Animated Texture on a surface

[Tazok]

Hello !

I need to animate a panel control (like the one on the first screenshot but the temperature gonna up and down etc...) but i don't know really how to do it (the animation of the panel is not a problem, it's just simple motion design, but it's how to apply it in cinema 4D and on my surface properly).

I was thinking of doing the animation in after effects, export it as a high resolution video and use this video like a texture on my surface (The yellow one on the screenshot).

There is a good way for apply a video on a surface ?
(because the only tutorial i found are very old)
Is it a good idea or there is a other way more professional ?

I must do a very close look of the panel, with reflection on it, because it's made of glass (like tactil touch), so it must be very high quality export and render.

Does anyone know the best way to do this please ?

[Beanzvision]

Hi, you can easily use a light material with an .mp4 video. Click on the animation tab and calculate. Set the frames as desired. Apply to mesh and render. This will only show that it's animated in the final render, it does not work in IR.

[BigAl3D]

Depending on how time consuming your rendering takes, you could also use C4D's External Compositing Tag. If your animation takes 4 hours to render, you might get stuck if you need to make changes to the video or other info on the panel. Might not apply in this case, but it's a very powerful workflow.

Here's a spot I made years ago with the Physical Render Engine. I cringe looking at it now, but I digress. It's a bunch of steps, but after doing the 3D rendering to PNGs and compositing in After Effects, each "screen" panel comes in as a 3D solid layer with corner pin I think. Once you make a new comp based on that layer, you can swap out the contents of that 2D comp and it rotates, masks, etc. in 3D space as you see in the video. This way, I was able to use this as a shell and make 5 more videos with different cars, or even change the client with relatively few clicks. It worked really well once I got it set up. Lots of using the Take system too.

https://vimeo.com/tier10studios/review/259029491/19ecbde4af

[Tazok]

Here's a spot I made years ago with the Physical Render Engine. I cringe looking at it now, but I digress. It's a bunch of steps, but after doing the 3D rendering to PNGs and compositing in After Effects, each "screen" panel comes in as a 3D solid layer with corner pin I think. Once you make a new comp based on that layer, you can swap out the contents of that 2D comp and it rotates, masks, etc. in 3D space as you see in the video. This way, I was able to use this as a shell and make 5 more videos with different cars, or even change the client with relatively few clicks. It worked really well once I got it set up. Lots of using the Take system too.

Seems really clean ! Ok i don't know if i'm gonna do like this because my case is a bit different but i note the idea, thanks.

And don't forget to GO BIG ! :D

Hi, you can easily use a light material with an .mp4 video. Click on the animation tab and calculate. Set the frames as desired. Apply to mesh and render. This will only show that it's animated in the final render, it does not work in IR.

Ok thanks, seems hard without the pre-render possibility, you must do it in blind mode but i'm gonna try in few days, i will tell you the result !

[Cinemike]

Hi, you can easily use a light material with an .mp4 video. Click on the animation tab and calculate. Set the frames as desired. Apply to mesh and render. This will only show that it's animated in the final render, it does not work in IR.

Ok thanks, seems hard without the pre-render possibility, you must do it in blind mode but i'm gonna try in few days, i will tell you the result !

^
Fun Fact:
The C4D native material can display a video texture "live" when you check "Animate Preview" in the "Viewport" tab of the material.
I either use a C4D native material here (Corona can render them fine, at least the important channels) or use such material for previews and timing and later exchange it on the object.