UPDATED March 2010
1. FXPHD.COM
I have been taking courses at FXPHD for over a year now, and I must say that they are by far, the best and most comprehensive way to learn Cinema 4D! Tim Clapham shows you how he makes everything look so great in a straightforward, step by step way. Yeah, FXPHD is one of the more pricy options, but It’s way worth it. Sign up for one semester and you will be hooked. Their AE training is great too.
Visit FXPHD
2. HELLOLUXX
Speaking of Tim, his site HelloLuxx has been pivitol in my understanding of Cinema 4D over the years. His site is one of the only “Designer Based” Cinema 4D sites out there. If you need Cinema 4D training for broadcast graphics work, this is your place. No spinning 3D monsters here.
Visit Hello Luxx
3. MOGRAPH.NET
Have a specific problem or question about Cinema 4D? Head over to Mograph.Net to ask a question and search their forum. The “Mograph Central” section has become a Cinema 4D Q&A orgy lately. Everyone is really helpful.
Some of them can be a bit snarky, but its all part of the fun. Chris Smith from CSTools fame frequents mograph.net and is super great about helping people problem solve. He may just write a tool for your problem. 
Visit MOGRAPH.NET
4. BASE80
While not really project based, the tutorials and tips at Base80 really start to teach you the more advanced features of Cinema 4D. These little tutorials are really helpful when you are trying to widen your 3D horizons and try out new features that you didn’t even know Cinema 4D had.
Visit BASE80
5. GREYSCALEGORILLA
Sure it’s a shameless plug, but this site has been growing with more and more Cinema 4D tutorials over the last year. Check out my collection of growing tutorials for the CS Tools or watch some of my large tutorials where I show how to go from Cinema 4D to After Effects.
Visit Greyscalegorilla Tutorials
OK… YOUR TURN
I want to hear from you. Did I miss any sites that you use to learn Cinema 4D? Is there a training series that you really loved? Tell me about it in the comments.
Wow, thanks for that HypaTV website, never heard of it before.
I know not totally motion design related, but c4d portal has some very good character animation tutorials for c4d.
Nicel list, but maybee you should ad http://www.cineversity.com/ also. The full membership is a little expensive, but there is also a lot of free stuff.
but they also have some nice free tuts.
Like this one:
http://www.cineversity.com/tutorials/lesson.asp?tid=1183
a 4 part Cinema and After Effects integration tutorial, that covers multipass and compositing – I found it quite useful
Damn Nick, this is awesome. Its like you listened to everything I said in my previous post. Thanks for making things happen. I don’t see how you have the time to work and post stuff daily, but I really appreciate your commitment to the site and the readers.
this is good too. Specially the introduction one it’s really nice to start.
http://www.cmivfx.com/
I agree with Mota cmivfx is a very good jumping off point for the basics, as well as more advanced concepts involving thinking particles
i think these guys pushing cmivfx are trolls that are working for said company.
Amen to cmivfx — best one out there…
Thanks for the heads up. I haven’t checked them out yet. Their training is pretty good eh? What video should I start with?
imho, the TP ones are the best, since there is little understandable information about it elsewhere…
I’m missing texturing / rendering of thinking particles in those tuts, but for the setups they’re great.
The others are more intermediate to beginner, but still there are always some ‘OMG, I wish I had known that 3 years ago’ moments.
Part 3 of the basics series is also very helpful in demystifying the material manager for those who are beginning cinema 4d.
I think CMIVFX “C4D ULTIMATE LEARNING SYSTEM VOL 1″ is the first tutorial to start working on C4D.
It’s more than 2 hours explaining the UI, basics commands, customization, controls, etc… Really a good choice to start.
These are good but drink a lot of coffee before watching.
CMIVFX Thinking Particles simply rules. I’ve been using TP for years without knowing 3/4 of what it can do.
You missed a big one: http://www.jag4d.com/
This site is a pain to navigate, but there are some gems in the rough: http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/ipbsfx/
There’s some good stuff over at http://www.viefex.com/, too.
Great tips on http://www.bonkers.de/, but it’s mostly textual.
I’m an fxphd member too. Amazing tutorials both AE and C4D.
Some others I have run across are:
http://www.tvgrafx.com
http://www.c4dportal.com (great site to learn)
http://www.3dattack.us/smf/index.php
(Community site around C4D. Also if you go to http://www.3dattack.us/smf/index.php?topic=7.0 they have magazines you can download. They’re 2005 but still a great learning tool)
I actually, just a week ago, started learning c4d (max background) and cmivfx.com has some great beginner to advanced stuff.
“downright UGLY” lol
I began working with cinema 4d about a year ago and found their tutorials to be quite fruitful. I will admit I only just discovered Grayscale Gorilla yesterday, but i suppose it is better late than never.
The site is full of good stuff, I just found Nick’s comment to be very honest and direct. Which is very good since no one really says what ther really think so openly (flamming fear?). GreyScale Gorilla (GreyScaleGorilla?) is a blend of good ol’ tech/tutorial stuff and great design (which many many tutorials and communities really lack).
Yes! I’ve been looking for some other C4D tutorial sites but never had any luck. Thanks Nick!
Great sites for cinema 4d. but there are a couple you missed.
3D Attack – Publishes a monthly online mag, great forums too. A video tutorials to download.
http://www.3dattack.us/smf/index.php
C4des – Publishes an online Magazine just like 3d attack but its mostly a spanish magazine, the last couple of issues have been in english, really great stuff.
http://www.c4des.com/recursos/tienda/
I’ve also found quite some nice sites through delicious. Why not check out all my c4d links here: http://delicious.com/basdumoulin/c4d
And I can highly recommend using twitter and subscribing to maxon3d ( http://twitter.com/maxon3d ) or maybe even to nickvegas
good luck!
In my opinion, this link belwo is a really, really good one…
http://www.tvgrafx.com
this is a great resource for Cinema 4d & After Effects…free tutorials, and the ones available for purchase aren’t expensive at all. Key=He’s a broadcast designer, and a darn good one.
Oh man, I am really ashamed not to mention tvgrafx in my post – It is really a great great source for c4D and motiondesign in general. The guy running the site is really gifted and passioned!
Nice timing with this one…I just got C4D and haven’t even started the thing up yet.
Must leave comfort zone!!! (AE)
Thanks dude!
are you related to moho from lost marble?
that was the first software i did any animation in! it was heaps fun!
Here are some more C4D tutorials:
http://jorgelega.com/
great videos too. I also thought about tvgrafx but Steve was first;) BTW his name is Keith not Key
Nick – great site! Thanks.
great link – didn’t know that one yet. thx.
ya some cool tuts here, but I don’t understand why people give the time to record a tutorial but then not add audio.
This guy is nasty (as in good). Just by watching him work even without words, I picked up a lot of new techniques. Its cool because he has music playing during the tutorials so its like watching everything come alive to sound like in a commercial or something. Thanks a lot for sharing this link.
I hope everyone knows about 3d attack in case you don’t here it is….
http://www.3dattack.us/
It is a pretty active cinema 4d community complete with some inexpensive tutorials and a monthly magazine (which is awesome)
Some others worth checking out folks.
http://www.tvgrafx.com/tutorials/main.html
http://www.bendingpixels.com/bp-08/resources.html
http://www.archc4d.com/index.html
http://www.c4dlounge.eu/forum/cmps_index.php
http://www.c4dportal.com/forum/index.php
perfect timing I just got cinema 4d and was looking for a way to saturate my brain with tutorials.
thanks so much!
http://www.c4des.com favorite site, its in spanish but now there is google translator so give it a shot.
They also make a really good magazine http://www.c4des.com/recursos/tienda/index.php
Hmmm…I posted some good links, but the post hasn’t shown up. Guess I’ll post ‘em on my blog instead then.
Sorry Leah,
All your great links got held up in my approval queue. They are up now.
My comments are doing the same thing.
For french users of C4D : http://www.weecast.fr/tutoriels-cinema-4d.html 24 cheap tutorials !
http://www.frenchcinema4d.fr/ An active forum with some tutorials and lots of tips.
Thanks for all this stuff Nick
I can’t recommend fxphd highly enough. Tim’s teaching is gold.
I find it very hard to find good examples of what their classes look like on their site. Sure there are videos on the first two basic classes, but since I’m more interested in the more advanced part, I have no idea what it will be like.
And especially with the price being $330 I want to know what I am buying…
Anyone else feel the same?
Nobody’s mentioned the C4D [url="http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=47"]CGTalk[/url] forum yet?
Not so much motionGraphics based, but a good forum with a lot of CG profesionals
a german site
http://www.gfx-world.net/tutorials/tag/cinema-4d
oh i fogot
xpresso’s
http://www.xpresso24.com/
textrues
http://www.cgtextures.com/
Thanks for mentioning my site in your article!
Here’s 2 good ones:
3dfluff.com
c4dportal.com: Never updated but the stuff that’s there is worth a god look.
Hey there,
Please forgive the noob question but is there an actual classroom/school for learning Cinema 4D anywhere? I’m just starting out with Cinema4D. I like what I saw at a trade show a little while back and am just trying to get my feet wet with some product design and then move on to animation. Any help you guys could provide would be a great help.
I’m sure that there are some C4D classes in some schools. I’m not aware of any though. FXPHD is really a great bet. It has a forum to ask all your questions and a GREAT teacher. Plus, it’s way cheaper than real school.
Keep rocking.
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nice list. very helpful sites.
Hey Nick. These sites have been great! Do you know any good books to have for cinema 4D training as well? Thanks!
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You say ” Download his lighting presets too” on HYPA where exactly are these presets. I looked all over his awesome site, but no Download for his his lighting presets that I can find. I looked n the DL section
I’d recommend http://www.cineversity.com for all levels of cinema4D users. Not entirely free stuff.but definitely worth looking at.
Hypa.tv closed its doors?
didn’t get a chance to check them out
DOn’t forget my site at http://www.pariahstudios.co.uk either. I have a rapidly growing set of C4D video tutorials, amongst other things.
Rob
True dat! Rock it Rob! Your tuts are great. ^^^^^
Why is it that most (if not all) the best C4D DVD tutorials are available only either in German or French? There’s not a decent english DVD tutorial or book available (aside from maybe that 1-2 on Amazon).
I want to take an AE course and I live in NYC. Do you recommend FXPHD over “in person” classes at SVA?
I haven’t been to SVA. But I highly recommend FXPHD. I’m sure it’s way less expensive too
I’m pretty new in this area… Hell, I’m a noob to the bone.
I’d really like to find really good basic training to see if I can wrap my mind around this complex piece of software.
From that on, maybe I would pay for real intense training.
Please help?
I have a ton of getting started with Cinema Tutorials. Look at the “Intro to C4D” and “Texturing” tutorials first. That should get you started. Then for paid, look into FXPHD or some more training from Tim Clapham.
Marcelo, I recommend you the full training of LYNDA.COM about the release 11.5 ! It covers all from A to Z !
Leo
Hey Nick
Thanks a lot for all the links ! You asked about CMIVFX..
I highly DON’T recommend CMIVFX for those reasons :
1. I’m trying hard to learn english ( still really baaaad ) and this guy come up with his Ear-killer english. It makes you feel sick and tired
I cannot imagine the result on a native english speaker !
2. He is NOT a teacher ! For the sake of god, be organized and speak clearly when you do a tutorial ! This guy makes you lose easily 1- 1h30 per tutorials, searching stuff, repeating himself, etc…
3. I have some issues with the online-player. Let me download the contents !!!!!
I have juste finished watching the C4D 3D Matte Painting extraction tutorial. This was very instructive, but, GHOSH ! Learn to teach !
I’m pretty sure that a guy from FXPHD ( God bless FXPHD ) can teach you this stuff in an 1 hour tutorial !!!
FXPHD and the new training of LYNDA.COM are great great ressources !
Leo
I agree with you, I also had seen some videos, and it’s instructive but boring the vids are slow and the english is bad o_O
We’ve been up since about June of last year and have around 25 tutorials covering the basics through to MoGraph. More to come each week.
OMG NICK!!U NEEEEEED TO CHECK OUT http://www.amateurmedia.net this site is epic! loads of C4D and AE integration…highly recommended
Great!,
Excellent to be right here.Nice job buddy.
sort of off topic but as a newb I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing information!
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hey nick, i’ve been watching this your blog for the last 2 weeks. And thanks to you, you’re a big helper for 4D cinema, cause i’m just using try this program recently. well, i want to know if you can show me and everyone how to make ironman ‘hearts’, well those shiny things, i don’t know how to call it,but i was curious about that, and i never find any tutorial that made that things, so if you could help me ’bout it, it’ll be so wonderful,thanks
Hey guys……I want to learn C4D Basics…
Pls guide me…….
Start with my site, Nik. I have stuff from “intro to Cinema” to more complex tuts. Let me know if you get stuck.
Hi Nik,
Go to C4DCAFE.com. Nice friendly site with Loads of videotutorials there.
yeah ! I’m a architect . Use for archi with C4D . so I need your guide how to do where and wnen use the way . so give me more idea and tutorial about archi.
What about cineversity? Maxon’s own trainting site… anybody tried that out?
I started with Robs http://www.pariahstudios.co.uk then GreyScaleGorilla. Loved them and C4D so much I started my own tutorials site http://www.thr3shold-media.com with some great mentors.
http://c4dtraining.com has some good tutorials on it. They are always adding new video tutorials. High quality, no unnecessary talking…straight to the point.
i love every comment and link here even the ones in foreign languages but still someone needs to mention Robert Redman @ http://www.pariahstudios.co.uk his tutorials are quick, sharp and straight to the point but where would we be without the Gorilla himself shout out to Nick. Anyways twitter fans holla @endosnaija
Over 80 tutorials.
Good site for beginners like me
http://www.instantshift.com/2009/03/31/80-excellent-cinema-4d-tutorials-and-best-practices/
I would really appreciate an answer to my question since I am quite lost. I am an artist, old world artist, doing installation sculptures. These are often made out of metal and have moving mechanical parts and some also integrate screens, lights etc. Since these are often quite expensive I was now asked by my gallerist to first show them in 3d on the computer before they then invest in the actual building of it. (many parts often get build by plastic molding companies etc). Which software shall I learn: Maya, Cinema 4d or other. I got a MAC and am keen to spend my entire working days for next few months to get good at it. Thank you very much for helping here!
I’d definately go for Cinema 4d as it’s really easy to learn. I started off with Maya, and only much later I realised (or think I realised) Maya uses some Node based modeling system, which is non-destructive. But oh so tricky for starters. Anyway,
Cinema 4d, quick learning curve. Just figure out what you should focus on learning, since 3d is so big, from modeling through texturing to lighting and rendering.
No one mentioned http://www.c4dcafe.com? More of a forum, but the site admin has plenty of downloadable tuts up there and an active community with a plethora of knowledge that are very helpful.
And http://www.vertexpusher.com. A fellow c4dcafe member on there makes some very well done tutorials that cover just about everything. These are paid tuts but $30 for 9 hours of training in each section is cheap as hell.
For reference the correct URL of Vertex Pusher is http://www.vertex-pusher.com – and it’s a ripper. Really great lengthy tutorials. I also recommend FXPHD (and all of Tim Clapham’s tutorials), c4dcafe with 3DKiwi’s recent Bodypaint tutorial series, and many of the other cool links mentioned above. C4D rocks!
New site http://www.cinema4dtutorial.net/
good stuff
Hi Gorilla,
can you recommend me a good trainer in Germany? My English is not very well, so I need someone says the German.
Thank you
cook
LOOKING FOR A WEEK OR 2 WEEK IN CLASS TRAINING FOR C4D.. help
Hi,
Collection of Tutorials http://www.cgmotionbox.com
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