One of the things we talk about a lot on this blog is the importance of being a Hands-On Producer.
A major reason we broke into the business as quickly as we did was the fact that we produced “great tape.” Video pitches for our TV and film ideas that looked and felt like professional promos. Since we couldn’t afford to pay people to make our promos, we learned programs like Final Cut Pro, After Effects, and Cinema 4D so that we could make “pretty graphics” on our own.
Want to get into 3D?
If you’re looking to improve the look of your pitch tapes, and considering a 3D program, here’s my suggestion: download the free trial of Cinema 4D and go live at Nick Campbell’s blog, GreyScaleGorilla. Nick does incredible how-to videos on Cinema 4D that are freely available on his blog, and I personally am stealing his techniques on a daily basis (thanks, Nick!)
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Nick also has great tutorials on After Effects and Photoshop.
HDRI Light Kit Pro
Today, Nick released a new kit for Cinema 4D called the HDRI Light Kit Pro. The kit itself is inexpensive ($69), although to use it you need to own one of the more expensive versions of Cinema 4D. That said, I already bought the kit, and will personally be saving a lot of time lighting my 3D logos and scenes. I’m already using it to create a logo for one of our VH1 reality pilots. Can’t show you that due to NDA, but will try to post some other samples soon.
Real World Lights
One AWESOME feature of the kit is the ability to light your scenes with real-world style lighting. If you’re a cinematographer and want to light a CG scene in a real-world manner you’re familiar with, using things like soft boxes, spotlights, and ring lights, it’s super easy to do. The HDRI Light Kit Pro even comes with studio presets…just pop in your logo, 3D car, or whatever your want, and it’s instantly lit to perfection.
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Right for You?
This may be more than you’re ready for, but for those of you who’ve been considering Cinema 4D, Nick Campbell, his awesome blog, and the HDRI Light Kit Pro are three more reasons to make the leap.
Here’s Nick’s intro video about the HDRI Light Kit Pro and how easy it is to get great results:
HDRI Light Kit Pro Demo Tutorial from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.