Book Image

Instant Cinema 4D Starter

By : Aaron Kaminar
Book Image

Instant Cinema 4D Starter

By: Aaron Kaminar

Overview of this book

<p>Instant Cinema 4D Starter is one of the most prevalent 3D packages on the market today. With an intuitive user interface, experienced 3D artists can learn how to use C4D very quickly and easily. Amongst other features, C4D's animation tools and bulletproof rendering pipeline make it a major contender in the field of 3D software.<br /><br />"Instant Cinema 4D Starter" is a book written by an experienced artist, for other artists. You will learn how to navigate the interface, and be given a basic understanding of how objects and hierarchies are structured in C4D. Then a step-by-step illustrated tutorial will teach you how to build a logo animation from the ground up.<br /><br />"Instant Cinema 4D Starter" provides a leg up for 3D artists that need to learn this powerful software. You will benefit from easy-to-understand instructions and informative illustrations. After being walked through the installation process, you will be taught the basics of navigating the C4D interface. This includes an overview of the different components of the interface, as well as some golden “rules to live by” that carry over throughout the entire application.<br /><br />You will then jump into Cinema 4D with a hands-on tutorial. The tutorial starts with importing vector artwork from a 2D logo. You will then learn how to clean it and build it up to a geometric 3D model. You will then use a free plugin to shatter the logo geometry, and a module named MoGraph to animate it. After animating the camera and lighting the logo, you’ll be ready to render your scene. The only thing left to do is leave the reader with some helpful links to important and helpful resources in the C4D community.</p>
Table of Contents (7 chapters)

Chapter 1. Instant Cinema 4D Starter

Welcome to the Instant Cinema 4D Starter. This book has been created to provide you with all the information that you need to get up to speed quickly with Cinema 4D. You will learn the basics of the Cinema 4D interface, tips and tricks from an industry professional, and connect with networks of Cinema 4D users and developers.

This document contains the following sections:

So, what is C4D? helps you find out what Cinema 4D is, what you can do with it, and what makes it such a unique and powerful 3D application.

Installation explains that Cinema 4D comes with a variety of licensing schemes, each including different modules of the program. This section will help readers choose a licensing scheme, and will demonstrate the installation process.

Quick start – the UI and your first scene shows you how to use the Cinema 4D interface. You will then follow along as we build an animated 3D logo. By the end of this section, you will have modeled, textured, lit, animated, and rendered your own Cinema 4D scene.

Top 8 features you need to know about lists examples of the most powerful features of Cinema 4D. We'll take a brief look at Sculpting, Bodypaint, MoGraph, XPresso, Thinking Particles, Simulation, Hair, Physical Renderer, and integration with other 3D and 2D software packages.

People and places you should get to know guides you where to go for more information and resources. Readers will learn about key industry websites that will help them to learn more tricks, find useful plugins, and connect with other users of Cinema 4D.