It seems the competition to bring 3D to After Effects is about to increase with the upcoming release of a new plugin from Video Copilot called Element 3D. It’s a particle system which uses 3D geometry. With it you can bring in any .obj file and convert it into particles with amazing material options. In Andrew Kramer‘s first demo he shows us how we can create clusters of… asteroids, molecules, … abstract thingys. But as Andrew said himself, he’s only just scratched the surface with this first look. It’s somewhat been proven with Optical Flares, that when VCP puts out a plugin, they put it out right. There’s likely to be a ton of as yet unseen applications for Element 3D. (My prediction: Imagine buying a plane model from Turbo Squid, popping it into After Effects and making a particle stream set to orient to path. You’ve got a fleet of aircraft ready to interact with AE’s camera and lights!) Watch the demo here.
