When a new series or a new season for a returning show premieres it’s often introduced with a 10-second countdown graphic that wraps around the bottom left of the previous program as credits roll. Based on the flat key art, I always enjoy elevating these countdowns by up’ing the production value with 2½-D camera moves in After Effects or full-on 3D scenes built in Cinema 4D and rendered in Redshift.

Christmas Wars

To add a little dimension to the ornaments’ reveal and sucker punch, I transformed the flat stock photography image used in the key art into 3D models using Cinema 4D, rendered in Redshift.

Murder at the Motel

Taking what I’d already created for the 3D-i-fication of the promo package endpage, I flipped some things around to accommodate the shape of the L-bar to give this countdown its dramatic reveal.

I Survived a Crime

I used Cinema 4D’s volume mesher to create a super rough proxy matching the shape of the stock hand image, projecting the flat key art to give it dimension.

I 2½-D’d the walls and ground, adding steam effects and a camera move to keep the scene alive while the countdown ran to zero.

Accused: Guilty or Innocent?

I wanted the jail cell door to open over the duration of the countdown as if to suggest the defendant might be going in … or not? … but felt rotating a flat plane would break the illusion. Instead of building the door in Cinema 4D, I opted to mask up the vertical and horizontal bars and put them at right angles to each other, adding fake volume to the door in After Effects.