Communication

Quick Start Dialog Enabled at Startup

By default, the Quick Start Dialog window will be displayed when the application is started. This can be enabled and disabled.

The Quick Start Dialog window displays a list of the most recently opened Projects and presents introductory tutorials and inspirational material (mainly targeted at new software users) for your first projects.

Allow Bugreports

In the event that Cinema 4D should crash, though, a built-in automatism will attempt to recover the file you just opened (in the form of a recovery file). In addition, numerous files will be saved (setting active) that can, if desired, be sent to via email. Sending such information to will also help our team of programmers quickly remedy the issue and simultaneously improve the application. Any files sent will be kept confidential and will not be forwarded to any 3rd party.

So, what happens if Cinema 4D crashes?

The following:

1. Cinema 4D will create a directory named _bugreport in your user directory. A bug report named _BugReport.txt will be generated and saved to the _bugreport directory. The bug report will be created as a text file and can be opened using any text editor. It will contain all pertinent information our team of programmers needs to solve the issue, what ever it may be (plugins or applications that caused the crash, operating system, processors, etc.).
   
   
2. Cinema 4D will attempt to recover the scene file (which can take a few minutes) and will save the file to the _bugreports directory with a _recovery_ annotation. It cannot be guaranteed that the file will be recovered. Several prefs files will also be saved (preferences) as well as the file in which Cinema 4D saves its layout (everything from the Cinema 4D prefs directory).
   So far, NO files or information have been sent anywhere.
   Depending on whether or not Allow Bugreports is activated, the following will now occur when Cinema 4D is restarted:
   
   
   • Not Active: Nothing further will happen. The files created and saved to your hard drive will not be sent anywhere.
     
   • Active: A bug report dialog window will open when the application is started. Enter your e-mail address so our quality assurance team can contact you if they have further questions regarding your reported bug. You can also provide a brief description of your crash and what happened leading up to the crash in question. Use the Attach Recovery File option to attached the file that caused the crash. Clicking on Send Report will create a Zip file of the items described in points 1 and 2 above which will be sent via e-mail to Computer.
     System crash information is also saved for:
     
   • Mac: in a file named osxlog.crash
     
   • Windows: in a file named minidump.dmp (particularly important for graphics card crashes! This file includes thread status information, information about handles used and just discharged modules as well as information about local variables or stack variables during the crash; the information will be so detailed because mini dumps cannot be read in plain text, contrary to osxlog.crashes).
     Information that is essential to graphics card and operating system manufacturers will be saved to these files. In some cases, no debugging will take place if these files are not made available. These files can be deleted before sending but the manufacturer will possibly view the bug report as useless.
     

Crash-related issues can only be resolved if our team of programmers knows exactly what caused a given problem. Any files sent to are therefore of enormous importance in solving individual crash-related issues.

 Updates

Automatically Check for Updates

If this option is activated, Cinema 4D will automatically check for updates each time it is started.

Show Developer Updates

Enable this option if updates are made available via the Online Updater that are relevant to developers (e.g., for SDK functions).