Invigorator and other AE 3D extrusion options

John Dickinson just posted a collection of some of his Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator/ProAnimator Tutorials. But if you don't have a currently functioning version of Invigorator, which shipped with After Effects for a few versions, there are other options if you're looking for what Invigorator did best -- basic extrusion.

Some of these options, like the Shatter filter and techniques involving duped layers on Z-axis, were discussed in previous AEP posts Extrude AE text into 3D redux, Maltaannon extrudes AE Shapes, and Rick Gerard's Advanced Extrusion with Shatter. Aharon Rabinowitz covered much of the same ground in his podcast, Creating 3D Extruded Text.

[Update] MaxAfter has good example of duped layers on Z-axis in his Text Formation. [end update]

Yet other options include extrude & deform with 3D object filters in Boris Continuum 6, and using Photoshop 3D text, which itself can be extended (like Zax beyond Illustrator) with Swift 3D PS. While both Gerard and Maltaannon consider strokes to make up for the lack of bevels found in Invigorator, these last 2 options have built-in bevel options.

As VideoCopilot noted last year, observing the many tutorials on the Net, "don’t forget to make it look cool." Graphic Mafia today added similar advice in the context of sport graphics and links to Chad Perkins' explanation of the the Shatter filter technique, show below.