Importing 3D images from Photoshop Extended and Illustrator

Vanishing Point exchange

When you use the Vanishing Point feature in Photoshop Extended, you can then use the File > Export For After Effects (.vpe) command to save the results as a collection of PNG files—one for each plane—and a .vpe file that describes the geometry of the scene. You can then import the .vpe file into After Effects. After Effects uses the information in the .vpe file to re-create the scene as a composition containing a camera layer and one perspective-corrected 3D layer for each PNG file.

The camera is on the negative z axis, at (x,y)=(0,0). The point of interest for the camera is in the center of the composition. The camera zoom is set according to the field of view in the Vanishing Point scene.

The 3D layers for the planes in the scene have a parent layer with its anchor point at the center of the composition, so the whole scene can be transformed together.

Vanishing Point exchange only works well for images that have square pixels in Photoshop.

To see video tutorials about using Vanishing Point data from Photoshop in After Effects, see the Adobe website:

Bob Donlon has provides a tutorial on his blog that shows how to use Vanishing Point Exchange: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_bobdonlonvpe.

Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to use Vanishing Point Exchange: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_aharonvpe.

3D models in PSD files

Adobe Photoshop Extended can import and manipulate 3D models in several popular formats, including 3D Studio (.3ds) and Universal 3D (.u3d).

When you import a PSD file as a composition and that PSD file contains a 3D object layer, you can choose to make the layer a live Photoshop 3D layer. If you don’t choose this option when you import the file, you can convert the layer to a live Photoshop 3D layer in After Effects by choosing Layer > Convert To Live Photoshop 3D. When a layer is a live Photoshop 3D layer, it contains an instance of the Live Photoshop 3D effect, which is an effect that honors the active camera for the composition. (See Effects with a Comp Camera attribute.)

To see a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, see the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp.

Illustrator 3D effects

The effects in the 3D category in Illustrator—Extrude & Bevel, Revolve, and Rotate—give a three-dimensional appearance to any vector graphic object, including text and drawings. If you want to add depth to your vector art and text, consider creating it in Illustrator, using the 3D effects, and then importing the results into After Effects.