We’ve talked about Cinema 4D Lite in the past on our blog. Here’s the TL:DR. Cinema 4D Lite is a stripped-down version of Cinema 4D that comes bundled with After Effects CC. It’s a great way to get started with 3D or to try your hand at C4D before jumping into the full package.
While there are lots of places to learn Cinema 4D online, not many focus on Cinema 4D Lite specifically.
Luckily, Athanasios Pozantzis has created a Cinema 4D Lite Reference Series over at Cineversity. And, it’s totally free to view with a basic Cineversity account. WooHoo!
The series includes 31 videos and covers a wide range of topics. It starts with a basic introduction before moving on to basics like launching C4D Lite and the C4D Lite interface.
Adding objects to scenes, moving, scaling, and rotating objects are up next. Then, it moves on to adding preset textures, as well as adding color and photographic textures.
Several other basic topics on models and model manipulation are up next before getting into the animation section.
There is quite a lot of reference here, and the series helps show just how powerful this free add-on to After Effects truly is.
Each section in the series is relatively short, usually clocking in between 3 and 9 minutes, but the entire series covers over 3 hours of training.
Several of the videos in the series come with free downloadable files that correspond to the video. You can access these files by clicking on the Information tab while the video is loaded.
This overview from Pozantzis is quite thorough, and since it’s free, it’s totally worth watching. Cinema 4D Lite really is a great asset to have at your fingertips as an After Effects user, and if you do decide to invest in a full Cinema 4D package in the future, you’ll have a great jumpstart by first learning C4D Lite.
If you’ve ever thought about incorporating 3D into your creative workflow, definitely try Cinema 4D Lite and definitely check out the Cinema 4D Lite Reference Series at Cineversity.
