Advanced 3D Workflows

[00:00:00] Let's talk about the 3D bin. So, here in

[00:00:00] the timeline, if you take a look here,

[00:00:00] you can see that we have this 3D layer

[00:00:00] icon and we have several 3D layers. And

[00:00:00] surrounding these 3D layers, you can see

[00:00:00] that we have this little box. And this

[00:00:00] is what's referred to as the 3D bin.

[00:00:00] These bins allow you to composite

[00:00:00] multiple 3D renders into the same

[00:00:00] composition and have them share cameras

[00:00:00] and lights. For example, I have this

[00:00:00] text layer. Now, if I were to drag this

[00:00:00] 2D layer in between any of my 3D layers,

[00:00:00] you'll notice that the bin is broken.

[00:00:00] So, let's take a look at the icons. You

[00:00:00] can see here that we have this 2D text

[00:00:00] layer, and now the bin has been divided

[00:00:00] into two separate 3D bins, which means

[00:00:00] we have two separate 3D renders

[00:00:00] happening within this composition.

[00:00:00] And what's happening here is the phone

[00:00:00] is in a bin separate of the shadow

[00:00:00] catcher ground layers in different bins.

[00:00:00] They do not intersect or cast shadows

[00:00:00] upon each other. So in this case, I'm no

[00:00:00] longer getting the shadow casted from

[00:00:00] the phone onto my shadow catcher ground.

[00:00:00] Now, if I wanted to fix this, I could

[00:00:00] take the shadow catcher and then just

[00:00:00] make sure I drag it below the 2D layer.

[00:00:00] And now my shadow comes back again. If

[00:00:00] we take a look, you can see that we have

[00:00:00] our shadow catcher, our phone, and our

[00:00:00] hard case are now all being rendered

[00:00:00] inside the same 3D bin correctly

[00:00:00] rendering my scene. So now we're going

[00:00:00] to take a look at how we can apply

[00:00:00] effect to a 3D model. Now, you can't

[00:00:00] apply an effect directly to the 3D

[00:00:00] model. So for example, I have a hue

[00:00:00] saturation. If I want to try to apply

[00:00:00] this, you can see can't actually do it.

[00:00:00] So there's quite a few different ways

[00:00:00] that you can go about this. So in this

[00:00:00] particular case, what I can do here is

[00:00:00] I'm going to come over to my layer stack

[00:00:00] and I'm going to start just by creating

[00:00:00] a new solid. And we'll call this

[00:00:00] effects. So we'll just name this

[00:00:00] effects. Just leave it color doesn't

[00:00:00] matter in this case. So now I have a 2D

[00:00:00] layer. And here in my effects controls,

[00:00:00] what I'm going to do is uh there's a

[00:00:00] couple different ways we could do it.

[00:00:00] First off, if I come over here to let's

[00:00:00] say my I could grab a calculations,

[00:00:00] we'll say. So we could grab

[00:00:00] calculations. We can come over here to

[00:00:00] the second source. We're going to pick

[00:00:00] the hard case and I'm going to set this

[00:00:00] layer opacity for this second layer all

[00:00:00] the way up to 100. Now I'm starting to

[00:00:00] see the case itself. And for the

[00:00:00] blending mode, we'll set it to copy. So

[00:00:00] now you can see that I'm able to take

[00:00:00] the 3D layer, which is the phone

[00:00:00] animated, this hardcase animated GB, the

[00:00:00] 3D layer, and I can essentially kind of

[00:00:00] pull that into a 2D layer, as you can

[00:00:00] see here. Now, we got a couple problems

[00:00:00] with this particular workflow in this

[00:00:00] case because, well, the phone's now

[00:00:00] disappeared, but we'll get to that in a

[00:00:00] moment. But for now, at this point, we

[00:00:00] have a 2D representation of our 3D

[00:00:00] content, which means we can now apply

[00:00:00] effects. So, again, I'll grab my hue

[00:00:00] saturation. We'll throw this into here.

[00:00:00] And if I start to adjust to just say my

[00:00:00] hue, now we've got a really great way to

[00:00:00] change some effects here, like this hue.

[00:00:00] But what's really cool about this is if

[00:00:00] I were to go and grab the 3D layer and I

[00:00:00] start to move it. Check this out. We can

[00:00:00] now move it. Now again, you'll see that

[00:00:00] we have to deal with the actual phone

[00:00:00] itself. We'll do that in a second. But

[00:00:00] any changes that we make here to the 3D

[00:00:00] layer, you can see the 2D layer is going

[00:00:00] to update for us. So that's one method

[00:00:00] we could use. Now, instead of

[00:00:00] calculations, let's turn this off and

[00:00:00] let me show you another way we could do

[00:00:00] this. We could also use CC composite,

[00:00:00] which is actually a little bit easier.

[00:00:00] So, we'll drag in CC composite. And for

[00:00:00] the top layer, once again, I'll choose

[00:00:00] that hard case. And then here, I can

[00:00:00] uncheck RGB only. And I can start to

[00:00:00] play around with how I want this to

[00:00:00] blend. So, this is going to be in front.

[00:00:00] I can change this to copy. And again,

[00:00:00] you get the same result. But the

[00:00:00] difference being that I can now maybe

[00:00:00] duplicate this. So, if I duplicate CC

[00:00:00] composite, and you could also do this

[00:00:00] with calculations, just CC composite's a

[00:00:00] little easier. Here, I'll grab the phone

[00:00:00] for the top layer. So, now I have my

[00:00:00] phone back, but it's not intersecting.

[00:00:00] Uh, I could try playing around with some

[00:00:00] of these blending modes, like maybe this

[00:00:00] needs to be in front or is it behind?

[00:00:00] Let's see here. Where is that? Is it

[00:00:00] behind, you know, so on and so forth.

[00:00:00] That's definitely not going to work. But

[00:00:00] if I choose this to be silhouette alpha,

[00:00:00] you can see that it is going to fit into

[00:00:00] here. So now I have this phone in place

[00:00:00] and it's working. However, I have

[00:00:00] another problem. If I were to enable my

[00:00:00] hue and saturation, oh, look at this.

[00:00:00] It's sort of working, but not really.

[00:00:00] We're getting like this second version

[00:00:00] of this. Okay, so this isn't going to

[00:00:00] work in this case because I have a very

[00:00:00] particular situation where I have one 3D

[00:00:00] model is intersecting with another. So

[00:00:00] here's how I would work around this

[00:00:00] little problem. So instead of calling

[00:00:00] this effects, let's just go ahead and

[00:00:00] call it phone 2D. This is going to be

[00:00:00] our 2D representation of our 3D objects.

[00:00:00] Now what I'll do is I'm going to grab a

[00:00:00] layer and this time I'm going to make a

[00:00:00] new adjustment layer. And for this

[00:00:00] adjustment layer, let's grab a hue and

[00:00:00] saturation and we'll throw this in. So

[00:00:00] now I'm going to jump back to my phone

[00:00:00] 2D layer where I have my CC composite.

[00:00:00] And I need to make a change here to this

[00:00:00] transfer mode. So what I want to do for

[00:00:00] the second layer, which again this

[00:00:00] represents my phone, I'm going to click

[00:00:00] this dropdown and I'm going to choose in

[00:00:00] front. So this is what I end up getting

[00:00:00] here. Okay. And it looks like it's all

[00:00:00] overlapping, but that's fine because

[00:00:00] this layer we're going to use as a

[00:00:00] trackmat. So, what I'm going to do is go

[00:00:00] back to my adjustment layer, and I'll

[00:00:00] just use my pick whip and let's pick the

[00:00:00] phone 2D layer. So, now once we have

[00:00:00] that set up, you can see that the my

[00:00:00] intersection now looks like it's

[00:00:00] rendering correctly. And if I jump over

[00:00:00] to the adjustment layer and I play

[00:00:00] around with this master hue, I now get

[00:00:00] the control that I wanted. Now, setting

[00:00:00] this up as a mat also means that I can

[00:00:00] apply effects to the mat as well. So,

[00:00:00] like if I needed to blur or choke the

[00:00:00] resulting alpha, I could do so. Again,

[00:00:00] more flexibility. And so, that's how we

[00:00:00] can add effects to our 3D models. And in

[00:00:00] this case, like I said, I had to use my

[00:00:00] trackmat here just because I have these

[00:00:00] 3D objects that are intersecting like

[00:00:00] this phone inside the case. It's a

[00:00:00] little bit more of a complex example,

[00:00:00] but now you see how you can work around

[00:00:00] that. Okay. So, one more thing to show

[00:00:00] in this particular scene setup. I really

[00:00:00] don't need to use this 2D phone layer.

[00:00:00] Watch this. I can delete it. The

[00:00:00] adjustment layer is going to work. And

[00:00:00] that is because of the way that I'm

[00:00:00] setting up my scene using just this

[00:00:00] shadow catcher. So, I'm just using the

[00:00:00] shadow catcher and it is being applied

[00:00:00] to the color backdrop being just the

[00:00:00] composition settings color backdrop. So,

[00:00:00] this effect doesn't have any control

[00:00:00] over that. So, in a setup as simple as

[00:00:00] this, which is actually kind of a

[00:00:00] practical setup, like I said, for

[00:00:00] product renders and stuff, you don't

[00:00:00] need to go through all of those steps. I

[00:00:00] did want to show them show you that

[00:00:00] because you will need it very often for

[00:00:00] other projects, but in something simple

[00:00:00] like this, an adjustment layer will get

[00:00:00] you exactly what you need. Okay, so here

[00:00:00] I have the asset. Just a really simple

[00:00:00] animation. You can see I'm looking at my

[00:00:00] speed graph here. Tweak some of the key

[00:00:00] frames, change some of the colors. So

[00:00:00] just some really basic things here in

[00:00:00] After Effects. And what we want to talk

[00:00:00] about now is how we can leverage key

[00:00:00] framed animation here within After

[00:00:00] Effects alongside any embedded

[00:00:00] animations that are available within 3D

[00:00:00] models that we might be working with. So

[00:00:00] before we jump straight into that

[00:00:00] embedded animation, another thing I

[00:00:00] wanted to showcase here is this draft 3D

[00:00:00] mode. So you can see it here at the

[00:00:00] bottom of the UI. And once you start

[00:00:00] kind of building up your animations,

[00:00:00] this is a great mode. mode. So, if you

[00:00:00] enable it, you can see that what it does

[00:00:00] essentially is it turns off the uh

[00:00:00] shadows. It also turns off any of the

[00:00:00] effects, those 2D layers that we set up

[00:00:00] with the adjustment layer. All that

[00:00:00] stuff's gone. So, now you'll see I'll go

[00:00:00] through the timeline, add a few key

[00:00:00] frames just to further finesse the

[00:00:00] animation. And then I jump into the

[00:00:00] speed graph and just adjust the curves

[00:00:00] all while I have draft 3D enabled again

[00:00:00] so that I can see my animation very

[00:00:00] quickly as I work. So now we want to

[00:00:00] work with the embedded animation that's

[00:00:00] in the animated hardcase. And so if I

[00:00:00] come over here and open up the

[00:00:00] properties, you'll see that I have this

[00:00:00] animation options and there's a drop

[00:00:00] down here. So if I click this dropdown

[00:00:00] and here we'll scroll down. You can see

[00:00:00] that there's some animation that's

[00:00:00] embedded in this. And so I'm going to

[00:00:00] select this animation track. And if we

[00:00:00] take a look, it looks like the case

[00:00:00] disappeared. That's just because of my

[00:00:00] time slider. You can see this animation

[00:00:00] layer has now set its duration to be the

[00:00:00] length of the animation which is around

[00:00:00] 2 seconds here. So if I scrub my time

[00:00:00] slider back and I hit play, we now have

[00:00:00] this embedded animation playing here

[00:00:00] within After Effects. And the thing that

[00:00:00] I really think is awesome about this is

[00:00:00] the case is using a skinned deformation.

[00:00:00] And so that's a a really great use case

[00:00:00] for having these embedded animations.

[00:00:00] Okay, so what can we do with this? Uh

[00:00:00] well, one of the great things is that we

[00:00:00] can actually use time remapping here. So

[00:00:00] with this layer selected, I'm going to

[00:00:00] come up here to my layer and choose time

[00:00:00] and I'm going to enable time remapping.

[00:00:00] So now I can start to work with these

[00:00:00] key frames. So the first thing I want to

[00:00:00] do is I would like to have the animation

[00:00:00] start with the case closed. And if I

[00:00:00] just scrub my timeline, I can see that

[00:00:00] uh here at at at 1 second the case is

[00:00:00] closed. So let's do this. Let's go back

[00:00:00] to this first key frame and I'll type in

[00:00:00] 30 and hit enter. And that puts it right

[00:00:00] at 1 second. So, we're starting the

[00:00:00] animation off at 1 second. Now, as I

[00:00:00] play, it's going to continue play that

[00:00:00] embedded animation until it gets to the

[00:00:00] end, which is at this key frame here.

[00:00:00] Now, because I'm using time remapping, I

[00:00:00] can now extend the layer. So, let's take

[00:00:00] a look at what we have so far. I'll hit

[00:00:00] play again. It plays really fast because

[00:00:00] I'm in draft 3D mode. And here's what we

[00:00:00] have. Okay. So, let's start playing

[00:00:00] around with this more now that we have

[00:00:00] our key frames in place. So, what I'd

[00:00:00] like to do is as the phone starts, it

[00:00:00] opens up. It's It's opening pretty slow,

[00:00:00] right? So, here's what I'm going to do.

[00:00:00] I am going to take this second key frame

[00:00:00] and move it towards the left. And you

[00:00:00] can see that that's just again I'm time

[00:00:00] remapping the animation data that is

[00:00:00] inside the 3D layer. So, we're not just

[00:00:00] interpolating frames here. After Effects

[00:00:00] is actually retiming the animation data.

[00:00:00] So that means I can do something really

[00:00:00] cool. Like here's a quick example. If I

[00:00:00] pull the key frame all the way here to

[00:00:00] the right and we play, look, I can get

[00:00:00] this crazy smooth slow motion effect

[00:00:00] here. So look at this. Really nice and

[00:00:00] smooth. It's not interpolating the

[00:00:00] frame, but you know, I don't want that.

[00:00:00] I want it to be quicker. So we'll move

[00:00:00] the key frame to the left. Now hit play.

[00:00:00] The case opens up pretty quick. All

[00:00:00] right. I think that's going to work. So

[00:00:00] now what I'd like to do is have it just

[00:00:00] kind of stay open for a few moments. So,

[00:00:00] we'll copy this second key frame and

[00:00:00] paste it in. And I'd like the case to

[00:00:00] kind of move back as it starts to starts

[00:00:00] to tilt in my hand key frames that I put

[00:00:00] inside of After Effects. So, as it

[00:00:00] starts to move back here at the end, I'd

[00:00:00] like to have the key frames or I'd like

[00:00:00] to have the case just close again. So,

[00:00:00] what I'll do is just come back here for

[00:00:00] this final key frame. Let's set it back

[00:00:00] to 30 and hit enter. Uh, that gives me

[00:00:00] another key frame. So, now let's play

[00:00:00] everything and see what we get. Case

[00:00:00] opens. And there it closes. Now again,

[00:00:00] it's too slow on the close. No problem.

[00:00:00] We can just easily adjust my key frames.

[00:00:00] So again, just kind of making a few

[00:00:00] little adjustments here. And let's check

[00:00:00] the timing on this. Just scrub the

[00:00:00] timeline. Hit play. And I still think

[00:00:00] it's a little slow. So let's do this.

[00:00:00] Just kind of play around with these key

[00:00:00] frames again. Opens up. And case closed.

[00:00:00] All right. Looks pretty good. So now if

[00:00:00] I wanted to, I could then come in,

[00:00:00] select all the key frames, right click,

[00:00:00] and I could just quickly add some easing

[00:00:00] on this. So let's just add our easy

[00:00:00] ease. Let's see what that does. See, it

[00:00:00] opens up. Yeah, looks pretty good. Gives

[00:00:00] it a little bit more snappiness, a

[00:00:00] little bit more makes the, you know, the

[00:00:00] animation look a little bit more alive,

[00:00:00] I think. And so here what you're seeing

[00:00:00] is that we have this combination of

[00:00:00] working with embedded animation data

[00:00:00] within the 3D model that I can ret time

[00:00:00] here in After Effects plotting down some

[00:00:00] time remapping key frames which is

[00:00:00] pretty cool and that is being added on

[00:00:00] top of just some hand animation that I

[00:00:00] was doing here on the first layer. So

[00:00:00] let's select this layer as well and hit

[00:00:00] the uh U key on the keyboard. So again,

[00:00:00] you can see the mixture of the time

[00:00:00] remap key frame for the animation data

[00:00:00] and then that rotation key frame on top.

[00:00:00] So that's how we can work with animation

[00:00:00] data that's embedded inside the 3D model

[00:00:00] here directly inside of After Effects.