After Effects Tutorial - 3D floating titles, Fringe-style (2/2)

[EdEditz]

To get rid of the jagged edges of the text I used a Luma Key effect on the Pds file and slightly feathered the edges. Cleans it up nicely. It's not perfect of course but it's a tip you might find useful.

[2morowMan]

Thanks - really clear and sooooo helpful.

But i dont have pfhoe, so i just 'parent' my psd controller to the Null_Tracker (where i did some AE Tracking). It does the biz most of the time, but sometimes my psd wont go where i want it. I guess thats why you 'sove' the camera.

[xFRAGxMOVIESx]

TELL ME WHY NOONE EVER SHOWS THE END PRODUCT RENDERED 

[shortformvideos]

@xFRAGxMOVIESx Part 1 showed a ram preview of the effect, plus the tutorial preview (which was not included in the playlist you watched this on) also showed the final effect. At the time these tutorials were produced, YouTube was limited to 10min videos, so I had to lose a fair amount of content in the final edit. Do me a favour and turn CAPS LOCK off if you're posting here.

[xFRAGxMOVIESx]

@shortformvideos full screen in 730 only takes up 10 seconds and didnt know caps where even on... we can hardly see a tiny screen

[shortformvideos]

@xFRAGxMOVIESx You might find the preview more useful then - /watch?v=Gxkg6x71ZBs

[PhoenicianC4D]

One of the best tutorials regarding motion tracking.

Thanks mate

[kokooo035]

thankss alot. for your tutorial. when i watch your tutorial i has more idea

[MrTKJfilms]

That is soooo f-ing awesome dude! Thanks so much!

[arontao]

PFHoe is also good for doing things that you normally use mocha or after effects tracker? ( like blood on the walls, or bullet hits,etc) how do i do that the same way that this?

[walleyesam]

Wonderful tutorials! Much appreciated from this newby!

[Tessmell]

wow nice 3D effect Oo 

[jumpinaj1024]

@shortformvideos I did everything the way you showed and my end result looks good except that when i pan across the room my title shakes up and down, is this because of how i filmed it?

[kenswift12345]

Whats the easiest way to add a shadow to the text to make it seem more like its in the scene?

[DaveForce]

Sorry for the simple question. Why do u use PFhoe for tracking? AE CS5 has got already the tracking motion or is it because it's more accurate?

[shortformvideos]

@DaveForce Several reasons - AE's motion tracker performs really poorly instances where there's lot of movement in the z-axis, it gets lost if the point being tracked heads off frame, and it doesn't 'solve' the camera position - it's just a motion tracker. So you can't really use it to effectively work with object placement.

Don't get me wrong, there are times when the motion tracker is all you need, but it's really limited.

[DaveForce]

@shortformvideos Ty for your quick reply... I'll try it then... Cheers

[MrScarghost141]

@shortformvideos COuld i do the effect with Cameratracker from the foundry?

thx

[EdEditz]

@MrScarghost141 Yes you can. Works just as well. I use Camera Tracker too. :)

[MrScarghost141]

@EdEditz thx

[peanutismint]

This is a great tutorial for getting started with this sort of stuff! Thanks. Can I ask - if I want to put some 3D text into some footage and the text only appears as the camera pans around to reveal it, how would this be achieved? i.e. I film a house, without the text in-shot, then pan up to focus on the text that is floating above the house?

[shortformvideos]

@peanutismint Should be simple - PFHoe essentially recreates the camera movement from your footage, so you'd just need to place the text where you want it to be in relation to everything else. For example, the the footage I used in the tutorial panned from left to right more, I could have moved to the end of the sequence, positioned my text in the middle of the frame, and the camera motion would have done the rest. Hope that makes sense for you.

[peanutismint]

@shortformvideos Yeah I think so....will give it a go, thanks! :-) Also, when I analysed motion, it seemed to create millions of track points for each frame...is there any way to change the sensitivity so as not to be importing thousands of null objects? Or does it only import the tracking points for the frame you're at when you click 'export' or whatever it is??

[shortformvideos]

@peanutismint Don't believe you can dial-down the tracker points, but you can delete the ones you don't want before you export to AE (I do this in the video).

[izvarzone]

Are lens distortions same for all ranges? Can I use paper with grid printed on it to un-distort, and then use it as reference?

[shortformvideos]

@izvarzone If you mean placing a grid pattern in front of the lens before the shot, I think that's an excellent idea, and I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work as long as you don't zoom in/out during shooting. Just make sure that you fill the frame with your reference pattern and you should be good to go. Thanks for sharing.

[xPhilmb]

instead of using photoshop can i use Cinema 4D for my 3D text and use it with PFHoe?

[shortformvideos]

@xPhilmb Not done it myself, but you should be able to use any 3D object in a format that AE recognises along with the tracking data created in PFHoe. Guess there's only one way to find out :)

[xPhilmb]

@shortformvideos So if i export the tracking data into cinema 4D, should i be able to create the 3d objects in the scene? Thanks for replying

[Fragdesign]

Thanks for this tutorial. Without it, i would have never figured out how to use the PFHoe Tool.

Little info if someone needs it: After Effects has a limited number of NullObjects. At first try i forgot to remove unneeded tracking points in PFHoe and AE told me that the .ma File is not supported.

[shortformvideos]

@Fragdesign Good tip - and thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with the rest of us!

[cnnewyam]

nice tutorial but I have one problem: when I import my 3D text to after effects its not a 3D object (yes I clicked on the checkbox mark for 3D Live) I saved it as a psd file aswell but the text isn't real 3D in after effects :( can you help me?

[goodatlinerider]

I can't import the .ma files, it says its unsupported.

[shortformvideos]

@goodatlinerider I'm sorry to hear that. There's a copy data to clipboard option you might have more success with (can't say I've used it, myself).

[Homer89th]

thank you really really much!!! You're great, and your tutorial too! I have a question: how can I add a realistic shadow of the 3d text in the scene? I'm simulating a physical text on the ground and the shadows are pretty important...

Thank you very much!!!

[shortformvideos]

@Homer89th Thanks! The answer - for a scene like this - is 'not easily'. AE has no raytracing features, and you'd need to map the objects under the shadow in 3d to get the shadow to fall properly. If your object is on flat ground, then you might be able to fake it with a black solid masked and feathered to look like a shadow. Make it 3d and you can match it to the motion using the same tracker point used for the 3d text.

Sometimes, a good fake is better than the real thing :)

[Homer89th]

@shortformvideos I completely agree! Thank you! :D

[skinVISIBLE]

@Homer89th i have an easy solution my friend. Duplicate your 3d text when its in after effects, then get rectangle mask andchop off entire bottom portion (should only a few px thick) and then colour correct black, turn down opacity to the right amount and thats a crappy solution to your problem ! =)

[Homer89th]

@skinVISIBLE Thank you really really much!!! I will try your solution as soon as possible! :D

[neivin93]

The best tutorial I've seen so far!!!

Thanks a lot!!

[yleeuw]

Hey.. Thanks, 1st time always takes a looong time but i managed to fart something out!.. Knowledge is Power :))

[TnT1964]

Great tutorial! Instead of using Photoshop to create 3D text, is is safe to assume that you can use BCC Extruded Text? if so, would you just import the 3DExtruded text into the AE timeline vs. PS version?

[shortformvideos]

@TnT1964 Don't have that plug-in, but any supported 3D model that reacts to composition camera motion should work. If it's not a true 3D object, you may run into difficulties. Guess the only way to find out is to give it a shot - let us know how you get on.

[JnArA100]

One of the best 3D tracking tutorials in Youtube!!!!!!

Great work and thanks ^^

[pemi78]

you could try either choke matte or feather matte in AE or both. Also you sould toggle the resolution icon for that layer. it is set to draft as i see it.

[shortformvideos]

@pemi78 You've got sharp eyes - I totally missed the draft layer setting (which seems to be AE's default action for this type of object). Sadly, setting it to Best doesn't change anything.

Choke Matting will only feather the outside edges of the object and not the internal lines, so it's not as effective as simply scaling and blurring the PSD layer - but I can see where you're coming from. Thanks for sharing.

[phismsy]

Great, really great video tutorial.

[ewoukie]

What is your workspace layout, coz ive got CS5 but no 3d option at at he top. in Photoshop CS5 im on a mac but that should make a diffrence

[gamesandstuffs]

@ewoukie same here, but im not on a mac

[ewoukie]

What is your workspace layout, coz ive got CS5 but no 3d option at at he top.

[neivin93]

@ewoukie

I think you need the extended version

[CollateralCody]

hey an u use 3d cinema will this work with aae to make this effects work i only have cs4 for photoshop and cs5 for aae can i import a 3d cinema file will this still work

[da5idnz]

Still having issues. I can create 3D text in blender (check), and save it as an .obj file. I can import that obj file into photoshop, and move it around in 3d like you do in your tutorial (check). I save the file as a .psd, but when i import it into After effects it doesn't come in as 3d.

[da5idnz]

@da5idnz ps, I managed to get it to work. In photoshop cs4, I went to "3D' up the top and exported the layer as an obj file (again!) and re-imported it before saving as a .psd. Perhaps Photoshop prefers it's own obj format, not sure, but it works.

[da5idnz]

I don't have Photoshop CS5. Would it be possible to export extruded text from Illustrator? I mean, i guess it won't export with a camera or anything, so not sure if it would work

[shortformvideos]

@da5idnz Nope. You need a Live3d object or a 3d format that AE can read. Illustrator isn't supported. You could try Blender or possibly Sketchup to create the text if you don't have access to CS5, but I'm not too familiar with them.

[toredefine]

Why not raise the pixels per inch, to say 200, in your Photoshop canvas to begin with? Wouldn't that help sharpen the edges to look more vector'd than rastorized?

[shortformvideos]

@toredefine That's a really good idea. I'll give it a go and let you know. tx!

[shortformvideos]

@toredefine Tried it. Failed. It seems that the alternative would be to create an over-sized Photoshop project (5120x2880px for example), import it, and rescale it in After Effects, but this make the Repousse VERY processor hungry.

[shortformvideos]

The 3D tool menu is located at the top of the screen (between Analysis and View), not on the toolbar (usually on the left). If it's not, then I'm afraid I don't why.

[BROAdWAYexpressN]

why cant i find the "3D" optoin in my adobe photoshop CS5? (extended version)

[Tinfoilpain]

Does this still work with AE CS4?

[shortformvideos]

@Tinfoilpain You need Photoshop CS5 to create the text in this tutorial, but AE CS4 can use the Maya scene files that PFHoe creates - so as long as you have a model in a format that AE supports, this technique should be fine in CS4

[sheepfilms]

Nice video

A simple way to anti-alias the text would be to pre-compose the text layer and then double the composition size and text. Then in the original comp scale it down by half which will nicely smooth out the aliased edges (although that might not work - I'm still on AE CS3 so haven't played with the 3D stuff in CS4 & 5)

That or do the text in a 3D program :)

[shortformvideos]

@sheepfilms Thanks for the suggestion - pre-composing and scaling would work if the text layer was 2D, but pre-comping the text flattens the 3D attributes, so I'm afraid that approach won't work.

You're right, though, using a true 3D modelling app if you have one would provide better results.