Advertise here via BSA

Creativity is one of those subjects wrapped in shrouds of mystery. How does one “get creative.” How do you go from staring at a blank canvas, a black and empty composition, and then end up with a masterpiece. Everyone has a different take on it, and most people try to boil creativity down into repeatable steps. I’ve heard many variations of 3, 4, 5 or 6 step plans to getting creative:

1. Preparation 2. Incubation 3. Illumination 4. Implementation

1. Observe 2. Reflect 3. Make

1. Inspiration 2. Clarification 3. Evaluation 4. Distillation 5. Incubation 6. Perspiration

I think creativity is quite a bit more ambiguous and mystical than a clever sounding 5 step plan and I also think it will be different for every person. Let me share what works for me:

Find inspiration

Finding inspiration before I start transforming a blank canvas is key. My process usually starts with cruising the internet, taking screencaptures of design or photographs that spark something in me. It could be a color scheme, a font, a background texture etc. I compile all of these into a folder. All of these different inspirations start to focus my mind into a direction I want the piece to go.

Set boundaries

In my opinion, setting boundaries is the key to getting started. The hardest part for me is the first object/element I put onto the blank canvas. Setting boundaries helps you narrow down the infinite possibilities into something that can focus your mind on. Deadlines are one boundary that will force you to get started and do the work. I watched a video recently by Jack White of The White Stripes talking about boundaries. He said this:

“Deadlines and things make you creative, but opportunity and telling yourself “you’ve got all the time in the world, all the money in the world, you’ve all the colors in the palate you want, anything you want” — that just kills creativity.”

Start with one piece of the puzzle

I look at the client, their logo, a font they require, their color pattern, their vibe/mood. These things all set boundaries as well. If I have a certain color palate, then I have a boundary. If they require a font, then I have a boundary. These help me put something into my empty comp. They help me start the process. I find that once I get one element in place, then my mind clicks into the flow and everything else is simply getting lost in creating and filling in the pieces.

Crank up the music and get lost in the flow

Once you get that first element in place and you have started the process, the rest is easy. Your mind is prepped and ready. You have boundaries and direction. At this point I turn up the music and get lost in my mind. Simply enjoying the process of creating. Not really thinking, just enjoying. This is the “flow” that is so coveted and so sought after; A strange phenomenon where you lose track of time and simply enjoy the process.

As for the details of the process, this is my workflow: I create 3-4 style frames for a project. I generally show one style frame for how I will treat a text moment, one frame for how I would treat any video that is in the spot, and one frame for the end slate with client logo and call to action. I create these in After Effects which may or not be unusual. I know a lot of people do them in Photoshop, but I can’t stand doing that. All of the effects and plugins and presets that I have are in After Effects so I feel like I have more options and tools. I also am able to “build” the scene to some degree and then when the concept is approved I don’t have to re-build it. It’s ready to go.

I never, ever turn on the 3D layer button or animate anything. That is a limitation I put on my design phase. Everything is 2D and the layers are simply stacked on top of each other. I do this so I have more creative freedom to grab layers and push them around and try new things quickly. Animating anything or “testing out” a camera move simply takes too much time. The goal is to create a design, not to animate. Once I changed to this mindset I was able to create concepts much quicker. If I’m doing any C4D work I will render out a single frame, bring it into AE, play with it, go back to C4D and make tweaks, then render that frame out again. It makes it incredibly easy to integrate the two programs when you’re just doing one frame and it gives you the ability to try out so many different variations on a design.

Take a coffee break, then come back and look at your creation

When I’m done creating a design I step away. I go for a walk. I go refill my coffee. Then I go back and look at the design. A lot of times you need to step away, even overnight, before you can see what you have created with the perspective of someone seeing it for the first time. Getting others opinions is vital also, since you are so steeped in the design you may be blinded to little details.

And that’s my process for coming up with a design. It works for me. I’ve spent years trying to figure out the way my mind works, the way I get into the “flow” and the way I find inspiration and translate it into unique and powerful design. It most certainly is a process that you will have to figure out yourself.

I’m interested in how you stay creative and what your process is! Please share in the comments!

Advertise here via BSA

I’ve seen alot of people try to learn motion graphics and videography, and I’ve obviously learned it myself in the past. I’ve also seen alot of videos posted on the internet as a result of these learnings. One thing that I’ve noticed is what separates the better videos from the others are the little details in the video.

What do I mean by the little details? Well what I mean are things like, a little bit of easing on those keyframes when the object moves, the composition of the shot, the tightness of the edit, the little bounce as the layer comes into frame or the way a particular shot is lit.

These are the things you develop and learn the more you do motion graphics or make videos, and these are the things your peers will look for when watching your video. Don’t worry about not spotting these straight away, your eye will develop for these things with your experience.

So next time you make that video what should you be looking out for?  Well how about some of the following.

• Composition of the shot
• How shallow or deep your depth of field is
• The lighting
• Tightness of your edit
• Pace of your edit
• The music or sound effects
• Sound Levels
• Easing in your animation
• The timing of your animation (is it too quick or too slow)
• Have you added motion blur (this tends to make things look better when they move)
• The colour scheme
• The typography
• The story

Remember to have a think about all these things when you start and as you work through your next project. Is there anything else you would add to the list?

Advertise here via BSA

Over the course of the last couple months, the motion graphics and animation world has seen a giant influx of new tools for our eager hands and creative minds. Tools such as Cinema 4D R13, the Newton Physics Engine, the ease of stereoscopic 3D with CS5.5, Video Copilot’s Element plug in is on the horizon and that is not including all of the new toys that are sure to come out later this year as well. With all of these tools at our disposal, it can at times be overwhelming as to what tools you need to learn and what you think you need to know to keep your skills sharp. However, we have transitioned to the age of social learning and it is time to engage in the conversation.

Years ago when one wanted to learn new software they had a few options, but when compared to todays methods they are less than desirable. One of the options would have been to go to a bookstore and purchase an expensive book that would be out of date after the next software update. Now don’t get me wrong, I have several reference books at my work desk and my home desk, but there are many books available that are poorly written leaving the good books as hard to find as a needle in the haystack. Before the days of purchasing used books online, new software books could quickly add up in expenses over the course of a year or two.

One of my favorite techniques into learning new software was to just dive right in. The downside of this method, is the ease of quickly developing bad habits. Whether it is 3D modeling, Photoshop or After Effects, once bad habits are formed they can become hard to correct. The worst part about it, is it may take you a long time to realize that they are a bad habit or you may get burned by your own mistakes and pay the cost of long hours for an easy solution.

Over the last few years, there have been a steady growth in tutorial sites both free and subscription based. Tutorials, like books, go at the pace of the teacher and not the student. These sites can be very overwhelming if you are not around the same level of understanding of the software as the teacher. This dilemma alone can add more anxiety to the user trying to learn the software.

Enter the social learning world, an entity that has offered users the broadest range of knowledge ever. Conferences and user groups are great ways to learn software and creative processes. The presenters at these outlets can provide valuable insight on their learning experiences, key settings, possible pitfalls, and also more efficient work flows. These events also provide attendees the chance to talk shop afterwords and also build their network and learn of potentially new jobs or career paths. These types of events can prove to be very useful in a young artists career, and maybe help a seasoned veteran turn over a new leaf.

If user groups are unavailable in your area, another method to learning software is to learn with a friend. You can both learn the same software or each choose a different piece of software. By choosing the same software, you can discuss each of your own ways to do things, settings you find and also potential pitfalls. If you each choose different software, after getting a good grasp of that software you can then start to learn things of the other persons chosen software. Again this provides the opportunity to share workflow, settings and potential pitfalls.

However, not everyone has access to these creative sessions. Everyone may not have an industry counter-part that they can learn software together. So are you out of luck on learning socially? Of course not. Everyday these learning experiences are readily available at a multitude of different social platforms. The key to these platforms is clear communication.

Message boards have been around since the dawn of the internet, and they have evolved into communities where people can learn from one another and share their work and get feedback. I personally hang out on message boards when I can and help give back to artists as much as I can. I receive help for work in C4D but I try to help out the AE users. Message boards provide you the chance to learn from many different sources at once. The pitfall of this method however, is someone can’t come to your computer and check out what you have going on. So you have to be very clear with your issue and potentially post some screenshots or working files. If you are unclear about your issue, you may not receive any help.

Facebook and twitter allow users a unique blend of social learning. With their popularity, facebook and twitter may surpass message boards. Facebook allows people to create their own pages where they can post tutorials, tutorials they find useful, start discussions, chat and don’t require you to create a login identity. Facebook also allows you to get updates on your home screen.

Twitter provides unique abilities compared to the other networks, and I also think may be the most under utilized. Twitter is more like a hybrid between message boards and facebook. Users are allowed to get updates, and tweet problems that they may be having. The downfall is the 140 character limit, this clearly puts a restraint on how clear you can be with your issues. Twitter seems to be more of a notification center, allowing community leaders to post links to their tutorials and followers to re-tweet them. This also applies to inspirational works and new product releases.

This may seem like a ton of information, and you may feel the urge to sign up for several message board accounts and multiple social media platforms. However, I would recommend finding the way that fits your learning style and then expanding on that. With the motion industry continuing to expand, we will constantly have new things to learn and add to our arsenal. If you decide to pick up a new piece of software and learn, make sure you commit to it. Set aside a consistent amount of time to learn, and share this knowledge with others, as in most cases they will do the same.

There is no need to make learning software hard, have fun with it and use learning new software as an excuse to meet new artists and to expand your network.

Advertise here via BSA

Something that goes overlooked quite often while on the hunt to be the best, most relevant person in your field is the time to step away from work for a bit and regain your life. I’m coming off a two month freelance hiatus and I’ve got to tell you how unbelievably refreshing it is to come back with a new found passion to do good work.

That seems like something a lot of us do to ourselves while on the grind to produce, produce, produce. I’ll speak from my personal experiences and assume that all, if not most of you, are the same way. Almost above all else we love what we do more than anything. The fact that none of us have to work a 9-5 doing data entry or waiting tables makes us very thankful and in love with what we do to make a living. I believe it is that fact that most of the time I will unknowingly give up basically anything and everything I’ve got going on to make sure that this privilege continues to pay out.

For a long time I had no idea how to correctly balance and make sure that work life and personal life supported each other and did not cannibalize each other. The great thing about graduating from Full Sail University is that if the school is good for one thing it is making you great at what you do while programming you to produce under any circumstance over everything else you may have going on. Which is also the worst thing about graduating from Full Sail University. I’m sure we’ve all sacrificed our personal lives in pursuit of that next great project or to finish up that insane deadline. How many of us have let work become all we do and think about? Personally, I have missed out on great moments with my friends and family in the name of “getting this done” and with the intention of “when this pays out things will be better”.

There is nothing more important in your life than friends and family and the moments you get to spend with them each and every day. You have to take time and find that balance of work and life and make sure that each gets the proper time it requires. Not to say that you shouldn’t ever work till 3am on a project that has to get done, but rather that if there is a time when that happens make sure you counteract that time spent another day and go for a bike ride on the beach or spend time with people you care about. What good is spending all the time learning our craft and creating the things we do if we’ve alienated ourselves from the people we want to share our work with most?

With all that I simply suggest to examine all that you’ve got going on and make sure everything is in balance. The worst thing in the world was getting burnt out and seeing how much I’ve removed myself from my friends and family. Take the visualization of balancing a pencil on your fingertip. One end is work, the other is personal life. You could put your finger in the exact center and the pencil would stay there balanced. However the Holidays are coming around and now there is more weight on the personal side of the pencil, so you have to move your finger closer and closer to that side to make sure the pencil does not topple over. Then the Holidays end and you’ve got multiple projects knocking down your door, now move your finger closer to the work side. The real trick is simply feeling out who needs what and keeping an even keel of everything. You don’t want to end up where I was to find you were wasting away in front of a couple of monitors and interacting with friends and family on Facebook alone.

Go take a break. Go hug someone you love more than anything and make sure they know. For crap sake, call your mother I know she’s worried. Get away and make sure the real people in your life come first. Balance.

Be good.
Timmy.

Advertise here via BSA

The Problem We Face

This is the time of year, especially at my office, when things start to get out of control. Projects gather together and pile up into a huge wave, cresting, boiling and ready to crash down with violence. I can already feel myself squirming, hunkering down, ready for the impact. The work at my office, along with my personal side projects, is starting to feel very overwhelming. Sometimes it’s interesting to take a step back and take a look at how you are doing your job. I’ve done that recently, inspired by an e-book I read called “Focus,” by Leo Babauta. It’s tagline is: “A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction.” It’s a free book, and I would definitely recommend everyone read it.

I’ve realized lately that my biggest stress is the fact that I am torn in so many different directions. And not on a large month to month, project to project scale. I’m talking about a minute by minute, second by second scale. Everything is screaming for my attention: Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, 7 different e-mail addresses, skype, music, forums, blogs, keeping up on blog comments, news, industry updates, new plugins, videos, inspirational sites, new techniques, job requirements, personal projects, side gigs, and heck, youtube and vimeo and ESPN.com. This is a very real problem we all face today. One second we’re working, the next second we click the twitter tab, or our RSS feed growls at us. Then we follow a link which leads to an image, which leads to an idea, which leads to a google search and pretty soon we’re watching a youtube video about an elephant painting with his trunk in Thailand. Is that for real?

“Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” - Pablo Picasso

One of the main concepts that Leo talks about is that humans are not created to multi-task. We are designed for focus. One task at a time. Recent studies have proved that the multi-tasking culture that we worship in our day and age actually is extremely unproductive and leads to wasted time and a constant, nagging stress. I want to share some tips that I have been implementing that have really helped me out. Not just in a “I think this is working” way, but in a dramatic “Holy dang, I just completely zoned in and now that project is done” type of way. If you feel like you’re in the same boat as me, try these things:

1. Internet Blocking Software.

At first, I always said that I didn’t need this. I’m stronger than this. But recently I tried it. I downloaded “Self Control” which is a free Mac app that lets you select items to blacklist, such as websites you frequent and e-mail servers. Then you simply pull the slider to how long you want these sites/features to be inactive, and hit “Start.” For that amount of time, you will be completely unable to access those sites or servers. This is a HUGE deal. I usually do it in 30 minute increments. I focus my mind, hit “Start” and crank away. At the end of 30 minutes I reward myself by spending a bit of time checking twitter or any new e-mails. It is unbelievable how productive I am during those 30 minutes compared to when “Self-Control” is off. That nagging temptation to become distracted is literally rendered powerless. Here are some more apps/add-ons that do the same thing. If you run Windows I’m sure there are plenty of options for you as well, including the browser extensions.

Mac:

Freedom: Disables your internet connection for a time period set by you.

Concentrate [much like the Freedom app.]

Megazoome: Allows you to put almost any Mac program into full-screen mode so you are not distracted by other things.

Think: A utility that fades out everything but the app you’re working on.

Browser Extensions:

LeechBlock (Firefox): Pick what sites you want to block in Firefox and for how long.

StayFocusd (Chrome): Choose sites to block.

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – unknown

2. Capture Your Thoughts

The other thing I have been doing recently is capturing my thoughts. Your brain is always in motion, processing in the background, but it can only hold so much information without becoming overloaded and confused. Your brain is basically like RAM. So what you need to do is unload your thoughts whenever possible, and compile them in an organized way so you can come back to those notes later, and in the meantime free up your brain to not worry about them. If you capture your thoughts, you take the pressure off your brain to keep remembering that thing. Very strange concept, but very true! Find a system so that you’re ready when your brain spits out things like a creative idea, a script idea, a site you want to come back to, a tutorial to watch later, a business idea or design idea. Write it down, then get back to work.

Here are some websites you can use to capture these things:

Springpadit: SpringPad is a site to make notes that you can access from anywhere. It’s incredibly powerful, you can save images (design ideas perhaps), notes, addresses, websites etc. and put them all into categories.

Evernote: Evernote is very similar to SpringPad, with all of the same capabilities, but a different interface.

Tadalist: Tadalist is made by 37 Signals, the makers of Basecamp. Tadalist is a website to make simple to-do lists which you can access from anywhere, and check off when complete. For me, making daily to-do lists takes a huge load off my mind, and really focuses me on what I need to accomplish

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupe

3. Simplify

Let go of things that are not necessary. Take some blogs off your feed, cancel some e-mail lists, maybe quit one of your 7 social media outlets, stop checking your e-mail except for 2 or 3 times a day, unsubscribe to people on twitter, stop watching the news or a TV show you can do without. Simplifying will let you focus.

Those are three things I have been doing that have really helped. I hope you read “Focus” and start to really think about how you can become more productive and less stressed.

Let me know if you have any other ideas for managing this crazy life we all live!

Advertise here via BSA

Happy day to you all!

I’ve got something I need to get off my chest. As a pretty avid Cinema4D user, there are certain tools and procedures that should be second nature to anyone who calls themselves a creator inside of C4D. With that said, I have just recently figured out a tool I wish I had known more about long before now, and that tool, my friends, is the Layer Browser!

I know, I know, I’m dumb. “Tim! How have you never used the layer browser before now?!” Honestly, I have no friggin’ idea how I’ve never used it before! To me, it’s such a game changer! So I understand that I may be the only person on the planet that doesn’t use this tool, but just in case there are a few people like me, this post is just for you!

I didn’t formally learn C4D. I had a few great designers in my life that told me this was an application I had to get into and use, so I did. So I jumped in and tried my hardest to just press buttons and find out for myself what everything did to the best of my ability. Learning that way is tough because you’re not always sure what you should be looking for. I assumed the closest thing to layers I was going to get was the objects window. I’ve even used the “Add to Layer” button to help use color to see different groups of objects in the objects window. Never realizing that I was organizing objects inside this great tool that would be super helpful, if I only knew about it!

All that to say, here’s a brief overview of how this little gem works. When you’ve got a ton of objects inside of your objects window you can assign the objects to specific layers. You do this by clicking the grey circle next to the object’s name in the object window.

You’ve got the choice to now put that object into a new layer, or put it into an existing one. After you’ve added a number of objects to your project, and your viewer starts to get a bit cluttered, you can sort your objects into different layers then use the layer browser to do a number of things that’ll help you get around your viewer and to your objects a bit easier. As you can see here I’ve just added two cones, two spheres, and two cubes to my project. Each shape has gone into its own layer.

Now, using the layer browser I can click on any one of those icons next to the layer name to get to that group of objects in my viewer easier for modeling or animating.

Here are what each of those letters mean inside of the layer browser:

• S – Solo. This will hide all other layers but this one.
• V – Visibility. Think of this one as Hide/Unhide inside the viewer.
• R – Render. This is the same as visibility, just hides/unhides inside the render.
• M – Managers. This will hide/unhide inside the different manager windows.
• L – Lock. Pretty self explanatory. Locks/unlocks the layers to prevent changes.
• A – Animation. This will freeze the layer inside its animation based on the frame you toggled the button.
• G – Generator. This will enable/disable the generators (arrays, hyperNURBS, etc).
• D – Deformer. This enables/disables the deformers on the object.
• E – Expressions. This will enable/disable the expressions put onto the objects.

And that’s it! Nothing really groundbreaking or revolutionary here, just one of those pivotal things that I missed that I’ve now got a hold of, and I’ll never not use it again! For those of you that don’t use it, I encourage you to at least try it. And for those of you who have used it, I’m sorry for not knowing sooner. But I know now, and knowing is half the battle. GI…

Be good.
Timmy.

Advertise here via BSA

If you are fresh bait in any video related field–whether you are shooting film with a DSLR for fun, rendering your motion graphics video final out for a client, or making a YouTube video explaining how much you love cats–there is always a giant road block in the way known as encoding. This process is never fully exposed information, and I have personally struggled with mastering it. I’m in not going to get to crazy with this, but I will present to you a beginners guide to encoding.

So, let’s talk about what a codec is and what the hell encoding/transcoding/decoding even is to begin with. Your computer cannot easily play back a hundred thousand jpg’s at 30 frames per second with audio just so you can watch the new season of Say Yes to the Dress. So, some very smart people came up with a way to get the file size down to a manageable size and provide a little capsule they could tuck it all in. These capsules are called “wrappers” and the method of coding and compressing/decompressing the video is called the “codec”. For example, you can have a .MOV file wrapper with an h.264 encoding. The wrapper is important for your end use goal, but often times your codec is just as important.

Here are a couple beginner options for encoding to some useful formats. I know that, natively, After Effects will encode to about everything and all compositions can be sent to Adobe Media Encoder, but often times a quicker route would be to render an uncompressed video from After Effects and pass it through these cheap software choices for your final deliverable.

Quicktime (Windows/Mac): http://www.apple.com/quicktime/extending/

Now we are not talking about the super stripped down Quicktime X (someone explain that mess to me), we are talking the actually useful Quicktime 7 Pro. It comes at a great price point of $29.99 and its extremely easy to pump out “.MOV” files. It does a fantastic job at encoding them. I render out quite a few h.264 files in a “.MOV” wrapper and they always seem to be smaller file size and look cleaner than other options.

Media Encoder (Windows/Mac): http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/quickstart/video_encoder.html

If you have Adobe Suite installed on your system, then you have Adobe Media Encoder hiding some where with it. This nifty little tool is expansive and expanding with each new CS update. Harry Frank of GreyMachine offers a great little tutorial on working with it, and its deep integration with Premiere and After Effects (http://www.graymachine.com/2011/03/rendering-ae-projects-with-adobe-media-encoder/)

SUPER (Windows): http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

SUPER is quite a gem of a program. While looking like your grandmother designed their site and user interface, if she programmed this handy application too, she deserves some serious internet cred. I have often times needed to output some sort of terrible .AVI file and I have found this program to be quite efficient at getting the work done.

So, you have learned a bit, rendered a bit, drank a bit because encoding can be frustrating, and you have your final files ready for the client to review before they ask you to change everything in the next round of revisions. Drink a bit more, and check out these quick tutorials on the best encoding for popular video hosting sites so you can show off your work…

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/help/compression

Youtube: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=16612

Chime in if you guys know anything else, or if missed or messed anything up. After all I am still learning this whole process myself. Thanks!

Advertise here via BSA

Tags in Maxon Cinema 4D are a very useful and much needed aspect to creating awesome 3d renders, but can be confusing, especially to the new C4D user. In this series of Quick Tips, we’ll go through each of the tags from top to bottom and explain what they do and what they can be used for.

Align To Spline

Align to Spline will, simply enough, align your object to any spline you have created so it can move from point A to point B. There are many splines to choose from including circle, square, bezier and even freehand (which, technically, make it an infinite amount of splines). This tag comes in handy for objects that are required to follow a path, but also gives you the versatility of keyframing.

Let’s take a look at a short video explaining this tag.

[Update]

I forgot to mention, you can make the Align to Spline tag act like the Align to Path tag by selecting the Tangential box in the Attributes manager. When you do this, your object will follow you spline just as it did with the Align to Path tag.

View the Entire Series:

• Quick Tip: Cinema 4D Tags – Align to Path
• Quick Tip: Cinema 4D Tags – Align to Spline

Advertise here via BSA

There comes a time when you’re either ready to hand  a project off to another artist or ready to tidy it up before storing it in the archives. Knowing the best way to compile and prepare your project is extremely important. It might not be exciting and sexy, but it’s one of the most vital steps when wiping your hands of a project.

After Effects

If you’re in After Effects  you go to “File” and then click “Collect Files.” This gathers all of the assets that you’ve used in your After Effects project into a single location on your hard drive.

When you’re done with a project, or handing it off to another artist, this is a great way to organize everything into one folder.

The other option you have is “Reduce Project.” You can highlight any comps that you would like to preserve, and then click “File” and then “Reduce Project.” This will delete every single asset that is NOT used in the highlighted comps.

If there are only certain comps you want to maintain, this is a good way to tidy up the project. Be careful though, because whatever is not highlighted will be gone for good!

Cinema 4D

Cinema can easily archive projects, just like After Effects, but you need to know where to look.

When you make a new texture in C4D, and load an image, hdri or video into it, a pop up will ask you if you want to create a copy of the image in the document location. I have the habit of clicking no, because I don’t really need Cinema to make more copies and take up extra space on my drive while I’m working. A lot of times I will experiment with a texture and decide not to use it and would rather not clutter up my drives with duplicate images.

When you’re handing a project to another artist, or archiving it, however, gathering all these textures into one folder is essential. If you click “File,” there are a bunch of options you can save with: “Save,” “Save As,” “Save Incremental,” “Save All” and “Save Project.”

If you click the bottom option, “Save Project,” a pop-up will allow you to decide the name of your folder and where it goes.

After saving it to your hard drive, if you navigate to that folder, you will see that Cinema made a .c4d project file and a folder called “tex.” Open the “tex” folder and you will see all of the textures you used in the project. They are all compiled and ready to go.

If you’re archiving, remember to “Save Project” and you will save yourself a lot of headaches later!

Archive Correctly or Pay the Price

We all know that projects do not often die natural deaths but have the nasty habit of resurrecting themselves for updates or for a new version. Proper archival will make this inevitable process much smoother.

Advertise here via BSA

Tags in Maxon Cinema 4D are a very useful and much needed aspect to creating awesome 3d renders, but can be confusing, especially to the new C4D user. In this series of Quick Tips, we’ll go through each of the tags from top to bottom and explain what they do and what they can be used for.

Align To Path

Align to Path will, simply enough, align your object so that the Z axis faces the path of travel on the animation path you have created for that object. This comes in handy for objects that require to have their front pointing in the direction they are traveling such as cars and insects. When used correctly, it will give your animation a smoother, more realistic motion with no (or very little) keyframing from you.

In order to add the Align to Path tag (or any other tag for that matter) to your object, right click on the object you want it to be applied to and select it from the popup menu under Cinema 4D Tags. You can also select it from the Tags menu in the Object window. Once it’s attached, you should immediately notice your object snap into position.

From there all you have to do is animate some position keyframes for your object. Let’s take a look at an example of this tag in action below.

In this example, we see the object is not alignment with the animation path because nothing changes except the objects position as it follows the path. It’s not very realistic motion for most objects; the square just moves from point A (the beginning) to point B (the top) to point C (the end).

Here we see the object is in alignment with the animation path because its “front” (the Z axis) is following the path. It’s a much more realistic and interesting motion, and this was created by only keyframing a beginning, middle and end position animation point; everything else was handled by the Align to Path tag.

Next time you are thinking about creating an object in Cinema 4D that follows a motion path, you might want to consider giving Align to Path a shot.

Update

I’ve uploaded a short tutorial for you to watch explaining the Align to Path tag. I apologize about the quick setup and lower audio quality. I put it together quickly today. Any future videos will be at a higher quality. Enjoy.

View the Entire Series:

• Quick Tip: Cinema 4D Tags – Align to Path
• Quick Tip: Cinema 4D Tags – Align to Spline

Advertise here via BSA

I will be speaking solely to Cinema 4D users, but there is a similar tool in every single 3D application for use, so some of this should translate over.

xRefs in Cinema 4D are an extremely handy tool when doing production work. They allow an external C4D project file to be referenced in the scene reducing clutter of large scene files and allowing the user to edit individual “objects” with out having to dig around. The xRef  ”object” can be found alongside the primitives panel or in Object>Scene>xRef in Cinema 4D. Once you select the xRef object you have to choose what .C4D file to reference in the Attributes Manager.

Their best usage bears fruit when you are dealing with a finicky client or an ever changing product launch. It gives you a work flow that allows animation to be finalized on huge projects that battle with last minute changes. The ability to swap out colors, materials, and even the actual object becomes possible. This way you are not re-animating whole sequences, you simply swap/or update the xRef and replace with the new file.

Swapping out the reference isn’t where xRefs depth ends. xRefs are able to be modified to include or exclude all of the referenced object’s internal parts which can quickly become complex, referencing different parts of a single file to rebuild, rig and animate. For example, designing and modeling a “machine” in a single file then referencing the different parts and animating in a new scene would make it easier to go back and change details, materials, textures, etc on the machine and keep all parts animated. This along with importing animation give you a wide range of tools that you can use in all of your projects.

Consider using xRefs next project, they are not the end all tool, but they could end up being extremely valuable.

Advertise here via BSA

If one thing can be said about Adobe Kuler it’s that it has made colors cool again, if they ever were out of style. Forget the old days of using your paper color wheel to find your complimentary, triadic, split complimentary and tetradic colors; with Kuler, you can do it all online, without taking your eyes off your computer and to a greater degree than ever before. While Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign users had the ability to use Kuler within their programs from the start, After Effects users were left in the dark as to how to implement this great asset within their program of choice. Well, thanks to the hard work of a few people, it’s now possible.

Adobe Kuler, for those who don’t know, gives anyone and everyone a place to easily create color schemes and share them amongst the Kuler community. Your color schemes can easily follow analogous, monochromatic, triadic, complementary, compound or shade relationships, or you can go out on your own and create your own custom color relationships. If you are working with an image, Kuler also lets you upload and match the colors using a few settings: colorful, bright, muted, deep, dark and custom. Yes, it is that easy and brilliant to use.

To make things easier, Adobe has even created a desktop application that you can download for free that allows you to see what the Kuler community is offering by searching for the highest rated, most popular or random color schemes, or by choosing from a list of your favorites. It also allows you to save the color scheme for use easy use in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign. It doesn’t allow you to create your own colors (for that, you have to visit the website), but it does allow you to do one important thing–download a color swatch file–and this is one of the most important factors for using Kuler in After Effects.

That said, let’s see the ways we can actually use Kuler within Adobe After Effects.

Cut & Paste Method

This is the simplest idea and forgoes all of the (slightly) confusing steps of copying of swatch files, creating presets, downloading special files and so on (which we’ll see in a minute). It is simply achieved by taking a screen capture of the Adobe Kuler file, importing the image into After Effects and using it on its own layer so you can easily select the color you want with they eyedropper tool. For more information on this, watch Maltaannon’s tutorial which comes up later in this article.

Swatch You Want

After you install this free preset created by Jeff Almasol, Swatch You Want allows you to select a downloaded .ase file and opens it in a small window for you to easily select colors you want. Really basic and really easy to use.

Chameleon

An upgrade from the previous preset, Chameleon is a “pay what you want” script created by Mathias Möhl that allows you to not only use .ase files within After Effects but swatch values as well. In addition, it gives you a few handy options to make linking colors to different layers a bit easier.

Kuler Preset

Jorrit Schulte over at Aetuts+ has another option for you if you want to forgo using these other plugins and just create one yourself. It’s a little bit of setup initially, but the outcome is definitely worth the work for a simple Kuler preset.

The Maltaannon Method

Jerzy Drozda Jr has a great option for all of us After Effects users who don’t want to do any of the above methods. In fact, his method only has you download a simple project file that you can use as the base of your project–just paste in your favorite Adobe Kuler swatch value and it does the rest giving you a layer containing your colors. It really is that simple and easy to use!

Any of these methods will have you easily enjoying Kuler color schemes in your projects; most of them in no time flat. All of them you can use for free, but keep in mind that people put a lot of hard work and effort into these files. Pay them back accordingly if they ask for it, because they are the ones that are allowing you to finally make your After Effects colors a little bit Kuler.

Advertise here via BSA

We all want the latest and greatest equipment, and I know we all dream of owning really expensive equipment–we’d all love a Red One Camera, the latest version of Cinema 4D or the latest iMac or Mac Pro–but with prices going up in general, budgets being squeezed or if your just starting out in the industry and haven’t got a lot of money to spend, why not consider buying second hand or refurbished items. I know we all get excited when Adobe or Apple announce their next product or some great new feature but do you need that feature? Will it speed up your workflow? Will the benefits outweigh the cost?

At the end of the day, the items we use are just tools to help us to create; older equipment still works well the majority of the time, but sometimes it just takes a little longer to do things. Also, just because you have the most expensive equipment or the latest software doesn’t mean that it’s automatically going to make you great. Our industry is as much about craft and skill as it is about having the newest or best equipment.

Let’s take a look at some of the options we have for getting or buying used or refurbished equipment.

Software

When it comes to software, I think we all get excited when we hear new features announced in the latest upgrade, but, as we’ve discussed previously, we don’t always need that latest feature. If we’re on a budget why not consider buying a previous version of the software and saving yourself a few bucks. You can usually pick up the previous version of the software at a significant reduction of the latest version, and, for the most part, this previous version will do the majority of what the newer version does. You just need to ask yourself if you need that latest feature. Good places to find software bargains include:

• eBay
• Amazon
• Toolfarm (This quite often has deals on on various software)

Hardware

The same goes with hardware. Do you really need that brand new Mac that Apple announced last week? Most computers bought in the past few years will be capable of running either the latest software or, at least, a version not too far away from it. As long as you factor in the slower rendering time on these machines you’ll be fine.

Sometimes larger companies (who can afford to upgrade the equipment more often) will sell their older equipment which isn’t even that old–sometimes only a couple of years old–which means you can grab a bargain if you find a place doing that.

Some hardware manufacturers also have refurbished departments or sections on their online store where you can buy refurbished computers or peripherals at a reduction from the new price, and the equipment is pretty much as new. So, next time your going to purchase a new piece of hardware, have a look to see if the manufacturer has a refurbished store.

Some places to look for used or refurbished hardware include:

• eBay
• Craigslist
• Apple Refurbished Store
• DELL Outlet

Equipment

Some of the things we discussed for hardware are very much true for normal equipment too such as cameras, lighting and so on. Instead of buying brand new, try and pick up equipment second hand. As long as it’s been kept in good condition by the previous owner you’ll get a number of years out of your equipment. You can probably get twice as much kit for your money if you buy most of your kit second hand. Even if you buy slightly more inexpensive equipment brand new, this can still give you very professional results. Again, as with hardware, try and look for film or media companies upgrading their equipment, you might be able to get some pretty decent equipment for a small amount.

Good places to find second hand equipment can be:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Craiglist
• Gumtree
• B & H Photo Used Page

Even if you aren’t buying used or refurbished, make sure you check out price comparison sites like Price Grabber and New Egg to make sure you’re getting the best deals, and shop around to make sure you get the best price.

Where do you get your equipment bargains from ? (That is if you want to reveal your trade secrets!)

Advertise here via BSA

In my previous article, I went into details on Surface Normals, which should of described what exactly they are and how they are calculated in 3D programs. If you have yet to read it you might want to, because it will help understand this article on Normal Maps.

Normal mapping is an interesting technique to faking detail on (usually) low(er)-res polygonal models. Which can be quite useful for video games, but is just as powerful a tool for motion graphics artists in achieving effects or high resolution details with out hogging all computer resources using high polygon counts. Considering freelance motion graphics artists tend to be a one man, one machine team it can be a great technique to pulling off interesting styles or complex details.

This technique uses a bit-map image containing all 3 channels of color (Red, Green, Blue or RGB) to plot the angle of the normals on a polygon. It does not add geometry or deform the polygon in any such way, deforming a polygon would require a Displacement map.

Displacement maps can cause long renders, but do add a greater level of detail and realism. Bump maps are actually the same exact concept as normal maps, the key difference is bump maps require a grey scale image and force the computer to calculate the normal information when you render. This makes normal maps the most efficient computationally but slightly larger in file size (3 channels of data or RGB, as opposed to greyscale images). These are small concerns with modern processors and inexpensive larger storage, but can make a huge difference in massive scenes or complex environments and should not be overlooked as a valuable tool.

There are quite a few ways to build normal maps in about any 3D application. Programs like Z-Brush or Mudbox are actually built specifically to render high-resolution normal maps for low-resolution polygon models. Toss them into your favorite program and go crazy on the details with no worry of render times.

Advertise here via BSA

In my job, I’ve been supplied a lot of footage of varying quality. Certainly, when I was at university, there were mistakes that we all made when getting to use the camera for the first time. Today, I’m going to talk a little bit about how to get the quality of your shots higher when you first get chance to play with a semi-pro or pro level camera such as a HDSLR or even something like a Sony Z1. I’m going to talk about things such as white balance, focusing and audio levels but using them in manual mode rather than leaving them on automatic.

White Balance

One mistake that I made and I have seen on some lower quality footage is leaving the white balance on automatic rather than setting a manual white balance. What happens, sometimes, is you’re doing a pan and the colour of the white changes from a blue-ish white to a orange-ish white. By leaving it on automatic, what happens is half way through the shot you get a massive colour shift resulting in a very amateur looking shot. Leaving it on automatic may also spoil the white balance on a static shot by choosing the wrong white because of different temperature of white.

What you should do is set your camera to manual white balance. What options you get will depend on the make and model of your camera, but you will either be able to choose from a preset range of colour temperatures for white, or some may have a button you can push to assess the white in the shot and try to match it.  Ideally, you should use a white or grey card for this, but at a push you can actually get by using a sheet of white paper.

So, remember next time, check your white balance before you shoot.

Focusing

Focusing is another thing like white balance that can spoil your shot or make your shot look amateurish. Ideally, you should put your camera into manual focus mode, zoom all the way in or even use the focus assist button to focus on whatever is the main thing in your shot, then leave it in manual focus mode. That way, you can be sure that if something moves or changes in the shot, the camera doesn’t try and be too clever and focus on something in your scene that you don’t want it to, therefore spoiling your shot.  Putting your camera in manual focus mode is applicable to most type of shots, whether they’re static or a tracking shot. The only exception to this rule can be if you are doing hand held documentary or reality type filming where it is impractical having to manual focus all the time.

So, remember next time you shoot, before you hit record, have you checked your focus?

Audio

Another amateur mistake is getting bad audio. If you use the inbuilt mic in your camera, you’re probably going to get pretty bad audio. Not only are these mics usually fairly poor quality, the pattern is usually very omni-directional which means it’s captures alot of background noises.  If you can, you should get something like a lapel mic or a shotgun mic which are more directional and will get clearer audio than the in built mic.  As well as using a directional mic, if your camera allows, you should also switch your camera audio input monitoring to manual, that way you can get to levels with out them being too quiet or too loud. Using the automatic level on your input can sometimes result in the audio level varying wildly or lots of hiss and background noise as the automatic gain tries to compensate for the low audio level.

A lot of HDSLR’s lack either manual controls altogether or are very fiddly to control. One way around this is to use a standalone audio recorder to record the audio and then sync them up in the edit.

So, remember, as with white balance and focusing, you should remember to check your audio levels.

Hopefully these are some good tips if you’re picking up a camera for the first time or you are in education and trying these things out for the first time. There’s a lot more to learn about these three things and more, but these should at least help you on your way.