3D in aftereffects

[Al]

you can’t get a zdepth extrude like flint, but there is a plugin Zaxwerks (sp?) that does something of the kind…

[Reloaded]

Yeah, he right, Invigorator from Zaxerks, here is the link https://zaxwerks.com/invigorator_pro/index.shtml
I hope it helps.

[Al]

‘she’ right even 😉

[Reloaded]

OK, you are a girl. Cool.
Sorry about the “he”.

Big hugs from Brazil.

[Mike Clasby]

Actually there are two AE cheats, one with Shatter and one by stacking layers in Z space.

1) Shatter for depth tut here:

Click on Roland Kahlenberg’s head above and scroll down to, Adding Z-Depth to Your Logo.

2) You can do it pretty well with just dupping the layers and separating them in 3D z space. Pretty good refers to not lingering in the dead edge-on because the edge is a little fuzzy there, it’s not as bad as it sounds and can be made Really Pretty Good by tinting the middle layers Black or another solid color , easy to do, quick to see if you like.

Make your layer 3D.

Add this expression to the position of your ai layer:

position+[0,0,(index-1)*1]

This just tell the layer to separate itself 1 pixel in the z direction from the layer above, so when we dup them they arrange themselves like a real thick sandwich.

Dup it three times.

If you want a different color for the side, apply the Render > Tint to it (choose your color).

Now dup the layer as many times as you want it pixels thick.

So 10 layers = 10 pixels thick.

Add a camera (at the bottom) and fly around or rotate your letter in 3D, just don’t linger too long on that edge, not as bid a problem as it sounds.

If you want to get fancy you can tie the “1” (last one in the expression) to a slider and bunch them up closer than 1 pixel.

[Mike Clasby]

Oh, yeah, if your using ai files don’t forget the Continuously Raterize switch (like a little sun) and Advanced 3D for the Comp (in comp settings>Advanced).