Tag Archives: mograph

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Create Wood Block or Cast Metal Type In Cinema 4D

Posted on by

You know I like me some text tutorials!  Here’s another one where I’ll teach you how to recreate a wood block or cast metal embossed type style and create it procedurally so it is easily edited and iterated without having to create a bump channel map for every letter or ever leaving Cinema 4D for Photoshop.  Using this workflow, it’s possible to perfect the look of one type block and use it as a template for the other type blocks you need for your scene by simply duplicating it and changing the shape of the block and the letter or font.

Download C4D Project File

Example:

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

Posted on by

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

Spinning Objects Along One Axis Using Dynamics in Cinema 4D

Posted on by

In a response to a question I was asked on Vimeo about how to spin objects on a single axis using dynamics, I go over a couple ways you can achieve this effect so the dynamics rotation looks realistic and can interact with real world physics and gravity.  First, I’ll show you how to get a cube to spin on it’s edge and then show how to slow it down to a stop and topple over.  Then I’ll demonstrate how you can get your logo or text have a cool, dramatic, and energetic spin reveal using dynamics on a logo made with Text Edge FX.

Check out Text Edge FX here.

Example Render:

Controlling Light Object Intensity with Effectors in Cinema 4D

Posted on by

In this tutorial, I’ll explain a very simple way that you can effect Light Objects intensity in Cinema 4D with an effector and how to get a “turn on/turn off” look as well as a gradual light fade on/fade off type of example.   I’ll go over another use for this method to create a noise meter animation where meter bars light up and glow, all controlled with an effector.  And to finish it off, I’ll throw a little Cappucino & Mograph Effector action to animate the noise meter to look like it’s reacting to crowd noise and sync it with a shaking camera as the intensity builds as the “crowd” gets louder!

If you haven’t learned about the many awesome uses of Cappucino, check out my Cappucino 101 tutorial here.

Example:

 

Cinema 4D Quick Tip 02: Intro to Cappucino

Posted on by

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, NAB week was crazy fun presenting for the great people at Maxon and hanging out with talented folks like the gorilla himself, Nick Campbell, but I’m back and ready to keep the learning going!  In this new Cinema 4D 101 tutorial, I’ll be going over a more than likely untouched feature inside of Cinema 4D called Cappucino.  It’s mainly used in conjunction with character animating, so unless you do a lot of that, I’m sure the only cappucino you know is the hot, tasty kind.  But there are so many other useful uses for it!  So what does it do?  Cappucino is simply a method of recording mouse movement in your viewport and converts it to keyframe data.  Used creatively, it can be extremely useful!  In this tutorial I’ll be showing you multiple ways to use Cappucino to easily add movement to an object, create a “write-on” effect, and ability to keyframe dynamics simulations live and interactively in your scene as you the simulation play out.

Cinema 4D Quick Tip 01: Complex Animation With Only Two Keyframes

Posted on by

In this Cinema 4D 101 tutorial, I’ll be showing you the efficiency of using combinations of mograph effectors to create complex and dynamic animations inside of Cinema 4D. I’ll teach you the basics of stacking multiple effectors so you can enhance your workflow and achieve nice looking animation quickly and easily, saving you loads of time that you would have spent keyframing the moves you wanted manually. And with no limit to the amount of effectors you can use on objects, the Mograph Module and Effectors are one of the most powerful tools inside of Cinema 4D.

Example:

Darkened Text Edge Effects In Cinema 4D

Posted on by

I’m back with another Cinema 4D text tutorial, this time I’ll teach you how to add darkened/gradated edges to your font to get a glowing effect with the Proximal Shader.  By using the Proximal Shader, you can reference the text polygons points and vertices to drive the gradient that is applied to the texts edge.  Then I’ll show you how to use it in conjunction with global illumination to make it look like your glowing text is casting light in your scene.

UPDATE:  Realized the way I positioned the Material viewer, the very bottom got chopped off, but the setting that is chopped off that you can’t see is the Intensity setting.  Doh!  Apologies!

Example: