Firsts! - Taking After Effects Files Into Cinema 4D

 Firsts! - Taking After Effects Files Into Cinema 4D

The next workshop I took part in when looking at a wider experimentation in this module, was using a combination of After Effects and Cinema 4D to produce contemporary/experimental animations that combine 2D and 3D digital animation.

Using simple animated shapes in After Effects, exporting them as Alpha Channels, and then importing these textures into Cinema 4D, you can project and map 2D After Effects textures onto 3D models to produce mixed media animations.

The kind of animation that I’ve produced here aren’t as prominent in popular media, and are much more likely to be seen in animation festivals such as Pictoplasma for more contemporary/experimental work, which isn’t exactly my area. However, learning the applications of this software and how it could be used such as producing animated textures for gaming, or just learning the process of creating alpha channels in After Effects, can be extremely useful skills to learn in other places of work.

The Process

This process can be done with any animated or static image produced in After Effects, but for the purposes of this, I’ll be using a simple geometric face, which I applied a quick animation to in order to make the eyebrows move:

This is all you need to do in After Effects, but you have to make sure you’re exporting the file in the correct way for your process, which can be done in 3 different ways:

1. Exporting the composition normally as an MP4 - This will export the animation for it’s maximum length with the white background included.

2. Exporting the composition as an Alpha Channel MP4 - Exporting the composition as an Alpha Channel removes the background when it’s rendered. When viewed as an MP4, the background will be completely black.

3. Exporting the composition with a colour overlay - In order to better plug into Cinema 4D, exporting the composition with a black colour overlay allows Cinema 4D to remove the white when imported as a material.

Since I’m using Cinema 4D, I’m going to use the third option. Creating a new material in Cinema 4D, ensuring ‘colour’ and ‘alpha’ are checked, and then importing the colour overlaid MP4 into the alpha tab will create a material that can be placed on any shape in the software, here I’ve used a sphere:

Since the texture I’ve used is an MP4, when the Cinema 4D timeline is played, the texture will move, using the same animation I created in After Effects. When rendered out, the final animation will look like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cpMsOSz1k&feature=youtu.be

Final Thoughts

While I can see the applications of this technique when it comes to producing animated textures or contemporary works of art, such as Pictoplasma speaker Laurie Rowan, I don’t feel that this process was really for me, for a few reasons.

Firstly, the workflow of this process is what I found the most frustrating about it. The workflow is relatively clear when explained, but due to outdated/mismatched softwares and technical issues, producing an experiment that I was happy with was very stressful and time consuming. While I do enjoy working in After Effects to produce effects and motion graphics, I’m definitely distancing myself from 3D modelling and animations, as I find the workspace overwhelming and I’m not really that inspired to create work using the software.

The main reason why I didn’t necessarily connect with this process was that I felt that it limited me in what I could achieve in regards to character and expression given the process I had to follow. It’s possible to make some very wacky and zany characters using this method, but the problem for me is that they’re not refined. Similarly to a lot of the work shown at Pictoplasma, I personally don’t like more abstract and strange design ideas, instead preferring to explore more classic, expressive character design.

The combination of not feeling much affinity with the software, as well as not really enjoying the final product that came out of it, left this experiment as a bit of a bum note for me. However, as I previously mentioned, there were some important skills I learned in regards to alpha channels in Adobe After Effects, and learning that this process simply exists and knowing what certain environmental and character artists could do with it is very intriguing!