3ds Max and AE

[Kevin Camp]

not exactly… you can import 3d objects into photoshop extended and create a 3d object layer that can be brought into ae and ‘animated’ to some degree… all the lighting has to be set in photoshop and cannot be modified in after effects… but you can manipulate the object in ae (liek rotate, position, etc.), or fly a camera around it..

see this in the manual for more:

https://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS510B8F17-8644-43ce-977F-96784840A64B.html

or you can use a normal pass with a multipass render and ‘relight’ it to some degree… shadows won’t react to this, but highlights, light color and such will. videocopilot.net has a tutorial on this method:

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/scene_re-lighting/

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kirk Brady]

Thanks, Kevin. I want to import a 3D jet model into AE and fly it across the sky. I have no 3ds max skills at this point and wondered if AE CS5 could do a straight import with some tweaking of the model lighting (I am on CS3). I will check VideoCopilot as you suggested.

Kirk

[Kirk Brady]

I should have said the jet is a low-flying fighter — altitude 100 feet.

Kirk

[Kevin Camp]

[Dave LaRonde] “Turn on Motion Blur. See the result.”

yep, motion blur may reduce the need for precision…

also, the videocopilot solution does require a render, so you would need to do the animation in 3ds (or other 3d software that will render a normal-map) and you will need to know how to set it up to do a multipass render.

in short, you’ll need to know a bit about 3ds to do this.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kirk Brady]

Thanks guys. I could be guilty of over-engineering a little. A photo and motion blur sounds good.

Kirk

[Todd Kopriva]

> motion blur may reduce the need for precision…

Truer words have never been written.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Joseph W. bourke]

Yup –

The only thing you’ll see of a jet fighter flying over at 100 feet is your hair blowing in the wind.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Maybe I’m a bit late in responding to this one, but yes you can. I just did that with a project recently (link below) and I used Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro. You can link the 3d object to a regular 3d layer in AE- thus you get all the familiar controls for animation. You can use AE lights or Invigorator lights (I used the latter) to light your model. You can texture the model in Invigorator. I was really happy with the results- even if I would have liked to have a bit more time to play with some details.
https://reels.creativecow.net/film/jwc-intro-3d-in-ae

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Kirk Brady]

Ted,

This is exactly what I was hoping for. I have other 3D model shots that require banking that even from a distance you can’t pull off with a 2D photo. Plus some model banking helicopter shots as well.

I read a blurb for Nuke that said it could import 3D models for all kinds of VFX work inside Nuke, but the $5000 price tag on top of the many, many other apps I need was too daunting.

Thanks!
Kirk

Kirk

[Mathew Kaustinen]

Kirk,

Another option worth considering is MAX2AE. Create (and render) your animation in MAX and then bring the layer, camera and light movement into AE.

Cheers,

Mathew Kaustinen
Boomer Labs
http://www.boomerlabs.com