VoluMax Pro – 3D Photo Animator for After Effects is simply the best toolkit to turn your pictures into impressive 3D animations.
Animating static images into 3D space can be achieved by separating the background, mid, and foreground of an image, giving a sense of parallax effect.
With VoluMax Pro, you can skip all the time-consuming hard work of masking each individual layer with DEPTH MAPS. Select a picture and paint a black-and-white depth map in After Effects or Photoshop. White for the foreground and black for the background.
The depth map contains information related to the distance of the surfaces of scene objects from the viewpoint. Once a depth map is created, grab the controller and move your photograph in real-time in any direction.
It’s that simple.
“Fantastic plug-in – I used it extensively on a recent project and people loved the results. Really does add a layer of complexity and depth to parallax animation. If you’re an amateur definitely follow the tutorials and guides. For the Pros it is absolutely brilliant, a fantastic way to get great results quickly, and a great starting point for more complicated scenes.” says Volumax user Byrnee.
Still, wondering what I am talking about? Take a look at this VoluMax Pro official demo.
There is a lot going on behind the scenes when you use VoluMax Pro.
Additional features such as Lens Flares, Depth of Field, Fog, Light Leaks, and more are implemented out of the box. Everything happens in the background and a clean user interface gives you total control.
Another great addition to VoluMax Pro is the 3D Portrait Tool. This tool allows you to use 3D mesh directly in After Effects to animate portraits.
Want more?
The Photoshop Easy Paint Tool speeds up the process of depth map painting with simple selections and brush strokes for high-quality results.
How To Use VoluMax Pro
Using VoluMax Pro is very simple.
- The first step is to use the easy paint tool to create a depth map of your image.
- Open up the VoluMax Pro project and import your image along with its depth map.
- Drag and drop the original image in the ‘YOUR PICTURE’ composition and its depth map in the ‘YOUR DISPLACEMENT MAP’ composition.
- Go into the ‘MAIN COMP 4K’, grab and move the controller in any direction to animate the image in 3D space.
- You can use the Volumax controller effects control panel to further optimize the 3D motion and add effects like fisheye, zoom, dirt, dust, fog, depth of field, and lens flares.
Zone Protect
Zone Protect is another new feature introduced in VoluMax Pro. It helps in correcting unnatural deformations when moving the camera angle to extreme values.
The zone protect composition included in the VoluMax project allows you to create masks on the areas of your image where deformations occur.
Step 1 – Identify The Unnatural Deformation
The first step in eliminating any unnatural deformation is to identify the areas in your image where deformation occurs.
Step 2 – Use The Zone Protect Composition To Create A Mask
Once identified, use the zone protect composition to create a mask over the deformed area on the image.
Step 3 – Increase The Zone Protect Value To Lessen The Deformation
After creating the mask, increase the zone protect value found under the effects panel to lessen and correct the visible deformation.
What Else Can You Do With VoluMax Pro?
Apart from animating 2-dimensional images in 3D space, Volumax Pro also offers additional tools and assets to skyrocket your projects and speed up After Effects workflow.
Text & Objects
You can place text and other objects in the foreground of your image to move in 3D space. The ‘MAIN COMP 4K’ in the project file already contains a text layer and 5 pre-comps for the objects.
Atmospherics
The project file contains some pre-rendered alpha channel (transparent) footage of atmospherics like rain, snow, flowers, and a few PNG images of clouds.
Color Correction
Below the VoluMax controller in the ‘Main Comp 4K’ are the Color Corrections. If you go into the effects panel, you can see all the possibilities to color-correct your picture.
Volumax Pro Compatibility
Compatible with Adobe After Effects CC 2019 and above on macOS and Windows.
Volumax Pro Pricing
VoluMax Pro is available on VideoHive Marketplace for $69 USD (Regular License) and $189 USD (Extended License).
Conclusion
The developer of Volumax Pro reached out to us and so we decided to test it.
It’s an After Effects asset that allows you to do so much you couldn’t or rather would have a really hard time doing it by hand and without special plugins. Its controls are super easy to understand once you go through them, there is no lack of possibilities for what you want.
It even pushes the envelope further with its special 3D portrait tool. Makes it so easy to either produce a shot from start to finish or at least create a very good base for a more advanced painting of a depth map in a face.
All sorts of PostFx are present that enrich any shot as well. From some simple grading options to some cool dust/particle fx, flares, DOF, random light leaks, etc.
But it’s still open enough if you decide that it’s not advanced enough, and you can even use your own techniques and external plugins with a little imagination!
The developer was extremely supportive of all our questions and suggestions that we also had! And on top of all this, we have to say that it is simply a bargain.
What you get for the price is worth every single penny!
On the cons side – there are none regarding what it is right now. we only had suggestions for the future. Such as making it possible to add more Object layers and quickly turning ON/OFF all the added color fx and stuff.
For more information on VoluMax Pro, visit here.
Also see: PhotoMotion For After Effects – 3D Photo Animation Toolkit