Like many Motion Graphics artists, I am a big fan of the “3D look” in a 2D environment. At some point, I feel like I played a bit too much Paper Mario so nothing gets my blood rushing like some non-extruded use of After Effects 3D camera space. So when a new plugin shows up to bring new depth to the already plentiful 3D world of After Effects, I am very eager to check it out.
In its newest version, Freeform AE has been rewritten from the ground up and promises to add depth and 3D mesh properties to your flat, 2D layers.
Figure 1. Freeform AE has many options even for being pretty simple to use. Some of the best options are from the Depth Matte features (highlighted).
Ease of Use
On first view, Freeform AE is pretty straight-forward. You have a view of a grid; you can manipulate the grid; you can add more blocks to the grid and manipulate them even more. The interface is very simplistic. Keyframe at a point in time, move your cursor forward and manipulate. Freeform AE will animate based on a few parameters, such as XYZ (in any combo) manipulation. It's almost shockingly simple. However getting the vision from your head to the screen may prove a bit more complicated. That's where Freeform AE’s somewhat steep learning curve shows up: in getting more polished and complicated animations. At this point, more advanced skill and practice will be required.
Figure 2. Basic Animation is simple. Pick how detailed you want the grid to be and start manipulating in 3D space.
