Maxon has announced the hot new version of Cinema 4D. Read MILG6-7 host Tim Clapham’s review.

Over the coming months I’ll be showcasing graphics created using After Effects, Cinema 4D and a variety of plug-ins, by the team, some original and others influenced by existing spots.

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With a Stars theme, the campaign includes a competition to win a trip for 2 to Cannes Film Festival. Given the theme, I suggested we use the tagline “follow the stars”. This has the dual meaning of following the logo stars throughout the promo (which represent FBO), and mingling with movie stars on the red carpet in Cannes.

The background is a combination of a C4D Floor object – lit using a large softbox from Greyscale Gorilla’s excellent HDR lighting kit, and Background object with a gradient texture from black to dark orange. The stars in the sky were created using a Star spline, the MoGraph Cloner Object and Random Effector, with a Plain Effector (-1 Scale,with Falloff) to clear stars away from the text and logos.

The extruded stars were created using MoGraph Spline Wrap. This was far more flexible than a using a Sweep Nurb along a spline, and allowed me to animate the Offset of the Star extrude rather than simply the Start and End points. Thanks to Tim Clapham for his expert guidance here. The particle trail is a Particle Emitter linked to the Spline Wrap Offset value using Set Driver/Driven and was set-up by Michael Tan, who assisted me with this project.

After Effects CS5 Rotobrush was used to do some quick roto work where the stars fly behind people. The shots aren’t perfect but with this tool I wouldn’t have even bothered given the tight deadline. The final project included 5 x 30 second spots and 2 x 60 seconds spots. The following example movies include the fully graphic 30 and a selection of shots from the other spots, and the fully graphic 30 with final audio mix.

Watch movie

Watch movie (final audio mix)

Australian’s interested in buying or upgrading Cinema 4D this winter can get a sweet deal.

Follow along with Cinema 4D artist Grischa Theissen as he guides you through techniques for modelling and texturing a realistic iPod Nano. This tutorial is excellent for anyone starting out with modelling in Cinema 4D and includes key skills.

Main areas covered include: Using guide images, working with splines, Extrude Nurbs, Loft Nurbs, The Bend Deformer, The Boole Object and using multiple objects in a Boole, The Cloner Object, The Axis tool.

Total running time: 59 minutes   Watch Preview

Minimum Requirements: Cinema 4D R11. MoGraph is recommended for data connector object. After Effects CS4 is required to open the menu template project. A basic understanding of the Cinema 4D interface is also recommended but not required. The iPod menu setup is included as an After Effects project.

About your Host: Grischa Theissen is currently working as a Motion Designer in Sydney, Australia for various channels including Nickelodeon and Lifestyle. His skill set includes Motion Graphics, Compositing and 3d Animation, screenplay writing, directing and producing.

Robert Leger has a walkthrough of the voxel effect in Cinema 4D, made popular by the recent Pixel spot.

Cybergooch has a great visual reference of the noise options available in Cinema 4D.

Alexander over at amateurmedia.net has another hot tutorial. This time showing us how to replicate the Iron Man 2 look in Cinema 4D.

Video and audio

The video content includes a selection of 5 Artbeats HD clips (and 5 low resolution versions) and 35 Maxon custom clips. The audio content includes a 22 audio loops and 20 instrumental tracks ranging from Disco to News.

The rest of the content is installed using your product serial number and becomes available from within the Cinema 4D Content Browser

3D Objects

There is also a wide range of 3D objects. A number of them such as the video wall allow you to replace the stand-in image with your own content.

Presets

Broadcast Elements

There are 10 sets of broadcast elements including lower thirds and OTS (over-the-shoulder) graphics, with detailed User Data, allowing you to quickly customise the look to your needs.

Scenes

There are 6 complete, text-based opening titles with a heavy emphasis on MoGraph.

Tools

There is a range of mostly Xpresso-based presets, many of which were previously available as part of the CS Tools created by Chris Smith.

Resources

2D Elements

The 2D resources include cityscapes, silhouettes and a range of flourishes with User Data for quick animation.

Cameras

There are 8 camera setups including the handy CS Action Cam and CS Docu Cam.

Example Scenes

There are 8 detailed MoGraph-based example scenes.

You can see rendered versions of these scenes on Maxon’s site.

Images

There is a large range of both abstract and real-world images including volumetric light, grunge, rust and smoke.

Lights

There are 7 CS light setups.

Materials

There is a huge range of materials including Effects, Glossy, Multi-color, Natural and Toony.

Okay, so now you know what’s in the kit. If you work in broadcast and use Cinema 4D, this kit is worth it, just the 3D objects are probably worth the price of the kit by themselves. For more information and to order visit Maxon.net.

KD Video has a free Cinema 4D file of Euro falling into a glass.

Greyscale Gorilla has released a stunning new lighting kit for Cinema 4D.

A handy checklist of the top 4 things users do wrong when rendering in Cinema 4D.