My 3D for Promoting BA

In order to fulfil the requirements of the client, we have been informed to each include a title of 'BA (Hons) Motion Design' which we will have to apply both the typography skills (kerning etc.) and the Cinema 4D Software tutorials we went through in order to produce an effective outcome.

A particularly interesting aspect of the typography element I thought could be quite interesting is the aspect of textual elements on signs. These could be road signs, signs for clubs, restaurants etc. and yet adapted for the theory behind the course itself.

In order to understand how to produce the sign, it was apparent that the text itself had to be made by hand before I could apply it to the software of Cinema 4D. Initially, I began using the font 'Eurostile' on Adobe Illustrator, which I used as a template to produce my own text in a neon sign style with the curved pen tool. You can use such a style on Cinema 4D but it actually allowed me to access my text more easily if I produced it beforehand in Illustrator instead.
Using the Pen tool on Adobe Illustrator and using the font as a template, I managed to deliberate some curves and bends that helped to map out where the text needed to bend in between itself; a characteristic of the neon signs that I have researched into for the basis of the typography.
I found the use of Adobe Illustrator was challenging at times as I have never encountered the programme or its tools before, but it was a good experience of the software and enabled me to realise that I can use the software again to support my work in Cinema 4D as an easy tool to generate further animations. Importing the text into Cinema 4D and using the 'Sweep' tool, a tube was automatically applied around the template text that I had produced on Illustrator beforehand. My text additionally allowed me to modify the tubes to look more like the signs that I'd looked at before.
When I had successfully arranged the letters appropriately, it helped to use diagrams of where each point of the letters would fold into each other, as this was important in order for it to appear like a neon sign.
The different views of the 3D letters (which could be seen when selecting the middle button of the mouse) allowed me to gather further information as to the positioning and depth of the letters in interaction with each other, as this was important for the dynamics of the piece. With looking through the needs of the client, the 3D will be displayed in a brief timescale alongside other existing 3d titles that my peers will produce, and therefore this means that I'll need to make sure the text is eye-catching and gets the point across and at the same time successfully resembles the composition of a neon sign that I'm aiming for.
For the actual neon glow of the sign, it was important for me to evolve the colours and textures in order to reflect and accept the light as a composition. I watched this listed above tutorial which helped to access the information of how to make the letters seem luminous, and further applying necessary lights to the overall frame of the text.
As a tester, I have applied a texture of a brick wall photograph to the background 'Plane' behind the text, but I intend to capture my own photograph of a wall in order for it to be a more self established piece rather than something extracted from the internet. I may try alternate sources of materials, such as taking photographs of walls and different textures like wood to see the different effects that would be created.