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After Effects 3D Text

I recently found myself trying to figure out how to do 3d text in Adobe After Effects CS4 while trying to recreate the intro from the tv show LOST. The solution that I chose does not require any 3rd party plugins...only the Shatter effect.


What you'll need

After Effects CS4 (untested in other versions - leave a comment)


Step by Step Guide

1. Startup After Effects and create a New Project and add a New Composition to it




2. Add a new Text Layer to the Composition and enter your text (text color does not matter)





3. Hide your Text Layer




4. Add a new Solid Layer to the Composition and set the solid color to the color of text that you want







5. Apply the Shatter Effect to your Solid Layer (search for Shatter in Effects & Presets, then drag "Shatter" onto your Solid Layer)






6. Set Shatter Effect properties
  1. Change [View] to "Rendered"
  2. Change [Shape/Pattern] to "Custom"
  3. Change [Shape/Custom Shatter Map] to your Text Layer
  4. Change [Shape/Extrusion Depth] to 5.00 (or whatever suits you best)
  5. Change [Force 1/Strength] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)
  6. Change [Force2/Strength] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)
  7. Change [Physics/Gravity] to 0 (prevents shatter effect)


7. That's it, you now have 3d text in After Effects with no 3rd party plugins.




Things to try

1. Setup your Solid Layer as a 3D Layer and play with the orientation of your text.

2. Show your Text Layer again, highlight your text, and try changing the font, size, etc. You'll see that your 3d Solid Layer changes automatically.

3. Try playing around with the Lighting attributes in the Shatter effect.


If you have a moment, please leave a comment to let me know how I'm doing. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.I hope you have found this useful, it certainly made my recreation of the LOST intro look much better. I'll be creating a step by step guide of how I did that very soon for those LOST fans out there, so stay tuned.

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