Its claim to fame is its combination of state-of-the-art technology and its ease of use, which makes it possible for those who are new to the technology to become productive much more quickly than other similar products. Because of it modularity, the core product gives you everything that you need to create high-end 3D images and animations. As you need additional features, you can get those as well. There are a number of integrated modules that are available for purchase individually, or in bundles.
While when working with CINEMA 4D, the actual steps performed may differ depending on what you are trying to accomplish, but a basic workflow would go like this. First you would make a model of the items that you are trying to create. Take for example the spoon in the image listed. Using the primitives you manipulate and shape the spoon into its final form. The next step would be to add texture to the model. This is effectively giving it its outer coating. From there, if this were an item that had animation you could work that in. Then you would set up the lighting so that it further gave that 3D look. Once all that was done, you could render the image into its final form as was done in the donkey scene listed below.
So what comes with the core of CINEMA 4D?
• Content Browser – will help you manage your content of your projects and all of the related files. It provides the ease of use that will help you locate your files quickly and provides thumbnail previews so that you can find just the right file.
• Customizable Interface – lets you work how you want to. You can use the default layout when you are first starting, and then easily customize the interface to optimize your own workflow efficiency.
• Integration – allows you to exchange files with a lot of other programs coming from various disciplines that include architecture, CAD, special effects, compositing, motion graphics, character animation, and more. You can check out the MAXON site for a listing of all the different formats that are available.
• Modeling – is the one of the first steps in most 3D projects. Basic shapes are provided within CINEMA 4D. Their parameters like size, fillet, and orientation are adjustable. They can be used as-is or combined together to create more complex objects. To create even more complex objects you can use the extensive polygon modeling tools that are available in the core product.
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).