You will then see the Camera Settings dialogue box. To create a new camera layer, go to Layer>New>Camera. Adding Camera LayersД¬amera layers allow you to view other 3D layers from different distances and angles.В Let's explore how this works to see the affect it will have on a composition. If you do not like a change that you make, you can go to Edit>Undo to undo it. Take some time to change the Material Options values and see how they affect your text. In addition, you can set the properties for shadows and light.

You can adjust the Material Options properties to adjust the surface properties of a 3D layer. Earlier in this article, we saw Front view without the light.В Take a look at the snapshot below to see the 3D effect that the light added to our text. The snapshot above is Front view with the light. Move the light so it is above and in front of the object, as shown below. To do this, select the light layer in the Timeline panel, then press P so that you can see the Position property. Note that the point of interest (our text) is in the cross-hair in the Composition panel. These will depend on the composition and the object that you want to feature in the light. We are going to choose Spotlight.Д¬hose a color, then adjust the other settings. In the dialogue box, name the new layer, then choose the type of light you want. You will then see the Light Settings dialogue box. To add a light, press the Home key, then go to Layer>New>Light.

There are four different kinds of light in After Effects:В Parallel, Spot, Ambient, and Point.В As with anything else in After Effects, you can modify them to achieve the look that you want. Those shadows give depth and make things look more three dimensional when you look at them from the front. When you add light in After Effects, it shines on the other layers in your composition.В You add light to your compositions to create shadows. Go back to the Timeline panel, and adjust the position for the background layer.Д«elow is Custom View 3 after we have dragged the blue arrow and adjusted the Position property for the background layer. You can drag the Z axis, to the right.В This moves the background layer behind the text even further. Next, we are going to make sure the background layer is selected, then go to the Right view in the Composition panel. Now let's import a background and add it to our composition.ДЄs you can see in our Timeline panel, we have added an image for a background. If you look at Custom View 1 above, you will see the text now has 3D qualities. Go back to the 3D menu and choose Custom View 1. The orange triangles in each corner let us know that the Front is now the active view. The only problem is all the text looks flat.В It does not look three dimensional. The Active Camera shows you what the camera sees. The Front shows the view from the front.В The Right shows you the view from the X axis.

In 4 Views, the Top shows along the Y axis. We are going to choose 4 Views вЂ“ Top.В However, if you have a small monitor, you may want to choose 2 Views. Let's go to the bottom of the Composition panel.В Click on the Select View Layout menu. The green arrow controls the Y axis, and the blue arrow controls the Z axis. Now, look at your text in the Composition panel. There is also a new property below Opacity called Material Options. If you look at the Transform properties for your text layer, you will see the Z axis. Go to the Timeline panel and click in the 3D Layer Switch column so the 3D Layer Switch appears.В We have it circled below. Once you are finished, click on the Selection tool in the Tools panel. Go ahead and format the text if you want.В You can change the font size, type, color, etc. To create 3D text, first create a text layer and add text, as we have done below. Use the different 3D views to preview your text Layers in After Effects are flat.В They have an X and Y coordinate that represent height and dimension.В You can move a layer, but you can only move them along those axes.В This means that they are two dimensional.В You can turn on the 3D layer switch so that you can also move an object along its Z axis, which is depth.

3d text after effects