CINEMA 4D Studio Welcome to CINEMA 4D Studio. This package contains the most available options of all available packages. CINEMA 4D Studio includes the complete spectrum of functionality (with exception of the MAXON License Server) covered in the Reference.

make a leaf a child of a branch and the branch a child of a tree. If you want to edit an object, first select it by clicking its name or icon in the Object Manager. The object’s name will turn red to indicate selection. Most objects have tags that add properties to them such as materials or Phong shading. Items in the editor view can be hidden and unhidden as desired using CINEMA 4D’s powerful layer functionalities. Material Manager The Material Manager contains all the materials for the scene. If you double-click on a material icon, the Material Editor will open so that you can edit the material. You can add a material to an object by dragging and dropping the material from the Material Manager onto the object. Coordinate manager You can use the Coordinate manager for precision modeling or manipulation. For example, rather than scale an object in the view panel, you can enter the exact size in the Coordinate manager. As with all numerical text boxes, you can also enter mathematical operators. Animation Toolbar Objects’ Position, Scale or Rotation and other properties can be easily recorded via a Record button. The Animation Palette is a simplified version of the Timeline and can be used to create more simple animations without having to switch to the Animation layout. The much more extensive Timeline is described here. Attribute Manager The Attributes Manager displays all properties and settings of a selected object, material, shader, tag node, tracks or key(s). These properties and settings can also be edited in the Attributes Manager. The properties of many CINEMA 4D tools can be displayed here as well. Modeling Techniques 3-dimensional objects can be created using a wide variety of methods. Many modeling techniques are available, of which the most important are described below. Naturally each of these techniques can be applied in CINEMA 4D. CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry) This is the easiest technique of all. All objects consist of existing parametric primitives such as cylinders, spheres, cones, etc.
Main menu: Create / Objects (link).
These objects are ideal for use with Mograph, which offers endless possibilities to clone objects.
Main menu: MoGraph (link).
Polygon Modeling This is the classic modeling technique. Various tools are used to create, join and edit polygons. Although somewhat tedious, this method gives you complete control over the creation of the final object. SDS (Subdivision Surfaces) is based on polygon modeling.
Main menu: Mesh (link)
NURBS NURBS can be used in combination with splines to help you create objects. Splines let you create various types of caps and surfaces. Although this is a very elegant modeling technique it is not for use in modeling characters.
Main menu: Create / Spline (link) or NURBS (link),
SDS (Subdivision Surfaces) SDS is created in CINEMA 4D using HyperNURBS and is the most state-of-the-art modeling technique. Objects consisting of few polygons are subdivided dynamically to create smooth, organic higher resolution objects. Sharp edges can also be created using edge weighting. You should have a very good understanding of polygon modeling when working with SDS since subdivided objects will be edited using polygon editing (see above).
Main menu: Create / NURBS / HyperNURBS (link)
Metaballs Organic shapes such as fluids (in con junction with particles) can be created using Metaballs with spheres, splines and points.
Main menu: Create / Modeling / Metaball (link)
Boole / Deformation These modifiers can be used to deform objects created using the techniques described above to create new objects.
Main menu: Create / Modeling / Boole (link) or Create / Deformation (link).
The modeling technique best used depends on the object to be created. What you need to know: Any object can be modeled. There is nothing that can’t be created using the methods described above. Note that the Object Manager’s hierarchy allows the different techniques to be combined with one another. For example, you can use various Deformations to deform a low resolution object (e.g. a cube), place it into a hierarchy, apply additional Deformations to this object and subsequently cut a piece out using a Boole.

Configuration Information for administrators
CINEMA 4D Project Settings
Overview
Graphical User Interface
Preferences
Environment Variables
Project Settings
CINEMA 4D has hundreds of commands and a freely configurable GUI. The more functions that are added to an application, the more complex it becomes. With this in mind, the developers at MAXON are constantly striving to keep CINEMA 4D as uncomplicated as possible. We want CINEMA 4D to continue to be easy to learn for the beginner, yet be flexible enough to meet the demands of professional users. This flexibility comes with a price: Many functions can be adapted to fit individual demands - and both demands and functionality are constantly increasing. CINEMA 4D can be configured to match just about any need. Instead of overwhelming the user with a monstrous Options menu or dialog window, we have opted for placing commands and functions sensibly throughout the interface. This chapter gives you an overview of how to configure the interface, including a detailed explanation of many examples - with recommendations for use in certain situations.