Lose 3D materials when imported in After Effects

[dw_g]

Whenever I tried to import the 3D glass bottle in After Effects, the materials seemed to be gone. The 3D model was created in Blender then exported as gltf or obj. But no matter which format, it seems to run into the same problem. I read somewhere that it has to do with my lighting settings when I import it into a composition. But I actually didn't add or touch the light settings at all. 

I am wondering If anyone has experienced this before or know how to solve this? Thank you.

[Xinyu36482077bpdj]

i have the same issue working on a 3d model imported in my after effects too...

i ended up downloading the AE Beta version and import a HDRI image for my envirnoment lightning . it met my needs but still l'm looking for to know why the materia is missing too...

[dw_g]

Yeah, the strange thing is that a friend who tried it didn't seem to run into this issue and I am not sure why there is this inconsistency. And I really need to animate this 3D model so can't use an image to replace it 😞 

[Eliot2558113459as]

Our products are all glass. We've 3D modeled everything we sell. I'm still trying to figure out a way to import the GLB files with the glass material included. According to the After Effects FAQ page (updated March 2024), as of right now, it only accepts texture formats in JPEG & PNG. Any decals or fills I have applied in PNG format import just fine but the glass material does not.  "Currently, only JPEG and PNG format images are supported for textures. Texture files in other formats will be ignored. "  So if you applied a material in Adobe Stager, for instance, it will not bring it along with the AE import. It's my understanding that if you create a UV map in Substance Painter, however, you can bring it along as the UV wrap can be exported in the compatible formtas. They seem to have a long way to go yet before AE is a viable motion graphics application for folks like us sitting on a massive amount of already modeled and textured assets. Not everything is opaque!

[stefan_vienntus]

Hey, we have the same problem. So you say your solution was to create a UV Wrap?

[Eliot2558113459as]

See Denys post below and give that a try. That's the closest to glass I've been able to get in AE. There's no ray tracing so real looking glass is probably a ways off. 

[Eliot2558113459as]

OK, after some more testing and research the simple answer is you can import SOME materials with your models but not ALL. AE will not handle glass materials even when imported from their own Substance 3D Suite. For the time being no glass for us!

[dw_g · Accepted solution]

I don't know how but at the end once my friend packed up the whole file and zip it to me, I was able to open it in After Effect, still not sure which part went wrong but it worked out at the end.

[Denys Bondartsov]

As we researched, AE currently has a limitation on the Transmission channel in the GLTF file. It just does not support it. At the same time, the material could be transparent like this one https://share.cleanshot.com/YkZjWts0 because a simple glass material could be a combination of the Transmission channel and Opacity of the 

pbr MetallicRoughness channel. Opacity is working https://share.cleanshot.com/jkKqg0lc but of course this is just mesh material transparency without any distortions, so it feels fake

[Eliot2558113459as]

Interesting. Our products consist of mostly labaratory glass so accuracy is very important but that faux glass might work as a temporary solution for some motion graphic applications. I'll play around with it in my spare time. Thanks. 

[relle des]

Hi all, just checking to see if this actually has a resolution as I don't find the answer marked correct to be the solution for me unfortunately, so am trying to see if it's a case of a program upgrade or a setting I might be missing on transfer.  

I'm having the same problem trying to import a rectangular glass object (with an image on one of the panels) in from Dimensions to After Effects. the object comes in white which I can't use for my video. Is there any way I can make it glass-like in AE after it's imported from Dimension? I've tried both importing .glb and .gltf (with images and binary.bin files). 

Mac and App specs are: 

AE v24.4.1 (Build 2)

Adobe Dimension v4.0.3

M1 Max Macbook Pro

Sonoma 14.4.1

Thanks.

[Eliot2558113459as]

I don't see Adobe adding ray tracing to After Effects any time soon so your best option for now is to use the technique Denys provided links to above. It doesn't look like glass exactly but at least it's transparent on some level. I tried it out, it's more like a smokey plastic. That's ass close as you're going to get for now!

[Denys Bondartsov]

Noticed post update. Here are a few new notes. Firstly, yeah, since May nothing has changed with glass. Here is the Victoria post from the dev team about the current glass workflow: https://x.com/FakeGreenDress/status/1804261611810754726 But so far, it really seems like raytracing isn't coming anytime soon. But I found a small new trick. AE supports GLTF emissive factor parameter, which should make the material shine, but in our case it just makes the material brighter, reducing the impact of shadows(in addition to the model layer shadow settings) and making colors look flatter https://share.cleanshot.com/gkLrRwPZ I making it using my tool, but it should work in any 3d editor. This is still not about realism, but in some cases could be useful

[stefan_vienntus]

Yeah using Opacity works, but in my case i work with stager and have images on the glass object (Label/Logo) which in that case are effected and dissapear too.

The only possible solution I found was working with Copilots Element 3D (200€) to create the materials in After Effects directly. Does anyone have experience if that works better?

[Denys Bondartsov]

it should work if the label or logo will be added to another mesh in the model