[Maha Mohtaseb]

Thank you for that, Dave, this is definitely what’s going on. Interesting, I didn’t know such a thing existed, but makes perfect sense- too I often I just copy/paste key frames instead toggle holding. Good to know.

[Maha Mohtaseb]

Hi Peter,
I found Echospace was no more of a time saver than manually duplicating the text layer several times in the precomp and spacing each duplicate 2.5 apart in Z then collapsing the precomp back in the main.

But on a side note, I was pretty amazed by Echospace.. Great plugin.

Maha

[Maha Mohtaseb]

Hi Peter,

Yes after enabling “Match Pos Z to Comp” interaction is accurate, thanks for that. Unforturnately, I’ve been reading up a bit on Boris’ 3D Objects, and as you’ve mentioned, there is no way for proper intersection. That’s too big a drawback for this project I think, as the camera is rotating around the scene.

Have you used Trapcode’s Echospace? Not sure if this’ll work, but I’ll try and post the results-
I’m thinking to precomp my text layer that I want extruded, use Echospace within the precomp, move the instances backward in Z-space, and then “collapse” the precomp back in the main Comp.

Any other suggestions are appreciated!

[Maha Mohtaseb]

In order for the camera to read the correct depths, do not use masks on layers in your main NOR in your collapsed precomp’s layers. This shouldn’t be an issue because you can just pre-precomp the masked layer in the precomp. Also make sure:

-in your main comp, there are absolutely no effects applied to any 3d layer. ANY 3d layer with effects needs to be precomped
-also, all of the layers within your collapsed 3d precomp must be 3d. And, again have no effects applied (again, just pre-precomp layers with effects or masks).
-all of your 3d layers in the main should should be consecutive order in the timeline, meaning if you have a 2d adjustment layer and 2d solid layer, the adjustment needs to be at the very top of your timeline, and the solid at the very bottom of your timeline- never sandwiched between 3d layers

[Maha Mohtaseb]

Thanks to all for the helpful replies!

The main reason I tried out NP3 was because I can’t use multiprocess because of ram. But as far as AE/C4d, how much faster does the workflow become if I upgraded to 8 gb? Im on 4gb now, it’s pretty slow and crashes often (the main reason I tried out NP3).. Will the crashes stop? And is there a limit as to how much ram a computer can take?
Thanks.

[Maha Mohtaseb]

This used to kill me.. Hope this helps!

do not parent any 3d layers. either do without parenting or precompose the children and parent layers and collapse transformations of that precomp

another solution, in your active camera’s settings, turn on “enable depth of field”. and set blur level to any number over 20. makes no sense, but who cares, it works!

[Maha Mohtaseb]

Thank you, that worked 🙂 I had openGL turned off in AE Prefs but checked on in the render settings window

[Maha Mohtaseb]

Hi Dave,
Yea I’ve got openGL on. I’ll try turning off and exporting- I’ll post the results..
Thanks for your help!
Maha

[Maha Mohtaseb]

I know you can have them open at the same time but I don’t think it’s a good idea.. Mine went really slow with both.. Try going to AE preferences>Memory & multi processing to see how much ram is reserved for other apps.
and also you can open Activity Monitor in mac utilities, to see whats happening with your computer when both are running.
Best bet is probably just to transfer your cs5 plugins to your cs5.5.
Good luck!