Cinema 4D R17 Essential Training

Learn how to make great looking 3D graphics and animations. Explore polygonal modeling, spline modeling, lighting, rendering, shading, and more.

Learn CINEMA 4D R17. From polygonal and spline modeling to lighting, rendering, and shading, this series of CINEMA 4D tutorials will get you up to speed quickly so that you can make great looking 3D graphics and animations with ease.

CINEMA 4D (aka C4D) is a vital tool for anyone considering a career in motion graphics, visual effects, or animation. Whether you're just starting out or migrating to C4D from another program, CINEMA 4D R17 Essential Training has you covered. Craig Whitaker explores some of the new features in R17—the version released in August 2015—and segues into a quick-start chapter that reviews the entire CINEMA 4D workflow in just eight steps. The rest of the course divides CINEMA 4D's core functionality into individual chapters on spline modeling, polygonal modeling, deformers, materials and shaders, lighting, the MoGraph toolbox, animation, and rendering. Craig also shows how to composite your C4D work with live-action footage and other effects in After Effects, using the AEC or CINEWARE workflow. By the end of the course, you should be comfortable working with all of C4D's powerful tools.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching this course
• Using the exercise files

1. What's Different in R17 vs. R16?

• Understanding the Take System
• Using the Take System for compositing
• Creating versions with the Take System
• Spline tool
• Other features

2. Getting Started (Quick Start)

• Overview of 3D workflow
• Navigating the CINEMA 4D (C4D) interface
• Creating a text spline
• Using the Extrude object
• Creating a camera
• Setting up a material
• Lighting the model
• Rendering

3. Spline Modeling

• Introducing spline modeling
• Creating splines in C4D
• Using the Lathe tool
• Using the Sweep NURBS objects
• Importing curves from Illustrator and using the Extrude tool
• Creating with the Loft tool

4. Polygonal Modeling

• Understanding how 3D models are made
• Points, edges, and polygons
• Using the Extrude and Extrude Inner tools
• Using the Bridge and Knife tools
• Subdivision modeling
• Exploring the PolyPen

5. Deformers

• What is a deformer?
• Bend deformer
• Using the Spline Wrap deformer
• Wind deformer
• Using deformer falloff

6. Materials and Shaders

• What makes up a 3D material?
• How does C4D think about materials
• Rough surfaces (bump, displacement, and normals)
• Shiny surfaces (reflection)
• Transparent surfaces (refraction)
• Using an alpha channel (in a label on a bottle)
• Creating and using selection tags
• Projections vs. UVs
• Editing UVs

7. Using Lights

• Concepts of 3D lighting
• Type of C4D lights and why we use them
• Working with shadows
• Why falloff is important and how to set it up
• Creating a three-point lighting setup
• Volumetric lighting
• Introduction to Global Illumination

8. Using MoGraph

• Introduction to MoGraph tools and concepts
• Using cloners
• Using effectors
• Creating MoGraph with Fracture objects
• Creating type with MoText
• Setting up dynamics

9. Animation

• What are keyframes and how do you create them?
• Timeline controls (F-Curve vs. Key mode)
• Adjusting animation curves
• Using set-driven keys
• Moving the camera with custom user data

10. Rendering

• Reviewing how render engines work
• Common render settings
• Introduction to the Physical Render engine
• Tips to reduce render times
• Setting up multipass rendering

11. Compositing in After Effects

• What is the 3D compositing workflow?
• Uses for the Compositing tag
• Using the AEC workflow
• The CINEWARE workflow
• Compositing with multipass

Conclusion

• Next steps