AFTER EFFECTS DROP SHADOW 3D LAYER HOW TO

The most important thing to check is the ‘Cast Shadows’ option. Cast Shadows: ENABLED (this is important!).

I used a focal length of 35mm.Ĭreate a new spot light. Set up the camera properties, especially the focal length, to match the camera you used to shoot your scene as precisely as possible. Now turn the original garage layer into a 3D layer.Ĭreate a new camera. We just want to add it so we can still see our scene once we disable the visibility of the original garage layer. Set the opacity of the guide layer to something like 30%.Ī guide layer will be visible in the composition but won’t be rendered as part of the final effect. This layer will be projected onto the 3D layers we will set up to remodel the geometry of the scene.īecause we will eventually turn it into a 3D layer and disable its visibility, let’s duplicate it and set the copy up as a Guide Layer. Set the ‘Shadow Map Quality’ to something large, like 4000.įor the first scene, I have an image here that I took in a car park.Īdd this image into your composition as a new layer. The projection of our footage layer is technically its shadow so we want to make sure we set the shadow quality to very high, otherwise we might not see much more than a blurry mess.įor this, open your composition settings, go to the ‘Advanced’ tab and click on ‘Options…’. One important thing we need to configure before we get started is the shadow quality of our composition. Since the parallax effect will be enhanced the more you see of the floor, the ceiling and the walls, I do recommend using a fairly wide angle shot :) This effect will work best with a scene that contains a lot of depth.

AFTER EFFECTS DROP SHADOW 3D LAYER HOW TO

This effect is a bit more advanced so I will assume that you have a basic understanding of how to use After Effects and have worked with 3D layers before.

Once you have this 3D projection set up, you can add a camera into the scene and move it around and, within limits, it will appear to be moving around in the actual 3D scene :) If you are clever about setting up your 3D layers in After Effects, this allows you to somewhat re-construct the geometry of the original scene. This works much like an old school slide show projector. I have always enjoyed the effect of the camera passing through walls or floors for seamless scene transitions! Today I show you how to create this awesome effect using 3D Projection inside of Adobe After Effects :) 3D ProjectionģD Projection is a technique where you use a light to shine through a piece of footage and project the image onto any 3D layers in your scene.

After effects drop shadow 3d layer