[Ron Moore]

Thanks, I’ll give it a try over in Premiere. The destination is a .wmv so I just need that alpha to composite a background and save it as a sequence, so that will probably work.

[Ron Moore]

I rendered out a TIFF sequence from C4D to After Effects so I do have transparency in AE but when I rendered out the 25sec animation with the Animation codec to preserve the alpha to go into Premiere it was over 7GB! Can’t I just save as a Premiere Pro project file and skip the AE rendering and assemble the rest of the project over in Premiere?

[Ron Moore]

Craig,

Unfortunately all those images are different dimensions, framed awards photos from our production department as well as descriptive single words, also framed, that I’d like to linger on with the camera and then move on through the montage. More and more this is sounding like an AE project to me. I may just use Video Copilot’s Sure Target and take some quick closeups of clusters of the awards and words and call it a day. I’m definitely going to file that multishader technique away, though, for a more dynamic project where I have all same-size images. Thanks so much for your help. Over the years Creative Cow has pulled me through many many roadblocks in Cinema 4D and After Effects and I really appreciate it.

[Ron Moore]

Craig,

Thanks for the info. I’m putting together a video promoting the video capabilities of our radio production team here at Entercom Kansas City. I imagine I’ll have around 20 or 25 .png images of awards that I would like to clone to form maybe a cloud of 150 or so images that were still large enough to make out some of the words on the plaques, then move a camera through them. After all, I may just end up over in After Effects taking quick closeups at several of the awards and be done with it. But I thought the sheer scale of a MoGraph animation would be more dynamic, but when you get into multishaders that’s a little above my pay grade. Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to help and I’ll definitely give your suggestions a go.

[Ron Moore]

Darby,

That is terrific! I’m going to try your method because I think it allows for more dynamic options, but since I had to deliver this animation immediately I went with some simple point level animation and the client will probably go with that. I really must work toward upgrading to the Studio edition because I always seem to be working around the limitations of the Broadcast version. You and Adam have been so helpful in pointing me in the right direction. Bend Deformers have their place but they were just not the proper choice in this case.

[Ron Moore]

I’m working in R12 Broadcast so I hope that’s a feature I can utilize. It does make more sense than simply using deformers, since it is basically morphing from one state to another and may also be a time-saver in the end. It’s an area I haven’t ventured into yet but I need to get up to speed on it since that’s the type of shape animation I’ll be doing quite a bit of in the future. I appreciate the tip very much, Adam.

[Ron Moore]

Jack,

Thank-you so much for the help on this technique. You have saved me countless hours of frustration. I knew there had to be a solution. I’ve been happy with this Broadcast edition and have been working in Cinema 4D for four years now but I’ve always wished that I could have afforded the full version but it’s just way over my budget. Maybe one day. Thanks again.

[Ron Moore]

Thanks but I finally got it going. I just needed to first make the 90-degree bend in the duct, then go to Current State to Object and finally add my other Bend Deformers to affect the 90-degree bend.

[Ron Moore]

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve been searching for a good compromise for this limited video display ability for years. One thing, we do need a slideshow format since we are simply showing logo still images of station logos (and 3D scenes) that stay on screen for a few seconds then may shift to video clips of concerts or personal appearances of radio hosts from our seven stations and my animations. Maybe if I lower the resolution as well (I’ve been rendering in HD whenever possible, 1270 X 768 or 864 X 486). Is Windows Media Player capable of playing such a slideshow as its playlist?

[Ron Moore]

I have version 12 Broadcast and I saw only the one file in the Win folder from Maxon and it wasn’t the Exporter file, so it’s a mystery to me.