Ae Depth Space

AE Depth & Space — 2.5D recipes on the real tool surface

No 3D layers, no camera, no lights on this server. Everything below runs on: position/scale keyframes (ae_set_keyframes), transform expressions (ae_set_expression — 5 transform props only), effect keyframes/expressions (ae_set_effect_keyframe / ae_set_effect_expression), sliders (ae_add_expression_control), effects by matchName (ae_apply_effect), masks/mattes/blend modes, ae_set_motion_blur, ae_apply_gradient, ae_precompose_layers. matchNames marked * are not in the registered-effects list — pass as raw matchName; if a call errors, verify via ae_describe_tool once, then drop that recipe (never loop retries).

0. The consistency law (why scenes read as sliding cardboard)

One depth coefficient per plane: p = zoom/(zoom + z) (use zoom = 2666.67 for a 1920-wide comp, = 1.3889 × comp width). From ONE p derive ALL THREE: parallax speed multiplier = p, relative scale = p, atmosphere amount ∝ (1 − p). A layer at 50% scale moving at 80% speed = flat collage. Screen size ∝ 1/distance, so: 2× farther = 50% size = 50% speed = one more haze step. Never let the ladders disagree.

• Plane count: 3 = floor, 5 = sweet spot, >8 adds nothing (speed deltas fall below what the eye separates). Adjacent planes must differ 2–4× in speed; 10% steps merge.
• Occlusion is cue #1 and free (layer order): plane silhouettes must physically OVERLAP, never just touch edges.
• Blur is double-edged (measured): defocus REDUCED depth discrimination d′ 1.56→1.22 in a controlled study. Keep perspective-line planes and occlusion edges SHARP; blur only the extreme FG occluder and geometry-free sky/atmosphere. Heavy top+bottom blur gradient = tilt-shift miniature — the scene turns into a toy.

1. Null-rig parallax (the workhorse)

ONE null "CAM" at comp centre is the only thing animated. Do NOT parent the planes (parenting is for group moves; this rig is for per-plane ratios).

1. ae_add_null_layer(name:"CAM") — leave at centre.
2. Per plane: ae_add_expression_control({layerName, controlType:"slider", name:"Parallax"}), then ae_set_expression on Position:

center = [thisComp.width, thisComp.height]/2;
leader = thisComp.layer("CAM");
offset = leader.position - center;
value + offset*effect("Parallax")("Slider")/100;

3. Slider ladder: sky 0 / far mountains 5–10 / hills 15–30 / mid 40–70 / focal plane 100 / FG 120–150 (hero fly-through up to 200–300). Keep slow-to-fast spread 3–5×.
4. Scale = slider: slider 72.7 → the plane is scaled to 72.7% of focal-plane size (that IS p). Slider 57.1 → 57.1%. Enforce for every plane.
5. Infinity plane s=0 strictly — the far plane never moves a frame. A creeping sky reads as a bug.
6. Keep alive: wiggle(1,2) on CAM Position — constant micro-parallax stops the stack freezing back into a postcard.
7. Animate ONLY the CAM null (ae_set_keyframes on its Position; 2–4 batched calls per build).

Movement grammar: lateral pan = offsets down the ladder, FG runs OPPOSITE to BG (counter-motion reads as orbit around the mid subject). Push-in = NO translation, counter-scale only: FG Scale 100→110–115%, BG 100→90–95% over 3–5 s, easy ease, mid nearly static; anchor each plane at its ground-contact point (or the vanishing point). Exact dolly form: scale_mult = z/(z−Δ) with virtual depths fg 0.5Z / mid 1Z / bg 2Z / sky 4Z (Z = zoom): push Δ=0.1Z → fg ×1.25, mid ×1.111, bg ×1.053, sky ×1.026. Zoom-in ever needed → exponential, never linear: ae_set_expression on Scale s=v1*Math.exp(Math.log(v2/v1)/T*time); [s,s].

2. Single-image parallax: Displacement Map (ADBE Displacement Map*)

Depth from ONE flat image. The warp IS a stereo shift, so stereo px limits apply.

• Neutral contract: displaces symmetrically around 50% gray. Neutral = exactly RGB(128,128,128) in 8bpc (127 "looks 50%" but the whole frame drifts once Max > ~100 px).
• Budget: full B/W map gives spread = 2 × Max slider. Keep total spread ≤ 1.5–3% of frame width → Max Horizontal Displacement 15–29 px @1080p; ±58 px is the red line. Locked far plane: author map FAR=128 gray, NEAR=255 white (spread = 1 × Max).
• Pre-blur the map (ADBE Gaussian Blur 2, Blurriness ≈ Max Displacement, 20–30 @1080p), then precompose map. Hard silhouette steps = tearing (neighbouring pixels shift opposite ways). Two-pass refinement: vertical-only blur 1.5–2× stronger than horizontal.
• Banding: 16bpc project + 3–5% mono noise (ADBE Noise2) on the map + pre-blur. AI maps (Depth Scanner / Photoshop Neural Filters) come low-res: scale the map precomp to comp size FIRST, then blur — else upscale stairs become displacement bands.
• Animate camera-less: keyframe Max Horizontal Displacement −D → +D (D = 15–29 px) over 3–5 s via ae_set_effect_keyframe; loop via ae_set_effect_expression: amp*Math.sin(time*2*Math.PI/period). Max Vertical = 0 or ≤ D/3.
• Threshold to cutouts: displacement only PULLS pixels — it cannot reveal what's behind an edge. Needed spread > ~2–3% width (>40–58 px @1920) → cut the image into depth planes instead (mask each plane +10–15 px, fill holes behind FG before animating) and run the §1 rig.
• One map, three cues (all consistent because one source): (a) Camera Lens Blur with Blur Map = the depth precomp → DOF; (b) map as luma matte on a haze-coloured solid → atmosphere; (c) keyframe Blur Focal Distance → rack focus.

3. Atmosphere (exponential, never linear)

Aerial perspective belongs to VISTA planes (>30 m equivalent) — haze on a near plane reads as fog, not distance. Per plane back, move all four axes together monotonically: value toward sky, contrast down, hue toward sky colour, edges softer. FG is the inversion: darkest shadows, max saturation, sharpest edges.

• Saturation ladder: 0 / −15 / −30 / −50 front-to-back (ADBE HUE SATURATION).
• "Flash the blacks": pure black in a far plane is physically impossible — the loudest fake tell. Adjustment layer with a vertical ae_apply_gradient ramp layer as luma matte (ae_set_track_matte), Levels (ADBE Easy Levels2*) raising Output Black, stronger on farther planes.
• Blue shift: Curves blue channel ~Input 114 → Output 102 per plane (10–12 level steps). Far-mountain reference colour #a6c8d8.
• Tint, NOT Opacity: fading far layers by Opacity breaks on overlaps (background shows through). Haze = colour convergence to sky colour → ADBE Tint amount on the same distance curve.
• Exponential for free: equal haze solids between equal depth steps auto-compound the exponential: 4 pale-blue solids at 15% opacity between 5 planes → far plane behind 48% haze, mid 28%, near 15%. Dense mood 20–25%/step, clear day 5–8%.
• Fog planes: solid + ADBE Fractal Noise — Fractal Type Cloudy, Noise Type Soft Linear, Contrast 20, Transform Scale Width 500 / Height 200 (stretch = fog bank, not cloud), Complexity 10, blend Screen 25–35%, mask lower third with huge feather (~440 px @1080p). Animate Evolution time*150 via ae_set_effect_expression. 2–3 offset overlapping copies — the stagger itself creates volume. Interleave 4–6 masked fog solids BETWEEN depth planes.

4. DOF without a camera: ADBE Camera Lens Blur

• Blur Map = hand z-buffer: precomp where each plane is filled flat gray = its depth (0 near / 128 mid / 255 far). Blur Focal Distance is calibrated 0–255 — keyframe it via ae_set_effect_keyframe = rack focus between 2D planes with no camera (rack focus is itself a depth cue: it proves the scene has planes). Mid-gray focus ≈ 154 (NEEDS-LIVE-VERIFY).
• Blur ladder saturates — 4:6:7, not 1:2:3: planes at 2×/4×/8× subject distance get 0.5/0.75/ 0.875 of max blur (e.g. mid 0 / near-BG 8 / far-BG 12 / sky 14 px). FG flying objects may exceed the BG max (20–30 px).
• Iris Roundness 100 = round bokeh; Diffraction Fringe 500 = soap-bubble rim, 0 = flat disc. Highlight Threshold works 0–1: start at 1, lower until ONLY true speculars bloom.
• Static scene shortcut: map = ae_apply_gradient ramp (white on far planes AND extreme FG, black on subject plane).

5. Grounding + perspective floor

• Double shadow (standard elevation values): contact pass ADBE Drop Shadow distance 2–4 px, softness 4–8, opacity 20%; ambient pass distance 8–16, softness 24–48, opacity 12–14%. One soft shadow = floating object.
• On a perspective floor: shadow-only duplicate, Scale [100, −30] at the contact point, blur 10–20 px, 20–30% opacity, Multiply. Dark contact core + wide weak skirt = "touches the floor" → the floor exists as a plane.
• Floor itself: ADBE Corner Pin stretches texture LINEARLY = "tilted wall". Use CC Power Pin with Perspective ON* — texture rows compress as 1/z. Trapezoid geometry: far edge width = near edge × z_near/z_far (floor spanning 2–10 m → far edge 20% width); far edge sits below the horizon (horizon = eye height, y 380–540 @1080p standing). Example @1920×1080, horizon y=430: near pins (0,1080),(1920,1080), far pins (768,560),(1152,560).
• Floor light (inverse square): radial ae_apply_gradient under the source, brightness stations quarter-per-doubling: 100% @1 m → 25% @2 m → 6% @4 m (in floor-texture space, BEFORE the pin). Linear gradient = airbrush; quarter-per-doubling = physics.

6. Motion blur (mandatory — FG planes at 1.2–1.5× strobe without it)

• Two switches: ae_set_motion_blur({compositionName, layerName, enabled:true}) per moving plane (it auto-enables the comp switch). Comp default: also pass shutterAngle:180. (Shutter Phase is not settable via MCP — AE default applies; at angle 180 the ideal is −90.)
• Speed budget (7-second rule): max travel of the FASTEST plane = compWidth/(7 × fps). Budget the CAM null by the fastest ratio: CAM_max = compWidth/(7 × fps × maxRatio) — ≈ 7.6 px/frame @1920/24fps with FG at 1.5×. Faster needed → shutterAngle 270–360 buys ×1.5–2 speed (smear reads as speed; judder reads as broken playback).
• Expression rigs blur free — AE samples expressions at sub-frame times, so the §1 rig gets correct per-plane blur with zero keyframes. wiggle() is time-coherent and safe; unseeded random() flickers.
• Never scroll with ADBE Offset — it renders sharp regardless of switches, and a sharp BG under a blurred FG inverts the depth cue. Use Motion Tile (ADBE Tile*) animating Tile Center, or real Position. Movement inside a precomp is invisible to the parent's blur — enable the switches inside the precomp, or collapse transformations.

7. Edges & unification (the glue — planes must look shot by one lens)

• Light wrap (kills the "sticker" look): duplicate the BG on top → Fast/Box Blur ~70, Repeat Edge Pixels ON → matte it to the FG silhouette → keep only a 5–10 px rim → Screen 70–75%. Cutout hygiene: 1 px alpha Channel Blur* on every cutout edge; feather-then-choke 1–2 px.
• Grain — ONE pass over the whole stack (adjustment on top): ADBE Noise2 Amount ~8% (the registered, always-present effect; Add Grain is version-unreliable). Never grain planes individually — shared noise frequency = one sensor.
• Vignette: black solid + inverted ellipse ae_add_mask, Mask Feather 350–500 px @1080p, opacity 20–40%; centre slightly above frame centre (floor darkens faster than sky). As a subtle depth element: 10%/200 px.
• Lens contract (one number for the whole stack): ADBE Optics Compensation on a comp-sized adjustment — FOV 40 forward = soft wide-lens curvature, 60 = action-cam barrel; same FOV for every element (undistort plates Reverse ON / re-distort composites forward). Chromatic aberration lives in CORNERS only: total R↔B split 0.5–0.75% of width (10–14 px @1920), zero at centre. Pick ONE anamorphic squeeze S and derive everything: Camera Lens Blur Iris Aspect Ratio = 1/S, streak length ∝ S, crop to 2.35:1 AFTER the artifacts. One artifact without its siblings = filter; a correlated set = a lens.
• Tele vs wide contract: telephoto scene = small speed deltas + strong haze; wide scene = large speed/scale deltas + light haze. Mixing the vocabularies is a subtle but fatal inconsistency.

8. Vertical 9:16 (1080×1920) — different budgets

• Lateral parallax de-rated: narrow FOV amplifies horizontal motion → ≤ 1.5% ≈ 16 px for continuous movement (32–36 px only for one slow reveal). Vertical axis is the star: 3% of 1920 = 57.6 px budget — use tilt, pedestal, push-in; avoid pans.
• Y-rig: one Y-slider on the null, per-plane k = 0.2 / 0.5 / 0.8 / 1.0 / 2.0 via value + [0, slider*k].
• Horizon slots: y = 640 (high horizon → 1020 px of receding ground = max texture-gradient depth) or y = 1280 (low → near band + sky scale); never dead centre without intent. Vanishing point x = 540 ± 90.
• Safe depth core: anchors that carry the depth read (VP, subject eyes, occlusion nodes) inside 900×1400 centred (y 260–1660) and inside the 4:5 crop core (y 285–1635); outer bands are sacrificial garnish (grass tips, canopy) under platform UI.

9. "Why it reads flat" checklist (top offenders → fix)