Unwrap to UV space via 3D model in AE?

Yes, you can do this in AE with Element 3D.

 - Make two solids and put a Gradient Ramp on each.

 - Set top solid to Add blending mode.

 - For the top layer, the gradient ramp goes left to right and is the red channel.
 - For the bottom layer, it goes top to bottom, this is the green channel.

 - The blue channel doesn't matter, as long as its consistently set to either 0 or 1.

 - Add Expressions as pictured below.

- Precomp this, I call it STMAP.
- Add Element 3D to a solid, Add STMAP as a Custom texture map

- In E3D, add 3D model. Add STMAP to the Illumination channel. Turn off other channels.
- Back to AE, in the E3D plugin settings turn off all lighting, so it's just the self illumination.

- Unwrap using RE: Map Inverse UV and RE: Map plugins.

Thanks for the input everyone. Sadly, screen space UV's (ST map) is not what I was looking for.

I was thinking more along these lines.

Digital Domain's use of NUKE on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - part 1 - YouTube

Perhaps unwrap via element 3D. Do some comp work. Wrap back to Geo.

Alas, not yet a possibility. Boot up another software for this problem...

Cheers,

Hi Cedar,

Sorry for this issue. Did you ever find a solution? Please let us know if you have or if you still need help.

Thanks,

Kevin

Have you checked out the Multipass feature of Cineware? If you import a 3D object via Cineware you can import a UV pass into AE which may help you. There are also the old 3D effects which allow you to access UV tagging info from a 3D rendered RLA or RPF sequence. Let me know if you need more info on these.

Although this doesn't give you exactly what you want it may help with compositing UV info.

Substance Painter is worth checking out too;

Substance Painter - 3D Painting Software

And, have you tried BodyPaint?

hope this helps,

Angie Taylor | Creative Cabin

Paint & Stick may also be an option depending on what exactly you need

Paint & Stick 2 - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

Hello,

Mettle FreeForm might be another solution. It is a plug-in for After Effects.

FreeForm Pro | Mettle