#3D TEXT AFTER EFFECTS HOW TO#

Go ahead and click on that and you notice this button will take you to the Composition Settings in the 3D Renderer area as well, so you could change the Composition back to a different Renderer.

When you're in the CINEMA 4D Renderer if you go to the upper right corner of the Composition panel you'll see a button that says CINEMA 4D. If you click and drag on the Y Rotation you can see this object is a true three-dimensional object and that's only available within the CINEMA 4D Renderer. So, I'll select Layer 4 and press R to open the Rotation and Orientation Settings. If we look in the Timeline go to Layer 4 and you can see we have a Shape layer and this Shape layer was created by converting this Illustrator layer. Go back to the Project panel and double-click on the 03_APEAK - CINEMA 4D Composition and notice this one actually contains an element that has true 3D depth. While these layers are flat they exist in different planes in Z depth, so we get the perception of actual 3D. Scrub on the X parameter of the Camera to see the depth of the scene. Select the Camera 1 layer, Layer 4 and press P on your keyboard to open the Position. In this comp you'll notice I have three different Lights, I have a Camera and I have a bunch of layers that exist in 3D space.

Go back to the Project panel and double-click on the 02_Naturalists - Classic 3D Composition. Now I've already set up some compositions with the different renderers, so you can get a general idea as to how the objects would appear within those renderers. Once we do that now we get access to Geometry Options and if I open the Geometry Options since this is an Illustrator layer I have the ability to curve that layer. If we wanted to change this Composition to the CINEMA 4D Renderer all we'd have to do is go down and press OK. Immediately you'll see a list of features that are Enabled like the ability to extrude and bevel text and shapes and then there are features that are Disabled like blending modes and track mattes. Click on the drop-down and choose CINEMA 4D. This will allow you to position layers in 3D space but they will remain 2D layers. By default, After Effects is in the Classic 3D Renderer. That will automatically open your Composition Settings directly to the 3D Renderer area. If you look to the right of the Geometry Options click on the text Change Renderer. So, collapse the Material Options and then you'll notice the Geometry Options are grayed out. The important thing to understand is there are Material Options and that determines how the material will appear within this renderer. Don't worry if you're not familiar with these terms, it's easy enough to figure it out once you start scrubbing with the different parameters. Open the Material Options and you can see there are several different options, Light Transmission, Diffuse, Specular Intensity. Now if we go down you'll notice I have Material Options. Once I've enabled 3D now I have X, Y and Z for the position of this Layer. So, go to the right side of the Switches column here and click in this box to enable 3D for that Layer. In order to create 3D space in After Effects all you have to do is enable 3D for a Layer. Select Layer 1 and press P to open the Position and you'll notice it has X position and Y position which means it exists in 2D space. This should look pretty familiar because it's a bunch of Illustrator layers on top of an (Orange Solid 1). Start by going to the Project panel and double-clicking on the 01_Naturalists - 2D Composition.

#3D TEXT AFTER EFFECTS HOW TO#

Things like the shininess of a layer or can a layer even have shininess? Can the layer exist in 3D space? If it does exist in 3D space can it have 3D depth? Different renderers give you different options and in this tutorial, I'll show you how to switch between renderers in After Effects. A renderer is the part of After Effects that analyzes the data contained within a Composition and determines how the scene should look. And within the Composition settings is an area where you can specify a renderer. Within every After Effects project, you have Compositions.

3d text after effects