Z Space Distribution with Photoshop Layers

[Richard Harrington]

Yo can of course do this manually… but automated… no

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and ATS:iWork

[Todd Kopriva]

See the comment at the bottom of the “Preparing and importing Photoshop files” page of After Effects Help for a link to a script from Paul Tuersley that does this.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Nicholas Bierzonski]

Thanks for the reply!

To do this manually I would have to move the object in Z space then scale the object up to fill the screen. Correct? I have multiple layers that I want to appear in 3D space during a camera zoom. When the camera reaches it’s final position the layers need to appear as a flat poster.

I found a motion 3 tutorial that does what I’m trying to do.

Ken Stone Motion 3 Tutorial:
Click on Motion then
– Animating Photoshop Layers in Z-Space (Movie) – by Mark Spencer
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html

Is it possible to do this in After Effects without the Zaxwerks plugin? Is there a tutorial you could point me to that would help?

Thanks!

-Nicholas Bierzonski
Senior Editor/DVD Author/Java Boy
http://www.finalfocusvideo.com

[Nicholas Bierzonski]

Thanks for your help. I managed to find combination solution. I probably will end up buying that plugin anyway. It makes some complex After Effect moves quick and easy.

-Nicholas Bierzonski
Senior Editor/DVD Author/Java Boy
http://www.finalfocusvideo.com

[Jason Brown]

The best way I’ve found to do this is import the layered PSD you are animating (in my case, anyway) and make sure you import it as COMP SIZE…this places the anchor point at the exact same place on all layers…then distribute in Z space and scale to fill screen.

That is the best workaround besides buying the Zakwerks plugin.

[Josh Sliffe]

hey their definitly is a script to do what your talking about.. to be able to push things back in z space but as you do they automatically scale up to keep perfect perspective.

Lemme know if your still needing this and i’ll give it to ya.

[Jason Brown]

I purchased Layer Tools from Zaxwerks a couple months ago…it makes SHORT WORK of this process…it’s amazing. There are other options inside of it to do many other things I haven’t explored. it is WAY worth the price of the plug-in.

-Jason