After Effects is a great visual and audio Composition software, which will help you to create all kinds of videos, photos or even animated movies. Installation and configuration are easy thanks to the huge number of pre-set templates, but there’s also an abundance of plugins that let you customize After Effects even more.

A 360 video is a video in which the viewer can turn around and look 360 degrees. To be able to do that, they need to use a special camera, which will be used to take the pictures and film. Nowadays, there are many virtual reality headsets that you can use to watch immersive 360 videos, but what’s better than watching a film like this on actual 360 degree footage? The answer is simple. When you have the choice between watching a live-action film with an immersive 360 view or on actually immersive footage from a 360 degree camera, nothing else will ever work as well.

After Effects is one of the most demanding softwares available today. It’s used by professionals and some amateurs who want to create amazing cinematic videos. If you are already a pro or planning to start, you will find this book very helpful for that.

360 Plugin For After Effects

Use this document to learn about the compositing tools for VR 360 and VR 180 videos in After Effects

Overview

Use the VR Comp Editor to work with your 360/180-degree footage as regular footage in After Effects. The editor provides you view-based editing to view the footage as you would see through a VR headset. The compositing tools in the VR Comp Editor use 2D and 3D edits to build a spherical composite. Use the editor to switch between edits in your spherical composite and view the final output.

Work with VR Comp Editor

To work with VR Comp Editor, use the following steps:

1. To launch the VR Comp Editor, select Windows > VR Comp Editor.jsx.
2. In the VR Comp Editor dialog, choose between Add 2D Edit and Add 3D Edit to open the respective dialogs.VR Comp Editor options
3. Adjust the Comp Width and Aspect Ratio. The settings do not affect the size and aspect ratio of your composition window. Click Add 3D Edit or Add 2D Edit when done. 2D edits place composites inside the sphere. 3D edits are rendered from multiple camera directions and then stitched over the spherical background.Add 2D Edit settingsAdd 3D Edit settings
4. After Effects creates two composition timelines in the Project panel – Edit1 composition and Output composition. The Edit 1 composition displays a non-warped, 16:9 footage, and Output composition displays an equirectangular view of your footage.Edit1 and Output composition in Project panel
5. In the VR Comp Editor dialog, click Edit 1 to activate the Edit 1 composition. After Effects allows you to work in the Edit 1 composition window. You can add elements such as Immersive video effects, masks, shapes, and external graphics to your composition. Click Open Output/Render to view the results.Current composition settings
6. You can further adjust the composition settings. In the VR Comp Editor dialog, click Properties. Adjust the properties and click Save. Click Delete to delete the saved settings.Edit 2D propertiesEdit 3D properties
7. You can orbit your field of view to check how your footage looks to the user with a VR headset. Select the Edit 1 composition and use the Camera tool to drag the composition around. You can use the 360 view of your footage to change the field of view and look for a point to add elements to. Change the number views to view different camera angles.
8. Add elements such as graphics, text elements, and effects to your composition and view the results in your Output composition. If the results do not reflect in the output composition, click Open Output/Render in the VR Comp Editor to refresh the comp.Tip: If you are working with 3D edit, then change the element that you add to your composition into a 3D layer. Enable the 3D layer toggle in the Timeline panel.Edit 1 non-warped compositionOutput equirectangular composition