StageFive

Has anyone else had problems with this? I can create a basic scene and it's fine for a few minutes, but then eventually freezes. If I open a more complex scene, it freezes almost immediately. 2020 27" 5k iMac 3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7 64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB Newest version of Big Sur Newest version of the plugin I posted on the Redshift forums, but their only advice was to try to run a crash log, but there really isn't one, because I have to force quit. So I don't think that will show the reason for the crash. iStat is showing that the CPU is what is locking the app down though. So it doesn't seam to be the GPU.

Thanks bezo, I do have the import animation setting turned on and I also double checked that it was turned on in the export settings from C3d. I’ll see about making the file size smaller so I can post it. Either that or I’ll Dropbox it. Cheers! Edit: I modified the file so it would be smaller. So it's attached here now. Website_FVS_Ani-Intro_Shadow.dae.zip

I have an animation that I created in Cheetah3d, that I want to import into C4d so I can render either with Cycles4d or Redshift. The issue is that the animation is not loading into the scene. The same file works fine when I import it into Modo v12. So I know that the animation data is in the file. Does anybody have any clue why this isn't working? The file is too large to attach.

Perfect! Thanks for the explanation. Now it makes sense. I had studied Gimbal Lock and Euler Rotations years ago, but haven't thought much about them since. I guess I just got mostly lucky having the majority of 3d apps that are based on right handedness and took that for granted. I've known that most CAD based apps and Blender have Z Up orientation, but I've never seen much on different implementations of handedness. I'll just have to adjust for the differences, now that I know. Cheers everyone. Solved.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'm just confused compared to most other 3d apps I've used in the last 11 years then (other than Blender). I've never had this issue in any of them. Also the transform handles don't point in the direction that I'm accustomed to (as far as I can tell). The red arrow has typically faced to the right whilst looking down Z-Negative direction (and most apps I've ever used start out with the view facing that direction and have all the Transform Handles pointing towards positive axis movement, X+=red, Y+=green, Z+=blue). This was a new C4d scene with a new cube placed in it. I only reduced one side in scale so I could compare which way the object was facing. And if I change the coordinates from Local to World there is no change in how it displays the mesh location in the coordinates panel. This screen recording of Modo shows how I'm expecting it to work (which is how it works in many other apps). Usually the X-Axis handle points towards X-Positive. It seems that C4d's X-Axis handle points in the opposite direction. Is this correct? Modo Coordinated.mp4

I'm in perspective. But not sure why the camera (or perspective view) has any bearing on the object location? Shouldn't it be agnostic of whatever view I'm in?

Thanks!, I wasn't sure which way is pointing forward and which is back. So the converse of that question then, is why is my Z-Axis showing a positive number when I push the mesh farther back and a negative number when I bring it forward?

Hi Everyone, Possibly I have a setting that is changing this, but I'm confused by the coordinates in C4d. I always thought that moving something to the right on the X-Axis would be a positive number, and to the left would be a negative number. That's not what I'm seeing though in the coordinates. Is there a setting somewhere for this, or is this just how it works in C4d? Thanks,

Hi Cairyn and thanks for the response! Is the Pose Tag you mentioned different from the Pose Morph Tag? I know the terminology going from one app to another can differ. I tried looking, but I might not have looked for the correct name. I've made two videos to show examples. One is the Pose Morph in C4d showing how my sucker tool object imported from C3d. The sliders work exactly like they do in C3d. So no problem there. The second video is one I made in C3d showing how I use the Pose Tag there. It's pretty basic, so hopefully it will show what I'm after. It can also record rotation and scaling. But mainly only ever need the position and sometimes rotation to be recorded. This may or may not be the most ideal way, but I taught myself 3d just using forums, books, and tutorial videos over the years. So it works really well for me using this method. If the video didn't show what I'm after, I can make another one that maybe will show it better. If you do have some type of plugin or script that you think can do this, please let me know. Of course whenever it's convenient for you. Ich Danke Ihnen. Simon C4d Morph Tag.mp4 C3d Pose Tag.mp4

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping there is something that can replicate this function from Cheetah 3d (see screenshot). This shouldn't be confused with a Pose Morph tag though. Totally different function (and my pose morphs actually do transfer from C3d to C4d, which is nice). All it does is save the position, rotation, and scale of an object. It was originally meant for character animation, but it's useful for saving the position of a lot of different objects. I use this all the time to preset positions for hardware I'm modeling to be used in animation. It's also useful (in C3d) to save camera positions, as I don't really need to change my camera settings too often. When I do, I create a new camera. Thanks! Simon

Thanks for the feedback! I have the cv-artsmart plugin, but I agree that probably more convoluted than just creating a bitmap. It's not that much more terribly difficult, but anything I can do to shave some time down and have less support files floating around the better. I work for a sign company, so I have a lot of different layouts that I swap out or update depending on what the 3d render will be for.

I'm thinking this probably isn't possible, as I already tried to apply several vector formats (ai, svg, pdf) to a a material. I'm new to C4d, so I may be missing something. Modo allows an svg file to be used in a material. Which is good because you can zoom in really close on the UV map without loosing any resolution. I found a plugin (Vector Graphics by Plugins 4d) that looks like it might do it, but they only sell it as part of a bundle. https://www.plugins4d.com/pricing-r20 Does anybody know if there is a way to do this in C4d out of the box? It would make it a lot easier when I need to update some graphics I've done in Illustrator. Thanks!

Here's a quick screen capture of the spline bending animation done in C3d if it helps. I turned the rest of the sign visibility off and added magenta to the clear material so it can be seen better. I put the camera on the bottom for a better view. The suction cup tool used morphs like you've recommended. I just need to figure out how to recreated them in C4d. Spline Animation.mp4

Thanks for the tips Cerbera, and glad I'm in the correct section! Those are the methods I've been using, although C3d doesn't have any type of Nulls. They have folders for grouping, which I guess could act as Nulls. Some of the suction cup tools I animated using point animation, and then some of them have different morphs applied to them. I did have a problem with using a bend deformer because I needed the bending to be different on each end of the insert. So I ended up using a single line spline that I extruded up and the gave thickness to. Then I had to animate the spline to match the shape of bending acrylic / paper. The hard part there was making sure the spline stayed the same length since paper and acrylic don't really stretch. I used Illustrator to make sure the spline lengths didn't deform. Is there a built in way in C4d to make sure the spline length never gets stretched, or at least a way to measure it to maintain that length? This will be something I have to do a lot of. I'll make a basic example file and if I post it here and maybe you could give me some pointers of what would be a better workflow please? It might not be until tomorrow before I can finish it. As always I appreciate the help!

Hi Everyone, I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I guess "Mechanical" means any mechanical style animations? Anyway, I've been slowly learning C4d after 12 years of using Cheetah3d and about 3 years of Modo for still shots. We're doing a series of mechanical semi-exploded view animations that cover our most popular interior sign products. It's just a quick way to show how the inserts work and give some motion to the landing page. I already did the first prototype animation in C3d. I needed to be able to get this done in a few hours so my boss and our web designer could meet with the head of our company about it. So I just stuck with the app that I knew I could get it done quickly with. There are some things to fix on this one and I'd like to possibly move this first animation over to C4d and finish the other few the same way. This first one I made each animated part a child of a spline (circle) and then key framed the circle for animation (see screen shot). That works ok for these parts, since they snap out of place from the chassis. Some of our other products have either flexible inserts or the inserts are rigid and slide over and then rotate out. I did some similar animations a few years ago that I combined point animation with standard key-frame animation. But if there is a better way to go about this, I'd appreciate any input anyone might give. I did view a GSG tutorial on exploded animations, but it wasn't detailed enough about exacting mechanical motions to be fully helpful. There's also a series on Cineversity, but it's only available to premium members. I can't drop $300 just to watch one series of tutorials. Would it be possible to use MoGraph to animate these type of movements? Flex Insert Example: Rigid Insert Example: I can post some files converted to C4d later if that helps. I have a few other projects to finish right now. Thanks!