3D Camera Projection - After Effects

Still pictures are used for video all of the time. Often they are panned and zoomed to add movement; taking after the popular Ken Burns effect. Why not use this technique? After all it is a video and movement is everything. However, no matter how good of a pan and zoom you have it's still going to be "flat" 2-dimensional image. There is an alternative if you are looking to add some flare to your 2-D image. You can use a technique known as Camera Projection.

By projecting your 2-D image onto matching 3-D surfaces, you can simulate a 3-D environment. We already have the image, we need to build the set for it to be projected on. There are different programs that will allow you to do this. I used After Effects and here is everything that was used.

1. Picture (projection image)
2. Light (cast shadows of pic)
3. Planes (to reflect the image)
4. Camera (view point / perspective)

Here's a glimpse of what the construction looked like. note: some planes are showing the grid and others are reflecting the projection.

Once the planes are constructed around the original image, it's time for the camera movement. When the camera pans and zooms it's within a 3-dimensional space.