Images look washed out when imported in AE

Since you haven't offered any actual info about your system, color management and so on we can't be sure, but to be honest this is one of those "Guy needs to seriously read up on color management!" things. There, I said it! Potential points of failure:

• You are not using CM in the first place
• If you use CM it's not configured properly
• When you do, CM needs to be used in all apps consistently
• CM is mandatory for 16 bit and 32 bit workflows

You see, there's more to it. You need to consistently work with CM and my hunch here is that you have created a 32 bit or 16 bit 3D render while being completely ignorant on how this affects colro ranges, gamut and color representation in PS and AE. More to the point, the value ranges are probably overcranked and based on an HDR workflow and without CM the programs simply have no way of mapping them to the limited range of your screen correctly. that problem, of course, would also apply to how you use your 3D program and its render settings to begin with. In any case, if you want some more specific advice, you have to provide much more info. Generally, though, you should start by educating yourself about CM. No simple answers, no shortcuts. Just lots of reading.

Mylenium