C4D as 2.5d to match the footage

I have been using Ae to get really nice graphics for a while. But as some of you may know i have been chasing accurately textured text with some since of lighting.

I purchased C4D about 5 months ago and i have recently started using it to create more soft 24p looking graphics. (Using it much like i would Ae)

when looking at +500k commercials and such, is this a norm practice?
Is one of the tricks to those soft beautiful graphics using a 3d application to create graphics that accurately match the footage?

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"