Browser search, Category area and asset list

The Asset Browser search

Using the asset browser search, you can instantly find all available assets - whether they are installed with Cinema 4D, on the Maxon servers or in your own libraries.

You will find the quick filter at the top in the form of tabs. Click on one of the tabs to show only the corresponding asset type. You can make a preselection here, which further narrows down the following search line.

To the left of the search bar you will find an icon to show and hide the navigation tree (you will find a corresponding default setting in the program settings in the Asset Browser tab).

To the right of the search bar you will find the icon for the Category search mode. This means that only found categories are shown when the navigation tree is displayed.

The Search Bar

Simply type a name in the search line (or use the syntax described below) and all matching assets will be listed immediately, sorted accordingly.

Via Ctrl + F you can jump to the Search Bar or show it at any time.

Syntax

Click on the small button to the far right of the search line to open a menu with various selectable search operators that limit the asset search, e.g., using the file size. You can add any number of search operators - separated by spaces - which must all be fulfilled in order to be listed as hits. The same files can also be used multiple times (e.g., "size>=:1mb size<=:2mb" to find files with a size between 1MB and 2 MB).

Example

You want to find all assets whose name contains "Sofa" and whose file size is at least 30MB.

Proceed as follows:

1. Type "sofa" in the search bar, click on the search operator menu and select Size.
   
2. Now enter "30mb" for the text highlighted in blue, which tells you what type of characters must be typed here (e.g., numbers or text).
   
3. Voilà, the corresponding assets will be displayed.

For example, if you want to find all assets that have "tree" in their name, enter "tree " in quotation marks and with a space after it so that assets named "street", for example, are not found. Place strings in quotation marks to find exactly that text.

You can, of course, also enter the search operators manually in English - without the "detour" via the search operator menu (don't forget the colon).

The search operators listed below are case-insensitive. On the left you will find the English name, which can be typed directly into the search field, and on the right the corresponding German term, which can be found in the selection menu:

• Smart Search: Initially, all existing smart searches are listed here. When one of these is selected, the corresponding search operators - if provided - will be used in the search line.
• Name: Enter the name to be searched for here (exceptionally, this operator also works without entering "Name:"). File extensions are included. "Jpg" or "c4d" finds all Jpegs or scene files, for example.
• Type: Enter an asset type here (see below "Type").
• Size: Here you can enter a file size in KB, MB or GB ("B" can also be omitted in each case), e.g., "size:<=10mb" finds all files that are smaller than or equal to 10MB.
• Creation Date: An asset creation date (please separate the year, month and day with a hyphen) can be entered here. For example, "creationdate:>=2019-09-16" finds all assets that were created after September 16, 2019. The creation date defines the date on which the asset was added to the libraries.
• Last Use Date: Enter a date here (please separate year, month and day with a hyphen). This date is the date on which you last used the corresponding asset (= loaded from the Asset Browser into a scene). For example, "lastusedate:<=2019-09-16" finds all assets that you have loaded from the Asset Browser before September 16, 2019.
• Use Count: The number of times you have loaded a corresponding asset from the Asset Browser. "usecount:<=3", for example, finds all assets that you have already loaded at least 3 times from the Asset Browser.
• Annotations: Each asset can contain any text in the annotations field. A character string entered here searches for matches with this.
• Keyword: Enter a keyword here which has been assigned to the corresponding assets.
• Keyword Count: Define a permissible keyword count.
• Dependency: Enter here, for example, a texture name that the element to be searched for (e.g., a material) must contain. "dependency:blue" or "dependency:tif" finds all elements that have a texture with the name component "blue" or a texture in the format "TIF".
• Dependencies Count: Enter a number of dependencies that the element to be found must have. "dependencycount: 3" finds materials with 3 textures, for example.
• Version: Version information can be defined when creating assets. These can be defined here as search criteria.
• Version Count: Assets can exist in many versions. The number of versions can be entered here as a search criterion.
• Database: The database name or its ID (can be copied using # in the Info tab), in which the asset is saved.
• Database Type: Enter "database" for elements contained in a database or "watch folder" if elements located in a watch folder are to be found.
• Asset ID: Here you can restrict the search by asset ID (can be displayed via Show Info, for example).
• Favorite: Enter yes/no or 1/0 here. Here you can list assets that you have declared as favorites (yes) or not (no).
• Protected: Enter yes/no or 1/0 here. Here you can list assets that are write-protected (yes) or not (no).
• Preview: Enter yes/no or 1/0 here. With "yes" you only list assets with a preview.
• Preview Animation: Enter yes/no or 1/0 here. With "yes" you only list assets with preview animations.
• Category Mode: No further input is required here, this search operator always displays the category list regardless of what the Show Category icon (to the left of the search line) specifies.
• Installed: Enter yes/no or 1/0 here. Here you can list assets that belong to the Cinema 4D installation (yes) or not (no; e.g., downloadable assets).
• Group By: This can be used to group the hits as follows. Depending on whether you enter "lastusedate, usecount" or "type" here, these are divided into corresponding hit groups.
  
• Save as Smart Search: Use this to save the current search as a smart search, which is then listed at the top of the Asset Browser under "Quick Access". This opens a dialog where you can define a name and select a database where the smart search should be saved.

The following applies to the above list when entering

1. Numbers/Date: Comparison characters such as <, >, <=, >=, = (the "is equal" character can also be omitted and therefore has an automatic effect) are possible.
   
2. Type: The following asset types can be entered here:
   
   • node: only Node assets.
   • scene: Cinema 4D scenes only.
   • material: materials only.
   • media: only images, videos, sound files.
   • image: images only.
   • movie: videos only.
   • category: only the category in which Node assets were saved when they were created (e.g., Math).
   • smartsearch (only within saved smartsearch names).
   • operator: only Op-Nodes (can be used in the Scene Manager).

Special search term functionality

Nodes are internally equipped with some special terms so that a Node is also listed if the character string of these terms is used.

Example: The Color Correction Node has the internal terms "correction, tint, HSL, HSV", etc. If you enter this as a character string, the Color Correction Node is also listed. Another example would be noise names (e.g., Luka, Stupl, etc.), which can be used to find Noise Nodes. A very practical special function is also used here: if you create the asset found with "Stupl", it is immediately set to the Stupl noise type. This also works, for example, with the Mix Node (type in Multiply, for example).

With some Nodes, such as the Mix Node, this can be taken even further, e.g., if you filter for "Multiply background" (several strings are combined with a logical "AND") and create the Mix Node, both the Mix mode and Alpha handling selection menus are set accordingly.

The Node name itself will, of course, also be found (and also has a higher priority than the terms)!.

The Category area

Almost all assets are in hierarchically structured categories. This helps to maintain an overview and bundle thematically similar assets.

The order of the listed categories cannot be changed. If you click on the + sign of a folder while holding down the Ctrl key, the entire sub-hierarchy will be expanded. Hold down the Shift key to expand the same hierarchy levels.

If you would like to create your own categories and place your own assets there, this is, of course, possible (see the commands in the Create menu of the Asset Browser).

At the top of the category area you will find some special entries under Quick Access. Click on these to list the corresponding assets:

• Other: Here you will find all kinds of categories that do not fit into the existing ones, such as BodyPaint 3D colors or brushes. Faulty assets (see below) are also listed here.
• Favorites: Only assets declared as favorites (marked with a filled heart) are listed.
• Featured Content: Here you will find some assets selected by Maxon that are considered particularly important or useful or that are simply intended to attract your attention.
• New Capsules: In this category you will find the latest Cinema 4D assets released by Maxon.
• Presets: Here you will find the presets supplied.
• Keywords: All existing keywords are listed here. You can delete your own here (for more details, see Keywords). Double-clicking on it initiates a query in the asset browser search for all assets with the corresponding keyword.
• Recently Created: Cinema 4D remembers when you (or Maxon) have added an asset to a database. The assets are then displayed in subcategories (e.g., "Today", "Yesterday", "4 weeks ago" etc.) in the asset list. The original date is displayed for each asset in the list view.
• Recently Used: Cinema 4D actually counts every time you use an asset - i.e., load it from the Asset Browser into the scene - and can therefore categorize the assets into subcategories (e.g., "Yesterday", "Last week" etc.) in the asset list. The usage number is displayed for each asset in the list view.
• Any smart searches you have saved (when the program is started for the first time, only the internal smart searches, namely those described above, are available).

The monitoring folders should also be mentioned here, which - if available - are listed as a separate category.

Faulty assets

Faulty assets arise, for example:

• If you define objects/materials with a faulty texture link as an asset. The texture that is not found cannot then be transferred to the database. You can then delete the asset, set the correct path in the original scene and create the asset again.
• If an asset is in one database, the corresponding texture is in another. If, for example, the latter database is currently not available (because it is offline), this asset will also be declared as faulty.

In this context, please also refer to Project Asset Inspector, which shows you details of missing links.

Commands

Right-click on a category to display a number of suitable commands. Most of them can already be found and are described in the Create menu. What you will not find there:

Delete category

This command only appears for categories you have created yourself. Assets contained therein are not deleted, but are assigned to the Uncategorized category.

The asset list and downloading assets

In the asset list, the individual assets are displayed with previews where appropriate. Taking into account the categories selected on the left and the quick filter or search bar, the assets can be selected and loaded in the corresponding subcategories (double-click or drag & drop into the corresponding managers). The subcategories and the assets they contain can be expanded and collapsed using the small arrow to the left of the name.

You will find several clickable icons with the following function for each asset:

• Favorite: If you hover the mouse cursor to the right of the name, a heart will appear. Click on this to activate or deactivate the asset as a favorite - e.g., for frequently-used assets. Alternatively, you can select assets and drag them into the favorites group under Quick Access. The favorites status can be queried in the Quick Access or search bar.
• Download: The button is only visible (when hovering over with the mouse) if the asset is located on a web server, i.e., is not available locally. Click on it to download it and the icon will disappear. No icon means that the asset is located on your hard disk or in your network. It is not necessary to trigger the download manually before use: As soon as you load an asset in Cinema 4D, it is automatically downloaded together with its dependencies (e.g., textures) and saved locally in the Maxon presets. The files are stored there in a database across all versions (from Cinema 4D S24), which is very practical. If, for example, you once installed Cinema 4D S26, the files that have already been downloaded, including the favorites status, keywords and whatever else you previously added to the asset, will still be available locally - although there are commands to undo this (e.g., Uninstall Selected in the Edit menu for each selected asset or for entire databases: Delete Downloaded in the Preferences in the Asset Browser menu).
• License/License Exclusive: Some assets can only be used with certain licenses or subscriptions. Such assets are marked here with the corresponding icon. Click on it to obtain further information (see also Troubleshooting).
• Preset: For the Preset functionality, a preset can be defined as a default setting (crown icon) for each element type.

Occasionally you will also find assets marked with a warning sign. Here, another necessary asset (e.g., a texture) is usually missing. In such a case, take a look at the Dependencies tab in the information area.

In the tile view, these two icons are displayed in the previews if they are scaled large enough - otherwise the favorites and download status will be displayed when the mouse cursor hovers over them.

At the bottom of the asset list you will find several operating elements in the form of icons with the following functions:

• Switch between list and tile view.
• Grouping and sorting settings, as already described for the corresponding commands in the View menu (these commands and the next one are not available in Simple mode (menu: View).
• Display the content of the subcategories, as already described in the View menu command of the same name.
• A slider for the size of the asset preview images.

If you click on a sub-tab with the following keys pressed, the following happens:

• Shift: All sub-tabs are expanded.
• Ctrl: Only the clicked sub-tab is opened, all others are closed.

Commands

Right-click on an asset to display a number of suitable commands. Most of them can already be found in the main menu of the Asset Browser and are also described there. What you will not find there:

Copy/paste keywords

This allows the keywords assigned to the selected asset to be copied to the clipboard and assigned to all selected assets.

Show details

This opens the Information area and displays details on the selected assets.