Easily Create a 3D Paint Stroke Using After Effects and C4D

Kevin Synder uses some back-and-forth workflow using After Effects, Cinema 4D, and then back to After Effects to create a unique and dynamic looking 3D painted stoke. The workflow includes building the initial paint stroke or “effect” in After Effects. Adding Stock images and textures will make the 3D Paint Stroke look much more believable and add some needed details.

Learn how to create and animate eye catching 3D paint strokes using a combination of After Effects and Cinema 4DKevin Synder – AEtuts.com

Using the Sortie script will make short work of sequencing the paint drip layers, and setting keys for the initial stroke to “draw on” are all the animation retirement needed from After Effects to create the paint look. Using the Sortie script offers you much more control over sequencing any number of layers in Ae, allowing you to sort or randomize layers based on criteria such as: position, opacity, distance from a point, and others.

Once the animated paint stroke has been created in Ae, the rendered output will be used to place onto a ribbon in Cinema 4D. The 3D portion of the paint stroke is achieved by creating a simple spline in C4D and sweeping it into a 3D shape, and placing the rendered animated stoke output from After Effects as a texture.

Adding a dynamic camera movement in Cinema 4d rounds out the 3D work for the project, then it is back to After Effects for some final compositing and some post additions. Check out the tutorial for creating Animated 3D Paint Strokes Using After Effects and Cinema 4D here.