Adobe After Effects - Manual (Page 504)

Balance
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Specifies the level of balance in a balanced 3D view option. Use this control to reduce shadows and ghost effects. The default balance
that 3D Glasses sets when you select the Balanced Colored Red Blue option is the ideal value: If you set Balance to 0.0, 3D Glasses creates no
3D depth, and if you set Balance too high, 3D Glasses produces a highly saturated output.
Backward and forward compatibility
After Effects CS5 projects using 3D Glasses that are opened in After Effects CS5.5 and later will use a hidden version of the legacy 3D
Glasses effect, but will include the new options and properties previously described. The only difference is that the 3D View options
(Difference and Over Under) will appear at the bottom of the menu, instead of in its first section.
Creating a new project in After Effects CS5.5 and later that uses the new 3D Glasses effect, using the Save A Copy As CS5 command, and
then opening the saved After Effects CS5 project will cause the effect to be missing in the layer it was previously applied to.
Opening an After Effects CS5 project containing the 3D Glasses effect in After Effects CS5.5 and later, using the Save A Copy As CS5
command, and then opening the saved After Effects CS5 project will display a warning: ‘Effect control conversion required in effects “3D
Glasses”. Some effects controls will be reset.’ The original After Effects CS5 effect will be applied and working, but some properties, such as
Convergence Offset and Balance will be reset to their default values.
Rich Young collects resources for stereoscopic 3D on the After Effects Portal website.
Bevel Alpha effect
The Bevel Alpha effect gives a chiseled and lighted appearance to the alpha boundaries of an image, often giving 2D elements a 3D appearance.
If the layer is completely opaque, then the effect is applied to the bounding box of the layer. The edge created by this effect is softer than the
edge created by the Bevel Edges effect. This effect works especially well for elements with text in the alpha channel.
For some purposes, the Bevel And Emboss layer style is preferable to the Bevel Alpha effect. For example, use the Bevel And Emboss layer style
rather than the Bevel Alpha effect if you want to apply different blending modes to the highlights and shadows of a bevel. (See Layer styles.)
This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.
Original (left), and with effect applied (right)
Bevel Edges effect
The Bevel Edges effect gives a chiseled and lighted 3D appearance to the edges of an image. Edge locations are determined by the alpha
channel of the source image. Unlike Bevel Alpha, the edges created with this effect are always rectangular, so images with nonrectangular alpha
channels don’t produce the proper appearance. All edges have the same thickness. At Best quality, edge thickness is interpolated for smooth
visual results.
For some purposes, the Bevel And Emboss layer style is preferable to the Bevel Edges effect. (See Layer styles.)
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Original (left), and with effect applied (right)
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