Chapter 23: 3D Layers and the Scene Camera
Layers are flat by default: they can rotate in the plane of the canvas and nothing more. Turning a layer 3D lets it tilt out of the plane, and adding a scene camera lets the whole scene be viewed — and flown through — from a moving point of view.
The 3D switch
Every layer’s Transform section has a 3D toggle in its header. With it off you get one rotation field:
| Off | On |
|---|---|
| Rotation — degrees in the plane | Rotate X — tilt about the horizontal axis |
| Rotate Y — tilt about the vertical axis | |
| Rotate Z — the same in-plane rotation, renamed |
Toggling 3D off preserves the X and Y values, so you can switch a look off and back on without losing it.
A 3D layer also gets a Z field under X and Y: its distance from the canvas plane, in the same pixels as the camera’s position, with negative values towards the viewer. Z is keyframable (position.z). It only shows under a scene camera with 3D layers in camera perspective on. There, a layer in front of the plane looks larger and moves faster than the layers behind it as the camera moves (parallax). Without such a camera, Z is kept but has no effect.
A layer only leaves the flat rendering path when it is actually rotating out of plane — either the switch is on and Rotate X/Y is non-zero, or the layer has rotate.x / rotate.y keyframes. Switching 3D on and leaving the angles at zero costs nothing.
A tilted layer is drawn in perspective: its nearer edge looks larger. By default each layer has a perspective of its own, as if seen from 800 px in front of its anchor, so a tilt looks the same wherever the layer sits. Under a scene camera with 3D layers in camera perspective on (see below), tilted layers are drawn as that camera sees them instead.
Animating 3D rotation
rotate.x and rotate.y are keyframable lanes like any other. Set keyframes from the timeline, or turn on auto-keyframe and type new angles.
Practical range. Keep swings within roughly ±88°. At exactly ±90° the layer is edge-on to the camera and has no visible area; going past it flips the layer’s facing. Start and end animations a couple of degrees short of the perpendicular.
Groups in 3D
Groups can be 3D too, and rotating a group rotates its children as one rigid card rather than tilting each child separately. This is the way to build a 3D card flip, a folding panel, or a logo duel: assemble the artwork in a group, then rotate the group.
Gotcha: a 3D-rotated group combined with a scene-based track matte can render blank. If a 3D group disappears in the rendered output, check whether it carries a track matte.
The scene camera
A scene camera is an optional per-scene view transform. Where 3D rotation moves layers, the camera moves the viewpoint, so everything in the scene reacts together.
Adding one
Open the Timeline and click the camera button in the timeline’s toolbar (available while a scene has no camera yet). A Camera row appears pinned above the element rows and is selected for you.
Removing it is the trash action on the camera row; the scene goes back to a plain flat view.
Camera properties
Selecting the camera row swaps the right sidebar to the camera inspector:
| Group | Fields |
|---|---|
| Position | X, Y, Z — where the camera is |
| Look-at | X, Y, Z — the point it aims at |
| Lens | Zoom — focal length as a multiple of canvas width (default 1) |
| 3D layers in camera perspective — draw tilted layers as this camera sees them |
A new camera starts centred on the canvas, pulled back along −Z, looking at the canvas centre.
3D layers in camera perspective. Off (the default), each tilted layer keeps its own perspective, and the camera then views the finished scene. On, a tilted layer is drawn the way After Effects draws a 3D layer: seen from the camera’s own position, so its perspective depends on how far away the camera is and where it looks from. A layer far off to one side leans as it would in a photograph, and the perspective changes as the camera moves. A long lens (a higher Zoom) flattens the tilt, and a camera pulled in close strengthens it. 3D layers with a Z are drawn from the camera’s position too, so they shift against each other as it moves. Layers inside a group keep their own perspective either way. After Effects imports switch it on for you.
All seven values are keyframable (camera.position.*, camera.lookAt.*, camera.zoom) and behave like element lanes: typing a value writes a keyframe at the playhead when auto-keyframe is on or the lane is already animated. Each field also ends in a keyframe icon (the zigzag): click it to pin a keyframe with the field’s current value at the playhead without turning auto-keyframe on — the usual way to start a zoom, since the Zoom lens has no mouse gesture. The icon lights up once the lane has keyframes, and stronger while the playhead sits on one.
Navigating with the mouse
While the camera row is selected, a capture layer over the canvas gives you After Effects’ Unified Camera gestures:
| Gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Drag | Orbit around the look-at point |
| Shift + drag | Pan (track XY) |
| Scroll wheel, or Alt + drag | Dolly (track Z) |
A small HUD appears at the top of the canvas with the three modes, the current camera distance in pixels, and an ✕ to exit. Clicking a mode button forces that gesture, which is handy on a trackpad where Shift- and Alt-drag are awkward.
The move previews live and commits when the gesture ends — writing keyframes at the playhead under the same auto-keyframe rules. Zoom is deliberately not a gesture: it stays a lens value you type, so a dolly and a zoom never get confused.
Click the HUD’s ✕, or select any other layer, to leave camera navigation.
Using them together
- Camera for the shot, 3D rotation for the object. A slow orbit reads as a camera move; a card flipping reads as a layer move. Mixing both in one beat usually reads as neither.
- Depth needs 3D layers. Layers live on the canvas plane unless they are 3D and have a Z. A camera move over a scene of flat layers tilts that whole plane in one piece. Give 3D layers a Z (with 3D layers in camera perspective on) or 3D-rotate them if you want them to move against each other.
- Keep it short. Camera moves are expensive attention. A one-second push-in at the start of a scene does more than a continuous drift through it.
Troubleshooting
The 3D toggle is on but nothing changed. Rotate X and Rotate Y are still 0. The switch alone does nothing.
The layer vanishes mid-animation. It passed through ±90° and is edge-on. Keep swings inside ±88°.
A 3D group renders blank in the movie but not the editor. Check for a track matte on the group; that combination is a known bad pair.
Camera gestures don’t respond. The camera row has to be selected — click it in the timeline. If the scene has no camera, the row isn’t there yet.
The camera move looks flat. Every layer is on the same plane and moves as one. Give some 3D layers a Z, or 3D-rotate them, so the move has something to reveal. Z only counts with 3D layers in camera perspective on.