 1 currently the most popular product in our store. Toolfarm is hosting the newest clip from John Dickinson, everyone’s favorite Aussie trainer. The new training clip shows you how to work with Zaxwerks ProAnimator and 3D Invigorator Pro.
…and then buy the training. It’s great. You won’t regret it.
Zaxwerks ProAnimator Tip #1: Reversing an Object Animation
John Dickinson, a Toolfarm Forum Expert, has posted a nice tip at Zaxwerks Blog. Watch John’s video tip. (Also, check out John’s Creative Background Design Training Bundle.)
ProAnimator is a great plug-in for After Effects. I encourage you to Download a demo and take it for a test drive.
Festive Streamers
People on the AE-List were chatting today about making streamers and Zax at Zaxwerks has already put together a preset! You’ll need the 3D Grid Warp plug-in. There’s a free demo available at the Zaxwerks site.
Tutorial: T-shirt Blowing on a Clothes Line
Ever needed to make some fabric move realistically in the wind? Zaxwerks 3D Flag is just the tool you need!
I’ll walk you through making a T-shirt Blowing on a Clothes Line in the wind in this Toolfarm exclusive tutorial. I use three still images, 3D Flag and a camera to create this clip that looks as if it was shot over the canals of Venice. This tutorial was done with Adobe After Effects 7.0, but you could also recreate this with Apple Motion 3.
Check out the tutorial now!. A free demo of Zaxwerks 3D Flag is available if you don’t own it. It’s a great little plug-in.
