Forge Technology Inc.

Express Yourself-Using Expressions and FreeForm AE
By Paul Tuersley

Click on the image above to see a preview of what Paul is up to. Download the Forge FreeForm-3D TV project file and follow along.

FreeForm AE 3D TV Notes:
Due to current limitations in After Effects, there are certain things that 3D effect plug-ins (i.e Shatter, FreeformAE, Invigorator) can't do. I created this little helper project to add some extra functionality to FreeformAE. Firstly, it's important to understand a little of how these 3D effects work. Although the results appear 3D, the effects themselves are applied to 2D layers. The effect calculates the correct 3D geometry and renders the resulting image onto the 2D layer Therefore, 3D effects can't interact in the same way as a normal 3D layer, for example:

1. There are no axes (XYZ arrows) in the Comp Window, so you can't drag or rotate the 3D objects contained within the effect. (you must change the values in the Effect
Controls Window)

2. 3D effects are only aware of the comp's Active Camera and therefore don't show up correctly in the orthographic views (i.e. Top, Front, Left, etc) This project solves these problems by using expressions to link FreeformAE's controls to a 3D wireframe dummy layer.
NOTE: You don't need to know anything about expressions to use this project.

Part 1 - Using the axes.
1. Open the project. As you see, we have a TV set with a wireframe cube around it.

2. Use the Camera Orbit tool to drag around in the Comp Window, you'll see that the television set is 3D. The TV.pct (Freeform) layer is a 2D still of a television.

Forge Freeform has been applied to the layer and is using the TV_DISP.pct layer (a greyscale displacement map) to displace the image into a 3D television.

3. Switch to the Arrow Tool (press V ) and select the Cube layer. Now try dragging one of the axes (the XYZ arrows) in the Comp window.

4. Also, you can switch to the Rotation Tool (press W) and rotate the object by its axes. The Cube layer is a precomp containing a 3D wireframe cube. It is made from six solid layers that have been arranged in 3D to form a cube, then set to render in wireframe. The layer is 'collapsed', which means it retains its 3D geometry in the FreeformAE Comp. In this project, you use the Cube layer to control the Freeform layer. Expressions on the FreeformAE layer read the Position, Anchor Point and Orientation values from the Cube and make sure the 3D Freeform object matches. When it's time to render, just turn off the Cube layer to get rid of the wireframe.

Part 2 - Orthographic views.
1. Select View>New View from the pulldown menu and set the new view to TOP. (using pulldown at bottom right of the new comp window).You should be able to see two wireframe rectangles in this view, one is the Camera, the other is the wireframe Cube. However, the television has remained the same as in the Active Camera view, 3D effects can't display properly in the orthographic views.

2. Select the Cube layer (it's easier to select it in the Timeline or Active Camera window).

3. Drag one of the Cube's axes in the Top View comp window. As you see, the wireframe cube shows up in the Top view (in fact, in all views) and can be dragged around as with any normal 3D layer. When you drag the cube, the Freeform layer updates correctly to match in the Active Camera view. Being able to use the orthographic views can be very useful if you are trying to align the Freeform object with other 3D layers in your composition.

Part 3 - Adapting the project for your own use.
I've made this project so that you can easily replace the footage with your own images and displacement maps. To illustrate this, I've included another set of image and displacement maps to replace the current ones. You'll need to be able to see the Project Window for this, so you may want to close the Top View comp window to give yourself more room on your monitor.

1. In the Project Window, open the Fractal Landscape Folder. There are two comps, Fractaland Color and Displace.

2. Select the TV.pct (FreeformAE) layer in the Freeform Comp (you will probably need to unlock the layer first).

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key and drag Fractaland Color from the Project Window into the Freeform Comp or Timeline window.

4. Select the TV_DISP.pct layer in the Freeform Comp and repeat the previous step, this time drag replacing with the Fractaland Displace So now we've replaced the 3D television with a 3D Fractal Landscape, however it is currently on its side and with too much displacement, so......

5. Select the Cube layer in the Timeline and press R to reveal its Rotation properties.

6. Change the Orientation values so it reads: 270.0, 0.0, 0.0. NOTE: Don't use the Cube's X, Y and Z Rotation properties, these aren't linked to the FreeformAE effect if you change them the wireframe cube will not line up with the FreeformAE object.

7. Select the FreeformAE layer and press the F3 key to bring up the Effect Controls Window.

8. Locate FreeformAE's Displacement Controls and change the Displace Height value to 30. That's all it takes to adapt the project for you're own use.

Part 4 - Creating multiple FreeformAE layers.
The expressions that link the Cube and FreeformAE layers work by reading the values from whatever layer is directly above or below them in the Timeline stack. So the Cube layer's expression is expecting a Forge Freeform layer to be directly below it and the FreeformAE layer's expressions are expecting a Cube layer to be directly above it. As long as you keep these layers paired up in this way, you can have as many of these pairs as you want in the same composition. However, in order not to break the expressions while doing this, you should follow these steps:

1. Close any Comp Windows (i.e Active Camera, Top view) that are currently open, so only the Timeline Window is open.
NOTE: If the 'Closing in Groups' option in the Window pulldown menu is checked, you should option-click to close the Comp Window and leave the Timeline Window open.

2. Make sure the Cube and Forge Freeform layers have been 'twirled up', so that none of the property values are visible in the Timeline.

3. Select the Cube and Forge Freeform layers and select Edit>Duplicate from the pulldown menu (or press Cmd-D).

4. Drag the two currently selected layers to the top or bottom of the Timeline window, so you end up with another separate pair of Cube/Forge Freeform layers.

5. You can now reopen the Comp Window (click the little icon towards the top right of the Timeline window) NOTE: If something goes wrong, you'll get a load of expression errors when you duplicate the layers. No problem, just: 1. Rearrange the layers so they're in Cube/Forge Freeform pairs, then select all layers (press Cmd-A) 2. Ctrl-click (or right mouse click) on one of these layers in the Timeline and choose 'Reveal Expression Errors' from the contextual menu. 3. Turn the disabled expressions back on by clicking the 'equals' icon next to each of the property stopwatches. Once you've created you're duplicated set, select one of the Cube layers and drag it by its axes to move it away from the other set. Be careful when using multiple Freeform layers, they won't intersect or depth sort with each other or with other 3D layers in the same composition.

Part 5 - Some final notes
Select the Cube layer and press U (to reveal all keyframes). The Anchor Point, Position and Orientation properties all have keyframes, this is to remind you that these are the only properties which are used to control the FreeformAE layer. The Cube layer has an expression on its Scale property. This expression reads the height, width and Displace Height (i.e. depth) of the Freeform layer and ensures the wireframe Cube matches the FreeformAE layer's dimensions. Try to keep the Forge Freeform layer locked when dragging the Cube around to make sure you don't accidentally drag the Freeform layer by mistake. All of the expressions include notes explaining how they work, which you may or may not
find interesting to check out. I hope you find this project useful.

Paul Tuersley, July 2002 paul.tuersley@btinternet.com

After Effects + Adobe are copyright of Adobe Systems Inc. Digital Fusion, copyright Eyeon Software, Maya Fusion, copyright Alias/Wavefront. Forge Freeform is copyright Forge Technology BB Inc. 2002