After Effects Expert Angie Taylor on Why She Uses CINEMA 4D

"Id heard that it was one of the more user-friendly 3D packages"

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"Thats cool!" we at MAXON thought years ago when we saw our first Angie Taylor demonstration of After Effects on the Adobe stand at a trade show. Fast forward to today and Angie is still just as passionate about After Effects, having recently created ten hours of foundation AE training for video2brain, together with Todd Kopriva, Adobe Technical Support Lead, who was Document Lead for After Effects 7, CS3, CS4 and CS5.

Adobe After Effects CS6: Learn by Video also covers how to go about getting your CINEMA 4D projects into After Effects. We caught up with Angie to find out why shes using CINEMA 4D together with After Effects.

MAXON: Tell us a bit about your working life.

Angie: I work as a freelance motion graphics designer, making graphics for TV, film and Internet. Ive provided bespoke consultancy and training on creative projects to companies including the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Carlton, HTV, B Sky B and MTV. Over the years, Ive worked regularly with Adobe, showing their software at trade shows and seminars around the world, including MacWorld, NAB and IBC. I have five books published about After Effects, Illustrator and motion graphics design.

MAXON: How did you get involved in graphics?

Angie: I left art college with a sculpture degree and became a prop maker for film, photography and TV in 1988. I did this for two years and was also a cartoonist and deejay in the evenings. I saw Photoshop version 1 being used in Visual Effects departments when delivering props and thought, "I want to do that!" So I gave up prop making and went back to college to study Photoshop and graphic design.

MAXON: How long have you been using After Effects?

Angie: After a few years of using Photoshop, I realized that I wanted to somehow incorporate motion, so then discovered After Effects in 1997. I fell in love and never looked back!

MAXON: When was your first demo for Adobe?

Angie: I did my first trade show with Adobe in 1998 (CGIX). Since then, Ive worked regularly with Adobe.

MAXON: How did you get into using CINEMA 4D?

Angie: Having a degree in sculpture and drawing means I have a natural desire to make three-dimensional objects. I love working in 2D, but at times really feel the need to be able to create graphics that can be seen from multiple angles without having to manually draw each view. C4D allows me to do that. Id heard that it was one of the more user-friendly 3D packages. I tried other applications before CINEMA 4D but found them uncreative and non-intuitive.

MAXON: What else do you like about CINEMA 4D?

Angie: Its a very user-friendly environment to work in. The CINEMA 4D community reminds me a lot of the After Effects community in that it is helpful, friendly and inspiring.

MAXON: What do you do in CINEMA 4D that you couldnt do before in After Effects?

Angie: 3D modeling and texturing is what I am most interested in. Im dying to get my hands on CINEMA 4D R14 so I can try the digital sculpting feature. Ive played around with Mudbox and Zbrush in the past and loved that organic way of creating elements, so cant wait to try it in CINEMA 4D.

Adobe After Effects CS6: Learn by Video

Adobe After Effects is an incredibly deep and rich set of tools for creating motion graphics, manipulating movies, adding visual effects, and more. In this Learn by Video course, created in partnership with Peachpit Press, experts Todd Kopriva and Angie Taylor teach you how to make the most of this powerful software, including the new features in After Effects CS6.

After getting an overview of the workflow and the user interface, you will learn how to bring assets into After Effects and configure the software for optimum performance. You will also learn a range of compositing features, including the new variable-width masks and 3D camera tracker features, as well as basic masking and color keying.

Tips on everything from troubleshooting and avoiding common problems to creating finished movie files round out this comprehensive training. There are also some great tips for getting your CINEMA 4D projects into After Effects.

More info: Adobe After Effects CS6: Learn by Video

Free Sample Videos

Preparing CINEMA 4D Projects for After Effects CS6

http://youtu.be/xV0mUx2ZCHo

Compositing CINEMA 4D Multipass Renders in After Effects CS6

http://youtu.be/CudZuA4svUs

Contacting Angie:

Get in touch with Angie via her website, Twitter or Facebook:

www.angietaylor.co.uk

twitter.com/theangietaylor

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