Tag Archives: motion graphics

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

Create Wood Block or Cast Metal Type In Cinema 4D

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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:

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

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

Free Cinema 4D Models: Mouse Cursor Pack

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Here’s a few pointers for ya…MOUSE POINTERS!  Har har…  And an added bonus, the Happy Mac icon!  All sexy in 8-bit and 3D for all your sweet 3D animations involving websites and all those “Like us on Facebook” ads you see all over the place.  Speaking of Facebook, you should “Like” me on my eyedesyn page.  Do it!  Or I’ll give you the spinning beach ball of death 3D model!

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.

Mouse Cursor Pack Here

Cinema 4D Quick Tip 02: Intro to Cappucino

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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

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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: