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Make a Baseball Intro with Cinema 4D and Physical Renderer 99 Comments

In this tutorial, I try to recreate a baseball animation I saw while watching the White Sox Vs. Tigers game on WGN this weekend. We start by texturing the baseball and setting the animation with CS Tools’ Move Null. Then, we model and animate the dirt using the landscape object and a particle emitter. The Depth Of Field was added using the Physical renderer and the lighting was setup with the Light Kit Pro and HDRI Studio Pack. Finally, I show you how I did the time remapping, light leaks and compositing in After Effects.

UPDATE: Tutorial requires R14 and above.

Tutorial

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HDRI Studio Pack
Light Kit Pro

99 Comments

  1. Zeyd

    Havent had a chance to watch the tutorial yet, but love the idea of using tiny landscapes as rubble – seems so obvious now :)

    Reply

  5. pauly

    Why did I use up so much allowance!!! Have to wait a week before I can view this…cant freaking wait!

    Reply

  6. Casko

    Amazing Nick, superb quality thanks a lot for sharing all your knowledge, I’m moving from Web Designer to Motion Designer thanks to you.

    I’m going to try to film a real soccer player, then zoom in to the kick of the soccer ball and replace the real ball with a CG one that matches and try this stuff, let’s see how this comes out, I’m figuring out how I’m going to do with the zoom & replacement but thats the funny part of learning

    Regards

    Reply

  7. Jaime Mendez

    Nick You have become my college, thanks for sharing all the knowledge.

    Reply

  9. Singh

    Nick, what I love about your tutorials is that you show the whole process from start to finish, which REALLY helps. Thank you.

    Reply

  10. ehsan

    I was worried about you
    Every day I Seeing your site And no news from you
    And you’re welcome Again Stronger than before
    Thank you
    Good luck
    EHSAN FROM IRAN

    Reply

  11. jojo

    Thanks Nick! Loved your sound effects — that’s how we tend to communicate at work, too. I scrubbed through to the AE compositing part because I needed a refresher on time remapping. Had an “a-ha” moment when you explained the part about keeping the distance between the keyframes together. And another when you adjusted the curves. I would definitely love to see a tutorial or quick tip session on time remapping!

    Reply

  13. Miguel

    Cool!
    You can do the same slow-time effect in Cinema 4d.
    In the Atributes Panel / Document / Dynamics / General / Time Scale

    Reply

    • PerfectFX

      It won’t work with this one. At least that’s how it is in my app.

      I’ve had some decent stress over it lately and I couldn’t figure out, why the heck that time scale doesn’t do anything with my animated “something”.. It turned out, that time scale only works with MyGraph dynamics.

      Reply

      • Miguel

        yes, it only works with Dynamics, if you want to make any other animation, is better to do the slowmotion as Nicks said, with After Effects.

        Reply

  14. iamconsume

    Fantastic tutorial, Nick! Keep ‘em coming! This site is the best Cinema 4D resource on the web. Great tutorials with jaw-dropping results.

    Reply

  15. andyweak

    Love it! Especially the line about watching this in the past at the end…You’ll be the first I call when I build my time machine.

    Reply

  18. jesus pamplona

    Hi!!! Im spain we call the clips thats goes between the real time and the replay as Bumper… I don´t know if is the same name in other countries.
    Great tutorial!!!!

    Reply

  19. Ricky Evans

    Is there anyway of getting the ball if you don’t have broadcast version???

    Reply

  20. Ricky Evans

    Doh! Found it!!! I’m thinking of doing the same as casko with a youth group using green screen etc to show them the power of MG :)

    Reply

  24. David

    Nick … when in doubt … Google is your friend for reference
    … like a scuffed up baseball :)

    Love your work and your sharing the process.

    Reply

  25. Rubi Rambot

    Incredible walkthrough, but for me the really good of that kind of “Tutorial” was only 1 frase about “starting from 0″ with the textures. Absolutely agree with you.
    R

    Reply

  26. Bryan Woods

    NAME YOUR LAYERS! Lead by example Nick! I can’t tell you how many mograph artists I have worked with who are so unorganized, with their layers all over the place with no rhyme or reason, and I’ve never called them back to work with.

    Reply

  27. lyonnel

    Hi.
    I’m not american, so I didn’t know this baseball intro. Is that for superball ? (I’m joking ^^)
    but the tutorial is very useful.

    Reply

  28. Edvin

    Hello Nick. Maybe u’ve already answered this question but, why your c4d is NFR version??

    Reply

  30. Ricky Evans

    anyone know why i don’t have the option to switch off the seamless floor? CD4R13?

    Reply

    • palej

      seamless floor controls –> turn off floor (in your “seamless floor”)

      Reply

      • Ivar Spetter

        I have the same problem i also don’t have the option to switch off the seamless floor
        and i’m also working in C4DR13
        Is this a problem in the R13 version or something else.
        it’s not in the seamless floor controls

        Reply

  31. gjergj

    Hey Nick great tutorial as always and im from detroit also but i am 13 and would like to become a modeler and motion, graphic artist and i really love it so far and thats what i would like to become as i get older and can go to college and do those things. Any advice on your job and how you like it?

    Reply

    • Dylan

      I’m obviously not Nick, but I’ll give you some advice…At least from someone who’s in school now and is fairly happy with his success so far. Reach out, and go far beyond your assignments in college. I’m in college and weaseled my way into an internship at the best motion graphics house in my city. There’s the regular application procedure, then there’s the uncommon way of finding out who the senior art director is and contacting him directly. A good reel is first and foremost, though. If you only do the assignments, you’ll end up like 90% of the rest of your class. It takes a lot more motivation to really push yourself every day. If you have a good sense of design and are motivated, you’ll go far.

      Reply

  32. Willy B!

    Have to ask. What’s the Camera Projection render alongside your baseball render?

    ~A fellow Gorilla

    Reply

  33. hey there

    Great tutorial Nick, it was really fun so far. I’m rendering it out in cinema now. My question is, the bright glow you used in after effects, is that a standard effect or a third party plug in? And if it’s a third party plug in, is there a similar effect in after effects? I’m still a bit unfamiliar with AE.

    Reply

  34. Carlo Sa

    Thanks Nick!!! It was nice to meet you outside of Sigraph this year!! I was getting a little impatient for a tutorial that was a little more advanced but this is very cool and super useful with lots of neat tips thanks.

    Reply

  35. Alexey Konovalov

    Hi Nick, a lesson as always perfect, but I saw you vray want to ask, will you have the presets on it in the near future?))

    Reply

  39. Eric

    Hey Nick,
    I have a problem. I got the HDRI Studio Pack. I put it in the right folder. when i tried to open HDRI StudioRig just like u did in the tutorial i get nothing but black all around. the Light and Reflect materials are all BLACK. Can u please help me? Thanx in advance

    Reply

    • CollinBishop

      You must drop in the HDR in the objects controls…

      Reply

      • Eric

        Damn! i feel stupid. im new at this and i dont understand. so my gsg hdri pack is in the content browser. I drag the RIG and put it in the object thingie at the right top of cinema where all object are. but all i get is black. and the materials too are black

        Reply

  41. Ricky Evans

    To Palej

    Thanks for the info but i do not have a turn off option in my seamless floor controls i also do not have the various options Nick seems to have in the gradient type either????

    Reply

  42. Rene

    Hey Nick,well done but we need a tut “how to modell a basball” :)

    Reply

    • GR

      Hi there, maybe i can help you with the time remapping, send me the files to try yo help you, best regards.

      Reply

  47. Henry Mbwille

    I fantastic tutorials , umm i really gotta ask why, why you don’t wanna go for modelling and and what about water simulation!?

    Reply

  48. makos_X

    Really great tutorial, as always! Thank you very much, specially for the AE time remap guide.

    Reply

  49. Harry

    Nick mentioned that he used 16 bit instead of 8 bit when rendering out in cinema.

    Can anyone explain the differences between the two? I think I have always used 8 bit without knowing the wiser.

    Reply

  51. Jose Spain

    Thanks Nick.
    Great tutorial as allways.
    I agree with Singh. You allways start your tutorials from scratch. It’s very usefull.

    By the way…… You “should” make a tutorial about Time remaping in After effects..
    =;-).

    I have a question in advance….. Can you use with time remapping, if this time remaping slow down your motion, Frame blend for give more quality to your scene?

    Thanks so much again.

    Reply

  52. mike

    Thanks for the tutorial.i am new to 3d modeling and trying to learn from the best like you and cafe 4d and few others.
    for past 2 days i am trying to find a video tutorial about making staircase and railing and the railing guard in c4d , and the more i looked i realized nobody ever made such a tutorial about these subjects.
    i decided to bring my demand to you and hope you can help me and a lot of others ,because when i was searching ,i realized in fact so many people are looking for that kind of tutorial but nobody ever listened to them and c4d society is desperately in need of a good video tutorial from a good source.
    i hope you can do this for us.
    thank you in advance.mike

    Reply

  55. Adam

    Hey Nick
    I was wondering what settings did you use for physical render in this scene?

    Reply

  58. Michael

    Hi Nick. Thanks for tutorial !! It’s great.

    I have a problem with CSTools. I installed on my rs13 but I can’t move the object. Is this plugin work with rs 13 version?

    Reply

    • Daki

      Michael, you have a texture you nick to DIFFUSION material editor, if you have please post thanks you for understading

      Reply

      • Michael

        I have all texture. The problem is that i can’t move CGMove_null anywhere, it,s blocked and i don’t know why. Also in r12 is that same

        Reply

  64. Alistair

    Thank you so much for your awesome tutorials! Love the baseball, turned out great!
    I also want to thank you for the dialog! You really keep me entertained the whole way thru! Most tuts you come across are mono toned boring lectures but you and chris really make it an experience! I have actually laughed out loud on more than one occasion at work! Thanks for that :)

    Keep them coming and I will keep on watching!
    All the best

    Reply

  66. straydogkid

    Thanks for the awesome tutorial – one of the best and most useful i’ve seen!!

    Reply

  67. NKDizn

    Hi Nick, the link for baseball ball isd dead …… ARRRrrrgh

    Reply

  68. Rens

    Great tut! Waiting fot the time-remap tut!
    Gotta say: these tutorials are better then the lessons Premiere Pro I had in high school, lol!

    Reply

  70. Mars Cell

    Hello Nick & everybody else here,

    i would like to share my rendering of the baseball with you. Had to change some things (as i’m on R13 and don’t have the HDRI Studio Kit nor the Lighting kit…) So it all came out not as nice as in your tutorial. Well, it’s all written down in the description of the Video, so head over everone who’s interested in it, and have a look ;)

    Nevertheless: Great tutorial Nick, i enjoyed creating the animation. And it’s always great to watch you evolving from an idea to the final product (hassling around, tweaking this and that…)…

    Well, it’s again a much too long post here from me… Without any words, heres the link to the movie:

    http://www.vimeo.com/59343597

    enjoy and cheers,
    marscell

    Reply

  72. giangianni

    you really find time to watch a baseball game???
    On the couch???????????????????????

    Reply

  73. Oscar

    Hi!!!

    It looks great. I’m trying to do it but I don’t have all those objects under my content browser. I don’t have the folders “visualize and broadcast”. Where can I download them?

    Thanks a lot for the help!!

    Reply

  75. Dano Nunes

    Hey Nick! I really like this tutorial! I like all your stuff! but this one just blew my mind! Easy to follow and fantastic results! Just on my mbp it took 2 days to render the image sequence from cinema4d :) hahaha

    Here’s my version of the slow motion baseball! Thanks and keep up the amazing work!

    https://vimeo.com/61467704

    Reply

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