Tag Archives: cinema 4d

MAXON NAB 2013 Rewind

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nab2013

NAB keeps getting better and better every year!  It was amazing to hang out with all of the people that make the tools that make our jobs pretty awesome along with having the honor of presenting with talented artists for MAXON again this year!  If you haven’t seen the presentations yet, all of the Cinema 4D NAB 2013 sessions are now up on Cineversity here:

MAXON NAB Rewind 2013

This years speakers included an all star line up of talented folks in the mograph biz including:

Nick Campbell, Colin Sebestyen, Barton Damer, Kevin Aguirre, Donovan Keith, Brian McCauley, Mike Szabo, Rob Hranitzky, John Lapore, and myself.

In my presentation, I demo a few different ways you can achieve amazing results using the very underused Inheritance Effector.  A Twitter followed called it an “Inheritance Effector workout”!  Well put, I’d say!

Cinema 4D Training on Lynda.com

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Lynda.com

You all may have noticed I’ve been quiet on the tutorials front the past couple months, but not without good reason! I’ve been very busy preparing my first in depth project based Cinema 4D course for Lynda.com, and I’m super excited to announce that it has finally released!  Check it out here!

I am honored to be a part of the Lynda community and getting the opportunity to share my creative process through my courses!

What’s It About?

So you might be thinking, “What’s it about and why should I watch it?”  Well, for one, it’s my first project based Cinema 4D course.  Unlike my tutorials I host here on my blog which are fairly short, quick blurbs on a certain workflow technique or tip; in my Lynda course I’ll show you from start to finish the process I go about creating a finished and polished animation.  From setting up and animating a project in Cinema 4D, preparing it for render, and importing and putting on the finishing touches inside of After Effects.  In this course, I’ll show you how to create a network promo bumper for a fictitious TV network using Mograph effectors efficiently so to animate the entire thing, all it takes is two keyframes, along with some workflow tips and tricks along the way.

How Do You Learn?

I’ve found that I learn a ton from watching people go through the process of creating a project from start to finish and developing my first course demonstrating how I do it was very interesting because I literally had to write down all my steps, all the things I do to create an animation.  When I watch other people work, I love observing all the little habits and processes someone goes through while working in Cinema 4D or After Effects.  Being a freelancer, I don’t have the benefit of sitting around a bunch of other artists and being exposed to how other people work day to day and learning from them, so I hope seeing my process is just as beneficial for those of you out there in similar situations.

Future Courses

Some people have already asked me if I have any more courses in the pipeline, and I’m happy to say that I’m planning on releasing a total of 8 courses this year for Lynda.  It’ll be a challenge, but I’m definitely excited to take it on.  The course I released is almost 2 hours of content, so it was definitely an adjustment coming from doing 5-15 minute tutorials for my blog.  My Lynda producer was great in mentoring me in the process of creating professional training content so I’m looking forward to my continued improvements in how I can deliver information and knowledge to you all in the future!

What’s This Mean For the Blog?

It means better content for you!  I’m going to continue producing my own short Cinema 4D based content here on eyedesyn.com just like I’ve always been, I’m committed to creating better and better content and my experiences working with the great Lynda.com folks will only make me better at creating training content.  I already have tons of tutorial ideas backlogged in my brain!  Not to mention a big update to Text Edge FX that should be coming out soon!

Feedback

For those of you who check out my course (or for just those who watch tutorials on my blog), please let me know if there’s anything I can do better, or if there’s anything you’d like to see for any of my next Lynda courses or even my tutorials here on my blog.  What’s something you’d really like to learn?  What’s some workflows you’d like to see me demonstrate?  I’d greatly appreciate any and all input you can give!

What is Lynda.com?

Lynda.com has a multitude of excellent training content for everyone, not just motion graphics artists.  For example, they have great courses on how to be a freelancer, how to conduct business meetings, photography, setting up video shoots, and the list goes on and on!  Not only that, but they’ve joined up with Video2Brain.com to add even MORE great content (including multilingual content) to the Lynda.com universe.  And even if you’re just interested in After Effects and Cinema 4D, they have some AMAZING artists on there sharing their knowledge such as my fellow authors Chris & Trish Meyers, Chad Perkins, Mark Christiansen, and Rob Garrot.  In the coming year there is going to be a ton of new AE and C4D content to go along with the highly anticipated updates for both pieces of software, so stay tuned!

Thank You

When I first launched my blog a little over a year ago, I didn’t imagine that it would grow as much as it did, that I would be presenting for MAXON, working for Lynda.com, or having all the other great opportunities I’ve been given along the way.  I couldn’t have done it without the support of all you out there pushing me to keep doing what I’m doing and seeing that people are learning a bit of something here on my blog.  I did this in an attempt to pay forward all the training that has been provided to me for free online when I have been learning Cinema 4D the past few years, to give back to the awesome motion graphics community that inspired me all these years.  Thank you!

Cinema 4D Quick Tip 04: Create a 2D Transparency Fade Effect on 3D Objects

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When changing objects transparency using a Display Tag or using an effector, you’ll most likely run into the undesirable effect of the seeing unwanted parts of the 3D geometry being revealed when that transparency is adjusted.  Most of the time, the only way you’d think to get around this would be by rendering everything out and compositing and adjusting opacity in After Effects.  In this Quick Tip, I show you how you can avoid that and make your 3D geometry fade like it was a 2D object without revealing the unwanted parts of the object geometry.

See my previous quick tip on using effectors to fade on Motext referenced in this quick tip.

Example:

fix_trans_issues

Cinema 4D Holiday Ornament Shader Pack Vol. 2

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Holiday Shader Pack Vol. 2

As a big “thank you” to you, the motion graphics community, I’ve updated my holiday ornament pack, now with even more goodness!  Volume 2 expands upon the very successful volume 1 pack released last year.

New in Volume 2:
• improved textures
• more than double the textures (over 50 now!)
• a second ornament type

Volume 2 Includes:
• a nicely lit scene file with two base ornament bulb models ready for texturing
• all the textures from volume 1, plus the new volume 2 textures all within the .lib4d

To install, just place the .lib4d file into your “browser” folder, restart C4D and it should show up in your Content Browser.  You can mix and match colors and textures to produce hundreds of combinations of ornaments types!  Enjoy!

Download Cinema 4D Holiday Ornament Shader Pack Volume 2

Make sure to check out my free holiday model pack for Cinema 4D from last year here!  It has presents, ribbon bows, and Christmas lights!

Bulb Types

Disclaimer:  There were a couple of these textures where Biomekk’s EnhanceC4D was used.   You’ll need to buy EnhanceC4D from Biomekk.com for a few of these textures to work.

Screen Shot 2012-12-04 at 6.26.41 PM

Thanks to @ridvanmaloku from Plastic-Pistols.com for allowing me to use his tree model.  He did an awesome tutorial on how he made his Christmas tree using Cinema 4D’s Hair module.  Check it out here:  Tree Tutorial

Free Cinema 4D Model Pack: Toy Building Blocks

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Here’s a pack of free toy building block models I made using the technique I describe in my latest tutorial found here.  Check out that tutorial and make some of your own block creations!  A-Z and 0-9 blocks are included.  Get in touch with your inner child and have a play with these toys!

Neatly packed into a nice Cinema 4D .lib4d file, you can easily drag and drop the letters you need into your scene.  Enjoy!

Download Toy Building Block Model Pack Here

Text Edge FX v1.4: Bevel Kit for Cinema 4D

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I am excited to announce the newest release of Text Edge FX, version 1.4!  Text Edge FX is a must have tool for anyone who works with 3D type or logos inside of Cinema 4D.  This is a tool that creates brilliant looking text and logos super fast!  With it, you can add custom outer, inner bevels, and edges to any text that goes above and beyond the stock bevel options in C4D!  Along with applying bevels on your type, you can also put bevels on any spline shape you bring in, whether it be a logo made in Adobe Illustrator or a spline shape made directly in Cinema 4D.  New in version 1.4 is the completely redesigned inner bevels interface with spline editor controls so you can interactively edit, save, and load preset inner bevel shapes inside the spline editor!  With it’s extremely intuitive controls, endless customizable options, and over 20 custom bevels, 15 custom inner bevels & 10 preset scene files, plus the ability to make your own custom bevel shapes, it’s essential for anyone who needs to make amazing looking text or logos instantly!

Check out Joren Kandel from The Pixel Lab‘s review of Text Edge FX here!

Add to Cart

Version 1.4 Update Features:

•  Inner Bevels with Spline Editor Controls to interactively control your inner bevel shape (Requires Cinema 4D R13 & above)
•  15 Inner Bevel presets
•  Streamlined Spline FX and Text Edge FX into one plug-in, you can now toggle between adding bevels onto your MoType object, or with a click of a button be able to apply a bevel to a custom spline, or a logo, that you make.   All you have to do is drag and drop your spline into the Custom Spline FX field.  When you want to add bevels to MoType, just check the box next to MoText FX options
•  Improved speed
•  Enhanced workflow
•  Bug fixes
•  R14 support

Other features include:

• 10 TEFX preset style scene files
• Gorgeous looking text or logos, super fast!
• Infinite bevel options
• Full control of bevel & text subdivisions & phong angle
• Editable capping & fillet edges
• Over 10 custom bevel splines included
• Ability to use your own custom bevels
• Simple & intuitive interface & controls
• Free point release updates

Free Cinema 4D Model: Caduceus

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Just finished modeling this caduceus model for a medical animation I’m working on and releasing it for free as a “thank you” to this awesome motion graphics community I’m proud to be a part of.

Gold texture and HDRI/environment map is included.  This file is compatible with R12 & above and I also included an FBX, .3DS and an .OBJ file for those with R11 and below or any other 3D software.  And an added bonus, a C4D and OBJ format that is After Effects and Element ready, so you can use this inside of After Effects and with VideoCopilots’ “Element” plugin!

Download Caduceus Model Here

Creating Dynamic Balloons With New Aerodynamics & Morph Camera in Cinema 4D R14

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The Cinema 4D R14 demo has been out for a few days now, so hopefully you’ve had a chance to check it out!   Coinciding with the demo being released, I’m releasing my first R14 related tutorial on one of my favorite new R14 features, Aerodynamics.  With the new Aerodynamics function, Rigid and Softbody objects can now interact according to their aerodynamic shape with all of the particle modifiers such as Wind, Turbulence, and Gravity.  So a balloons shape will be taken into account when floating about when a wind object is applied to it and not just float linearly.  In this tutorial, I’ll be going over all the settings to recreate a balloon being blown around realistically in a gust of wind and along the way show off some of the other R14 features such as the Morph Camera.

Aerodynamic Balloon Example:

Download balloon C4D R14 project file here

What’s your favorite new R14 feature?  Here’s a list of mine.

Watch my Spline Dynamics tutorial to recreate the balloon and string used in this tutorial.

Free Cinema 4D Model: Paper Airplane

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Been playing around with Cinema R14 a lot and, in particular, with the new Aerodynamics settings new to this version.  For your downloading pleasure is a Cinema 4D model of a paper airplane (Mars rover, what?) that I’ve been using when messing around inside of R14 and something you can use when it arrives at the beginning of September.  Sorry, no airline peanuts included.

Paper textures and sky background is included.  This file is compatible with R12 & above and I also included an .OBJ file for those with R11 and below or any other 3D software.

Download Paper Airplane Model here

Cinema 4D R14 Features Review

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Cinema 4D R14 Announced!

It’s Christmas in August!  Cinema 4D version R14 has just been announced and I’ve had the opportunity to be able to play with R14 over the past few weeks and check out all the new features. While you may be hearing most about the new Sculpting features in Cinema 4D, I’m going to focus on some of my favorite new features that I think I’ll be using heavily. Continue Reading