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Step 4: While Invigorator allows you to use its own built in Camera, it can be awkward to control and manipulate easily. Invigorator does allow you to link to an After Effects Camera layer, and to be honest, it is much easier to use this camera. Because of this, go ahead and add a Camera Layer to the Composition.
NOTE It does not matter that the Invigorator layer is not a 3D layer – in fact, make sure you don’t turn on the 3D switch for this layer. [an error occurred while processing this directive]Step 5: To the solid layer apply the Invigorator effect (Effects>Zaxwerks>Invigorator). When applied, Invigorator will ask you to load the Illustrator file you previously created. Navigate to the file and click OK.
Once open, you will see the Invigorator interface. It is pretty straight forward.
You have the scene preview window, which shows the 3D scene that is being created.
Directly beneath this are the controls for moving and manipulating the Camera, Lights, and the Object(s) in the scene. Next to that is a toggle to switch the Preview from Rendered, Shaded, and Wireframe views.
Immediately to the right of these controls are the controls for moving, rotating, zooming, etc.
As I mentioned a moment ago, Invigorator allows you to use AE’s Camera to see the 3D object that is being created. Go ahead and place a check mark in the Use Comp Camera box.
By default, Invigorator applies a default 3D bevel and extrusion to your Illustrator file. While handy, it is probably not something you want to always use.
Step 6: Click on the Red Ball in the 3D Invigorator Effects Control Window. This will open the Options setting for Invigorator. This new window is the Set-Up Window where you can assign lights, camera positions, and surfaces to the objects.
The Camera Icon is selected by default. The Camera preset area allows you to pan and move around an object(s) in the scene to get different views of the 3D world. Since Invigorator is using the After Effects camera, you can move the camera around all you want without affecting the final scene.
There are also a number of preset views that you can switch to in order to see the scene from a variety of angles.
The icon to the immediate right of the Camera icon allows access to lighting controls. We will return to this shortly. The icon next to lighting controls is the Object properties controls. Again, we will return to this shortly.
The other icons in the window are similar to what we have already covered and are pretty self explanatory.
As you work with Invigorator, make sure you have the Camera selected before you rotate, zoom, or pan around your scene. If you have the Object icon selected, you will be changing the position of the object in space. This change will show in the After Effects Comp Window, and is not what we want to do at the moment.
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