Recently on Twitter I asked followers which After Effects plug-ins they own but no longer used. I received some interesting responses and thought it would be worthwhile opening up the forum here on Motionworks. Are there plug-ins in your toolkit that have fallen out of favour, perhaps you used to love them but the “look” is old? Maybe another plug-in or application has taken it’s place? Are there plug-ins you’ve purchased but not even used!? Personally I have found fewer reasons to fire up Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator, with Cinema 4D taking it’s place in my tool kit; and effects like 3D Stroke, which was once all the rage, are gathering dust. How about you?

You may have noticed Motionworks is displaying a range of new headers. If you’d like to share your creativity and have your header featured (with your twitter and site link revealed as a rollover title) grab the Photoshop template and create one. Be sure not to move or scale the Motionworks logo, but the rest is up to you! Please email your banner to me at john at motionworks.com.au. Have fun and be creative!  Download Template

In the past few years Rob Redman has blasted into recognition as a 3D artist and teacher through his website Pariah Studios and as host of Making It Look Great 8 and 9. In the first half of this revealing interview we discuss how Rob started out and the interesting path he took, including time working for Games Workshop. We follow that with insights from Rob into Making It Look Great 8 and 9 for Cinema 4D.

Links Games Workshop, Adrian Smith, 3D World, MILG 8, MILG9, Plot Device

Here’s a quick tutorial on using MovieType MoVersioner, another great reason to purchase MovieType and join us on the MovieType Plus Forum. Watch (flv) | Watch (mp4)  | Learn more about MovieType

At last MovieType, a collection of over 250 Cinema 4D presets and tools for creating dynamic, movie trailer-style graphics, is here!

We  specialize in creating 3D and motion graphics for movie promos and built MovieType to allow us to work faster and produce consistently great looking work. MovieType gives us, and now you, a creative head start and fast tracks repetitive Cinema 4D tasks which steal valuable design time.

I recorded 22 video tutorials covering all the basics plus many general Cinema 4D techniques. Plus we’ll be adding new tutorials to MovieType Plus, a special area on the Motionworks forum that MovieType purchasers only have access too. Learn more and check out sample lessons.

MovieType for Cinema 4D is only days away. Here’s one of the 22 tutorials (over 2.5 hours of training) that ships together with MovieType, where I walk through the MovieType presets.

Watch (flv) | Watch (mp4)

Making It Look Great 9: The Complete Robot 2 for Cinema 4D is available now. In Making It Look Great 8, 3D World Magazine’s Technical Editor Rob Redman explains the techniques for modelling and texturing a unique Robot character. Rob and the robot are back with MILG 9, this time with in-depth explanation of animation, camera and staging techniques for Cinema 4D. MILG 8 isn’t required to follow along with MILG 9. If you do want to pick up MILG8 as well, check out the bundles on offer in our shop. Watch Promo (flv) | Watch Promo (mp4)

Recently I needed to create a look where rows of text animated vertically down, fading on in turn as they moved . This could have been achieved in a number of ways using multiple layers and keyframes, but that would have not only added complexity to the composition, it would have made updates and versioning more time consuming. With an understanding of how After Effects’  Type tool works, and a little consideration, I nailed it with one layer and no masks or precomps.

Grab the Animation Preset

After Effects Type tool is amazingly powerful, and when you understand the basics it’s straightforward to create a wide range of  type animation styles. Before you start duplicating layers and adding loads of keyframes or even using expressions, consider how you might be able to achieve the look with a single text layer.

If you find yourself confused by the type tool, check out this tutorial where I demystify Animator Groups, Animator Properties and the Range Selector – the key areas of the tool you need to know in order to master it.

Remember there are also a bunch of type categories in After Effects Animation Presets (Animation > Browse Presets). As with all presets remember to use them as a starting point and add your own flair!

In this example (insert your own movie star name) the original preset had the letters jumping up one after the other. I added a 2 new Animator Groups for Position and set the Range Selectors so one word slid in from the right and one from the left. The z-position was animated using the After Effects’ Position transform property. Presets are also good to deconstruct once you have your head around the basic functionality of the tool.

So if  you’d forgotten or been avoiding the After Effects Type tool, get into it, it’s one of the many powerful tools in the motion designer’s After Effects arsenal.

COMING SOON, MovieType for Cinema 4D is almost here. In this sneak peak I explain what MovieType is and demonstrate a few of the many presets that will ship when MovieType is released soon.   Watch (flv) | Watch (mp4)

We’re hard at work putting the finishing touches on MovieType for Cinema 4D and recording the accompanying training. It’s a little later than we had intended but we kept on thinking of cool features to add!  It will be available in July, so thanks for your patience.

Watch Teaser (flv) | Watch Teaser (mp4)

These days there’s a wealth of tutorials online, with new cool looks being demonstrated every day. The temptation for many aspiring motionographers is to include the looks demonstrated in tutorials in their personal reels. If you do so, be aware that many of these are easily recognised, which can give the impression that you are unoriginal, even if you have other original work on your reel. Keep in mind also that if you use it on your reel, there’s a very good chance many others are using it on theirs!

You’re more likely to be taken seriously if you exclude obvious tutorial or preset content from your reel. Thinking motion graphics is cool, doing tutorials and adding them to your reel (with your own text) and expecting to find work isn’t enough. Learn from the tutorials and use the knowledge to cultivate you own voice and style. It will come with dedication and practice. For me, a reel with just a single eye popping demonstration of your style and skill, even if it’s the only thing on the reel will always win over those with tutorial and preset content.

What do you think?