3D compositing question

Adobe After Effects

3D compositing question

Posted by Malcolm Desoto on February 7, 2011 at 9:06 pm

Let’s say you’ve got a comp with a 3D camera and a bunch of 3D layers and you’re animating the camera and the layers as you go.

As you add in new 2D layers and make them 3D to integrate them into the comp, AE throws them back to the begging of the composition where your camera started.

This makes you zoom way out and drag the layer into view. To avoid this, sometimes I just duplicate a layer already in view, and then Alt + drag and drop to replace the duplicated layer with the one I’m bringing into the comp.

I’m just wondering if there’s a way to drop new layers into the comp and have them stay in the comp, relative to your active camera.

Sorry if the answer to this is somewhere in the manual, I’ve looked.

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” –Albert Einstein

Walter Soyka replied 15 years, 6 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Tudor “ted” jelescu
February 7, 2011 at 9:56 pm

I don’t think that it is possible- like any 3d system, objects or layers are brought in the 3d space at the centre, the reference point. Your solution, duplicating a layer and Alt + drag is the way to do it.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist
Walter Soyka
February 7, 2011 at 10:06 pm

[malcolm DeSoto] “I’m just wondering if there’s a way to drop new layers into the comp and have them stay in the comp, relative to your active camera. “

I had to hunt for this one. I knew the keyboard shortcut, but I had no idea where to find it in the manual.

From 3D object layers from Photoshop [link] (please note it works on regular 3D layers as well):

To move selected layers so that their anchor points are at the center in the current view, choose Layer > Transform > Center In View or press Ctrl+Home (Windows) or Command+Home (Mac OS). This command is especially useful for bringing a 3D object layer into the appropriate part of a scene.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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Todd Kopriva
February 7, 2011 at 10:18 pm

Walter, here are a couple of other places where that command is provided and described:
“Move layers in space”
“Modifying layer properties (keyboard shortcuts)”

I thought that the original quesiton was about the fact that layers were created so that they began at the beginning of the composition (in time). If that’s the original question, then there are several answers on this page, including the Create Layers At Composition Start Time preference and instructions for dragging footage items to various places and how the different places caused different behaviors regarding layer placement in time and space.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Malcolm Desoto
February 7, 2011 at 10:39 pm

Thanks Walter! I think that’s what I’m looking for.

Sorry for any confusion. I’m not trying to place a layer in ‘time’ but in 3d space.

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” –Albert Einstein
Walter Soyka
February 7, 2011 at 11:20 pm

Thanks, Todd! I had found it on the “Move layers in space” page, too, but I think that extra sentence about 3D placement from the “Photoshop 3D” page is very useful, and would be a good addition to the “Move layers in space” page.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
Todd Kopriva
February 7, 2011 at 11:27 pm

> … but I think that extra sentence about 3D placement from the “Photoshop 3D” page is very useful, and would be a good addition to the “Move layers in space” page.

Good feedback.

I’m no longer responsible for the After Effects documentation, so telling me doesn’t help much. The best way to make a suggestion regarding a fix/addition/tweak to Help is to add a comment on the respective page of the Help document.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————
Walter Soyka
February 7, 2011 at 11:54 pm

[Todd Kopriva] “The best way to make a suggestion regarding a fix/addition/tweak to Help is to add a comment on the respective page of the Help document.”

Done. Thanks, Todd.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

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