Well setting the board layer on top of the sword would hide the sword completely, but I think I just came up with a solution. If I use a photo of the board as a clean slate I could duplicate it and cut it in half and vertically slide the sword underneath the bottom half of the board. What about the angel and the blue mist that follows the sword on its descent?
I understand 3d layers in After Effects, but I’m not sure how he got the sword to go through the layer. Which positions do I keyframe? Also, the 3d pods and angel I have still not been able to figure out.