Greetings!
Starting today in After Effects Beta, with build 23.6x38, you can import 3D models from Creative Cloud Libraries, including thousands of models available in Adobe Stock. Many of the 3D models in Adobe Stock are provided free with your Creative Cloud subscription!
Adding 3D models to your library
Adding a model from Adobe Stock to your library is easy:
- Start by going to the Adobe Stock site to search either the free 3D models or the entire collection of 3D models.
- Click on a model, then click on the Save to Library button (it has a heart icon).
You can also add your own 3D model files to your library:
- In After Effects, first import the 3D model into your project, then drag and drop the model from the Project panel to the Libraries panel.
- In the Creative Cloud desktop app, click on the Files tab, click on Your Libraries, click on the library you want to add the file to, then drag the 3D model file from your desktop to the list of files.
Note: When adding your own 3D models to a library, we recommend using GLB format. While Creative Cloud Libraries and After Effects Beta also support OBJ and GLTF format models, those formats rely on links to dependent material and texture files, and these links will break inside a library. GLB packages all dependencies into a single file and doesn’t experience this problem.
You can manage files in your libraries via the web or the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Adding 3D models in a library to your project
Once you’ve added a 3D model to your library, using it in your After Effects project is simple:
- Open the Libraries panel (Window > Libraries).
- Either drag the model to the Project panel, or right-click on the model and choose Add to Project.
Other things to know
- 3D models from Adobe Stock can also be downloaded to your local disk, and then added to your After Effects project via File > Import > File.
- 3D models added to a library by the Substance apps, like Substance Stager, upload as USDZ files, which are not currently supported by After Effects Beta. Instead of adding to the model to your library via the Libraries panel in the Substance app, first export it as a GLB file, which you can then import into After Effects or add to your library as described above.
Known issues
- Adobe Stock models can take a longer time to import than other OBJ files, and the progress bar may sit at 0% or wait for an OS progress wheel for many seconds before proceeding. This is due to the increased time necessary to interpret the MDL files associated used by these models, a sub-process that is not currently visible to the progress bar.
- Some Adobe Stock models do not currently render in After Effects Beta. When added to a comp, the bounding box for the model will draw, but no pixels will be drawn inside. These models use Adobe Standard Material properties, which is still under development in After Effects Beta.
If you encounter a problem with adding 3D models to your project from the Libraries panel, please let us know by creating a new post in this forum. If the problem relates to a specific model in Adobe Stock, please provide the link to that model.
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