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ZKAD PRODUCTIONS' FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can I order by phone?

Yes! Please call 1 610 932 0895 and one of the fine folks here will happily talk you through the product before purchase and can take your order there and then over the phone if you prefer.

How much is shipping and handling on my order?

It's small flat fee based on the total purchase amount. This fee is automatically calculated when you check out online.

Purchase amount --------------------------------- Shipping and Handling Fee

$00 - $ 49.99 --------------------------------------- $1.30
$50 - $ 99.99 --------------------------------------- $3.50
$100-$199.99 -------------------------------------- $4.50
$200 + ------------------------------------------------ $9.95

What about international shipping?

Same price! We charge the same flat fee to ship internationally; sometimes it costs us less, most times it's more and so we pay any extra shipping charges to your country. Note that any customs tax or duties that your government charges you is payable by you. We ship via USPS international first class so there shouldn't be a brokerage fee but there may be other duties payable that are beyond our control. Usually international shipping takes 4-8 business days to arrive.

I'm in a rush and need the entire product sent overnight. Can you do that?

In the US we can, but please keep an eye on the time of your order. You must place your order before 1pm eastern time as our pick-up is at 2pm. Overnight shipping provided by USPS and will require a signature on delivery - your item should arrive the subsequent business day sometime before noon. There would be an additional $20 charge for overnight shipping and payment needs to be cleared before the item ships. Due to various time zone restrictions we cannot offer overnight shipping for international customers.

Can I download the product after purchase? I have broadband.

This is by far the most commonly asked question we get and the basic answer is unfortunately no - most of our broadcast resolution animation sets are 3-4GB+ per volume in size.

But I need a specific animation for a project now and I can't wait for shipping!

Where possible we will happily upload any specific animation or two that you need right away - as soon as payment has cleared. We'll send you links to the animations as soon as possible and of course also snail mail your item to you too.

Do I need a Paypal account to purchase your items?

Not at all, Paypal is our online merchant account processor but you DO NOT need an account with them to shop with us. Paypal merely handles credit card information and processes the payment fee. With an online order we cannot see your financial information and everything is handled securely and privately.

I'd rather not mess with Paypal at all - any other options?

Sure - we can take orders directly over the phone and process your credit card instantly or we'll accept a check/money order (the usual delays with those apply though) plus you can now buy directly off Amazon.com's website! Click here to jump to Amazon where you'll be able to use your existing amazon.com account to buy our products directly. You get the security of Amazon's A-Z guarantee plus you'll still receive any tech support and help from us that you may need. Win/win!

I see you have items for sale on eBay - the prices are a lot cheaper!

We do indeed list some of our items on eBay. EBay is a great tool for us to try different pricing options and also get great feedback from customers. We don't list every product on eBay though and the prices can vary considerably - but if you use eBay and see a bargain then pick it up! You'll receive the product(s) promptly and get the same great follow up service from us regardless of the price you've paid.

I wish to purchase many of your products. Can I have a bulk discount?

Absolutely. Please contact vynny@zkad.com or call +1 610 932 0895 to discuss the matter further. Also consider looking at our TOTAL COLLECTION which includes our entire product line up on either DVD ROMs or free external hard drive. See more info here.

We're a school/ministry on a very limited budget but really need a product. Can you do anything for us price-wise?

Always happy to try to work with you. Please contact vynny@zkad.com or call +1 610 932 0895 to discuss various options on pricing. I'm sure we can help.

I need some virtual sets but am not sure which product to buy!

Check out our help page on the differences in our Virtual Studio Sets products found here.

I just placed an order. What happens now?

You'll receive an auto-email confirmation of your order and a follow up email with delivery info when we ship. We usually ship within one business day.

Can I order and pay by check?

Yes you can pay with a check but it may take up to 7 business days to clear before shipment.

I wish to order via ordinary postal mail. Can I?

Sure. Send us a check/money order including S&H (see above) indicating the products you want. Our address is here.

What is the license agreement that accompanies the products?

Our royalty-free animations come with the usual simple buy-out license "Purchase of these images/media from ZKad.com licenses the original buyer to unlimited reproduction of the product for the license holder only. License is non-transferable."

Can I make a custom DVD by choosing specific animations that I want from several different products?

Unfortunately not. Producing an à la carte DVD or CD would take up too many resources here to be feasible for us and it would be difficult to value in terms of cost to you. We do have a couple of 'variety packs' called Prime Cuts which enable you to inexpensively test out our products. Please see our product home page.

Can I purchase third-party animations from you - Digital Juice 'Jump Backs' for example?

No. Currently we only resell our own products.


TECHNICAL AND OTHER HELP

I need help with a product!

Please see our support page for technical support or email natalie@zkad.com

How does Chromakey work!

We have a dedicated page explaining the basics of setting up a chromakey green screen area - please click here.

Do you have any PAL animations?

YES! Well we have one dedicated PAL product. Virtual Studio Sets vol 1 is available in PAL format. Please contact vynny@zkad.com or call for more info. We might be re-rendering other products to PAL soon if this one is a success. Many of our PAL customers use the NTSC versions without issue though - our products have no audio so frame rate sync is not a problem and the difference in resolution can be overcome by zooming into our animations slightly. Our Virtual Studio Set Construction Kits have both NTSC SD and HD resolutions. So PAL users can use the HD animations without any problems. Our dedicated HD product "Virtual Studio Sets HIGH DEFINITION" works with NTSC and PAL.

I need a product sent in a different delivery format to what's offered - BetaSP, SVHS or Umatic for example.

Please email us your desired format before purchase. There may be an extra charge depending on what you want. Note that products with embedded alpha channels such as the Globes Collection or the Visual Overlays cannot be delivered on tape format.

Can I insert my own footage onto the monitors in your Virtual Studio Sets?

Of course. You simply scale down the footage on a new timeline and position it over the monitor(s). Your edit software's manual should explain how to do this usually in the section that covers 'Picture in picture' or overlaying footage. It's easy to do and as soon as you've done it once you'll be able to do it again in a few seconds with a few clicks. With our Virtual Studio Set Construction Kit we supply the monitors with chromakey green so underlaying/overlaying footage is even easier.

Do your Virtual Studio Sets work with Tricaster?

Yes and no. Tricaster needs proprietary VSFX files to work as a live set which we do not supply. These files contain data such as alpha channels, reflection positions, monitor placements and so on. Our Virtual Studio Sets are fully animated, not stills, and so as far as we're aware could never be converted to Tricaster Liveset format whilst retaining their motion. With a Liveset basically you're working with nothing more than pre-rendered jpegs with some extra overlay data and the Tricaster h/w then maps those jpegs to the interior of a 3D box for manipulation live. So whilst our sets can be easily imported into Tricaster and used as backgrounds, you would not have the full feature set options that Tricaster offers when using our sets.

What about Adobe Ultra (originally from Serious Magic)?

At the date of writing Adobe have ceased selling Ultra as part of their CS range of products. Unfortunately Adobe never released an SDK (software development kit) for Ultra which would allow third-party virtual set creators such as ZKad Productions to produce dedicated sets designed specifically for Ultra and thus continue to support the existing purchasers of Ultra. Our virtual studio sets can still be imported as footage but you will not get the feature set such as shadows or easy ways to inset items into video monitors as you do with the virtual sets supplied with the package. We feel this is a shame and Adobe has done a disservice to its customers by not allowing flexibility and choice by releasing an SDK - we recommend that you contact Adobe regarding their decision on this matter.

I need a custom job!

Custom commissions are our business as these clients found out. Please call us +1 610 932 0895 to discuss things further.

How much does it cost to make a 3D logo for me?

Obviously it's tough to say exactly but we have a client showcase page which can be found here which shows the process and the cost. Do please contact us if you'd like a firm price and timeline for your project.

I wish to become a reseller of your products through my brick-and-mortar store and on my website. Can I?

We do have a very exclusive selection of resellers and if you'd like to join them please contact Vynny Ward or call 1 610 932 0895 for more information.

I need a job.

We're fully staffed. You're welcome to send us your resume though.

Gahh, I need to ask something that's not covered here!

Please email general@zkad.com and we'll do our best to help.


ZKad Productions create the best in 3D TV cartoon animation, multi-media, flash, virtual sets, VR sets, javascript for international broadcast.

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