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Logo Animation in CINEMA 4D and After Effects

by Laura Hawk

In this series of CINEMA 4D and After Effects tutorials, we'll be taking a logo from its flat design to a fully-composited 3D logo animation. Software required: Illustrator 2014.0.0, CINEMA 4D Studio R16, After Effects 2014.0.2, Knoll Light Factory, Trapcode Pa.

What you'll learn

In this series of CINEMA 4D and After Effects tutorials, we'll be taking a logo from its flat design to a fully-composited 3D logo animation. We'll begin by learning how to prepare the logo in Illustrator to be imported as splines to CINEMA 4D. Then, we'll add depth, rotation, camera movement, lighting and materials to bring the logo to life. We'll learn how to add some quick variation to the look of the animation with MoGraph and how to use tags to get a quick, easy, and effective camera animation. Once we set up the render in CINEMA 4D, we move on to After Effects, where we'll begin the compositing process. In the After Effects portion of the course, we'll add lens flares that play an important role in the overall look of the animation. We also add particles that help to sell the depth that we established with our camera settings in the 3D application. We finish off by adding a few realistic lens effects that punch up the final look from good, to great. By the end of this CINEMA 4D and After Effects training, you'll know how to take a flat logo and turn it into something amazing. Software required: Illustrator 2014.0.0, CINEMA 4D Studio R16, After Effects 2014.0.2, Knoll Light Factory, Trapcode Pa.

About the author

Laura is a passionate visual effects and motion graphics author at Pluralsight. Ever since her first exposure to After Effects in college, Laura has had an eternal drive to learn more about motion graphics, and teach others what she has discovered. Laura began working at Digital-Tutors (now a Pluralsight company) as a motion graphics artist, creating visually-appealing advertisements and informative art for the site. Throughout her time at Digital-Tutors, Laura contributed greatly to both the ... more

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