#Drop shadow after effects cc how to#

Once again, you can customize the light to your heart’s content in the Light Settings dialog box. To create a light layer, simply highlight the Timeline panel and select Layer > New > Light. You can also work with a variety of different light types and customize how each light interacts with layers, adjusting settings such as Intensity, Color, Falloff, and Shadow Darkness. Just as you can create and customize a camera inside of After Effects, you can also create and customize lights that will interact with your 3D layers. You can quickly create motion paths to simulate real-world camera moves by animating Position and Point of Interest attributes of a camera layer with a couple keyframes. The Point of Interest also moves along with the camera.Īgain, as the name implies, the Track Z camera tool will move the camera forward and backward in 3D space. Orbiting a one-node camera will only change the Orientation of the camera since there is no Point of Interest with one-node cameras.Īs the name implies, the Track XY camera tool will move the camera horizontally and vertically in 3D space. The camera positions change, while the Point of Interest stays locked in place. Using the Orbit tool will move, or “orbit”, your camera around the Point of Interest. Use a mouse to quickly jump between the Orbit, Track XY and Track Z camera tools.

The Unified Camera tool allows you to switch between the other three camera tools. It’s nearly impossible to work on a 3D project without occasionally changing the view of the composition. These angles include Active Camera, Front, Left, Top, Back, Right, or Bottom. The After Effects 3D View Popout menu is located at the bottom of the Composition panel and allows you to view your comp from a variety of angles. To get a better view of your work area, simply change the view layout. A layer might even disappear entirely behind another one. Often times when working in 3D space you can’t tell where an asset is located in Z space (the space that measures the axis that moves towards you and away from you). This is especially helpful when working with multiple 3D elements in a complex workspace. As you hover your cursor over the layer’s arrows, a tooltip will show you which axis you’re over. Working with After Effects 3D LayersĪ 3D layer has color-coded arrows that allow you to manipulate the layer on its various axes-red for X, green for Y, and blue for Z. S o only click that button if you’re prepared to throw away that data. Any keyframes previously added to these attributes will remain lost, even if you reactivate the 3D switch. If you deselect the 3D switch, your layer will lose all of these additional properties and any associated keyframes.

#Drop shadow after effects cc how to#

Let’s have a closer look at how to achieve this. We’re essentially creating a third dimension (Z space) to our project and adding Z attributes to our 2D layers. While we will call these layers “3D”, they’re still flat images. There will be no 3D objects with any kind of extrusion. It’s important to realize that when working in the Classic 3D renderer workspace we’ll simply be manipulating 2D layers in 3D space. To get started with a 3D project, we first need to have a few 3D layers with which to work. However, since this is a beginner’s guide I’m going to stick with the Classic 3D renderer workspace. To access and change the renderer, go to Composition > Composition Settings and select the 3D Renderer tab. If you’ve been using the program for a while, this feature can help bring your motion graphics to the next level.įor more advanced features such as extruding text and shape layers, you can work in the Cinema 4D or Ray-traced 3D renderer. You can create and customize virtual lights and cameras for some interesting and dynamic results. This feature provides a number of tools and settings which allow you to change the AE workspace from 2D to 3D. The application has many features that often go overlooked, such as the Classic After Effects 3D renderer. I believe it’s much more powerful than most people think. After Effects is an extremely powerful program.