Chapter List

Overview

Adding depth to your animations by mastering Z space.

One of the most heralded additions to After Effects version 5 is the concept of 3D space. Layers are no longer restricted to the left/right up/down motions of the X and Y axes; they can also move closer or farther along the Z axis, which relates to how close a layer is to you (think of a line extending from your computer monitor to your eyes). This allows more for natural scaling, multiplaning, perspective changes, and depth sorting of layers as well as 3D tumbles and rotations. Included with this implementation are cameras and lights, meaning graphic designers can build virtual sets, light them, and fly around them.

After Effects has implemented 3D space in a very flexible, incremental manner. Not all layers in a composition need to be in 3D; you can enable the 3D Layer switch just for those objects you want to add an extra dimension to, while keeping the others in familiar 2D space. You don't need to add cameras or lights either; a composition has a default camera which provides a head-on view, and a default light which illuminates all 3D layers evenly regardless of their orientation. (Of course, you can add and animate cameras and lights; those are the subjects of the next two chapters.)