Classic standard material

Note:For historical reasons, there is a separate Material Editor for the properties of materials, which can be called up by double-clicking on a material. Here, the material channels are always displayed in a list on the left-hand side, while the display in the Attribute Manager is in a separate tab (Basic). Otherwise, both display types work in the same way.

Note:If it is a Node-based material, the Node editor opens instead of the Material Editor after double-clicking on a material. This also applies to all Redshift materials.

Color and Mixing mode are animated here.

With the Material Editor, you can completely edit, change and animate a single material or, thanks to multiple selection, several materials at the same time. The Cinema 4D material system offers you almost unlimited possibilities. At the same time, despite the huge number of parameters, it is extremely easy to use.

The Material Editor window is divided into different areas. The most striking feature is the preview image at the top left, which consists of an illuminated sphere. There you can see interactively what effect your parameters have.

The different material parameters are distributed across various parameter pages. These properties can be activated or deactivated as a whole using the checkboxes under the preview image (when displayed in the Attribute Manager in the Basic tab). The operation of the parameter pages is very similar, which is why the same operating elements are located in the same place. To access one of the parameter pages, click on the corresponding parameter name, e.g., Diffusion or on the corresponding tab.

Group	Meaning
Color	Surface color
Diffusion	Irregularities due to darkening of the color channel
Illumination	Self-luminous color (illumination-independent color)
Transparency (incl. refractive index)	Transparency
Reflectance	Reflectance/Glow
Environment	Environment reflectance
Fog	Fog effect
Bump	Virtual displacement
Normals	Virtual displacement that is realistically illuminated.
Alpha	Masking out the material at certain points
Glow	Halo around an object
Displacement	Actual surface displacement
Editor	Material display in the Viewport
Illumination	GI / Caustics
Assign	List of objects provided with this material

Tip

Textures (bitmaps and shaders) can be easily copied back and forth between different materials and/or channels by dragging the preview image onto the targets marked above.