Cinema 4D is a product from MAXON. It’s a software that offers the best advanced 3D graphics you need for your creative 3D animations. According to some tutorials, Cinema 4D is an excellent alternative to other programs.
The top tutorials you should learn if you want to familiarise yourself with Cinema 4D are the following.
1. Creating Animated Title Sequences
The first part of this tutorial video is about turning a 2D image into a 3D object using Cinema 4D. The process of involves using NURBS in Cinema 4D and is further discussed below. The first step you have to do is to create a title using Illustrator. Once you are decided on the title you want to animate, you can import it to Cinema 4D. After importing the title, you will see an outline of the vector in 3D space. Add NURBS by clicking the menu bar > Create > NURBS > Extrude. You will see the Extrude NURBS added to your object pane. The number of your paths in your object must be the same as the number of Extrude NURBS. Match the NURBS to each of your path by dragging them. Drag the NURBS to your path then drag the paths the NURBS. As you do this, you will notice that the title you have becomes a 3D object. After this, you can edit the color of the object by turning on the Use color setting under the Basic tab then change the Display Color.
The second part of this tutorial is about working with After Effects to add animation to your title sequences. Using tracking shot footage, you can place the object into the scene. Upon putting the object, it will automatically match that of the camera. In effect, it will seem as if the 3D object is actually in space. A technique you can use when tracking an object using After Effects is to create an area with high contrast for easy tracking. If you are finished with the tracking and the data is sent to the null object, you can now parent this to the main object. You will see that the 3D object is now tracking along the shot footage. All you need to do is make some final tweaks regarding the depth of field, color correction, and shadows of the object and footage.
2. Creating Long Shadows
When creating long shadows, people usually prefer using After Effects. In reality, you can achieve the long shadow effects easier in Cinema 4D. In After Effects, the long shadows usually do not have a z-space information which makes it less realistic. In Cinema 4D, you can make realistic long shadows. The process of creating long shadows involves using Projection Cams and working with Infinite Lights. You will also use Sketch and Toon, stylizing 2D glass object and Composition Tags. There is no doubt that long shadow effects are complicated. But with the help of online tutorials, you can achieve an easier way of getting the long shadow effect for your animation.
3. Vectorized Art Using Sketch and Toon
Learning how to render a 2D vector style animation is important. You can achieve this by using Sketch and Toon effect in Cinema 4D. The Sketch and Toon tool allows a 3D object to become a cartoonized 2D object complete with flat shading and outline. It belongs to the flat design of line art style which has resurged in recent years. The Sketch and Toon tool can be of great use for both 2D and 3D artists. Watching the tutorials about Sketch and Toon will help you utilize this tool in creating 2D illustrations in Cinema 4D.
4. Animated 3D Script
You can create an animated script by importing its paths of from Adobe Illustrator into Cinema 4D. There are two techniques you can use: MoGraph and X-Particles.
MoGraph technique is used by artists to create animations efficiently while still having the creativity. If you are using MoGraph, you can do the animated 3D script by adding a sphere as a tracer that will outline the line of the script. As the sphere travels, you can edit the settings to make it appear like it is writing the script. By tweaking the other settings, you can come up with a 3D animated script.
X-Particles, on the other hand, is a third party plug-in for Cinema 4D developed by Insydium that costs about $320. The effects found in X-Particle is famous because of its motion graphics from fire, smoke, to fluid simulation.
5. “Boys Latin” from Panda Bear with Cinema 4D
This tutorial video shows how you can achieve the creative work of the musician Panda Bear using Cinema 4D. The music video for the song “Boys Latin” features amazing animation skills which you can also apply to your project. The entire animation was done using Cinema 4D by Ghost Robot. They used 2D cell shaders to create excellent 2D animated sequences. Check out the behind the scenes video released by Encyclopedia Pictura and the Cineversity Tutorial by EJ Hassenfratz on how to use 2D Workflow in Cinema 4D.
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