Model / Rig / Animate a character

[james_crispy]

Any chance for a course that covers these topics?

[xllr8]

Cinema 4D already gets heavy use in motion graphics due to it's gentle learning curve, and general ease of use.
It excels (I think) due to it's simplicity.
From what I've seen there is an opportunity to really make C4D crank, due to being able to bust out complex rigs, without code (via espresso).
If anybody can fill the void, it's definitely digital tutors. :bang

[murathantevfik]

Cinema 4D already gets heavy use in motion graphics due to it's gentle learning curve, and general ease of use.
It excels (I think) due to it's simplicity.
From what I've seen there is an opportunity to really make C4D crank, due to being able to bust out complex rigs, without code (via espresso).
If anybody can fill the void, it's definitely digital tutors. :bang

Definetly! I both agree there is a void about this situation and also only digital tutors can handle it. I'm using C4d for stills and I'm willing to learn about character animation but there is absolutely no source for this.

[Venkman]

The only real source right now is the training DVD that came with C4d R11 (or was it 10.5?) and the tutorials on Cineversity. I haven't seen anything on cineversity that matches the sheer usefulness of the Infiltrator pipeline series in Maya, though.

Or for that matter, the Blender Cookie 2010 training series follows the creation of a character from drawing to fully rigged, animated model with hair and cloth dynamics. C4d needs that, too!

[james_crispy]

There is almost NOBODY doing tutorials on rigging and character animating in C4D R12. Cineversity has rigging for R12 but their subscription plan is terrible (1 yr only $295). Here's your chance DigitalTuts!

[Venkman]

I love C4d, but I need really good training to learn something like rigging. I have a mental block stopping me from learning CA in C4D, and training is the thing that will bust through that block.

Unfortunately, C4d's training all over the web is sparse and always covers the same few topics: motion graphics, modeling cars or aircraft, and basic object tutorials like 3d text and producing massive amounts of boxes, arrows, or spheres with mograph. Digital Tutors is the only company I've seen that showed a character modeling tutorial in commercially available training.

Because of my frustration with training in C4d (and other features of the app that frustrate me like the price of upgrades, particles, motion blur, and SSS), I let my 50% off upgrade offer expire and will instead concentrate on Maya. I will miss C4d, but at least Maya will have the training available (including a full production class in the "Infiltrator" series) and be able to successfully export my animated characters into Unity 3d and the Unreal Engine.

I will really miss the simplicity and beauty of C4d. But at some point I've got to stop waiting for someone to make the training I need to take advantage of that app and just move on to where the training is available. Others are more than capable of learning C4d character animation on their own, but I am not.

It was time for me to make some short animations - and sites like Digital Tutors will let me do that. But the software they teach is Maya. And so does Gnomon, simply Maya, animation mentor, etc. The list goes on and on....

Clearly some non-technical people are capable of amazing artwork in Maya. I am hopeful. If not, there is always Blender, whose training options are growing thanks to blendercookie.com and blender guru.com. Either way, the training for Maya and Blender both outdistance C4d when it comes to character animation and modeling.

it's too bad, because C4d's pose-morph tag in R12 is simply amazing. Setting up an Osipa style face rig takes literally 5 minutes and no code. C4d is amazing, but the fairly large user base is using it to make motion graphics. That's too bad, because the program is very capable of character animation.

[flamefeather]

Yah we need a C4D Rigging tutorial here in DT! C4D is very capable of doing it. Hope they make one soon. :)

[scannerD]

Hey guys, have you seen the Alfred Rig for C4D?

http://c4danimator.com/index.php?topic=10.0

I learned pretty much from it. But unfortunatley, the facial setup is a bit poor.

[Gochris]

DT, please put together a tutorial on rigging characters. Thanks.

[kyrptic]

Yeah a c4d tutorial on character rigging and animation is a must.

[vixiehd]

+1 billion to this - c4d r12 please :-)

[RodrigoR]

Actually, the principles in character animation is the same, no matter what 3d program you use. The problem with C4D is that it does not have a non weighted set up for the f curves like Maya/Lightwave/Max/Blender. As soon as Maxon get this fixed, I guarantee more character animators will start using C4. I'n an animation Mentor grad and I wish that Maxon would implement non weighted tangents as many of my mentors from Pixar/Dreamworks/Blue Sky say this is the best way to work, and I agree

[knowNothings]

If I'm not too late, I could post a sort of process that I found to use to rig a human. It's tricky to follow at first, but I promise once you get through it the first time it gets easier and there is a pattern. But I'll only post it if you guys want me to. After using it the first time I was able to pretty much rig anything. I'm not promising it will work just saying it worked for me.

[scannerD]

You can also take a look at a rigging tutorial setup by maxon. It s very nice. + There are some examples in the content browser.

[dan]

Hey guys! Just thought I'd mention that we just released an Introduction to Character Rigging in CINEMA 4D (http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=55) course that you may find helpful!

[gswartz]

I've really been looking forward to a rigging in c4d course. I've never done rigging in any other software before and just played around with it in c4d a bit here and there, so I don't have a lot of rigging experience. I'm about halfway through this course and while it's good at explaining some of the tools and showing the power of controllers, I'm frustrated by the lack of direction when it comes to parenting. The joint and null heirarchy can become very overwhelming quickly so it's not always obvious why some objects are parented to others. Seeing as how this is supposed to be an "Introduction to character rigging...." it would have been a lot more helpful to know more of the thought process behind the parenting. Maybe it's just me but when I've tried to work with rigging in c4d in the past, that has always been the hardest part to figure out... but alas, it seems that even with this course, I'm still scratching my head.

[scannerD]

I, personally did a lot of characters in C4D and even some in Max and Maya.
Sure, there are a lot of joints and the joint chains are getting long, when you rig. And with aditinal Constraints, it s sometimes hard to keep everything in mind.
Be sure to know how constraints work and how to deal with the priority.

But you should get used to it. It s really no big deal, once you did your second or third character. But be sure, that (in my opinion) C4D is the easiest and artist friendly app, on the market that can rig a character with all features you need.

maybe you could watch this one:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=502

The video deals with terms like parenting, IK/FK, skinning (weighting in C4D) etc.

[Venkman]

Hey everyone - it looks like they've got modeling, rigging, and animation covered. Thanks DT staff for going the distance on C4D training!

[charlesman]

Hi! When can i learn principles of animation in C4D?
Thanks. :-)

[delano]

Hi! When can i learn principles of animation in C4D?
Thanks. :-)

Hi, charlesman. Thanks for your request! I'll make sure to bring it up to the team.