stencil alpha with 3d layer

[Darby Edelen]

I’m almost positive I’ve used stencil and sillhouette on 3D layers before… Are the 3D layers you’re applying these blending modes to closer to the camera than the other layers in your composition?

Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA

[Mihai Wilson]

Yes, the layer with the stencil alpha blend mode is closer to the camera than the layer it is supposed to stencil. The blending mode works if the the layer with it applied is not 3d and the layers it is stenciling are, but once the stenciled layer is turned to 3d the effect stops working… am I missing something?

[Tylor Larson]

i have had this same problem. here is about the only way around it, that i know of. I would just Precomp where i could to get the matte right and then deal with the 3d part in the final comp.

cheers,
Lowtech

[Mihai Wilson]

Rats — precomping doesnt work for me either. I want to flatten transforms on the precomp(using vector masks in it). Since AE lumps this together with precomp 3d I guess it aint going to work. (as then the layers in the precomp need to be 3d which defeats the purpose. huh.

[Raymond Miller]

Did you guys ever figure this out? Because I am having the same problem.

[Mihai Wilson]

nope.

[Kalleheikki Kannisto]

Appears you have to precomp and pre-render the 3D layer including camera animation and use the rendered 2D layer instead. Makes it difficult to previsualize what you are doing, and not a very flexible approach to say the least.

[Darby Edelen]

1. Pre-compose the 3D layer you want to use with Stencil Alpha. Choose to leave all attributes in the parent comp.

2. Go inside the pre-comp and enable 3D on the layer.

3. Enable collapse transformations on the pre-comp and apply any effect to the pre-comp (a blur, for example, with zero radius, or a levels effect without changing any values), this will allow you to choose a blend mode for the (partially) collapsed pre-comp.

4. Make sure the pre-comp’s blend mode is set to Stencil Alpha.

Here’s an example:

9143_3dstencilalpha.aep.zip

Darby Edelen

[Raymond Miller]

I actually just figured out another approach. Try using the shatter effect. Since it has 3D properties built in. I am using a spinning letter and that seems to have worked pretty well so far.

Hope this helps.