Operation

Start

There are several ways to start Cinema 4D:

• Double-click on the program icon.
• Double-click on a scene file. The scene is loaded automatically.
• Windows: via the Start menu.
• Via the command line.
• You can also drag one or more .c4d files from the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Macintosh) onto the Cinema 4D icon or directly into the running program (drag & drop).
• Cinema 4D Lite (or another existing Cinema 4D version) is started from After Effects.

Hotkeys 1 to 9

The following buttons have been pre-assigned for quick work in the 3D view:

1 Move camera

2 Move camera in viewing direction

3 Orbiting camera

4 Move object

5 Scale object

6 Rotate object

7 Move object without Child objects

8 Freehand selection

9Brush selection

The surface

Compared to the standard Windows/Macintosh interfaces, Cinema 4D offers enhanced ease of use with a greatly improved workflow. For example, all program windows can be docked into the main window. When a docked window is moved, the surrounding windows are automatically adjusted so that there is no overlapping. Windows have their own menu bars and can even be grouped with other windows and switched via tabs.

The interface is completely configurable. The program commands can be displayed as icons and/or text in separate command palettes and grouped as required. Even the menu bars can be conveniently changed and arranged as required.

Of course, you can switch between different layouts to adapt the working environment to the needs of the various work steps. For example, there are different layouts for modeling, animating, etc., as different program parts are required in each case.

An easy way to switch between different freely configurable layouts and menus can be found at the top right above the main menu. Here you will find a whole range of useful layouts for the various work phases.

Cinema 4D under macOS has the ability to run in full screen mode using the green double-arrow icon at the top of the title bar. Window titles, all other windows and control elements are then hidden (to exit this mode again, move the mouse to the top edge of the screen and click on the green button).

In short, anyone who has ever worked with the Cinema 4D interface will love it and never want to do without it again.

A brief overview of the UI

The document and layout bar

At the top of the main window you will find the document and layout bar. This helps you to navigate or call up all open documents and select the appropriate program layout.

From left to right you will find these elements:

Undo/Redo

The colloquially-named "undo". See Undo/Restore.

Home icon

Use this to call up Cinema 4D Home (see Launch Cinema 4D Home on Startup).

The document tabs

In addition to the already familiar list of open documents in the window menu, since Cinema 4D R25 you can also find them as a tab above the main menu. You can see at a glance which scenes are currently open and you can access them immediately.

The order of the tabs can be changed using drag & drop. Documents can be closed using the "x" icons displayed to the right of the name.

Right-click on a tab to display the following commands that have not yet been described elsewhere:

Duplicate scene

Duplicate the selected scene with all objects and settings.

Others close

All others except the clicked document tag are closed. Security queries are made for documents that have not yet been saved.

Show in Explorer/Finder

This command opens the Explorer or Finder and jumps to the path where the clicked document is saved. If you have placed your own layouts here, they will be displayed in italics.

New scene

A new scene can be created by clicking on the [+] icon.

The layout tabs

Here you will find a list of layouts that can be loaded by simply clicking on them. If you have placed your own layouts here, they will be displayed in italics.

3-point button

Here is a list of layouts that you can display to the left of the view selection menu. Simply click on it to show or hide the corresponding layout name.

Main menu

The main menu contains the most important commands/functions (please note that other layouts may have different main menus with different commands). Any installed elements plug-ins can be found here, as well as in the extensions menu itself.

At this point, the individual program parts as they appear after starting Cinema 4D will be briefly discussed. Please refer to the relevant sections for detailed descriptions.

Manager

The main program parts of Cinema 4D, the so-called managers, are located in separate windows and run parallel to each other, quasi independently of each other. This means that one part of the program does not block another. The renderer calculates an animation, for example, while you can continue working in another part of the program, e.g., the Viewport.

Despite the independence of these individual program parts, each manager reacts immediately to changes in other managers if they affect it. For example, if you move an object in the Viewport, its coordinates change simultaneously in the Attributes and Coordinates Managers; if you change a material, the 3D view and the Object Manager update automatically.

Windows and main window

Each program section (Manager) runs in its own window. This window can be placed freely as an individual window or docked into the Cinema 4D main window. In the default setting of Cinema 4D, the most important program parts are docked into the main window. If you resize a window there, for example, the surrounding windows automatically adapt to the new proportions.

If you want to undock a docked window from the group, click on the handle icon

of the corresponding window and select the Undock command. If you want to dock it or another window again, click on the handle icon of the free-standing window and move it into the main window. A light bar indicates where the window will be inserted into the main window.

To change the window size, click between the relevant windows (a move symbol appears), move the mouse and release the mouse button at the desired position. Please read Configuring Cinema 4D for information on changing the window arrangement and the numerous other options.

Menu bars

In Cinema 4D, all managers on all platforms have their own menu bars in their windows.

If there is no longer enough space to display the menu bar, a triangle appears which, when clicked, displays the menu items that no longer fit as a pop-up menu.

Command palettes/icons

In the default setting, two command palettes (also often called symbol or icon bars) are displayed. This contains the most frequently used commands as icons so that the program can be operated without having to search through menu bars. Some of these icons contain a small black arrow at the bottom right, which symbolizes that there are others behind this icon. If you click on this icon, further hidden icons appear. We are talking here about a drop-down palette or grouped icons, the purpose of which is to contain similar icons (e.g., the basic objects) that would take up a lot of space if displayed individually. Occasionally, the last icon used is displayed as the group icon (if the Fix Icon option of the context menu of the command group is deactivated).

You can find out how to create your own command palettes here.

Tabs

Program windows and command palettes can be grouped as tabs. In the standard layout, for example, the Object Manager and the Structure Manager are created as tabs. This saves you space and you still have all program components quickly available at all times.

If a tab cannot be displayed completely due to lack of space, a small scroll button is displayed with which you can scroll to the tabs that are not visible.

For more information on the user interface and its configuration, please refer to the Tab page; information on the individual program parts can be found in the corresponding sections.

Context menu

Cinema 4D offers numerous context menus. These appear with a right mouse click (or command key + mouse button for macOS) at various points in the program, e.g., for objects in the Object Manager, materials in the Material Manager, etc.

View

The core of the program is the 3D view, also known as the 3D editor or simply view or editor. This is where the 3D model is constructed (modeled), animated and rendered.

Object Manager

Every single element of the scene is included here. Elements can be grouped; the rose leaf, for example, is the sub-object of the branch, which in turn is a sub-object of the stem. The rose itself is the main object. Clicking on an object in the Object Manager activates the corresponding object in the 3D view and vice versa. The Object Manager is also used to assign key properties to objects, from color and texture to complex animation behavior.

What you see in the Object Manager can be defined almost freely using Cinema 4D's powerful layer functions.

Material Manager

Contains the materials of a scene. By clicking or double-clicking on a material, its appearance can be defined in great detail. If a material is pushed onto an object, the object accepts the material.

Coordinate Manager

Enables the value-accurate construction or manipulation of objects. Instead of scaling an object to a certain size in the 3D editor, for example, you can also enter a direct size or certain angles here. In the input fields of the Coordinate Manager, as in all other number fields, formulas can also be entered in addition to numerical values, similar to a calculator.

Animation palette

A recording button can be used to record the position, size and angle of objects, among other things. The animation palette is a greatly simplified image of the Timeline and can be used for simple animation tasks without having to switch to the animation layout. The much more powerful Timeline is described here.

The Attribute Manager

The Attribute Manager shows you the properties or parameters of all selected objects, materials, shaders, tags, Nodes, tracks and keys, which can also be changed and animated here.

The parameters of the numerous tools are also displayed here.

Modeling techniques

Three-dimensional objects can be created in a variety of ways. There are various modeling techniques, the most important of which are listed below.

All these techniques are of course possible with Cinema 4D.

CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry)

This is certainly the simplest method, as the objects to be constructed are composed exclusively of existing parametric solids such as cylinders, spheres, cones, etc.

• Main menu: Create / Mesh (see also here).
  In this context, consider MoGraph, which gives you an infinite number of options for cloning and arranging objects.
• Main menu: MoGraph (see also here).

Polygon modeling

This is the classic method: Using various tools, you create polygons, join them together, divide them up and create the big picture from the small, so to speak. This method can be a little tedious, but it really gives you complete control over your final object. Polygon modeling is the basis for SDS (see below).

• Main menu: Mesh (see also here).

Sculpting

Sculpting allows a rather non-technical modeling, which is based on sculpting, where material is added or removed with special tools (here the sculpting brushes). You can find everything on the subject under Sculpting.

Generators

Generators can be used to conveniently create solids from the combination of splines that form surfaces and cover surfaces in different ways. A very elegant method, but one that largely fails when it comes to character modeling, for example.

• Main menu: Create / Spline or Generator (see also here and here).

SDS (Subdivision Surfaces)

This technology is the most modern. With the help of coarse-resolution objects, i.e., objects consisting of few polygons, a higher-resolution object with soft, organic shapes is created through dynamic subdivision. However, sharp edges can also be created using edge weighting. Polygon modeling should be mastered, as the object to be subdivided is processed using polygon editing (see above). Today, the modeling of characters is almost exclusively realized using SDS.

• Main menu: Create / Generators / Subdivision Surface (see also here).

Volume

Using volumes and their ability to perform Boolean operations, complex shapes can be modeled easily. Volumes can process polygonal objects, splines, fields, points and form solids from them.

You can find everything on the subject under Volume.

Boole / Deformer

You can use these Modifiers to deform bodies created using the modeling techniques mentioned above, which in turn create new bodies.

• Main menu: Generate / Generator / Boole or Generate / Deformer (see also here and here).

Which modeling technique you use depends entirely on the object to be created. But rest assured: any object is possible. There is nothing that cannot be depicted using these techniques.

Also bear in mind that thanks to the hierarchy of the Object Manager, the techniques can be combined with each other. For example, it is no problem at all to deform a low-resolution basic object (e.g., cube) with various deformers, to throw the hierarchy into a subdivision surface and let another deformer act on the whole thing and cut a piece out of the complete construct using Boole.