Through this set of tutorials you will learn how to use the Character Object to auto-rig creatures and how to adjust the control rig to match its exact proportions! We'll then explore some of the features built into the Character Object that allow us to auto-weight geometry, filter what gets displayed in the scene, and take a look at a system that generates automatic animation cycles. We'll also cover how to integrate custom systems of our own into the auto-rig, weight painting and weight mirroring techniques, as well as how to collapse the rig in order to export it for use in an older version of CINEMA 4D. In the end, you will learn how the Character Object can be used to make your rigging workflow far more efficient!

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 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.

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.

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.