Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Tutorial showing how to take advantage of the Advanced 3D Renderer to add a ring to world.
You’ll learn how to:
• Build a procedural ring using Fractal Noise and Polar Coordinates
• Add fake shadows and lighting that respond to your scene (older versions of AE, not needed for the latest release)
• Use CC Particle World to simulate rock-filled space rings
• Create realistic shadow interactions between your ring and planet (older versions of AE, not needed for the latest release)
🎁 Bonus: Free step-by-step PDF guide in the description!
This video builds on my earlier tutorial, where I showed how to create your own planets directly in After Effects, building up the textures and exporting them to use with a 3D wavefront OBJ file. Following on from that project, we now get to take advantage of the planet being in 3D space by adding a 2.5D comp of a ring system and have it loop around our sphere. But if you want to go further and depict the rocks that make up the rings, then I also demonstrate how to use the included CC Particle World to create hundreds of particles of rock images and have them surround the planet. But because that doesn't loop correctly, I have also made and shared a hemisphere you can use to create a 3D Luma Matte for the particles so that they appear to go behind the planet.
------------------------------
*⬇️ Downloads*
Planet Project Download: ko-fi.com/s/3bac105534
Full Project Download: ko-fi.com/s/0376a07c14
3D Hemisphere model: ko-fi.com/s/3114dcdc50
Text version (PDF): ko-fi.com/s/0f4909b9fd
Create ANY PLANET in After Effects tutorial: youtu.be/wWtaAxRsPWQ
Quick cheats to make your videos look amazing: youtu.be/x87pSAExIF4
*Get ShiveringCactus VFX as phone cases, T-shirts, mugs: redbubble.com/people/ShiveringCactus/shop*
*Or buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/shiveringcactus*
@ActionVFXofficial actionvfx.com
------------------------------
*💻 Expressions*
CC Particle World Code:
Position X:
--- CODE START ---
x=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[0]-thisComp.width/2;
x/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Position Y:
--- CODE START ---
y=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[1]-thisComp.height/2;
y/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Position Z:
--- CODE START ---
z=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[2];
z/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Angle the ring shadow away from the Sun (add to Z rotation):
--- CODE START ---
var light = thisComp.layer("Sun").toWorld([0, 0, 0]) // name of your light layer
var planet = thisComp.layer("Planet NULL").toWorld(thisComp.layer("Planet NULL").anchorPoint);
var dir = light - planet;
radiansToDegrees(Math.atan2(dir[0], dir[2])) + 180;
--- CODE END ---
Random frame expression:
--- CODE START ---
random(0,4)/30
--- CODE END ---
Emitter expression:
--- CODE START ---
var L = thisComp.layer("Emitter position");
L.toWorld([0,0,0])
--- CODE END ---
------------------------------------------------------------
*🔖Chapters*
00:00 If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.
02:10 Ring texture
05:46 Faking shadows
10:50 CC Particle Rocks
18:06 Finishing touches
"Asteroids Pack (rocky version)" (skfb.ly/o6LEo) by SebastianSosnowski is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
"Toutatis asteroid - potential Earth`s impactor" (skfb.ly/otuGt) by SebastianSosnowski is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
@AdobeVideo #aftereffects #space #tutorial
I'm an Adobe Community Expert - which means you can find me on the Adobe forums if you need any help. community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all
#AdobeCommunityExperts
Tutorial showing how to take advantage of the Advanced 3D Renderer to add a ring to world.
You’ll learn how to:
• Build a procedural ring using Fractal Noise and Polar Coordinates
• Add fake shadows and lighting that respond to your scene (older versions of AE, not needed for the latest release)
• Use CC Particle World to simulate rock-filled space rings
• Create realistic shadow interactions between your ring and planet (older versions of AE, not needed for the latest release)
🎁 Bonus: Free step-by-step PDF guide in the description!
This video builds on my earlier tutorial, where I showed how to create your own planets directly in After Effects, building up the textures and exporting them to use with a 3D wavefront OBJ file. Following on from that project, we now get to take advantage of the planet being in 3D space by adding a 2.5D comp of a ring system and have it loop around our sphere. But if you want to go further and depict the rocks that make up the rings, then I also demonstrate how to use the included CC Particle World to create hundreds of particles of rock images and have them surround the planet. But because that doesn't loop correctly, I have also made and shared a hemisphere you can use to create a 3D Luma Matte for the particles so that they appear to go behind the planet.
------------------------------
*⬇️ Downloads*
Planet Project Download: ko-fi.com/s/3bac105534
Full Project Download: ko-fi.com/s/0376a07c14
3D Hemisphere model: ko-fi.com/s/3114dcdc50
Text version (PDF): ko-fi.com/s/0f4909b9fd
Create ANY PLANET in After Effects tutorial: youtu.be/wWtaAxRsPWQ
Quick cheats to make your videos look amazing: youtu.be/x87pSAExIF4
*Get ShiveringCactus VFX as phone cases, T-shirts, mugs: redbubble.com/people/ShiveringCactus/shop*
*Or buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/shiveringcactus*
@ActionVFXofficial actionvfx.com
------------------------------
*💻 Expressions*
CC Particle World Code:
Position X:
--- CODE START ---
x=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[0]-thisComp.width/2;
x/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Position Y:
--- CODE START ---
y=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[1]-thisComp.height/2;
y/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Position Z:
--- CODE START ---
z=thisComp.layer("Emitter").transform.position[2];
z/thisComp.width;
--- CODE END ---
Angle the ring shadow away from the Sun (add to Z rotation):
--- CODE START ---
var light = thisComp.layer("Sun").toWorld([0, 0, 0]) // name of your light layer
var planet = thisComp.layer("Planet NULL").toWorld(thisComp.layer("Planet NULL").anchorPoint);
var dir = light - planet;
radiansToDegrees(Math.atan2(dir[0], dir[2])) + 180;
--- CODE END ---
Random frame expression:
--- CODE START ---
random(0,4)/30
--- CODE END ---
Emitter expression:
--- CODE START ---
var L = thisComp.layer("Emitter position");
L.toWorld([0,0,0])
--- CODE END ---
------------------------------------------------------------
*🔖Chapters*
00:00 If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.
02:10 Ring texture
05:46 Faking shadows
10:50 CC Particle Rocks
18:06 Finishing touches
"Asteroids Pack (rocky version)" (skfb.ly/o6LEo) by SebastianSosnowski is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
"Toutatis asteroid - potential Earth`s impactor" (skfb.ly/otuGt) by SebastianSosnowski is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
@AdobeVideo #aftereffects #space #tutorial
I'm an Adobe Community Expert - which means you can find me on the Adobe forums if you need any help. community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all
#AdobeCommunityExperts
