motioneers.net » XPresso Lessons

XL#10 / Xmas Tree / Result

Robert Leger — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:25:44 +0000

Here’s the result tutorial for XPresso Lesson #10. Pretty long one, I’m afraid, but I’m sure especially the second part should be interesting for many of you: We’ll set up a simple template system (presets within a preset) with a Python node.

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

“Christmas Tree Preset – Xpresso Lesson 10″ by Rodrigo Ortega
“Xpresso Lesson 10 – My Tree Homework” by Gianni Lorusso
“XPresso Lesson 10″ by Greg Burrus

XL#10 / Xmas Tree / Task

Robert Leger — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:22:14 +0000

Hey there!
You thought I’d let 2011 pass without saying “hello” to you again? Wrong! :)
Here is XPresso Lesson #10. We’ll keep the Christmas tradition by building a preset of an Xmas Tree this year.

This lesson offers a challenge for every XPresso skill level:

For beginners: Try to rebuild the tree as I show it in the video.
For intermediates: Add as much Christmas decoration to the tree as you want.
For pros: Set up a preset-within-preset system. Maybe even with C.O.F.F.E.E. or Python.

That’s it! If you’ve got questions, please post them in the comments. Maybe someone else can answer them ;)

Robert

How to participate

There are different ways to submit your solution: You can record a short screencast and upload it somewhere (Vimeo, Youtube etc.). You can also do a screenshot of your XPresso setup and upload it somewhere. Some people even do an explanatory blogpost on their own websites. Whatever you do, you have to send me the direct link to your XPresso Lesson solution and I will include it in the result post on motioneers.net, two weeks after the date of this task post.

XL#9 / Custom Effector / Result

Balázs Kerek — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:16:56 +0000

Congrats to all participants!
Everyone will get a free download of Particles Kit V.2 when it comes out.
Thank you, Balázs!

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

campa
Mohamed Sakr
YiannZ (aka mpoulis)
Greg(G2B)

Follow up…

The very talented douwe from Belgium has recorded a follow up tutorial on XPresso Lesson #9. Douwe shows how the technique from the lesson can be combined with a powerful C.O.F.F.E.E. script by Per Anders to dynamically create virtual copies of your object that still are being affected by the custom effector. As the script works with MoGraph Cloner Objects as well as with Matrix Objects, you can even apply dynamics simulation to your clones.

I am delighted by the amount of advanced knowledge that is being shared here on the website! Thanks douwe, and thanks again Balázs for starting the discussion!

To all XPresso-newbies: fear not, there will again be easier tasks in the future :)

XL#9 / Custom Effector / Task

Balázs Kerek — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:13:10 +0000

Time for another XPresso Lesson. Beware! If you haver never participated at an XPresso Lesson before, this one is probably the wrong one to start with. Balázs Kerek, known for his Particles Kit, will challenge and teach you to build a Custom Effector with XPresso.

The main advantage of a custom effector is that it can affect not only the basic PSR parameters, but theoretically every value that is keyframeable. In this task video Balázs will give you some examples and also a lot of hints that will help you to master this lesson. It is adviced to watch the task video more than once :)

This lesson starts today and will end in three weeks, on August 27th. That is a lot of time for you to catch up with some of the older XPresso Lessons and also to check out yader’s Quick Tips on XPresso, that Balázs often refers to.

Now the best thing! From all submissions Balázs will chose his favourite one and the prize will be the new Particles Kit V.2 that will come out very soon!

Have fun!

How to participate

There are different ways to submit your solution: You can record a short screencast and upload it somewhere (Vimeo, Youtube etc.). You can also do a screenshot of your XPresso setup and upload it somewhere. Some people even do a explanatory blogposts on their own websites. Whatever you do, you have to send me the direct link to your XPresso Lesson solution and I will include it in the result post on motioneers.net, two weeks after the date of this task post.

XL#8 / X-Tool / Result

Robert Leger — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:15:29 +0000

Here’s the result of XPresso Lesson #8. I admit it was a tough one. I mean, look a the duration of that video! I got carried away, again, I think ;) Kudos to the two brave soldiers campa and Greg who managed to put something together in two weeks.

The xDeformers will be available at c4dtools.net soon.

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

Greg(G2B)
campa

XL#8 / X-Tool / Task

Robert Leger — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:10:07 +0000

This XPresso Lesson is not exactly about recreating a preset that I show you. Instead you should come up with your own one based on the following concept: Take an existing C4D tool and improve it by adding your own controls to it.

As an example, I spiced up the standard Bend deformer with some nice XPresso and made it the XBend deformer (X for XPresso), which fits much better into my personal workflow.

So, of course, you can try to recreate the XBend deformer – and I will show you how I did it in two weeks – but I encourage you to do your own “XObject / XTool”.

XL#7 / Product Table / Result

Ryan Hamilton — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:50:14 +0000

Here is Ryan again, with the result tutorial for XPresso Lesson #7, the Product Turntable Rig. Thanks mate, we learned a lot.

Winners

We intentionally did not define any criteria for this little contest, because we wanted you to surprise us with your ideas / presentations. And you did! It was a tough decision to select our favorite five entries, but here they are (in no specific order):

emination
Because he was just so freaking fast and submitted his result only two days after the task was out. Apart from that his setup is clean and simple. Extra points for the epic music ;)

YiannZ (aka mpoulis)
Because he didn’t build a turntable rig, he build a spaceship!!! Or as Ryan has put it: YiannZ has “turned our product table rig into a carnivale ride rig” ;)

Snake Plissken
Because he did it very simple, straight to the point and logically structured.

David Engdahl
Because he made a nice animation (including a self made audio track), he has a solid setup and presents himself entertainingly.

Ralf Breninek
Because he was also VERY fast, has a clean setup and professionally presents all of this on his website.

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

emination
Ralf Breninek
volker zinssmeister
Lukas Cuba
phlexib
Brent Airey
David Engdahl
Aurety
Greg (G2B)
campa
YiannZ (aka mpoulis)
c1p0
Snake Plissken
Charles Rowland

XL#7 / Product Table / Task

Ryan Hamilton — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:43:06 +0000

In XPresso Lesson #7 Ryan is going to show us how to build a product turntable rig. Just drop in your product, set a rotation speed and table height and let it spin!

All participants who submit their XPresso result for this lesson will automatically take part at contest. When the lesson is over we’ll choose our five favorite submissions and each winner will get an iTunes promo code for the keybox Cinema 4D iPhone app.

So, here’s your homework (requirements below). You’ve got two weeks!

User Data – requirements

How to participate

There are different ways to submit your solution: You can record a short screencast and upload it somewhere (Vimeo, Youtube etc.). You can also do a screenshot of your XPresso setup and upload it somewhere. Some people even do a explanatory blogposts on their own websites. Whatever you do, you have to send me the direct link to your XPresso Lesson solution and I will include it in the result post on motioneers.net, two weeks after the date of this task post.

XL#6 / The Animator / Result

Robert Leger — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:49:06 +0000

Here it is, the result for XPresso Lesson #6. Pretty simple, right? In the second part of this screencast I also show you how you can save your XPresso setup so that you can easily re-use it at a later time.

I’m only showing the main principle of this preset, if you want to see more complex setups, please take a look at the submissions below. Great job, guys!

XPresso Lesson #7 will hold a little surprise… actually, two surprises, but more about this later :)

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

campa
volker zinssmeister
YiannZ (aka mpoulis)
David Engdahl
Aurety
Greg (G2B)

XL#6 / The Animator / Task

Robert Leger — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:37:30 +0000

In the sixth XPresso Lesson we will risk a first glance at using time in XPresso. And we will do that by creating an easy-to-use preset which allows us to define a start and end frame as well as a certain start and end value of some property (in this example rotation). The preset will then – depending on how you set up the interpolation graph – automatically animate from one value to the other within the defined time. So, animation without setting any keyframes.

This preset is a 100% XPresso. All we need is a Null-object… and even that is only there to hold the Xpresso tag. So, be kind to that poor guy, you’ll spend two weeks with him ;)

Start with this User Data setup

Remember: rotation is just an example. Use the technique for other attributes if you want.

How to participate

XL#5 / Arrow / Result

Robert Leger — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:45:27 +0000

In this half-hour XPresso Lesson result we will take a look at two ways to set up the arrow-preset: The first one uses the point-node to position the spline’s points, the second one uses a Mograph Tracer object along with symmetry-objects. Don’t forget to check out the submissions at the bottom of this post. I’m sure there are even more techniques to realize this preset.

For all XPresso-newbies: If you feel like this is all too much info at once, take your time to catch up on the XPresso Lessons. Also, watch the introduction to learn the basics of XPresso and User Data.

Submissions for this lesson so far

If you want me to list yours as well, drop me an email.

Alan Adamik
Gianni Lorusso
Aurety
Mdhamiri Ã¡ Nkemi
Lukas Cuba
RoVino
emination
Matt Donovan (imonkey)
David Engdahl
AJ Goin
Rafael Battella
everton sebben
Greg(G2B)
Mohamed LAMGOUNI aka Focus3D
pm.sub.tile
nav
mpoulis (aka YiannZ)
campa

XL#5 / Arrow / Task

Robert Leger — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:31:44 +0000

Be quiet, sit down and listen! A new XPresso Lesson has started: Let’s build an arrow!

Requirements and Instructions

Create the following User Data options:

How to participate

There are different ways to submit your solution: You can record a short screencast and upload it somewhere (Vimeo, Youtube etc.). You can also do a screenshot of your XPresso setup and upload it somewhere. Some people even do explanatory blogposts on their own websites. Whatever you do, you have to send me the direct link to your XPresso Lesson solution and I will include it in the result post on motioneers.net, two weeks after the date of this task post.