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AE 3D extrusion of text and images with expressions Quicky Tutorial
I was looking for away to make a full 3D extrusion without a 3D modeling program. Here’s a real quick way using expressions. You can use this for any 2d images but I’m going to use text for this example.
Create a new comp
TOP LAYER
Create a new text layer titled TOP
For the source text expression type whatever word you want to extrude with quotes… “EXAMPLE”
Make the layer three dimensional
Make sure the anchor point is centered on the layerBOTTOM LAYER
Duplicate TOP and rename it BOTTOM. Use the Pickwhip to connect the Source text, Position, X Y Z Rotation and Anchor Point to their TOP counterparts.Edit the Anchor Position’s Expression.
Replace Layer(“TOP”) with Layer(index – 1). This will make the make the layer look at the layer above it to find it’s anchor point.
At the end of the expression add: – [0,0,.5]. This will move the layer .5 pixels backwards from the layer above it.FILLER LAYERS
Duplicate the BOTTOM layer and rename it FILLER. Make sure it is between the TOP and BOTTOM layer. This layer will be duplicated to fill the space between the front and the back layer.
Adjust its color or darken it using brightness contrast. This is will mimic some sort of shading for the depth of the text.The layers are two dimensional in a 3D field. When you look at the text directly from the side they disappear. To fix this we add a wiggler expression to the orientation of the FILLER layer. WIGGLE(100, .02) Now the layers will never be directly perpendicular to the camara.
Duplicate the FILLER layer to extrude the text. Five duplicates is a good thickness and doesn’t take much time to render.
FINISHED
Adjust the rotation on the TOP layer to view it in all of it’s 3D greatness. Feel free to move it around or change the source text. Delete or add filler layers to desired thickness.FINAL NOTE
The problem is that there is no shading. You can’t add a light because the 3D image will turn black if viewed from the side. A possible solution to create a little more shading would be to add some sort of gradient to the FILLER layer. I haven’t toyed around with that though.I figuared this out last night and wrote it this morning by memory. Let me know if I forgot something or if you have other ways to improve it or if my technique is pointless because their is an easier way that I missed.
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4 Replies
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I believe you can use the shatter effect to fairly good reults aswell – treats it like a proper 3D object for lights, etc. Can’t remember the details, but I found the tutorial on here somewhere..Have a look around and see if you can find it.
If I find the link I’ll post it here.
*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
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Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation -
Hi
[jimmybee500] “I believe you can use the shatter effect to fairly good reults aswell”7th. tutorial https://www.xtreme-is-back.com/tutorials_speffects.html
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I like it.
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That’s the one! Very useful that. I think I’ll still save up from Pro Animator though, it’s a no-brainer by the sounds of it, for what I’m going to use a 3D app for it’s cheap as chips.
*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
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Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation
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