Comments on: Everyone Needs A Hero

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:12:26 +0000

Hi Dave, leave the layer “Quality” switch for the ProAnimator layer at full quality but render a draft quality movie. Regards, John.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:06:20 +0000

John,

When you render a proxy movie of an animation that was created in ProAnimator which has texture maps, is there a setting you use for a draft version of the proxy movie that properly renders the texture maps or do you have to use a “best” setting in the render options in order to see the texture maps? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:30:02 +0000

Thanks I look forward to seeing the video the step to put photos
into C4D

By: Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:58:17 +0000

Great Promo John. I have to get Knoll Light Factory!

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:10:57 +0000

Eric, I prepared the images in Photoshop with alpha channels, created a new texture in C4D, added each image as a texture in the Color channel and in the Alpha channel. I’ll probably do a video tip on the steps.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:39:29 +0000

How did you place the pictures in Cinema 4D

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:57:10 +0000

After learning from a close friend in the Broadcast Design industry that CNN and the majority of news organization use AE and C4D to create those amazing eye catching motion graphics, thats when I jumped onboard

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:54:02 +0000

Great work John!!!!

I started using Cinema 4D with AE and I love it!
Please keep me informed the day you launch any tutorials or DVDs using After Effects and Cinema 4D exclusively.

Thank you for sharing your amazing work and talents with us.

By: Spiro

Spiro — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:01:38 +0000

Love to see you working more in Cinema4D. Hopefully you’ll incorporate your newly acquired C4D skills into MILG6, MILG7, MILG8 …

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:18:59 +0000

Yes, the text only supers were done in ProAnimator. I animated the characters manually to face the camera in C4D.

By: Ryan Kehn

Ryan Kehn — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:10:57 +0000

Ok, that makes sense. So all you built in Proanimator are the text only sequences with no reflections (“where adventure begins…”)? Also, did you use the compositing tag in C4D for the cutout to face the camera or did you manually animate that? Thanks for answering my questions, it’s awesome to be able to pick someone’s brain!

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Hi Ryan, The Hero text and characters are all done in Cinema 4D. I didn’t mix ProAnimator content with C4D content directly. All the reflections are from Cinema 4D. Cinema 4D allows you to export the project as an AE comp, with lights, camera, nulls etc converted to their AE counterparts, it’s a very sweet workflow.

By: Ryan Kehn

Ryan Kehn — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:24:33 +0000

Hey John,

Couple of questions…The reflections in the spot, were the character reflections done in Cinema4d or did you use something like reflector in AE to tie everything together. Also, where did you get your camera data? Did you use the AE camera or import from C4D? I’m just a little curious how you integrated 3D elements from two different interfaces together especially when it appears as though the character super is in between different text objects. Very cool stuff, i’d be curious to hear more about that workflow!

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:21:52 +0000

Hi Dan, the font is Bitsumishi but it was modified using Illustrator to connect certain letters and give the text more of a logo-type style. I won’t be posting this C4D project sorry. Cineversity has some great tutorials on how C4D can be integrated with AE.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:38:49 +0000

Hi john. Great project looks great, can you tell us what font you used in C4D to create the text? Also is it possible to get a project file to explore the C4D project or something like it to train on how to use the text in C4D reflection and lights before importing to AE or is there a tutorial coming up showing the interaction between the two softwares?

By: Pablo

Pablo — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:02:15 +0000

Thanks John for your answers and ALL your share with us. This is my favourite website!! and I can´t believe you answer our question so quick and clear. Thanks again You are THE ONE, love your work!! Cheers!!!

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:15:38 +0000

Great question Pablo. I used After Effects lights, in front and behind the text. There is a red light at the back right which is casting red light on the sides of the text. After Effects lights are more controllable than ProAnimator lights which are directional only. The gold is a combination of a gold texture applied to the text and simple gold colored materials applied to the sides and bevels. No Shine was used. I may post this ProAnimator project.

By: pablo

pablo — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:58:40 +0000

John, I have a question about the lights used in the 3D text, do you use pro animators or After Effects? How many, what colors ? Do yo use golden materials inside of Pro Animator or colorize the text in after effects with shine or another effect?
Thanks and sorry for my english. Happy new year!!!!!

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:00:14 +0000

Hi Lou, There are definitely pros and cons for using either application. I mentioned some of the benefits of using both in the post and if you take a look at the K1 post I mention some of the limitations of using ProAnimator only, especially as far as reflections are concerned. You’re also right about me wanting to become more familiar with Cinema 4D. Having used Invigorator and ProAnimator exclusively for so long, entering the world of Cinema 4D was liberating and the more I use it the more I want to use it. I find lighting and camera work a pleasure in Cinema 4D, and the transfer to After Effects is easy and seamless. As far as the stills go, I used high resolution promo stills.

By: Lou Borella

Lou Borella — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:54:34 +0000

John, This seems like something that could have been achieved easily entirely in AE using Invigorator or ProAnimator. Are you looking for excuses to use Cinema4D so you can become more familiar with the program? Did you receive promo stills of the characters or did you have to cut them from a screen capture? Lou …