The 3D Invigorator is a powerful software for creating eye-catching 3D graphics directly inside the superb design, illustration and layout programs, FreeHand and Illustrator. Technically speaking the 3D Invigorator is a plug-in, however it's not the sort of plug-in you've ever seen before. It is an entire 3D application, so well integrated with its host, that it feels like a new window has opened up that you just never knew about before. It provides a method for creating 3D graphics that is new to both the 2D and 3D communities alike. Best of all it happens right inside your own program so you never have to leave what you are familiar with.
Before you can start, you have to put the 3D Invigorator where your host application can use it.
1- Place the Zaxwerks folder, containing the 3D Invigorator plug-in and the folder called Zaxwerks Environments, into your Adobe Illustrator Plug-ins folder.
2- Launch Illustrator. If Illustrator is already open, quit and re-launch.
3- The 3D Invigorator will appear in Illustrator's Windows menu as the "Show 3D Invigorator" menu item. Selecting it will cause the Invigorator interface to open.
• The 3D Invigorator is a floating window. It may be kept open at all times, whether you are working directly with it, or working on your page layout. It may also be closed and reopened without losing its contents.
Until you quit your host application or delete everything within your 3D scene, the Invigorator window will hold the scene in the same state you last left it.
Quick Start
These are the basic steps required, to create a 3D graphic.
1. Draw some 2D shapes on the page of your host application. Leave them selected.
2. Open the 3D Invigorator and bring the shapes into it by clicking on the Add Outlines button. They will automatically become 3D objects.
3. Enhance the object shapes, set surface looks, set lights, position the camera, set rendering size and quality.
4. Create the final 3D image by clicking on the Render button.
Steps 1,2 and 4 are very fast. Step 3 can be skipped if you like the defaults, otherwise this is where your individual artistic sense comes through.
There are a variety of presets available for edge styles, surface looks, lighting setups and camera positions. We encourage you to play with these presets and create variations of your own. Your settings can be saved for future use and any 3D scene you render can be reloaded into the Invigorator for further refinement.
We highly recommend you read the Expanded Quick Start section! It's short, and contains information that will drastically affect the appearance of your images.
Think Like A Photographer
It's important to remember that when you work with the 3D Invigorator you are using a real 3D program. 3D programs simulate a photographer's studio. You can move objects, set lights, and reposition the camera. The Preview window is like the lens of a camera. If you want to do something like make the objects larger or smaller in the preview window, do what you would do if looking through the lens of a real camera... either move forward or backwards, or use a different lens. Once you start to think like a person shooting a picture with a camera, things make more sense.
Expanded Quick Start - Step #1
Create The Beginning 2D Shapes
Draw shapes, or import vector clip art, onto the host application's page. It's best to draw them off to one side, because moving the 2D shapes later will move their 3D counterparts.
The shapes must be vector outlines. Pixel images or scans won't work unless you trace them to turn them into vector outlines. See the section called Using Scanned Artwork for important information about this.
• Don't over-build. Keep the line art simple. Most of the pizzazz comes from the Edge Styles applied to the line art inside the 3D Invigorator.
• The vector outline paths must be filled to create solid 3D objects. Stroked paths create hollow 3D objects. Stroke widths are ignored.
If you'd like to use text, convert the text to outlines before adding it to the Invigorator. See the section in the manual called Working With Text.
Expanded Quick Start - Step #2
Adding The Shapes To The 3D Invigorator
On Illustrator's drawing page, select the shapes you want to Invigorate.
Open the 3D Invigorator.
Click the "Add Outlines" button in the lower left hand corner.
If you want to add more shapes, select them and click Add Outlines again.
Each 3D object remains "Hot-Linked" to its 2D base. Editing the original will change the shape of the 3D object. Try it!
An outline may be added more than once to create multiple 3D objects which all reference the same original outline. When you do this though, the 3D shapes will all be in exactly the same place making it look like you have only one 3D object. Click on the Object tab, then use the move tools to move them apart.
Expanded Quick Start - Step #3a
Adjust The Camera, Lights or Objects
The 3 tabs (Camera, Light, Object) located below the preview window, tell the program which type of object will be affected when you use the movement tools which are also located under the preview window.
• To rotate or move an object, first click on the Object tab, then use the rotate (tumble, roll) or slide tools (up-down-left-right, in-out).
• To rotate or move the Camera, click on the Camera tab, then use the rotate or slide tools.
Lights are handled the same way, except you can only tumble the lights, you cannot slide or roll them.
• The spacebar can be used to toggle between the tabs. This makes it very fast to jump back and forth between adjusting each of the scene's elements.
Expanded Quick Start - Step #3b
Setting Object Attributes
Using any of the 4 movement tools, (rotation, slide), or using the selection tool, click once on an object to select it.
When an object becomes selected you will see a wireframe box around it and its name becomes bold in the Object pop-up menu.
• Once selected you can apply Edge Styles, Surface Colors, a new position, or rotation, to the current selection.
• All objects currently selected will get the new adjustments.
• Hold the shift key and click on objects to add them or take them away from the current selection.
• Hold down the Option key when adjusting a setting or slider to apply the adjustment to ALL objects, whether selected or not.
If you make changes to the settings but you don't see the changes taking effect, you must remember to select the objects first, then change the settings.
A Note About Reflections
If you apply Reflection to an object, or select a Surface Preset which includes Reflection, you must also select an environment picture from the Global Environment pop-up.
• You can use your own environment pictures. Environments are PICT files, and they must be inside the "Zaxwerks Environments" folder, which must be in the same folder as the 3D Invigorator plug-in. See the section in the manual called Global Environments.
Expanded Quick Start - Step #4
Rendering The 3D Graphic
The rendering options are controlled from the Camera tab.
Rendering can be done to a file on disk, or directly to the host application's page using the Target Rendering technique.
Target Rendering
To render to a target spot on the page, draw a rectangle in the position and size you want the rendering to fit, leave it selected, then click the Set Target button in the Camera tab.
You will then see alignment guides in the preview window for composing your shot. When you render, the image will be dropped onto the rectangle. Subsequent renderings will replace the previous rendering. (Demo version renderings are limited to 300x200 pixels with no anti-aliasing.)
Saving Your Work
When an image is rendered to the page, the 3D scene is embedded into the rendered image. (Uncompressed EPS bitmap). By saving your page layout file with the image in it, you will be saving the Invigorator scene to work on at another time. (This feature is disabled in the Demo version.)
Embedding images can create large files. To keep file size down, either render a small image or set the dpi to be very low. The 3D scene is embedded no matter what the size of the rendered image, so the fewer pixels there are for the host application to save, the smaller the file size will be.
Reloading A Scene
If you click on a rendered image, so that it is the only thing selected, you will notice the Add Outlines button becomes the Load Scene button. Click it and all objects and settings that were current when that image was rendered will be reloaded into the Invigorator. (This feature is disabled in the Demo version.)
This enables you to have more than one 3D Invigorator rendering per page. Since each rendering stores the data that made it, multiple renderings can be done and their scenes reloaded for further enhancements and changes.
For more information or to buy the full version,
please contact Zaxwerks at 626-446-0061.
WARNING! This software is used under the Zaxwerks Software End User License.
Use of this software implies acceptance of this license. Read the license for further rights and instructions.
