Animate with Depth: Cameras, Lights and 3D Layers in AE
What you'll learn
- Create 3D compositions, from Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop layers, inside Adobe After Effects
- Add and animate cameras and lights inside compositions Create 3D animations productively and with greater understanding.
- Set up your Photoshop and Illustrator documents for After Effects importing
- Create 3D layers in After Effects.
- Change and animate 3D layer properties.
- Add and animate cameras.
- Add and animate lights.
- Understand the different types of lights and cameras.
- Understand material options layers can have.
- Work with Depth of field, camera blur, orientation, aperture and focus distance.
- Easily navigate compositions with a lot of lights, shadows and layers.
- Be productive and efficient when working with many layers.
- Understand the concept of 2.5D.
- Add multiple views to view your scene with.
- Work with parenting and precomposition
- Create different camera angles.
- Preview your work quickly
- Render and compress animations.
Requirements
- You need to have Adobe After Effects installed on your Mac or PC. The course is recorded using After Effects CC.
- Some foreknowledge of After Effects will be beneficial, but you’ll be able to take the course if you’ve never opened After Effects before – especially if you’re comfortable with Illustrator or Photoshop.
Description
Take your animation skills to the next level by learning all about 3D layers, cameras, and lights in Adobe After Effects. In this class, you’ll learn how to bring your 2D artwork into the 3rd dimension with After Effects. Your flat artwork will become alive in space, giving it depth and energy.
You can watch this course in just over 3 hours, but to cement your knowledge I recommend creating your very own animated 3D postcard of your favourite city, which could take 5-30 hours, depending on your design, animation technique, and duration of animation.
The course is structured into 22 videos, each covering a specific topic. The videos build upon previous video as I show you how I go about creating a 3D animation, based off of some flat 2D Illustrator artwork.
You don’t have to get into big and fancy 3D applications to have fun with 3D. Use your current Photoshop and Illustrator skillset in combination with After Effects to bring your flat-designs to life – it’s not such a big jump to go from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to Adobe After Effects. They all play really nicely with each other.
Besides getting into 3D with Adobe After Effects, there are a bunch of tips and tricks you’ll pick up even if you’re an After Effects and 3D pro. That being said, this class is meant for beginner to intermediate students, who have a little bit of experience in Adobe After Effects.
Come have fun and create an awesome piece of motion graphics with me!
Here’s what we cover:
In this class we cover everything from importing correctly set up files to rendering awesome animations. There are in-depth videos about 3D layer properties, different types of cameras and camera settings, the kinds of lights you can add to your scene, precomposing and parenting layers, being productive in After Effects, adding multiple views, animating layers in a 3D space, and many more tips and tricks.
Who this course is for:
- The target audience of this course is designers and animators who want to learn how to make use of their existing 2D skillset to create 3D scenes and animations.
- A designer or illustrator who’d like to see their flat-artwork come to life through animation and 3D layout
- An animator who wants to learn more about working with 3D in After Effects.
- Don’t take this class if you’re comfortable working with 3D in After Effects and other 3D apps.
Instructor
- 4.5 Instructor Rating
- 664 Reviews
- 6,113 Students
- 13 Courses
Hey! I’m a multi-hyphenate artist who’s authored books, spoken at conferences, and taught thousands of students online. I simply love creating—no mater if it’s painting murals, illustrating NFTs on Adobe Live, coding websites, or designing merch. My art is bold and colourful and draws inspiration from childhood fantasies. I have ADHD but am not defined by it, dance terribly, and can touch my nose with my tongue.
History
I’ve studied multimedia design and graphic design. I’ve taught myself how to code. I've freelanced, worked for agencies and startups, and run my own product design studio. I’m a published author and a full-time artist. I used to go by the name TapTapKaboom—that’s now a separate thing teaching people how to make websites.
Seeing what you create and how you change your life because of what I teach makes me warm and fuzzy. So, thank you! Please keep on sharing your work, reviews and stories.
Philosophy
At the core of my creation philosophy is play and experimentation. I love learning and don’t mind being wrong. I’m an advocate for pursuing big dreams by taking small, intentional and often repetitive steps. Don’t have a big dream? Then I advise play and experimentation—be curious, and try it all.