Maxon Cinema 4D R8 XL Bundle

Cinema 4D XL Bundle is an amazing 3D application. It is modular so that you can add to it without having to repurchase Cinema 4D which is the base of the XL package. The XL Bundle is not all there is but it's what I am covering here. The first thing I need to do is go through what's in the Cinema 4D XL Bundle.

1. Cinema 4D R8
2. Cinema 4D R8 Advanced Render
3. Cinema 4D R8 Net Render
4. Cinema 4D R8 Pyrocluster
5. Cinema 4D R8 Thinking Particles
6. Cinema 4D R8 Mocca

Wow! That's a lot of stuff. And yes, there's more you can add to that.

What's New in Cinema 4D R8?

• New modules
• Improved Workflow
• New multiple selection
• Faster OpenGL
• New XPresso
• Faster Renders
• Improved Timeline
• New F-Curves
• New automatic keyframing
• New and improved modeling tools
• New spline rail and spline deformers
• Improved expressions
• New realtime sound
• New light inclusions and exclusions
• New smartpointer
• New and improved shaders
• New and improved import/export formats
• New community tools

The Cinema 4D Modules

Above I mentioned the modules that are included in the Cinema 4D R8 XL Bundle. There are also other modules available. You can purchase just Cinema 4D R8 and add whatever modules you need if the bundle does not fit your exact needs. The modules are:

Advanced Render
This module includes radiosity, caustics, enhanced depth of field, enhanced glow and a highlight filter.

Mocca
Mocca includes advanced tools for character animation.

Thinking Particles
A particle animation system and works with the new XPresso node editor.

Pyrocluster
This module has volumetric shaders for particle systems and works with the normal Cinema 4D particle system and Thinking Particles.

BodyPaint 3D (not in the C4D XL Bundle)
Paint directly onto your 3D model in 3D.

Dynamics (not included in the C4D XL Bundle)
Lets you animate with real world forces such as friction, gravity, collisions, springs, wind and more.

Net Render
Allows you to use other computers to do the rendering either on a local network or the internet.

The manuals that come with this package are more than totally awesome! Of course the first one I looked at was the tutorials. I need to get up to speed quickly and that manual alone gave me loads of C4D understanding.

The tutorial manual starts by getting you familiar with the interface and where things are.

The first tutorial covers Metaballs and making a bear. Metaballs is a quick way to create objects without having to deal with learning meshes and all that goes along with that. It's kind of like working with clay and although it's fairly easy it takes a little practice to get used to it. Using metaballs in C4D is really easy. The bear below was created with meta-modelling. The instructions in the manual are extremely easy to follow and the images that accompany them are very informative. I'm a visual type of person and being able to see what things should look like makes it all the more easy for me to follow instructions.

Below is a Hypernurb. This is a very interesting aspect of Cinema 4D. A Hyernurb is an object that has no shape and it is used to affect the shape of other models. The shape below started as a cube. In just a few short easy steps it was transformed into the Hypernurb you see below. Hypernurbs are created by adding them to the Object manager and dragging whatever object you want to be affected by it into the Hypernurbs heirarchy. The Hypernurb object is a fun and useful object to have.

The plug below is another Hypernurbs object. You can create very realistic objects with very little effort by using the Hypernurbs object to affect the shape of basic objects.

The following boat shape is a spline vector Nurbs object that uses a Loft Nurbs object. A loft nurbs objects is a container that modifies objects in its heirarchy which effectively creates a new model.

In the Tutorial manual is a very enlightening texturing chapter. It covers transparency using the bhodiNUT Fresnel shader, surface falloff, reflections and more. Below shows the results of the Texturing tutorial.

Learning Advanced Texturing techniques was made simple by the Sky with Clouds tutorial. Using some of the bhodiNUT SLA shaders and again very detailed instructions the following image was extremely easy to create and render. Creating the sky texture was an amazing exercise and I thought of many things that could be done using this technique.

The bhodiNUT shaders included in Cinema 4D are fantastic and again, the rendering is out of this world. Below is the result of the Dirty Copper tutorial which used the bhodiNUT 3D Noise shader.

In the preceding images we've seen some of the rendering capabilities of Cinema 4D. Below is a 3 Point Lighting example. As I worked through the tutorial the reason for the lights and placement was explained so that not only did I learn more about what Cinema 4D can do, I also learned a little about lighting that I can use anywhere.

I was blown away by the Volumetric lighting. In just a few short steps I had created a very complicated looking lighting effect.

Below is a still object render. The quality is amazing even after compressing the image for this tutorial.

I love the Multi-Pass rendering. Multi-Pass rendering allows us to render different parts, objects or elements onto different layers or files which means we can do post work in a much more efficient way.

The tutorial manual also covers animation and XPresso. Simply amazing!

Advanced Render Module

I honestly could not believe the difference I saw in the renders when using the Advanced Render module. I thought the normal render was astounding but as soon as the Advanced Render was complete I knew that if you don't purchase the XL Bundle and purchase modules separately, you'll definitely want the Advanced Render module. With radiosity, caustics, depth of field filter, highlights filter and glow filter it's a very valuable tool to have and those things give your renders just the extra pizzazz they need to be noticed.

As fantastic as the Cinema 4D render engine is, it's a whole new ball game with the Advanced Render module.

Pyrocluster

The Pyrocluster module is extremely effective for creating real world effects such as clouds, haze, fire, smoke and works well with the Thinking Particles module. A particles becomes as the manual says, a puff (procedural volume is added around each particle) and is rendered with volumetric effect. You can set the particles color by a controller and it's age. For example, smoke is a different color when it starts (early age) than when it ends (old age) and this can all be accomplished with the Pyrocluster module.

Thinking Particles

The Thinking Particles module is used to control particle motion. You can emit particles from anywhere, collide them with objects or other particles that appear to be affected by gravity and wind. Thinking Particles is node based. It has over 30 nodes that are complicated but the manual will get you up and running quickly and then you'll need to take your time to learn all about them and you'll need to learn to use the XPresso Editor before getting into Thinking Particles.

You uses the XPresso Editor for editing and creating nodes. You generate particles with the PStorm and PBorn nodes. PStorm gives particles attributes such as speed, life, distance, spin and size. Rules that you create govern how the particles are affected. You can give your particles shape with the PShape node. PFragment allows you to break your particles up and they can be broken into different shapes if you want. You can give them weight, angle, thickness, life, and speed for a few examples. The PAlignment node allows you to set laziness, rotation, direction and axis to name a few. There are many nodes to use to create realistic effects that are truly amazing.

Mocca

Mocca is a tool that lets you rig your characters with bone manipulation tools. The Soft IK system has built in constraints and dynamics which allows for smooth realistic motion. There is mouse recording which means you can control your animation with hand movements. There are posing tools and you can create your own pose and morph libraries. In the Mocca manual there is a chapter devoted to teaching the principles of animation, Kinematics and Bones and many other very helpful tutorials that teach you not only how to use Mocca but basic animation techniques as well.

All in all the Cinema 4D XL Bundle is a wonderful product and the manuals that come with it make it an even greater value. You don't know what you're missing in a 3D package until you come across one like Cinema 4D XL that absolutely blows you away as I was blown away by this astounding package.

Training is available for Cinema 4D R8 and it's modules and can be explored by contacting Maxon. A search of the web shows many resources available for learning techniques to use in Cinema 4D R8. Technical support is provided by Maxon as long as you are a registered user.

I found Cinema 4D R8 very user friendly and if you have any experience with 3D software you shouldn't have any trouble jumping into Cinema 4D R8 and getting right to work. If you are new to 3D, it shouldn't take you long to get the hang of working in 3D with Cinema 4D R8 with all the informative manuals the most important of which for the non 3D experienced would be the Tutorial manual.

This is an absolute value and as I've mentioned many times, an absolutely amazing piece (or really pieces) of software.

The Maxon website contains much information and more than most have in the way of tutorials to get you going and more than one forum to go and get answers to your burning questions. Going through the Maxon and linked web sites is an experience in itself. Go see for yourself. Check the Support and Resources sections as well as the Product section.