#29 Modeling An Asteroid In Cinema 4D

As always, there are at least 2 ways to go about doing this. One way is modeling it polygon by polygon, but that’s kind of a stretch, so we will be using an easier way, in accordance with the tradition of this blog.

Start off with a sphere, and make it editable(of course after you have set the subdivision count). Create a new material, so we can start working with this.

For the color, you should ask yourself what does an asteroids color look like? I don’t really know, but I can imagine it depends on where it came from, but I use the standard mud/rock color mix.

In the color tab set the color to Noise, and choose which colors you see fit. A mix of 2 shades of brown might work, or you could add some black to it. Your choice. You might even want to choose different noise types. For experimentation purposes, I chose Zada:

Now take check the Displacement checkbox, and in the Displacement tab give him a Noise color again. Leave the colors black and white this time, and increase the Global Scale to 500%. Once you’ve done that, go back to the Displacement tab, and increase the height as you see fit.

Turn of the Specular checkbox, so you don’t have the shine. In the end, you might want to put it in a HyperNURBS object, but I only recommend this if you won’t be using too many of these in a scene.

The results vary depending on what colors, types of noise, and sphere size you use, but if you know exactly what you need, then you’ll probably find a way to make it. You are now one step closer, to making your own Asteroid field.

#28 Morphing Letters Animation in Cinema 4D

You don’t always have to move the letters you have on your screen to replace them with other letters. With this technique you can make your letters change their shape into other letters. You can also do this with words, once you get the hang of it. It would be a good idea to check out my post on Morphing Setup with PoseMixer, to make it easier to follow this post.

To get things started, we have to make sure that the first letter we will use has enough points to be able to morph into every other letter we use.

I am going to start with the letter “B” because those two holes, which we will be able to use. Create a Text Object, and make it show the letter “B”. Make it Editable and put it under an Extrude Object.

We will make it able to easily morph into the letter A, B and C. Make the following setup in the PoseMixer Tag. All the spline objects are copies of the first spline. Make sure to rename them the same way as on the picture( to the left).

 

Now that you have the PoseMixer set up, now you can proceed to shape the letters A and C. Hide all the other objects one working on one of the letters, and work with the points. Remember not to add or delete any of the points. If you have some extra points, either align them with the others, or scale them down. The process of making the letter A:

You can make as many letters as you like, and add them all to the posses list at the PoseMixer tag.

All you have to do is animate the sliders for the corresponding letters, and you got your self morphing letters.

Depending on how much time you have on your hands, and how perfect you want it to be, this might take a while. You can also do this with entire words, so it can actually be quiet interesting. You might even want to leave the imperfections, or make graffiti-like letters. I was thinking of making an entire song like this. It might take a while, but it can look great!

#27 A Chess Set In Cinema 4D, The Rook Piece

In a previous post, I showed you the basics of making chess pieces in Cinema 4D. Now we are kicking it up a notch and making a Rook piece.

First, take a look at the shape. It’s different from most of the other pieces. Obviously we can use the Lathe NURBS tool to make most of the Rook, but not the top. So we will model the body first, and leave room for the tower-like top. Image taken from Wikipedia.

You can use the above reference for the Rook’s shape, or you can make one yourself. I improvised. In case you haven’t read the previous chess post, I’ll run you through the basics:

Set your view camera to Top, and use the Spline tool to make a shape that looks like the outline of half of the Rook(without the top). Now just put that Spline to be a child of the Lathe NURBS object. My result below:

Now that you have this, you can proceed to model the of the Rook. I can tell you 3 ways to do this(of the top of my head).

One way is to use multiple Cube objects to shape the top. Another way putting a Cube object into an Array Object(I’ve showed you this tool before). And the third way(the one I am going to use) is as follows:

First thing you need to do is create a Tube object. Take that tube object and put it on top of the Rook’s body. Set it’s Inner and Outer Radius so it matches the position of the tower walls that you want.

Now take make the Tube editable(the shortcut key is C) and select the polygon tool. Proceed to delete the polygon blocks two by two, skipping every other pair. Something like this:

 

 

 

You have these gaps now. Close them using the Close Polygon Tool, and you have yourself a Rook!

I added a Plane object beneath with a checkerboard material. Cinema also has a wood surface generator included, so I used that too.

I showed you how to model another chess piece. Soon(once my exam week ends) I will show you how to model the other pieces.

Checkmate.

#26 Making An Animated Asteroid Field Using Arrays

Sometimes you will want to be able to create a vast number of objects with as little effort, so you can concentrate on the more important parts of your project. This shows you how to do just that! I also made a post on Making an Asteroid!

Let’s say that we need a monotonous asteroid field. Creating one asteroid and copying it doesn’t even sound too bad. But what if you want all your asteroids to move independently? This turns into a bigger task. This is one way to make things easier on you.

For this tutorial, all you need is a sphere. We will leave Modeling an Asteroid for another time, to keep this on point.

Add the sphere to an Array Object(Objects – > Modeling –> Array), and set the Arrays settings like so:

If you press the play button now you will see a slow moving asteroid field. That was the desired effect. Things you can do to modify this:

You can copy and intertwine multiple arrays for a bigger and denser asteroid field.The reason why I don’t suggest just increasing the number of copies is that if you look from the top perspective, you will see that the spheres form a circle. So a good Idea would be more smaller arrays, and rotate them around their axis for a more “random” effect.

You could use lights instead of spheres for some interesting jumping lights scenes. Experiment with different objects, and don’t stop on solids.

Just add the material for the spheres to the array and you’ll have it applied to all the spheres. Have fun with what you have learned, and think of different uses for the Array object, to make your animating life easier.

#24 Morphing Setup with PoseMixer

A long time ago I used this tool for an animation that required my character to move his lips in accordance to the lyrics of the song in the background. Back then I actually thought that this was the only purpose of the PoseMixer, but by experimenting with it I found many more. For now, I am just going to show you the basics. 

To get things started, create an object in Cinema 4D(PoseMixer is part of Cinema 4D) and make sure it has more then just a few polygons to it, so if you created a cube, increase the number of subdivisions in all sides by at least 2, so you have something to work with.

A cube with all the subdivisions increased to 3. Make it Editable so you can work with its shape. Right click on the Cube’s name and navigate: Character Tags –> PoseMixer.

Something to keep in mind is being organized in you projects. I say this because we are going to create more Cube objects, and we don’t want to keep them named the same. So, make two more Cubes so that you have 3 of them now. Move them away from each other and rename them as follows:

The MorphCube(the one with the PoseMixer Tag) is the one that we will use for our animation.

The Default Cube is just the basic shape of the MorphCube when no Pose Mixing is applied. It should be the shape you want for the objects “rest” position.

The TwistCube is what shape our MorphCube will be able to animate to. Things will become clearer as we progress.

Select the PoseMixer Tag and add the Cubes to their corresponding text boxes:

Using the slider next to the TwistCube now won’t do anything, so let’s set it up. Go and mess with the TwistCube a little, but don’t do the things that add new points, like Extrude or Bevel. Instead, just move it’s points around, or resize it, to make the shape you want.

Once you are done, select the PoseMixer Tag and try sliding the TwistCube slider. See what happens? The more you slide it, the more the MorphCube becomes like the TwistCube.

To make it look better, put the MorphCube as a child to the HyperNurbs object so you get a better looking shape. The various results are as follows:

Now you can easily animate your box changing shape by just adding keyframes to the timeline track of the slider for the TwistCube. Make more different shapes that start form the Cube object, and add them to the PoseMixer so you have even more control. Later on I’ll show you more tricks involving this, including how to make your animations lip-synch to the song.

#21 Easily Make 3D Chess Pieces In Cinema 4D

I do realize that I have been posting 3D more then a few times in a row, but my choices are limited, since I don’t have all the apps reinstalled yet since my Hard Disk died on me.

This is a pretty straightforward tool to use, but it' can help you model more complex shapes in minutes, or at least give you a better start then the basic box modeling start.

Lets start by modeling a custom chess piece. It’s actually a lot easier then it seems at first thought.

In Cinema 4D, set your camera to Front.

Now use the spline tool to make a shape that looks like the left half of a chess piece outline, like this:

Now all you have to do is add this spline object to a parent Lathe NURBS object. You should see the desired chess piece. If not, then fiddle with the points, and you can even get real time results like this.

Note that this way you can only make shapes that are created when the spline is rotated around the position of the NURBS parent. If you want some different modifications to the objects(such as horns, or spikes) you will need to make the NURBS object editable, and then proceed to use other modeling techniques.

The Chess Piece still needs some work from where we left off. Fiddle with the points till you get the shape you want, add a material of your choice, and set the scene. This works for most of the chess pieces, but it doesn’t work for the Rook or Knight pieces though. In other words, you need to hone your skills a little more before you can model a full set, so get to it!

#20 Quick Animation Path, Flying Disc

From time to time, you’ll come up with an animation idea that involves an object flying around, randomly or not. One way is to use the Vibrate Tag. Another way is to set the object on a path.

If you want the objects motion to be in your control, you would probably go with this way.

Using Cinema 4D, create a Cubic spline. Don’t make a Freehand spline because that can make for shaky movement. Your path could look something like this:

It doesn’t have to look nothing like that, but it should at least be curvy, because sharp edges don’t make for a smooth animation, unless the aim is bouncing of walls or something of the sort.

The next step is adding an object to the path. Create a disc for the sake of practice. Add an Align To Spline Tag to the Disc. Click on the Tag and drag the Spline object in to the Spline Path field.

Now you control the position of the Disc with the Position slide in the Align Tag. Check the Tangential checkbox for a different way of moving on the spline.

Use keyframes to animate the Disc motion on the Path. Use different speeds on the path to kill the monotony.

You can always move the Spline’s points to change the motion of the Disc. The Spline is not visible.

I used a curvy spline, but that is just one of the choices here. There are many possibilities here, along with choice of object, path and speed.

If you want you can even use a SweepNurb to make the spline visible, but more on that some other time.

#18 3D Abstract Image Creation, A World Beyond The Mirror

Why go to the fare to enter a house of mirrors when you can make your own?

Again, really simple to make, even if you have zero-to-no experience in 3D software. Just Create one huge object(sphere or cube) and make sure you are viewing it from inside. Now put some other objects inside it, rotate them around, resize them etc…

If you are using Cinema, create a new material and make sure it’s Reflection checkbox is checked. Add this material to all of your objects in the scene(or at least the biggest one). Here is what I got:

All I have here is a big Cube object and a sphere inside it. The Material on them has the color you see, and the reflection set to 77%. So there are only 2 objects in the actual scene here.

You could try adding some lights to the scene, or give different colors to your materials. Try different things:

In this scene the outer Cube has a Cyclone effect applied to it’s material. A simple 30s scene.

Something to keep in mind when creating Abstract images from 3D shapes, is the fact that there aren’t many rules. So try lots of things. Add some light, play with the lights settings, add various objects, maybe add an array and use different materials on the objects:

It’s easy to do, and takes absolutely no time at all. If people don’t like what you make you can always say that it is Art. That term seems to be tossed around pretty loosely these days, so hop on the bandwagon!

#13 Create Cool 3D Objects With a Single Tool In 30 Seconds, Matrix Extrude

This tool is indigenous to Cinema 4D, but I don’t really know if the other big 3D apps have it. You could be able to make the same effect with just the extrude and bevel tools, but would take too much time and effort, and that just defeats the purpose of this post.

What this tool does is perform a chain of extrude operations on the polygons you select. You can select the number of extrudes, or joints, and you can make it shrink toward the end. You can make it bend or twist as the extrude grows, making for some very interesting effects.

The two basic ways I use this tool are as follows:

Short Matrix Extrude for surface modeling:

Just create a basic sphere and make it editable. Now, with the polygon tool selected select the Matrix Extrude Tool, and use it on the sphere once. If your PC can handle it, use it again to get the same effect like me, add a gradient color to it and give it a HyperNurbs parent for a curvier surface.

Long Matrix Extrude for shape transformation:

 

This started out as a basic tube, and after a double extrusion(one longer first, and one shorter afterwards), and coloring, it becomes this, in basically less then 30s.

Once again, the bottom line is experimenting. Use different objects for starting out, even your own custom-objects. Don’t always use all of the polys, select polygons in circular formations and see what happens. Try various color combination(gradient makes wonders here). Anyway, it’s up to you. I am already late with posting this(I missed yesterday), so it’s up now(after midnight).

Good night everyone!

#9 Head Banging Animation Loop

One of things I love about Cinema 4D is that it has all this nifty little tools that help you make certain animations more easily. One of such tools is the Vibrate Tag.

I have mentioned the Vibrate Tag in another post. That time, we didn’t get the exact effect that we needed, but it will do just fine here.

Just for fun, the example that we are going to use this on will be a head banging animation, but with only the head. The full body animation is a bit beyond this example.

For starters either get a head that you modeled, or a plain box will do now. Now make it a child of a null object. Move your object away from the null object, upwards for about 450 if you are using the initial size of the box or sphere.

Right click on the Null Object, navigate to Cinema 4D Tags, and add a vibrate tag. activate what I did, and set the values like so:

Now, when you press Play, you will have the basic swinging animation. But, if you want to make it more dynamic, make the current Null Object a child of another Null Object that also has the Vibrate Tag, but without the Regular Pulse checked, and with some rotation added. Keep experimenting, there are a lot of possibilities there, and it’s up to you find what suits your needs.

With the right object, some music, and some settings for the Vibrate Tag, you can make an interesting project. Add to that Cinema’s possibility to add keyframes to any of the Values and checkboxes, and you have yourself a Video with endless possibilities, and a looping animation:

The best part is, when you make the settings once, it’s easy to transfer them to other objects, enabling you to make hordes of head bangers, if that’s what you are looking for. Just one of the many possibilities of the Vibrate Tag. Bang your head off!

#6 Animated Beat

This time, I’ll show you what to pay attention too, when trying to make your 3D Speaker beat to your beat.

First, you’ll need a 3D speaker, with the part that has to vibrate to the beat detached. But, for the sake of practice, you can even use a simple sphere, and we will make it’s size vibrate through the beat.

Now, there are 2 ways of going through this: the quick(effortless) way, and the long(or proper) way. I’ll show you both.

First, I’ll show you the easy way. Start off by making a sphere. Now, in Cinema 4D, add the Vibrate Tag to it(click on the image to enlarge it). I don’t know if you other 3D software has such a thing.

Select the Vibrate Tag, check the Regular Pulse checkbox, and Enable Rotation checkbox. Now all you need is to set the Frequency to match the beat you are using.

That’s the easy way. The reason why we are not sticking to this way is that it doesn’t really give us the desired results when it comes to replicating speakers. Although it can give you a nice “move to the groove” effect on your objects, for a more realistic effect, the sphere would need to grow in spikes, instead of so regularly varying in size. Something like …!…!…!… Instead of /\/\/\/\.

Now, delete the Vibrate tag, or start a new scene and just create a new sphere. Select the sphere and Add A Keyframe(ask me if you don’t know how). Now, move the timeline by 4 frames to the right and add another Keyframe.

Now move the timeline by 2 frames, make the sphere bigger(at least twice as big) and the add another keyframe. Then move the timeline by 2 more frames, and resize the sphere to it’s original size, and Keyframe it.

Now you have the first “bump”. You can proceed like this, or you can use Cinema’s ability to copy/paste keyframes. The end result of your timeline should look like this(click to enlarge):

When you press Play, you should get a certain beat. You can enter Cinema’s Timeline Window to stretch or resize the beat in a way that suits the music.

I modeled my Codegen Speakers in Cinema 4D, added materials, a camera, and used the above keyframe spread on the speakers and got:

There it is. The speakers weren’t to tough to model, If someone requests it, I’ll be glad to make a post out of it. You can apply these keyframing rules on any object that needs to move in accordance to the music, so have fun with it!

#2 Weird Complicated Shapes in 2 Minutes

Imagine having to build this object with your basic modeling techniques:

Looks painful doesn’t it? On the contrary. You can actually make this 3D model in under 2 minutes simply by knowing what tools and shapes to use.

Now, the 3D software I use is Cinema 4D, but it’s a known fact that you can make anything in any of the major 3D apps(Cinema 4D, Maya, Lightwave, 3D Max…) the only differences are the names of their tools. So, if you are using a different 3D app then Cinema, you might have to experiment and search a little before you are able to use this trick. I use Cinema 4D cause of it’s easy learning curve, and intuitive interface.

The tool we will use is “Sweep NURBS”. This tool uses Spline (or path) objects to create combination objects such as the one on the first picture. For instance, to make the object on the “Sweep NURBS” symbol, you would need a circle and a slightly curved line. The circle would travel along the path of the line to create that tube like object. You could also make the line follow the path of the circle to get yet another object.

To get the following object you will need to combine a 4-sided path with a flower path.

 

 

Now imagine having to make this from scratch. Sure a mirror object could help out, but this is by far the fastest way to make such objects.

The problem here is that the end result is completely unpredictable when using some more complicated paths. You can also use a third path for more variations. Another problem being that you can’t actually use this to create something specific, but it can serve for a better start opposed to the standard box start for modeling.

Rather then creating real world representations, you can use this to create very interesting abstract pieces. And with the right camera angle, light and material, you could use the wireframe on the first picture to create something like this:

Voila! So there you have it. Mix and match different paths and don’t forget to try and reverse their order for different results, and you may end up making something beautiful! Of course, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.