Create a 3D Animated Logo in Cinema 4D and After Effects
Let’s learn how to turn a flat 2D image into a 3D animated logo with Cinema 4D and After Effects.
Whether it’s for a customer project or for your own purposes, you may need to take a great 2D image and turn it into a 3D logo. While this may seem like a daunting task, it really isn’t. With a combination of Illustrator, Cinema 4D, and After Effects, anyone can create a high-quality 3D animated logo. As Holly Bretschneider alluded to in this great article, using high-quality 3D animation is a great way to set your work (and your client’s end product) above the rest and take your portfolio to the next level.
From 2D Image to 3D Animated Logo
To teach us how to do this very thing, let’s check out the video below from professional motion graphics artist Sean Frangella as he takes us through the steps of recreating the Seattle Seahawks logo. Some of the topics that Frangella covers include:
- How to take vector image from Illustrator and save it properly so it will work nicely with Cinema 4D
- Open the Illustrator file or Merge it into Cinema 4D for extruding and adding materials
- Finishing out the logo and animation in After Effects
PART ONE: Importing the Image and Extruding the Logo
PART TWO: Animating the Logo and Adding Effects and Depth Pass
Crafting an Animated Title Sequence
Here’s another tutorial that you’ve probably seen before here on PremiumBeat. It’s worth re-sharing simply because it’s a very solid tutorial. In the video, Nick Campbell from Greyscalegorilla breaks down the steps for generating animated title sequences using Cinema 4D and After Effects.
PART ONE: Creating the Logo and Setting the Material and Environment
PART TWO: Taking the Render from Cinema 4D and Finishing It out in After Effects
Get Inspired by These Animations
Now that we know how to create a high-quality logo animation using Illustrator, Cinema 4D and After Effects, we just need to get inspired. Take a look at some of our favorite logo animations and then try to make one of your own If you get stuck, there’s plenty of additional inspiration to be found at From Up North.
Papa Logo Animation by KROL
Alessandra Leone Artist Logo Animation by Alessandra Leone
Anamaskin Logo Animation by Mohammed Alhiwy
Plus One Amsterdam Logo Animation by Sander van Dijk
Pause Festival Logo Animation by Dima Grubin
Adobe Creative Cloud Logo Animation by ROCKNROLLER STUDIOS
FanPlus Logo Animation II by Fernando Lazzari
Got any favorite 3D logo animations that you would like to share? Let us know in the comments below!