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3D datas from C4D to After Effects : how do I import object move and rotate ?
Hello all.
this is my first post, so glad to meet you all, and thx for the work here.
I’m having problem using cinema 4D to After effects file export. and I need help on this.
I’m working since years with after effects and I came to the idea 3D would handle better some animations. I’ve already made scenes in C4D imported via the exchange plugin (enable multipass, object buffer and output .aec files)… with success. But I used single camera movement into a scene where no object had to interract with After effects compositing.
– Now I need to animate a set of TV screens into C4D (screens moves and camera moves around). The goal is to put images of the TV screens with after effects compositing, right after Cinema 4D has rendered the scene and the TV screens.
The scene in C4D is 4 TV sets grouped into one null object wich rotates around “Y” axis. Whatever I make I can get only lights and camera into After Effects !
I’ve tried to put a plane in C4D in front of TV screen, and then into a null object with a compisiting tag (object buffer)…I tried render in rpf format…. nothing worked : I can never see the null object while Maxxon says “Import 3D lights, cameras and null objects into After Effects complete with parameters such as focal length, position, rotation, intensity, color and shadow preserved”. In my case I have the camera, the light and never the null object.So what am I missing here to export some object moving and rotating in C4D into after effects ? I just want to place a solid or a comp into after effect, in front of my 3d-tv screens. I can’t even display a null object in after effects.
A tricky thing I found was to create as many light as my objects, and link them with my planes, but this only gives me the location of the object, not the rotate parameter, that I have to enter manually (and the result is poor). I’m giving you a rough of the scene so you can figure out what is is about here : https://xzuxzu.free.fr/ccow/testC4D.mov
of corse I’ve simplifyed the scene here : you can only see the front planes I would like to replace by an image in after effects. normally I have the tv screens generated by C4D behind these.
so any idea ?
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3 Replies
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If you’re using C4D 9.5 (I think) or later, you can use an External Compositing tag on your planes, which SHOULD show up as nulls when the project is opened in AE, including movement and rotation. I say “should” because while it usually works fine, I’ve occasionally run into situations where the null coordinates didn’t line up quite right. But theoretically, that should do it.
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I did the same animation with the tv screens, and found it quite easy to add the video to the tv’s in C4D.
Just load a video (image sequence) as a texture in the color channel of the material assigned to the screen object.
Click the texture “bar” in the material editor to have access to animation details of how the footage plays.
( I prepped my “tv footage” in AE first ala Aharon R) -
to U both thx a lot for the tips
it works great as long as camera is not too close from the master object (for whatever reason, 3d datas goes crazy at this point)
actually I’m not a “C4D killer” and I prefer to handle the compositing of the screen content into after fx : simply much more possibility to mix and create animation. the content is about software, so I need to animate according to the overall rotation in front of the cam :
some other rough try with the red part that shows AEFX solids https://xzuxzu.free.fr/ccow/ccowworks.mov
as you can see there is also a small distance between the image and the screen. this is why I want AEFX to composite : it will look like holographic images and some 2D images will explode out of the screens. anyway, the way to handle it with C4D (and that is the thread here) works perfect !
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