[Davide Mitidieri]

The map is going to move and rotate, so a 3D flat path would be enough. Furthermore, the path is going to track mountain footpaths, so the altitude can vary a lot and a flat path would not be suitable for that purpose…

However, I didn’t understand the shape/mask vertices in 3D…. is it possible to create a 3D mask of a layer? In that case, would be possible to apply the effect “Generate > Stroke”?

[Davide Mitidieri]

The map is going to move and rotate, so a 3D flat path would be enough. Furthermore, the path is going to track mountain footpaths, so the altitude can vary a lot and a flat path would not be suitable for that purpose…

[Davide Mitidieri]

Ok it works, thanks a lot!

However, what if I’m working with a string made of 2 numbers, separated by “:”? (I’m making a chronometer)

I’ve tried to edit your expression, but it seems a bit harder, and I’m not used to work with After Effects expressions.

Thanks in advice

[Davide Mitidieri]

1) The map can rotate, so the view constantly changese, but the camera stays in a fixed position.

2) The problem is that as soon as the beam is set as a 2D object, also all the other 3D objects (such as other labels, etc.) stop casting shadows… not only the label attached to the beam. I can’t get why it happens…

[Davide Mitidieri]

Ok, I fixed the problem with this expression:
m = thisComp.layer("Label");
m.toComp(m.anchorPoint);
Where “Label” is the shape containing the rectangle.

However, now I have one last problem. I set the beam as a 2D layer, otherwise it was overlapping the map, as you see in this picture: (the white line should track the red path)

https://oi65.tinypic.com/23tphys.jpg

However, it seems that if there is a 2D object, all the other 3D objects are not casting shadows anymore… how can I fix this?
1) Keeping the beam layer in 2D, how can I manage to keep the other layers casting shadows?
2) Converting the beam layer to a 3D object, how can I avoid overlapping with the map?

Thanks in advice.

[Davide Mitidieri]

P.S.: my rectangle is following a mask path through another layer (“track layer”) in which I pasted the mask path properties. The expression of the start point of the beam is linked to the track layer, and it works fine. Instead, I have problems with the rectangle. The end point of the beam seems to be fixed during the animation (see the red circle marked in the preovius screenshot), while the rectangle moves following the track layer.

[Davide Mitidieri]

I tryed in a new comp and it worked. However, my rectangle is following a mask path… and I don’w know why, but when I link the expression of the end point to the rectangle position (which has the anchor point to the lower right corner), the beam end point doesn’t attach to it, but goes away to a strange position out of the screen… what’s going wrong?

https://i68.tinypic.com/qoymwo.png