Adobe 12040118 Tutorial - Page 168

light to the Position property of the null layer. Then, you can animate the Point Of Interest property by moving the null object. It is often easier to select and see a null object than it is to select and see the point of interest. In After Effects CS5.5 and later, there is a camera command, "Create Orbit Null." This parents the selected camera layer to a new null layer. The new null layer is renamed, based on the camera's name appended with Orbit Null Trish and Chris Meyer show you how to use the Create Orbit Null camera command in this video tutorial on Adobe TV. This page includes resources for the new camera features in After Effects CS5.5, including the automatic creation of camera rigs using the Create Orbit Null command. For a video tutorial that shows how to create and modify a camera and use the Camera tools, see the Adobe website. Trish and Chris Meyer provide a video tutorial on the ProVideo Coalition website that demonstrates the use of the Camera tools to adjust cameras and 3D views. Trish and Chris Meyer provide a tutorial for using 3D layers, lights, and cameras in a PDF excerpt from their book After Effects Apprentice on the Focal Press website. Mark Christiansen provides tips and detailed techniques for working with cameras in the "Virtual Cinematography in After Effects" chapter of After Effects Studio Techniques on the Peachpit Press website. This chapter includes information about matching lens distortion, performing camera moves, performing camera projection (camera mapping), using rack focus, creating boke blur, using grain, and choosing a frame rate to match your story-telling. Richard Harrington provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to use the Camera tools and camera views in After Effects to create a camera move with 3D layers. (This tutorial is the second in a two-part series. Part 1 concentrates on working with photographs to isolate and create sky in Photoshop for use in After Effects.) Rich Young provides a set of expressions on his AE Portal website that use the toWorld method link a camera and light to a layer with the CC Sphere effect. Andrew Devis of Creative Cow has created a 3 tutorial series on Animating a Camera: Animating a Camera 1: Camera Difficulties Animating a Camera 2: Simple Rig Animating a Camera 3: Controllers & Point of View This video from video2brain demonstrates the command to create a new camera orbit null. Material Options properties To the top 3D layers have Material Options properties, which determine how a 3D layer interacts with light and shadow. Casts Shadows Specifies whether a layer casts shadows on other layers. The direction and angle of the shadows are determined by the direction and angle of the light sources. Set Casts Shadows to Only if you want the layer to be invisible but still cast a shadow. Use the Only setting and a nonzero Light Transmission setting to project the colors of an invisible layer onto another layer. Steve Holmes provides a video tutorial on the Artbeats website in which he demonstrates how to use layers with Cast Shadows set to Only to cast shadows of specific shapes within a 3D scene. Light Transmission The percentage of light that shines through the layer, casting the colors of the layer on other layers as a shadow. 0% specifies that no light passes through the layer, casting a black shadow. 100% specifies that the full values of the colors of the shadow-casting layer are projected onto the layer accepting the shadow. Use partial light transmission to create the appearance of light passing through a stained glass window. Accepts Shadows Specifies whether the layer shows shadows cast on it by other layers. In After Effects CS6, an "Only" option is available in Accepts Shadows for when you want to render only a shadow on a layer. Accepts Lights Specifies whether the color of a layer is affected by light that reaches it. This setting does not affect shadows. Ambient Ambient (nondirectional) reflectivity of the layer. 100% specifies the most reflectivity; 0% specifies no ambient reflectivity. Diffuse Diffuse (omnidirectional) reflectivity of the layer. Applying diffuse reflectivity to a layer is like draping a dull, plastic sheet over it. Light that falls on this layer reflects equally in all directions. 100% specifies the most reflectivity; 0% specifies no diffuse reflectivity. Specular Specular (directional) reflectivity of the layer. Specular light reflects from the layer as if from a mirror. 100% specifies the most reflectivity; 0% specifies no specular reflectivity. Shininess Determines the size of the specular highlight. This value is active only if the Specular setting is greater than zero. 100% specifies a reflection with a small specular highlight. 0% specifies a reflection with a large specular highlight. Metal The contribution of the layer color to the color of the specular highlight. 100% specifies that the highlight color is the color of the layer. For example, with a Metal value of 100%, an image of a gold ring reflects golden light. 0% specifies that the color of the specular highlight is the color of the light source. For example, a layer with a Metal value of 0% under a white light has a white highlight. Specify resolution to use for rendering shadows To the top The Advanced 3D rendering plug-in is used to render compositions containing intersecting 3D layers. To render shadows, the plug-in uses shadow