In today's session we were introduced to Cinema 4d, it is a 3D modeling, animation, motion graphic and rendering application developed by MAXON Computer GmbH in Germany. Our main purpose for today was to look at the basic things which it can produce and learn how to use these functions effectively.
Before even opening the software we were shown a number of different videos. One of those was the Channel 4 rebrand which was worked on by DBLG, these motion graphics were produced on Cinema 4d and therefore it was a prime example of what the software can actually do and produce. These motions could have easily been created by hand but by doing them by using this software has made the entire process much quicker and therefore the time management has been thoroughly thought out.
We then moved on to looking at websites which provide easy to follow and simple tutorials, this would aid us if we wanted to produce something else in our own time. The websites were:
https://greyscalegorilla.com
http://www.eyedesyn.com
We also looked at an instagram account of a motion graphic designer called @Baugasm, they produce an animated poster everyday for 365 days, using Cinema 4d, I was particularly interested in these images as they are not only visually interesting but also very simplistic in terms of how they have been produced.
After looking at all of these resources we then moved onto beginning to create our own design which we would then move into Cinema 4d to animate. We firstly created a simple line drawing of either a letter or some form of design which would be simple and easy to animate. In order to do this we used illustrator. I created a simple 'J' which I then imported onto Cinema 4d.
We then added a floor and a background, to make the piece slightly more interesting, along with the addition of some extra text which made the actual design more visually interesting.
Once this was done, colour was definitely the next step, we created three different materials, which would change the colour of various different elements.
Once this was done, our designs were almost finished, we just needed to add lighting and the camera feature in order to create a still of the piece.
Below is my final still piece, in which it shows shadows in order to create another aspect to the piece and to make it more 'real'. This is important within design as it makes the whole piece look more professional and more realistic.
We then moved onto animating the piece, this was easy and simple to do with the use of keyframes and the rotation option. We also used a Null layer in order to rotate the camera and the lighting around the object to make sure that it was positioned at the right place during the sequence.
