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After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies

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After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by jesse richards on Nov 1, 2012 at 3:37:48 pm

I'm having some weird issues in CS6 where the hierachy of 3D layers is inconsistent.

Mostly layers that are higher in the composition will appear in front of others that are lower no matter what z positional value they have. This only seems to happen in comps with lots of layers.

However this doesn't always seem to happen and I got another problem when it didn't. I couldn't get the old 'split hierachy' trick to work - where putting a 2d layer between two 3d items forces one layer in front of the other despite it's z values.

Is anyone else getting this? I can't find anything on this issue anywhere.

Jesse

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Dave LaRonde on Nov 1, 2012 at 4:35:52 pm

Double-check your comps for 2D layers mixed in among 3D layers. They really mess things up.

Dave LaRonde
Former Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by jesse richards on Nov 1, 2012 at 4:50:38 pm

Thanks for the reply Dave.

Yeah I've checked and it's not that. I know that that 2D layers sort of 'reset' the hierachy but my comp is all 3D layers.

It seems like a bug of some sort but not sure if anyone else is experiencing it.

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Darby Edelen on Nov 1, 2012 at 4:52:34 pm

[Dave LaRonde] "Double-check your comps for 2D layers mixed in among 3D layers. They really mess things up."

If any of your 3D layers are compositions with collapse transformations enabled and effects applied that also messes up 3D render order.

Layer Styles applied (or imported from Photoshop) on 3D layers will have the same effect.

Other gotchas to check would be whether your 'Shy' comp switch is on and there are shy 2D layers hiding in the composition.

If you'd like more detailed guidance share a project file or screen shot of your timeline and comp viewer.

Darby Edelen

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by jesse richards on Nov 1, 2012 at 4:57:58 pm

I'm pretty sure I don't have effects on collapsed comps but I'll double check that.

Definitely no shy layers - I checked that already.

At the moment it's not actually hindering me but it is annoying.

Thanks for your help.

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Darby Edelen on Nov 1, 2012 at 5:40:35 pm

Well, if you upload a sample file for folks to take a look at I'm sure the problem can be diagnosed :)

Darby Edelen

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Vishesh Arora on Nov 1, 2012 at 6:53:37 pm

Jesse

I don't think its a bug in CS6. I have recently worked for a project in which I have used several 3D layers randomly displaced in Z - axis and it worked perfectly fine.

Vishesh Arora
3D and Motion Graphics Artist
Films Rajendra

Blog:
http://digieffects.wordpress.com

Demo Reel(3D):

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Brian Charles on Nov 2, 2012 at 1:51:25 pm

I see this frequently. Here is a sample. No effects, no 2D layers, no shy layers.

3D Glitch

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by jesse richards on Nov 2, 2012 at 1:58:33 pm

Yeah that's the sort of thing. I've never had that error before until I got to CS6. I'm not going mad then.

Ps Sorry I can't link an .aep file as it's a professional job.

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Darby Edelen on Nov 2, 2012 at 6:10:05 pm

[Brian Charles] "I see this frequently. Here is a sample. No effects, no 2D layers, no shy layers."

No layer styles? If you have Layer Styles applied, even if they're not active, you'll see this behavior. Try double checking this by selecting your layers and using Layer > Layer Styles > Remove All.

If I'm working in 3D with PSDs I'll always select to merge the Layer Styles.

Darby Edelen

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Brian Charles on Nov 3, 2012 at 12:19:11 am

Darby - thank you! You're a genius!

You're correct in my case. This has bothered me for ages.

There were no layer styles in the PSD file, nor any styles visible on any of the Composition layers, removing the layer styles as you suggested resolved the issue.

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by jesse richards on Nov 5, 2012 at 3:11:21 pm

Yeah I think the layer styles are my problem too.

Cheers!

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Re: After Effects CS6 3D Layer Hierachy Anomalies
by Will McHenry on Dec 11, 2012 at 12:08:50 pm

Hey everyone! I just noticed this problem as well - after trying all the above solutions, I found the culprit to be the viewport rendering settings.

I had my composition window set to "Fast Draw" for speed, but this messed up a lot of the 3d ordering in the preview. Switching the setting back to "Adaptive Resolution" or something with higher quality fixed it for me.

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