Lightning Fast Animation in Element 3D -- Table of Contents -- Lightning Fast Animation in Element 3D -- Credits -- About the Author -- Acknowledgment -- About the Reviewers -- www.PacktPub.com -- Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more -- Why Subscribe? -- Free Access for Packt account holders -- Preface -- What this book covers -- What you need for this book -- Who this book is for -- Conventions -- Reader feedback -- Customer support -- Downloading the example project files and colored images -- Errata -- Piracy -- Questions -- 1. Introduction to the Element 3D Animation -- Welcome to the world of 3D animation using Element 3D -- Assumptions about the reader -- What is 3D? -- What is Element 3D really? -- Summary -- 2. Welcome to Element 3D -- The machine specifications -- The PC configurations -- Software -- Introduction to the interface -- Tour of the interface -- The Model Browser window -- The Edit window -- The Material and Bevel Browser window -- The Preview window -- The Scene window -- Toolbar (top) -- Modeling versus animating -- Setting up your first project in Element 3D -- Staying organized -- Directory structure -- Summary -- 3. Your First Objects -- Primitive modeling -- Booleans (cutting and molding tools) -- Differences between Boolean operations -- Boolean add -- Boolean subtract -- Boolean union -- Boolean difference -- The shaker top -- Making holes in the shaker top -- Object arrays (duplicating objects in a pattern) -- Finalizing your salt shaker -- Point modeling (the table and wine bottle) -- The wine bottle -- Do it again (the table) -- Box modeling (the lamp) -- Subdivs, metanurbs, and curved shapes -- The Polygon proxy mode -- Extruding and editing -- Freezing subdivs to polygons -- Incorporating multiple methods (the completed lamp) -- Summary -- 4. Painting Your Geometry (Textures) -- Digital paint.

Exporting your objects to Element 3D -- Lamp shades -- What are UVs? -- Assign your materials -- Exporting your objects -- The wine bottle -- Shading in Element 3D -- Import the lamp -- Fixing and texturing the lampshades -- Transparency map workaround -- Specularity -- Reflections and refractions -- Illumination and ambient occlusion -- Bump maps and using AEX layers for texture maps -- Preset shaders -- Summary -- 5. Preparing Your Scene -- Element scenes in After Effects -- Saving your objects -- Preparing our scene -- Setting up the lamp -- Replicating the bulbs -- Positioning and replicating an object -- Lighting the lamp -- Adding the table and wine bottle -- Finishing the initial setup -- Faking shadows -- Light falloff -- The shakers -- Mask it off -- Final touches -- Adding a camera and controls -- Controlling objects with null objects -- Summary -- 6. Animating Your Geometry -- Let's simulate an earthquake! -- Animating with nulls -- Keyframing the lamp -- Realism in animation -- Summary -- 7. Particle Replicator -- Dancing iPhones -- Replicating the iPhone -- Animating to the beat -- Creating a video screen -- Moving them around -- Advanced animating ("morphing") -- Repeat the process -- Method for keeping the order -- Method for reversing the order -- Rinse and repeat -- Making the background cooler -- Having the background react to audio -- Summary -- 8. Optimizing Performance -- What affects render times? -- Your system needs to run… fast! -- Polygon counts/points -- Appropriate image map size -- Samples and how they affect render times -- Particle array count -- Summary -- 9. Some Other Techniques -- Flying text/logos -- 3D text extrusions -- Flying logos -- The possibilities of live footage, world position mattes, and compositing -- World position mattes -- Summary -- A. Final Thoughts -- Using the right tool for the right job.

Some predictions -- Anything more to learn? -- Additional resources -- Final message from the author -- Index.