Ultimate CC Sphere/Light/Comp Camera linker

Ever wanted to fly around a "CC Sphered" Layer? Linking CC Sphere to a Light and Camera is the way to do it.

After Effects CS3
3D
Expressions

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Here are the expressions for X, Y & Z-rotation:

CC Sphere Rotation X:

    // change camera & effect names as needed...
    campos=thisComp.activeCamera.toWorld([0,0,0]);
    planetpos=thisLayer.toWorld(effect("CC Sphere")("Offset"));
    x=length([planetpos[0],planetpos[1]], [campos[0],campos[2]]);
    y=campos[1]-planetpos[1];
    alpha=Math.atan2(y,x)
    value+radiansToDegrees(alpha) ;

CC Sphere Rotation Y:

    // change camera & effect names as needed...
    campos=thisComp.activeCamera.toWorld([0,0,0]);
    planetpos=thisLayer.toWorld(effect("CC Sphere")("Offset"));
    x=campos[0]-planetpos[0];
    y=planetpos[1]-campos[2];
    beta=Math.atan2(y,x)
    value+radiansToDegrees(beta) - 90;

CC Sphere Rotation Z:
No expression

And here are the expressions for the light.

Step1: create your lightsource, and make it an adjustment layer, make sure all the planets are above the light-adj., because we want them to be only lit by the CC Sphere plugin, not receive light. If there are other 3d-layers that do need the shading, put them below the adj.-light.
You can just pickwhip the light color and light-intensity from the lightsource to the light-settings of CC Sphere.

CC Sphere Light Height

    // change camera & light names as needed...
    campos=thisComp.activeCamera.toWorld([0,0,0]);
    planetpos=thisLayer.toWorld(effect("CC Sphere")("Offset"));
    sunpos=thisComp.layer("Light 1").toWorld([0,0,0]);
    camvector=normalize(campos-planetpos);
    sunvector=normalize(sunpos-planetpos);
    angle=Math.acos(dot(camvector, sunvector));
    100 - (angle/Math.PI)*200

CC Sphere Light Direction

    // change light name as needed...
    thesun=thisComp.layer("Light 1");
    xy=thisLayer.fromWorld(thesun.position) - effect("CC Sphere")("Offset");
    angle=Math.atan2(xy[1],xy[0]);
    radiansToDegrees(angle) + 90;

by Filip Vandueren

Effects & Plugins

CC Sphere

Keywords

CC Sphere, Light, Camera

(Min. Version: After Effects CS3, Category: 3D, Type: Expressions)

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Ultimate CC Sphere/Light/Comp Camera linker

Effects & Plugins

Keywords

Related topics:

3D Shadows (Video Copilot, No. 71)

Looking Through Lights

Advanced Extrusion with Shatter