CINEMA 4D Tutorials

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a cartoony control rig in CINEMA 4D. Step by step, we will create a rig that will generate cartoon-like flexibility. We'll learn how to create intuitive, animator-friendly controls and how to build a bendy limb rig. We will learn how to create an advanced squash and stretch spine rig with volume controls. We'll create a flexible, counter-rotation arm rig to preserve the upperarm as it twists, and learn how to skin to a cage to work smarter and more efficiently. Overall, we'll make sure our rig is robust, to endure through extreme conditions.

We will first cover some things to consider when constructing the control rig. From there, we will set up the wing, step by step, making sure the system we build will be sufficient to the needs of an animator. We’ll also learn about several really neat rigging features in CINEMA 4D along the way; features that can be used on any control rig you create.

Going one step at a time, we’ll dissect the body mechanics of a walk. We’ll learn key positions, we’ll learn how to create seamless cycles, and we’ll also explore ways to add convincing follow-through and weight to, in the end, produce a walk that is natural, and that has a little personality.

We will begin by learning how to utilize Cloners, which we use to populate our scenes with a variety of objects. From there, we will learn how to use effectors for controlling the behavior of clones and other objects, we will learn how to control the color and shading of our various clones, we will learn how to incorporate dynamics into our MoGraph objects, as well as many other topics that will help you to become familiar with MoGraph and give you a glimpse into some of the creative possibilities this tool provides us.

In this course, we will create a large scale arch-viz project using V-Ray. We go from start to finish, modeling to final while learning the principles of V-Ray along the way. Learning how to set up global illumination, creating proxies and learning their benefits, V-Ray's material system and other important aspects of V-Ray which in the end will give you the knowledge to go and create your own realistic renders using V-Ray.

We will take a step-by-step approach, constructing a control rig that is solid and animator-friendly. We will learn everything from proper joint placement and working with constraints to learning how to utilize some of the CINEMA 4D robust skinning tools to remove the fear of painting weights and, instead, make the process enjoyable. We will cover how to make our controls efficient and simple, and also learn ways we can work with Xpresso to regulate how some of our joints and controls behave. By the end of this tutorial, you will have the foundation you need to create your own rigs that produce believable and entertaining character performances.

In this course we are going to cover the creation of an exterior arch-viz scene from start to finish. We are going to learn different modeling techniques during the process. We are going to take a look at using the hair module to create realistic looking grass and also how to tune the settings to give the best results. We are also going to take a look at different building techniques that are used in real life that cross over into the 3d world to help add more realism.

Throughout the tutorial, you will be guided through the CINEMA 4D intuitive animation tools. Our objective will be to build a solid foundation by familiarizing ourselves with core animation components and techniques. We will start by covering the CINEMA 4D animation preferences and how to record animation. We will discuss path animation, how to bake motion from procedural animation and optimize that data, as well as how to edit and blend animation non-linearly and non-destructively with its robust Motion System. We will explore animation layers, how to modify animation in the timeline, we will learn techniques for seamlessly cycling animation, and work with Xpresso, its node-based expression editor. By the end of this tutorial, you will have the foundation required animate comfortably in CINEMA 4D.

Introducing the Beginner Guide to Modeling in CINEMA 4D, a fundamental learning series brought to you by Digital-Tutors, the largest online CG training library in the world. In this course you will get an introductory look into modeling in CINEMA 4D so you can learn essential terms and definitions and build a solid foundation in computer graphics. We will start off by covering the basics of 3d models. We will then take a look at a variety of ways to work with models in CINEMA 4D. After that, you will learn about some of the CINEMA 4D modeling tools. And to wrap up, we will look at how geometry can be assembled into more complex configurations. This tutorial was developed with artists new to CINEMA 4D in mind so we will be moving at a steady, easy-to-follow pace making sure you understand terms and basic techniques.

Introducing the Beginners Guide to CINEMA 4D, a fundamental learning series brought to you by Digital-Tutors, the largest online CG training library in the world. In this course, you will get an introductory look into CINEMA 4D so you can learn essential terms and definitions and build a solid foundation as you move forward. We will start off by covering the basics of the application interface. We will then take a look at a variety of ways to work with objects in CINEMA 4D. After that, you will learn about adding materials, creating animation, and using MoGraph. And to wrap up, we will take a quick look at BodyPaint 3D and rendering in CINEMA 4D. This series of step-by-step videos was developed with artists new to CINEMA 4D in mind so we will be moving at a steady, easy-to-follow pace making sure you understand terms and basic techniques. To view more Beginner Guide courses; visit our library where you will find the largest collection of free, high-quality CG training videos.

When building 3D assets, the ability of your computer to manipulate those objects is limited, especially when dealing with very high resolution meshes. Because of this, we use 2D images, like normal maps, to simulate the high resolution detail in a way that we can more easily use. In this course, we will build a sword from scratch in CINEMA 4D. Once the base geometry is modeled, we will completely sculpt and paint the sword in ZBrush using a variety of techniques. To finish up, we will generate maps for the color and sculpted detail and use GoZ to quickly transfer all of the data back to CINEMA 4D. When you are done, you will have a better understanding of the workflow involved in building and sculpting high resolution props and set pieces with CINEMA 4D and Zbrush and creating useable assets from them.

Stylized 3D characters are a staple of 3D production, especially in film and tv. These characters can be any number of styles, but are typically more cartoony than realistic. Building these kinds of characters is a great exercise in organic modeling and it is also quite fun. CINEMA 4D can be a great solution for building characters and it offers a number of tools we can use to create our model. We will start out by using some reference images to begin building our female character with some simple polygon objects. We will use polygonal modeling tools like the knife and extrude to build out all the parts of our character including several articles of clothing. We will also speed up our workflow by using things like symmetry objects and hyperNURBS objects. Once we are done modeling our character, we will spend some time setting up UVs for a few of the pieces and use Bodypaint to create texture maps for them. We will finish up by tweaking our material attributes and setting up a nice render for our final product. The tools and techniques we will cover will not only allow you to reproduce this particular project, but you will also be able to apply what you have learned to create your own custom stylized characters.

This tutorial is designed for users who are just getting started with rendering in CINEMA 4D, so we will not be focusing heavily on the use of lights, materials or recipes to give your render a specific look. Instead, our focus will be on helping you build a strong foundational knowledge of rendering in CINEMA 4D by talking about many of the key tools, features and concepts that every rendering artist in CINEMA 4D really needs to be familiar with. We will also learn how to resolve some rendering related issues that you may encounter, and we will focus very heavily on helping you develop good habits and strong workflow practices that will be extremely beneficial to you as an emerging render artist.

CINEMA 4D provides us with a number of really interesting tools that we can use to quickly animate our geometry. By using cloner objects in combination with different effectors, we can achieve some complex looking results very quickly. One of these effectors, the Sound Effector, will allow us to drive animated transforms of our objects and Cloners based on a song or other sound file. We'll explore the basics of the Sound Effector and use an abstract project as an opportunity to create a variety of effects. We can also isolate different frequencies using the Sound Effector so only a portion of the sound has any effect. We can also use the Sound Effector to drive the color of our objects. Once you're done with this tutorial, you'll have a good understanding of how the Sound Effector works in CINEMA 4D, and you'll be ready to incorporate it into your own projects.

One popular technique in graphics today, that you'll see in many commercials, is to quickly build up or remove objects within a scene in interesting ways. It may be a house building itself from the ground up or a car coming apart. CINEMA 4D offers a great deal of control in creating setups like this, especially when working with Mograph and XPresso. We'll start by building most of the geometry we'll need for our scene, a simple camp site. We'll use Cloner Objects and other methods to build geometry so that we'll have the maximum amount of control. We'll take a look at adding custom controls and using XPresso to set up those controls to drive different attributes of our objects. Finally, we'll key frame our new consolidated controls to create a fun animated piece. Once you're done, you'll be able set up and control your own custom scenes.

We'll start this CINEMA 4D tutorial by using as much of our original logo as possible to begin the rebuilding process. We'll use curves from Illustrator as a basis for extruding sections of geometry. We'll explore ways to combine splines to create cutouts for some of the letters and how we can begin to organize and layer our geometry. We'll also use a little bit of ZBrush to go through the process of posing Woody, the beaver from our Creating Cartoon Characters training. We'll put everything together and use CINEMA 4D's Sketch and Toon rendering to create a nice cartoony final render. Once done, you'll not only have a finished 3D logo, but you'll be able to create and translate your own logos into 3D.

Using some limited reference, we'll begin this CINEMA 4D tutorial by building our beaver character, Woody, using some simple polygon shapes. We'll use polygonal modeling tools, such as the knife and extrude tools to build out our character, and we'll speed up our workflow by using such features as, symmetry objects and hyperNURBS objects. Once our modeling is complete, we'll spend a couple of lessons creating a toon-style render of the character to better match our reference. We'll go over a range of tools and techniques that will not only allow you to build Woody from scratch, but you'll also be able to apply what you've learned to create your own custom characters.

Throughout the tutorial in this CINEMA 4D training, we will go through the entire process of rendering an interior scene with realistic light and material behaviors using some of the powerful rendering features found in CINEMA 4D. We will begin by creating materials for the various objects in our scene, in preparation for the lighting process. Once we get into the lighting, we will learn how to render our images into a linear color space and we will incorporate a variety of realistic light behaviors into the scene. Finally, we will discover the benefits of multi-pass rendering by making significant, precise alterations to our final render using Photoshop.

In this CINEMA 4D tutorial, we'll use a number of box-modeling methods to build the main body of the car. We'll talk about separating out the panels and how we can add resolution and detail selectively using tools like the Knife and Extrude. We'll also cover the use of Cloner Objects to quickly create complex models like the spokes of our wheels. Once our modeling is completed, we'll spend a little time adding materials and textures so that, in the end, we'll come out with a nice final render of our car. We'll touch on a variety of modeling tools that will not only allow you to create this particular vehicle, but to build your own cars and hard surface models more quickly and efficiently.

From the spline-based modeling tools to the powerful Mograph tools, CINEMA 4D has a great deal to offer when creating animated broadcast graphics. Using the opener of a sports program as our example, we'll go through the process of creating all of our broadcast elements, including the custom logo. We'll use extrude NURBS objects with splines, sweep NURBS objects, and work with polygonal geometry as well. We'll also cover methods of creating and adding materials to all of our pieces, as well as setting up some simple lighting and light planes for reflection. We'll cover the animation of our camera and many of the other elements of the piece. We'll look at a number of ways to transition elements onto the screen, from using effectors to animated sweeps. Finally, we'll key frame specific material attributes and modify our render settings before outputting our final animated sequence. When you're done with this tutorial, you'll have the tools you need to start building your own broadcast logos and designs.

Pre-visualization is a very important part of the product design process, because it can be used as a photorealistic mockup, allowing the client and the designer to see how an object is supposed to look and function before it is manufactured. This tutorial will focus on achieving a high degree of realism in your rendered product shots, and we will be emphasizing key areas such as creating a studio light setup within CINEMA 4D, complete with light diffusers and reflectors. We will also learn how to simulate a wide variety of materials, such as clear plastic, matte plastic, brushed metal, illuminated LEDs, chrome, as well as many additional tips and workflows that will help you to get clean, professional renders of your final product.

CINEMA 4D offers a number of options for creating 3d geometry ranging from traditional polygon modeling tools to powerful spline based techniques. Because of its many pieces, a Swiss Army Knife will provide a great project for us to begin building different types of shapes in CINEMA 4D. We'll look at dealing with different types of geometry available to us. We'll use various tools to begin modifying polygon geometry by adding edges, extruding out faces, and smoothing the geometry. We'll also explore several methods for adding geometry using splines. We'll explore CINEMA 4D's very flexible, hierarchy-based workflow that will allow us to make modifications to many parts of our model after we've created them. We'll also touch on using Cloner Objects, spline effectors, and working with nulls and pivots. In building our knife, we'll cover a wide array of modeling tools that will allow you to quickly get up to speed building your own geometry in CINEMA 4D.

From cell phones, to net books, to remote controls or toaster ovens, product visualization can be used to get a 3d look at particular product designs before they're manufactured. Products may also be created in CG to aid in making commercials or other marketing materials. CINEMA 4D has a nice toolset to begin creating these types of models and then rendering out good final images. In this course we'll look at some of the tools we can use to model products, using an mp3 player as an example. We'll combine splines in creative ways to build some of the main pieces of the device. We'll use several polygon modeling tools to add connectors and buttons, and we'll use deformers and generators to manipulate and create additional geometry. Upon completion of this tutorial, you'll be able to use the modeling tools in CINEMA 4D to build your own custom product model.

From traditional polygon modeling tools to powerful spline based techniques, CINEMA 4D offers a number of options for building models. Building an interior set will provide us with an opportunity to put many of those tools into practice building organic and inorganic shapes in a variety of ways. We'll explore methods for building hard surfaces like the room architecture, cabinetry, and furniture. We'll use splines creatively to help us build things like shelves, lamps, and artwork and explore the use of Cloner Objects to quickly generate multiple copies of geometry. We'll shape some of our organic objects using tools like the Magnet and Brush, and we'll talk about keeping our scene clean by creating a useful hierarchy. We'll touch on a wide range of modeling tools that will not only allow you to create this particular interior set, but to build your own sets and models more quickly and efficiently.