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3d models in AE…not sure of myself
I just want to be absolutely sure of what I’m getting into here.
I currently have a job that requires a spaceship flying through space. I want to purchase a 3d model off one of those 3d library websites.
I want to animate that in After Effects, emulating some of the classic movie shots etc. (IE ship passing over head then off into distance)What do I need to keep in mind to do this? Do I need to purchase invigorator? Or will AE happily do it on its own?
I have AE 6.5.Anything I am missing? I really don’t want to end up the creek without a paddle.
Thanks in advance.
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6 Replies
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spaceman suggests seamus does his 3d work in a 3d app and
comps the result in afx. -
Hi,
AE does not natively handle 3D objects so you would, at the very minimum, need something like Invigorator to handle the 3D object. In your case, I assume you’d need to get the pro version as this can open .obj files from 3D modeling programs whereas the classic version can only open Illustrator path files.
That said, as Spaceman writes, you are probably better off working in a full 3D environment if you are going to do anything really sophisticated. Of course 3D programs are a bit more mindbendingly difficult than AE. If you’ve never used one, I recommend Blender (www.blender.org) It’s available for all major platforms and can do some fairly sophisticated work. And it’s free. The user interface is a bit whacky, but for the price, you can’t beat it.
If you’d like to spend a lot of money, Maya is very good, but the learning curve is quite steep. Once you learn it, it’s a lot easier to use than blender, but until then, it’s a huge headache.
But if all you are going to do is have the rocket pass overhead and move around the screen a bit, then Invigorator might be just the ticket. It too can get fairly complex, but for a lot of basic 3D tasks, it gives you the control you need without cluttering up your life with details you don’t need to worry about. If this is a project you need to work on soon, Invigorator will get you up and running quickly.
Hope this helps more than it confuses.
Lars
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Thankyou for your detailed response Lars. Thats good news. I am up against it with time. And little bit worried that I promised the world but can’t deliver. I want to keep it simple. Literally a few shots of a ship miving along a straight path in a 3d space. I can make do without complex lighting etc. I just need to move a 3d ship.
So I’m off to buy invigorator pro!One more question, which of the 3d formats would you recommend I hunt out for the spaceship? Which is the most stable and reliable with its integration into invigorator?
Thanks for your help.
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Hi Seamus.
I may be able to help you out, send me your email adress and I’ll pm you. http://www.stevenwheeler@blueyonder.co.uk
Steve.
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Never promise to do something you haven’t already done.
Experimenting on the clients dime is frowned upon, and it makes you work slower too.I should invest in a paddle factory.
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sorry don’t agree.
If that was the case nothing ever gets any better. Experimenting on any level of a creative process is a must in my opinion. I don’t ‘experiment on their time’, but if its in my budget to look at a few ways to expand what I have to ofer then great. If you communicate to the client well all the way through then setbacks are easily overcome. And they don’t freak out.I might have overstated slightly that I ‘promised the world’ said more out of frustration, but there you go, I’ll now just have to find a guy to animate a lightwave spaceship.
(I tested invigorator with a simple 3d UFO which worked beautifully, but the model that we bought didn’t work)
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