New in Beta: FBX 3D Model Support

[VictoriaNece]

Hi there!

Version 25.2x88 of After Effects Beta introduces support for FBX model import.

FBX is one of the most popular formats for 3D models, and you can now bring FBX models directly into After Effects – including embedded animation, cameras and lights.

This also includes models downloaded from Mixamo:

Please give FBX import a try with your models and let us know how it’s working for you.

Let us know if you run into any issues, e.g.:

1. The model doesn't look right for some reason (like missing materials)
2. The model looks right but has unexpected transformations
3. The model fails to import
4. Unexpected appearance of embedded animation, cameras or lights
5. Some other issue we haven't anticipated

Thank you for your feedback! We appreciate it.

[sabergfx]

Great! Where can I download the enviromnetal light exr you used for this scene? I like the lighting very much here.

[VictoriaNece]

I'm not 100% sure where this one came from, to be honest -- I got it from a demo project created by another team. But there are a bunch of environment light EXRs on Adobe Stock (including some free ones) as well as Substance Assets, and, as of yesterday's beta update, you can now use any 2D layer as an Environment light source! 

[sabergfx]

Thank you very much. I will try those.

[bjornsson]

I'm trying to export a model (.fbx) from Maya with a standard surface material. The material without any texture maps work fine but with Basecolor, Roughness, Metalness etc connected there is an error on import. 

[bjornsson]

Ohh found the solution, the .fbx file wasn't in the same folder as the textures. 

[jeffsarge]

Does the current fBX import take in shape morph animation?

thanks,

Jeff

[jeffsarge]

Maya bone animation issue.

I have a simple cylinder being deformed by two bones.

The bones simply rotate from 0 degrees to 90 and back like an arm.  When I export to fbx and bring it into AE beta, the animation take shows up but when I select it nothing happens, there is no animation.   i have set up the same test in C4d and that export works as expected.  It looks like C4D is using the FBX 2019 plugin and Maya is using 2020.3.7.  I'm not sure if that is the issue.   I can import the Maya scene into C4D and the animation plays as expected.  Also if I export the imported Maya scene out of c4d and bring it into AE beta, it works as expected.

As a note... In Maya if I select "resample all" under the Bake Animation section, the animation does come in, however if I try a speed change to slow it down, the animation becomes choppy.  I can slow down the C4d version as much as I want and it is always smooth which is really nice.   This also works with the Maya scene that was exported out of c4D.

Seems like somethig is not optimal with the Maya fbx export.

It would be great to have this flexibility with the Maya export.

[jeffsarge]

...for some reason it seems like it's working now.  I'm sure that typing my previous lengthy comment is what fixed it.

[matzorama]

Fails to import FBX file downloaded from Mixamo. 

[VictoriaNece]

Can you give us a little more info about your setup (beta version #, platform, etc.) and what you're trying to import? We've tested quite a few Mixamo imports and have not reproduced this issue. 

[jackthegiantkiller]

Hey Victoria, remember waaaaaay back when you said your team was promising a fix for Autosave in After Effects? How's that going as you never ever replied to the hundreds of upvotes and comments on this. It would be SO GREAT to find out that aside from shoehorning in more 3D features I'll never use that you might actually address some of these core ongoing issues? Particularly the ones that currently have 534 upvotes but zero acknowledgment in years?

[AlEdRTE]

Where can I read a whitepaper or something technical about best practice in preparation of models for FBX? For example what is expected in the layout of shading nodes for PBR? What shaders are supported/converted etc. The progress on 3d is amazing, but there seems to be very little documentation. Same for GLB, obj.