It's the other way around: the script sets up a shadow of E3D (or any other 3D plugin) onto AE layers. There's not much than can be done "inside" E3D unfortunately.
Hi Kevin thanks for the quick reply, that's a shame, I misunderstood what it could do my fault, ok Ill have to stick with the old way of just cast shadows onto a plane and comping, I was hoping this would conform more to the shape of the geometry.
I bought it to do one other thing, can I ask is it possible then to cast shadows from one element 3d group or layer onto another 3d element group or layer ?
I have some animated OBJ sequences that i just need to get casting shadows onto each other Many thanks
Hello Kevin - loving the Elementary script and I see some great potential here.
I'm working on a project trying to get floor reflections with roll-off and blur but can't seem to get it 100% right. I'm using a precomped 3D layer with a ramp effect as a luma matte right now but when I rotate the camera to the sides of the model, the flat 3D layer becomes obvious.
Been trying to rack my brain to come up with a solution - maybe using the 3D fog somehow or I don't know what.
Also I seem to be losing my shadows when coming back to the project after closing. Any idea what's making that happen?
If you select the reflection comp you'll see there's a Rolloff slider, but this uses the fog so results are pretty limited.
If you want to use a solid with Ramp as matte, I'd rather recommend to keep the solid 2D, then select the Ramp effect of the layer and click on "Pin" in Elementary: this should create 2 Nulls that control the start and stop of the ramp effect (it'll work with any effect but you can't rename the Nulls for the moment). Make those 2 Nulls 3D and place them along Y where you want the rolloff to start and stop.
The best way with Element IMO is to use the World Pass, I'm working on this but haven;t had time to finish: go into the reflection comp, duplicate the Element layer in there and set the output of the top layer to World Position (you may have to remove some expressions). Then adjust the parameters of the world pass so that you get a gradient that "starts" on the floor and moves along Y, and use that as Luma Matte of the bottom layer.
This should give you "perfect" results.
About the shadows that disappear, that's quite strange, you should probably write me directly for that but that can;t be an Elementary issue: once the precomps are created that's it, Elementary doesn't do anything else. Still, write me so that we can look into it.
I'm getting the same Expression errors as Paul Stettner reported below on July 22. Everything I do just results in either one or more Expression error messages and nothing seems to work as advertised. I'm on 1.3.2. Ken, I sent you a screengrab on your email. Please have a look and let me know how I can solve this issue.
Paul's issue was a strange mismatch in the version of Element used between the creation and opening of the project, since it got fixed when he re-installed Element using the latest installer, hence it wasn't related to Elementary's expressions themselves.
Elementary 1.32 must be pretty out-dated now though, back then I think Element was still below 1.5, not sure. So it's much safer for you to download the latest version of the script, otherwise you'll run into issues.
What could be the reason for "Unable to execute script at line 36. File or folder does not exist" ? I installed the 1.57 version on CS6 few minutes ago.
@Alain: each new version between the 0.5 steps will mainly have bug fixes, improvements where necessary and will be optimised for new versions of major plugins. So only version like 1.5, 2.0, etc will have big changes in the UI and functionality.
As I left for my holidays before Element 1.6.2 was released, I had to update Elementary based on the beta of Element 3D, and I wasn't sure if VideoCopilot would change things between the beta and the final release, hence the "beta support" thing in the Version History.
Thanx for such a great tool as Elementary. Its really usefull however I've noticed some strange behaviour. Im using it on two computers PC and after effect CS6. On one computer everything work just fine.On the other I cant generate shadows. I double check every layer and light everything what should be is on but for some reasons when Im trying to generate shadows Its not appear. When Im using "Distance slider" Its appears at "10" but looks very pixelated and dosen't beahave properly.Do You have any Idea what is the problem and how to fix it?
I think it's because you're using After Effects' Ray-Traced renderer, is that right?
When using the classic 3D renderer, AE can create the shadow using a really tiny precomp. But in ray-traced mode it needs a bigger one, which is what you get when increasing the value of the Distance slider.
So if you use the Ray-Traced renderer then you'll have to increase the Distance slider to something like at least 50 (which means that the "mask" used to cast the shadow will be placed 50 px in front of the light)
About the fact that the shadow is pixellated, this may simply be because you're in Fast preview or Draft preview (I don't remember how it's called) and AE will only show you a rough pixelated shadow. But you should get a nice smooth one once you look at the final preview.
Yep You r right.I've checked on one computer everyting and on the other everything except changing view from Draft to Adaptive Resolution. Of course draft preview doesnt generate shadows so thx a lot for support. I should be more attentive:)
Don't worry about it, it's easy to get lost between all those settings.
But keep in mind that if in Adaptive or Final resolution you only see a sort of noise instead of the shadow, then you need to increase a bit the value of the Distance slider in order to give AE's ray tracer a bigger comp to cast the shadow.
I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong, but I select the element layer and select the light, click SHADOW under 3d plugin. I generates the comp for the light but nothing is showing up. I have it on Final Quality, I've changed the distance....not sure what else to do to get this to work....:/
Same thing for reflection.....everything else seems to work fine. I'm aware it's still on beta for 1.6.2 but I'm assuming some people got it working???
It's not really a beta anymore since the beta works fine with 1.6.2, so if you need help you can either create a support ticket and upload your project file (no need to give footage or 3D models, just the aep) or send it to me. please open a support ticket
Hello. I'm totally new to Elementary. I'm also pretty novice with AE. I'm in MacOS10.8.5, CS6, and v1.58. I'm working on my second scene using Elementary. I found the script looking for ways to add/create shadows to Element3D text extrusions. I'm working on some titles that are being added to real footage. It's locked down footage and I have a ground plane set up and my titles complete. These are existing scenes that I've recent;y completed and I'm trying to polish with shadows. I had a heck of a time getting the first one to work at all. I've tested the workflow in test projects and got it working well. I figured out my problem was that I was not "catching" the shadows well. The first time I solved this I disabled my real footage and made a new ground plane and basically moved it all around "far away" until I found the shadow, then manipulated the ground place (solid) until it was catching the shadow directly under the Element3D text. In the second scene I'm having more trouble. I think it's the awkward locked down camera simulation position or something. I do have my light casting shadows and I do have my solid accepting them. I can't find my shadows. I'm basically posting wondering if there are any tips to doing this more easily. Especially in the case of faking 3d space over real world footage. It's not tracked data because there is no motion to track (in the camera movement). I've looked at tons of tutorials but this question still need be asked for my workflow on this project. Any help appreciated. Thanks!
This is a bit hard to answer because I think it's rather something to do with the way you set up the scene. Whether you are adding stuff to a footage or not, you should always go in the Front/Left view to check that your 3D scene makes sense and to see if the layers and 3D objects are indeed placed where you think.
For example, check how your light is directed compared to your extruded text and the floor. You won't know unless you add an extra camera and play with it and go in the Front/Left views.
If you just can't get it to work open a support ticket and upload a project (without any assets).
Also remember that Element expects the comp to use square pixels so make sure your pixel ratio is 1.0.
Over the last couple of days I've hit a rough patch. I'm new to using Element 3D and Elementary and to some degree After Effects. I'm on an older early 2008 Mac Pro that's had some upgrades. It's an 8 Core 2.8ghz with 14GB RAM, a 250GB SSD boot drive, 3TB SATA RAID work drive and has an HIM ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU. The project I'm working on using text extrusions with shadows over real footage has starting giving me loads of the "After Effects warning: A Problem occurred when processing OpenGL commands". More often than not leading to cause AE to be unusable. This seems to happen when moving the play head. I've been researching a ton but thought it worth asking. I have to the best of my knowledge told AE to use final render and not any fast preview rendering (or whatever the language is). I feel like this started when I started working with Elementary. So I guess it's something to do with rendering the shadows. I need to trouble shoot that some I suppose. I'm obviously hoping to overcome this issue. I'm due for a new computer and really considering a 2013 Mac Pro but it might be a little while. In the mean time I need to make progress on this project.
This error wouldn't be related to RAM would it? Around the same time this error cropped up I had a module die. I replaced it with the same make/model and added 4 more GB to two open spots. I don't think this would be related. I'm away from home now but I started a GPU test on Tech Tools when I left. I tested the RAM and it checked out fine.
I'm new to Elementary so this is probably user error but maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
My set-up:
Mac OSX 10.9.1
After Effects CC 12.2
Elementary 1.58
I want to create a reflection.
So I've selected my floor layer and clicked "Reflection" in the 3D Plugin section of the Elementary panel.
A new comp is created as expected and I then select the elements I want to reflect and click on the "Copy" button, Open the new comp and click the "Paste" button.
Back to my parent comp and the reflections are all there. Nice.
No I have my reflections showing beyond my floor surface so I need to create a reflections matte but there is no "Reflection Matte" button.
My script panel is also different to every demo I can find. It consists of the following boxes:
This is a sort of bug between the Mac version of After Effects and 3D plugins: when using several expressions (Elementary is quite expression-heavy) on such plugins it seems to often lead to this kind of painful errors. For this you'll have to write to VideoCopilot or Adobe unfortunately: once the compositions are created by Elementary that's it, Elementary doesn't do anything else.
So while errors about rendering are sort of caused by the fact that Elementary sets up lots of expressions, they're in fact related to what seems to be a bug in AE on Mac: if you try to add several expressions to Particular or Element3D manually, you'll also get this error message at some point.
Don't forget that at the bottom of the panel there is a Help section you can reveal/hide. The help is really minimalistic but it should tell you which keyboard modifiers to use on a given button. For the "Reflection" button, pressing Shift when clicking should act like the old "Reflection Matte" button.
Another way to see this is to enable the Live feature, then press Shift to see what new action the button will do. But remember to disable the Live feature straight away since it doesn't play well with the rest of AE.
This is a sort of bug between the Mac version of After Effects and 3D plugins: when using several expressions (Elementary is quite expression-heavy) on such plugins it seems to often lead to this kind of painful errors. For this you'll have to write to VideoCopilot or Adobe unfortunately: once the compositions are created by Elementary that's it, Elementary doesn't do anything else.
So while errors about rendering are sort of caused by the fact that Elementary sets up lots of expressions, they're in fact related to what seems to be a bug in AE on Mac: if you try to add several expressions to Particular or Element3D manually, you'll also get this error message at some point.
Thanks again. I was afraid that was the case. Back to Cinema 4D for this project I think. Ugh. I need a new MacPro!
Could anyone please help me out? Im trying to create a shadow and all I get is an empty new composition. Here are my steps,
First I created a new composition, new layer for the background, another layer for element 3d, a camera, and a light.
Used the element 3d added a 3d object. Selected the element 3d layer with the light and hit "Shadow" on the elementary tab. New empty composition appears
I tried using the anchor on the element 3d layer then selecting the anchored layer with the light, same thing, nothing.
If anyone could please help me I would really appreciate it // to contact me [email protected] or salmanalkandari for skype. THANKS IN ADVANCE
I am using element 3d 1.0.35 newest elemantary and after effects CC
since the shadow is cast by After Effects, the background needs to be a 3D layer, not a 2D one. Also, make sure you move the 3D layer further behind your object.
since the shadow is cast by After Effects, the background needs to be a 3D layer, not a 2D one. Also, make sure you move the 3D layer further behind your object.
thanks alot man! What a stupid thing to forget :P
Also one more question please, is it possible to get the shadow animated with the 3d objecT?
you'll have to give it a try, it should work but 3D plugins on Mac are always a bit temperamental. Remember the script is Name You Own Price: you're free to try it for free.
Is this happening for point lights only, by any chance? Could you check if you have any duplicates in the comp or layer names? You can write me directly to sort this out.
I bought it to do one other thing, can I ask is it possible then to cast shadows from one element 3d group or layer onto another 3d element group or layer ?
Many thanks
I installed the 1.57 version on CS6 few minutes ago.
Thanks,
At line 36 is this line of code:
#include "./schiresk/include/panel/setup.jsxinc"
You think that could be the file that's missing?
Now it's working just fine
But what are the main differences between 1.57 and 1.55?
Hope someone can give me a hand with this.
Working with AE CS6
Element 1.6.2
Elementary 1.58
I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong, but I select the element layer and select the light, click SHADOW under 3d plugin. I generates the comp for the light but nothing is showing up. I have it on Final Quality, I've changed the distance....not sure what else to do to get this to work....:/
Same thing for reflection.....everything else seems to work fine. I'm aware it's still on beta for 1.6.2 but I'm assuming some people got it working???
Any idea what I could be doing wrong?
I'm sending it to you now.
[email protected]
Over the last couple of days I've hit a rough patch. I'm new to using Element 3D and Elementary and to some degree After Effects. I'm on an older early 2008 Mac Pro that's had some upgrades. It's an 8 Core 2.8ghz with 14GB RAM, a 250GB SSD boot drive, 3TB SATA RAID work drive and has an HIM ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU. The project I'm working on using text extrusions with shadows over real footage has starting giving me loads of the "After Effects warning: A Problem occurred when processing OpenGL commands". More often than not leading to cause AE to be unusable. This seems to happen when moving the play head. I've been researching a ton but thought it worth asking. I have to the best of my knowledge told AE to use final render and not any fast preview rendering (or whatever the language is). I feel like this started when I started working with Elementary. So I guess it's something to do with rendering the shadows. I need to trouble shoot that some I suppose. I'm obviously hoping to overcome this issue. I'm due for a new computer and really considering a 2013 Mac Pro but it might be a little while. In the mean time I need to make progress on this project.
This error wouldn't be related to RAM would it? Around the same time this error cropped up I had a module die. I replaced it with the same make/model and added 4 more GB to two open spots. I don't think this would be related. I'm away from home now but I started a GPU test on Tech Tools when I left. I tested the RAM and it checked out fine.
I am using element 3d 1.0.35
newest elemantary
and after effects CC
I'm running AE CC 2014 and Element 3D v1.6.2 . I just tried to add an anchor from elementary and got the following error:
Error while running the script "fx.jsxinc" (6);
This version of the plugin "VIDEOCOPILOT 3DArray" is not supported
Is that the newer E3D or AE causing the issue?
Thanks.