+ A0005 - How to control 3D layers in After Effects CS3? +
Instructor - Pradeep Mamgain
+ 3D +
In this tutorial we will talk about the 3D Environment in After Effects CS3. We will start by looking at the Fast Preview options and understand OpenGL.
Lets get started; we will start with preview modes.+ Preview Modes +
Adaptive Resolution & OpenGL
Download the project and open “Understanding 3D Environment.aep” AE project file.
Double Click on the 01 – Jungle comp to open it, if it is already not open. Click on the Fast Preview button at the bottom of the comp window and there we have several options for controlling how the comp window is being redrawn when you scrub the time slider in Layers panel. If you are on Mac side, you might not see the OpenGL options, as currently Adobe is not supporting OpenGL on Mac. Click on the Fast Previews Preferences to open the preferences settings for Fast Previews.
AE will open up the preferences dialogue box with Previews options selected. Default Adaptive Resolution limit is set to ¼. Adaptive Resolution decreases the preview resolution when necessary to maintain the speed of updating during interactions or editing. Two more options are ½ and 1/8, set the Limit according to machine capabilities you have.
Enable OpenGL check box, this will be in disabled state if your system has no Graphic Card installed. Visit Adobe website to see a list of Graphic Cards that AE supports. OpenGL provides high-quality previews that required less rendering time. OpenGL features rely on the kind of video hardware installed in your machine.
Click on the OpenGL Info button to see what features your Video Card is supporting. A new window pops up in which you can see the Name of the Vendor, Renderer (Specifications of the Card) and Version of OpenGL that card supports. Below this info you can set the Amount of Texture Memory. This memory is used to display the textures well. In my case you can see that it supports all the features in More Accurate Capabilities panel. It also supports Lights and Shadows. Before you purchase a new video card make sure that your new card supports all these features.
When OpenGL does not support a feature, it just renders the scene without that feature. For example, if you card does not support Shadows, the preview will not contain the shadow, even if you have shadows in the layers.
Click on the Accelerate Effects Using combo box and see the two options available there. However we can also choose these options from the Fast Previews Button at the bottom of the comp window. Get out of the preferences dialogue and click on the Fast Previews button in Comp window.
Wireframe mode represents each layer as Wireframe outline. It is useful while repositioning a layer with very high resolution or several effects applied to it. See image below, text Jungle is now represented as red Wireframe outline and footage in blue outline.
Adaptive Resolution represents the maximum reduction in resolution while interaction or editing. Change mode to Adaptive Resolution. Scrub the current time indicator in layer panel. You might notice some artifacts in the edges in comp window because AE is lowering the resolution to cop up with the speed of scrubbing. Notice the green dots or lines in the layer panel; this green stuff represents the frames after effects is caching.
Change the Fast Preview Option to OpenGL Interactive or OpenGL always on and drag the play head; you would see that no green stuff is there because all the work is done by the video hardware. When you choose OpenGL interactive all the processing is done by video card while you scrub the playhead. The moment you stop dragging, AE’s internal Renderer takes over and draw frame for you. OpenGL always on is used for all previews and “OpenGL” will appear in each view at the upper-left corner of the all views in Comp window.
+ Live Update & Draft3D +AE have two more options for previewing Live Update and Draft 3D. You can toggle live update mode by clicking on the Live Update button in the Layer panel. When this button is enabled, AE updates video in composition and layer panel. You can hold ALT while dragging the playhead to temporarily disable Live Update function.
When Live Update is de-selected, AE displays Wireframe representation of the layer during edits. Select the text layer and drag it over as shown in image below. Make sure that Live Update button is disabled.
Another mode we have is Draft3D. This button is located right next to Live Update button. It disables Lights, Shadows, and Cameras’ depth of field effect.
Double click on the comp 02 – Insect 2 to open it. In this comp we have an insect layer, a solid for floor, shadow-casting spotlight and a camera with depth of field enabled. Click on Draft 3D button. AE has removed light, shadows and depth of field effect. This is helpful in fast previewing when you have very complex comp.
+ How to create a 3D layer? +
Double click on the 02 – Insect layer to open up the comp. In comp consist of a blue solid and an insect layer. Select the insect and twirl down the transform properties. Right now insect layer is 2D, as you can see that we have only two values for Anchor Point, Position and Scale. Click on the Make 3D Layer switch to make the layer 3D. If switches are not visible press F4 to make them visible or click on the leftmost icon located at the right-bottom part of the layer window. Notice the changes in the transform properties. Now there is one more value for Anchor Point, Position and Rotation. We also have one extra property for rotation, Orientation. Also notice that we have one more set of properties called Material Options. Material options are unique to 3D layer and we will discuss them in a tutorial later.
There is also a visible change in the comp window. We have got a gizmo that represents the axis. Red arrow represents X-axis, Green and Blue represents the Y and Z-axis respectively. Z-axis is represented as a blue circle because it is pointing toward us directly.
Now we will study the orientation as well as the rotation properties. Select the Rotation Tool from the tool menu or press W hotkey on the keyboard. By default Rotation tool is set to orientation. You can set option for this tool from the tool bar.
Default option is Orientation which means is that when we use the Rotation Tool on the layer we will set the orientation of the layer. Select the tool with default option selected and hover the mouse over the top left corner handle in the comp window. Rotation cursor changes to pointer with Z letter. What it means that now we will change the orientation of the layer in Z-axis. Hover mouse pointer over other handles to see which axis they correspond to and edit the orientation. You can also perform the same operations using the Gizmo. Hover mouse over the axis handles and your rotation icon will again change to corresponding axis icon.
There is a difference between the Orientation and Rotation. In both cases layer turns around its anchor point. They differ when you animate the layer. To see this in action, press Home key to jump to start of the timeline. Set a keyframe for orientation by clicking on the stopwatch icon. Press End key to go to the end of the timeline. Select the Rotation tool and using right-bottom layer handle rotate the layer around 270 degrees in clockwise direction. AE will set a keyframe at the end of the timeline.
Press 0 key to see the ram preview, notice that Animation is taking off in the wrong direction that is counterclockwise. Scrub the playhead some and notice that instead of changing values from 0 to 270, AE is changing property value from 360 to 270 degrees. When we animate a layer’s orientation property, layer turns as directly as possible to reach the specified orientation.
Orientation value specifies an angular destination whereas Rotation value specifies an angular route. This concludes the tutorial.
+ Select a 3D View +
You can view a composition from several views. You can use orthographic views as well as perspective view using custom views. You can rotate or pan custom views using camera tools. The orthographic views are Front, Back, Left, Top, Right, and bottom. Orthographic views do not show perspective.
Shortcut keys for switching 3D views are F10 – Front, F11 – Custom View1 and F12 – Active camera. To switch to previous 3D view press ESC. Add a camera to the comp. To see selected layers, choose View > Look at selected layer or press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+/ key combination. To see all the layers that are not visible in the active view, choose View > Look at all layers.
+ Working with Viewers +
In AE you can multiple viewers to display multiple composition in different views. Open 01 – Jungle comp and click on the top left drop down on the comp panel. Choose New Comp Viewer from the menu. You will get one more viewer and by default it will be locked. See that yellow lock icon. Click on the lock icon to toggle it on and off.
Click on the new Dropdown and select 02 – Insect from the menu. Now you have two separate viewers for two comps. Locking a view prevents the currently displayed item from being replaced when you open or select a new item. Press Shift + Comma and Shift + Period keys to cycle forward and backward through the items in the viewer menu list for the active layer.
If you want to split the current frame and make new viewer of same type and lock it, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N hotkey combination.
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