Frequent questions.
Don't see your question? Contact us using this Request Form.
Where are the 3D Assistants?
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The 3D Assistants will NOT show up in After Effect's 'Effect' menu, as with other Digital Anarchy products. Instead, the Assistants live in the 'Window' menu.
This is because the 3D Assistants are not actually plugins. They are keyframe assistants. Once selected, the 3D Assistant will open up its own panel. You do not work inside the After Effects 'Effects' palette.
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why is the menu is grayed out?
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In order to activate the 3D Assistants, you need to:
(1) Select layers in your compostion.
(2) Turn on their 3D switch in the Timeline window.
RIGHT: The 3D cube icon needs to be turned on for each layer that the 3D Assistants will use. |
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can I reinstall the 10-day demo?
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Unfortunately... no. We can't undo the part of the installation that keeps you from installing the 3D Assistants demo twice on a computer.
Our 3D Assistants demo is a fully enabled version with no watermarking. Because we don't limit its functionality, we do limit how long you can use it. |
can't find the 'expired' demo files
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Every time I launch After Effects, I get a series of error messages telling me the 3D Assistants demo has expired. But I can't find the files in my After Effects 'Plugins' folder.
Here is the error message that you may receive. |
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There is a known problem with Mac OS 10.3. If you don't direct the installer to a specific location, it looks for a hidden 'MAC OS' folder and install the files there. Please go to this Support page for a detailed explanation of the very simple solution.
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what type of layers
are supported?
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Yes, the Assistants do work with text layers as long as they are 3D-enabled. The Assistants do not work with Cameras or Lights.
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is there a limit
to the number of layers?
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There is no limit to the number of layers that you can simultaneously apply a 3D Assistant to. In fact, the ability to distribute large groups of layers is one of the most useful aspects of this software. You can even use the assistants to replicate your layers and create large groups of layers. Be careful about this, though… you can easily turn 7 layers into 700 layers, which won’t have happy results if you don’t have enough memory for 700.
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how do I determine
the stacking order?
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The 3D Assistants distribute 3D layers in the order they are arranged in the Time Layout Window. If your animation requires that there be a certain order to your layers, be sure to arrange your layers in the proper order in the Timeline before applying the 3D Assistants. Some of the Assistants handle this process differently than other ones.
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what is the
'ez ' set?
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The EZ set is now called the 'Lite' set, and the Lite Assistants are rolled into your Pro purchase. If you purchased the Assistants before the EZ/Lite was offered, you are entitled to the Lite set as a free upgrade. Please email sales@digitalanarchy.com. We will check for proof of purchase, then send you the installer and instructions.
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what is the
'lite' set?
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The Lite set was a free giveaway tied into purchase of After Effects 6.0 and 6.5. You get three 'lite' tools, instead of the whole 16 tool set. The installer came free on your AE 6.x disk.
This offer is not being distributed through AE 7.0 at the request of Adobe. The 6.x installer will not work in AE 7.0. If you would like to upgrade to Pro from the Lite set, we offer that at $99.00 (reg. $199.00). Please contact us through this short web form to getupgrade instructions and a discount code.
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Issue with Windows XP and AE 7.0.
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This is a known issue. On WindowsXP, if you're running After Effects 7.0 or lower, you need an earlier build of 3D Assistants. We are currently at verison 1.3; however, you need to run version 1.2.2. Please contact us through this Request Form to get the 1.2.2 installer. You will need to do a fresh install for the product; you cannot drag and drop the plugins from one app folder to another.
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control all layers w/o hand animating
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After you arrange all of your layers, create a 3D Null Object and
place it in the center of all your layers. Parent all of the
arranged layers to the Null object, and animate the Null object to
simultaneously move all of the layers.
For example, you can create a
slowly scrolling video wall by using our Matrix Creator. Then
parent all of the layers in the matrix to a Null that's slowly
animating from left to right. All of the layers will be moving,
while you've only used two keyframes to do it!
You can then animate each layer in the wall independently of the Null
object's motion, such as scaling certain layers up to fill the frame while the wall is moving. By the way, this method of Null object parenting can be used for
all kinds of effects. These effects include setting all of the layers up in a rotating
sphere; moving cylinders; and creating a starfield with hundreds of
layers and panning through it all by only moving the Null. |
need help creating
a stacked cylinder
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Unfortunately, that's due to a function of After Effects that we can't circumvent.
A workaround is the following: Create another cylinder out of solid layers that's _sligthly_ bigger. Instead of normal NTSC (or PAL) sized solids, make them 2 or 3 pixels longer, but the same height. Then apply Cylinder Creator with the same settings as your original Cylinder. Since the layers are slightly bigger, the radius will be slightly bigger and will enclose the original cylinder. It should be close enough that you can't tell there's actually two cylinders.
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