CINEMA 4D R11 – Part 1: The Core is the first of a multi-part series covering MAXON's new CINEMA 4D Release 11's offerings. Because this product has so many items available for the user, that I could not do it justice in a single write-up, and so I will break it down in separate articles. This first one will cover the core product functionality. (Note: you may need to update QuickTime before viewing the videos linked in this article, which you can do here)
CINEMA 4D R11 is the latest release of the commercial cross-platform, high-end 3D graphics application from MAXON Computer GmbH of Germany. It is extremely popular among matte painters in film, and motion graphics artists. It has been used for films such as Polar Express, The Incredible Hulk, Beowulf, and The Golden Compass. It has been used in The Weather Channel's 100 Biggest Weather Moments, as well as in architectural modeling, graphic design, science, and engineering.
CINEMA 4D R11 has tight integration with Adobe Photoshop and MAXON BodyPaint 3D which simplifies the editing and manipulating of extensive digital mattes and even fully immersive 3D environments. It also has an enormous following among users of Adobe After Effects because the exporting of 3D data and separate alpha and depth information is efficient and simple. The export feature also supports Apple's Final Cut Pro, as well as other software, and thus allows it to fit in to a number of post-production studio configurations.
What do you need to run CINEMA 4D R11? On Windows you will need XP Home, Pro, or Pro 64-bit, Windows 2003 Server (32- or 64-bit), Intel Pentium 4, Athlon 64/MP (K8 with SSE2), Sempron (K8 with SSE2), and VIA C7. On Mac you will need Mac OS X 10.4.x or Mac OS X 10.5.3 or higher (10.5.0 thru 10.5.2 are not recommended), IBM PowerPC G5, or Intel CoreSolo. You will also need a modern video card, a DVD drive, and an Internet connection to register and activate your product.
CINEMA 4D is a product that was first released in 1993 in Germany. It stepped into the U.S. market at MacWorld in 1998 and took the Best Product award at SIGGRAPH, the annual conference of computer graphics. After winning many other awards and acclimations over the years, it soon found its way to the film and graphics industries, as well as into the fields of architecture and engineering.
Article comments
1 - Marcus
Contrary to the information in the review, Cinema 4D was available to the U.S. market several years before 1998. It was available for the Amiga platform (in the US) as early as 1994 (if not actually 1993).