How to make a perfect cube

Question

how can i make a perfect 3 cube in after effects?
i create a square side of the cube then changing everytime the anchor point (top, both side, and bottom) i duplicate it 4 times and rotate it to recreate the cube but they don't touch in the right way, i mean there is always some space or they fuse together... if i press ctrl or shift the program don't help me to make them aligned
how can i solve this problem?
to be faster can you just rell me how can i center the anchor point of a 3d layer? i mean center the Z value, the deep... if i set 0 the Z is on the figure
like on a 300x300 figure the Z point will be at 150, but on an irregular figure? how can i center it?
ive made it with solid, but i want to make it with rectangle tool, is possible? the Z anchor in solid is easy to set, just grap it to 150 if your solid is 300x300, but ho can you center the Z point with rectangle tool? is possible to make a cube with this tool without have to center manually a layer? with solid is easy just set the Z anchor to the theoric center (i hope you understand me at this theoric center XD i dunno how to explain) then duplicate 5 time the layer and rotate them of 90 degree to make the cube... very easy but with rectangle tool is a mess D:

Answer 1

Hey Eran Stern has a tutorial that makes this task "look" easy using something called "alternative parenting". Here it is STERNFX - However, I am on the board this morning because I can not get it to work as advertised in the tut. I'm getting a cross shape not a cube. Would be interested to see if anyone else can make it work. I believe I am following the instructions verbatim.
BTW here is an expression to make a cube. Credit goes to Colin Braley. I can't remember where I copied it from.
Re: Box troubles
by Colin Braley on Oct 23, 2005 at 5:49:54 pm
I have a quick expression you can apply to a layer to create a box, just make sure that each layer is the same size and is a square layer(use square pixels). Also, for the expression to work the layers that make up the box have to be the first six layers in their comp. It you want to move the box parent the layers to a null or something. If you want other layers to be above it precomp the box, bring it into another 3d cop and turn on the continuously rasterize/collapse transformations switch. Well with that said here are the expressions:
Here is the expression for position:
i = this.index;
if(i == 1){//front
x = thisComp.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2;
z = 0;
}else if(i == 2){//Back
x = thisComp.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2;
z = this.width;
}else if( i == 3){//Left Side
x = thisComp.width/2 - this.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2;
z = this.width/2;
}else if (i == 4){//Right side
x = thisComp.width/2 + this.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2;
z = this.width/2;
}else if(i == 5){//Top
x = thisComp.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2 - this.width/2;
z= this.width/2;
}else if (i == 6){//Bottom
x = thisComp.width/2;
y = thisComp.height/2 + this.width/2;
z= this.width/2;
[x, y, z]
Here is the expression for orientation:
i = index;
if(i == 1){//front
x = 0;
y = 0;
z = 0;
}else if(i == 2){//Back
x = 0;
y = 0;
z = 0;
}else if( i == 3){//Left Side
x = 0;
y = 90;
z = 0;
}else if (i == 4){//Right side
x = 0
y = 90;
z = 0;
}else if(i == 5){//Top
x = 90;
y = 0;
z= 0;
}else if (i == 6){//Bottom
x = 90;
y = 0;
z= 0;
[x, y, z]
well there you go just apply that to a square ;ayer and duplicate it 6 times.
~Colin