Adam Trachtenberg
Forum Replies Created
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As Bj
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[Ian Jenkins] “is it possible to import an Adobe Illustrator file of a logo or typeset and extrude and edit in C4D?”
Yes. You have to export to an older AI format–can’t recall the version at the moment but it’s explained in the Cinema manual (appendix>I/O formats).
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[Miem Chan] “How to make a selected set of polygons a seperate object?
Example :
Assume I have a cube object and I selected two neighboor sides (two polygons). How can I detach these two side from the rest of the cube so that I end up two objects; one consists of two polygons and the other object consists of 4 polygons?”There are two ways:
* Function>Split creates a new object from the selected polys, but does not delete then from the original (must be done manually);
* Function>Disconnect followed by Function>Explode Segments.
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[Bryan Richards] “what do compositing tags actually do? and u mention to tag them to anything receiving shadows with higher settings. Not too sure on which settings your refering to there.”
Compositing tags provide for individualized render settings. In this case I was suggesting enabling the comp tag’s anti-aliasing function and selecting a stronger AA setting than the global AA I suggested (1×1).
One thing to be aware of is that Cinema lets you choose a higher AA setting for an object, using the comp tag, but it *won’t* let you choose a setting that’s lower than the global AA setting.
Other handy things the comp tag provides:
* per-object GI accuracy settings–can be very helpful for eliminating artifacts by using higher GI accuracy locally on difficult objects, e.g., ceilings and walls. Can also be useful for setting *lower* GI accuracy for appropriate objects, e.g., smallish, high-poly items.
* compositing background function–useful for creating perfectly white floors that still show object shadows, and for compositing in general 🙂
* object ID: allows you to create object-specific alpha mattes by assigning an ID # and then referencing the ID when you add object buffers in the render>multi-pass options;
* provides unrealistic but very useful ways to optimize your scenes, by, e.g., preventing individual objects from casting shadows, being seen by reflections/refraction, etc.
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Yes, you might want to change up the proximal settings and the proximal object for different situations. It’s more flexible if you make the proximal object more like a thin tube and then use points/lines/polys in the proximal shader. Then you can use falloff and near/far to gain more control over the shape of the “hole”.
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Hi Roberto,
Here’s an example scene: https://www.3danvil.com/temp/XRay%20Light.c4d
This uses the material channel shader “Proximal” in the transparency channel, where proximal is keyed to an invisible cone that’s the same size/position as the spotlight.
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I get pretty good results with QT mpeg 4 codec, using medium or low quality for drafts and best quality for finals.
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Well, GI rendering is actually quite a tricky business. First–bad idea to use volumetric lights with GI. If you need that effect try to render the GI pass separately and composite, or fake it in post. Second, give your glass objects compositing tags and disable “Seen by GI”, and go to your glass material’s illumination tab and disable “generate/receive GI”.
Another problem is that there’s too much disparity between your GI Min/Max settings. Typically you want the Max number to be no more than 10x the Min number, and usually around 5x. If there’s too much disparity it forces the GI engine to do too much calculation.
As far as the the too-dark shadow areas, I suggest you increase the brightness of your sun light substantially–something like 500% brightness instead of 200%. That will blow out the directly lit areas, which is actually realistic for photographic images, but if you want to preserve the highlights you can use the color mapping effect. Actually that effect can also brighten up your shadow areas. Very useful.
Regarding the shadow aliasing, that’s a side effect of using raytraced shadows (hard or area). What you might want to do is set general AA setings to Best, 1×1, and give compositing tags to anything receiving shadows with higher settings.
So, I hope that’s at least a good start. 🙂
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[cognito] “Hi, adam thanks for the reply.
I looked at a maya animation tutorial the other day and it looks so intuitive.
I’m wondering if C4D is as easy to do animation(not complicated character animaion) with as MAYA is?”
I should think it’s actually a lot more intuitive. -
I think your assessment is pretty accurate, except that Max’s render engine isn’t faster than Cinema’s. Of course being a C4D user I’m probably biased. Go to a Max forum and they’ll tell you Max is best. Go to a Maya forum and they’ll tell you Maya is best.
Your best bet is to download the demos and try them yourself.