making a 3d stroke 3d?

[Animalmother]

There seems to be a couple of different ways, none of which is true 3d. I believe that you have to use a mask on a duplicate of the 3d stoke layer. Would love to see a tutorial on this.

[Jason Rouleau]

easy.

If its twirling around a person, animate the stroke so that it twirls. Then dup your original video layer over everything and cut out your actor so as to be on top of the swirl. Then dup your swirl again and mask in the parts where the swirl flies in front of him.

It’ll be long and tedious, but it works

[Ryan777]

When i make a mask on the duplicate 3d stroke layer that mask is affected by the stroke so rather than making a mask to cover it – it creates another unwanted stroke!

If anyone knows any links/tutorials i could look at that might be usefull please let me know!!

Thanks

[Jason Rouleau]

pre-comp the 3d stroke layer

[Ryan777]

ok thanks a lot, will give it a try. I’m new to after effects so still trying to find my way! if you get a chance i would really appreciate a quick step by step through it. I really want to get this to work! Anything you can do would be great.

[Jason Rouleau]

Ok, well I’m going to try and make this as visual as possible.

A = original video layer with your actor.

B = layer with your 3D stroke applied to it. Pre-comp it as well (have the 3d layer in its own composition)

Here is what the timeline should look like

B — 3d stroke layer, BUT you apply a mask on the parts that SHOULD be in front of the actor. THat way you will bits flying in front and others that dissapear behind him.
A — Original Video Clip but with your actor rotoscoped out. Basically he will appear ON TOP of the 3d stroke
B — your full 3d stroke
A — Original video clip with no alterations

I know there is a 3d ribbon tutorial around here somewhere. You might want to check it out, they might have a different approach than mine.

[Ryan777]

Thanks so much, believe this will really help – will have to wait and see, it sounds like quite a process, but will do all I can to get it right. Thanks for your time (Wow, I have SO much to learn!!)

[Ryan777]

sorry, it’s my again

When i make a mask on the 3d stroke layer which is the top layer in the timeline that mask is affected by the stroke so rather than making a mask to cover unwanted parts – it creates another unwanted stroke!

How should i go about it?

[Jason Rouleau]

Did you put the layer with the 3d stroke in a pre-comp?

[Kathlyn Lindeboom]

[Jason Rouleau] “I know there is a 3d ribbon tutorial around here somewhere.”

We have this one:
https://www.creativecow.net/articles/langley_david/3d_ribbon_text/index.html

It’s not exactly a ribbon, but it might help. Click on the After Effects COW banner above to find all of the tutorials.

Kathlyn Lindeboom
The Mistress of Mmmooooo!