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In this supersized tutorial series, I’m going to go over the workflow to complete a 3D track using the new Foundry Camera Tracker in After Effects. In this first part we will go over the After Effects side of things. In the next tutorial we will head over into Cinema 4D where we will add 3D objects using the 3D track data! This is an amazing workflow, made possible by the Foundry Camera Tracker and the new Maxon Cinema4D Export plugin for After Effects. You can watch my Cinema4D Export plugin tutorial here: thepixellab.net/cinema-4d-tutorial-ae-c4d-maxon-plugin
For the best deal on the Foundry Camera Track, check out Toolfarm’s prices here: http://bit.ly/AccC0g
(Note: this is an affiliate link, so I will get a small amount if you purchase through this link. This will help keep The Pixel Lab going and I would appreciate it very much!)
Been using this workflow for a while now, but with the cinema4d export plugin is new, thnx for the tips,
example: pixellab model in real world:
http://youtu.be/sdLtJ0GVrL0
Cool, Rick! I love that camera track with the 3D car, that’s awesome!
Very cool tutorial, thanks very much !
Perfect! Looking forward to Part 2. I’ve taken several Sytheyes courses over at fxphd and still haven’t totally wrapped my head around 3D tracking.
Nice overview Joren. Camera Tracker is insanely easy to use. Love it!
Also, The Foundry makes a great product called Rolling Shutter to combat skewed footage that can be common when panning too quickly with a DSLR.
This is great. And with the upcoming sale, too … good timing. Thanks.
Thank you for this wonderful tutorial Joren, looking forward to the next part.
great tutorial man, very clear, love it. How do you get the plugin to work for c4d/ae workflow? I went to Maxon site and downloaded it and got a zip file and 3 other files. Need help please. I tried dropping the files into AE in my appliacations folder but it didnt work. its cs5 and r12
Hey Evant, there are two different files you need. One is called C4DExporter.plugin and the other is Cinema4DAE.plugin. Both of those go into your Applications/AdobeAfterEffects/Plu-ins folder, then restart AE. That should work. You need to make sure you download the right version of the plugin also. If that doesn’t work I would contact Maxon about it. Hope that helps! Cheers,
Joren
You’re awesome Joren. Thanks for putting this together. I’ve been waiting for this plugin to simplify my workflow. Can’t wait for Part 2.
Thanks Kyle! If you are in the market, but haven’t bought yet, wait till January 24th, there’s a HUGE 40% off sale at toolfarm. I’ll post a link to it on my blog, so check back next week for that if you want…
Hiya, Does anyone know if you can use the Maxon exporter with C4D 12 and CS5.5?
Hey Tom, yeah, it should work just fine. Go here to find a whole range of software versions to choose from: maxon.net/en/downloads/updates/plugins.html
Hej..great tutorial… but it doesn’t work with r12 and cs5.5 🙁 The plugin for R12 just has just the c4d to ae
tried the r13 exporter but the result is not so good in cinema…seems that oriantation is not working
any chance to find an other way to export cs5.5 to c4d R12??? please
/chris
I also have the a problem with the C4D positioning using the Maxon plugin. I understand that this could be related to C4D’s origin being (0,0,0) and AE’s being – in the case of 1080p (960,540,0).
In my exports from AE using Maxon’s plugin, all points occur *below* the ground plane, ie. in -Y space. Solids exports generally do appear correct as seen in Joren’s tutorial, but NULLs appear slightly offset when viewed in C4D with the original movie set as background.
There are references to a similar issue on the net which suggest de-parenting before using the pt_AEtoC4D script:
http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/topic/59737-cameratracker-plugin-problem/
but i’ve found no definitive workflow to get an accurate CameraTracker tracking data + NULLs from AE to C4D.
Just to get specific, my first frame AE Camera Position data is: (377, -330, 112) however when it is exported and viewed in C4D the first frame is: (327, 380, 112).
Does CameraTracker data need massaging before using Maxon’s AE plugin?
i’ve tried the R13 Demo and ther it works perfect 🙁
so the datas are made for R13. you can export and open in R12 but the positions are not correct…
that’s sad because at the moment i don’t need to upgrade to R13.
btw some told that they was able to use datas in R12. can you please tell your workflow.
thx
I followed your instructions exactly, but when I import my after effects export into c4d, the solid (that i set using the foundry) doesn’t match my shot. i set the solid to match my floor, but when I bring it into c4d, it is like 90 degrees vertical instead of flat. i have tried everything to figure this out and need some advice desperately. thanks.
@ turner… are you using R12 or R13? for me it just works great with R13 (Demo) and wit R12 the result is useless 🙁
Seems to be the word on the street, the documentation says it should work in R12, but the coordinates seem to be jacked up. I guess R13 must have changes that bring the data in correctly. Sorry Turner.
first of all: really impressive!!
but i do have one question. does anybody know if it is possible, not to track in a way, that the camera gets created, but what if i have a static shoot, and i want to track something which is moving in 3d?? is this possible with foundrys camera tracker?? for example tracking a head an later adding some 3d-objekts??
How do I add plugins to After Effects?
How do I add plugins “CINEMA4DAE.aex” to After Effects ?
I don’t know if anyone has a fix for it yet. But I have a similar problem where I create solids with CameraTracker in After Effects CS4, Use the export to Cinema 4D plugin, open the file in C4D R13, I do nothing except render the imported file. When I bring the render into After Effects, it looks fine on the first frame and then gets off track a few frames in. In theory this shouldn’t happen because i’m just importing the solids that were originally created in After Effects with no additions or changes. Anybody have any ideas?
i have the same problem. Solid from AE doesn’t match solid in C4d
A solution for that anyone?
think i solved it. Zero out the parenting null before export.
Very nice tut! Thank you for that!
But i’ve got the same problem, my re-imported solid into AE doesn’t match the original solid. it looks like its floating a bit.
I use AE 5.5 and C4D r13
@ Nicke, does it work? do you mean zero out the position of the solid or the first nullobject?
Somebody else who figured it out?
Thanks anyway
Thanks so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. And thank you for keeping it simple and on point.
THIS PLUGIN IS A MISS, PROBLEMS EVERYWHERE EXPORTING TO C4D R13!! 🙁 🙁 🙁
SOME NEW TUTORIAL HERE, ABOUT THE NULL 00-00-00 FIXING BEFORE EXPORTING, BUT I MAKE ALL GOOD IN AE, BUT WHEN EXPORTING TO C4D JUST BOUNCING AND MAKE A MISS MY COMP :/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfewJAtHh24
..NOW I USING “CineCat” PLUGIN FOR C4D TO TRACKING VIDEO DIRECTLY,ITS AMAZING :)! CHECK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh9kWJpggdE
Hey Joren
Great Tutorial, I was wondering how can I see the next one where you import the AE File with the Tracked Camera into C4D. When I do it the camera or scene seems to be upside down. Thanks
JUnIoR