Create a 3D isometric effect

06 Using position keyframes, move the camera from the top of the precomp to the bottom. Once you’re happy with your camera move, we can animate the secondary elements.

07 Inside each precomp, you can now add all your secondary animations. Since everything is flat, only animate on X and Y paths, and animate on 60 and 90-degree paths to keep the 3D illusion.

08 To animate a perfect 60-degree angle, draw your path in Illustrator and copy and paste it into the position property on the layer you want to move. It then turns each point into a keyframe.

09 The way I achieved the ‘inch worm’ look was simply by animating a cube, duplicating it 10 times and offsetting the cubes by one frame so that they drag behind one another. You can precomp this effect too.

10 Lastly, animate the icicles growing in the precomp. This should get you started on isometric animation in After Effects. Now create your own scenes and see where you can take it.