VFX Techniques: Creating a CG Flag with After Effects and Cinema 4D

Learn how to composite a 3D animated flag into a live-action shot using After Effects and CINEMA 4D.

CINEMA 4D's fantastic rigid body and cloth systems and the powerful CAMERATRACKER plugin in After Effects are a great combination for tracking and compositing cloth-like materials in live-action footage. In this course, Craig Whitaker will guide you through the entire post-production process for creating a computer-generated flag—from designing a mockup from reference material and tracking the camera movement to constructing the flag using CINEMA 4D's cloth simulation tools and compositing it back into the scene with After Effects. Each step of the process is rich with lessons applicable to similar situations CG and compositing artists will face in the real world.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files

1. Planning the Shot

• Collecting reference material
• Creating a mock-up

2. Reviewing and Tracking the Footage

• Managing noise in the background shot
• Preparing the shot for camera tracking
• Tracking the shot
• Solving and refining the shot
• Setting up the environment and exporting 3D camera data to CINEMA 4D

3. Creating the Flag

• Building the flag and establishing scale
• Building constraints and belts
• Setting up the flag simulation
• Building a collider object
• Caching and refining the simulation

4. Lighting and Rendering

• Texturing the flag
• Matching the CG light to the plate
• Adjusting the texture
• Setting up render passes

5. Compositing

• Setting up the composite
• Compositing the passes
• Adding grain and color grading

Conclusion

• Next steps