Understanding the 3D animation workflow

In this video, I'm going to talk a little bit about the general workflow process for creating a 3D project. Up until this point, we've been focusing on how to create our project in Cinema 4D, and then send that data to an external editing application, like After Effects, for animation, or Photoshop for still images. Now, my preferred method for sending that information from Cinema to After Effects is to utilize the multi-pass workflow. This allows me to render my files out of Cinema 4D, while still maintaining a flexibility within After Effects to be able to actually isolate individual parts of the image, and then use those isolations to accentuate and stylize my finished piece.

You can also utilize another workflow, using Cineware, where you don't have to render anything out of Cinema 4D. You can just import the project files directly into After Effects, and yes, you can still isolate individual passes, if you want to utilize the multi-pass workflow. I tend to prefer the multi-pass workflow for the way I work, because I have a tendency to create very detailed, heavily layered projects. If it were just one or two, three elements, or something small like that, I would easily just take that into Cineware and use it then.

Now, even though in this course, we focused on sending information from Cinema to After Effects, that doesn't mean that you can't go the other direction. If you look in the training library, Andy Medum has a great course utilizing this workflow. He tracks footage, and then takes that tracking data and sends it into Cinema 4D. So then, all the cameras in Cinema 4D line up. Then you can create 3D elements out of Cinema 4D, to send back to your compositing application, and create your final render. But, I found as you first get started creating 3D projects in Cinema 4D, it's always wise just to start in Cinema and then send those files over into After Effects, and finish your compositing that way.

Whichever way you choose, the integration between Cinema 4D and After Effects is very tight. So, I'm sure you can come up with a workflow that fits your individual projects