Zaxwerks Releases ProAnimator version 4, a huge upgrade to this next-generation 3D title and logo animation program.

The ProAnimator 3D title and logo software, winner of the Best Animation Program of 2005 by Videomaker magazine, has just been upgraded to version 4. Containing dozens of improvements and new features the ProAnimator has redefined how fast the production of professional-level 3D graphics can be.

One of the major new features of version 4 is the ability for ProAnimator to work inside of After Effects as a plug-in. This enables the AE animator to get real-time previews of animated 3D objects while still inside After Effects.

"Using the ProAnimator as a plug-in greatly enhances work flow." says Zax Dow, founder and product designer for Zaxwerks. "The plug-in makes it easier to create beautiful multi-layered 3D animation in register with other After Effects elements. Not having to leave After Effects to work on the 3D also gives a huge boost to production speed and flexibility because changes can be made to the 3D elements at any time without having to re-render movie clips and re-import them into the final composite."

ProAnimator has a unique new way of creating animation. Rather than laboriously setting keyframes for every object, ProAnimator uses behavioral animation techniques to animate many objects with a single set of controls. This results in animations of great complexity being very fast and easy to create. Further, it enables multiple versions to be made with a few simple keystrokes. Animations can be saved as templates which can then be applied to any group of letters or logo elements for exceptionally fast graphics production.

The new version of ProAnimator adds animation features such as the ability to do cascading visibility animation and to distribute pages of text or Illustrator logo elements around the surface of a cylinder, making it very easy to do curving logos in the "Universal Pictures" style.

It also adds many new ways to render the final picture giving the artist great flexibility in designing with 3D. These rendering styles include Wireframe Rendering, Hiddenline Rendering, Cartoon Coloring and Absolute Coloring. Additional special effect techniques include a Shadow Catcher material for integrating 3D objects into existing 2D footage and a Matte Material for creating traveling mattes out of 3D objects.

Other new features include:
- Soloing, Ghosting, Visibility and Locking for tracks.
- QuickTime and AVI movies as texture maps and backgrounds.
- Visibility actions for adding cascading visibility to your animation.
- Local and Group Scale controllers.
- Primitive modeling: Spheres, Cones, Cubes, Pyramids, Cylinders, Planes, etc.
- New Path and Pose actions for creating linear or swooping random motion, with tumbling.
- Scene merging.
- Track segment labeling.
- Track duplication.
- Track segment flipping.
- A new file format which saves models as a live, editable objects so they can be reused in other projects and changed at a later date.