Okay this is my first real testing session with Animate Pro. I installed it a couple weeks ago and as quick as possible turned some jpgs on their sides, rotated on the x, y, & z just to see the promised "true" 3D that Pro boasted.... Well today I managed to find a few hours to myself to really do the program justice, and I'm very pleased how my first test project came out.

Animate doesn't have 3D Primitive shapes but faking one like the box in the animation above turned out to be very easy. I already had the art done for these boxes, so I just exported out a few JPGS, imported them into Animate Pro, and had the box assembled in less than 2 minutes. Even though I didn't really need to do this I parented all symbols for each JPG, into a Peg Layer, and later into a Group for the Network (more on that later)

The camera move was next. Basically the same setup as in the non-Pro version, except this time with 3D enabled so in the animation above its the camera thats turning (vs. the box art moving around). Only thing I cheated was the shadow, you'll notice it starts and ends on both sides that the camera is facing. So it skews slightly from start to finish.

Okay now the REALLY cool part about Pro that I discovered today ( but I know there's more to be found) was the Network and Module Library. Together these two new windows really make me feel like the software is living up to the name "Pro" First timers to the program might find the Network window a little crazy, but once you get used to it, it is very simple. Or lets put it this way, if you have trouble connecting your DVD player to your TV, you might be confused by the Network. And thats probably a good way of describing this window. It connects together Effects, Cameras, Objects on stage, basically any kind of element you use in the animation and gives you a graphical network (hence the window name) to identify each thing and plug them together by dragging a line from one object to the next . So for example a Glow Effect would be connected to a symbol of a light bulb. PLug them together, the bulb glows. OR say you got your Glow Effect perfect but want to use it for a different object, then just drag a line from the Effect to that other object. Very quick and easy.

Anyway, it was a great work session today, and I wanted to render something out and pop it up here on Vimeo.

And yes, a free tutorial on everything I learned today, is in the works.