Skip to main content
Participant
November 4, 2020
Question

3D Camera Rig - Stereo 3D - lights & shadows

  • November 4, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 346 views

In After Effects, I am making 3D animation that I want to export as anaglyph. I know how to create a 3D Camera Rig in my original composition, which then creates a Stereo 3D composition that I can export as anaglyph. I did a lot with lighting and shadows in my original composition, but none of the lighting and shadows show up in the Stereo 3D composition. I’ve searched around on the subject, and so far the only thing I’ve found is this (https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/kb/stereoscopic-3d-effects.html ), which says, “If you create a light in your main composition, that light isn't used in your Left Eye and Right Eye composition and not in your Stereo 3D composition either.” It then says, "Adobe recommends that if you need to add lights, connect the lights in the left and right compositions via expressions to their counterparts in the master composition." I don’t understand how to do this, or at least, my attempts to do this aren't working. Can anyone give me a better explanation on how to do this, or point me to a good tutorial that will walk me through the process? Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

EskayAuthor
Participant
November 12, 2020

In case anyone else has the same problem and finds this thread while searching for a solution, I figured out a way to do it that's much easier than I ever expected. When you create the 3D Camera Rig in your main composition, After Effects creates 3 new compostions: Left Eye, Right Eye, and Stereo 3D. Go to your main composition, select your lights, then copy & paste them into the Left Eye and Right Eye compositions. That lighting then shows up automatically in the Stereo 3D composition.

 

In the link I included in my original post, I now realize it explained exactly what I'm explaining here, and I missed it because I got caught up in trying to figure out what it was saying about expressions and the pickwhip tool.

Mylenium
Legend
November 4, 2020

Not really much of an explanation necessary, as it's just basic pickwhip-expressions connecting matching properties on identical layers across different comps, if need be. Your image does nothing to clarify what you are having issues with, anyway. Perhaps start by reading this:

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/user-guide.html/after-effects/using/expression-basics.ug.html

 

Mylenium