AE 3D Audio Spectrum (no plugins) +free templates

 

3D Wave Spectrum Audio Visualizer

After Effects CC Template Guide

Basic Usage:

1. Choose a template from the downloaded .rar file and open the Project (some may take longer to load). Locate the replaceMe.mp3 file in the project panel, right-click > Replace Footage, and select your audio file. Trim the composition length to match your audio; it is set to 10 minutes by default.
2. Render the project or customize the included camera and lights to your preference.

Modifying the Template:

The first layer, from top to bottom, called 3DSpectrumControls, contains all the controls to change and animate the aspect of the wave spectrum. The first option called 3DLayersPadding allows you to change the distance, in pixels, between the spectrum layers to create depth. A value of 0px makes it flat; it should be at least 1px. (Note: Each layer is flat on its own. If you place the camera from an absolute side view, the spectrum will not be visible.)

All other options are from the AE Wave Spectrum regular effect. Refer to the AE Manual for detailed explanations of each control.

• Start Point/EndPoint: The 2D coordinates (X, Y) in pixels defining the starting and ending points of the audio wave.
• Start Frequency/End Frequency: The frequency range (in Hertz) to be visualized, from 0 to 22050 for 44100Hz files.
• Frequency Bands: The number of subdivisions within the specified frequency range.
• Maximum Height: The spectrum's height relative to the audio amplitude.
• Audio Duration: The length of the audio sample used for spectrum analysis (in milliseconds). The default is 300ms. Higher values increase render time, lower values reduce animation smoothness. Keep this value between 200-500ms.
• Audio Offset: The time offset (in milliseconds) between spectrum layers. The default is 20ms. Controls the sampling time difference for each layer.

An Expression script (see below) automatically applies the audio offset to all spectrum layers. You only need to modify the Audio Offset value in the 3DSpectrumControls layer.

audioOffset = thisComp.layer("3DSpectrumControls").effect("AudioOffset")("Slider");
thisComp.layer(thisLayer, 1).effect("Audio Spectrum")(11) + audioOffset

The same happens with the 3DLayersPadding control.

padding = thisComp.layer("3DSpectrumControls").effect("3DLayersPadding")("Slider");
[ thisComp.layer(thisLayer, 1).transform.position[0], [ thisComp.layer(thisLayer, 1).transform.position[1] ], thisComp.layer(thisLayer, 1).transform.position[2]-padding ]

Both Audio Offset and Audio Duration affect the spectrum's refresh rate. The default values for each template typically work well for most audio files.

• Thickness: The thickness of the line (in pixels) that forms the audio wave.
• Softness: The softness of the line that forms the audio wave.
• Inside Color/Outside Color: The color of the line and its outline.
• Hue Interpolation: Interpolates the selected color based on the hue wheel (in degrees). A value of 360° displays the entire color wheel starting from the chosen color. The default is 35°, which interpolates from blue to cyan/green.
• Dynamic Hue Phase: Uses audio phase information to randomly change colors.
• Color Symmetry: Mirrors colors along the line, useful for hiding seams in round spectrum shapes (like template 04).
• Display (Digital/Lines/Dots): Changes the wave's appearance between these three options.
• Side (A/B/A&B): Displays the positive, negative, or both sides of the amplitude wave.

To use a custom shape for the spectrum, open the "3dWaveSpectrum_shape.aet" project. In the 3DspectrumLayer_1, you'll find the original AE Wave Spectrum effect, which allows you to use a mask or path to trace the wave. Duplicate this layer (Ctrl+D/Cmd+D) as many times as needed to create the desired spectrum depth.

About the Audio File

The AE Wave Spectrum effect used in this template represents the spectrum linearly in both frequency and amplitude, unlike most spectrum visualizers. This means that when displaying the entire spectrum (0 to 22,000 Hz), you'll see more activity on the left side (low frequencies) with higher peaks, and less activity on the right side (high frequencies), even with maximum height settings.

While selecting a smaller frequency range (e.g., 20 to 2000 Hz) can help, it might not be ideal as it eliminates higher frequencies and may not accurately represent the audio.

You can use After Effects' native audio effects, like the parametric equalizer, to adjust frequency levels. Create a pre-composition for better performance.

For more precise control, using an external audio editor like Audition is recommended. You can apply an equalizer to reduce frequencies below 800 Hz, use a multi-band compressor to target lower frequencies, and then a tube-modeled compressor, hard limiter, and declipper to even out volume levels. While this process might distort the audio, it's intended for spectrum visualization only. Use the original audio for the final sequence. Refer to the Audition documentation for detailed instructions on these effects.

About Performance

This template is computationally intensive, potentially taking up to 100 hours to render on an average PC. Performance decreases with more layers. To improve editing speed:

• Set preview resolution to "1/4" instead of "Full."
• Disable the three default lights during editing (re-enable for rendering).
• Avoid effects like Glow, Blur, background images, and footage during editing. Add these later in a new project.
• Use the Classic 3D Renderer with the lowest Shadow Resolution.
• Employ compressed audio formats like MP3 instead of uncompressed formats like WAV.
• Disable Depth of Field and Motion Blur.
• Reduce the frame rate from 24fps to 18fps and use frame blending after rendering for smoothness.

Rendering

Render the composition as a PNG sequence to preserve the alpha channel for adding background images or footage later in a new project.

To accelerate render times, consider using the After Effects command-line renderer (aerender.exe) to run multiple instances of the program simultaneously.

Exampe code:

aerender -project X:\examplePath\exampleProject.aep -comp "exampleComp" -RStemplate "Multi-Machine Settings" -OMtemplate "PNG Sequence" -output X:\examplePath\exampleSubPath\exampleOutput_[#####].png

Ensure the selected Render Settings template (-RStemplate) has the "Skip File if Already Exists" option enabled within After Effects. The pre-included "Multi-Machine Settings" template can be used.

Create an Output Module template (-OMtemplate) with your desired PNG settings or other sequence format.

This command-line rendering approach can be used on multiple computers with After Effects installed to accelerate the process.

For more details on multi-machine rendering, consult the After Effects manual.

This Plug-in is free and provided as-is without any support beyond this documentation.

Copyright laws apply. You can create unlimited commercial projects using it, but selling or distributing any of the templates is prohibited.

Tested exclusively in After Effects CC 2017.2 (Version 14.2.1.34).

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