C4D for Maya Animators

The credits go to Isai Calderon III but I wanted to share it here as well.

Consider this the Key to C4D for Maya Animators. If anyone has any other details they’ve found that enhances their animation experience, you are welcome to place it in here. We only gain from helping each other.

W = Switch between World and Object orientation
E = Move Tool
R = Rotate Tool
T = Scale Tool

Switch Viewports:
Middle-Click

Full-screen Mode:
Press Ctrl+Tab

Set a Key:
Press F9

Turn on/off AutoKey:
Press Ctrl+F9

Zoom on selection (works in almost every window where objects can be selected, including the F-Curve editor):
Press H

TimeLine Navigation:
F = Previous Frame
Ctrl+F = Previous Keyframe
Shift+F = First Frame in active TimeLine
G = Next Frame
Ctrl+G = Next KeyFrame
Shift+G = Last Frame in active TimeLine
F8 = Play/Pause Animation
F6 = Play/Pause Animation in Reverse

To select Key Frames in the timeline, place mouse underneath the frame number section where KeyFrame is, highlight as if it was Text. This allows you to move, scale, and delete several keys at the same time (if they are all within the selection).

View F-Curve Editor:
Press Shift+F3

Frame All Keys in Curve Editor:
Press H

Frame Selected Keys ONLY:
Press S

Frame view to current time:
Press O

To view ONLY a selection’s F-curves in the graph editor (if the selected object has NO set keys, it will not appear in the graph editor at all):
Open the Timeline (Shift+F3)
Turn on Show Animated: View>Show>Show Animated
Turn on Automatic Mode: Alt+A or View>Automatic Mode
Turn on Link View to Object Manager: View>Link>Link View to Object Manager
Turn on Hide Unselected Elements: View>Hide>Hide Unselected Elements
If the previous action hid everything, click “Unhide All”, then repeat previous process

Enable/Disable Frame Snapping:
Press X

Dream project

In may 2011 I got approached by Zambezi-La for a really nice project. I was asked to make a 3 volume animation for “Li Ning” a chinese sports-brand. The reason they asked me is because of the toon style I am working on. I am pleased that people really like what I am doing. I’ve spent a lot of time in preparing a treatment for it. Unfortunately I never got any answers back. But since I’ve put so much work in the preparations I want to share the document with you so you get some inside looks in the other side of creating the things we love to make.

Zambezi_LA_Li_Ning_Treatment_v3

I cannot include the script since it isn’t mine.

Motion Capture Test

It’s been a while but I’ve been very busy. There are some really nice projects on the horizon but I will tell you about that later.

motekentertainment was kind enough to provide me with some motion capture samples. I needed to see how it would fit in a pipeline with cinema4d and the rigs I use. It is all connected through constraints which allows me to also keep control over the IK setup so it is very flexible. The mocap is pretty simple but I am confident it works like a charm if the motion is more complex.

More still renders

Some more renders I have made click to see full size.

Ok get your red/cyan glasses out

Just a still from the driving sequence but this time I’ve played around with anaglyph stereo. So I hope you have some glasses laying about.

Driving around the block

Got a bit tired of walk cycles so I’ve put her in a car. In this sequence I really had room to see what I could do with the this cartoon shading technique. I was particularly curious how it would work the depth of field. So I rendered a depth pass and used that for the out of focus and also to control whether there would be lines or not. It all works very nice and it gives great contrast in the look. I am not quite happy with the smile and her lighting in the last shot though so I will change that sooner or later.

Quick lip-sync test

Just a quick lip-sync to test the facial rig. It proves to be a very solid setup and it’s pretty easy to animate. This one took me about 4 hours to make. I know it’s not spot on but I wanted to share some progress. Now I have to figure out a way to do the hair.

Miss Anaconda Pose TurnTable

Another turntable test with a bit more animation. This was to test the rig and I always like to paint weights on an animated character so I can easily spot weird deformations in the mesh. Still missing some final touches but she is nearly done so I can develop the rest of the assets. I know I can be a bit tedious on details but I like it to be the best I can achieve.

The same animation but with the finished face setup. The rigging is finally finished, I’ll probably run in to things when I start animating specific scenes but the base is rock-solid. I will add another video with more focus on the facial rig.

Thanks for the City Kit.

Got a change to play around with GSG’s City Kit it’s very nice and flexible. This one is definitely going to be part of my projects! Thank you Nick and Chris.

Miss Anaconda WalkCycle

Finally got the rig done and created a walkcycle. I must say that good ol’ keyframing works a lot better then automated walk generators or I just suck at using them. I did use the CS_WalkCycle for the base. This is handy to check the rig as well but overal it’s keyframe animation. In the close up you really see the character of the little misses. I still have to rig the hands that is why they look a bit weird and static. I also have to check with cactus dan about the damping in the legs.