C4D / AfterEffects Workflow

[skeltzjones]

Hello!

I am working on a video representation of my road trip. I have a map that I zoom around (by playing with the scale and rotation of the object), and the route is created over time. Below is a draft of what I'm talking about. I have a 3d model of my car that I want to display at the edge of the red dotted line, so it looks like my wife and I are traversing the map together. It will need to change in size and perspective as the map changes as well.

I've imported it as a c4d object, and can set keypoints in cinema 4d, but it won't let me set keypoints or link to another object in after effects. Does anyone have a workaround? Does the full version of c4d allow this? I've researched this to a great degree. I have tried mixing down a video file, importing it again, and trying to track the motion, but it crashes. And even if I could get that to work, it wouldn't allow me to move the car with the path of the red dotted line. If anyone could help with this, I would be eternally grateful. We went on this trip in 2018 and I want to get it done!! Thank you so much for reading.

[Mylenium]

Long and short: You wouldn't do it this way. You'd simply create the entire map in C4D, animate the travel path and your car and then at best export the C4D scene to AE, though that would be kind of redundant. You have isometric "flat" cameras in C4D, after all, and moving them around is just as efficient as animating zoom in AE. There's of course lots of shades of grey inbeetwen and how far you things take depends on how well you know your way around in each tool. Personally I'd go with a full 3D approach, unless your "zoom in"s actually mean tranbsitioning to even more drtailed regional maps. Otherwise the hybrid way I described is way to go - import your map contours, throw them in a simple extrude object to generate a dummy geometry you can use as reference for the animation and then keyframe everything as needed before transferring over to AE. The only potential issues might be scene scale mismatches and such, but even that can be figured out with a bit of trial and error.

Mylenium

[skeltzjones]

Thank you; this makes perfect sense. I may decide to go the route of starting over in c4d, but I'm also considering creating a simpler car with shape extrusions, allowing me to keep it all in AE. If I take this route, would I need to create it in AfterEffects, or is there another program that I could use with a little bit more versitility? Thanks again!

[Rick Gerard]

I would add a small rectangle shape layer at the head of your doubted line. Name that layer car. Export the entire comp as a C4D file, then import that file and drop it in your timeline. You can then open the file using Cineware and replace the car shape layer with a car OBJ.

If you choose centered comp camera you can even change the camera animation and after effects and the car will follow along. I do this kind of stuff all the time using both C4D anif you choose centered comp camera you can even change the camera animation and after effects and the car will follow along. I do this kind of stuff all the time using both C4D and Element 3D.

[skeltzjones]

Thanks for this creative solution! I tried it, and I"m having a lot of trouble getting the export to work. However, I'm going to keep playing around. If I get it working, I'll be sure to post the finished product.

[Rick Gerard]

I have a tutorial it's almost finished on the workflow. I will post it when it's done.

[skeltzjones]

I can't wait! Thanks.

[skeltzjones]

Hi Again Rick,

I followed your advice about a placeholder for the 3D car. It now follows the edge of the path. I also took out the other transformations, so that I could use a camera when the time comes (which I think is the better way to do it). Looking forward to your tutorial!

[skeltzjones]

Hello,

I was able to fully replace the 3d car and bring it into AE, but when I started animating the camera, it threw off the 3d car. I then tried doing the animations first in AE (my original method), but when I bring it into C4D, the path the car follows doesn't move with the rest of the project. I have no idea why either of these two road blocks exist. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I keep getting so close, only to have it not work!

C4D File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JrMK2z-xt1ITeHfTRl2LKgaHh_WsiQgX/view?usp=sharing

AE File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xDDZQf9RAB4wFSPsU2wvSw6nBAPq-6yL/view?usp=sharing