User Guide

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ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0
User Guide
To enable or disable Wireframe Interactions mode:
Do one of the following:
• Click the Wireframe Interactions button ( ) in the Timeline Window.
• Choose Edit > Preferences > Previews and select an option from the either Use
Wireframe Interactions While Alt Key (Windows) or Use Wireframe Interactions While
Option Key (Mac OS) menu. Select Up to enable Wireframe Interactions. Select Down to
enable Wireframe Interactions only when you hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option
(MacOS) keys while moving a layer.
To temporarily disable or enable Wireframe Interactions mode:
Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you move a layer.
Working in Draft 3D mode
Clicking the Draft 3D mode button disables all lights and shadows that fall on 3D layers.
It also disables the camera’s depth-of-field blur.
To enable or disable Draft 3D mode:
Click the Draft 3D mode button ( ) in the Timeline Window.
3D rendering
Compositing the 3D information in After Effects requires different algorithms than those
needed for rendering 2D information. After Effects provides a 3D renderer that computes
the motion blur, lighting, shadow, and depth-of-field information unique to 3D.
The 3D rendering order differs from that of 2D. In the standard rendering order, After Effects
renders layers according to their Timeline order, from the bottom layer to the top layer. In
contrast, the 3D renderer calculates 3D layers according to their spatial order in the Compo-
sition window, from the most distant layer, or the one with the highest Z coordinate value,
to the closest layer, or the one with the lowest Z coordinate value. If compositions contain
both 2D and 3D layers, then the rendering order becomes more complex. See “Rendering
compositions containing both 2D and 3D layers” on page 304 for more information on how
After Effects handles rendering such compositions.
UG.book Page 303 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM