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As a personal side project to provide more information on Scene Nodes to everyone interested i started a small page. https://nodebase.info Feel free to request topics that should be covered

Are there plans to revamp the Xpresso UI?

I don't think it was a wise decision to make Redshift CPU the default Cinema 4D renderer. For many reasons: - It doesn't improve the renderer as users would have expected. Redshift CPU might be a more realistic engine, but the calculation are so slow that it's just not worth it. I get faster results with Physical, a 15 years old renderer. - Cinema 4D was always known for its simplicity and good performance. Back in the early 2000s it was one of the only 3D software capable of delivering renders on a single PC. Anyone could grab it and start rendering directly. This advantage is now lost. By default the rendering are shockingly slow. It's ultimately bad publicity for Cinema 4D. - Cinema 4D requires de facto to buy RedShift to run correctly. It raises the price of Cinema 4D from 750 to 1000 a year. That's quite substantial, just to get a modern useable render engine. An ideal solution would have been to add a "Redshift Lite" in Cinema 4D - a positive, functioning teaser for the full render engine. It would be just like Redshift GPU, but with limited features. It could exclude for example: hair, skin shader, displacement, volumetric rendering, proxies and out of core geometry. Other than this, I appreciate the unified simulation system of this 2024 edition - we have dreamed of it for decades. I also welcome the improved viewport performances, but I wouldn't brag about it. Cinema 4D is just catching up with modern technology. It was rather absurd to see Cinema 4D crawling without even exploiting 20% of modern PC CPU/GPU capabilities.

In the mean time check out what you can do with in and output ports

I was so hoping that parameter control via nodes would be implemented. This would allow us to familiarize yourself with nodes, solve simple problems (e.g. linking the length of a line to the radius of a circle). It would also add the possibility of more automation and creating your own control systems.

Thanks now I get it:) It would be cool to get this functionality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ihB3YBRPo

Recorded it eight times, and it crashed every time:) 2024

What you need is the Mesh Deformer. Unfortunately it works only with geometrty. You can build your own project using the following example but you'll need to isolate looped edges, and convert them to splines with Nosemans' plugin first before rendering them. circle deformations.c4d

For me, a simple way of distinguishing between Xpresso and scene nodes/capsules when referring to their strengths and the best way to apply them to your workflow is as follows: Scene nodes/capsules gives you the tools to build the assets. Xpresso gives you the tools you need to help manipulate them. Now this is NOT 100% accurate and there are of course exceptions because there are always more ways to do the same thing in C4D. But viewing them this way helps me breakdown how to approach them when problem solving. Just my humble opinion. Dave

Excellent point and I never looked at it that way. I would imagine optimizing such a vastly complicated set of code was a hard slog and filled with frustration because there are so many connection points to other major code functions that the developers were faced with unintended consequences each time they changed something. All of this also points to the architecture of the program and the methodical way Maxon connected features to that new core over each release while "still" implementing new features....further increasing the programs complexity and interconnections. I get a headache just thinking about it. To use a construction analogy, they have essentially been rebuilding the foundation while still adding new floors on an ever-rising tower. That is no easy trick. Now...does this mean a rapid increase in new features and/or the much-needed revamp of aging portions of the program like TP and BP? I don't want to say that because it will lead to over-speculation and increased expectations. What I will say is that Maxon program management has obviously been pretty methodical over the years. It had to be given what they have accomplished. Most likely, that methodical approach will continue. Also.....capsules are amazing. I could not see the benefit of Neutron in its initial release and the back and forth on how to implement its capabilities was a bit confusing. But they nailed it with Capsules. Each is a non-destructive mini-plugin that provides more flexibility than any single plugin could ever provide. I could not have created some of the things posted on this forum without them and they certainly have come "into-their-own" in the past year. So, while they seem like such small things in the release notes, we do forget what each brings to the table in terms of flexibility and creative capability. Dave

Please try to connect the Linkled Geometry directly to the output, maybe the Clone onto Points node has a problem.