Element 3D is far more than just another 3D plugin for After Effects. It's truly a revolutionary change in the method of 3D animation that has traditionally been used. For the first time, a user can bring to bear fully animated 3D models created in virtually any modeling software from within their compositing software (After Effects). An entire book could be devoted to the principles of 3D animation. Suffice to say that from the first mainstream computer animation (Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo opening credit sequence), it's taken over 50 years and countless man-hours to get to the point of, Element 3D.

Element 3D was originally developed as an object array animator. Wow, sounds impressive, doesn't it? Well, it is. Element handles 3D objects as if they were particles, and animates them in groups. Sometimes, these are groups of one object (such as an airplane flying across the sky); sometimes, these are hundreds of objects (such as a group of dancing iPhones). What really makes Element unique is that it gives an After Effects user the ability to animate stunning 3D animations within After Effects itself!