How can I Shattering a 3D object?

[Tristen]

Ok, if I can’t do it directly what about indirectly like…

Would it be possible if I kept the camera still, say below the glass and watch the text fly up and break the glass?

Or hide the glass, take a snap-shot of the background + the other text objects. Then put the ‘fake’ 3d image behid a 2d glass and fly the moving text into the glass?

Or some way to modify the scene so that I can get ~90% of what I’m looking for? I’m trying to show that something has broken a barrier – a glass ceiling of sorts.

– Tristen.

[David Bogie]

After Effects is, at its core, a 3D wannabe. Everything in AE is utterly flat 2D but the flat layers can be presented in a 3d space. We call it “sheets hanging in a garage.”

yes, the effect you are looking for can be faked. Create layers that contain small numbers of falling glass and place them at various angles to the camera. But the illusion is easily compromised if any of the glass shards turn an edge to the camera or passes through another layer. They will not physically interact with other objects.

These kinds of projects need to be stylized to fit the available resources. For instance, mavbe you need to move the camera faster so the falling glass doesn’t have a chance to appear in its true 2d self. You could then look down and see the shards falling away down into the gravity well. Shatter does this quite nicely.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”