User Guide

CHAPTER 9
302
3D Compositing
Using 3D compositing with masks
You can draw a mask on any 3D layer in After Effects. The mask coordinates correspond to
the layer coordinates in 2D space. However, the mask itself has no 3D properties except
those of the layer itself, so you cannot draw a mask along the Z axis. However, once you’ve
drawn the mask on the layer, the entire layer can be animated along the Z axis.
Using third-party files with depth information
Though After Effects can import third-party files with depth information such as
ElectricImage (.eiz) files and .rla file formats, and interpret the z-space channel in those
files, it cannot animate individual objects within those files. After Effects treats composited
third-party 3D files as a single layer. That layer, as a whole, can be given 3D attributes and
treated like any After Effects 3D layer, but the objects contained within that 3D file cannot
be manipulated individually.
Previewing 3D
You can reduce the amount of data displayed in a 3D layer to facilitate faster renders
and screen redraws when you are animating them using Wireframe Interactions or Draft
3D mode.
Using Wireframe Interactions
Clicking the Wireframe Interactions button disables After Effects’ real-time update in the
Composition window of layers being transformed. Instead, the layers are replaced with
wireframe representations of the layer. The layer is updated in the Composition window
only after you stop moving it. You can choose when Wireframe Interactions is enabled or
disabled.
UG.book Page 302 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM