Adding depth to objects and/or text?

[Michael Ricks]

Check out the tutorials about the ShapeExtruder at https://maltaannon.com/

And for the sphere, there’s CC Sphere.

Zaxwerks would do everything you’re asking, but you’d have to pay for that plugin.

[Curious Turtle]

Hi Aza

After Effects isn’t a 3D application. People like to think of it as “2.5D”, meaning you can move layers around in Z-space but all the layers are infinitely thin.

Give Zaxwerks a look, if you want 3D objects.

Or if you just want to do extruded text you can cheat it, if you own After Effects CS3 that is. Here is a good tutorial to get you going with that.

All the best,
Ben

Curious Turtle Professional Video
Training | Editing |Support

http://www.curiousturtle.com

[Aza Allen]

Well, I can hopefully upgrade to CS3 soon, but I have AE7, can I still do anything there?

Make sure to check out my Heroes Fan Film at http://www.myspace.com/ruesterprod

[Curious Turtle]

Depending on how you bought AE7, you may have a copy of Zaxwerks Invigorator rattling around in the box.

It didn’t get included in the upgrade, but if memory serves, there was a bundled copy with the full retail edition. Don’t quote me on that one though :o)

Otherwise check this tutorialout. In fact, I think there’s a few ideas for different looks in the main After Effects tutorial section.

Good luck with your project,
Ben

Curious Turtle Professional Video
Training | Editing |Support

http://www.curiousturtle.com

[Joe Moya]

You can also use “Blender” to create 3D text… but, the learning curve is a bit steap and the work flow for file transfer isn’t as simple and easy to use as Zackworks… but, Blender is Free and a rather powerful 3D application.

Joe

[Darby Edelen]

[Ben Heusner] “Or if you just want to do extruded text you can cheat it, if you own After Effects CS3 that is.”

You do not need CS3 to cheat it. I have extruded/created 3D versions of everything from text, to graph charts, to simple vegetation, desk lamps and car engines in AE since I started using it in 6.5.

There is a common misconception that duplicating layers and offsetting them in space is ‘cluttered’ or ‘inefficient’ when in reality it can be done very elegantly and efficiently.

First you’ll need a pre-comp with the item you want to extrude in it, make sure that all options you want for the extruded object are set on this layer (i.e. motion blur, accepts lights, accepts shadows, etc.) and that the layer is a 3D layer. We’ll call this our ‘Source’ comp.

Next drag our Source comp onto the new comp button in the project panel to create a new comp with the Source comp inside it as a layer. Enable ‘Collapse Transformations’ on the Source comp layer and make it a 3D layer. Apply this expression to the position property of the Source layer:


offset = 1;
x = value[0];
y = value[1];
z = (index - 1) * offset;
[x,y,z];


This just allows us to offset the layers dynamically based on the number of layers in the composition. Now duplicate the Source comp layer until you have extruded your object as much as you want. We now have what I will call our ‘Object’ comp.

Drag the Object comp into your final composition, enable ‘Collapse Transformations’ on it and make it a 3D layer.

You now have a fully ‘extruded’ ‘3D’ object that resides in a single layer. You can re-use this Object comp as many times as you like. It responds to lights and cameras and can be moved and rotated in three dimensions.

In one of the most recent projects I used this technique on I started with a single image of a rifle… In my Source comp I created 2 instances of the rifle and animated them to be a pair of legs walking… When I was done, using the above technique, I had over 48 pairs of ‘legs’ (guns) marching in formation… all using a single layer as the source. AE is not capable of creating complex 3D shapes, but it is very flexible with its implemenation of ‘3D.’

Darby Edelen
Lead Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA