Parting ways, and some files for the R25 users

[Guest Cairyn]

Hello, or maybe should I say goodbye;

 

after almost two decades on Cinema 4D I have decided to part ways and concentrate solely on Blender (no, not gonna start that discussion here again). My account here will lapse with the next payment cycle in a few days, so I will no longer be able to post, read or answer messages. Upholding a presence on a paid forum that has mostly C4D content just doesn't make much sense when you're stuck on R23 forever and there is not all that much Blender content yet. I may return when that changes. Until then, thanks for the years of mostly civil discussions.

For those who are not going the subscription route and are stuck on R25, here's a little "parting gift": I have uploaded two of my tools to Gumroad for a 0€ price. They are not going to get any updates any more, but if you stay with R25, you may find them useful:

 

https://cairyn.gumroad.com/l/CollieSymmetryHelper

https://cairyn.gumroad.com/l/CollieMouse

 

(The first one is the symmetry tag which is no longer needed for C4D 2023 and beyond; it was developed for a character modeler who's not on the forum; the second is the space mouse controller that has often been discussed but never quite made a dent against the built-in one. I do have a lot of Python scripts as well but they are becoming obsolete with growing C4D version numbers so I won't make them public; documenting them would be another chore I don't need right now.)

 

If we had a personal discussion before, you will have my email for continued contact.

 

Until later, peace!

[Cerbera]

Ah it's a shame to lose you dude. I's surprised @Igor doesn't want to give you complimentary membership given your usefulness as a coding guy and in the advice department, but equally surprised you consider the subs price too much... it's a relatively paltry amount...

 

Hope to see you around here again when the Blender stuff picks up a bit !

 

CBR

[Mike A]

Sad to hear this news @Cairyn. You've been a great contributor to this forum and will be missed, but as another user on a aging licence I understand where you're coming from. Personally I really hope we can get some more Blender and Houdini content here and tempt you back : )

 

Good luck with your Blender adventures - it's a great program and I'd like to dive into it more myself - but for now Houdini is keeping me more than busy : )

[keppn]

Thank you for for your grand contributions, @Cairyn!
All the best, hope to see you return some day

[bentraje]

Thanks for all the contributions @Cairyn
There's also a decent amount of people in BlenderArtists forum that are/or previously Cinema4D users.
GLHF!

[Guest Cairyn]

4 hours ago, Cerbera said:

equally surprised you consider the subs price too much... it's a relatively paltry amount...

It's not so much the five bucks, it's the pointlessness of spending time. Years ago, when I swapped my Amiga (reluctantly) for a PC, I said I would keep it and use it and love it more than the PC ever, but the Amiga never got anywhere after that and I quickly abandoned it altogether (should have kept the hardware though... ah well). With a license that is not up to date, I am in a similar position with C4D; I could tell myself I would keep it forever and love it more than Blender and my heart belongs to C4D, but it's an illusion. I don't have the time to continue reading about features I don't have, techniques I cannot follow any more, functionalities that I'll never own. Even now I already hesitate to ask questions on the PluginCafé because I cannot verify whether the issues I found are actually still issues, or have been fixed in the four versions since.

It just makes more sense to spend my time on Blender specific forums, make a clean cut, and throw out all C4D forums from my "Daily Tabs". I ain't a spring chicken any more, and I must concentrate on something to achieve something. It's clear that Maxon changed direction and expects a different audience for C4D (professionals only), and while most people here seem to be in that group, I am not and will not be for a long time.

[SharpEars]

So what abour your Patreon? Will you be keeping that up? I'd hate to lose all of the tips accumulated there over the years! Or, perhaps you could combine it all into a PDF or something for us to download?

[Rectro]

Sorry to hear your going, but I'm sure you will find what you need from concentrating on Blender.  Its looking pretty good from what I can see over on the Blender side.  C4D has become an expensive commercial only tool, or a rich mans hobby.

 

Good luck. and thanks for your kind parting gift.

 

Dan

[stoecklem]

I'm sorry to read this and am also wondering about your Patreon which I've been happy to be a part of from the beginnings. I'm a hobbyist that will be on R21 for a long time. I was hoping to have that treasure trove of python/Cinema 4D knowledge available to learn from some day.

[kbar]

Sorry to see you go @Cairyn.

[Guest Cairyn]

11 hours ago, SharpEars said:

So what abour your Patreon? Will you be keeping that up? I'd hate to lose all of the tips accumulated there over the years! Or, perhaps you could combine it all into a PDF or something for us to download?

 

8 hours ago, stoecklem said:

I'm sorry to read this and am also wondering about your Patreon which I've been happy to be a part of from the beginnings. I'm a hobbyist that will be on R21 for a long time. I was hoping to have that treasure trove of python/Cinema 4D knowledge available to learn from some day.

 

As for the Patreon:

 

When I started "Python: Spoonfed" three years ago (or so), I had a certain scope in mind, covering the main features of Python itself plus all API calls needed for scripting and simple command plugins. Most of that has been covered by now (plus many additions, like the switch from Python 2 to 3), so we're closing in to a planned end of this endeavor (within a few months).

 

As indicated in an earlier poll on the Patreon, I am thinking about necessary updates to earlier chapters, so collecting it all into a book has actually a good chance of happening. This would have the advantage for the Patrons that they don't need to download all chapters themselves, have a searchable resource, and will not be forced to remain Patrons when the orientation of the Patreon changes (just to read content they already know). I could also offer that book separately for all those people who have shied away from a Patreon.

 

Naturally, there are many more topics that could have been covered beyond that original scope. There are Python tools and objects et al. (which we still may touch briefly, but which are actually more suitable for C++ implementation). The API we looked at is now called the "classic" API, and Maxon is offering the new core API (which I have never used, so I'd be less suited as teacher on the topic). We have scene nodes which are competing with Python and C++ implementations in many cases. And more, since C4D is not standing still.

 

Covering all of that in the Patreon (and staying up to date with already-published content) would require a full-time job, however, which consequentially would require a full-time salary (which also pays for a C4D subscription then to keep stuff current). That is far out. At the moment, the Patreon nets me a whooping 60 bucks (a month!) after taxes, mandatory insurances, and fees. So, this can never be more than a hobby project, and the time I can invest in it is very limited.

 

(Maxon itself already has the PluginCafé, which is a great resource for programmers with some experience.)

 

What will happen to the Patreon after I transfer to Blender? It will stay online, but the direction changes; I will post some experiences and projects there which will be closer to the furry character animation that I originally wanted to do. I don't expect the current Patrons to stay around for that, and most content will be free anyway until I find a consistent direction and do full projects again. Once I get proficient enough in Blender, I may be able to show interesting stuff again (although I will probably never offer a course in Blender Python programming; there is too much competition on that market, and I have too much other stuff to do).

 

We'll see where I and this forum and that Patreon and Blender itself go...

[MJV]

Ah sorry to see you go but I understand. Best wishes to you going forward into the future.