Adding a C4D element to Ae-animation using Cineware

[ChristianAaltonen]

Hello,

I have this trouble:

I have complex animation build in Ae and I want the paper plane build in C4D to fly around the scene in 3D. I made some tests when combining C4D object and 3D-enabled shape layers, and it seems to me, that even the shape layers and C4D scene are in the same composition, they both have their own 3D space, so they cannot meet. For example I was not able to move the shape layer behind the C4D object changing the Z-coordinate of the shape layer. The shape layer becommes smaller and smaller, as it was moving away from camera, but it was still in front of the C4D object and never collided with it.

Does it mean, that the Cineware does not create true 3D space, where Ae-objects and C4D objects can meet? Does it mean, that if C4D layer is the last one, any 3D layer above cannot move behind it in 3D space? So is Cineware good just for adding non-dimensional Adjustment layers to C4D scene? Don't tell me that…

Some things are hard to create as a faux 3D. For example the paper plane, which changes perspective when flying around the scene. I just thought, that it would be possible to incoprporate a Sketch&Tooned-C4Dobject into the 3D Ae scene with one shared camera.

Thank you in advance for any help

[Dave_LaRonde · Accepted solution]

ChristianAaltonen wrote:

Does it mean, that the Cineware does not create true 3D space, where Ae-objects and C4D objects can meet?

That is correct.  When you render out a 3D animation from C4D, the result is a 2D layer.  It's like a photograph:  you can see the 3D depth in the image, but you can;t reach into it and touch things.

[ChristianAaltonen]

Thank you Dave.

OK then — combining a Ae-scene with some 3D object is not as easy. Maybe a ton of masks & alpha channel would do the job. So sticking to the faux-3D is the fastest way?

http://www.giantant.ca/toms-the-toms-story

Here is awesome animated video from GianAnt: Threre are obviously some parts hand-drawn, some iare 3D and the most is probably 2D. In the credits below there are 2D and 3D animators listed. Do you have any idea how the 2D and 3D was composited together? Does it mean, that the compositing job must be done in 3D program, not Ae? (So render separate parts from Ae and combining them in C4D or NUKE?)