Tutorial: Recreating the Star Wars Hyperspace Tunnel with AE’s New 3D Parametric Mesh

The Echo Effect to create long streaks is normally the way you'd recreate the jump to lightspeed, but I think I've found a better, more controllable way. And also, the Hyperspace tunnel can be done entirely in AE with no plugins!

When I was researching the VFX History of Slitscan, I realized that the "standard" After Effects tutorials for #StarWars hyperspace are often slow and hard to art-direct. In this tutorial, I throw out the old methods and use Shape Layer Repeaters to create perfectly controlled star streaks.

I also dive into the NEW 3D Parametric Mesh tools in After Effects (v26) to recreate the iconic "blue tin foil" hyperspace tunnel using a free Adobe Substance material.

In this video, you’ll learn:

1. How to use a repeater on a shape layer.
2. How to create a star field from a single line.
3. Building a 3D Hyperspace tunnel using a Cylinder Mesh and Substance Materials.
4. How to handle the "Flash to White" transition and deceleration.