E4 Brief – creating the E4 logo in Cinema4d

In this tutorial we learnt some of the basics of cinema 4d and how to create 3d objects using illustrator files.

We firstly created a number of folders which will contain all of our work. This is so we could keep our working methods separate from our outcomes.

I then opened the E4 logo which I had saved in illustrator from the unilearn page. I made the page full screen and clicked the cross between the two rulers, dragging it to the centre and snapping it to the middle. I then used the ‘artboard’ tool, which allowed me to crop the white negative space down so it fit round the e4 logo. I then saved this file as an ‘Illustrator 8’ file, as this is the latest version which is compatible with cinema4d.

I then opened cinema4d and changed the render settings so that the output was A3, the pixels changed to millimetres , and allowed shadows and changed the action safe to 95%. I saved this as a template.

I then created the scene. I double clicked on the material area to create a mat ball. I clicked & dragged it into the background and floor. I then selected the floor, then tags, then cinema4d tags. Then compositing > compositing background. I then saved this as the scene template.

I then wanted to add the logo document. To do this i selected merge > file > then imported the illustrator file. The logo appeared along with the red, green and blue arrows which represented the X, Y and Z dimensions. I dragged on the green arrow until the logo was touching the floor. I then used subdivision > extrude and dragged the e4 logo onto extrude in the layers panel, making sure the arrow was pointing down then I did this. The logo then became 3d. To change the thickness of the 3d I dragged the z axis. To create rounded edges I changed the caps option to ‘fillet cap’, with 3 steps and a radius of 0.5cm.

In the unilearn area there were purple and white versions of the E4 logo. I saved both of these and then merged each with the cinema4d document and merged each with extrudes, naming these both ‘purple’ and ‘white’.

To add colour to my document I clicked in the material area to create a new material. I used the colour picker to change it to white and I unticked luminance in the basic settings to remove the shadow. I dragged this material onto the extrude named ‘white’ to colour the object. I then repeated this with the purple colour, using the RGB settings of R at 110, G at 30 and B at 125. This gave the purple of the e4 logo. I moved this onto the purple extrude. I changed the purple object movement to 150(z) and the white to 120(z). I then moved the white path over the purple path to reveal the colours.

I right clicked on the two extrudes to group them together. The new layer was named ‘null’ even though everything is still in the hierarchy. I changed this to ‘logo’.

My next task was to add text. I selected MoGraph > MoText. I changed the alignment to the middle and changed the text to my logo. I changed the colour by adding a material onto the text and I also got rid of the reflection.

I then added a bend to my text. I created this as a layer and dragged it onto the text layer to activate it. I clicked ‘fit to parent’ to make it surround the text. I manually entered the co ordinates for the R.P at 90 degrees and the R.B at 90 degrees. I went back to the object and again clicked ‘fit to parent’ to change the strength.

I then revealed the logo again and selected the scale tool. I clicked on both areas of the logo to scale the whole thing. I scaled the logo so that it sat between the gap in the text.

I then created a camera and positioned it in front of the logo. The camera would act as a first person point of view. I added lighting to my work and used the red and green arrows to position the light so it was above the image to illuminate it and create shadows. I changed the general settings so there was no illumination. I tinted this light slightly blue.

I then added another light to the right and behind the text, shining onto the other shadow to lessen the harshness of it. I tinted this slightly orange. I added another light which faced behind the text to give the logo a glow, and I changed the background to a darker grey so it could be seen clearer.

E4 Brief – Developed designs

 

Here I developed an initial idea that I favoured from one of my ideas. When developing ideas I was instructed to choose one of my initial ideas and develop it further, which allowed me to add more detail and different variations of imagery to match the same strapline. I decided to use my first idea with the strapline ‘Just Don’t’, which I have used as a parody against Nike’s popular campaign ‘Just Do it’.

Nike is famous for sportswear and equipment, therefore the strap line ‘Just Do it’ promotes activity, healthy living and an active lifestyle. My idea was to change the strap line to ‘Just Don’t’, which emphasizes on the idea of simply sitting in front of the TV and watching E4. E4 also added a similar style to the program ‘The Phone Shop’, in which they parodied a current advert for ‘Orange Mobile’:

The adverts both use the same text therefore the parody effect can easily be identified, however the straplines are similar which also adds to the comedy. The E4 advertisement also shows that an advert can still be effective even if it is very simple.

E4 brief – initial designs

 

To start off with our Estings brief we were given the task to come up with some initial designs and our initial taglines to go with the designs. After coming up with a list of potential taglines I experimented with initial first ideas to get a look and feel of what the poster would look like, and it also gave me a sense of image placement when I used the rule of 3. I drew my initial ideas using pencil first and then outlined them in fineliner pen. I used 5x7cm boxes to fill a page of 8 ideas which were quickly sketched down for reference. Completing initial ideas is good practice as it allows the comparison between different ideas to determine which would be the best idea to bring forward. From these initial ideas I will choose an idea that I like and expand on this.

E4 Brief – Brief analysis (Wednesday 15th October)

For our studio brief in Jay’s tutorials we have been instructed to create a poster or an animation for the popular free view channel E4. This project is based along the lines of the current Esting project that e4 runs, which allows members of the public to design and send in adverts in between programs which advertise the programme. The Esting website and current entries can be seen here:
www.estings.e4.com

The focus of the poster/animation will be on the typography, graphic design and the virtual set building when using Cinema 4D. We must capture the look and feel of the E4 channel using the E4 logo (above), our personal heading for the poster, a specific focus on 3D typography, use of the e4 deep purple colour and a consideration for composition.

We must support our design with initial and developed ideas, experimentations both on paper and on screen as well as justification for our project choices. We must document all our work for this project on our blogs.