Create 3D animation in Cinema 4D

Welcome to the training course on 3D animation with Cinema 4D.

Before we get started, let's look at a few examples of good 3D animation together. In the following tutorials, these examples will be taken up again and again and the animation principles will be explained using the films shown here, among other things.

Here we focus on what is probably the most important animation principle: timing and spacing. This is the basis for all further discussions and, in general, the art of consciously creating movement.

In this part, we will focus on an animation principle that is probably closest to cartoons. "Squash and stretch" has always been one of the most basic rules at Disney, Pixar and co. Its application can bring a lot of life to shapes.

Think about what happens before every movement. That's what it's all about: What is anticipation in animation and how do you do it?

"It's far from over ..." - It's not just Hollywood movies that say this, but also animation. What this means and how the principle of "Follow Through & Overlapping Action" can be applied is the subject of this tutorial.

Whether art analysis or photography - it's always about image composition. In 3D animation, however, this is often neglected. In this chapter, we will create a mini opening credits and pay particular attention to three other principles that can make a very simple action exciting.

In this chapter, we return to our videos from the first movie. This time, however, it is much more analytical and, above all, includes all the knowledge from the previous tutorials.

This is where it all begins. The Cinema 4D timeline is where every thoroughbred animator spends most of their time. For this reason, we are dedicating an entire tutorial to it in this training course.

"Watch your curves" is the most popular slogan in our animation seminars. Because everything in digital animation revolves around these "curves". How to turn them into what you want them to be in Cinema 4D and what tips and tricks there are for doing so are the topics covered here.

Deformers are a very popular tool in Cinema 4D, especially when it comes to secondary action. This film covers what you need to bear in mind when animating with them.

The most delicate temptation since the advent of motion graphics. No, we're not talking about Milka, but about MoGraph, the procedural animation system in Cinema 4D. In this part, we will first get to know the so-called generators.

Now it's getting exciting: effectors make the MoGraph world really exciting and therefore deserve their own chapter. A small card game is used to discuss a few effectors as well as their fallofs.

And what about the Disney Rules? Good question! When it comes to procedural animation, these are often neglected. In this tutorial, I'll tell you a bit about the possibilities of influencing your animation in the MoGraph system.

"All that glitters is not gold." With this truism, we begin the chapter that revolves around the "Dynamics" in C4D. A completely different type of animation that makes many things possible that would otherwise be unthinkable.

When it comes to animating 1,000 objects at once, you usually end up in the realm of the impossible. In this movie, you can find out what particle animation can look like with standard tools.

You could actually devote an entire training course or even more to this topic. However, we will summarize the workflow of a character animation in a film and take a basic look at the steps required from rigging to animation.

Ready? Then get it out! This final chapter is about further processing, whether inside or outside Cinema 4D. A few rendering points will also be discussed, which are particularly important for animations.

Finally: a farewell.