Changing the rendering orderSometimes, projects require a visual effect that cannot be achieved using the default rendering order. For example, you may be constructing an animation in which you want a rotated object to have a drop shadow effect. By default, After Effects renders an effect before rotation, which would create shadows with different orientations. ![]() A. Original layer B. Drop shadow applied at effect stage C. Rotation applied at transform stage results in the shadow rotating with the layer To render the animation so that the shadows appear as if created by a single light source, you need to apply rotation before you apply the drop shadow effect. ![]() A. Original layer B. Rotation applied using the Transform effect C. Drop shadow applied at the effect stage results in a properly oriented shadow Although you can't instruct After Effects to change the order of processing within a layer, there are three ways to get the rendering order you want: applying the Transform effect, including an adjustment layer above the layer, or using nesting or precomposing. Note: You could also achieve this effect using 3D lights and shadows. See Using lights. Transform effect Apply Transform effects (choose Effect > Perspective > Transform) when you want a transform property to render before another effect. (See Transform.) These transform changes will be rendered before subsequent effects. Other transform properties, set in the Timeline window, will be rendered last. Adjustment layer Use an adjustment layer in your composition when you want to change rendering order and apply transform properties or effects to more than one layer at a time. When you apply an effect to an adjustment layer, After Effects renders the effect after rendering all properties in the other layers. See Creating an adjustment layer. To apply an adjustment layer to some (but not all) of the layers below it, you must either nest or precompose the adjustment layer with those layers. Nesting or precomposing Use either nesting or precomposing to change the rendering order while also applying an effect to continuously rasterized or collapsed layers. Precomposing is a form of nesting and changes the rendering order in the same way. To make an effect render after a transform property, apply the effect to the nested composition instead of to the layer inside that composition. See Organizing a project using nesting and Understanding precomposing. For more information about gathering project files in a special location for rendering or archiving, see the Watch folders section under Collecting files in one location and Rendering using a watch folder (PB only). |