Order of 3D layers in After Effects (help!)

[idaw17997929]

Hi there,

I'm a beginner in After Effects and I have a problem that drives me crazy.

There are about 40 layers in my composition and as soon as I add another one, convert it to a 3D layer and move it further back,

it doesn't work. The layer either stays at its position or just partly moves behind the previous layer (half of it is still visible). 2D layers

work just fine but in the 3D workspace, the order of the layers doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Just made an update - didn't change a thing

Has anyone experienced similar problems and/or knows how to fix this?
Thanks in advance!

[P.M.B]

I would try converting all the layers to 3d rather than trying to move a 3d layer behind a 2d layer.

Maybe something that exists in only 2 dimensions does not have a "front" and "back". 

Maybe it only has a top, bottom, left and right?

Seems logical to me.

I would also switch to a top camera view to see the z depth from above and see if i can see whats going on.

[idaw17997929]

Thanks for the quick response!
English isn't my first language, I probably didn't explain that correctly.

Here's a picture of what it currently looks like. I have 4 ( all 3D) layers:

• The blue icicle - it is placed in the very front, however half of it is hidden - no idea why (it's actually a pyramid); it is animated so that it falls down and lands on the darkest area
• The texture is placed behind the icicle (yet still it is not displayed like that)
• The sky (white to yellow gradient)
• The orange ground - all three of them = one layer

[Dave_LaRonde]

From your description, I don't see why you have to use 3D layers at all for this.  It could all be done in 2D.

[idaw17997929]

A camera follows the icicle, which starts from way above this image.

[Szalam]

It sounds like you have a layer that isn't a 3d layer somewhere in your mix. A 2d layer will break the rendering order of 3d layers. It's a handy feature for certain tasks, but annoying if it surprises you like this.

[idaw17997929]

There were some 2D layers but I changed all of them. Still doesn't work, unfortunately. When ever I add or remove a layer, the order gets messed up.

[Szalam]

Any chance you can share the project so I can take a look at it for you this evening?

[Kyle Hamrick]

Keeping track of 3d layers can get tricky, for sure. There are a couple of brute force tricks that can sometimes be helpful.

If you have multiple layers (without having x/y rotation to worry about) at the same z-depth, sometimes it helps to actually push some of them very slightly towards or away from you to ensure they are "in front" or "behind" as desired. Try adjusting the z position by 1, (or even .1) to see if that helps.

As Szalam mentioned, you can also use 2d layers to your advantage if you've got some 3d stuff that just won't cooperate. You can drop a 2d adjustment layer in between 3d layers, and it will break the "3d-ed-ness" between them, forcing them to observe the stacked layer order instead.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Did you ever get this problem solved, IdaW? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin