Exploring 3D Animation: Thoughts and Reflections
Moving from more 2D applications to 3D applications we wen onto exploring how to use the basics of 3D modelling software and how to add lighting to that. It was very difficult in my opinion but I’m definitely open to exploring and learning it more. 3D modelling and animation is very important in today’s industry as it’s used almost everywhere whether basic or not; it is still used frequently. We used a software called Cinema 4D a commercially used software that offers a bunch of tools to model in 3d and from opening the application I will say I was utterly confused as i’d never used any type of 3D software before. I sourced a free model from (https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-hebe-102801) that we ended up using to learn the basics of what the software could do. I then ended up changing my model and it didn’t work in favour for me.
At first it seemed to be going well but past that point it didn’t go the way i wanted it to and it seemed that the model i chose was too big; i struggled a lot. From adding the base model i didn’t change the texture that much, i did play around with different materials but i didn’t end up liking them. After that we added light to the model and the way we did it is very similar to adding a null object in after effects just with light; i also made my light a lilac colour.
Font was later added and i messed around with the sizing and font typefaces and again it just really seemed complicated to me as i’d never done 3D moddeling pior to this. I do think that it’s important in industry and i believe it’s something that i want to practice and learn more but it’ll take time to do so. We played around with the font and mapped it so that we could inflate it and break it apart. Again this is something that was really out of my comfort zone and i really struggled to get a hang of it. After that we looked at the different effects you could add and how you could animate them in cinema 4D and that’s where i think i struggled the most.
I really wanted to understand it more so while browsing I found a book called Ellery Connell’s 3D for Graphic Designers and it wasn't a typical step-by-step instruction kind of book, rather it was more like a new world of design thinking. The publication starts with the basics of 3D—modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering—but what really got my attention was the fact that the whole concept is very different from the traditional 2D one. I had a hard time understanding the technical side of things, particularly the software tools and the mental visualization of building figures that have three dimensions and not just two. However, the book points out that 3D is capable of opening up a whole new range of creative potential, giving the designer the possibility of depth, realism, and flexibility that 2D cannot always provide. For me, it was like a mirror to my own work: the technical side was so overwhelming sometimes and yet I started to see that 3D is not so much about instantly mastering every tool as it is about getting a different take on how design can be in space.
[Connell, E. (2011). 3D for Graphic Designers. John Wiley & Sons.]
I felt the need to push myself beyond my comfort zone while working through this brief. Figuring out 3D design basics was already a pretty tough task for me, as it compelled me to rethink space, form, and how the design could be something other than a flat surface. Often I was finding myself wrestling with tools and processes, and while I started to see the 3D potential, the technical part was something that I could not handle completely and felt quite scary sometimes.
It went on to become even more complicated when we were talking about effects and animation in Cinema 4D. That was the place where I was feeling the least of my abilities, as the complexity of the animation of the elements involved adding another layer I wasn't quite familiar with. Anyway, the situation made me think about the importance of venturing into the unknown which showed to me that growth comes from being uncomfortable and although I did not achieve proficiency, I was able to see 3D and motion design in a new light and realise how they can be a great help in the creative process.
