After Effects tutorial 3D cube (Free Template)
In this after effects tutorial, we will show you how to create a 3D cube in After Effects and animate it. Traditional 3D animation is complicated and tricky. But it looks so beautiful when it’s animated. Today we won’t be using Blender, Maya, or any other complex software, and we won’t be sculpting anything. We’ll be creating basic shapes that we’d turn into 3D elements.
Here’s everything we’ll cover in this after effects tutorial:
1. Creating a 3D shape
2. Creating a 3D cube
3. Creating a big 3D shape
4. Animating the shape and making it come to life
5. What to avoid when you create 3D shapes in After Effects
We have a lot of work, so let’s get started.
First, we need to create a Basic Shape in After effects by clicking on the shape icon in the top panel.
Then, change the colors of your shape.
Duplicate the shape six times, so you have front, up, down, left, and right shapes. Name them properly.
Make all shapes 3D by clicking on the cube icon next to the layers.
Add 2 ( or more) views by clicking on this icon. Change one of them to Custom View or whatever’s easiest for you. That would help you get a clear idea of your composition and animation. Start adjusting the position of the shapes.
Note: You can use the snipping tool. That would help you ensure you’re shapes are correctly positioned.
As we mentioned above, we’d be creating the shapes in this after effects tutorial and then animating them. So we now have our 3D cube ready.
Now let’s create a big cube by duplicating the shapes a few times and adjusting the position of the new compositions.
Finally, let’s animate the shapes. In this after effects tutorial, we’ve animated the Y position of the cubes, but feel free to experiment and create your own cube animation. You can animate the Z position, X position and even combine a few different keyframes and effects. Check out our free resources to get some inspiration.
We strongly recommend you follow the steps and create your own animation, but if you’re in a hurry or think it is easier for you to see the project files… then download our free template below.
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