In this tutorial you'll learn how to create not one, but two type effects in a single tutorial, exclusively available to Tuts+ Premium members. Get ready to kick off this winter season with a stylish typographic treatment. To complete it, you'll need Cinema 4D, Illustrator, Photoshop, and lots of candy nearby, of course!
Step 1
Start up C4D and switch the view mode by clicking on the button in the corner of the view port.
Step 2
Find the Front view and maximize that one.
Step 3
We first need to create the word Type. Drag and release over the Bezier Tool.
Step 4
Similar to the Photoshop Pen Tool, use the Bezier Tool to create the first End Point. You'll have to click and drag right from the start.
Step 5
Use as few points as possible to create each letter. Three should be enough for the first letter.
Step 6
When you're done with the first letter, click and drag on the Bezier Tool Again. Create the rest of the word as shown below.
Step 7
Select the Move Tool and Use Point Tool (Highlighted). Drag a few of the points backward. You may need to adjust the handles at this point.
Step 8
Your final word should as seen in the following screenshot. Try to keep a decent amount of spacing in between the letters.
Step 9
We'll now turn these paths into 3D objects. Create a Sweep NURBS object.
Use the following settings for the Object and Caps tabs. To see these, you need to click on the Sweep NURBS layer from the Object Menu.
After you've created three of these, drag each path layer (Spline) over the Sweep NURBS layer.
Step 10
Now create a Circle. We're going to sweep this along the letter splines.
Step 11
Drag it underneath one of the Sweep NURBS layers. Do one for each group with the following settings:
Your text should now look like in the following image.
Step 12
It's time to create a material for the type object that resembles a candy-cane texture. You can create your own striped pattern, or use the one I created for this tutorial. Enlarge it and save it in the folder where you created the C4D document.
From the Material Menu, add a new material.
Step 13
From the Color tab, click on the three dot button and locate the texture from the previous step.
Step 14
Drag the material onto the first letter.
Step 15
Click on its Sweep NURBS layer from the Object Menu and click on the Details tab. Drag the Rotation curve as seen below:
Step 16
Next, edit the Rotation of the letters y and p.
Step 17
And finally, edit the rotation of the last letter.
Step 18
It's time to add a Camera to your scene. Place one after you've found a suitable angle.
Step 19
We'll now create the background with a Sky Object. To begin, create a new material and uncheck the Specular tab. Expand the Texture options and select Gradient.
Step 20
Create a gradient using this image as a reference. For the blue color in the center, use this RGB code: R: 85, G: 157, B: 210.
Step 21
Now create a Sky Object.
Step 22
Drag the Material onto the Sky object.
Step 23
Go back to the Front view and create the word treat with the Bezier Tool. Remember to edit the points later and move a few backward. When you've created each letter with a separate Bezier Tool, select all the layers, right-click on one of them and click on Connect. You can discard the previous ones, and keep this flattened version.
Step 24
Then create a Metaball object.
Step 25
Edit its settings as seen below:
Step 26
Next, click on the treat layer and go to Tags > Cinema 4D Tags > Metaball.
Step 27
Click on the Metaball icon on the right side of the Spline to edit its settings.
Step 28
Drag the Spline underneath the Metaball Object.
Your word should now look as seen below:
Step 29
It's time to create a yummy chocolate-like material for this word. Create a new material and use these settings (minus the cheesy name I gave it).
Step 30
Drag the material onto the object.
Step 31
For this part I've used a radial vector from Go Media's Arsenal. Find the one that looks like this.
Step 32
Delete the dots in the center and leave only two rows. Then save this in a separate document as an illustrator file (no higher than version 8).
Step 33
Go to File > Merge and position the radial vector in the scene. Repeat the Metaball process, but use these setting for the path instead:
Step 34
Metaballs merge all nearby objects, so by creating a few spheres in the lower part of the word, it will look like dripping chocolate. Add a few of these near the bottom. To make it easier for your computer to handle the process, deactivate the Metaball object by unchecking its layer.
When you've reactivated it, it should look like this:
Step 35
For the radial burst, I've also used a few paths to blend in the top and bottom dots. There are a few extra angles for you to see where to place them.
Step 36
It's almost time to render! Bring up the Render Settings (Render > Render Settings) and use these images for reference.
Step 37
What you need to do now is uncheck everything except the main word. We're going to export every element separately so we can edit it easily in Photoshop.
Step 38
When you've rendered the word Type , open it in Photoshop. Bring up the Channels Menu and Command + Click on the Alpha 1 icon to make a selection of its contents.
Step 39
Double-click on the Background layer, press OK and add a Layer Mask.
Step 40
Create a new layer underneath and create a radial gradient with these two shades of blue: #315a79 and #5398cd.
Step 41
Add the other two elements on separate layers as well.
Step 42
Next we're going to create the reflections for the type layer. Create this new material:
Step 43
Drag the material over each letter. Hide everything except the first letter and render it.
Step 44
Separate it from its background and place it in the document.
Step 45
Set its blending mode to Screen and Opacity to 60%.
Step 46
Repeat this process for the rest of the word.
Step 47
Click on the Type layer and go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map. Chose a Black and White gradient, press OK and change its blending mode to Overlay. Drag the Opacity to 90% and make it a clipping mask (Command + Alt + G).
Step 48
Now add a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Use the following settings and make it a clipping mask.
Step 49
Now create a black and white Gradient Map for the treat layer, just like you did for the other one. Change the Opacity to only 20% though. Make this a clipping mask too.
Step 50
Add a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer as a clipping mask.
Step 51
Repeat this process for the radial burst too.
Step 52
Next up are a couple of Adjustment layers for the whole scene, so make sure you create these on top of all the layers. The first one is a black and white Gradient Map Adjustment Layer.
Step 53
The second is also a Gradient Map, but a color one instead. Chose the bottom left one from the Gradient Editor panel.
Step 54
Now we want to change the background color just a bit, so on a layer over the background color layer, create another Gradient Map. Use these two colors: #010110 and #83f1e0.
Step 55
Now use a soft brush to create a central light source. Create this on a separate layer underneath all the elements.
Step 56
Now we'll add a few reflection spots around several objects. You can see them on black in the first screenshot. Create these with a small, soft brush.
Step 57
Scatter these around the objects, but don't add too many.
Step 58
And as a final touch up I added another radial vector in the background. No need to download anything here, just create a tiny and a very large circle stroke object. Then blend them together by going to Object > Blend > Make. Be sure to edit the setting firsthand though, and then just place a couple of these over the background. Use blending modes and Opacity to fade these in naturally.
Final Image
