ProAnimator comes in two forms: as a standalone application and as an After Effects plug-in. Both products act exactly the same, but the plug-in is integrated into Adobe After Effects, so you can do all of your authoring with After Effects. The standalone application doesn't require a host product, so you may generate your animated movies independent of any particular target. You may even import a standalone ProAnimator scene into the ProAnimator plug-in (or vice versa) for added flexibility. ProAnimator includes all of the powerful 3D content creation tools as the 3D Invigorator PRO product. It also contains a next generation animation system that can be used to quickly generate complex animations that would take hours to create in other 3D applications.

Animation Window
ProAnimator includes an advanced animation system that you can use to generate complex animations. The work is done inside of the Animation window. The familiar track interface contains special animation segments called Poses and Transitions. You use Poses to position your objects and text. You use Transitions to tell the animation system how to move the objects from Pose to Pose. Cascading animations are a snap.

The area below the tracks contains the animation controls which are used to position objects in Poses and set animation timing in Transitions. Most of your animation can be done using just a few controls, but other controls exist so that you can create the animation you want.

Integration With After Effects
The ProAnimator plug-in works well with After Effects. You can apply ProAnimator as an Effect and then bring up the ProAnimator interface with a click of a button.

You can either use After Effects 3D cameras and lights or you can use the ProAnimator camera and light controls, offering unprecedented flexibility when integrating Invigorator-style text and objects into your After Effects project.

3D Text Creation
Rather than starting in Adobe Illustrator, you can now jump into the 3D process with a full-featured text editor. The 3D text engine can use Post Script Type 1 and True Type fonts resident on your computer system to directly create 3D models using any of the 100 edge bevels included with the program.

Each letter can have its own font, size, kerning, tracking, baseline shift, horizontal and vertical scale, color, bevel, position and depth. But the most astounding hallmark to this feature is the ability to change the text at any phase of the production process and retain the color, modeling and animation.

This means that after the first version of a promo is created, 50 other versions can be created by simply changing the text. The new 3D text will retain the same coloring, text attributes, 3D beveling, texture map placement and even the animation data. This makes for an unbelievably fast production process when many changes or extra versions are needed.

3D Primitives
Need a spinning globe? Need a video box or a 3D floor? Now one button will get you there. The new primitives engine will create spheres, cubes, planes and cylinders with control over smoothness and size. There is even a control for the shading of the facets so you can create shapes that look like they have been cut from crystal or polished as smooth as a gem.

New Import/Export Format
We have added a new file format for importing and exporting 3D objects... our own! The new Invigorator object format enables you to set up 3D logos, titles and 3D text, color them, apply the materials, maps and object settings, and then save them into files which you can reuse over and over in all your other Invigorator projects. This is a huge time saver for repetitive work.

Motion Blur
Invigorator PRO version 4 now supports 3D Motion Blur. Anything that can be created or imported into the Invigorator PRO can be motion blurred. This includes models made in other programs such as Maya, 3D Studio and LightWave.

Tracking AE's 3D Camera
The plug-in version of ProAnimator has the ability to track, or mimic, what the After Effects camera and lights are doing. This feature enables you to combine AE 3D layer animation with ProAnimator animations. For instance you can set up a project containing AE layers moving in 3D, and then use ProAnimator to add dynamic moving 3D objects right over the top of the moving AE backgrounds!

Layer Map Animation
There is a new control for texture maps that will let you animate the wrap of a texture as it is applied to an object. This feature is especially useful for reflection maps. Once a 3D title comes to rest the reflections stop moving too. This can make the graphic look "dead" and uninteresting. By animating this new parameter the map will continue to move so the graphics will remain alive and visually appealing.