MoGraph Cinema 4D: 3D motion design tutorial

A short introduction: In this training you will learn the basics of Cinema 4D's MoGraph module. You will need either the Studio or the Broadcast version of Cinema 4D. You should also already be somewhat familiar with the program interface.

The clone object is one of the central objects when working with MoGraph. It can be used to duplicate and arrange objects and make them available for further work in MoGraph. You can also centrally control and edit your created clones here.

With the clone object, you can arrange clones not only linearly, as a grid or honeycomb shape. In Object mode, you have the option of distributing the clones on freely defined 3D objects or splines. The distribution can be random or based on the number of polygons or points, for example.

The matrix object works in a similar way to the cloner. However, no objects are subordinated here. Instead, it automatically creates placeholders for "real" clones and distributes them in the scene. It is also suitable for use with Thinking Particles.

Clones can be influenced in MoGraph in different ways using a variety of effectors. The simplest effector is the Simpel effector, which is used here as an example to show you how effectors work in general.

The step effector influences clones step by step based on their internal numbering, while the random effector breaks up the overall picture a little with random transformations. With the help of these two effectors, we build a tower of cubes that are carried away towards the top.

With the new displace effect introduced in Release 18, unwanted overlapping of clones is a thing of the past. The different modes thin out the clone field, move clones or scale them smaller until overlaps have completely disappeared. Although the effector does not work miracles, it helps in many cases.

The sound effector reads the volume information of different frequencies of an audio file and thus determines the strength of the set transformations. This makes it very easy to move clones to the rhythm of a piece of music without having to set a single keyframe.

The delay effector is an effector that you can almost always use. It helps to smooth out movements so that they are less jerky. You have the choice between a smooth transition and a slightly livelier, bouncier movement.

The shader effector controls the transformation of your clones via textures. You can either define your own texture for the effector or assign a material from the scene to the effector. The shader effector becomes really exciting in combination with an animated texture or a video.

The time effector brings movement to our clones without us having to set a single keyframe. Transformations are simply applied per second. Perfect for anyone who doesn't want to set keyframes.

You can use the aim effector to influence the direction in which your clones look. For example, they can look in the direction of a defined target object and follow it when it moves. The effector can also be set so that the clones follow the camera or move out of the way when they touch it. This is helpful when moving the camera through the clone objects.

The volume effector only influences the clones that are located within a previously defined volume, i.e. polygon object. This allows clones to react to touching an animated object, for example.

The spline effector arranges clones based on a spline you define. Not only can you simply distribute the clones along a line, you can also use it to influence and animate the entire clone object.

The inheritance effector passes on selected properties of a previously defined object to clones. However, the morph motion object function can also be used to transfer the properties of one clone object to another, making it very easy to blend between different shapes without having to use a particle system.

The number jugglers among you will certainly be delighted with this effector. With the formula effector, you can use mathematical formulas to influence or animate your clones to your heart's content. Again, completely without keyframes.

The group effector is ideal for maintaining an overview in complex scenes or simply transferring effector combinations to other clone objects. It can be used to combine several effectors into a group so that only one effector needs to be assigned. The new ReEffector introduced in R18 takes things a step further. It provides you with a complete control center for your effectors.

You can put the finishing touches to your MoGraph scene with selection and weighting. Selections can be used to choose which clone each effector should influence and which it should not. The new weighting introduced in R18 goes one step further and allows you to set the strength of the effector effect for each clone individually.

Effectors can of course also be used outside of MoGraph. They then function as normal deformers. You just have to pay attention to one or two small things.

The break object can be used to influence "normal" 3D objects with effectors. This MoGraph object can be particularly effective with composite objects.

With the Voronoi break object newly added in R18, polygon objects can be broken down into individual fragments. These can be further influenced with effectors or used in simulations with Dynamics.

With the MoInstanz object, you can take a little trip back in time with animated objects. Depending on the settings, it brings the object back into the scene as a clone in the state of past frames, which can then be edited as usual with effectors.

The MoText object works like a text spline in an extrude object. However, it also offers additional options. The entire text, paragraphs or words down to individual letters can be influenced like clones with effectors.

The tracer object creates splines based on other objects. This means that not only the points of animated polygon objects can be "traced", but also particle systems, for example. The tracer object itself can then be processed in the same way as a "normal" spline, for example in a sweep object.

The MoSpline object is a spline generator that can create a variety of splines based on different settings. This allows complex shapes to be created with simple means. It also enables the editing of ordinary splines with MoGraph objects such as effectors.

The Turtle mode of the MoSpline contains a complete Lindenmayer system, which is usually used to simulate plant growth. However, the application is of course not limited to this. Due to the enormous scope of this system, only a brief insight is given here.

With MoExtrude, MoGraph extrudes the polygons of an object according to your wishes. The extrusions are treated like clones and can also be influenced by effectors.

With the PolyFX object, polygon objects are made available for effectors without any detours, simply subordinate them and you're done. You can either disassemble the polygon objects completely or influence the entire object instead and only have it torn apart with stronger transformations.

When it takes longer again ... Complex scenes with many clones and effectors consume a lot of resources, as all movements and effects have to be calculated in real time. Sooner or later, even the best computer will come to its knees. To prevent this, there is the MoGraph cache, in which everything is calculated once and then saved. To keep your C4D file nice and small, the cache can also be stored in an external file.

There are different ways to color clones, and you don't always have to create extra materials for this. With the color shader, you can influence the shaders of clones that have been colored in other ways and make additional material channels available.

The multi-shader distributes different textures to a clone arrangement. The distribution can take place in different ways and depends either on the color of the clone or its number in the internal sequence of the clone object.

The camera shader transfers the image of a cinema camera from the scene as a texture onto a material. This makes it possible to create beautiful infinity effects, but surveillance cameras also transfer their image live into the scene and do not have to be inserted afterwards.

The beat shader is an inherently animated shader that varies its color between white and black based on a curve. This makes it possible to visualize all kinds of even rhythms and frequencies. It is naturally predestined for use together with the shader effector.

In the final, short practical video, I will show you a few ways in which different MoGraph objects can be used in combination. Here we create a scene together in which fragments of a larger object float around and then slowly reassemble themselves. All with MoGraph on-board tools, without the use of particle systems.