Kingston College (ENG)
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One of the best places in the UK to learn CINEMA 4D is Kingston College, Surrey, England. Not only has Kingston been using CINEMA 4D on various courses since the days of Release 5 in 1999 but even we at MAXON were seriously impressed when we saw the latest work created by the college's talented students. From character animation to matte painting to funky sound-driven motion graphics effects, it was not only the quality of the work produced by Kingston's skillful students that caught the eye, but the sheer variety of work demonstrated in these projects. Little wonder that you'll find graduates of Kingston's BA (Hons) Digital Arts course in most areas where multi-skilled digital professionals are at work, from motion graphics, to matte painting, to visual effects. Check out three student projects from the third year of the BA (Honors) Digital Arts Degree course, plus find out why Kingston College chooses CINEMA 4D. "Calder" by Shkelzen Kernaja"This is a short 3D animation based on the sculpture and painting of the American artist Alexander Calder. The key to the project was effective use of lighting and understanding how to control the animation using sound in CINEMA 4D." – Shkelzen Kernaja. The Sound Effector in CINEMA 4D was used together with a Cloner object to drive the animation so that the animation was in synch to the music. These tools form part of the MoGraph toolset, which is used by leading motion graphics artists to create some of the best adverts and idents on TV today. "Shelter" by Josh Minh Bui, Nick Martin and Karvan Swara"The final outcome was a futuristic cityscape shot compiled using green-screen footage stitched together with photographs, concept art and a concept user interface along with 3D visual elements." – Josh Minh Bui. CINEMA 4D's Projection Man matte painting tools were used throughout this project to simplify the management and projection of 80 separate building layers. Used by leading matte painters to bring cities and landscapes to life, the Projection Man tools were co-developed with Sony Pictures Imageworks for use in blockbuster features such as Polar Express, Open Season and Beowulf. "Wings" by Govinder Gabria"I wanted to create a seemingly conventional and sentimental 3D animation, but with a humorous, sharp and challenging ending. It only became clear once I started that the piece would be improved by the absurdity of the ending. So I then improvised and played on this to emphasize the ending." – Govinder Gabria. To create the character animation, Govinder found the new rigging tools in CINEMA 4D R13 a massive help. Technology aside, Govinder recalls that the biggest help of all was filming himself as a reference to help create the character movements and to improve the timing. Govinder also used the BodyPaint 3D painting tools in CINEMA 4D, which have been used to texture characters in Hollywood films, major games and more. |
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"CINEMA 4D is often the reason students come to us in the first place"
Kingston College started teaching Release 5 of CINEMA 4D in 1999 as a visualization tool to 16 to 18-year-old product design students. Focused on keeping the curriculum abreast of new technology, Kingston swiftly rolled out the use of CINEMA 4D across a range of courses.
Today, Kingston College teaches CINEMA 4D at degree and lower level courses. CINEMA 4D Studio is a central piece of software taught throughout all areas of the BA (Hons) Digital Arts Degree course, from games design, where CINEMA 4D is used together with Unity, to create visual effects, where CINEMA 4D is combined with SynthEyes and Adobe After Effects. According to Mark Owen, program leader, BA (Hons) Digital Arts Degree course, CINEMA 4D is a magnet for attracting students to Kingston: "CINEMA 4D is often the reason why our students come to us in the first place. They love CINEMA 4D. One of its greatest features is its depth. There is always another area or skillset in the software waiting for our students to add to their arsenal of tools."
Deep Yet Easy to Use
Relatively easy to use and packed with powerful features, CINEMA 4D helps students get going in 3D then push themselves using the latest state-of-the-art 3D features, such as industry-leading motion graphics tools. "It was simple to get to grips with when we started the course, but as our knowledge of how to use CINEMA 4D progressed we could really push CINEMA 4D to its limits, in our eyes at least," confirms Josh Minh Bui. Shkelzen Kernaja adds, "I love CINEMA 4D. It's very versatile. I have yet to hit something I need to do that it can't do." "The key thing is how easy it is to learn, yet it retains the depth of features I want. I'm always learning cool new things," says Govinder Gabria.
New Version, New Challenges
Almost every year since its creation there has been a major feature-packed release of CINEMA 4D. The latest additions to the character animation toolset in CINEMA 4D R13 have not gone unnoticed by Kingston. "We are particularly excited by the expanded character tools and look forward to developing that aspect of our course further," states Mark enthusiastically.
Kingston College: www.kingston-college.ac.uk
