Foreground Object

Function available in CINEMA 4D Prime, Visualize, Broadcast, Studio & BodyPaint 3D

Foreground Object

The Foreground object could be a cockpit and instrument display, or simply a notice of copyright or authorship that you want to appear prominently in the scene.

Taking the copyright example further, the color in the image you use for the copyright message would be in the shape of the actual text you wish to display. This texture would then be loaded into the Alpha channel property of a material, from where you can use either the Alpha channel itself or clip mapping to isolate and hide from rendering the background of the copyright texture.

To render (or show in the viewport) a foreground or background image, you may assign a textured material to a Foreground or Background object, just as you would to any other object. For transparent areas, use the Alpha channel.

A Cinema 4D object (the bridge) fits neatly into both a foreground and a background image (scene by Joachim Hoff).

Foreground and background pictures can also be tiled. For this effect, use the Material tag’s settings.

Foreground and background pictures are scaled to the film format during rendering. Transparent sections of the background are ignored.

Animations and frame sequences can also be used for foreground and background pictures. In the case of a Background object (as opposed to the Foreground object), these sequences will also be displayed in the viewport.

By default, only the top-most Foreground/Background object in the hierarchy will be rendered. If you want to change the Foreground/Background object during an animation, use the Stage object with a parameter track.