Basic Character Modelling - Cinema 4D.

The Past two Process and Production sessions I have attended with Jay have been an introduction to basic Character Modelling using Cinema 4D. 

Here are a list of instructions that we were given to follow to help guide us through the process of building our characters:

Preparing a scan:

1. Photoshop/ open scan.jpg

2. Image/ adjustments/levels - adjust scan to suite

3. Crop tool/ trim around scan to get rid of waste

4. Drag around front of character/ save for web/ save as "front.jpg"

5. Cmd+Z to undo crop/ Crop again on side view of character

6. Save for web/ save as "side.jpg"

7. Close photoshop

Preparing C4d for Modelling:

1. Open C4d/ Create a plane/ Create a material

2. Material/ Colour/ add an image - "front.jpg"/ add material to plane

3. Change plane size to match image size

4. Change plane axis to -Z/ change segments to 2x2

5. Duplicate plane - Cmd+drag in object list

6. Duplicate material - Cmd+drag in material editor

7. Change image in second material to "side.jpg"

8. Replace material on second plane with new material/ change plane size to fit image

9. Rotate second plane -90 deg

10. Switch views to 4 view

11. Front & side views/ Display/ turn on Gouraud shading with lines

12. Also under display/ turn on wireframe

13. Move both planes so feet touch the ground

14. Arrange planes so they are separated and behind the centre of the grid

15. Name planes front&side/ name materials also

16. Select both planes in object list/ right click/ add to new layer

17. Go to the layer panel (bottom right panel tab)

18. Lock layers so they don't get moved

19. Save file as "start.C4d"

Start Modelling:

1. Create a Sphere/ reduce to fit belly of character

2. Change Display to Gouraud with lines so you can see polygons

3. Front & Side views/ wireframe

4. Select sphere/ Basic/ X-Ray

5. Sphere/ object/ segments = 16

6. Sphere/ Rt Click/ Make editable

7. Polygons edit mode (left hand toolbar)

8. Click & hold on live selection button (top toolbar)/ Rectangle selection tool

9. Attributes window/ Options/ Untick "only select visible elements"

10. Drag around half of sphere/ delete

11. Go to points edit mode/ Rt Click/ Optimize (gets rid of errant points)

12. Delete top, crotch & leg opening polygons/ Optimize again

13. In points mode/ select points & move to shape of scan front & side

14. Create a flow with polygons

15. Go to edges edit mode/ select crotch edges

16. Rt click// Bridge tool/ join crotch/ Rt Click/ Knife tool

17. Click& drag to divide crotch bridge three times

18. Points mode/ side view/ shape crotch

19. Top view/ shape leg hole to make it round-ish

20. Edges mode/ Shift+select leg hole edges

21. Cmd+drag edge to extrude (copy) polygons in any direction

22. Use scale tool to fit leg shape/ use points mode to adjust poly flow

23. Repeat this process to build character shape

24. save regularly

This is where I started with my character before i built her up limb by limb:

    

These are the two final screenshots of my rendered Character:

I really enjoyed using Cinema 4d to create my character, I found it quite difficult at first to get the hang of. However, as the process was quite repetitive, I found that around half way to three quarters of my way through modelling, I was understanding it quite well. For my first attempt, I think it's safe to say it worked out okay. 

2d to 3d Animation using After Effects.

Today we created simple animations using 2d vector images to create a 3d looking animation.

I started off with a flat image of a nice, simple landscape, created in Illustrator.

After importing my assets into After Effects, I made sure that each layer of my asset had a "3D layer" turned on. 

Once all my layers had the 3D effect on them, I added a camera into my composition to pan from the back of the composition to the front, so as the footage plays you can see all the layers appear one by one. 

Another effect that we learnt in this Process and Production session was the "page turn" effect. I decided I wanted this effect of my "mountain" layer. I achieved this by going to Effect and CC Page turner. 

When adding the final touches to my animation I found a texture to make some of my layers more interesting, and I created a little leaf which I animated to fall off the tree. 

Here is my final animation:

Landscape animation from Emma Perrett on Vimeo.