Today, I run through the basics of setting up a scene in Cinema 4D and rendering an image. We are gonna make this abstract sphere scene above using HDR lighting, The Mograph module, and Global Illumination.
Download the HDR Map and C4D Project file
Check out Tim’s site Helloluxx.tv for the layout and other great C4D tips.
Thanks to Chad Ashley for the HDRI Map.
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84 Comments
great one. straight to the point! thanks man.
Hey, I just have C4D 9, with no MoGraph, and I’ve just been trying to get into it for my motion graphics, should I wait to get mograph for v10 does it carry over if I got it for 9, thanks man, great tutorial
sweet! i never know what the hell i’m doing in C4D
LOVE the C4D tutorials man, thanks and keep it up!
Great tutorial.Some Great tips! Really to the point, I like that.
Thanks Nick!
I agree with ughsassin, PLEASE keep up the C4D tutorials:)
…I’ll even go one better:
I LOVED your teaching style, it was very refreshing compared to a lot of other instructors out there.
So, I’ll be happy to PAY for anything you offer in the future regarding C4D as well:)
Thanks again!
Awesome. Ever since you posted some C4D works I’ve been meaning to give it a shot, now’s my chance. Keep em coming! C4D and Ae baby!
Nice tut!
but how can i get the lay-out that you use?
Its my first time here and I already like it
Nice tutorial, keep it rolling!
Hey Nick, I noticed that when you were rendering, your renders were LIGHTNING fast, appearing to take no more than 5 seconds for your final HD image.
Now, I’m only on a quad-core with 16 gigs of ram, but the project as downloaded took my machine over a minute to render??
Is there a magic setting I missed?
I even took the antialiasing and set it back to the default, but still the time was nowhere close to yours.
Any ideas?
Also, Jeroen, here are the layouts:)
http://www.hypa.tv/hypablog/?p=15
finemotionvision on September 3rd, 2009 said...
did you work this out mate?
my render for this scene took 2 minutes. See my post below.
Thanks for the great tutorial Nick.
Great tutorial. I agree with about doing postwork in After Effects or Photoshop. Modo doesn’t have any chromatic aberration effect so I have to fake it in Photoshop to fake the photoreal look. Could you do more Cinema 4D tutorials, but this time show how to render out different passes (diffuse color, occlusion, specular, depth of field) for greater control in After Effects?
Hy
Thanks for this beautiful tuto.
What do you suggest for the HDRI pict when you have a cubic ?
thx
Enjoyed it Nick. I have C4D 10 sitting on the computer and have never opened it once. Why have something you don’t use… I think now I have a reason. I’m more of an AE guy, but I need as much in the arsenal as possible, right?
Thanks again. I’ve become addicted to the webcasts.
Works well with a nice glass material as well. Here is my take:
http://www.valhalladesign.net/glassballs.png
Great tutorial, definitely picked up a few tricks.
Is it just me or is there a problem with the .exr file…..C4D gives me an error when i apply it.
Some people have had some issues with using EXR files in Cinema. Not sure what the issue is. You can convert that file into a 32bit TIFF and it will work also. That should work
Great tutorial on C4d , allways wanted to mess with HDRI maps but didnt know..
here the link to my render http://motionattack.com/C4D/
and also posted in my blog…http://motionattack.blogspot.com/
Thanks and keep it up!!..
Dope Render Andres! Thanks for the link up!
Thanks for the hint. Really great tutorial…..could you at some point talk us through your backup strategy….i see you’ve got a raid array, drobo and time machine setup….be interesting to see just how paranoid you are!!
hey, i m a hong kong based designer, juz wanna tell u tht ur tuts are awesome! rock’on!
hi, very interesting tutorial. only thing is that the .exr file doesn’t work for me. i always get a “texture error” when i try to render. i already downloaded your zip-file two times, always the same…
Nice tutorial
I made a short test with this map http://vimeo.com/3726402
I love your project “use this song”
Thanks for all your tips, good stuff. If anyone is interested, add a composite tag to your sky and uncheck seen by camera. You still get the the reflections but not the image in the bg.
i put the result of the tutorial here:
http://darrelldupas.googlepages.com/resultfromgreyscalegorillacinema4dtutori
thank you
The “Clapper Thing” is called a “clapboard” or “clapperboard”, actually. Very close.
Great tutorial
Great tutorial. Thanks!
Dumb question, but… How can you tell if Advanced Render is properly installed? Are there certain options that do not show up in the render settings if you do not have AR installed? Thanks again.
Wow! This tutorial is great. I’m a C4D newbie and was looking for something like this. You’re getting added to my RSS feed!
Thanks.
You’re a great teacher Nick! I really like this C4D tutorial. It’s not easy to find great tutorial like this one. I learned A LOT.
Thanks man
Keep it up!
Thanks for posting this. Like many others on here, I’m new at this C4D stuff. Anyway, here’s my attempt:
http://twitpic.com/2kqdp
Thank you
it was good
Great work! for some odd reason I downloaded the exr applied it but won’t work. I get a missing it error and a red box around the material sample on the material manager! I tried resaving the exr but no luck any suggestions?
Hey,
Great Tut Nick. This is my first delving into the advanced renderer.
Here’s some of my results:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3441039418_bb2e9a0b0e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/3441039718_f332fa90db_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3440225889_fdabe41f58_b.jpg
Cheers!
Great stuff Bill!
Thanks for sharing.
Hello, really enjoying the site. Your portfolio and tutorials are very inspiring!
You mentioned in this tutorial that your friend Chad, made the HDR map in a PC app, I was wondering if anyone has come across a Mac app for creating HDR environment maps, anyone?
Hey nick,
I’m a little late to these Tutorials, but i’m gonna go through each one and post an example. Hope you still check the earlier tutorials comments.
http://ryan-turner.com/gsgimages/spheres.jpg
thanks for the tutorials.
Ryan
Hi, after creating and animating my object how do i export it as an avi or other movie format in maximum quality?
Thanks a lot.
Su: I will go though export soon.
Nick, this tutorial was great – Thanks so much for doing these – so rad to see so many people learning and sharing!
I posted a few stills with a bit of post here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattsaintg/3527072645/
Great job, Thanks man!
So, I just got Cinema 4D r10 two days ago and loaded it up last night. A studio bundle version just to practice on and learn the program. I was very excited to try it out and follow your tutorials. Naturally I wanted to start with the Intro to Cinema 4D tutorial. What a let down, when I found out I don’t have Mograph module to follow along what you were doing. Any ideas on how I can get that module to use and practice with? I still watched the tutorial and you do a great job of explaining. I look forward to following along on other tutorials hopefully outside of the Mograph since I don’t have it. Keep up the Cinema 4D tutorials and let me know any other references you may recommend for my learning.
I’m also unable to get the HDRI map to load correctly. I select the exr file but then it doesn’t show up on the material and the box around the material display turns red. Any ideas?
thegorilla on June 16th, 2009 said...
Seems that the EXR isn’t loading properly for some people. I will upload the hdr file soon.
olga on June 30th, 2009 said...
HI!!! just new to the programme but am learning really quickly with your great tutorials!!! you make it look so easy – thank you!!!
However, have been trying to download the HDRI map so i can do the orange and blue spheres but it just doesnt want to!!! the file is there but when unzipped its empty!
Im still just using the demo!
any ideas???
Mikkel on February 4th, 2010 said...
Nick, the exr doesn’t work for me either … any chance you’ll upload the HDR file?
Thanks
Nick I can’t get the Global Illumination option to be active on my Cinema 4D v.10 program.
I’m not using the MoGraph module so I thought I would go through the steps with a single sphere instead maybe thats the problem?
Also I want to build an interior 3D studio/building in Cinema 4D. Do you know of any good tutorials for this?
Thanks for your tutorials and keep up the good work!!
Cheers
thank you that was a great tutorial. here is my finished work
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39682745@N04/3648575788/
HI!!! just new to the programme but am learning really quickly with your great tutorials!!! you make it look so easy – thank you!!!
However, have been trying to download the HDRI map so i can do the orange and blue spheres but it just doesnt want to!!! the file is there but when unzipped its empty!
Im still just using the demo!
any ideas???
Hello there.
Thanks for making the tutorials. The reason i watched this was because i needed to make a bubble, and so i did
Here is the result: http://anders-eek.deviantart.com/art/Bubble-Bubble-129944951
The Gorilla on July 18th, 2009 said...
Hey, nice bubble. First time in CInema?
Anders on July 19th, 2009 said...
I have used Cinema for some years, but only for “light” work
There are some other work in the gallery (same link).
Hey! Great tutorial, in fact I love all your tutorials and you’re helping me a lot (just got Cinema 4D three days ago!).
I ran into this problem during the material part. Here’s a picture:
http://i31.tinypic.com/hs51xj.png
As you can see, my material isn’t looking like yours. Mine have that dark gradient around it while yours have a lighter/white glow around it. My settings are – well I think – 100 % the same as your settings. A simple color and the rest into ‘Reflection’. I hope you’ll be able to help me out.
The Gorilla on July 18th, 2009 said...
Show me your color channel.
Martin Nielsen on July 19th, 2009 said...
I fixed it (only saved my final render), but thanks!
But hey, I’ve a suggestion for a tutorial. How about rendering med Vray or something like that. I’d love to see how to capture realistic looking renders with Vray (if you have it..
If you don’t, then modelling would be nice. Maybe a glass with some wine in it or a couch!
I ran into a problem today modelling a couch. Whenever I try to use the FFD bend object and put it as a child of my model (in this case it’s the back of the couch).. whenever I mark some polys and try to modify the back of the couch nothing happens. Can you help me solve this problem?
After the tut, I went out and found some nice FREE HDR map packs (no affiliation to the creator and I haven’t tried them out yet, but they look promising):
http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-3-112847728
http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-2-103458406
http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-1-97402522
can any one help me ? how to save sound in c4d i have animation with sound but when i render it its with out
thegorilla on July 30th, 2009 said...
There is a check box in the output or save tab that adds audio.
Here’s a move on a bubble I did based on this! Thanks, now just have to learn how to use mograph to make a bunch of deforming bubbles…
http://www.vimeo.com/5847922
hello & thank a lot !
just a question, with c4d r11, global illuminaton has changed and the render seems to be very long in comparaison with your video. Any idea about this ?
Thanks for this one!
Although i have a question, i try to make a animation with those ones. But when i animate the DHR Map is shown, kan i disable it in the render or so?
Thanks man! Keep up the good work
Grreat stuff man! Love your site. Had a question though. Im VEEEERY new to C4D and I saw that you use ‘Global Illumination’ in the tut. When I click on Global Illumination its all greyed out. Im I missing something or is that another extra I need to fork out cash for? Thanks!
thegorilla on August 11th, 2009 said...
You may need the “Advanced Renderer” Module.
Cheers for these nick, really helped getting me up to speed with c4d!
Thanks for this very useful tutorial for noobs like me..
Keep it up!
Great work Nick,
@Nick + everyone else
I’m new to C4D. Was wondering how long a render should take on an iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,with 4 gig of ram.
I’ve got the advanced render module.
It’s taking 2 minutes to render the scene!
I take it, Nick, you’re running a large ass Mac Pro and that my own render times are to be expected with my system?
Any feedback from anyone would be great – especially anyone who’ got a similar system to mine.
ta
thegorilla on September 3rd, 2009 said...
It all depends on your settings. it’s hard to give you a number without trying to render your scene here. It’s all about finding out what settings you can reduce or remove to get a good looking render with the shortest time. That, for me, is one of the hardest things to learn. Keep playing!
finemotionvision on September 3rd, 2009 said...
good advice – it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that there’s one magic setting. i reworked your tut and got the renders down to 20 secs. Much better. Still not lightning though.
nice tutorial, i have made it, very easy, thanks for texture, greets from berlin
Really appreciate stuff like this mate, having never used C4D (or a 3d app) it’s great to find resources like this.
Here’s my render (with photoshoppery) – http://www.jamesdeangelis.com/random/balls.jpg
Nice TUT GSG
,
can’t seem to find Global ill. in Cinema 4d R11 though, makes me feel a bit stupid…
any suggestions?
thegorilla on September 17th, 2009 said...
It’s in render settings on the left under “Effect” They moved it in version 11.
Great tutorial!
Here are my three very first C4D renders:
http://PixelatedDragon.deviantart.com/art/3D-Spheres-Blue-137435054
http://PixelatedDragon.deviantart.com/art/3D-Spheres-Green-137434948
http://PixelatedDragon.deviantart.com/art/3D-Spheres-Red-137434851
Great tutorial, simple, clear. Thanks for sharing.
woah, how do you get your render to come out so fast?
I’ve got a 2.2ghz macbook pro with gefore 8600M GT and it takes 3-5minutes to render what you do in a few seconds. that’s quite the different, this is a relatively new computer too.
any suggestions? is it settings or just graphics card?
this was really helpful, thanks a lot! this actually was the first tutorial I ever took for any 3D program ever. so yeah, you kind of set me off
funny to see how your room is brighter after the 20 minutes of tutorial filming. heh.
hey there. Really impressive stuff here, just found your site! I’d love to get my head around c4d, What’s it like for masking and revealing objects? It’s pretty much all I do in after effects with layers. Can you do similar in c4d?
Yup, great tutorial mate! Here’s my render
http://www.e-imagesite.com/Files2/invalid3695079.jpg
Thanks Nick!
Really helpful in more ways than 1.
Just wondering is there a way to download the tutorial to my puter?
Slow connection where i come from and it takes a while to load.
Thanks muchly!
The Gorilla on December 8th, 2009 said...
Sure, You can download the original quicktime at Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/3680194
Great stuff! Thanks!
Just went through this bit myself and wanted to note that hypa.tv has since closed their doors and I happened to find a link elsewhere to the mentioned C4D layouts. You can grab them here: http://www.hypatv.com/misc/timlayouts.zip
hey, this is really great
Thanks!!!!
Great tutorial!! Especially the HDRI trick! One question: I noticed that the original image had a dark blue background, but the one you made in the tut was more gray. How did you accomplish the darker blue background for the promo image and also, is there a way to “hide” the HDRI from view while retaining the reflections it creates on the spheres? If any of this involves rendering Alpha Channels, perhaps you could make a tutorial on that in the future?? Thanks dude, you rock,
Jake
The Gorilla on January 25th, 2010 said...
The difference between the two is all in the post production. I must have made a more extreme color correction for the original image.
As for hiding the HDRI, use the Compositing tag and turn off “seen by camera”
Cheers!
Oh also, it seems that Global Illumination is a bit different now. I’m working off of C4D 11.5 and I had to apple-click in the render settings dialogue to add GI to the available options. It slowed down render time SIGNIFICANTLY but got the job done.
Hey Nick,
Thanks a lot for this tutorial, I am still experimenting with lighting and all. But I cane up with this: http://i48.tinypic.com/10p6h7c.jpg
Thanks a lot!
smokey on February 4th, 2010 said...
Nick!
Don’t ever stop what your doing!
Awesome content!
Hey Nick,
I just got C4D yesterday, and this was my first run through with the program. Great work with the blog and everything, it totally gets me excited about motion work all over again with every post.
this tutorial was super easy to follow and really helped me get going.
here’s a link to my first render!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4341238547_23843f35c1_o.jpg
im gonna go through all of your stuff in the next week or so. really excited!
The Gorilla on February 8th, 2010 said...
Thanks, Devin! Nice Render!
Thanks Nick,
I have been using C4D since the early days. I must say I have learned a lot from your tuts on here.
Here’s my render
http://i46.tinypic.com/20qjpxj.jpg
Hi,
My Results
http://img651.yfrog.com/img651/6075/orangeandbluecpia.png
http://img641.yfrog.com/img641/7905/orangeandblue.png
I love this blog/site, keep going please.
Hey Nick
Any chance you’ll upload the HDR file? I can’t load the EXR
its a cool tutorial and i love it
hope to see more mograph tutorial
thank!
Thank you for a great tutorial!
Here’s my take http://i50.tinypic.com/2sbplbb.jpg
Nick! thanks a lot for this tutorial. GSG is great, i love it I’m going to do evrey tutorial you will post here.
never see so many “beautiful balls” (O_O) in a single web page, congratulations to everyone.
Here’s mine: http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/8465/spheresxfinaledit.jpg
bye
Great tutorial Nick, I applied the technique you showed in the video to a logo instead of a sphere and it came out great. Thank you