Yes...we are and its $200, not 200$ :0)

Man oh man how cheap can people be!! I found a SINGLE f-35 model on turbosquid, not rigged, for $1400...that would make this pack worth over ten grand. Suck it up..

How they'd top Action Essentials 2 I don't know, because that is just amazing, but yeah a follow-on from that memorable product would be great!

...maybe we build a Element-community ?
:-D

He means that, included in the pack, are files for use with Cinema 4D and 3DS Max and progams of that nature.

And yes, you can rig and build your own models that can be imported into Element 3D.

Not sure what is next but hopefully you can see why these big packs take so much time and effort!

hey Andrew when you guys will do a next short film ?

Definitely. I prefer quality over quantity any day. And it seems we get more than we pay for with every pack that comes out. These packs are the greatest value around and they are great for any level of production. I could totally see Sam Loya in one of these jets.

Exactly what I was thinking xD

Check out the overview video, I go through all of them. But I'll try to make this more clear on the product page!

Thanks for the heads up.

It should work. We'll have to check to see if we need to make a specific build for earlier versions. Should be an easy fix.

That was the response I got from tech support about the errors I was getting. 10.7.5 minimum...

Matt said they were looking into it...

Hey, nice video man.

Very nice of you put the link to the FREE Helicopter model.

Very usefull, I was looking for it.

I found this btw.. reflections in real time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm85W-f7xuk

I actually tried this and works pretty well at some cases but when the camera rotates around, It would look more like a painted texture :/.. I tried separating parts too and baking the into the environment but a bit problematic at most cases.. But Im sure Andrew and the VCP team could get this one in the future :)

It's not automatic but when you download JetStrike it directs you to download the update for E3D.

Sorry .... just found it ....

Hey Joseph, I should update this info. So every object comes in 2 states (unrigged), one with landing gear and parts ready for flight And another where the landing gear is opened. This goes for every format, OBJ, FBX, MAX, C4D etc. It was a ton of work!!!

Although the rigs are not tied to sliders the anchor points are intact so things like canopies and doors open on the correct hinge. And with a little bit of work the rigs could be built inside your 3D program.

So we can build our own rigs now? You sir are awesome! But is this option only available to those, that have the "jet-strike-updated" version of Element3D?
I'm asking as we really don't need any jets here at our company (even though they look great) - but the ability to build simple rigs for our objects would definitely come in handy.

Turning him off is a good option and you can also turn off the interior cockpit and other details that are not needed for certain shots in order to speed up rendering. It didn't seem right to make him super-low poly when everything else has such nice detail. He is more of a bonus guy anyways.

I guess it is a good 'complain' that the model of the man is TOO detailed... I think he is around 8K polys and we optimized him down to 3 but it looked pretty bad so we left it at 8K-ish.

Right. Not at all complaining about the inclusion of the good looking flyboys, just saying having a low poly alternate for shots where essentially a silhouette would do the job...but its really just a case of turning him on for the final render, so yeah, no biggie...

And I really shouldn't be nitpicking here because its obvious the amount of work that went into this project was mindblowing. Im sure you're saying to yourself "if they only knew..."

Is there any sign of the president? Get me someone on the phone...

There is only one pilot, no copilot ( very strange ) and the whole fuselage is empty !

It's probably a decoy AF1 !

Be sure to install the updated Element 3D V1.6.2 and of course email support so they can help you and help us!

There are illumination maps for the lights. Find out what illumination map you want to use. Then import the Image texture into AE. Pre-compose it and then animate the light flickering in the map, you can use a black solid that is turned on and off. Then use this layer as a custom texture map in Element 3D and swap it for the map that is currently in the illumination slot.

Thanks Andrew ... I tried a method that Dustin suggested, but I'm gonna try this one too! Many thanks ...

OK .... I like your solution Andrew. It works. Maybe VC will consider making them pop a bit more in the future. But it's good for now.

We use our own customer installer so it is probably not well known enough. The installer is safe and only places the plug-in into the plug-in folder and creates a log file. Generally when installing software you should disable AntiVirus to avoid corrupting install by file filtering.

Never mind I fixed it

The rigs are only functional with JetStrike models. This is a bonus feature for the Model Pack not really a feature of Element 3D.

I think that would be a really useful feature to consider for the future of element!

Sure it would be useful but it would be a massive feature set that would take away a lot of our development time for other stuff. Plus how many people would use it, and make fully articulated 3D objects then import to E3D? Are 20% of people going to use a feature that takes 80% of development time? Would adding more groups allow people to achieve what they need for simple rigs?

Logistics:
How would you set up rigging? With a bones system or inverse kinematics inside of Element 3D? This requires precise control over objects plus and parenting and object grouping, you would also have to draw bones and connect to object... Maybe this could be done but it seems like a massive undertaking.

Or, would we just import rigs from other 3D programs? Which programs do we support, all of them? How do we test every possible rig? Do we support every 3D program's and hierarchy and rigging tools?

The other issue is that the sliders in Element 3D have to be pre-determined on the Element. So things like Turbines and Landing gear are hard-coded.

It's one thing to spend weeks rigging these by hand to work in Element 3D which we did and another to include an entire feature set to allow people to rig any object. Not saying it is impossible but it is not trivial and we have many other great features planned for V2, I'm still kind of amazed we managed to get it to work with JetStrike :)

Thanks for the reply and explanation.
I understand it doesn't seems to be appropriate, E3D is set to make us win time, not to lose some. Still, one day maybe, that would be great (and hard for the team to develop such thing).

For the records, in my idea, the setting should be done in 3D program not in AE.

You Got it! I always try to be honest about the challenges of Development. They are challenges. You have to plan accordingly and try to make software that is easy to use and powerful. We are exciting about V2 and once that rolls out, I think people will be impressed.

Great explanation. Thanks Andrew. Looking forward to finding out what's in store for V2. It'll be amazing, I bet.

Wow, that was exactly what I was thinking. But then Andrew chimed in with a dose or reality, hehe. Still, for a brief second I though they added a rigging feature within element and my first inclination was that it was reading some kind of a baked animation file, maybe point cache to generate the animations.

A theoretical workflow if I may, is to develop all the animation on a single timeline in a 3d application (so door opens on frames 1 -10, trunk opens frames 11-20, hood 21-30, etc etc) and bake that out to a point cache or MDD file. That file could be read in along with 3d model. Inside of element, sliders could be assigned to replay certain frame ranges of given animation.

Well, here's hoping that one day this is a feature. :)

Right on! The decals are inside the resources download along with some backplates.

Thanks!

I missed that file in the downloads. Gear up, flaps up, after burners on ... Good to go.

Sky/ground back plates are nice touch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353168/