3D Modeling

I've always been interested in 3D modeling since I first played DOOM I and finally computers are fast enough and software is cheap enough to allow anyone with a little time on their hands, and the will to learn, to model their own worlds. OK, so you need a lot of time on your hands because the learning curve can be rather steep but the payoff is big. I use my 3D models and entire scenes in my videos.

Cinema 4D XL 7

Cinema 4D is by far the easiest to learn of the major 3D modeling tools (i.e., 3D Studio Max, Maya, Truespace, Lightwave, etc.). There is just something about the interface of C4D that seems intuitive to a non-linear editor like myself. I tried the demo of the Max, Maya, and Truespace, and while I got the hang of them after a while, there were way too many key combinations to remember. If you don't use them every day, you're not going to remember how to even move an object on the screen. These are definitely not for casual use.

Cinema 4D was different. Manipulating object can be done with widgets on the GUI so if you forget the key combination, there is something visual to touch and manipulate. I was making some rather impressive 3D titles in no time at all complete with camera movements. What got me up and running quickly was the great collection of 3rd party tutorials that are referenced on the Maxon site. The one which I thought was really exceptional was Joel Mills' Tutorials for C4D Beginners. There is also a really great Glass tutorial from James Hastings-Trew and an Ice Cube tutorial by John Bloor. You've got to invest a few evenings and go through these tutorials. You'll acquire some fundamental skills that will have you creating your own models and scenes quickly.

One of the more powerful features of Cinema 4D for non-linear editors is the ability to attach a camera to a spline. A spline is a curved line (think Bezier curves). You can draw a spline in 3D space and then attach a camera to it and the camera will fly the line through your scene. You can get some very cinematic shots using this technique using keyframing and the timeline is very easy to understand. 

You can get a copy of Cinema 4D CE6 for free in Digit Magazine #64 August 2003. You can still order it as a back issue direct from Digit.

Ulead Cool 3D Production Studio

A great tool to have in your video toolbox is Ulead Cool 3D Production Studio. It allows you to manipulate 3D objects and text using key-frames over a timeline. These can be used in your videos directly, or as an overlay by saving them with an alpha channel or by giving them a chroma blue or green background and chroma key them into your videos. I've created some really nice FX with this package. Download the free trial from Ulead's web site and give it a try.

I've also used C3D PS for making transitions. It allows you to map video on to surfaces quite easily so you can map your outgoing and incoming video to two objects and manipulate them in 3D space.

Cool 3D Samples

Here are some samples I did using Cool 3D production Studio.

Floating Pages
	This is an opening animation sequence for a video. It’s great to use in a travel video where you’ve visited several places or even to show several highlights of a video. Replace the videos on each of the 4 floating pages with a still image or live video from your movie. Edit the title to make it anything you like. Change the dimensions for full render and the duration if you want to slow it down. Feel free to use it in you work. You can download the project file here: FloatingPages.c3d
Pour Me Another One
This is a transition where he outgoing video wraps around a bottle and the bottle tips over pouring out the incoming video. I paid a lot of attention to using meta-balls so that the video really looked like it was dripping out of the bottle but it turned out to be so small in the final rendering that you can't even tell. You can download the project file here: pourme-trans.zip