-
Collapse TRansformations
Hey all,
So I’m totally befuddled by collapse tranformations and 3d.
If you take a group of 3d layers and precomp them they won’t look right until you collapse transformations.
If you take a comp of 3d layers and nest it in another comp and toggle collapse transformations they loose their 3d transform settings.
This is very annoying especially when you have vector images that you can’t continually rasterize without knocking them completely out of whack in 3d space.
Shouldn’t collapse transform behave consistently regardless of whether a group of 3d objects was created in the comp or nested from another comp?
This may sound confusing so please ask if you want me to clarify on something. Thanks for your time,
Yussef
-
2 Replies
-
This behavior is correct. It may be hard to understand why at first, so it helps to know about the rendering order used in After Effects and what Collapse Transformations really does.
First, remember that for AE, 3D space all takes place on 2D planes. The popular term is “postcards in space”. When you pre-comp 3D layers, that comp becomes a flat postcard inside the 3D space of the master comp. If you now rotate or move the pre-comped layer in 3D, the 3D perspective of the layers inside the pre-comp will be lost.
What happens with pre-comps is that AE renders everything inside a pre-comp before it renders the pre-comp with the rest of the master comp.
That is, of course, unless you have the Collapse Transformations (aka Continuously Rasterize) switch turned on. The CT pulls the layers in the pre-comp out and renders them with the rest of the layers in the master comp. This means, among other things, that 3D layers in the pre-comp can interact in 3D space in the master comp.
In your particular case, Yussef, it’s hard to say what the solution is without looking at your comps and the order you’re using. But if you have vector art that you want to continuously rasterize but also need to pre-comp in 3D space, you should just need to turn on the CT switch for the layers in the pre-comp, and then the CT switch for the pre-comp itself in the master comp.
Also, keep in mind that when you pre-comp, choosing the “move attributes” or “leave attributes” options are going to have a big effect on how the layers behave.
-
Thanks, that definitely helps.
I think it’s really a matter of paying attention to how you organize your comps. So I’ll work on that, but the explanation helps.
Thanks,
Yussef
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up