Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 105)

99 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Importing and managing footage items
Last updated 12/21/2009
For video tutorials about using Vanishing Point data from Photoshop in After Effects, go to the Adobe website:
• www.adobe.com/go/vid0286
• www.adobe.com/go/vid0287
Bob Donlon provides a tutorial on his blog that shows how to use Vanishing Point Exchange.
Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to use Vanishing Point
Exchange.
3D object layers in PSD files
Adobe Photoshop Extended can import and manipulate 3D models (3D objects) in several popular formats.
Photoshop can also create 3D objects in basic, primitive shapes.
After Effects can import these 3D object layers in PSD files and render them using the active camera in a composition.
(See “
3D object layers from Photoshop ” on page 185.)
For a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, go to the Adobe website:
www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp .
Importing PSD files as 3D scenes
Paul Tuersley provides a script on the
AE Enhancers website that turns a layered PSD file into a 3D scene in After
Effects. The script creates a composition and adds expressions to the layers from the PSD file. When you move the
layers along the z axis, the scene looks exactly like the original artwork through the Active Camera view. You can
animate the camera around the scene to see that the layers are at different depths in 3D space.
Illustrator 3D effects
The effects in the 3D category in Illustrator—Extrude & Bevel, Revolve, and Rotate—give a three-dimensional
appearance to any vector graphics object, including text and drawings. If you want to add depth to your vector art and
text, consider creating it in Illustrator, using the 3D effects, and then importing the results into After Effects.
More Help topics
“ 3D layers ” on page 179
“ Cameras, lights, and points of interest ” on page 186
Importing and using 3D files from other applications
After Effects can import 3D-image files saved in Softimage PIC, RLA, RPF, OpenEXR, and Electric Image EI format.
These 3D-image files contain red, green, blue, and alpha (RGBA) channels, as well as auxiliary channels with optional
information, such as z depth, object IDs, texture coordinates, and more.
After Effects can also import baked camera data, including focal length, film size, and transformation data, from Maya
project files as a single composition or two compositions.
Note: Some 3D applications, such as Cinema 4D, can export an After Effects composition directly.
Though you can import composited files with 3D information into After Effects, you cannot modify or create 3D
models directly with After Effects.
After Effects treats each composited 3D file from another application as a single 2D layer. That layer, as a whole, can
be given 3D attributes and treated like any After Effects 3D layer, but the objects contained within that 3D file cannot
be manipulated individually in 3D space. To access the 3D depth information and other auxiliary channel information
in 3D image files, use the 3D Channel effects. (See “
3D Channel effects ” on page 430.)