3D animation software - create professional results in minutes

The following example will quickly help you get started with the Effect3D program. We take you from starting up a new project all the way through to exporting the finished image(s). This example covers all of the major steps in the creation of an Effect3D image. Expanded treatment of the individual steps is covered in more detail within the following chapters.

Click New to begin a project.

Click Load model by category to choose a model from the vast 3D object library included with Effect3D, these are conveniently organized by category:

Click the Category select button to bring up the pop-up menu of model categories. There are 22 categories to choose from.

In the pop-up category select list click the animal category.
Select the deer model by double clicking it, or single click to highlight the selected model and then Click OK. This will take you to the Select effect window:

Use the Scroll arrows to navigate up and down between the different effect styles available.
Single clicking any effect style will immediately apply it to the model in the Object editing window. In this example select the cute cartoon style by clicking the Cute Cartoon style icon.
Next, click the Scale button. (Hint: Hotkey S)
Move the cursor inside the Object editing window. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor towards the top of the Object editing window, this will increasing the size of the model. To reduce the size of the model drag the cursor downwards.
Click the Rotate button. (Hint: Hotkey R)
Move the cursor into the Object editing window.
Hold down the left mouse button and move the cursor left/right within the object-editing window, this will rotate the model along the Longitude axis, moving the cursor up/down will rotate the model along the Latitude axis. Use a combination of Longitude and Latitude to rotate your model to the desired position, and then release the mouse button.
Click the Move button. (Hint: Hotkey V)
Move the cursor into the Object editing window.
Hold down the left mouse button and move the cursor within the object editing window, this will move the model.
Click Next to move to the Adjust effect parameters window: (Hint: Instead of pressing next you can quickly navigate to your desired window by using Hotkeys, keys 1-8 will take you directly to the corresponding window, also the arrow keys will take you back & forwards one window at a time)

Click the Line width Line select button. The Line width pop-up window will appear:

Click the Second line width to apply it to the model, you will notice the lines used to draw the object will become wider.
Click the Slider control and, move it all the way to the right to increase the Toon level this will effect the level of detail and to what degree it looks like a cartoon.
Click Next to move to the Select background window:

Click Sample background to view the sample backgrounds, you can also at this point load a background of your own:

Select the green pattern by double clicking it, or single click to highlight and then Click OK. The sample background will be applied as the background to the model, and return you to the Select background window.
Click Next and go to the Adjust Environment parameters window.

Click HSV, bringing up the Hue, Saturation, and Value parameters. (Hint: Changing these settings can alter an image dramatically and add more reality)
Using the Hue slider control, you can see a change in the color tone.
Using the Saturation slider control, you can change the brightness of an image.
Click the Reset button to undo any changes and return the Hue and Saturation to there default settings
Next select Shadow, this will give you the option to apply either a drop shadow, real shadow or no shadow at all.
Click Real Shadow, this will cast a real shadow based on a light from above the model.

Drag the Blur slider control slightly to the left, decreasing the Blur. (Hint: Decreasing the Blur gives a harder edge, while increasing softens the edge)
Drag the Opacity slider control slightly to the left, decreasing the Opacity. (Hint: Opacity controls how transparent the shadow appears, reduce Opacity for delicate shadows)
Click Next to move to the Select animation window:

Click the output select and the out put select pop-up window will appear:
Click Standard Size causing the Standard Size pop-up window to appear:

Select 256x256 and then click OK to apply the new output size parameters.
Click Preview button to see the model in the Preview window (Hint: Hotkey Space will take you to the Preview window)

Click Copy to copy the image to your clipboard. (Hint: You can paste directly from your clipboard into any standard application that supports graphics)
To view the image copied to your clipboard, open Microsoft Paint or any other standard graphics tool and paste the image.
After returning to the Effect3D Preview screen, click close to return to the Select animation window.
Click Standard animation, opening the Standard animation select window:

Single click the Doing the Twist animation sequence to see a preview of the animation applied to your selected model.
Click OK to confirm your choice or double click the selected animation, and return to the Select animation window.
Click Apply animation to begin rendering of the animation sequence.
Wait for the animation sequence to complete. After the animation sequence has been rendered, the model will be animated.
(Hint: To immediately stop an animation sequence or cancel the rendering process press ESC)
Drag the Number of frames Slider control slightly to the left, this will reduce the number of frames in the animation sequence speeding up the animation, making it more jerky and reducing the file size.
(Hint: A higher number of frames creates a slower animation sequence)
Click Apply animation to reload the animation sequence.
Click the Rate select button, this opens the Frame rate pull-down menu:

Select a Frame rate of eight. The new Frame rate will be automatically applied to the animation sequence, this will simply change the speed of the animation playback.
Now, click Adjust effect parameters on the Control panel (fourth button from left).
In the Adjust effect parameters window, click the Line width select button.
Select the third line width from the top in the Line width pop-up window.
Click Apply animation again to see the changes that you have made to the model
Once you are finally done editing the 3D animation, you are ready to export. To do this, simply click Export on the control panel. This will bring you to the Export window:

Select Export as animation. This will open the Export window.
Enter Dancing deer, in the file name dialogue box.
Click the Color Number select button.
Select 128 as the new Color Number.
(Hint: The number of colors used effects the size of your output file, to best optimize the file size carefully select the color number that gives you the best results at an acceptable size for your given application)
Click save to save your in a GIF file format.