Cinema 4D release 15

2004 render

2014 render 

Today Cinema 4D release 16 came out, but since I hadn’t been able to afford the every escalating upgrade prices since version 11. There isn’t much to complain about in my opinion as far as the software goes. Of course there are always a few things that need to be worked out. 

Rendering: fantastic improvements, the « physical render » really can make things go faster. It does tend to render « city" with grain but that can be adjusted and the simplified way you can add depth to field and motion blur is a real godsend. 

Rigging: this has always been a huge pain to do but C4D has made it a lot simpler with their auto rigging tools. pretty much all the programming and annoying zeroing out of joints is not done in the background and you can mix and match arm, leg, wing etc set ups from different types of pre done rigs and then move them to fit your model with amazing speed. the sole issue I’ve had is the thumb is rotated in the wrong direction and has to be manually adjusted. Binding is also done automatically, and isn’t perfect but takes hours of trial and error away with a click. 

Simulation tags: these are a true innovation in the software. The physics set ups in times past have been painful and often badly realized. These rage make simple collision set-ups extremely easy and, again, save days of fiddling with settings the average user knows nothing about. 

Sculpting and other modelling improvements: haven’t played with sculpting much but it’s very cool and nice to see it integrated into the software directly. Chamfering and some other tools are greatly enhanced as well. 

The camera simulation tag: I really love this. You import a photo into this camera tag, draw out the perspective lines and C4D automatically lets you drop objects into the scene with correct perspective and positioning. Version 16 has a similar video tracking feature which I could really use in this new contract, but I won’t be making enough to get this version and I doubt the studio will drop the cash for it either so quickly after buying version 15. 

New interface: It take some getting used to but putting things together that go together like the tools/arrange objects item can make finding things less of a safari. the default interface set ups (sculpt/animation/standard etc) are now on the right top corner with a drop down menu that’s easier to switch back and forth with. Giving a selected item an orange outline really clears thing up in the viewport when you need to move or change things. 

There are tons of other things of course but these are the ones I’ve noticed the most so far. I have to say the current Maxon owners are milking the upgrade thing for all it’s worth, most of the features I love were introduced in version 13 and it seems every three versions would be the way to update except if you don’t update more frequently you end up paying full price again. 

They removed soft IK with no way to get that effect for some reason which is a deal killer for some people and for good reason. I don’t get the reason and couldn’t find one, only that it was removed. Doesn’t seem to have returned in version 16 either. There are still no fluid dynamics, which even free programs offer which is another mystery. There are plugins for that but it seems a no brainer to have it included.