How to Build A Brick Road And Other Texture Ramblings

Posted on January 24, 2012 and filed in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

Today, Chris Schmidt shows us how to make a realistic brick road using Cinema 4D using Mograph tools and noise textures. He also goes over how to texture the bricks using displacement to make them jagged and random looking. Follow Chris down the ~~yellow~~ brown brick road of C4D rendering. Sorry, that was cheesy.

Tutorial Preview

Posted in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 55 Comments

Basics of Seamless Looping Animation Part 2

Posted on January 23, 2012 and filed in Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

In part 2 of this looping series, I show you how to seamlessly loop animations in Cinema 4D. Then, I show you the process on how I compress them into an Animated GIF. I included my Photoshop Action for automatically building Animated GIFs, too.

Download my Animated GIF Action for Photoshop

Visit DVDP

Visit Tiny Animations

Posted in Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 39 Comments

Explode and Shatter With Cinema 4D And Cloth Dynamics

Posted on January 18, 2012 and filed in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

In this video, Chris shows you how to quickly explode and shatter objects using Cinema 4D’s Cloth Dynamics. Do you like this guy as much as I do? You can follow Chris on twitter, here.

Example Animation

Posted in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 32 Comments

Ministry of Sound Headphone Spot Breakdown

Posted on January 17, 2012 and filed in Inspiration, Motion Design

I’m sure by now you have seen this excellent Headphone spot by Paul Clements. It’s full of beautifully animated and composited scenes made with Mograph and Cinema 4D. Today, Paul posted a breakdown video of how he animated many of the scenes including some mograph breakdowns and some before and after compositing. It’s outstanding what a talented artist can make on his own with these incredible tools.

Posted in Inspiration, Motion Design | 161 Comments

Five Second Project “Pinball”

Posted on January 16, 2012 and filed in Five Second Projects

What Are Five Second Projects?
We all want to make original work for our demo reel or portfolio. But, sometimes you just need a theme to get you started… Some rules to fight against. Here is your chance. Use the theme “Pinball” (Sorry, I’m obsessed) to make a five second motion piece and enter it into the form below. If your new to five second projects, why not check out the Five Second Projects Archive to see all of the past themes and winners.

Rules
Watch a Video about the rules
1. Submissions must be Five Seconds Long!
2. Any animation is accepted. Video only submissions will not.
3. The animations has to do with the theme in some way.
4. Original Work only. Don’t cut out 5 seconds of already made work.
5. Link back to GSG on your Vimeo Post

Why Should You Enter?
Watch The Video about why to enter
1. Try new techniques or software
2. Limitations help get the mind working.
3. Make short, awesome pieces for your reel.
4. Get critique from your peers.
5. Promote yourself.

How Do I Enter my Video?
1. Create a five second animation based on the theme.
2. Upload your video to Vimeo. Don’t forget to add a link back to this blog post.
3. Submit your link to the form below and I will add it to the channel
4. Deadline is Sunday, January 29th.

Now What?
Watch all the entries at the vimeo channel, or check out old Five Second Projects in the FiveSecondProjects Archive

Posted in Five Second Projects | 34 Comments

Basics of Seamless Looping Animation Part 1

Posted on January 12, 2012 and filed in After Effects, Tutorials, Video

You may have seen my page of Tiny Animations that feature a bunch of simple animations from Cinema 4D and After Effects. They have been really fun to make, and I got a few questions about how to seamlessly loop animation. So, I made this first video to start to talk about the basics of looping. I hope to do a more advanced one in C4D where I show you more about how to make sure you have a seamless loop for any project.

Posted in After Effects, Tutorials, Video | 27 Comments

How To Use The Proximal Shader in Cinema 4D

Posted on January 10, 2012 and filed in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

In this video, Chris Schmidt shows you how to setup and use the Proximal Shader to set up different special effects and texture tricks. There are some really fun examples in this one.

Posted in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 55 Comments

Questions About My Process

Posted on January 9, 2012 and filed in Inspiration, Interview

I answered a few questions about how I make stuff from a student named Dale Williams for a school project of his and I thought I would share some of the answers here on the blog.

How would you describe the type of work that you produce?

I try to make stuff that I find interesting. I often see great work from others and ask, “How did they do that?” Then, I sit down and try to figure out my version of it. Other times, I set simple and strong limitations for myself and try to work under those rules. I love the process of things.

What methods and processes did you use to complete your work?

Trial and Error. I take an educated guess on how something is done and I give that a try. If that doesn’t work, I tinker and play or search Google for an answer if I get stuck.

What or who influenced you?

MK12 is who got me interested in Motion Design. But, it’s Thomas Edison and Buckminster Fuller type characters I really admire. I’m usually influenced by other people that love the work they do and are willing to talk about it and share what they learned. People that share a bit of “Behind the Scenes” are way more interesting to me than “artists” that try to make you think that all this stuff is mysterious. I also work well with strict rules, simple ideas, fun, and short deadlines.

What are your aims and intentions when creating your work?

To have fun and to share the results and process with others who want to learn. I pick apart things and build stuff because I like doing it. Then, when I think I figured some of it out, I flip on the camera and try to record it so others can learn too. I learned many of the things I know because other people were kind enough to share it. I figure, the least I can do is share back.

For example, as I learn how to use Cinema 4D, Take Photos, build pinball machines, or make iPhone Apps, I make videos and posts to show some of my problems I run into, and what I learned in the process in the hopes that it helps someone else.

Posted in Inspiration, Interview | 22 Comments

Love What You Do, Or Leave

Posted on January 5, 2012 and filed in Ideas, Inspiration

via Creative Something and Rands

Posted in Ideas, Inspiration | 98 Comments

Intro to UVs in BodyPaint

Posted on January 3, 2012 and filed in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

Today Chris unravels the complicated world of UVs. There is a lot to know about working with UVs. But today Chris will try and explain enough for the average user to start working with it and model a piggy bank.

Posted in Chris Schmidt, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 47 Comments

Tiny Animations Collection Week 1

Posted on January 2, 2012 and filed in Cinema 4D

Visit the Tiny Animations Page

Yep, I have been making so many of these GIFs, I started a page to collect them all. Sure, this obsession with Animated GIFs might be a bit silly, but It get’s me playing with Cinema 4D and AE in a more simple way and it gives me an excuse to make animation without all the overhead and render time. Not sure what it is quite yet, but something “Clicked” in my head while playing with this new format. More to come.

Posted in Cinema 4D | 43 Comments

Cinema 4D and AE Animated GIF Tests

Posted on December 26, 2011 and filed in Cinema 4D, Motion Design

Chuck Anderson posted this site called DVDP in his twitter feed and I have been obsessed with it all weekend. I have been learning how to make things loop properly in Cinema 4D and how to make Animated GIFs using Photoshop. It’s been pretty fun.

I love the short turnaround time for something like this. Not a huge project or big render times. Just a way to try something fun and make it cool with as few frames as possible. I hope to do more soon.

Watch OrangeCubes GIF

Watch Puffy Sphere GIF

Posted in Cinema 4D, Motion Design | 55 Comments

Cinema 4D Holiday Tutorial Round-Up

Posted on December 22, 2011 and filed in Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

Happy Holidays everyone. Things have been slow around the Greyscalegorilla office lately. Like many, we are preparing for holidays and enjoying friends and family. I hope you are doing the same. But, I figured I would put this list of holiday related tutorials and downloads together for when you just need a break from all the food, family and holiday action.

Happy Holidays from Greyscalegorilla!
Keep learning and having fun!

Holiday Tutorials

How To Make a Candy Cane Text Animation In Cinema 4D

Free Cinema Models: Holiday Pack

How to make Snow in C4D

Make a Black Friday Door Buster Ad using Cinema 4D and After Effects

How to Create Christmas Tree With Cinema 4D

Use Bodypaint and Cinema 4D To Make A Unique Snowflake Texture

Create a Christmas Tree with Xpresso

Magic Snow Plugin

Posted in Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video | 21 Comments

How to Make An Animated Title Sequence in Cinema 4D and After Effects

Posted on December 20, 2011 and filed in After Effects, Cinema 4D, Tutorials, Video

Vimeo asked me to do a tutorial for their excellent Vimeo School series and I said “heck yes!” It’s all about how to make a fun animated title using Cinema 4D and After Effects. In Lesson 1, we build the logo from a vector file and prepare it for render. In part 2, we composite it in After Effects using the built in Tracking Software, lens blur and color correction. Follow along over at Vimeo School or watch it below.