adobe after effects

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object - Adding a camera

You can view 3D layers from any number of angles and distances using layers called cameras. When you set a camera view for your composition, you look at the layers as though you were looking through that camera.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object - Nesting a 3D composition, Completing the scene

You’re ready to add the 3D Text composition you created earlier. As with the Book composition, you’ll need to select the 3D switch and the Collapse Transformations switch for it to behave as a true 3D object.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object - Creating a backdrop for 3D animation

The book and text are both ready for animation. But they need to be animated against a backdrop. You’ll create a two-dimensional environment for the 3D objects in a new composition.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object - Working with 3D text

Just as you can create other 3D objects in After Effects, you can create 3D text. Flat text isn’t as interesting, so you’ll give the text more depth.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object - Working with a null object

A null object is an invisible layer that has all the properties of a visible layer, so that it can be a parent to any layer in the composition. You’ll use a null object to scale the layers of the 3D object down to a more manageable size.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object (part 2)

When you build a 3D object, you need to position the 3D layers in relationship to each other. You’ll position the spine of the book by moving its anchor point and then adjusting the front cover as necessary.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : Building a 3D object (part 1)

In order to move the book in 3D space, you’ll need to create the 3D object. You’ll build it piece by piece. Initially, any layer is flat, with only x (width) and y (height) dimensions and can be moved only along those axes.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : The Timeline - Timing and Retiming

After Effects is more flexible when working with time than most video applications. You can retime footage or mix and match speeds and timing using a variety of methods.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : The Timeline - Motion Blur

Motion blur is clearly essential to a realistic shot with a good amount of motion. It is the natural result of movement that occurs while a camera shutter is open, causing objects in the image to be recorded at every point from the shutter opening to closing.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : The Timeline - Spatial Offsets

3D animators are familiar with the idea that every object (or layer) has a pivot point. In After Effects, there are two fundamental ways to make a layer pivot around a different location: Change the layer’s own anchor point, or parent it to another layer.

Adobe After Effects CS5 : The Timeline - Timeline Panel Shortcuts

The term “überkey” apparently plays on Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the “übermensch”—like such an individual, it is a shortcut more powerful and important than others.