Clients
An MCP Client is an application that connects to the server on behalf of an AI model and invokes the operations the server exposes. Clients include desktop assistants, code editors and command-line tools. From this list, select the tool you want to use to communicate with Cinema 4D.
If you'd like to use a client that isn't listed here, that's possible. In that case, select the Other entry and then click the Copy Config button. This will copy the information required by MCP clients—specifically, the MCP server details and the authentication key—to the clipboard. From there, you can manually copy this information into the configuration file of your AI Assistant. Be careful not to send this information to unauthorized persons or make it public in any way, because in the worst-case scenario, third parties could gain access to your Cinema 4D installation and even access your files, if Python is enabled in the Security settings of the MCP Server.
Click this button after selecting the desired client from the list to update its configuration file. Normally, this only needs to be done once after selecting the MCP Client to be used. It is only necessary to regenerate a new configuration file if, for example, the Port has been changed afterward.
If your selected MCP Client is already running, you must first close it completely so that the updated configuration file can be loaded.
Please note that many MCP Clients continue to run in the background even after their app has been closed. To be on the safe side, open your systems Task Manager, for example, and close all of the AI Assistant's background tasks there before restarting it (see info dialog in the next figure).
Once you have launched the selected MCP Client, it will automatically read the new configuration file and establish a connection to Cinema 4D (if Allow MCP Server is active). So in general, Cinema 4D must already be running with the MCP Server active before you launch the MCP Client.
In the MCP Client, you will then see messages, such as shown in the figure below, that guide you through the initial connection process between the tools.
To test the connection, you can, for example, ask directly in the MCP Client, such as, “Can you establish a connection to Cinema 4D via its MCP Server?” Below is an example of Claude Desktop's response to this question, which already provides insight into the options that are now available:
Used Cinema 4D integration, loaded tools, used a tool
Yes—the connection is established.
The ping was successful: Cinema 4D 2027 has been running for a good 15 minutes. An empty document (“Untitled 1”) is currently open. A total of 68 Cinema 4D tools have been imported, roughly divided into these groups:
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Scene & Objects – List, create, clone, and remove objects; reorganize hierarchy; set transformations; read/set selections
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Parameters – Read and set parameters of any entities, including entity descriptions and user data
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Modeling & Meshes – Send modeling commands; read and write mesh data; vertex/polygon selections
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Material & Nodes – Apply node-material graphs and XPresso graphs, set ports, read shader trees
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Animation – Set/read/delete keyframes, manage animation tracks, query transformations across frames
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MoGraph & Layers – List clones, create and assign layers
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Documents & Rendering – Open/save/switch documents, create render data and takes, viewport capture, preview render, control the render queue
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Assets & Miscellaneous – Browse and insert assets from the Asset Browser, list plugins, undo, run Python directly (exec_python), batch execute multiple operations in an undo group
Where would you like to start? A good introductory test would be a small scene—for example, creating a few objects, assigning a material, and taking a viewport screenshot so we can both see that the entire process works.
Just a quick note: I’ll be working directly in your open Cinema 4D file. Anything I create or change will be done in the open document. Before we start working on an actual production scene, please let me know—that way, I can save the file first or work in a new document.
Remove from Client
The reverse of Update Selected Client: The Cinema 4D MCP Server entry is removed from the selected client's configuration file.
A backup copy of the file is created before any changes are written. Only this one entry is removed—everything else in the file remains unchanged, and the client itself continues to function. After its next startup, it simply no longer offers Cinema 4D tools.
There are two special cases:
No entry found: In this case, the dialog reports that there was nothing to remove.
External entry with the same name: If the plugin finds an MCP server there that it did not create itself, it leaves it alone and indicates that you must remove it manually if necessary.
Copy Config
Instead of writing to a file, this button copies the same configuration entry to the clipboard.
This is intended for two scenarios:
A client that the plugin cannot reach on its own—that is, one that is not included in the MCP Client list.
For users who would rather insert the entry themselves than have a third-party file overwritten.