Course Overview 

Cinema 4D is the perfect package for all 3D artists who want to achieve breathtaking results fast and hassle-free. Beginners and seasoned professionals alike can take advantage of Cinema 4D’s wide range of tools and features to quickly achieve stunning results. Cinema 4D’s legendary reliability also makes it the perfect application for demanding, fast-paced 3D production, and a range of attractively priced software packages is available to fit any artist’s needs.

Course Outline

Introduction to Cinema 4D

1. The Cinema 4D workflow
2. Differences between 2D and 3D
3. Navigating the viewports
4. Navigating using a three-button mouse and keyboard shortcuts
5. Exploring the interface
6. Configuring project settings
7. Application preferences

Creating and Understanding Objects

1. Exploring object hierarchy
2. Creating, selecting, and transforming objects
3. Object categories – active and passive objects
4. Comparing object types
5. The Attribute Manager
6. Creating a basic model with primitive and null objects

Working with Splines

1. Creating and working with splines
2. Selecting and transforming points on a spline
3. Nurb types
4. Manipulating paths from Adobe Illustrator

Polygonal Modeling Tools

1. Points, edges, and polygons
2. Modeling with the Knife tool
3. Modeling with the Extrude tool
4. Modeling with the Extrude Inner tool
5. The Create Polygon and Bridge tools
6. Creating a HyperNURBS object
7. Creating a simple model

Using Deformers

1. Working with deformers
2. The Wind Deformer
3. The Wrap Deformer
4. The Spline Wrap

Materials and Texturing

1. Understanding material channels
2. Applying materials: Projection methods
3. Reflective surfaces / shiny surfaces
4. Rough surfaces / bumpy surfaces
5. Transparent surfaces
6. Using alpha channels to create a label
7. Texturing type using multiple materials

Working with Lights

1. Understanding how lights work in the 3D world
2. Adjusting falloff to limit how light affects objects
3. Understanding light types
4. Creating and manipulating shadows
5. Creating light rays with visible light
6. Creating a simple three-point light setup

Keyframes and Animation

1. Understanding keyframe animation
2. Animating in the Timeline
3. The F-Curve Manager
4. Create an animated pause

Camera Movement and Control

1. Differences between the Editor Camera and a camera object
2. Exploring field of view and aspect ratio
3. Explaining parallax in camera movement
4. Creating a dynamic camera movement
5. Refining and previewing a camera movement

Output and Rendering

1. The render engine
2. Render settings
3. Rendering still images vs. animation
4. Setting up multi-pass rendering for still images
5. Batch-rendering multiple files

Compositing in After Effects

1. The 3D animation workflow
2. Setting up a multi-pass render
3. Importing elements into After Effects
4. Manipulating 3D renders in After Effects
5. Fine-tuning a composition in After Effects

Introduction to MoGraph

1. Explaining MoGraph
2. Using the Cloner object
3. Modifying cloners with Effector objects
4. Creating animation with the Fracture object
5. Creating abstract shapes with the MoSpline object
6. Using the Tracer object to create paths
7. Creating realistic movement with MoDynamics