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PreComp to Smart Object in Photoshop
Backstory. I created a 3D watch, and exported 3D data for the screen. In AE, all is imported. The 3D Screen Layer is a precomp (for ease to swap screens). How can I export the COMP to Photoshop layers and convert the Precomp to a Smart Object (in that perspective)?
Right now I just kick out the shape layer and do corner pins in photoshop. But I don’t want to do it if there are hundreds of angles.
I hope I explained that correctly 🤣
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4 Replies
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It sounds like your process is backwards. You should be creating a multilayer PSD file and then importing that as a comp when you bring it into AE. Your layers in Photoshop will be maintained as layers in the AE comp. If you edit the PSD, simply reload the footage. If you turn on the 3D switch for the comp and layers, you can transform the comp in 3D space. There shouldn’t be a need to do any corner pinning. Unless I’m not understanding something about what you’re trying to do.
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The final step should be photoshop (print) and the ability to swap screens via the smart object.
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Eek, I’ve not used Smart Layers in Photoshop before but I think you’ll need a middle step. Export out just the element to be replaced as well as the completed watch. Then you can use that element for its shape and alpha channel, which I presume you need for smart layers.
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I understand why you might want to structure the workflow this way, but unfortunately there’s no built-in way to get Ae to write out a 3D layer as a transformed 2D Photoshop smart object.
I guess you could write a pair of scripts for this — one for Ae to extract the 3D points in 2D space, and then a second in Photoshop to apply them to a smart object’s transform.
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