To fully utilise the 3D capabilities that 'after effects' has to offer it needs to be used in conjunction with the 3D package 'cinema 4D'. 3D cameras and lights can be animated in cinema 4D during 3D visualisation and imported into after effects. When imported they retain all position, rotation and scale information. Cameras which are imported into after effects allow effects to be included in the scene without the need for any motion tracking to be done, this really speeds up the workflow. Lights can be animated in cinema 4D and imported to after effects. These lights can then be linked to null objects in after effects to drive full 3D animated effects for example particle effects etc.
Before you can begin you need to take a copy of the exchange plugin from the Cinema 4D folder: C:\ Program Files\ maxon\ Exchange Plugins\ aftereffects. And put it into the plugins folder in after effects: C:\ Program Files\ Adobe\ Adobe After Effects CS4\ Support Files\ Plug-ins.
This will allow after effects to accept the cinema 4D after effects export scene.
When the 3D visualisation animation is complete in cinema 4D you will need to render the scene, set this up as you normally would but go to the 'render settings; then 'save' then 'compositing project file' dialogue. Tick 'save', choose 'after effects' as the target application, tick 'include 3D data' and click 'save project file'. You will be prompted to create a save path, an AEC file is then created. Now go to After effects and import the AEC file. It will open up as a cinema 4D composition in the project dialogue box, the camera as well as any lights and render frames will be included. A good tip if you have a powerful computer is: when you begin rendering frames in cinema it can take a very long time, but you can open the AEC file in after effects and the frames will automatically fill the composition as the computer spits them out, so you can begin working on the scene in after effects before the render has finished in cinema 4D - very handy.
When you finally have the rendered scene (including camera and lights) imported into after effects the fun really begins. You can drop any element in the scene while looking through the cinema 4D camera and it automatically sticks to the footage as if perfectly motion-tracked, this opens up many possibilities... Have a go yourself and experiment with it, have fun...
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