Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, 5th Edition

15 Lighting in 3D

We continue our exploration of 3D by discussing how to illuminate your layers

You may have heard the expression “painting with light”; it’s an appropriate description of what After Effects lets you do. You can illuminate layers, add colored casts to them, overlight them to add intensity or blow them out, vignette them, have them cast shadows…even cause layers to project their own images onto other layers. All of this comes with a price, of course: Lights are one of the deepest subjects in After Effects. We’ll start with some basic concepts, progress through adjusting illumination and shadows, and end with advanced techniques such as creating virtual gels and gobos, plus faking reflections.

Lights and Surfaces

If there are no ...