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Drawing polys makes me feel stupid
Hi! Fairly proficient in Illustrator I have a good grasp of splines, connecting them and so on. However in c4d (8.2) I struggle with what I thought should be very simple: connectiong shapes. I have a VERY simple shape I want to create: a rectangele modified so that the short sides are perfectly rounded; a sausage shape if you like (without the bend). Now in Illustrator I take a half circle ‘primitive’, duplicate and turn it, moves it down, select one endpoint on each shape and simply ‘connects’ them. Repeat for the other side and voila: the shape I need, geometrically perfect (it takes me four mouseclicks and three keyboard commands).
The half circle ‘primitive’ is available in c4d as well, and after placing two of them where I want them, makes them ‘editable’ I switch to ‘polygon’ mode so I can select the individual points and … the Bridge function in the Structure menu is greyed out! I can’t find another method either for what should be such a very simple task. Software shouldn’t make its user feel stupid, so in my opinion c4d should try to mimic to functionality of what is undoubtly the industry spline drawing tool instead of re-invent the wheel so to speak. Varitions serves only confusion here. In the meantime, I would gladly recive input on ‘how to draw in c4d’.
(Of course I can draw all my just-above-basic splines in Illustartor instead and import them, and that’s what I’m doing right now. But I could save a few steps, and drop that ubiquos re-scaling as well) -
7 Replies
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[Brodd Nesset] “c4d should try to mimic to functionality of what is undoubtly the industry spline drawing tool instead of re-invent the wheel so to speak.”
Why don’t bicycles come with steering wheels? Expecting a 3D program to behave like a 2D program sounds pretty unrealistic. Don’t let your pride get in the way of learning a new program. Cinema 4D isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s simply operating as a 3D program. Because…it’s a 3D program.
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Whoa, hold the self-righteous indignation! Just ask the question! 🙂 The answer is simple and fundamental: for this you shouldn’t be using splines anyway. Do a sausage with hypernurbs on a converted cube with like 5 segments on the x with the x elongated. If you wanted a tongue-depressor, yes, use splines and extrude. Now for some shocking news…
C4D’s path tools are in fact light-years ahead of Illustrator’s. There’s one bit of clunkiness regarding joining splines and segments that really needs to be fixed, but otherwise C4D is superior–to the point where it makes Adobe seem like slackers for being outfeatured by a 3d app fer chrissakes.
In AI, you can’t manually enter tangent values.
In AI, you can’t do an interactive chamfer (ridiculous that AI lacks this!)
In AI, you can’t do an interactive ‘make outline’/’outline path.’ (also ridiculous!)
In AI, you can’t ‘make equal tangenth length.’
In AI, you don’t have b-spline interpolation, cubic interpolation or akima interpolation.
In AI, you don’t have a symmetry object.
In AI, the layer manager is a catastrophe vis-a-vis C4D’s object manager.
In AI, trying to grab bezier handles can make a balanced person contemplate murder.
In AI, ‘make compound path’ is (arguably) more clumsy than ‘function>connect’ and its inverse buddy, ‘structure>explode segments,’ which are easily assigned keyboard commands.And there are more. In c4d you can’t ‘blend’ without plugins however.
Nonetheless you’ll find that most people import shapes from AI to c4d–this is everyday workflow and having an AI action to do the export is a part of many designers’ toolsets.
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How to draw a sausage in 15 seconds or less:
create a rectangle spline;
make it editable;
points mode, select all;
structure>edit spline>chamfer (also in r-click context menue);
drag the mouse until you can’t chamfer any more.
That’s it. What’s that analogy about computers and sausage? 🙂
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Come on, ladies. Are we still comparing 2D with 3D programs?
Why doesn’t a bicycle have exhaust pipes? Because it’s a bicycle and not a motorcycle.
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Thanks for the tip Adam, and belive it or not; I mostly agree with everyone!
– My argument that c4d should mimic Illustrator is only relevant where the two have identical toolsets, of course; i.e. when doing 2D drawing. I still belive it would be practical if it did.
– I am aware that c4d in some areas actually surpasses Illustrator ‘in its own field’ so to speak.I should probably get a plugin or two. But it sounds stupid… for this task!?!?!
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v9.102
1. create rectangle spline object/primitive
2. use rounding and make radius half the height of the splineno need to make editable, etc
I think Adam T could have done it in 3 seconds, but I am a newbie 😉
…I have to admit extreme frustration with Cinema 4D bezier tool when converting from Illustrator, particularly the modification of splines after creation; I have been using Illustrator since v.1 in 1987, so I do have a bit of muscle memory to overcome.
If only the C4D manual was as clear and had the examples that I find in this and all other forums. Thank goodness for all the great forum members who volunteer the great answers. Pick up something new every day.
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