3D animation settings

Do more with your 3D animation compositions by exploring some useful functions in After Effects.

Topics in this article:

Set preferences for 3D layers

You can change the 3D preferences from the After Effects > Preferences > 3D menu:

Camera Navigation

• Use Shift-1/2/3 to cycle through each camera tools/control option.
  
  • Deselect the option of hotkeys for camera and transform gizmo navigation. If the option is unchecked, After Effects uses the keys as shortcuts to add markers. It deprioritizes camera tools with these hotkeys. When the hotkeys are enabled, the marker commands are deactivated.
  • Uncheck to deactivate the Left/middle/Right mouse clicks for camera navigation when the alt/option key is pressed. If it is unchecked, After Effects uses these mouse clicks for wireframes.
• Camera Manipulation point: Select between None, Indicator, and Directional Indicator.

Camera Navigation - Dolly

• Mouse scroll wheel behavior: Select between Magnify Composition, Dolly camera, and Reverse dolly camera.
• Drag direction: Select between Normal and Reverse.

Use the composition panel toolbar for 3D workflows

After Effects enables you to work seamlessly across your 3D designs by displaying only the appropriate controls as per your current design work. You can avoid having to constantly enable/disable a large number of settings as you switch back and forth, thus saving time and effort.

To make your 3D designing more convinient and time-saving, the row of buttons at the bottom of the Composition panel streamlined and re-organized to displays only the most used features. 3D options are now contextual and won’t get in your way when you don’t have 3D layers in your comp. Unlike in previous versions, there are settings that are not accessible from the toolbar, such as Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction. You can still access them from the Composition window menu.

This enables you to work seamlessly across both 2D and 3D, with the appropriate UX to guide your design work, without having to enable or disable multiple settings as you switch.

Learn more about improved composition toolbar for 3D designing.

Edit keyboard shortcuts

Customize the keyboard shortcuts to make them work for different camera navigations and transform gizmos. such as when you want to orbit your camera or cameras around an object from the center of the frame or around the object itself.

Learn to edit the keyboard shortcuts using Visual Keyboard Shortcut Editor.

Use binning indicators for 3D layers

Binning indicators for 3D layers show the 3D layers that render together in the same 3D space, which allows them to intersect and cast shadows on each other. The group of 3D layers is called Bin.

An outline around the 3D icons indicates which layers are in the same 3D bin and thus rendered together.

These 3D binning indicators give you a visual map of how After Effects composites 2D and 3D layers together. When a comp contains both 2D and 3D layers, their order in the layer stack matters: 

• Contiguous 3D layers render together in the same 3D space before being composited with 2D layers.

Bin Breakers

There are a few different types of layers that can cause bins to separate, they are called bin breakers:

• 2D layers except for null layers 
• 3D adjustment layers 
• 3D layers with layer styles 
• Nested composition layers with the following conditions: 
  • The 3D layer switch is enabled
  • The Collapse Transformation switch is enabled
  •  The layer has a layer mask or a track matte

Non-Bin Breakers

Some layers display a dotted line around the 3D icon, such as Null layers, Camera, and Light that are placed in-between other 3D layers. The dotted lines indicate that this layer doesn’t participate in the bin, but it doesn’t break the bin. Cameras and lights, for example, are inherently 3D and affect 3D layers in the comp, therefore, they don’t directly participate in bins.

Text layer with per-character 3D enabled.

The layer is 3D, but does not render pixels.

The layer is 3D, renders pixels in 3D.

The layer is 2D and will break the bin in most cases; certain cases (2D nulls, nested comps) can still participate in 3D bins.

Create 3D Layer Instance

When working with 3D layers, there is a limitation that you can't directly apply 2D effects to them. A common workaround is to use the CC Composite effect, which creates a 2D copy of the 3D layer. This allows you to apply 2D effects to the copy while preserving the original 3D layer, merging the results for a seamless effect.

In the latest After Effects, selecting Layer > Create > Create 3D Layer Instance generates a solid at the top of your composition. This solid is automatically assigned the CC Composite effect, which references the selected 3D layer. This setup allows you to apply 2D effects to the 3D models in the composition while retaining the original 3D appearance you intended.

Create a camera linked to a light

To create visually appealing lighting effects that enhance the realism and impact of your 3D composition, it is important to work on how light interacts with your scene based on the camera's movement. This can be achieved by linking a camera to a light, allowing you to 'look through' the camera and use camera tools to position and animate the light as if it were a camera.

In the latest After Effects, selecting Layer > Create > Control Light with Camera creates a camera linked to a light where the light will follow the camera's movement, maintaining a fixed relationship between the camera's viewpoint and the light's position. For example, when you link a Spot light to Camera, adjusting the light’s Cone Angle impacts the linked camera’s zoom. 

Learn more about working with cameras, lights, and points of interest in After Effects.

Create 3D Environment Background Layer

One effective method to enhance realistic lighting in a 3D scene is by using Environment Lights along with complementary effects. This approach helps create a visually appealing scene with accurate reflections, ambient lighting, and a natural-looking background.

With the latest update, you can now use Layer > Light > Create Environment Light Background Layer to visualize the Environment light. This creates a solid at the bottom of the composition, with the CC Environment linked to the selected light's Source map and a 5px Fast Box Blur applied to soften the background.

An example that demonstrates the composition preview both before and after using the Create 3D Environment Layer command for the Environment light layer. Assets used - 3D model and video for Environment light.

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