MOTION
But, can it move? This reel encapsulates learning in After Effects and Cinema4D while at SCCA: developing an understanding of motion graphics workflows, interfaces and plugins, and core animation concepts. Applying motion as a supporting element for other deliverables has helped to communicate look and feel beyond what flat mockups can. I'm excited to find new opportunities to apply motion throughout my design process.
Project Duration - 8w
Roles
— Motion Design
— Visual Design
Tools
— After Effects
— Cinema4D
— Illustrator
— SolidWorks
Skills
— R&D
— Illustration
— Animation
— Storyboarding
Process
As a new user to After Effects, it was important to get familiar with the interface and working with many different object types. Similarities between After Effects and Premiere allowed me to build on previous knowledge and quickly grasp this new tool.
Animations focused on typography and simple shapes helped to build an understanding of keyframes, easing, and basic transforms. Explorations in more complex shape and illustration based work helped expand my knowledge of expressions, walk cycles, and effects.
Working with video presented a new set of tools to learn for color grading, 3D tracking, and motion graphics. A desire to create in true 3D space spurred a dive into Cinema4D, but many of the skills and concepts learned in After Effects helped expedite this new workflow.
Typography and Color
Workflow
Key to learning this new skillset was developing systems for project management, templatized file structures, and render versioning.
2D
After Effects accepts many types of media, and integrates with apps like XD, Audition, Premiere, and Photoshop. Throughout my time at SCCA, I was able to explore these features to create projects across several programs.
3D
Cinema4D can import many 3D file types, which allowed me to model parts in SolidWorks, a more robust CAD/CAM program. Pairing Cinema4D and After Effects allowed for the addition motion graphics composite layers, color correction, and other effects.
Plugins and Extensions
After some early explorations, I quickly found out that After Effects as a stand alone program was only part of the picture. There are countless plugins and extensions that add features, improve workflow and functionality, and add integration for new apps.
Overlord
Overlord allows users to move artwork from Adobe Illustrator to After Effects with the click of a button. As simple as it sounds, this tool saves a lot of time when importing artwork, and allowed me to utilize the more robust feature set in Illustrator to create more complex illustrations.
Animation Composer
Animation Composer provides a system for applying transitions that eliminates the need for keyframes. This tool helped to create consistent looks for motion graphics, and easily modify and sync transitions. This was especially helpful on projects where audio and type needed to match.
3D Integration
Incorporating Cinema4D was the next logical step after becoming familiar with After Effects, it offered a whole new set of tools to create with and built upon animation and cinematography concepts I was already comfortable with.
Active render region
A great tool for viewing anticipated render results in a small region of the viewport. This tool allowed for refinement of lighting, material qualities, and color quickly, without the need to render a full frame or sequence.
Render Settings
Most of my learning in Cinema4D has been focused around how best to render a project to be used in other applications. Understanding each component of the render settings and camera objects allowed me to achieve better, more realistic outputs in reasonable time frames.
Next Steps…
I hope to continue exploring Cinema4D’s physically based materials, advanced lighting objects, and in-app modeling features. I also hope to try external renderers like Octane and Red Shift, and continue to develop skills in After Effects!