Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Some Other Techniques
We're almost there. By now, you have enough functional knowledge about Element
3D and how to work with it such that you can do just about anything. But there are
some techniques (that we're about to cover) that can save you time and decrease
your learning time.
In this chapter, we'll cover 3D text and flying logos, interacting with live action
footage, and playing around a bit with some other features of Element 3D.
Flying text/logos
Unlike
Zax
or other 3D plugins for AEX, Element uses existing layers to extrude text
and logos. Let's check out the techniques (starting with text).
Sure, everyone wants to make the next great character animation feature film when
they start animating. But what a lot of animators don't realize when they're starting
is that extruded text and flying logos are the foundation of any animator's reel.
After all... even the first commercial animation of
Rhythm & Hues
(
Life of Pi, Babe,
Dr. Doolittle
, and so on) was the logo for
United Artists
. 3D plugins for doing logos
and text in After Effects have been around for quite a while. A version of
Zaxwerks
was even included with After Effects 5.5 (not CS5.5... just Version 5.5 back in 2003).
With Zax you could import
Illustrator
vector art (even some very basic 3D models)
to create some pretty cool logos and text.
