Combine 3D and 2D Scenes (with Ae & C4D)

[@phantomspacecop4462]

This is actually exactly the tutorial I've been looking for for ages. Just a practical and basic walkthrough of a C4D to After Effects workflow. Thanks for putting this together, it's already way helpful. Even after taking a School of Motion class for it, C4D honestly frustrates me quite a bit. I'd love to be able to more effectively use it -- basically in exactly this way -- to help introduce more depth into my animated work. So...yes, please, more of these if you can and are inclined to.

[@aahritya_tv]

You pirates the som classes, right?

[@queldar27]

This is so useful. Not just for 2D to 3D transitions, but really for any kind of transition. A real masterclass in misdirection!

[@ECAbrams]

It's all close up magic really. Glad to hear it'll help!

[@brokenstudiotv]

Now this is pure value! It covers the main advanced parts of the Animation while not going over in super detail and the pacing is on point. I would love to see more videos in this format. Thanks!

[@ECAbrams]

I think that can be arranged. I'm trying to branch out with my content formats a little this year. Glad it's helpful.

[@Kuppsy]

This was to eloquently explained. It was honestly inspiring hearing you talk about the techniques and your overall know-how in this video. Great stuff as always.

[@ECAbrams]

Thank you! I'm really happy to hear that it's impactful.

[@CreativeDojo]

Awesome video as always Evan!

[@chaardewar]

Thats what i wanted to see. Thank you for this

[@lchen9074]

Just needed! Please make more 2D and 3D combination videos like this! love it and thanks

[@ECAbrams]

Absolutely. More to come... quite soon actually.

[@michaelkonomos]

This earned a follow. No one talks about this, but it's one of the most common situations that comes up for me, as a medical animator and illustrator.

[@Kittysuit]

you and your awesome tutorials making me feel both stupid but also thankful for this new knowledge i have gained and definitely hopefully will put it into practice some day

[@eduardia6362]

An inspirational conceptual tutorial. SHQ delivery from Evan Abrams. Thanks for digging up that heavily underused C4D Lite from the motion graphics bundle.

[@teafoo]

I love the teaching and pace of this video, thank you for talking about the larger concepts instead of diving too much into the minutia

[@ECAbrams]

Glad to hear it! It's a little outside the norm for content format around here, but it mostly succeeds at what I intended I think.

[@iwasink]

One of my favorite tutorials! Thank you for making it. Can you make more where you mix 2d & 3D? 😉

[@ECAbrams]

I'm actually working on one such tutorial right now ;)

[@zahidmotiondesigner]

Awesome. Really helpful content.

[@gin8275]

Please keeping making more sir, your video really helps me alot

[@Scott.Sandifer]

Oof. Lots of information here. Went a little quickly, but luckily we can rewind. Will definitely be rewatching 'till it sticks. Awesome stuff.

[@unleavenedmovies]

I definitely appreciate learning about your C4D approach and would endorse more videos about this

[@SternFX]

As always, great stuff! Love your animation (and personal) flow

[@ECAbrams]

Thank you so much! Ever since I switch from doing these in a "live to tape" way and more as a scripted piece that gets covered with visuals, it's changed how I approach the content entirely. And, way fewer re-records.

[@fordspencer5789]

Love it! Been waiting/looking for tutorials like this (mix of 2d and 3d), please keep it comin!

[@effortmax]

Such a lovely cohesive tutorial! Amazing delivery

[@swaupy]

Awesome. I really like the pacing of this, not going through every little detail, and just giving an overview of your way to approach 2D/3D scenes. I often find differences in color when working with 3D scenes exported from blender. Do you have the same issue with C4D or is it more integrated with the way after effects handles color?

[@ECAbrams]

That might be down to colour management and embedded colour profiles. For example linear colour blends differently from gamma 2.2 colour space. If a 2d app sends out a render in linear colour, and you pull it into a compositor that assumes otherwise, you're going to see some unexpected shifting. I would recommend just checking up on the settings around colour management and colour profiles to make sure everything is as expected.

[@swaupy]

I see. Thank you for the response. I have watched your video on color spaces (which is a great video for getting an overview) but i still find it difficult to navigate in the way different software interpret color. Maybe a part II of that video? Thanks for the great content!

[@KyleWoodard]

This. Is. Awesome!!! 🤩 Exactly what I wanted to figure out - I’m new to C4D and I’ve been trying to conceptualize ideas utilizing these types of techniques, and planning out how to work between 2D/3D fluidly. Thank you!

[@ECAbrams]

Happy to help!

[@Furiae3]

Great tutorial. Definitely more suitable for someone who already has some C4D under their belt, but I think that's fair. It's kind of essential to learn the basics before you try to do more complex things. I like seeing other people's workflow and yours is very clean and concise, so thank you for that!

[@ECAbrams]

I'm certainly planning to talk more about c4d basics. Which tools are you most interested in?

[@panzudo007]

A lot time without seen one of the your wanderful videos! Thanks!

[@ECAbrams]

Welcome back! I'm hoping to get a lot more content out this year!

[@ItaloMuniz16]

Holy moly, ECA just dropped a bomb at us. Amazing dude! Thanks a lot, enjoy your new computer as well!

[@Exoskeleton9000]

every time one of my friends asks me on a topic, I always check whether uve made a tutorial on it and recommend them to watch it...your explanations are always concise yet so informative its crazy 😅

[@zohaibmalik819]

Nice and very helpful tutorial. Want to see more where 3D involved. Thanks for sharing.

[@iamrajsharma]

This is a really cool tutorial and very informative, enjoyed watching it and learned some tricks as well, thanks! :)

[@paulkingMotion]

Fantastic. That's a beautiful scene as well.

[@ECAbrams]

Thank you so much! It was a fun piece to put together.

[@DarkGT]

Definitely an inspirational video. Blending 3d and 2d is something I was looking for. Starter with AE last week and the 3d part seemed more like 2.5D inside native AE.

[@e11world]

Awesome video man. I used the quick frame switch blending technique on a recent animation but your tips gave me something else to use so much appreciated 🔥

[@ECAbrams]

Great to hear it!!!

[@blinn40x]

FREAKING FANTASTIC!!

[@maryarches6720]

Thanks a million for this video!! 👏👏👏 I love this 2d-3d scenes tutorials

[@nigelelton9353]

Just the tutorial I needed, thanks Evan!

[@ECAbrams]

Happy to help!

[@KrishnaKaipa]

Amazing as usual, thank you man.

[@mashanikerman1115]

Thanks for the video! Please do more tutorials on C4D light+Ae, really useful and inspirational.

[@SOM_-sy6pv]

great! but just one thing I should mention is the videos playback speed( or better saying, removing the gaps between your talking), I honestly get headaches after watching them and have to pause and play or replay constantly to completely understand them, if you could don't do that,it would be great, thanks!

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks. I'll try my best.

[@vapmotions]

How did you get that brightness and saturation of color from C4D? I tried to do that in a recent project and I couldn't get the lighting to work as well as yours. Thank you so much and I'd love more videos about 3D and 2D because there's not much info about this subject!

[@XodeGraphics]

Maybe check your colour profile in your render settings

[@ECAbrams]

It may be down to the post processing? a little curves adjustment goes a long way sometimes. And in this specific case I did render out 16 bit files so I could flex the values a bit more in post. Might be worth checking into. Now I'm second guessing if I did anything else in the scene though.

[@purplelight2947]

Great to see your approach! Thanks 👍

[@ECAbrams]

You're very welcome. I"m happy to hear you've enjoyed it.

[@jfandries]

Nice Tutorials, Easy Easy 👏 Congratulations ❤️☮️

[@vcreativ8689]

Awesome technique! As someone who can't yet afford to buy Cinema4d? Is it okay if I start learning 3D in Blender first and then transition to C4D later? Would the transition be hard?

[@ECAbrams]

The higher level knowledge is the same. Nodes are nodes. Vertices are vertices. The muscle memory of the software may work against you, but I don't think these things are so different. However, you may not ever need to switch. Maybe Blender will be all you ever need as it continues to evolve. There are certainly systems in c4d that just work easily out of the box. Mograph module, redshift displacements, deformers, there is a lot to enjoy starting out. But, these are pretty intuitive systems if you already have your feet in 3d.

[@vcreativ8689]

@@ECAbrams Thank you so much I appreciate the response.

[@louierubbish8374]

this is wicked!! thank you!

[@literallyshane4306]

that was brilliant! thank you

[@adproproductions2038]

Very cool! I wanna try the 3d parts with Houdini. thank you!

[@Kairgb]

It would be nice if you could go more in depth with C4D on how some studios or motion designers make full animations within C4D. Maybe like a full on C4D breakdown? for those who use the full program too?

[@ECAbrams]

I'll certainly be talking more about c4d lite in the very new future. There are a heap of concepts and tools to cover, but there will definitely be more 3d content on here.

[@bryanschumacker5417]

I think what is super confusing is that overall you go too fast so it is hard to keep track. You can follow along until you get to the "stairs to block" section which totally loses me. There also seem to be missing pieces because you don't describe or talk about any of the lighting settings in C4D. Are you able to upload an extended version of this tutorial? I am a 2D artist who has also wanted to incorporate 3D and this is perfect just really rushed.

[@ECAbrams]

Hi Bryan. This video is intended to be more conceptual than technical. I'm sorry I did not adequately set expectations. I plan on getting into more granular technical specifics in other videos. I gather you would like to know about lighting and effectors, correct? Those are certainly things that could use their own videos exploring those tools. This video is meant to use this singular example file only to illustrate concepts; not to recreate the example from a recipe. I'm sorry for the confusion. If you would like to dissect the project files, they are available for download at the link in the description.

[@bryanschumacker5417]

​@@ECAbrams I would love a more in depth tutorial on how to achieve an example like this. I am very familiar with After Effects but am a beginner with C4D so learning the basics of C4D Lite is perfect. For example, I see you only rotated for "stairs to block" on the P and H axis and somehow kept the scene in the middle and centered. When I tried doing that the scene always ended up on the left, right or bottom. I do know lighting is a huge component with C4D and noticed you had a sky light in "stairs to block" but never went over what settings you used to achieve it. I assumed it was a tutorial and not conceptual so I apologize. Would just love a video from start to end on how to achieve something as simplistic as this because it would really add to an animation. Thanks!

[@BadreCh_]

this tutorial made my day!

[@Cadence24]

Amazing!!!

[@ECAbrams]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@hamatoioshi]

You are for real man! Thanks!

[@ejazasif5270]

Very helpful. I wish it was not that rushy though. Thank you :)

[@Hankerone1]

My apologiez if there is a similar question in the comments: - Export prep - is your project in a 32 bit with the sRGB IEC61966-2.1? It's regarding the backgrounds gradient; how to get that smooth gradient ramp in the final export?

[@ECAbrams]

I'm not sure it's as high as 32. But if you are experiencing banding you'll want to probably use something higher than 8 bit for the project's depth, yes. But, you might also introduce a slight amount of grain into any gradient as well. That will break up the bands. Be aware that not all export containers and codecs will support the colour space and colour depth, so plan accordingly and always render max quality and max depth.

[@Hankerone1]

@@ECAbrams I have heard of the grain, and was sceptical beacuse I don't see it how does it approves, but I will look into it. Thank you, and amazing job on the channel Šjor ECAbrams

[@ECAbrams]

@@Hankerone1 the reason is improves the appearance of banding is because it breaks up the bands. We perceive the banding because there aren't enough values available to make a smooth transition all the way across, so we end up with patches of similar colours. Grain is adding variety to those areas.

[@nimvajabee7410]

that was cool. tnx man !

[@davidfaulkner1246]

Me: Oooh! bright pretty coloured blocks. Also me: WTF!!! It's like AE complexity is cubed when you add C4D...and WTF is 'Lite' about any of that C4D stuff!!!! But I still learned a ton from this video - mainly about how little I know.

[@deordered.]

So it's best to go with c4d in order to be equipped with a parallel tool of after effects?

[@ECAbrams]

It is helpful that it is so integrated with the cineware plugin. I would recommend at least giving it a try to see if it's a good fit for you.

[@samuellee6473]

Gosh I really love you videos even tho I have completely no idea about all those features in C4D :v Now I got a generally concept and know what I should look for, things just got a lot easier. 👀

[@samuellee6473]

I just really appreciate the way you know when to stop and not getting too deep into a specific topic until things are becoming too complicated to understand. Can see the effort you made when making this kind of tutorials.

[@samuellee6473]

Concept based tutorials are much rarer than those follow through tutorials here😶‍🌫

[@bizarreplace3327]

hi i'm trying to mix 2 scenes created in after effects 1 is an animated 2d scene and the other a cube created in after effects how cna i mix so that i can see both?

[@GrooveYouVerse]

14:05 - can someone help me here, he went super fast and it looks like it skipped something. How do I get the alpha channel?

[@GrooveYouVerse]

Okay, nevermind. I added a solid behind it and shows that it's already has the alpha channel.

[@TheArtofme]

More C4D from you please 🤞

[@ECAbrams]

For sure! It’ll mostly be c4d lite I think. It’s something more folks would have ready access to. And these is quite a lot we can do with this free version.

[@alighorbanizade9797]

so goooooooooooooooooood

[@rifraf47]

How did you get that "scale up to squares" plain effector to apply twice in the fracture object? C4D won't let me drag the same effector into a mograph object's effector list more than once.

[@ECAbrams]

Good question. I don't think it was intentional. I can't recall wanting that to be the case.

[@DjFunHub]

bro you should seriously go into voice dubbing industry

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks. I do enjoy talking into microphones. If anyone needs voice work, hit me up!

[@toapyandfriends]

SUBSCRIBED!👊😎

[@babubatliwala9227]

Is there any plugin or script for 2d cloth simulation in after effects like as we have marvelous designer for 3d cloth simulation or can you make one? 🌹🌹🙏🙏

[@evanabrams2735]

We often use things from the "distort" group of effects to create 2d cloth like movement. Things like the Displacement Map might help. Things get more complicated when we want the cloth to fold over itself and ruch in a more extreme way, because those things require 3d movement of a plane to really accomplish. But I don't know of anything that is like Marvelous Designer but 2d.

[@babubatliwala9227]

@@evanabrams2735 Thnx for replying ❤❤ im getting ur point...actually most of my work is about character rigging (Duik) and animation, i was wondering is there any simple way besides frame by frame animation to rig an character wearing a skirt or a cape ?

[@evanabrams2735]

@@babubatliwala9227 I see. The approach with duik I think would be using puppet pin to deform and rigging similar to how they recommend hair with reactive contraints.

[@babubatliwala9227]

@@evanabrams2735 ok sounds gr8, I wud love if u cud make a short tutorial about this kind of stuffs which rarely anyone is explaining... anyways thanx for giving ur time and answering me... 🙏🙏🎉🎉

[@ECAbrams]

I might do, but I think Duik has a lot of support on those topics already no?

[@Islam_Koraitem]

east , why you are hurry . really great information , thanks

[@richochet]

Thanks for the vid, but can you please confirm if your links are affiliate?

[@ECAbrams]

No affiliate links that I'm aware of. I was told they are tracking links so Dell can know how effective their sponsorship has been. But, I don't get a cut if people make a purchase.

[@richochet]

@@ECAbrams Thank you for getting back. What is the best way to message you if I have an expression question?

[@ECAbrams]

@@richochet email [e-mail] or DMs on twitter and Instagram.

[@richochet]

@@ECAbrams Many thanks Evan! :)

[@seencapone]

Pretty good but you are moving too fast for us to focus on how things are laid out in the comp window, effects window and the timeline window at the same time. I really started to glaze over about halfway through.

[@ECAbrams]

I'm sorry to hear you had an unsatisfying experience. If you're looking to learn about the more granular tecnical aspects of the example file let me know which tools or techniques are most interesting and maybe I can work that into later videos. You may also enjoy dissecting the project file that is available for download. Thanks and have a nice day.

[@يوسفالحتو-ط6ظ]

please how i can downlad cinema 4d lite?

[@nikyabodigital]

Hope im not too late but its built in your after effects

[@احمدعبدالمنعم-ح5ت]

Hello my friend You are creative, but the explanation is too fast and I cannot understand the technique used thank you

[@TyroSean]

If you click on the settings cog icon you can change the playback speed to be slower

[@prashantchoudhary7297]

😍😍

[@check99999999999]

We want to meet your cat ! ;)

[@ECAbrams]

No cat for me. But I do have a tiny dog called Sherbert here. He's on my Instagram sometimes I think.

[@Abdo.A]

But if you already know C4D you can do the whole thing using it. So why bother working two softwares to create something you can do in only C4D??

[@ECAbrams]

If you prefer to work only in one app, enjoy. I'm not here to stop you from doing what you prefer. I'm not even advocating that you "should" do anything. But, some things are easier to accomplish in a 2d context. Some things are easier to accomplish in a 3d context. In production settings were often combining and merging and swapping between 2d and 3d things. For example. it's common practice to blend traditional frame by frame animation techniques in one scene into a 3d physics sim in another. Sometimes we even have disconencted teams playing to their specializations combined into a single piece. So why bother? To have the best that all methods an achieve I suppose.

[@longLivejay1]

First comment ☹️

[@PaulMDavidson]

Great video, but ew, Dell?