A Tutorial on 3D Stroke After Effects

After Effects is a popular video effects program made by Adobe. It has a layout that would look somewhat familiar to anyone who has used other Adobe products such as Photoshop or Premiere. In fact, using the Adobe Bridge, all of these products interact fully. One of the more interesting effects that you can create in Adobe After Effects is a 3D stoke in which a glowing line seems to move through the scene in all three dimensions.

Instructions

1. Open After Effects. Select “File” from the menu and choose “Open.” In the dialog box that appears browse to and open some scene that you want to add the effect to, such as a 3D room.

2. Select “Layer” from the menu and choose “New.” From the options, choose “Solid.” In the dialog that appears, go with the default settings and click “OK.”

3. Select “Effect” from the menu and choose “Simulation.” From the options, choose “CC Particle World.” In the “Effects Controls” on the left, set the “Radius,” “Inherit Velocity,” “Gravity,” “Extra” and “Velocity” to 0.

4. Select “Layer” from the menu and choose “New.” From the options choose “Null Object.” In the “Effects Controls” change the “Particle Type” to “Lens Convex.”

5. In the “Composition” palette, click on the “3D Layer” button for the “Null Object.” Go to the “Producer” setting and use the “X,Y,Z” controls to place the effect in the first frame. Scrub through the timeline, repositioning the effect as your work. Save your work.

References

• Digital Producer: Line Wrap