Volumetric Shaders

3D Shaders (you should differentiate between 2D / 3D Channel shaders (see Channel shaders) and the 3D shaders described here) are also called Volume shaders because they permeate an object's volume and in essence come to light through its surface. This means that these shaders cannot be used in place of textures or be mixed with normal textures. 3D shaders are used to define a material directly.

To create a material shader, choose the desired shader from the Material Manager's Create / Shader sub-menu.

All Volume shaders can be positioned precisely by adjusting their texture axis system. By changing the texture axis’ length, the positioning can be modified (in addition to the modifications created by the shader settings).

All 3D Shaders can be applied to any 3D object. No seams will appear.

Tip:3D Shaders cannot be combined with one another as is the case with normal textures.

The former SLA volume shaders

Long-term users of Cinema 4D will remember the SLA volume shaders. Over time, these SLA shaders have become increasingly integrated into Cinema 4D. Although there are minimal differences between SLA extensions and standard shaders, SLA shaders still have unique features.