Importing Blender to After Effects

Hi Me Bruce,

My name is Anis & i have issues importing rendered images from Blender to AE.

I've been trying to import rendered sequnce images from blender to ae. But the problem is when i try to separate the foreground & background in separate layers in blender, they still come out as one image & not separate images. I've used png & open EXR images so far. openEXR Multilayer doesn't seem to work in AE.

Can you help me out here?

You know, I'm starting to feel a bit like Peter in Office Space and dealing with TPS reports. I understand that AE is not a 3D program, I really do. I also understand the difference between a 3D program such as Blender or Maya and AE.

(Note: if your feelings get easily hurt, please stop reading here.)

However, the issue of being able to import obj files is the least of my worries, but everyone (except David) seemed to latch onto that and proceeded to pound me over the head with it. My issue was that I couldn't import 3D files I'd created in Blender so I can composite them. You can import files from Maya (a major 3D app) but not Blender, so that's why I'm wondering why you can't import .obj files which are a much more common file type for 3D. It's that simple. Not only is Maya listed in the acceptable files list in the Import dialog, but I've seen 3d files imported into AE in more than one online tutorial. That was ONE sentence out of a much larger post. And NO, I'm not looking to work with those files like I would in a 3D program where I'm doing modeling, changing textures, etc. All I'm looking to do is import a 3D file so I can composite it (sorry I wasn't that specific, but I'd figured people would understand that or at least ASK WHY I wanted to import if they weren't sure). Think about it, if I can do modeling in Blender, WHY would I want to do modeling in AE?

To me, it's amazing that someone with 13 posts to this forum can understand that better than people who have hundreds or thousands of posts. I'm not angry at anyone, just frustrated and aggravated that rather than post something helpful, some people on this forum would rather repeat the same point that addresses a minor issue. I really don't need to be told 5 times that AE is not a full fledged 3D program, as I understood that already and even if I didn't I would have understood that after the first reply addressing that minor question. Again, I'm not looking to hurt anyone's feelings, but try to get people to understand that if an issue is fairly simple, the same (perceived) answer doesn't have to be posted again and again and again. Doing so doesn't help the OP at all.

Why can't AE import .obj files? That's an extremely common

Well, if AE was a 3D program I'm sure it would, but as they otehrs said it isn't and you are expecting something from it that it cannot do. It may offer more 3D features in the future, but for the time being that entails the use of the described workarounds or the use of third-party plug-ins.

Mylenium

If you have Photoshop Extended, you can import the obj into that, save it as a psd file, and then open the psd in AE (make sure it's set to Live).  You can then apply transforms on your 3d model (rotate, pan, scale).

To me, it's a bit silly that AE can't open .obj, .fbx or .dae files.  They're more expensive, but Fusion and Nuke can....  AE would probably have to be completely rewritten......  Should have done that while converting to x64....

PS, there might be a script for Blender that can export nulls, lights, cameras into AE...

Bruce BFD wrote: Why can't AE import .obj files?

Because, as Time Remapper mentioned, AE's not a 3d application.

As far as integration between the two programs goes, see if this thread helps. Also this one (it's aimed at 2.5).

Just in general, you will probably find all of these helpful.

After Effects is a composting, motion graphics, and 2-2.5D animation program. As such, you will not be able to import 3D scenes or models (such as .obj files) and be able to work with the scene natively. Instead, you should animate and model, texture and light, and then render (in one or several passes) in your 3D program (in this instance, Blender), and then import the rendered image sequence into After Effects for further animation, compositing or effects work.

Bruce BFD wrote: Why can't AE import .obj files?

Because AE's not a 3d application.

As far as integration between the two programs goes, see if this thread helps. Also this one (it's aimed at 2.5).

Just in general, you will probobly find all of these helpful.