School of Motion
Your journey to Cinema 4D greatness begins now.
Enter the third dimension
When you know your way around Cinema 4D, it’s like having a super power. Adding 3D to your toolkit is one of the best ways to up your value and expand your capabilities as a Motion Designer. The trouble is, the software is deep and can be tricky to learn.
Cinema 4D Basecamp will take you from zero to “wow, I’m really comfortable in Cinema 4D” in just a few weeks. This class is designed for artists with little to no experience in the software, and gets you up to speed with all of the key aspects of Cinema 4D.
Learn Cinema 4D from the Ground Up
From Day 1 you’ll be learning best practices... no bad habits to unlearn later. You’ll be doing exercises and challenges based in the world of Motion Design, and using the software just like the pros do. Your Cinema 4D chops will develop at an astonishing rate.
As with all of our session-based courses, our Teaching Assistants will be critiquing your work, providing tech support and helping you every step of the way so that your Cinema 4D skills (and general 3D knowledge) are as strong as possible by the end of the course.
What will you learn in Cinema 4D Basecamp?
Modeling and Texturing
Generators, Primitives, and Geometry... oh my!
Animation
Keyframes and other movement methods.
MoGraph Toolset
Feel the power of the MoGraph system in Cinema 4D.
Compositing
Learn to make your 3D and 2D play nice together.
Cameras and Staging
Cinematography and Layout are key skills that you’ll learn.
Lighting Basics
Sculpt your images using light and shadow.
EJ Hassenfratz
Course Instructor
EJ Hassenfratz is a multi-Emmy award winning Motion Design artist & tutorial artist based out of the Mile High city of Denver, CO.
EJ comes from a family of designers. Both his father and uncle were Art Directors for broadcast news stations, where EJ cut his teeth in the industry. Inspired by his wife who teaches special-needs children, he started Eyedesyn.com, a motion graphics tutorial blog to give back to the community that helped him be successful in the field of Motion Design. He’s been fortunate to work with clients like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, ESPN, and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
When he's not making Bob Ross references in his tutorials, he's hiking with his wife and design assistant pug, Gus, throughout the colorful state of Colorado. He's also a fan of craft beer...drinking more different kinds of beer in a year than the average person drinks in a lifetime.
EJ's Clients Include:
Course Format
Realistic, useful examples and challenges.
Cinema 4D is a deep program, and can be used in dozens of different ways. This course is focused on using the app as a Motion Design tool. If you’re an After Effects artist looking to add Cinema 4D to your arsenal, this course is built just for you.
You’ll learn the necessary tools and techniques in a MoGraph-centric setting. All those design and animation skills will be put to good use here.
Vent, Celebrate, and Create with your peers.
Going through a School of Motion course is a one-of-a-kind experience. You’ll be hanging out (virtually, of course) with a group of other aspiring MoGraphers in a private Facebook Group. You’ll be inspired, encouraged, and even critiqued by your fellow students and TA’s.
You’ll have support and a large group of new friends to geek out with, but you’ll also benefit from looking at tons of work. You’ll see dozens of other takes on the same project you have, plus concepts and designs to inspire you.
Personalized, Actionable Feedback
Every student is assigned a Teaching Assistant who will follow you every step of the way and who will provide guidance, feedback, and answers to any questions you may have. You can lean on them when the going gets tough (and it will).
You’ll regularly upload work-in-progress to our Homework Locker and get precise comments and draw-overs on your work. You’ll get suggestions and notes that will push your work to the next level and give you a taste of the revision process.
The Summit awaits!
Each Wednesday we’ll release The Summit, a video series that checks in on your session’s work and highlights some of the best work that’s been produced so far. Your instructor, EJ, will also dive a bit deeper into each topic.
The Summit is a time to celebrate wins, to learn a bit more, and to get your brain even more tuned in to the world of 3D.
Insights and tips from Cinema 4D Wizards.
As with all of our courses, we’ve put together a Cinema 4D Basecamp podcast series that fills in the gaps in your knowledge and keeps you inspired. This series features interviews with Brett Morris, Melissa Oakely, Renzo Reyes, Ryan Summers, John Dickinson, David Ariew, Robin Haddow, and the man, the myth, Beeple!
Access hundreds of Project Files.
With every student completing something unique, you’ll see a lot of amazing work that you’ll be curious about. If you see something you like (or don’t know how to pull off) you can download any students’ project files via the Homework Locker.
This is an opportunity that you won’t get in any other setting, take full advantage of it!
Maxon with the Hookup!
In case you needed more proof that Maxon is one of coolest companies on the planet, check this out: When you sign up for a session of Cinema 4D Basecamp, Maxon will provide you with a short-term license of the full Studio version of Cinema 4D for use in this course! You'll have the entire application at your disposal while you learn the ropes. Awesome!
License for educational purposes only. Commercial usage is prohibited.
Bootcamp Schedule
Orientation
Meet classmates, get comfy with the camp format, and dive right in with your first project designed to build that muscle memory!
May we Model?
Nothing happens in 3D until there’s some geometry, and in the first week you’ll learn about all the various ways to create it. You’ll use primitives, splines, generators, and you’ll even get a crash course in some basic modeling techniques.
A Light Touch
In the world of 3D it’s lighting that shapes your image. You’ll learn the basics of lighting techniques, ways to create more realistic lighting and shadows, how to control reflections, and other ways to light the scene besides using… ya know, lights.
Ketchup Week: Learn with a purpose
Take a week off to catch up on any lessons and homework you’re behind on. We’ll also use this time to give you some insights on how to approach learning something as complex and deep as a 3D package. Watch out for a cameo from Beeple.
Smooth Moves
You’re a Motion Designer, right? Let’s work on the Motion part. You’ll learn how the keyframe and graph editor systems work in Cinema 4D, and you’ll also learn many other ways to create movement using some of the amazing tools built-in to the software.
MoGraph Madness
The MoGraph tools in Cinema 4D are incredibly powerful, and will give you wizard-like abilities once you wrap your head around the way they work. This week dives deep into this toolset with lessons on modeling and animating using MoGraph.
Ketchup Week: Manage Thy Scene
Another down week to catch up on work! We’ll also go into the weeds a bit to talk about scene management. Yeah, not so sexy… but it’ll save your render times. Learn the tricks of the trade and keep your scenes nice and optimized.
The Stage is Set
In this week, we’ll focus on using the principle of Staging and the camera tools to create well composed scenes and dynamic camera movement. To work in 3D, you need to become a bit of a Cinematographer, and we’ve got you covered.
Classy Compositing
Many times, you’ll find that you need to combine your 3D elements with your 2D stuff. After Effects and Cinema 4D play very nicely together, and in this week we’ll tackle a real-world project to teach you how to use all of your MoGraph apps in tandem.
Extended Critique
You’ve got an additional 3 weeks to finish your final project and to get targeted feedback from your Teaching Assistant. This piece should be a great one for your reel, so take advantage of the resources available to you in Cinema 4D Basecamp
And once you’ve reached the end?
At the end of Cinema 4D Basecamp you are inducted into the Alumni Facebook Group where you can join the amazing, worldwide network of School of Motion students. The networking that takes place in this group is priceless, and many students have gotten freelance work from the connections they’ve made here.
What's included with the course?
Cinema 4D Basecamp is jam-packed with lessons, project files and content. You won’t know what hit you.
Cinema 4D Basecamp contains
- Over 30 hours of video instruction.
- Exercises & Project files for every lesson.
- Interviews with Cinema 4D titans and wizards.
- Private class podcast featuring interviews and insights.
- In-depth PDFs to support your 3D skills.
- Personalized critiques on your work from TA's.
- A private Facebook Group just for your Basecamp session.
- Weekly episodes of The Summit.
- 100’s of your fellow students’ Project Files to dig through.
- Extra critique time and catch-up weeks.