Studying CE ShapeExtruder
Learn how to create 3D logos, texts and packshots. ShapeExtruder does it all. See it in action. Watch, learn, enjoy… and comment.
After publishing my ShapeExtruder I got tons and tons of emails, more comments than usual, even a few job offers and some calls via my Hotline service. Most of the emails and comments were about extruding a logo and other uses of the ShapeExtruder.
Even though I enjoy responding to your emails I got pretty tired of answering same questions over and over, so I decided to record this follow-up tutorial that will hopefully answer most commonly asked questions about ShapeExtruder.
I’d like to thank one of my viewers - AztecMonkey - for pointing me to a brilliant script for converting masks into shape layers. You saved me a lot of work, since I was going to develop it on my own. For those of you who don’t understand yet why this script is so great heres an explanation…
ShapeExtruder uses Shape Layers in After Effects CS3 to create the illusion of objects being extruded. The only problem was moving paths from Adobe Illustrator to After Effects as Shape Layers because when you copy them from Illustrator and paste them in After Effects… they are pasted as masks. The script I’ve mentioned above converts masks to Shape Layers allowing you to create 3D logos easily.
Click here to download rd_MasksToShapes script by Jeff Almasol. Make sure to check out the rest of his scripts. Very cool stuff. Used wisely may save you hours of work.
Update!
I’ve just uploaded a short mini follow-up tutorial to explain how to extrude PNG logos. This was requested in the comments by Posix. Look it up. You’ll know what I’m referring to. Click here to view this tutorial on YouTube, or click here to view my YouTube profile.
Rate, comment, enjoy.
Awesome! :) Thanks a million.
sheathe said this December 19th, 2007 at 21:33
Hi there, great stuff again!
I haven’t had the chance to try your shape extruder preset yet, but as I understand it, it works by stacking up a bunch of copies of the original shape along the Z axis.
Well, if that’s the case, I think you could easily fix the problem with the object vanishing when orbiting around it for at least one axis.
Let’s assume that the original shape is in the X-Y plane, i.e. facing the default camera. If you add a minimal alternating rotation around the Y axis to the copies your preset generates, the object should look solid from the side again. The first copy (not the front face, that should remain parallel to the view plane) would be rotated by a very low value like +0.25 degrees, the second by -0.25 degrees, the third by +0.25 degrees again, and so forth, resulting in something that would look like a zig-zag pattern when looked at from the top. The backmost copy would then be straight again, like the frontmost one. I don’t think the repeater lets you do alternating rotations, so you would probably have to use two repeaters, one for the positive rotations, and one for the negative rotations.
You should choose the rotation angle so low that the layers do not intersect but only touch each other at the tips. Otherwise you will get shapes sticking out of the front or back cover layer.
Of course the object would still go away when looked at from the top, but at least it should remain visible from the side, and you shouldn’t be able to tell any difference when looking at an object from the front.
You could try to do the same thing with an additional alternating X rotation to get a 100% solid object that looks great from all sides, but I’m not really sure how well that would work. It would probably result in a lot of intersecting layers, which would most likely slow down rendering even more than the current version since AE internally might have to subdivide the planes onto which it maps the individual shapes into multiple non-intersecting polygons for rendering. But that’s all speculation.
Again, thanks for your great tutorials, keep up the fantastic work!
Peter said this December 20th, 2007 at 12:03
Great tut ! I now have to wait for the upgrading of AE, still with version 7…
Nico said this December 20th, 2007 at 13:44
Got to words for you: nice tut! :)
Tielman said this December 20th, 2007 at 16:18
Peter… your solution to the problem is of course correct. Or it would be correct, it the ShapeExtruder worked the way you think it works. Unfortunately it doesn’t. The Repeater modyfier does not support Z axis, that’s why it’s so hard to get the side of the object to be visible. There is a solution that I’m working on, but it’s not perfect yet, and the results are not as superb as I’d like them to be. There for I think ShapeExtruder will be left as it is right now, unless I figure out something else.
Thanks for great comment. Thank all of you boys and girls.
Happy holidays and happy After Effecting.
Maltaannon said this December 20th, 2007 at 17:12
hey maltaannon, thanks for the aditional tutorial. it was a good watch. and yet i still can’t get 3dshapeextruder to work for me :(
it must be because i’m too much of a noob. sorry if i’m bothering you. i am aware you take money for solving people’s problems via skype, so i don’t expect much of an answer, but a simple yes or no might do.
i have a logo that i want to make 3d with your shape extruder.
http://cmvblog.net/share/dstar.png
i have it as psd too. it took me long enough to figure out how to, in ps, make a path of it, then copy that path into ae, then add shape extruder, but then i noticed in this tutorial, you are adding the colours manually. when looking at the logo, you will see this is a “no can do” for my case.
i’m very grateful for any kind of advice.
posix said this December 20th, 2007 at 20:55
posix - a little hint since I don’t have much time and possibly to save Jerzy some time; the png won’t work with the extruder as is; you need to make a shape layer. You can put the png on a different layer on top of the shape layer. Just like Jerzy did with the CD cover and box. Hope this helps.
sheathe said this December 21st, 2007 at 0:19
posix - I’m a nice guy. If you would take more time to read the information about the Hotlike you would notice that chatting (in instant messenger mode) is free.
sheathe - thanks for explaining posix how to deal with his problem, although i think we could easily create the same colors on the shape layer. The only thing that is worrying me is the glow around the orange stroke, but I think we can deal with that.
Maltaannon said this December 21st, 2007 at 0:45
Maltaannon you really are awesome. Thanks for not only this tutorial but all of the ones you work on, giving experienced and non-experienced after effectors something to think about and problem solve. This Extruder is brilliant. Donation inc shortly. Merry Christmas mate, best wishes for the new yaer.
Oh yeah, and let us know when you have a DVD coming out! lol.
Chris said this December 21st, 2007 at 7:18
Hey Chris. Thanks for the wishes! All the best to you and to all my viewers. I plan to release the DVD on March 18th 2008. That day will be a year since I started this website. The only thing I’m worried about is the lack of time. I’m involved in so many projects, plus running a company is not an easy thing, and I’m afraid that I might not make it till March. But I’ll do my best. It would be kinda cool to have a DVD release for an anniversary like that.
By the way… Posix. I’ve just posted a mini follow-up tutorial for you and others to enjoy. Check it out on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ycssZjT9o4U
Maltaannon said this December 21st, 2007 at 7:45
seriously, i’m just speechless. i just came home from uni to quickly check emails as i’m on my way to a friend’s place and then i see this. WOW!!
i’ll try this out in-depth when i get home. also want to rewatch that other tutorial with the dvd. i did watch it, but for some reason i must have missed the part with the dvd cover that already solved my problem it seems. i’m sorry.
anyway,
maltaannon: THANK YOU :)
posix said this December 21st, 2007 at 19:59
Hello maltaannon!!
In my AE CS3, I got a warning that one value can’t be initiated.But I have another question to ask you. The CC light sweep effect, I want to using it on my own logo animation, but in your tutorial, you make it with your 3dExtruder point reference,But I don’t want it(Cause the preset doesn’t work on my PC), So, Can I make the same light sweep effect via other ways??
way for your help!!
Thank you very much!!
John Kevien said this December 25th, 2007 at 7:19
Hi there,
Congratulation, very simple and efficient tool specially for logo, may I suggest to add a new parameters link to the repeater: to day the generate extruded shape is linear (I do not talk about curvature), a great new feature will be to be able to rounded or expanded the generate shape ??
Thanks for your great tutorials
serge rustin said this December 25th, 2007 at 17:07
so i’ve click by click recreated everything from that youtube tutorial. i even went as far as to properly implement the effect so that it would no longer say “missing” (i had believed maybe that was the error).
no change.
http://cmvblog.net/share/3dshapeextruder_posix.7z
maybe if any of you have a little time to look at the project file and point me at my stupidity, i’d be glad, …
thanks
posix said this December 26th, 2007 at 23:59
Hello,
I must say; I love your tutorials. At least the first half of them, cause they keep stoping in the middle every time I watch them. Got any idea why?
Keep up the good work! :)
Robin said this December 28th, 2007 at 13:49
Hello ,
Your tutorials makes my imaginaion fly. They are the most interesting tutrials for AE I review since there is a lot of humor and simplicity in the way you explain things.
You are as important to the AE SW as AE SW is iportant to all of
us. Please make more and more interensting stuff !!!!
Ariel , ISRAEL
Ariel said this December 29th, 2007 at 18:59
Awesome! There are so many times in the past when I could have used the extruder, and now I finally know how to use it! I am working on turning some vector graphics from Go Media into 3d vectors, and it looks awesome! I can’t wait to see more tutorials. Do you do any work with 3ds max or Cinema 4D?
Dustin McInnis said this January 8th, 2008 at 0:55
Hows it going Maltaannon?
I just dropped by to thank you for the awesome tool you have given the world. I love the 3D shape extruder. I do have a problem tho. I have just taken on a job that I need to create a 3D logo so I was following along with your new tutorial and everything was going swimingly until I copied my shapes from Illustrator to AE. When I looked at the shape layers I noticed that the logo was very pixellated and I can seem to find a way to stop them from doin this. Have you any ideas why this might be happening?Please. The cleint is coming in soon to view the final product and I cant go any further until I sort out the quality issue.
Thanks again.
Ross said this January 17th, 2008 at 11:46
man ur tutorials are soo boring, u might do things right but im very bored when i watch ur tutorials! aaaaaaaaa i couldnt complete this one sorry even though im an after effect addict! MAKE IT More Exciting like Andrew Kramer!
Dory said this January 18th, 2008 at 13:31
Superb Tutorial mister Maltaannon! I love the preset and it really saves time. Im glad u were willing to share this for free! Loving it! keep them tutorials coming!
FromHolland said this January 20th, 2008 at 16:53
Hey, pretty nice tutorials! I just want to say that. I learned very much useful tips for creating better compositions and thank you for your tutorials!!! Greetings from germany, neighbor :D
Thorsten Miess said this January 26th, 2008 at 11:02
Awesome post man thanks for this great info! Keep em comin
David said this January 27th, 2008 at 12:22
One of the best lessons for last year ! So to hold my friend ;)
fReezEr. said this February 5th, 2008 at 21:56
Hi maltaanon
i just want to say that your shape extruder is a great great feature .. I’ve done amazing things with it which really looks like 3D
But still i got a question :
Can we do extrude our shape forward and not only backward ? i’m sorry i’m french i don’t even know if i use the right word but i think you get it
Thanks again man, YOU ROCK !!
John Bullit said this February 5th, 2008 at 22:13
I think I know what you mean, and no, you cannot. Why would you want to do that? It looks the same on both sides. Anyway you might want to try extruding the object, and then using the Offset slider. It may create what you’re looking for. Good luck!
Maltaannon said this February 5th, 2008 at 22:32
This is only to animate the extrusion like my text or shape can …. hum .. have you seen the bionic unit’s logo animation ?
This is on dtrukt website and you see a shape growing before the text arrive
Things like this, but i’ll try your way to see if it works
Thanks again maltaanon
John Bullit said this February 6th, 2008 at 19:42
Could you post some youtube link to what you’re referring to? Would be much easier to understand. But if I understand correctly you might want to try to animate Depth and/or Density parameters to achieve the “growing” look.
Maltaannon said this February 6th, 2008 at 21:17
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/dstrukt/video/x474up_dstrukt-bionic-unitsrc_creation
The only way to do this effect is to play with the extrusion depth then play with the position to keep the base of text at the same place
John Bullit said this February 8th, 2008 at 21:52
hey, nice tuorial :P but were can i buy the 3d shape extruder and what was the name of that plugin were you cut make the layer in full 3d.
Kris said this February 15th, 2008 at 13:27
Awesome tut. Hey my Genius Maltaannon, still waiting for some new tut, checking daily but it seems ur vbusy.
plz post some more tut when u get time. I daily visit ur page for some new updates. thankyou - Mark
Mark said this February 18th, 2008 at 6:45
Sure thing Mark. I promise myself every day that I will post something, but you know how it is… Busy busy busy, and since the site is totally free I need to do some work to make a living. But expect something exiting from me soon.
Cheers
Maltaannon said this February 18th, 2008 at 11:23
oh thats gr8 to hear frm u,
Thnx my Genius Maltaannon & I must say, Take ur Time. I’ll Wait no prob. I will check ur site daily as I do always.
Bye n Take care
Regards
Mark
Mark said this February 19th, 2008 at 12:44
It would be easier for you to just get the RSS feed. You can get it at the bottom of the page. That way you will always get noticed if something new comes up. Take care.
Maltaannon said this February 19th, 2008 at 15:46
oh gr8 thnx maltaannon. I think from today I will call u “Genius-M” hehehhe
Take care - Regards - Mark
Mark said this February 20th, 2008 at 15:22
Hey Maltaannon,
This is great! I’m trying your technique, and the snag I can’t seem to figure out is simply filling the outlines with color after i run the script from refinery.com. I don’t know if anyone else has this problem? Everything seems to be the same as your tutorial. I followed you closely on your example, and for whatever reason it’s just not adding the color.
I’ll continue trying, but I thought I’d ask if anyone had a solution. (I am running CS3)
Thanks so much man, this is amazing stuff.
Brandon said this February 21st, 2008 at 22:20
Hello Again,
You can ignore the previous issue I was having. I just tried it again with a different illustrator file, and I have no problem with it. I don’t know what that was all about, but I’m going to be just fine.
Again, thanks so much for all you do!
Brandon said this February 21st, 2008 at 22:30
Hi Maltaannon, Im am a big fan…. and I’ve learned so much form watching your tutorials.I have a huge question…. If there is a way to deform a 2d mesh in z space. in after effects buy way of an expression. If so please do tell…. Big fan
Al …….
Thanks
Al said this February 28th, 2008 at 3:21
Greetings.. I just wanted to say that your shape extruder is a LIFE SAVER. I’m a motion graphic designer/promotions producer for a local television station and was asked to make a stillstore graphic that contains a 3D object in the shape of Texas. Now, I am fluent in Maya and 3ds Max and could have used those, BUT I was on a serious deadline (a ridiculous deadline really) without shape extruder I would have been dead in the water. Awesome job and thanks again!
Tyler said this March 6th, 2008 at 8:50
Your shape extruder looks very good, would it not be better to use the shatter plugin and create actual 3d text or shapes, by using the custom shatter map?
johnnnnny5 said this March 7th, 2008 at 21:53
As explained in the CE ShapeExtruder tutorial, Shatter plugin works good, but sometimes it behaves weird and I don’t like that. See… all that I’m sharing with you are tools what I build for myself, because I find them useful and better than others for some reasons that you might or might not understand. I believe that if something is worth doing once, it is as well worth building a tool to do it for you, as it is worth to share it with the rest of the world.
Maltaannon said this March 8th, 2008 at 17:52
when will you make anither tutorials?
im waiting for it! hehe
thanks!
rockwell said this March 9th, 2008 at 18:06
Hey! Please help!! I have a big question…Im woorry about what can happen if I pasted the file “3D ShapeExtruder” in the “PresetEffects.xml” it can affect the program AE CS3????
aDriAn said this March 23rd, 2008 at 3:08
Hello MATAANNON Sir
10Q so much to give us this tutorials, just don’t talk to them if they are say what ever that are say, you are helping people like me living in Africa Ethiopian, we are not buy the tutorials in the web you know DVD but we are try find free tutorials and so much help full, Sir or i can call you my Hero, I love to tell you if you see my Comment… Just do what you have to do you are helping all over the world more than Africans coz you know the coz i hope, my Hero Maltaannon, I’m try work Animation thing in Maya 3D Software so i don’t know how to use Maya and After Effect CS3 so My hero Maltaannon if you have time to help US Africans sorry already you are helping start Peoples, can you give some about it is you web sit 10Q for each every thing Sir.
Benyam Berhanu said this March 31st, 2008 at 9:23
Hey my Genius-M, long time no see, still waiting 2 c u soon.
Regards
Mark
Mark said this April 10th, 2008 at 8:32
Soon my friend, soon.
Maltaannon said this April 10th, 2008 at 10:36
[...] did release a new After Effects Tutorial in which you can learn how create 3D logos, texts and product shots. You can watch the Tutorial [...]
StrongMocha.com said this April 13th, 2008 at 15:58
Simplesmente demais!!!
Muito Obrigado, Bom trabalho.
Obrigado
RC Flash said this May 12th, 2008 at 0:33
[...] Learn how to create 3D logos, texts and packshots. ShapeExtruder does it all. See it in action. Watch, learn, enjoy… and comment. (more… [...]
TGD said this May 26th, 2008 at 20:40
AMAZING ANSWER FOR THOSE WHO THINK IT’S FAKE! AMAZING, CONGRATULATION, THAT WAS NICE!
Shumarkarknein said this May 28th, 2008 at 18:44
hey..im joshua kim. and i saw ur video on youtube. im really amaze on how u made a simple logo to a 3d shape..i got goosebumps on watching dat vid.cuz dat was really something.. its really fantastic man… i wanna learn those things.. from simple shapes to a 3d image…if ill rate ur job its A+..now im one of ur fans…ur really great.. i hope i could learn that to..u have to learn dat..thanks for inspiring me again in design…thanks.. :)
Joshua Kim said this July 7th, 2008 at 14:01
[...] Advanced Extrusion with Shatter Rick Gerard at AE Tips and Tricks has a video tutorial on using the built-in After Effects filter Shatter to extrude text. For now the link has a typo, so in the link replace the “c” with a “d.”It’s not a complicated procedure but I don’t remember seeing a tutorial on this since Brian Maffitt originally released the filter. There are a few though, like Roland’s Adding Z-Depth to your Logo at Creative Cow, at Adobe Exchange by G. Chen, at Video Copilot, and Maltaannon.XML [...]
Advanced Extrusion with Shatter | Adobe After Effects said this July 15th, 2008 at 3:12
hi!
great tutorial… i’m having some trouble with the bevel & emboss on the “flat” layer above the logo i extruded. i make the logo, extrude it, add the bevel to the masked solid above the shape layer, and then add that composition into my main composition.
when i do that, and try to bring down the opacity to zero, everything dissapears BUT the beveled layer! i.e., the extruded part responds, but the beveled layer doesn’t.
any ideas?
thanks,
lili
lili said this July 24th, 2008 at 1:32
is the bevel made using an effect or a layer style? if it’s layer style than thats probably the problem, but still - it doesn’t make sense to me at this point. do you collapse transformations?
Maltaannon said this July 24th, 2008 at 1:34