Creating Motion Streaks in Cinema 4D Using Sketch & Toon

In this tutorial I’m going to be going over how you can use Sketch & Toon’s Motion lines to create motion streaks or trails inside of Cinema 4D. First, I’ll show you how Motion Lines work and why it’s different than the Tracer object. I’ll then cover the different modes and options followed by me demonstrating my workflow that I use for having full control over where motion streaks appear on your objects. Finally, I’ll cover how to smooth out your motion lines using the Sketch Materials Curve Stroke feature and how you can add Squash & Stretch to your motion lines with the Taper option.

If you have any questions, be sure to hit me in the comments below! Have fun and if you make something with this technique, be sure to share it! Enjoy!

Learn more about Sketch Style Tags in my tutorial here

Learn the basics of Sketch & Toon in my tutorial here

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12 Comments

Walker Media August 6, 2015 at 9:15 pm

hi i am a student, i from Viet Nam. I poor. You give me mo
del. Thanks.
Jochy Reyes August 10, 2015 at 2:53 pm

Hi EJ!… Great tutorial!… However I was looking for an ink like motion trail… like this https://vimeo.com/133355679
Any idea? How would you do something like that? Thanks and Keep it up!!
EJ Hassenfratz August 31, 2015 at 12:42 pm

Check out my “Create Paint Strokes” tutorial and that should help lead you in the right direction!
EJ Hassenfratz August 31, 2015 at 12:43 pm

You don’t need money to be able to create a model, just knowledge and knowledge is free! Learn enough about C4D & you can create your own for free!
Shane Knuth September 26, 2015 at 10:19 pm

Hello, I notice that I don’t have “Motion” as an options for my Sketch Style tag. Is this a feature that is only in newer versions of C4d? (I have r15)?
Rian Saputra October 17, 2015 at 11:47 am

god bless you for the great tutorials you made.
EJ Hassenfratz October 18, 2015 at 12:14 pm

Thanks for your support & kind words Rian!
EJ Hassenfratz October 18, 2015 at 12:15 pm

Make sure you go to the S&T settings and set it to Advanced. R15 has different modes to allow for different amounts of control in S&T. They got rid of it in R16 (thankfully)
Thibault Josse October 20, 2015 at 7:26 am

Hey ya! Fantastic tutorial, as always. I am new to Cinema 4D, coming from after effects and your tuts are an invaluable help! Thank you so much.

How do you get motion trails on an object with deformers? I animated a cube bouncing around, added spheres to get motion trails inside the cube with the deformers. The spheres squish as desired, but the motion trails follow the ‘undeformed’ objects instead… Any ideas?
David January 19, 2017 at 6:23 am

Hey Ej, audio seems to be only in left channel.
EJ Hassenfratz January 19, 2017 at 5:40 pm

Yeah unfortunately this was a recording issue that I need to still remedy! Thanks for reminding me!
ablaoui June 12, 2017 at 8:14 pm

Great site and nice tutorial thanks a lot i will use this thechnic in my next animation