Practical tips and tutorials from pro artists to improve your CG skills

Mike Griggs

Mike Griggs is a 3D and visual effects artist with vast experience across the industry, as both a creator and a technical writer.

www.creativebloke.com

Maya Jermy

Maya is a 3D artist and animator based in the UK. She started her career in 2012 remaking and animating characters for Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee - New ‘n’ Tasty.

mayajermy.artstation.com

Antony Ward

Be it game development, rigging or recording in-depth courses for his YouTube channel, Antony boasts experience in most areas of 3D.

www.antcgi.com

Pietro Chiovaro

Pietro is a freelance 3D artist and YouTuber. An expert in the creation of game assets and environments, he shares many of his creations on his channel.

www.pietrochiovaro.com

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SOFTWARE: CINEMA 4D| AFTER EFFECTS

HOW DO I CREATE UI GRAPHICS WITH TRAPCODE FORM IN AFTER EFFECTS?

Lily Roberts, Manchester

Cinema 4D and Trapcode Form can be combined in After Effects to create bespoke UI designs

Mike Griggs replies

Cinema 4D and After Effects are two applications that have longed worked well together. However, what happens when a third-party After Effects plugin like Red Giant’s Trapcode Form is being used to create UI elements?

Cinema 4D’s 3D camera animation control is much easier to use than in After Effects, and thanks to Cineware these camera moves are easy to import into After Effects.

Thankfully, it is straightforward to get Cinema 4D, After Effects and Trapcode Form working well together. The trick is to use Cinema 4D’s excellent file export toolset to create an OBJ object, while also using the External Compositing tag to make null objects that can be easily updated from a live Cinema 4D file. This makes it easy to modify the camera animation in the C4D file, which then updates in After Effects without the need to create a new version of the data.

This system allows the artist to create elaborate OBJs. These can then be manipulated using Trapcode Form’s vast array of look styles to develop complex UI elements that render in seconds, allowing for near-real-time feedback. In this example, I will show how to prepare and export a city model from Cinema 4D into After Effects.

This method also works with OBJ sequences. This means that animated character models, for example, can be loaded into Trapcode Form to get the best of both worlds - with complex 3D animation and particle systems mixing together to create bespoke UI systems.