One of the biggest advantages of After Effects is the ability to create studio 3D animations. In addition, there is the ability to create lights, similar to more elaborate 3D programs such as Maya or Cinema 4D. But how do lights work in After Effects and how do you use them? Let's dive in and find out.

After Effects’ version of 3D isn’t really 3D in the way you might think of it in terms of a Pixar film or a video game. It’s actually 2.5D — composed of objects that have height and width, but no depth, though you can stack them on top of each other to create the illusion of depth.

It’s much more in the style of South Park (although South Park was made in Maya). It’s like having pieces of paper that you can prop up and lay in Z-space; they don’t really have depth themselves, but you can create a scene with depth within them. It can be a little tricky to understand, but stick with it because once you understand how 3D works in After Effects, you can create some really cool animations and effects with the program.

So open up your After Effects program and create a new composition by selecting Composition > New Composition or by using the keyboard shortcut Command + N. That will open the New Comp window. Give it a title of "Light Test" or something similar, so we can try to reinforce good organizational habits when working in After Effects. Make it 1920 by 1080 (which should always be your working standard). Set the frame rate to 23.97 and make it about 10 seconds long. Once we've done all that, click OK.