Zaxwerks???

Hey!

I have seen, on multiple website, that Zaxwerks does something to help 3d stuff in Motion. I want to be able to import .obj files into it, but I hear that this is not possible. What exactly does Zaxwerks do?

Zaxwerks offers different products, only two of them (3D flag and Pro Animator FX) work with Motion 3 and 4 (not 5) and classic FCP (not FCP10).

3D flag is a plugin that lets you create an animated waving flag based on a still of the flag. It is very realistic and offers many controls. Pro Animator FX lest you create simple 3D titles and logos inside Motion and FCP. None of these products will let you import external 3D objects with complex textures in Motion or FCP.

I have worked with Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro inside AE (it used to be included with the software). I never found it very intuitive nor powerful enough to work with, but that was years ago. Since then newer and more complete 3D applications have been developed, such as Cinema 4D which is what we use now. C4D allows you to import movie files of your 3D scenes in Motion. The render passes come with with camera and light data that map to Motion's camera and lights.

For full integration of 3D models inside your editing project you can turn to AE for straightforward work (3D Elements is a new plugin for AE), or to Smoke for Mac for serious 3D compositing. The new Smoke has become affordable, it opens and relinks FCP10 projects flawlessly, it can import 3D objects with textures and it is one of the better compositors around (next to Fusion, Flame and Nuke).

Is C4D comparable with Blender?

I wouldn't even dare to answer this question. So I have asked Anouchka, our favorite in-house 3D artist. She has experience with both and here's her opinion:

Blender is free and very complete. But the GUI is quite un-intuitive (a lot of hidden menu systems and odd keyboard shortcuts) and it is slow to work with. It is not widely supported by third party developers because its API is very unstable and development is slow. Yet with some effort you can get really great results with Blender, depending on what kind of 3D you wish to create.

C4D is faster, much more intuitive and it has known a very steady development over the past years. It has become widely accepted as one of the better 3D packages for motion graphics work because it integrates perfectly with AE or higher-end compositing applications like Flame and Smoke. Blender is not good at this. That's why we have decided to make C4D our primary 3D tool. To get maximum quality renders out of C4D you will need the Studio version with its advanced render options. There are also tons of third party plugins available for C4D, and it has a very large professional user base.

If you go from Blender to C4D: Blender objects can be imported into C4D when you export the Blender model as an .obj file. Textures will not be applied automatically but all your UV maps are embedded in the objects so you can just import them in C4D and then apply the textures through C4D's material system.

That's the opinion of an expert, I am only a mere mortal dinosaur editor. I never argue with the gods of 3D-creation

I found Blender plenty powerful and very easy to learn. I'm not sure about what is meant by "intuitive" since none of the 3D apps I've been exploring seem "intuitive" all that much.

I've also begun working with Cheetah 3D and Kinemac and find them very acceptable alternatives.

I have a research project going that is looking as much lower cost or open source apps for doing media production. Most of the lower priced, newer alternatives to the old standards are very powerful, stable, and easier to learn than the old guard. Like Pixelmator vs Photoshop. If you want to do Hollywood films, Maya and C4D and others are what they use. If you're doing simply your own work as an independent, there are way cheaper alternatives that are just as powerful.

What do you need to do? C4D is expensive, I didn't find it any "faster" than Blender, and I also found more online support for Blender (great FB group for Blender with very knowledgeable folks doing amazing work).

If you don't plan on doing full out 3D modeling and animation for feature films, look at Blender, Cheetah, or Kinemac. Way cheaper, easier to learn, and will do the basic 3D text and stuff Motion lacks.

Side note, one reason I'm researching 3D apps along with other types of apps is that I'm looking for an alternative to Motion, since Apple seems to be taking it in the opposite direction most of us need it for. Seems they're devolving it into a simple effects creator for FCP X, not a true motion graphics app. I also have a fear of Logic being folded into GarageBand, much as Color was folded into FXP X, and not in a professional manner. So I'll be switching from Logic Pro to Studio One over the holidays, as well as my studio settling in on a specific 3D app.

Why doesn't Zaxwerks work in Motion 5? I mean, Motion 5 is a later version of 3 and 4 so why would it NOT do something it could do before?

Motion 5 is in many ways completely different than 3 and 4. I guess Zaxwerks could update their Pro Animator FX plugin to Motion 5, but IMO there is no real market in this for them anymore (certainly not at a 500 dollar retail price). However their website states "not available for Motion 5 yet". So it may become available in the future. Their 3D flag plugin is just excellent and there is a new version coming soon, probably also for Motion and FCP10.

With Pro Animator FX you can create animated 3D titles, logos and primitive objects inside Motion. But such basic things can be created faster now in entry-level realtime 3D software like Kinemac and exported as video with alpha channel out to FCP10 or Motion (without further animation in Motion using the Motion camera). Kinemac has not been updated anymore since two years and to be honest it hasn't been a huge success either. It's a shame because it works quite well for basic 3D.

What matters is that you can create complex 3D elements or virtual sets in dedicated applications such as C4D and export the render passes straight into compositing applications like Motion, AE or better where you can further animate the rendered 3D objects using the compositor's own camera system. This is possible because C4D can export camera and tracking data alongside with its render passes. These data are then taken over by the camera of the compositing app. Mark Spencer has made a tutorial on how to this works: provideocoalition.com/index.php/motiongr...brings_3d_to_motion/

Currently I'm leaning towards Blender or Cheetah. Same thing, less money. Probably Blender due to the massive support it has out there, and the frequent updates it has been getting with some really spectacular render engine options.

While not in the realm of free products, Lightwave 3D by Newtek is a very capable 3D program. Well above my abilities, but I do use version 8 on occasion. They are now up to v12.

Lightwave is indeed a very powerful 3D software.

To return to the original question: I have received news that Zaxwerks are indeed working on an update for their product line. Problem is that the current plugins are 32-bit only and they won't work inside Motion 5. No release date was mentioned, but at least it' coming.

Thank you!

Sorry for the late answer, but I've been in the boonies for the last couple of days.

In any case, thank you for the answers in regards to Blender. I have been fooling around with it for years. It seems I'm not really a 3-D guy, but for what I want it to do, it is a pretty cost efficient solution. Just have to lift my behind to get deeper into it.

I just wish you could import .dae files into FCP X. It works fine with iBooks Creator and Preview, so FCP X integration should be a piece of pie.

cgbier wrote: I just wish you could import .dae files into FCP X. It works fine with iBooks Creator and Preview, so FCP X integration should be a piece of pie.

You can do this with the new QC Supercharger plugin. See the home page on this forum for a video tutorial.

That was my daily Homer Simpson moment. Thank you for the reminder.

So, just to be sure, there are no other 3d plugins that would allow me to import real 3d objects into Motion 5, right?

Right, you cannot import complete 3D objects.

But if you create your 3D models yourself or you get your animations from a 3D artists and the 3D app allows you to render out camera tracking information and multi-pass renders you can import these in Motion without any plugin and use Motion's camera for further animation and compositing. It's a fairly straightforward process.

Hold on. You mean Motion can read the tracking info? That's cool!

Hi Claus,

Only if you export your multi-pass renders from a 3D application that is capable of exporting tracking info to Motion. Cinema 4D has a very specific Render Setting for this. Using the Motion setting in Target Applications you can translate camera tracking, shadows, lights, and many more data into a format Motion understands. Just as an example: when you export a 3D scene to Motion the C4D lights will be replaced by Motion's own lights which you can further change and animate during your compositing work. Pretty cool.

When you import C4D multi-pass renders (this is not the same as objects) and you start compositing, Motion will recognize any 3D objects that appear in front of the images you add to the composition and it will key them in front. Using the camera tracking information Motion will also animate your composited images respecting every move the C4D camera is making.

There are some caveats (apparently there always are caveats when going from one app to another) but all in all it works amazingly well and it is much, much faster than trying to composite your live footage inside the 3D app and having to render out every single pass every time you make a change.

Hartelijk bedankt, Ronny.

Great info. Seems Blender can't do it, though, I'd assume. C4D is too expensive for my limited needs of 3d, so that's why I'm keenly looking into getting my Blender "skills" beefed up.

Wow, you speak Dutch?

Actually it is possible to export Blender renders to Motion. Not from inside the application, but using a script. As with all open source programs there are some limitations. You can read about them in the link I have provided. I have not tried this myself but from what I have read it should work. Check this out:

blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?...Motion-export-script

You are correct, Blender is a very good choice to start with and most important: it's free. But we often need to create 3D scenes for television backdrops, promos and spots and C4D is better fitted for this kind of work. It even has a dedicated Broadcast Extension kit with everything you need (materials, textures, fully customizable precomposed animations, presets etc...) to create really eye-catching 3D motion graphics the fast and easy way.

The Motion integration is a very useful feature for quick and easy work, but we do most of our compositing in Flame or Smoke where we can truly import and animate complete 3D models from C4D (in FBX format) or Maya.