Creating Flying Logos with After Effects and Cinema 4D Lite

Motion graphics legend Chris Meyer shows members how to create 3D animated, "flying" logos using After Effects and C4D Lite.

A common motion graphics task is to take a client's 2D logo and make it fly: extruding it into 3D, lighting it, animating it, and rendering it for video. But what if you've never created a 3D logo before? No worries! In this entry-level project-based course, After Effects veteran Chris Meyer will show you how to pull it off using Illustrator, After Effects, and the powerful 3D plugin bundled with Creative Cloud, CINEMA 4D Lite. We're not promising you'll be a 3D guru in two hours, but you'll certainly learn enough to make your logos take flight—and hopefully lift your client's expectations as well.

Introduction

• Welcome
• How to use the exercise files

1. Preparing the Files

• Converting fonts to outlines
• About colors
• Saving as an Illustrator 8 file
• Setting up After Effects
• Setting up CINEMA 4D (C4D) Lite

2. Importing and Extruding the Logo

• Importing the logo into C4D
• Organizing the object hierarchy
• Extruding the hero object
• Extruding the other objects

3. Lighting and Texturing the Logo

• Alternate view in C4D
• Creating a key light
• Creating a fill light
• Creating a basic material
• Recovering the prior presets
• Texturing the hero object
• Texturing the other objects

4. Animating and Rendering

• Creating a target camera
• Keyframing the camera move
• Previewing in After Effects
• Setting up the final render

5. Going Further

• Refining the camera move
• Fake environment lighting
• Integrating the camera and lights
• eyedesyn's Text Edge Pro

Conclusion

• How far we have come