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Importing Cinema 4D assets into the Unreal Editor

Two different options are available for importing Cinema 4D files, which differ in terms of support for legacy cameras, lights and materials, for example, but also specifically in terms of support for animated characters, for example. On the introductory page to Cineware for Unreal you will find a table comparing the differences between the two importers.

1. The newer of the two importers is Interchange, which offers almost full support for all Redshift elements and can also import character animations. There are currently only limitations in the support of camera parameters, the use of Cinema 4D object parameters directly in the Unreal Engine and the Direct Link function.

2. The older import method based on Datasmith, on the other hand, has advantages when it comes to supporting legacy elements in Cinema 4D scenes. This refers, for example, to materials, lights and cameras that were still used by the older standard renderer of Cinema 4D. In addition, only Datasmith offers support for the Direct Link connection between Cinema 4D and the Unreal Editor. Changes to a scene on the Cinema 4D page can be synchronized even faster with the corresponding asset in the Unreal Content Browser. Finally, Cinema 4D object parameters can also be made accessible in the Unreal Editor via Datasmith in order to be able to make parametric changes to imported objects directly in the Unreal Editor.

As you can see, both options have their advantages. For this reason, you can also decide from project to project which method you prefer for exchanging data or combine both methods. It is therefore possible to import only parts of a C4D project with Datasmith and other components via Interchange.

To ensure that both options can actually be used for the import, they must of course both be installed. You can find installation instructions on this page.

Import with Interchange

Overview

• Configuration of Pipeline Stacks
• Import with Interchange
• Settings for geometry caches
• Selective import settings
• Changes for Interchange since version 2025.2
• Current restrictions

Configuration of Pipeline Stacks

To be able to use Interchange and individually configured Pipeline Stacks, the Interchange component must be installed via the Cineware installation program (see installation instructions).
This installation automatically ensures that the required Pipeline Stacks are automatically added for the Interchange Engine in the Unreal Engine (as Cineware Pipeline Stack). You therefore do not need to do anything else to import a C4D file via File > Import into Level.

The following explanations therefore only explain in general terms how you can add the Cineware pipelines to stacks if you want to configure individual stacks.
The Unreal Engine's own documentation provides you with further information on the use and settings of Interchange to customize the import of data. You can find the corresponding website here.

As mentioned above, the Cineware pipelines can also be added manually if you want to conimage your own pipeline stacks. To do this, open the Project Settings via the Edit menu in the Unreal Editor and navigate to the Engine section in the left-hand column. Here you will find the entry for Interchange (see also the following illustration).

Call up the project settings for Engine - Interchange.

In the right-hand part of the dialog (see also the right-hand side of the figure above), you will find the group for the Scene Import Settings under Import Into Level. It contains the pipelines that are relevant to us. By installing the Cineware Interchange component, you will find an entry for Cineware under which all the required pipeline stacks can already be found (see following figure).

Automatically added pipeline stacks for Cineware import through the Interchange workflow.

You only need to add the required Cineware pipelines manually if you want to create an individual stack.
Proceed as follows:

Create or open the corresponding pipeline stack under the Import Into Level group where you want to add the Cineware pipelines. In the example in the following image, the existing Scene Pipeline Stack has been opened for this purpose. You will then find a plus icon next to the pipelines group, which you can use to add new entries for pipelines. In the following example, this button was clicked four times in order to be able to specify four new pipeline entries in the stack.

Manually add pipelines to a pipeline stack.

In the name field of the new, still empty pipelines ( None by default), you will find an arrow pointing downwards (see also the following illustration). Click on it to open a selection window where you can select the Cineware pipelines. If this list is empty, check the filter settings by clicking on the cogwheel symbol to the right of the search field (see also the following illustration). The options for Show Engine Content and Show Plugin Content must be activated in the filter settings.
Select these entries one after the other for the four newly created pipelines:

• CinewareMaterialPipeline: Enables the import of native Redshift materials
• CinewareGeometryCachePipeline: Enables the import of geometry caches, such as baked deformations
• CinewareCharacterAnimPipeline: Necessary for processing animated characters with joint skeletons
• BP_FolderPipeline: Ensures the storage of assets in a separate folder.

Selection of a pipeline and configuration of the filter settings for the search for available pipelines.

As the individual pipelines in a stack are always processed from top to bottom, the order of the pipelines also plays a role. The Material pipeline must be processed before the Geometry Cache pipeline. The CharacterAnim and BP_Folder pipelines should follow below. Therefore, if necessary, rearrange the pipelines accordingly by placing the mouse on the left edge of a pipeline in the stack. A field with small dots will appear, which you can then drag with the mouse. Use it to drag the pipeline vertically up or down in the stack to the desired position. A blue line indicates where you can drop the dragged pipeline by releasing the mouse button (see following image).

Gripping and rearranging pipelines within a stack.

Import with Interchange

If the Interchange Pipeline Stacks were installed by installing Cineware for Unreal as described here or added to individually created stacks as described here, Cinema 4D files can be imported in two ways:

1. Drag & drop a Cinema 4D file (extension .c4d) onto the Content Browser of the Unreal Editor.
   In general, this is the fastest option for adding assets in Cinema 4D format, but the import via the File menu described below offers more configuration options and is therefore preferable.
   
   Import via drag & drop from the Finder or Explorer to the Content Browser in the Unreal Editor. A small status window appears during the import (on the right in the image).
2. By calling File > Import Into Level....
   After selecting the desired folder for importing the assets, you can also select the Pipeline Stack to be used (see right-hand side of the following illustration). Make sure that a Pipeline Stack containing the Cineware pipelines is selected. By default, the Cineware installer ensures that you can directly select the Cineware Pipeline Stack, which automatically interprets all objects, materials and animations contained in the Cinema 4D file correctly. If you have previously configured a different Pipeline Stack with the required Cineware pipelines, select this under Choose Pipeline Stack.

   
   

   Import via the File menu of the Unreal Editor with subsequent selection of the desired location within the Unreal project and the appropriate Cineware Pipeline Stack.

   If you want to regularly import Cinema 4D assets via Interchange, it may also make sense to configure Cineware as the default Pipeline Stack. You will find the Default Pipeline Stack setting directly below the Pipeline Stacks and can also enter Cineware instead of the default Scene Stack, if this has not already been done (see following illustration).

   
   

   The Pipeline Stack to be used by default for the interchange import can also be changed to Cineware with Default Pipeline Stack.

   After clicking the Import button, another dialog opens in which a Geometry Cache can be activated for all geometries contained in the file. These Geometry Caches are required, for example, for importing animated point positions. This can then be used to import object deformations, PLA animations or the results of a baked clothing simulation, for example. If the Cinema 4D file contains such objects, activate the options for these in the GeometryCache column. Otherwise, only static meshes are imported for these objects.

   
   

   Optional activation possibility for loading Geometry Caches for each object in order to transfer animated point positions of the geometry into the Unreal Editor.

   As can be seen in the following illustration, there are also objects and structures for which no Geometry Caches can be used at all, e.g. for null or joint objects that do not contain any points themselves (see following illustration). In these cases, a corresponding warning symbol is displayed in the column for GeometryCache.

   
   

   Elements for which no Geometry Caches can be used are automatically marked with corresponding warning symbols.

    

   When importing figures animated with joint skeletons, please note that their skeletons must always be hierarchically arranged under a root object in Cinema 4D (see also the example in the following illustration). This then also becomes the origin of the corresponding character in Unreal. It is also permitted for a Cinema 4D scene to contain several figures and a corresponding number of joint skeletons attached to them.

   
   

   All joint hierarchies of a figure must always be grouped under a root object in Cinema 4D.

   If several geometries were bound to one and the same joint in Cinema 4D and different reference poses were used to bind the geometries to the joints, the option for Use T0 as Ref. Pos can be activated. This automatically uses the pose at time 0 as the reference pose.

   
   

   In the special case that several meshes were bound to identical joints and different reference poses were used for this, the pose at time 0 can also be used as a standardized reference pose.

   Finally, a last dialog opens during the import, which you can use to make the final selection of which elements of the file should be loaded at all. Only the elements activated in the left-hand column are imported. This makes it possible, for example, to initially load a file that still contains legacy light sources, cameras or materials only via the Datasmith import and then, in a second step, to load only the animated figures of this project with this Interchange workflow. Or you can select only certain meshes or materials from an extensive Cinema 4D scene that you want to use in the Unreal Editor. For extensive Cinema 4D scenes, however, it can also be useful to save the desired elements separately in Cinema 4D to make it easier to select the assets actually required when importing them into the Unreal Editor. This section explains how to import Cinema 4D scenes via Datasmith.

   As the right-hand column of the following image shows, the properties used for each element selected in the left-hand list are displayed for checking and adjustment. For example, you can directly see which textures are used in materials.

   
   

   Preview of the components and selection of the elements of a Cinema 4D scene to be imported

Regardless of which of these two methods you choose (via drag & drop on the Content Browser or by loading via the File menu), all loaded elements should appear in the Content Browser at the end of the import and can be placed in your level from there, e.g. by dragging them directly into the Viewport. If you have used Import Into Level for importing, the loaded assets already appear automatically in the Viewport and can then be moved to the desired position, for example.

Imported assets can be dragged from the Content Browser directly into the Viewport and placed directly in the level.

When importing animated figures that have different animation sequences, these can also be assigned manually. To do this, select the SkeletalMeshActor in the hierarchy of the Outliner manager (represented there by the icon of a symbolic skeleton upper body) and display the Animation settings in the Detail window. Make sure that the Animation Mode is set to Use Animation Asset and then select the desired animation by clicking on the downward-pointing arrow under Anim to Play (see also the right-hand side of the following illustration).

Manual assignment of an imported animation to a geometry that can be animated via joints (SkeletalMeshActor).

Changes for Interchange from version 2026.0.0

• The properties of Material Tags, such as the UV Offset, the number of texture tile repetitions or the definition of the polygon side for the material assignment are adopted.
• Support of C4D generators for light sources and cameras (e.g. the Symmetry or Clone object).
• Fixed a problem with non-geometry entries of a Subdivision Surface object.

Current restrictions

In addition to the differences between the Datasmith and Interchange import options already documented here, these limitations in functionality are currently known:

• When using older Cinema 4D versions in conjunction with Unreal Engine 5.5 or newer versions, functionality may be limited. The use of C4D 2025.2 is currently recommended as a minimum.
• Joint hierarchies that are not grouped under a common root object in Cinema 4D lead to incorrect recognition in the Unreal Editor. All joint hierarchies of a character rig must therefore be grouped under a single root joint.
• Due to current restrictions, Subdivision Surface smoothing on rigged meshes is not passed on to the Unreal Engine.
• Due to current restrictions, FFD deformations of meshes that are not loaded as Geometry Caches are not implemented in the Unreal Engine.

Importing with Datasmith

Overview

• Import into the Unreal Editor
• Basic settings for importing
• Redshift light sources
• Redshift cameras
• Advanced import settings
• Selective import settings
• Import settings for animated assets
• Import settings for textures
• Settings for geometry caches
• Imported assets in the Unreal Editor

Datasmith import of Cinema 4D assets into the Unreal Editor

If the plug-in components for Datasmith described here are installed and active in the Unreal Editor, a Datasmith>File Import... function is available via a separate icon in the main menu of the Unreal Editor, which also directly supports the Cinema 4D data format .c4d, among others. Contrary to the way previous versions worked, the scene in Cinema 4D no longer needs to be saved via File>Save project for Cineware.... Normal saving, e.g., via File>Save project as... is sufficient. The Cineware settings under Edit>Project Preferences.../Cineware can also be ignored when working with Unreal. Generators and node materials are automatically converted by Unreal during import, and the desired texture size can also be selected directly in the Unreal Editor during import.

Trigger a file import and select the target folder for the import.

Basic import settings

Selecting Datasmith>File Import... will open the standard file dialog, which can be used to load a .c4d file directly. During this import, you will be asked for the desired directory within your Unreal project into which the data should be loaded. By default, this is the content folder, as can be seen in the right half of the above image. The imported data will then be stored there as native Unreal .uasset files.
The next step will open the actual import settings, which you can use to select the properties of the Cinema 4D file to be imported, among other things. The following options and settings are available there:

Redshift light sources

By activating the Lights option mentioned above, light sources from Cinema 4D projects can also be transferred to the Unreal Editor. This also applies to Redshift light sources, although only these types are supported:

• RS Point Light (point light source)
• RS Spot Light (spot light source)
• RS Area Light (Area light source): Only rectangular light shapes are supported directly in Unreal (Light Type Rect). Special shapes, such as a Redshift Dome Light or a geometry that is used in conjunction with a Redshift Area Light for illumination, must be converted manually in the Unreal Editor.
• RS Infinite Light (Infinite light source)

Since Lumen and Lux are used in the Unreal Engine as units for determining the light output and these are dependent on the size of a light source or a light cone, light brightnesses and intensities must be converted.

The following applies to Point lights (RS Point Light):

The same applies to Spot lights (RS Spot Light) as to Point lights, except that the light intensity is also influenced by the aperture angle of the Spot light:
Intensity (lm) = Intensity * (1 - cos (angle of the light cone) * 0.5)

The following applies to Area lights (RS Area Light):

The following applies to infinite lights (RS infinite Light):

Redshift cameras

Redshift cameras contained in Cinema 4D projects can also be transferred. The following settings will be applied:

• The value for Focal Length (mm) as found in the camera's Object settings.
• The width of the sensor size as set via the X component of the Size (mm) value in the camera's Object settings. The height of the sensor is determined by the Aspect Ratio value from the Output section of the Render Settings in Cinema 4D.
• The Focus Distance from the Optical section of the Redshift camera.
• The Shutter Speed (s) as found in the Optical section of the Redshift camera.
• Exposure (EV) or sensitivity (ISO), depending on the selected Exposure mode in the Optical section of the camera.
• The Aperture (f/#) from the Optical section of the Redshift camera.
• An assigned tTrget object within an Alignment Expression for automatically aligning the camera to an actor. The corresponding target object will be used as an Actor to Track within the Lookat Tracking Settings in Unreal.
  In order to be able to use the tracking of a Focus (assigned object in the Depth of Field settings of the Redshift camera) in Unreal as well, you must manually switch to Focus Method Tracking in the Focus settings of the imported Redshift camera and then manually assign the corresponding object for Actor to Track.

Advanced import settings

Static Mesh Options

Selective import settings

If your Cinema 4D project contains several assets, you can already control which of them are to be transferred to the Unreal Editor by creating a selection in Cinema 4D. If only the objects selected in a Cinema 4D scene and their subordinate hierarchies should be loaded, activate this option for Selection Only. Otherwise, all objects in the Cinema 4D scene will always be loaded as assets. This selection option also allows you to import only some elements of the scene via Datasmith and others via Interchange.

Multipliers

You can generally adjust the lighting intensity of the imported light sources via Light Intensity Scale. Values greater than 1.0 will increase the amount of light emitted by the light sources, values below 1.0 reduce the amount of light emitted by the light sources.
Camera ISO Scale works in a similar way. This can be used to adjust the light sensitivity of the imported cameras for import. With values greater than 1.0, the brightness of the scene recorded by the cameras will be increased accordingly. Values less than 1.0 will reduce the recorded brightness.

Import settings for animated assets

If animations have been created within the Cinema 4D scene, you can selectively load only a single time segment of these animations. To do this, activate the Custom Frame Range option for the import and then enter the frame numbers of the first and last animation frame to be loaded for Start Frame and End Frame. If Custom Frame Range is disabled, the complete animation of the assets will always be loaded.

Import settings for texture sizes

In the Node Material Textures settings group, you will find the square resolution used (Texture Resolution), which can be used for the automatic adjustment of the imported textures. All textures used in the Cinema 4D scene can therefore be scaled up or down to this resolution during import.
This scaling can be influenced via the setting in the Texture Resize menu:

• Don't Enlarge: Only textures that are larger than defined in Texture Resize will be resized accordingly. Textures whose original resolution is smaller than defined in Texture Resize will remain unchanged.
• Always: The resolution of all imported textures will be adjusted in order to achieve the default resolution of Texture Resize. Smaller textures will therefore be enlarged and larger textures will be reduced in size.
• Off: All textures retain their original resolutions, just as they are used in Cinema 4D.

Incidentally, the settings in the Node Material Textures group also apply to non-Node Materials, such as the old standard material from Cinema 4D. However, as Redshift is now the standard renderer for Cinema 4D, you should also use its Node Materials.

Settings for geometry caches

Selection of the properties to be imported and activation of the import of parametric animations as geometry caches.

Imported assets in the Unreal Editor

After importing, the objects automatically appear in the Outliner (see following image). In addition, all loaded components (animations, geometry, materials and textures) are available in the Content Browser.

The loaded objects appear directly in the Outliner.

All imported components can be viewed separately in the Content Browser. From there, the assets can also be dragged directly into the Viewport, for example, or edited after double-clicking on them.