[HELP] How to extrude a PNG

[corentinm45666304]

Hello ! I'm making my own Doctor Who title sequence, but I have a problem. I need to add my logo but I don't know how to make it 3D ! May someone show me using this file ?

[P.M.B · Accepted solution]

Short answer, you can't.   AE needs path information to extrude. 

[corentinm45666304]

Oh OK, thanks ! Do you know a software that I can use for this?

[Roland Kahlenberg]

You can try AE's Autotrace feature if your PNG has an Alpha Channel. Autotrace creates masks for a layer's Alpha Channel. Using the mask, you can paste its path onto a Shape Layer's Path property. Then extrude the Shape Layer while using either the Raytraced or Cinema4D renderer. Of course, there is the option of you drawing the outline manually if you are sufficient quick and you can achieve an end result which is cleaner that Autotrace.

Another option is to use Shatter - there are lots of tutorials on using Shatter to create 3D/extruded geometry.

Another option is to set the layer to be 3D and then make multiple copies (approx 20) and offset each copy in z-space by about .5 pixels.

[corentinm45666304]

Thank you very much! I will try these methods tomorrow

[Rick Gerard]

How 3D do you want it? That PNG has transparency so you can just stack a bunch of layers up. Add this expression to position:

[value[0], value[1], value[2] + index]

This will offset each layer by exactly one pixel which is perfect because it precisely lines up with the pixel grid.

Next, make the layer 3D, duplicate once, add a fill to the bottom copy to generate a solid color for the edge because that will probably look better, duplicate about 10 more times, select all but the top layer and duplicate 6 more times. You now have 61 layers. Next, parent all of the layers to the top copy to help keep things lined up, pre-compose, collapse transformations, add a spotlight and some ambient light and then fly your camera around your logo. If you want to animate the logo position you can add a null to the main comp, make it 3D, tie the position and rotation of the top layer in the pre-comp (the parent) to the null by simply dragging the pickwhip between the two timelines. This took me less than 5 minutes and it will render faster than it would if you use the C4-D or Ray-traced (heaven forbid) rendering engine.

OOPS, I made a mistake when I made the screenshot. The expressions should be in the pre-comp. You'll figure it out because I'm giving you the project file: Dropbox - Fake 3D.aep (note: your browser may add a TXT extension to the file when you download it. Just delete that. This is a CC 2018 file) fixing the problem and saving the file took another couple of minutes. Just replace the missing file with your PNG.

The other option - Take your logo into Illustrator, auto-trace it to quickly generate a path around the outside of your logo on another layer, import the illustrator file as a comp. make the layers 3d, convert the vector to a shape, move the shape layer one pixel away from the logo and extrude the shape layer. Illustrator's auto-trace does a lot better job than you can do in AE. That would probably take me about 30 minutes to set up.

If it were my project I would probably use Element 3D or even C4D lite to extrude the logo because you could do a much better job of making it 3D and do some beveled edges. That would probably take close to an hour to get done right.

[corentinm45666304]

Ow. I can't thank you enough for this.

[nicktyra1]

this is such a useful and creative idea, thank you