problems with precomps and 3d?

[Jon Geddes]

Make sure your precomp that has collapse transformations turned on is not a 3D layer.

Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com

[Jason W. miltt]

actually they are 3d but now if i switch them off all my scene changes its position.

How does this work?

I have
comp >> precomp >> precomp >> precomp

Do I have to turn on collapse transformations on the first 3 but make them 2d?

Is there a way to make them 2d but maintain the position?

Thanks.

[Jon Geddes]

Think of it this way, when you turn on collapse transformations, the layers in your precomp act as if they are in your parent comp. If you are familiar with Photoshop, the precomp would act as a Layer Group.

So you wouldn’t want to move around the position of the precomp, you would want to move around the position of the layers INSIDE the precomp.

If you’ve ever used the shatter effect or a particle plugin, you know that the layer with the effect applied to it doesn’t move, since it only changes the area in which the effect is visible, not where the element is in 3D space (does that make sense?).

Since you are nesting a bunch of precomps, all the precomps with collapse transformations applied should be 2D or else you will get undesirable results. So on your furthest nested precomp where your actual elements reside is where you should be moving them.

If you have made changes to your camera in the main comp, you can cut/paste your layer(s) from the bottom precomp into the main, make all the position adjustments, then cut/paste it back into the nested precomp. Or you could always use an alternate camera view in the nested comp… it really depends on your project.

Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com

[Jason W. miltt]

Now it is clear. Thank you so much.

[John Hammond]

Thanks, that was a good explaination. I wouldn’t call myself a newbie but the collapse transformation button sometimes eludes me!

Another tip: If you have a camera in a main comp and a camera in a precomp, but want them to always move together and stay synced, link their parameters with a simple expression.

John