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ProAnimator Changelog

What's new in ProAnimator 8.6.1

Jun 11, 2019
  • Stability fixes.

New in ProAnimator 7.0.0 (Sep 25, 2013)

  • Lighting:
  • Light Tracks & Light Actions - Create your own lighting animations using the familiar Pose and Transition system.
  • Use Light Brightness Actions to set up light animations where lights fade, blink, pulse, or flicker on and off.
  • Light Rotation Actions can be used where lights rotate randomly such as in a concert, bar or club.
  • Light Color Actions create light color animations without use of keyframes.
  • Advanced lighting controls tracks lights objects, camera and more.
  • Use Fan controls for lights to fan out, or converge at a point.
  • Work with Parallel, Point or Spot lights to create a realistic 3D environment.
  • Lighting Fixtures - Dozens of lighting fixture presets.
  • Variety of Trusses and Pipes - Create complex trusses such as box, triangular, rectangle trusses, or laced and ring pipes with a click of a button.
  • Lens Flares - Dozens of Lighting Flares can be used for any lighting effect. Contains a wide variety of flares to use for professional stage effects.
  • Flare Editor. This lets you create extremely realistic glows and spikes to produce the perfect flare for your scene.
  • Light Cones - Customize your light with dozens of different beams such as hard, soft, smooth, wash, and many other moody lights.
  • Lighting Rigs - Use lighting rigs to instantly add stage elements to your project.
  • Gorgeous Photo-Realistic Materials - Over a hundred highly detailed, seamless materials.
  • Newly Designed Interface - Re-designed buttons and easier to read text.
  • Auto-Save - The Auto-Save feature automatically saves your project so you have a backup of your file as you're working.
  • Increment and Save - Automatically increments your save file so you have multiple versions of your project file as a back-up.

New in ProAnimator 6.1.1 (Feb 19, 2013)

  • Fixed an issue where using Wireframe or Hidden Line may cause a crash when working with a lot of geometry.
  • Fixed crashes when adding/removing/converting points in the Object Drawing window.
  • Fixed crashes when using the Undo command with certain commands in the Object Drawing window.
  • You can now import/export grouped/parented objects using the .zxo format.
  • Path selection has been enhanced so it's now easier to select tiny objects in the Object Drawing window.
  • Fixes an issue where the background image will reset in size if adjusting the background opacity.

New in ProAnimator 6.1.0 (Feb 19, 2013)

  • Compatible with After Effects CS5, CS5.5, CS6
  • GPU-based Open GL rendering. Enables final quality textures, bump maps, reflections and shadows right in the 3D preview window.
  • Changes have been made to handle text editing under more situations allowing text to be freely edited while retaining its original position.
  • The user interface on Windows has been upgraded for a more modern look.
  • A blur function was added to the noise shaders making for better bump maps and a wider range of uses.
  • Bump maps have been made more dramatic... and useful.
  • The Specular channel is now full color ... good for metallic materials.
  • Material channels now show a "no" sign if they don't affect the material. This makes it very easy to see which channels are contributing to the look of the material.
  • Imported 3D objects now have normals imported too.
  • There is a new Preference to disable jumping to the start of a Pose or Transition when a control is changed. This enables you to leave the Time Marker at a point in time while you change the controls at a different time
  • Undo now works faster, especially when working with Fragmentations.
  • ProAnimator no longer pops to the front each time a frame is rendered. This way you can put ProAnimator in the background and work on other things while it's still rendering.
  • Object Animation presets can now be organized into folders.
  • The timeline will automatically scroll if you drag a Pose past the end of the timeline.
  • The drawing window now automatically scrolls if you drag objects to the edge of the drawing area.
  • Fixes an issue where using the Color Picker when working on a Mac OSX Lion may cause the program to crash.

New in ProAnimator 6.0.0 (Jul 11, 2012)

  • Object Fragmentation:
  • Break apart any objects into many little pieces. This can be animated to create an interesting reveal where the pieces come together to form the word, or have a logo fall apart into hundreds of little pieces.
  • Ray-Tracing Reflections:
  • Create highly realistic reflective surfaces. You'll be able to see the reflections of other objects on the surface.
  • Ray Traced Shadows and Ambient Occulusion:
  • Work with shadows that fade off with Ray Traced Shadows. With Ambient Occulusion, areas that are close to other objects are automatically darkened.
  • Layer Tracking:
  • Track any ProAnimator Object Track to an After Effects 3D Layer. You can add additional effects such as Spin Y to the Poses.
  • Grid Shaders:
  • Easily create customizable Grids that can be used to create flooring or other interesting background designs. This is also useful for creating bump maps.
  • Shadow Catcher Plane:
  • Select any After Effects Layer to act as a Shadow Catcher Plane. The After Effects Layer will catch the shadows of all ProAnimator objects that are positioned correctly with the lighting.
  • Collect Files:
  • Collect all media files associated with the ProAnimator project. Never worry about losing your media files when sending your project to other editors.

New in ProAnimator 5.1.0 (Mar 24, 2012)

  • Optimization for rendering frames with Motion Blur and Fields.
  • Fixes compatibility with the Zapf Dingbat font so the preview shows up properly.
  • Fixes the Orthographic camera so you can now orbit using the camera.
  • Fixes a crash where if you move Text and use the Undo command, this may cause the program to crash.
  • Fixes an issue where deleting shapes in the Profile Editor may cause a crash.
  • Fixes an issue where using the Undo command after applying Object Styles may cause the program to crash.
  • Fixes the Comp Camera so that moving the Comp Camera also blurs the objects if Motion Blur is enabled
  • Fixes an issue where parenting an object to a Camera Track will cause the program to crash

New in ProAnimator 5.0.9 (Mar 24, 2012)

  • Optimized the performance when working with many objects in the scene.
  • Improved responsiveness of commands in the Object List panel and other menu options.
  • Improved performance when working with Poses and Transitions.
  • Fixes an issue where certain controls would not accept typed in values (Windows Only)

New in ProAnimator 5.0.8 (Mar 24, 2012)

  • You can now copy and paste the text from one 3D Text window to another, as well as copying text from word processing programs to paste into the program's 3D Text window.
  • Upgraded the drawing of Bezier paths so they're easier to draw and manipulate.
  • You can now cycle through the drawing tools by repeatedly pressing a tool's shortcut key.
  • Made it easier to delete swatches.
  • Made it easier to duplicate entire pose/transition sequences.
  • Warp tracks are now duplicated along with the animation tracks they are applied to.
  • Fixed how reflection maps were applied when reopening version 4 projects in version 5.
  • Drawing window grids can now be hidden.
  • Improves Video Card Compatibility for both Mac and Windows.
  • The file icons are now modern and awesome!
  • Rearchitected how text works so it's now more intuitive to create text blocks or individual text objects. This also makes it much easier to replace text for versioning or doing text substitution.
  • The program now saves the last Camera used and the interface will open with the previously used camera.
  • The ProAnimator Standalone now saves the Maximize setting for the inner interface window (Windows Only).
  • The Render Test button now works for all Cameras instead of just the Main Camera.
  • Fixes an issue where After Effects may run out of memory and crash during rendering.
  • Fixes an issue where editing the text from a version 4 project may cause the text to shift in position.
  • Fixes an issue where black pixels may appear during a render when using Fresnel materials.
  • Fixes an issue where you have to re-link the Text Substitution file after re-opening the project file.
  • Fix for a crash that may occur if you are working in a separate program such as Illustrator or Photoshop, and using the Save command.

New in ProAnimator 5.0.7 (Mar 24, 2012)

  • Fixes the User Account Controls (UAC) issue on Windows.
  • Fixes a compatibility issue with OSX 10.7 Lion.
  • Fixes an issue where using the Undo command when applying materials can cause the program to crash.
  • Fixes an issue where the project may crash during rendering.

New in ProAnimator 5.0.6 (Aug 1, 2011)

  • New Customizable Workspaces:
  • Open/Close panels so you have as many, or as few panels as you need.
  • Resizable/Repositional panels lets you position every panel so that
  • it's the right size and position.
  • Preserve workspace by placing panels into tabs.Ê
  • Maximize any panel with the ~ tilde key. This lets you quickly fine
  • tune all those little details.
  • Save/Load workspaces so you have all your favorite workspaces at
  • your fingertips.
  • Workspace buttons lets you quickly switch between your favorite
  • workspaces.
  • New Object List:
  • Use the Object List Preview window to see the object you are
  • editing.
  • The Object List allows you quickly move objects from one Set/Track
  • to another by dragging.
  • Turn the Visibility or Lock on/off for editing purposes.
  • The Editor Visibility lets you hide objects to avoid clutter in the
  • Object Editor panel.
  • Use the Editor Solo button to hide all other objects so you can
  • focus on editing the paths of the object you are working with.
  • Use Editor View Sets to quickly switch between Visibility and Lock
  • settings.
  • New Object Creation buttons allows you to create objects with just a
  • single click.
  • Group Objects dragging Object Layers on top of one another, or use
  • the shortcut "Command/Control + G".
  • By grouping objects, you can create Hierarchy for your objects.
  • Create Null Objects that other objects can be parented to. Animate
  • the Null Object, and all other objects will move along.
  • Convert vector objects to a lathe object or vice versa. Drew a
  • shape that will make a nice lathe object? No problem. Click the
  • convert button and you'll have a lathe object instead.
  • Misc Interface Changes:
  • Create User Cameras to set up custom views so you can edit your
  • objects without changing the main camera.
  • Change between One/Two/Four Views to position your objects exactly
  • where you want them to be.
  • Tool tips for all buttons, tabs, menus and sliders.
  • Restore swatches, animation presets, workspaces, or preferences
  • directly from the Preferences window.
  • Extensive Object Editor:
  • Use familiar tools such as the Pen, Pencil, Shape, Text, Selection
  • to build and edit professional logos.
  • You can now edit imported Adobe Illustrator files. There's no need
  • to switch between programs.
  • New vector drawing tools such as the Auto-curve, Corner Rounding,
  • and Parametric Shapes lets you build objects faster than ever.
  • The Auto-curve tool is a Pen-tool that automatically smoothes out
  • the curves that you draw. You can draw smooth shapes quicker than
  • ever.
  • The Cornering tools allow you to drag on any corner, and transforms
  • it into a rounded corner or curve.
  • Customizable Parametric shapes.
  • Create lathe objects such as wine bottles, glasses, bowls and more
  • by just drawing the profile of the object.
  • Many keyboard shortcut commands have been implemented so you can
  • switch effortlessly between the most commonly used tools such as the
  • pen tool, convert anchor point tools, or the point selection tools.
  • Mouse shortcut commands include double clicking with the point
  • selection tool to add an anchor point, or double clicking to delete
  • an anchor point.
  • Create cutout shapes by overlapping one shape with another. The
  • program is smart enough to know which shape to cut out.
  • Draw bevels in the new Profile Editor window. Any shape or design
  • you create in the profile editor instantly gets applied to your
  • object.
  • Edit any existing bevels using the Profile Editor. You can also
  • save and load any custom bevels that you create.
  • Edit any existing bevels using the Profile Editor. You can also
  • save and load any custom bevels that you create, and apply it to
  • newly created objects.
  • Load in an image or movie file to use as a background guide, or to
  • trace with the pen or pencil tools.
  • Set different grid colors to for different tracing purposes.
  • Working with a dark background picture? Switch the grid color to
  • Dark and all the points and grids will switch to a brighter color.
  • Text Substitution (Auto-Versioning):
  • Set up variables in 3D Text objects and then drive the variables
  • with a text file. This takes versioning to the next level by
  • enabling you to create one animation and then render countless
  • additional animations based on changes in the text file.
  • Object Warps (Deformations):
  • Bend, fold, twist your 3D objects with all the exciting features of
  • 3D Warps. With over a dozen different deformations that are all
  • fully customizable, you have endless possibilities.
  • Animate the warps to create shape-changing effects.
  • Stack multiple warps for customizable creativity.
  • Enhanced 3D Text:
  • With greatly improved font compatibility, you'll be able to all the
  • exciting fonts on your computer. Postscript, True Type, and Open
  • Type Fonts are now supported.
  • The Font Preview list shows you what a font looks like, without
  • having to first select the font.
  • Use the up/down arrows to quickly preview your text with the
  • selected font.
  • Type letters in the font list to quickly jump to a target font.
  • Typing "t" will jump you to "Tahoma" adding an "r" will bring you to
  • "Trebuchet".
  • Save the font, size, scale and baseline shift to a Favorite List to
  • quickly access the fonts you use most.
  • The Font Favorite saves all the settings such as Font Size,
  • Kerning, and Spacing.
  • Improved Material Editor:
  • Resolution independent shaders can now be used for Color, Highlight,
  • Bump, Transparency, and Reflectivity maps.
  • Use blend modes such as Screen, Multiply and Overlay to overlapping
  • shaders to create complex materials.
  • Move, Rotate, Scale and Tile your image maps.
  • Independent masking for every map or shader gives you custom,
  • pixel-level control over how each map or shader is used.
  • Comes with over 20 resolution independent graphic element noise
  • generators.
  • With the abilities of Gradientwerks, included in the Material
  • Editor, now you can make and customize a mind boggling variety of
  • resolution independent gradients.
  • Copy and paste shaders to easily expand and reuse your material
  • swatch libraries.
  • Mapping:
  • Use UV, Spherical, Planar, Cylindrical, Cubic, or Camera View
  • mapping to create different looks for your 3D Objects.
  • Change the Position, Rotation, or Scale of the material.
  • Enable Tiling to repeat or mirror in both X and Y direction.