Cinema 4D

# 1 31-12-2012 , 01:22 PM

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Hi has anyone any experience with cinema 4D, any good?

I think about 70% of places I am looking for jobs these days require cinema 4D.

Thoughts?

Graham

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# 2 31-12-2012 , 01:30 PM

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It's kind of a modo, lightwave, max hybred. It has the hierarchical modeling architecture of modo and LW and the parametric primitive to editable poly max kind of workflow.

It has max, lw, and mode spline system.

It has bodypaint 3D which you can get separately or built into the modeler.

It has a very powerful motion graphics system.

From the little I have seen it seems to be a popular and powerful package especially in the broadcast industry.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 3 31-12-2012 , 01:39 PM

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hmm, thats encouraging.

What is the spline system - as in dynamic curves?

and what is bodypaint 3D if you don't mind me asking you.

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# 4 31-12-2012 , 01:47 PM

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Splines are similar to nurbs curves. You can use then to loft surfaces or to extrude along.

Bodypaint is a 3D texture painting package. It predates many of the other 3D texture painting packages and is very good.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 5 31-12-2012 , 01:57 PM

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The hierarchical workflow is very powerful as well. In some ways I prefer it to the node based history system in Maya.

You create effectors (like modifiers in max) and they effect all object below them in the hierarchy. Like the stack in max you can collapse the tree into a single object baking in all the effectors.

What I like about this system is that it's more persistent and stable then then Maya's history system which must be deleted frequently.

What I mean by this is you can keep things in the stack or hierarchy without starting to get stability issues so you don't have to commit to things by collapsing the stack or hierarchy until absolutely necessary. Whereas with maya's node history system things get unstable relatively quickly forcing you to delete the history and commit before you might really want too.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 31-12-2012 at 02:01 PM.

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# 6 31-12-2012 , 01:58 PM

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ok, Thanks.

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# 7 31-12-2012 , 02:04 PM

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See the things I like in maya are
Fur,
Dynamics, and
animating characters.

Im worried these wont be as good in cinema 4D

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# 8 31-12-2012 , 02:36 PM

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c4d has a fur system as I have seen tutorials on it.

I cannot really speak to the animation and dynamics capabilities of C4D as I focus mostly on modeling. But I have to believe that if a studio is using c4d then it would have to be able to do what they need.

It may or may not be as good but there is not much you can do about it if you want the job.

It's like Jay has mentioned in studios he has worked for modelers with Max experience have complained about Maya's tools. In the end they just got tasked to do all the crap work.

So the moral of the story is if the studio requires a package and you don't like the package but need the job then it's best to suck it up and try your best to look happy or don't take the job.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 31-12-2012 at 02:38 PM.

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# 9 31-12-2012 , 03:47 PM

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hmmmm,

Gonna comment on this one.

So the fur in c4d is quite robust but the new nHair in maya is now better imho because of the ability to interlace particles into the actual hair.

The dynamics runs off Bullet which pretty much everyone uses now.

The character tools are alright but not the best. I can get a fair amount done in maya with HIK and heatmapping when in c4d I still have weighting issues. It does have a very robust looping system in the character builder. They also have a very weak retargeting system in c4d that is based on a source and target. It is great for objects that aren't the same scale but the ability to control floor contact and sliding is very limited.

But at the end of the day since switching to maya I have been able to get better work faster compared to c4d and I have been using c4d for about 3 years now. They have also thrown in the sculpting tools which I have yet to really use. They look like a giant step forward and if they implement a feature like zspheres I might take a closer look. But in the meantime my ZBrush workflow is faster.

All in all it is a good app but you will be let down if you are looking for extreme control over your scenes. This is not to say that mograph is a huge plus. That feature alone helps not only in broadcast but modeling in general given the array and instancing features built within.

In regards to bodypaint I have been able to clean seams in ZBrush better and project easier through ZBrush and PS while utilizing the healing brush in PS. You will always end up going back into PS to clean your maps. The UVing tools are fairly decent but I tend to get better results in hard surface with NinjaUV out of maya. Many c4d users are heavy on procedural use so if you can UV something you will have a edge over the rest.

Last edited by Chavfister; 31-12-2012 at 04:03 PM.

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# 10 31-12-2012 , 06:41 PM

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Thanks for all those in-sights guys, helps with my decision alot.

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# 11 31-12-2012 , 07:00 PM

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Chav would have the best insight as he has much more hands on experience with it then me. If it will get you a job to know it then it's probably not a bad thing to learn. You certainly have demonstrated the necessary skills.

Good luck whatever you chose to do.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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