• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  Point on 2D plane, to point in 3D space

  Posted by Edwin Van den akker on November 9, 2018 at 10:50 am

  I have been struggling with this one for a while:

  I have a 2D image, a map of Europe. I want to have a point on that map to become a 3D point of interest in my comp.
  I have placed the 2D map in my composition but don’t know how to go from there.

  What I know is:
  – a point, on my 2D image
  – the position, anchor and rotation of my 2D map in 3D space.
  – dimensions of my composition

  What I try to find an expression for:
  – convert this 2D point on the map to a 3D position
  – convert the 3D point to the 2D screen position

  To be able to adjust:
  – a null, representing the Point Of Interest for a camera.
  – a 2D adjustment layer to create a vignette around the point of interest

  Figuring this one out is giving me a headache!
  Any thoughts?

  Alex Printz replied 7 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Kalleheikki Kannisto

  November 9, 2018 at 12:43 pm

  My thought is that if you turn the 2D layer into a 3D layer you don’t need any expressions other than the one that links the point of interest to the null. As long as you keep the POI null on the 2D plane, not moving it along the z axis, it should work nicely that way.

  Kalleheikki Kannisto
  Senior Graphic Designer
• 

  Alex Printz

  November 9, 2018 at 4:23 pm

  Agreed with Kallehikki, 2D should only be used for some necessary effects, and the 3D layer should be clamped down to your map, and scripts should be pulling the 3D data to the 2D null and the camera. You should not be pushing 2D data back to the 3D null.

  Since there was too many steps/scripts to try and instruct, I just build a demo version for how I would do this.

  12881_mapparentedcamera.aep.zip

  Alex Printz
  Mograph Designer

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