Zaxwerks is one of the veteran After Effects plug-in developers, with the 3D Invigorator range of 3D title and logo plug-ins as popular as ever. In this interview with Zax Dow we discuss the origins of Zaxwerks, the ProAnimator and new 3D Serpentine plug-in. Zax also touches on new features in the upcoming ProAnimator 5 and reveals how Zaxwerks [Read more]

Zaxwerks has revamped their video tutorial page. You’ll find a range of 3D Invigorator and ProAnimator tutorials, including some old classics by me.

A while back I did a series of tutorials covering various aspects of Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro for After Effects. Most of the tutorials are also relevant to Zaxwerks ProAnimator since 3D Invigorator Pro and ProAnimator share the same setup window. These are now back online as a single zipped download (42MB) containing the following tutorials with workfiles: [Read more]

Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro, Trapcode Particular and Form

Make Sure Your Work Gets Noticed

Look over the shoulder of motion graphic designer and After Effects expert Harry Frank as he shares pro–level techniques for creating a beautiful, organic broadcast promotion.

Topics include:

• Understanding and working with consistent color palettes using Adobe Kuler
• Advanced animation and texturing with Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro
• Generating realistic clouds with Trapcode Particular and light emittters
• Creating life–like 3D grass with CC Hair
• Animating with expressions to save time
• Using gravity and turbulence to create realistic 3D falling leaves
• Advanced type animation plus an in–depth study of After Effects’ type animation tools
• Creating organic, flowing design elements with Trapcode Flow
• Finishing touches to add color and mood

About your Host: Harry Frank is a freelance motion graphics designer and instructor based in Los Angeles. As a motion designer, Harry strives to strike a balance in his technical and creative endeavors, ranging from his popular After Effects training series to his work with companies such as Digital Kitchen, MGM, Little Red Robot and Royal Pictures.

ProAnimator Users: You can also take advantage of this great training. Check out this free video tutorial that shows you step-by-step how to use ProAnimator in place of 3D Invigorator for this workshop.

Watch promo | Watch free introduction

You may have been wondering what the ProAnimator Importer plug-in that ships with ProAnimator actually does. It’s actually a great creative tool, allowing you to harness the fast and powerful ProAnimator animation features and apply them to your After Effects 3D layers. The eyeball image is by Martin Walls (http://www.sxc.hu).  Watch tutorial

In this tutorial we look at how to add flare to your graphics by creating the effect of “light” moving across your Zaxwerks ProAnimator or 3D Invigorator objects inside After Effects. In fact it’s not light at all but an animated reflection map.  Watch tutorial

Zaxwerks ProAnimator and 3D Invigorator Pro share many of the same features but there are some dramatic differences. If you’re wondering just which one of these plug-ins you should be using check out this comparison which should make things clearer.  View comparison

In this written tutorial learn how to create a 3D video wall in After Effects using Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator. Watch movie  View tutorial