3D Space, Tracking, and Advanced Compositing
Cameras, lights, materials
3D layers gain orientation and respond to cameras and lights. Two-node cameras have a point of interest; one-node cameras orbit from their position. Depth of field depends on aperture, focal length, and focus distance, which can be linked to the point of interest or to a selected layer. Light types are parallel, spot, point, and ambient. Material options decide whether a layer accepts lights and shadows, its diffuse and specular response, and whether it casts shadows - adding a light alone creates no visible shadow. Renderer choice (Classic 3D, Cinema 4D, Advanced 3D) changes which features exist, so verify before using extrusion or advanced blending.
Tracking
Point tracking yields motion data usable as transform, stabilize, or corner pin, with raw and opposite outputs. Warp Stabilizer smooths or locks off motion and crops or synthesizes edges. The 3D Camera Tracker solves camera motion and generates track points; you attach nulls and layers to those points after solving, and you must set the target size at solve time. Good parallax and adequate depth in the plate are prerequisites.
Traps
- Track mattes, blending, and 3D interplay differently once Collapse Transformations is on.
- Camera tracking fails on flat, low-parallax footage.
- Attaching a layer before the solve completes produces unreliable nulls.
Worked example
To place a graphic on a phone screen, track four high-contrast corners with the point tracker, apply Corner Pin, and assign one feature region per corner. Each region should sit on a distinct, well-defined feature; ambiguous corners drift once the phone tilts.