Cineversity

Hello everyone,

Would you guys know of any good reference work, books or tutorials, on what is possible to do with C4D in AE, and vice versa? Browsing, I’ve found some basic stuff, but I’d like to go deeper, as deep as I can, on the subject.

Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

All the best,
António

Hi António,

Good question and the combination of the two is undoubtedly a winning team. However, each of them is already so versatile by itself, that the combination and possibilities of the two are closer to being infinite than in any way limited.

The first question would be, are you focusing the use of Cinema 4D inside of After Effects?
Secondly and not even remotely less critical, is your question perhaps workflow related?
I avoid questions that would require a self-evaluation, except one, to tell me to be a complete beginner, anything else is always too subjective, and not useful - as far as I can tell.

Cineversity has a lot of content for this theme, for example, directly related presentations and tutorials about it, given no further filter to that search.
Screenshot
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/37anmhXVj2CZ9rH3oEjQHscy5FXVNnOln0NNr4g0AvT
If you use C4D Lite instead of After Effects, the list will shrink and you will find more material about the use of Cinema 4D inside of AfterEffects. Inside means here, that the Application has a Lite Version implemented in After Effects, which has some advantages, give a specific workflow.
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/cinema_4d_lite_reference/cinema_4d_lite_reference_series_introduction

For me, the central part in using After Effects for my productions (as discussed in the JET series here) was [and continue to be] mostly as a compositing application, while using multi-pass more than often. Since everything was in After Effects after the compositing, I often used it as Color Editing Application as well, including finishing.

I have asked the two main question, and they are not the first that I should ask, of course: what content do you would like to produce? Because an answer to this question will lead to different suggestions.
The theme of a workflow can be simple or complicated. The most straightforward answer would be, at which step you like to stop being able to tweak a clip and move on.
One possible pipeline /workflow could be like the one discussed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7za0ozspxIg&list=PLOLI4wu7NPsjGPK3BGKJpmAg9WqFodFHh
However, this is just one way to do things, and each project might require a different workflow. There is not a lot of limitations here with the Cinema 4D and After Effects combination.

If you would describe your ideas and targets more, e.g., what kind of production you would like to do with these two beautiful applications, then I’m happy to search for material that will support this.

Of course, I’m motivated to look into each specific question. Not that I have all the answers, even using this combination since the mid-‘90s, but developing a pipeline or explore options is always fun.
Think only about the 3D export options from Cinema 4D to After Effects via an ‘aec’ file (after-effects-compositing) or to open a Cinema 4D file directly in AfterEffects, perhaps a combination of both. There is also a way from After Effects to Cinema 4D. This alone offers so much flexibility that individual questions might be more effective than to go through over a hundred videos here alone.

Books about After Effects, my first source, and suggestion would be anything from the Meyers.
After Effects Apprentice: Real-World Skills for the Aspiring Motion Graphics Artist (Apprentice Series)
by Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer
There are others, but I can’t see that they have continued to write. A new book coming in April, but I haven’t seen the content overview.

Adobe: https://create.adobe.com/motion-graphics.html

Cheers

Thank you, Sassi. I’ll definitely use your references to advance in my learning of AE and C4D.

Thanks for the reply, António.

Perhaps at this point, you are wide open and absorb whatever seems valid. Which is undoubtedly a good idea. To have a great deal of interest in any possible direction is never a bad idea. On the other hand, to specialize is equally compelling.

There will be indeed a point where you feel, that some areas attract you more than others. If you have found an area that motivates you more than others, let me know, perhaps I have some ideas to support your interest in a better way. Example: Compositing, Multi-Pass, Color Correction Motion Graphics, Visual Effects, possibly title sequences, VR animations or just the vast field of visual communication/art/experimentation, perhaps subcategories, like set-extensions or even something completely different, like fantasy interface animation, or any kind of visualization. Yes, overwhelming.

Enjoy exploring!