1. Launch Cool 3D from the Start menu. Click OK on the first help window that appears to make it go away.

2. Under the View menu check to see that you show all the toolbars except the bottom two (geometric and object manager).

3. Go to Image>Dimensions and use the down arrow to show "pixels." Then enter these values: width 500, height 300. Click OK.
Enlarge the stage in Cool3D so you see the full 500x300.      (The size can be whatever you want and can be changed anytime.)

4. Go to Edit>Insert Text or click the insert text tool on the left side menu. In the text window choose a font from the drop down menu, set the text size for 36 points, then enter a word or two short words in the white area. Click OK and your text will appear in the main animation window.

5. If your text is too big for the window you can use the Size button (top toolbar or D key) to scale the text. Move the cursor onto the text and move the arrow cursor up-down-left-right with the mouse button held down . Experiment with resizing the text until you have it fitting in the window.

6. In the bottom donut texture samples, select the Object Style (under Studio). There are 4 effects you can add to the text, just double click any donut shape to apply it to your text. Play around with each of these until you get a look that you like. Try to make the text look the way you want it to end.

7. Save your work as a c3d file using the save as drop down menu.

8. Now you are going to apply motion to the text. First change the Number of frames to 45 in the 2^nd row toolbar. Next move the slider above the timeline to frame 45 and use the + button to create a new keyframe at frame 45. Keyframe 45 is a copy of keyframe 1 because you haven't changed the text.

9. Move the slider back to frame 1. Use the Rotate Object, Move Object, and Size tools to reposition and resize your text. This is how the animation will begin. Play your animation using the blue play arrow in the 2^nd row toolbar. You can make changes to anything you have already done.

10. Play the animation as you make adjustments as needed. You can even add a keyframe or keyframes between 1 and 45 for more changes. Try it. When you are ready to create a gif and an avi movie go to the next step.   Save changes to the c3d file.

11. You should have gone through the Cool3D.ppt and pps files that have been provided because there are a number of options that are important to understand to do this right. Ready? Go to File>Create Animation Files >Gif Animation File or Video File.

Congratulations, you are an animator.

If you find errors or holes in this tutorial please email the instructor for document updating.