Flash 3D Using Pro/ENGINEER

The Pro/ENGINEER method for creating 3D was developed by me. It is a simple way of creating high-quality pure-vector 3D animations for use in Flash. It can also be used for 3D stills.

Final output of this process, after optimization, without coloring, look like this:

Pros: Cons:
  • Very high-quality 3D.
  • Output in 3 styles, Wireframe, Outline, and Hidden Line.
  • Outlines can be easily colorized.
  • No hand tracing.
  • Vectors come straight from models, not from bitmaps.
  • No bitmaps are involved at any time.
  • Much faster than handtracing.
  • Frames must be output by hand.
  • CGM files must be converted to a file readable by Flash.
  • Frames must be aligned by hand.
  • Pro/ENGINEER is only available on WinNT and UNIX.
  • Limited Import capability.

What you need:

  • Flash 3+
  • Pro/ENGINEER, which is available for WinNT and UNIX.
  • Some program to convert .CGMs to a Flash compatible file. I used CorelDRAW! but many packages can make this conversion.

Step-By-Step:

  1. First, model your object in Pro/ENGINEER. Pro/ENGINEER is a design modeler, so it may be hard to create abstract shapes or text, however, there are commands for those buried in there.
  2. Get a good view of your object. The easiest motion to do is rotation, so we'll do that. Rotation can occur around the X, Y, or Z axis of the global coordinate system, which is independent of your model, or around any of the axis in the model. For the space station, I used its axis of revolution to spin it with. The important thing is to position your model so that if you spin it on the global axis, it will look right.
  3. Decide on how many frames you want, then divide 360 by the number of frames. This will be the number of degrees you must rotate your model each capture.
  4. Go to Interface > Export > CGM > CLEARTEXT > ABSTRACT. Enter the name of the file as filename1.
  5. Rotate your model by going to View > Orientation > Spin. You can spin from the center, like I did with the plasma gun, or an axis, like I did on the space station. Use the sliders to rotate the model by the amount you determined in Step 3.
  6. Export another .CGM file like in Step 4. Rotate. Export. Rotate. Export. Keep doing this until you have all the frames you need.
  7. Import the .CGM files one at a time into a program like CorelDRAW!. After you import one, export it as Adobe Illustrator (Or any Flash-compatible file format), delete the image, and import the next CGM. Repeat this until you have converted all the files.
  8. Go into Flash and create a movie clip for your sequence. With the first keyframe selected, import the first file of your sequence. It will prompt you to get the rest. Respond Yes.
  9. Turn on Onion Skinning in the main timeline. Make sure it is the third onionskinning button, the one that allows you to edit across frames. Move the onionskinning sliders so that you can see all the frames of your animation.
  10. Hit Ctrl+A or Select All. Then Hit Ctrl+B or Break Apart until the outlines are all broken apart.
  11. With all the outlines still selected, use the ink bottle tool to change the color of the lines. Since they export by default to white, this makes them visible.
  12. Hit Ctrl+G or Group to group the outlines.
  13. Hit the align button, and align them to center. This should create a fairly good animation. If it doesn't, continue on to step 14. Otherwise, skip to step 15.
  14. Change the onion skinning markers to envelop only the first three frames. By hand, line up the frames. Line up three frames at a time, then advance a frame, and repeat. Use the onionskinning as a guide, and zoom in.
  15. If you want to reduce file size, break everything apart again and hit the smooth button. Warning: This will decrease quality along with filesize.
  16. That's it! To colorize or add gradients, just break apart the outlines and fill them with the paint bucket tool frame by frame