Hey all,

I need some advise.

I want to create an animated logo for a video game.

It will be a tree blooming, like this one here...

So game loads, and this logo is what they see, then game title loads...

I have:
After Effects, Photoshop, Bridge and Illustrator CC

Maya 2014

Unreal 4.8

If I need something else, I am sure I can get it.

What programs would you recommend and are there any tutorials that can help?

FYI: My wife uses a Wacom Intuos-pro and can draw the tree in Photoshop, but I don't think I want to do a flash video.

A tree drawn in Photoshop is quite different from a 3D tree. Flash is far from the only option for 2D animation though. A 2D tree is no different from a character sprite or group of sprites. A 3D tree would probably be pre-rendered as a video but could possibly be done as models moving around within the game engine. Whether 2D or 3D, an animation inside a videogame will be played with the game's engine, so it can be any format the engine supports. So, what formats does your engine support?

Also, the process of modeling a tree in 3D (in Maya presumably) is a different skill than from drawing one in photoshop, which is again a different skill from drawing one is illustrator. Fortunately it is an easy project, good for a beginner at either animation or modelling. So really it's just a question of who wants to put the time and effort in and which set of skills they are comfortable with or interested in learning/practicing.

If you have the money go find a graphics artist, these artist spend years learning how to do animations and designs like this.

If you don't have the money then ask yourself if you need a animated logo for your game, if animated logos where easy to make we would all have them in our games. If however you still need one or want one then you can do it like this:

Use Maya's curves to create the branches of the tree and animate them, for the leaves use a flat plane with a texture and animate it scaling. Then render it all with a toon-shader for effect, saving each image as a small 512*512 image or as a video.

Remember that if you are using video, some of them needs codecs and can freeze the game if the player doesn't have it. To solve this either give the player what they need or skip it if it doesn't load.

.fbx is the only 3D file format supported

Use Maya's curves to create the branches of the tree and animate them, for the leaves use a flat plane with a texture and animate it scaling. Then render it all with a toon-shader for effect, saving each image as a small 512*512 image or as a video.

Thanks for both the answers!

Also, the process of modeling a tree in 3D (in Maya presumably) is a different skill than from drawing one in Photoshop, which is again a different skill from drawing one is illustrator. Fortunately it is an easy project, good for a beginner at either animation or modelling. So really it's just a question of who wants to put the time and effort in and which set of skills they are comfortable with or interested in learning/practicing.

Yes and that was my point, each program is different and requires different techniques.

I just don't know where I should start. I think I am going to make the tree in Maya and then import the renders into After Effects and create a small video.

Thanks for the answers!

I envy your software collection, you can do some serious art with that.

With Maya or After Effects you can do the tree animation, but maybe Maya would be easier.
- http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/MayaLT/files/Path-Animation-Deform-an-object-along-a-motion-path-curve-htm.html (animating each branch growing out of the trunk etc.)