The Cinema 4D 9/9.1 Handbook

Description

The Cinema 4D 9 Handbook provides a complete introduction to the powerful and affordable C4D program, and teaches the fundamental principles of 3D.

CONTENTS:

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
PREFACE xvii
Why This Book? xvii
What's New? xvii
What is Covered? xviii
What Is In It For You? xix
CHAPTER1 INTERFACE 1
The Main Window 2
Command Palettes 2
Managers 3
The Objects Manager 4
The Attributes Manager 5
The Viewpoint 6
The Camera Tools 7
Configure the Viewport 10
C4D's Built-In Layouts 11
Reset Layout 11
Object Manipulation 12
The Coordinates Manager 13
Axis Lock/Unlock and Use World/Object Coordinate System 14
Conclusion 14
CHAPTER 2 BEGINNING MODELING 15
3D Construction Theory 16
The Concept of Poly-Count 18
Primitives 18
v
Undo and Redo 19
Creating Primitives 20
Modeling Tools 24
Make Object Editable 24
NURBS 26
Splines 26
Conclusion 27
CHAPTER 3 NURBS 29
NURBS Generators 30
Splines 31
How the Generators Works 31
Extrude NURBS 31
Lathe NURBS 31
Loft NURBS 32
Sweep NURBS 33
Turning off the Generators 33
TUTORIAL 3.1: Modeling a Castle 34
Create a Profile of the Castle Using the Bezier Spline Tool 34
Create the 3D Shape Using the Lathe NURBS 37
Create the Top Gaps with the Array Tool 38
Create the Negative Space for the Castle Window 40
Booleans 43
Boolean the Shapes Together 43
Exploring Important Boolean Functions 45
TUTORIAL 3.2: Modeling a Desk Lamp 46
Making the Base 47
Making the Neck 50
The Head Assembly 56
The Switch Assembly 60
The Head Detail 63
Bring the Parts Together 66
Align to Spline 67
Discover More 70
Conclusion 70
CHAPTER4 POLYGON MODELING 71
Polygon Modeling Styles 72
A Friendly Reminder about N-Gons and Subdividing 72
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Contents vii
The Benefits of N-Gons 74
TUTORIAL 4.1: Polygon Modeling a Basic House 74
Modeling Layout 75
Create Polygon Tool for the Floor 76
A Look at the Structure Manager 78
Create Groups of Points Using Clone 79
Connect the Dots with the Bridge Tool 81
Create Polygon Tool for the Front Wall 82
Edge Cut and Bridge Tools for the Roof 82
To Make Points for the Sloping Roof 83
Using Auto Switch 85
Knife Tool for the Window Hole 86
To Shrink the Window Hole 89
Create the Sides of the Roof with Extrude 89
Selection, Only Select Visible Elements and Radius 91
Selecting Faces for Further Roof Extrusion 91
Make an Attic Using Extrude Inner and Extrude 95
The Attic Window 97
A Frame for the Window 98
Discover More 99
Wrap Up 99
TUTORIAL 4.2: HyperNURBS Modeling a Dolphin 100
What are HyperNURBS? 100
Configuring the Viewports 102
Modeling the Dolphin's Cage 106
Line up the Points 106
The Dolphin's Mouth 110
The Tail 115
The Dorsal Fin 117
Extrude the Flippers 118
Splitting the Cage 121
The Symmetry Tool 122
Discover More 124
Conclusion 126
CHAPTER5 MATERIALS & TEXTURES 127
Materials 128
Shaders 130
Effects 130
TUTORIAL 5.1: Applying Effects 131
Channels 133
Rendering 135
Materials and Lighting 136
Wrap Up 136
TUTORIAL 5.2: Layered Shaders and the Banged-Up Old Robot 137
A Word About File Structure 137
The Color Channel and the Layer Shader 138
Adding More Layers 143
The Diffusion Channel 143
Activate the Reflection Channel 147
Rendering 148
Apply the Material 148
Environment, Bump, and Displacement Channels 150
Environment Channel 150
Bump Channel 151
Displacement Channel 151
Render Settings 154
Changing Render Settings 154
Texture Mapping and an Alien Symbol of Doom 155
Create a New Material 155
The Texture Tool 159
Duplicate the Tag 159
More Dents 161
Load Materials 161
A Word About BodyPaint 3D 163
Conclusion 163
CHAPTER 6 LIGHTING 165
Lighting in Action 166
Anatomy of a Light 166
TUTORIAL 6.1: Nighttime Lighting for the Dining Room 173
A Chandelier 173
Materials That Fake Illumination 174
Add the Light 175
Shadows 176
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Contents ix
The Compositing Tag 177
Instances 178
Correcting Overexposure 179
Light Arrays 179
Falloff 182
Light Types 183
The Dining Room 184
Area Lights 184
TUTORIAL 6.2: Daytime Lighting for the Dining Room 187
Setup 187
Volumetric and Hard Shadows 188
Bounced Light 189
TUTORIAL 6.3: Romantic Lighting for the Dining Room 194
Props 194
Modeling a Candle 195
Lighting the Candle 195
TUTORIAL 6.4: Radiosity Rendering 202
Radiosity? 202
Read a Book, or Go Get a Sandwich 203
Conclusion 206
CHAPTER7 ANIMATION BASICS 207
Animation Toolbar 208
Timeline 210
TUTORIAL 7.1: Bouncing Ball 214
The Simple Scene 214
Basic Animation Concepts 215
The Object Tool 215
Keyframing the Position 216
Animation Paths 216
Adding Character 217
Timeline 218
Adjusting Keyframes in the Timeline 218
Keyframing Scale 219
Scrubbing 219
Keyframing Rotation 221
Make Preview 223
Change the Timing 223
Duplicating Keyframes 224
Editing Keyframes in the Attributes Manager 225
Interpolation 226
The F-Curve Manager 227
Wrap Up 231
TUTORIAL 7.2: Animating a Camera 231
Create the Camera 231
Project Settings 232
Changing Sequence Length 232
Animating the Camera 233
Splines as Animation Paths 233
Align to Spline 233
Add a Position Track 234
Add Keyframes to a Sequence 234
Rendering the Animation 236
TUTORIAL 7.3: Motion Blending 239
Motion Tracks 239
Conclusion 243
CHAPTER 8 CHARACTER ANIMATION IN CINEMA 4D AND MOCCA 245
Cinema 4D 247
Things That Make or Break a Setup 248
Core Concepts 248
IK vs FK 249
HPB 249
The Tools 250
Nulls and Splines 250
Selection Objects 251
Configurable Timeline and Curve Manager 251
Display/Selection Filters 252
IK 252
The MOCCA Toolset 252
Timewarp 253
The Bone Tool 253
Claude Bonet Tool vs Vertex Maps 254
Soft IK 255
Limits Settings 257
Auto Redraw 258
Bone Mirror 259
Cappucino and KeyReducer 259
P2P 260
PoseMixer 260
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Contents xi
MoMix 261
Workflow 262
Modeling 263
Pose 263
Structure 263
Point Density 264
Symmetry 265
Boning 265
Placement 265
Structure 266
Null Bones 267
Function 267
Helper Bones 268
Weighting 268
Control 268
Streamlining 269
Animation 269
The Fourth Dimension 270
Timing 270
Weight, Mass, and Dynamics 270
Anticipation and Overshoot 271
Arcs 272
Thought and Reason 272
Technical Aspects of C4D in Character Animation 273
Editor Speed 273
Editor Preview vs External Preview 273
Animation Process 273
Manual vs Automatic Keyframing 274
Looping 274
Keyframe Interpolation 275
Keyframes vs F-Curves 275
Clamp 276
Conclusion 276
CHAPTER 9 CHARACTER SETUP: A COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH 277
The Character 278
Modeling 280
Boning 280
Pelvis to Skull 283
The Arm 286
The Hand 286
The Leg 288
Weighting 289
The Hip Joint 291
The Knee and Elbow 292
The Spline 292
The Ankle 293
The Attachment 294
The Hand 294
Control 296
K for the Legs 296
Mirroring IK 299
Placing the Helmet 301
The Torso Controller 301
Grabbing the Screwdriver 302
Soft IK Legs 303
Mirroring Soft IK 307
A Few Extra Tips on Working with Soft IK 307
Soft IK for the Arms 308
Better Control of the Head 309
Streamlining 310
Separating the Controllers 310
The Hands 311
The Face 313
The Final Structure 314
Some Final Touches 315
Animation 316
Conclusion 319
CHAPTER 10 CLOTH 321
Modeling Cloth 322
Cloth Tag 322
Collider Tags 325
Dressing for Success 325
Dresser 325
Letting It Fly 330
Calculate Cache 330
Tweaking 331
Forces 331
Conclusion 332
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Contents xiii
CHAPTER 11 CAMERAS AND RENDERING 333
Camera Anatomy 334
Creating Cameras 335
Rendering 336
R9 and Advanced Render 337
Rendering Tools 337
General Options 338
Antialiasing 339
Transparency, Reflection, and Shadow 340
Output 341
Save 342
Antialiasing (Refined) 343
Radiosity and Caustics 343
Caustics 348
Effects 348
Highlights 350
Depth of Field 350
Motion Blur 356
Cel Renderer 358
Options 360
Multi-Pass 365
QuickTime VR 365
Panorama Vs Object 366
Running through the Tabs 368
TUTORIAL 11.1: Radiosity: Using an Image as the Light Source 370
Turn off the Auto Light 371
The Image File 371
The Illumination Channel 371
Final Renders 374
TUTORIAL 11.2: HDRI 376
Better Specular Highlights 376
Sky Objects 377
Coverting HDRI 378
Setup 378
Flash Output via FlashEx 378
FlashEx V2 380
Conclusion 382
CHAPTER 12 SKETCH AND TOON 383
Ray Gun with Style 384
TUTORIAL 12.1: Sketching a Ray Gun 385
The Spots Shader 385
Shaders and Lighting 390
Sketch Materials 392
Turn on Sketch Materials 392
Render Settings 394
Conclusion 395
CHAPTER 13 CUSTOMIZING THE C4D INTERFACE 397
Customizing Manager Size and Location 398
The Pin Icon 398
Individualized Workflow 400
Command Palettes 400
Docking and Undocking Command Palettes 400
Creating Command Palettes from Scratch 402
Command Manager 402
Power at Your Command 403
Menu Manager 406
Saving a Custom Layout 407
Preferences 407
Interface 407
Viewport 408
HUD 410
Conclusion 411
ABOUT THE CD-ROM 413
INDEX 414
xiv Contents