Making an after effects layer thick?
by david magnier
on
May 4, 2009 at 10:19:12 pm
Hey all,
Im currently making a video with a pop up book style, and i was just wondering is there anyway i can increase the thickness of an after effect layer? I want each layer to have the depth of a piece of card, is there a plugin i could use or a technique? Im seriously stuck on this and dont know how to use 3d programs, which i know would be a more logical approach!
Thanks for your help
Dave
Re: Making an after effects layer thick? by Josh Weiss on May 5, 2009 at 1:35:37 am
If you are in CS3 or CS4, search your effects and presets search for seperate x, y, z position. Then, make your layer a 3D layer, apply this preset. Then go to the z position in this effect. Apply the expression, index-1 . Then duplicate your layer and turn the shy switch for the layer on. Duplicate is a bunch more times, perhaps 10 or 15. Basically each layer will be 1 pixel back in z space, so when it is viewed from the side it will give the illusion of depth. You can turn the shy switch for the comp on so you don't have to see all of the layers. To sell the effect it sometimes helps to have a light in your comp, or turn a bevel alpha on all of the layers behind the first layer.
Re: Making an after effects layer thick? by david magnier on May 5, 2009 at 2:14:20 am
i was hoping you wouldnt say that! i am going to have so many layers that the render time for this will be excrutiating. Surely theres a less time consuming and more render friendly solution??
Re: Making an after effects layer thick? by Mike Smith on May 5, 2009 at 2:11:32 pm
The shatter effect could help you. You can turn off all the forces etc, and just add a little 3d depth and rotation with it. If needed you can put an image file / texture / whatever into the edge with depth, by importing a suitable file into the comp, making it invisible but selecting it as the edge in shatter.
Re: Making an after effects layer thick? by Mark Fogarty on May 5, 2009 at 1:10:20 pm
I'm sure there are better ways but what I've done to make a layer thicker in z-space is to add duplicate layers behind it and then parent them to your original layer.
Something to keep in mind when doing this...
If the video you want to add thickness to is a shape you can easily recreate as a solid (ie. a rectangle) I wouldn't duplicate the actual video layer numerous times, but would create a solid layer that same size and position it exactly 1 pixel behind in z-space... then duplicate this solid layer and move each copy back 1 pixel.
If the element you wish to add thickness to is a shape that is difficult to duplicate or that actually changes shape (like a keyed out figure) then you might have to duplicate the actually source layer a number of times.
Some things I've done in a similar situation was to insert keyed out footage of a person... duplicated that layer once and moved it back in z-space... added a white fill to the duplicated layer... added a simple choker with a negative number to the duplicated layer, this gives the appearance of a white border to my actor making it look like a cartoon child's pop up book... then I duplicate this filled layer a number of times moving each one further back in z-space... finally I parent all the duplicated layers to the original layer and make them shy.
Hope this helps.
Mark Fogarty
Media Missionary
Muddy River Media
www.MuddyRiverMedia.org
