This tutorial shows you how to create a magic circle. You will learn how to make a magic circle and export the graphic as an SVG from Affinity Designer and import and animate them in Blender. The final composite and render was done in Blender.
Creating the SVG
I will be using Affinity Designer but the same thing can be done in any software that can export SVG file formats
I make a blank document that is 2000px x 2000px with a transparent background
I make a circle with a border for the outer edge of the magic circle
I duplicate this circle, scale it down, and change the border
I continue to add various shapes and sizes on different layers
When I have everything complete, I export the graphics as an SVG
Importing the SVG into Blender
Importing SVG files into Blender is an easy process and they are treated as curve objects
I scale and center the graphics in the Viewport
I then convert each curve to a mesh and use the E- and S-keys to scale certain meshes to add more definition
I add a material to each of the meshes
I make sure each mesh has the same material
Compositing the bloom
I make sure to increase the Emission
I open the Compositing tab and activate “Use Nodes”
I add a Glare node between the Layers node and the Composite node – this is where Bloom has been relocated in newer versions of Blender
I render the image and add a Viewer node
I change the Glare Type to Bloom and change the options to get the look that I want
Animating the SVG in Blender
I open the Timeline and under the Keying menu, for the Keying Set, I select Rotation – this means any keys I add will only affect the rotation
I make sure each graphic’s origin is set to the 3D cursor
I select each graphic separately and add keyframes on frame 1, rotate the graphic on the end frame and add another keyframe
When I am done, I select all the keyframes and use the T-key to access the Interpolation menu
I will use the Linear option so the animations does not have a slow start and slow stop