Book Image

Cinema 4D R14 Cookbook, Second Edition

By : Simon Russell, Michael Szabo
Book Image

Cinema 4D R14 Cookbook, Second Edition

By: Simon Russell, Michael Szabo

Overview of this book

<p>Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation, and rendering application developed by MAXON. It is becoming the most popular 3D design program in the world and learning it now will only help you become a better and more valuable designer in the 3D design industry. It is capable of procedural and polygonal sub modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3D modeling applications.</p> <p>This book provides all the Cinema 4D knowledge you need to become well-versed with the software in the form of short recipes, which get straight to the point about what you need to know to start designing great 3D projects.</p> <p>Cinema 4D R14 Cookbook, Second Edition will guide you towards becoming an adept 3D designer, giving you all the tools to succeed in the field of 3D graphics. The book is set up to gradually introduce more sophisticated topics the deeper you go, and by the end of it you'll have a great working knowledge of the program. Early on you'll learn the basics of the program, and then jump right into how to start creating your own 3D objects to use in your designs.</p> <p>Along the way you'll learn how to set up lights, cameras, and materials to turn your work into something that feels more like art and design. Towards the end of the book you will be introduced to powerful tools like Xpresso, Mograph, Particles, Sculpting, and Dynamics to take your work to the next level. You'll be impressed by how easy it is to design top quality work once you lay the foundation for the entire program through this book. By the end of this book, you'll have opened new creative doors and given yourself the opportunity to be a more successful and versatile designer.</p>
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Cinema 4D R14 Cookbook Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Creating abstract shapes


So far, we've used MoGraph to clone and animate specific 3D objects, but what if you are in need of a design that is more abstract? Abstract is tough to design, because it's more arbitrary than knowing how to model something definite. Abstract doesn't have a particular look. MoGraph can help you do the heavy lifting and create some very interesting shapes that don't really look like anything, yet they may be exactly what you need.

Getting ready

Use the Abstract_Mograph.c4d file from the C4D Content Pack for this recipe.

How to do it...

  1. Start this unconventional use of MoGraph by grabbing a Helix spline from the Command Palette and then a Cloner object from the MoGraph menu. Make the Helix a child of the cloner and increase the Count value to 30. Look towards the bottom of the Object tab for the cloner and you'll see Step Rotation H, Step Rotation B, and Step Rotation P. These values correspond to the amount of rotation that occurs from one clone to the next. Increase...