Cinema 4D Training

Cinema 4D Basics

• Welcome to the Cinema 4D interface
• Using layouts and 'workspaces'
• Setting up a project
• Frame rate and unit sizes
• Understanding the various windows, toolbars and viewports
• Navigating around a 3d space and using hotkey navigation
• Managing project settings correctly

Creating Objects in Cinema 4D

• Understanding basic object types and parameters,
• Understanding the various types and forms, their settings and parameters
• Creating basic objects - primitives
• Manipulating objects, moving scaling and rotating
• Using the attributes manager
• Understanding object properties and object tags

Understanding the objects hierarchy

• How the object hierarchy or objects list works as an organizational tool
• Cinema 4D's parent and child structure - understanding parent and child relationships
• Using the list to hide and display objects
• Using Null objects to control the hierarchy

Using Modifiers and Deformers to modify, distort and manipulate objects

• Creating Deformers and using them correctly within the object list
• Types of Deformers - uses for animation and modelling
• Deformer limits - using falloff

Making spline or outline objects to edit and create objects

• Creating basic outlines with the Bezier pen
• Making shapes and paths
• Bezier types, interpolation and curve interpolation
• Smoothing Beziers
• Text splines
• Using Illustrator paths

Creating more complex models using different constructor objects

• Extrusion objects
• Lofting - making surfaces from profiles
• Lathing - spinning objects in a virtual lathe
• Arrays - multiple objects from a single source
• Booleans - combination objects
• The Combine object - turning separate elements into one
• Using subdivision surfaces for making smoother models

Using editable objects, points edges and polygons to create any shape or surface

• Points, edges and polygons - the different editing modes
• Understanding detail level - How many polygons?
• Using the Tool setting in the attributes manager
• Using the Selection tools
• Extruding and inner extruding
• Beveling polygons and edges
• Joining and breaking polygons
• Smoothing and Phong tags
• Face normals
• Alignment functions
• Avoiding common polygon problems

Creating and working with materials to change the colour, texture and properties of objects

• Making new materials and shaders
• Enabling material properties
• Colour, texture, reflectance and transparency
• Bump maps to enhance surfaces.
• Using bitmaps and procedural textures
• Creating a texture within Adobe Photoshop
• Applying materials - material tags
• UVW mapping - how to align textures with objects

Creating environments for objects

• An infinite ground plane - the floor object.
• Making skies, skylight objects and physical skies.
• Creating "props" to assist with reflections
• Hiding environments for reflections

Adding lights and Cinema 4D cameras to give viewpoints

• Understanding the range of light types and light techniques
• Working with different light ranges and falloff
• Shadow types and their parameters
• Adding visible and volumetric lights
• Adding Skylights
• Creating and using a camera
• Setting lens settings and parameters
• Camera switching and editing

Creating simple animations using animation and Keyframing

• Basic animation techniques
• Understanding the animation workspace
• Getting things to move with Keyframes
• Using the Timeline to animate an element or function
• Using keys and curves
• Previewing an animation

Rendering and output to create still or animation sequences

• The Cinema 4D renderers
• Rendering set up - size and frame rate
• File types - Exporting frames and animations
• Adding Global Illumination for more realistic rendering
• Adding more effects to the renderer
• The Cinema 4D picture viewer
• Rendering for print and video