[Quinton Liddle]

Hi Roland,

Thanks so much for your quick and very informative responses. Until now I’ve only used PreComps on a smaller scale so this project seemed a bit overwhelming. But I feel a lot more comfortable with it now – thanks!

Quinton

[Quinton Liddle]

Hi Roland,

Thanks for the quick response.

The next question may seem rather simple, but please bear with me. Thanks by the way – the PreComp’s 3d does work if I switch on Collapse Transformations. What is the best way to do things here – should I have a camera inside of the PreComp as well as in the ‘final comp’, or should I aim to only have one camera active in a specific comp?

What I find complicated about this specific ‘project’ is the fact that I have this film strip which has several ‘blank spaces’ (the frames). If I do create a PreComp and place it below the ‘film strip’ layer, and then switch on Collapse Transformations – then the layers of the PreComp ‘reveal themselves’ as their real size (in other words, if I have a dirty glass-like texture in the PreComp that is scaled up to be larger than its comp, then obviously the ‘excluded’ scaled area of this layer does not reveal itself, but Collapsing Transformations in the ‘final comp’ does then reveal this excluded area). I feel like I’m missing something really simple here. if this is the case, then how do I make use of these 3d layer PreComps in such a way that they still remain ‘tidy’ once I switch on Collapse Transformations in the ‘final comp’. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that once one switches on Collapse Transformations for the 3d layer PreComp, then it’s essentially the same as just having 3d layers inside this ‘final comp’ – almost as if though the only purpose of this PreComp is to keep several layers together? That may sound very obvious, but I was hoping that if I Collapse Transformations in the final comp, then the PreComp would still keep its specific size, but provide me with the capabilities of 3d.

If I’m still making sense, then you I’m sure you know what it is that I’m trying to achieve. Would you suggest a specific way of going about this? I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that I have this film strip that has several blank spaces (the frames), simply separated by a small thin line between each frame. How do I go about keeping these individual images in their individual frames separate from each other; prevent them from overlapping; etc. The only thing I can think of is drawing a mask over each PreComp in the ‘final comp’ that is equal to the size of the specific frame, thereby eliminating the excluded layers that have revealed themselves.

Your help is much appreciated.

Quinton

[Quinton Liddle]

Hi Roland,

Thanks for your reply, it’s much appreciated.

With regards to your statement “Creating PreComps for each photo is a good setup and may be easier for some users to manage.” – what would your other suggested method be? Would it be to simply create these 3d layer comps in the ‘film strip’ comp without the use of PreComps? If so, what would be the best way to go about it, because this is where I find things become a bit messy?

I’ve tried doing it the way you explained it. However, when I do switch on Collapse Transformations for the nested photo comp, I lose my 3d effect. AE views the nested comp as a 2d image. I want to be able to move my camera around in the ‘final comp’ and see the layers inside of the nested comp ‘respond’ – I want to see their depth (the textured image that is pushed forward in Z space should essentially appear to be moving around due to its distance from the desired photo that is pushed back in Z space). I hope I’ve made enough sense.

Thanks.

Quinton