- I created a little gear path in Photoshop (Photoshop gear path)
- In After Effects create yourself a comp (600 X 600 size of Photoshop doc with gear shape, 1 frame, named color for gear)
- Create a solid make it comp size. Add the effect Render>Ramp I adjusted the gradient direction. Add the effect Stylize>Noise I set amount of noise to 100%. Add the effect Blur & Sharpen>Directional Blur I set Direction to 90 degrees and I set blur Length to 60. This will be the brushed metal look for the inside of our gear.
- Next export this comp as a single frame Composition>Save Frame>File (optcommand-s or alt-ctrl-s) Import that image back in. The reasoning behind this is the noise filter generates random noise every frame I do not however want the noise to animate.
- Create a new comp (600 X 600, 03:00, named gear rotate)
- Insert your Color for gear.psd (the frame we export out and imported in step 4)
- Create a new white solid named gear make it comp size and make it layer 2
- Copy your path from the Photoshop doc and paste it on your gear solid it will now become a mask on the gear solid. You can turn off the video for layer 1 (color for gear.psd) to see the mask but be sure to turn the video back on after.
- Click down at the bottom of your timeline on the words Switches/Modes so that you are in the Modes palette. Click that little box under the “T” for the first layer (color for gear.psd). This will Preserve Transparency from the layer below (the layer with our gear shaped mask)
- Now you can rotate the gear layer and not the object inside the gear. ( I set a couple of rotation keyframes.
- Create a new comp (600 X 600, 03:00, named Final Gear)
- I changed the Composition background color to white (Composition>Background color, Shift>Command>B, or Shift>Ctrl>B)
- Insert your Gear Rotate comp into your Final Comp
- Add Effect>Perspective>Bevel Alpha (I set Edge Thickness to 8) Add Effect>Perspective>Drop Shadow (I set Opacity to 60%, Distance to 9, Softness to 10)
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