[Ximon Gray]

Could it be a framerate mismatch?

If everything looks good in C4D, then a work-around would be to export those 3D elements as an image sequence with alpha channel. Then bring that into after effects, rather than importing the C4D project file.

[Ximon Gray]

You’re right Cassius, that expression worked! I’m still confused though as to why the behavior has changed… I’ve used God knows how many lens flares in the past and have always gone with the same method (pickwhip expression). I reloaded my project in AE 2014 earlier and the behavior was normal. Ah well, problem solved anyway – thanks!

[Ximon Gray]

You can do it in AE without any plugins.

1) As Ted said, create the animation in 2D and precompose it.

2) Switch the renderer from Classic 3D to Ray-traced 3D (the option is at the top right of the preview window).

3) Enable the 3D switch on the precomp.

4) In the layers panel, click the drop-down arrow for the precomp, and you will see ‘Geometry Options’. Increase curvature and segments accordingly.

5) Add a camera and move it until you get the perspective you want, add depth of field to make it look nice.

[Ximon Gray]

Thank you!

[Ximon Gray]

Fairly simple mate. Just repeat this process for each chat box:

1) Create a composition with your footage.

2) Right click under your footage layer and choose New > Null object. These are invisible, empty layers that are used for storing information.

3) Go to the first frame of your footage, right click on its layer and choose ‘track motion’. You’ll see a small square appear, which is your tracking point. The inner square is the area that will be tracked, and the outer square is the search area. Position it over something static and contrasty (like the corner of a table for example), as near as possible to where you want the chat box to go. Hit the track forwards button in the tracker panel (if you don’t see it then go to the window menu and select it from there). Once it’s tracked all the way through and you’re happy with the result, choose ‘edit target’ in the tracker panel and make sure the null object is selected. Hit apply and okay. The null object now contains your tracking data, and anything you link to it will follow.

4) Import your chat box (or make one in a separate composition using a solid and some text) and then put that above your footage layer. Right click on it and choose ‘3D layer’ if you want to be able to rotate it on the Y axis. Position and rotate it to where you want it to be, then click on the Parent drop-down menu in the layer controls panel and select the null object. The chat box will now follow the tracking data.

5) If something in the scene obstructs the chat box (like the guy sitting at his desk in the reference video) then you’ll need to do some rotoscoping, and I suggest looking for a tutorial on that.

Good luck!

[Ximon Gray]

Nice one Andy! This is the closest I’ve found to what I need, but doesn’t quite have the option I’m looking for. I want all the objects to scale upwards from zero (as if they’re growing from the ground) but with random timing. I know the mograph tools have this function, but all my objects are individual and laid out according to a blue print, so I can’t mess with the positioning. Logical solution in my case would be to spend half an hour moving keyframes around, instead of 5+ hours searching for answers online. But I reckon there must be an easy way of doing this and I’ll have nightmares if I don’t find it. Cheers though!