Rectro

Update, re-made the mouth. Had to buy a Microscope to get down to the details I needed. Thanks for inaccurate illustrations online I have had to re make so many pats. Here is the mouth. All images where rendered with Toolbag 4 inc the microscope like render. I will post some actual microscope images if your interested.

Hi guys, Working on a project "Bumblebee" I have made the asset rigged it, and going to be animating it soon. I want to make a short video which lends me to compositing, something I have only delved into with Natron for one project. Davinci Resolve Fusion caught my eye but I have some pipeline questions. The final result will need the bee to be flying in real video footage to look realistic and with motion blur and I suspect a number of FX. I have options, I can render in Redshift, Tool bag 4 which is far faster, or even in C4D I assume this don't matter as long as I get the correct AOVs. Tracking, I can use C4D or DeVinci, never used neither myself. I guess there are a number of steps to get there and would like a guide that's easy to follow, happy to pay for a good tutorial, C4D to Devinci. This is an area I know little about. Thanks, Dan

Bit of a update.

Well as you can imagine, my simplistic bee got more complex as I learnt more about bees, in fact I had to remake the head, mouth, Thorax, Legs and wings, actually other than abdomen the whole bee lol. Even then Im seeing more mistakes even in a simplified bee as its started out, but that's me. So why didn't I modeling it that way in the first place you may ask? Well unlike human anatomy its much harder to find accurate illustrations and detailed ones. Most are simplified where you are left to your own imagination. Anyways, its looking better and better, and I have learnt a lot not just about Bees, but in the whole process of modeling, rigging and animation, its a win win. Il post some images today. What appears to be reasonably simple in nature turns our to be highly complex and jaw dropping amazing. here is a summery of what I took note just about the wings. "Bees have front and hind wings that hook together with specialized hooks, allowing them to act in coordination during flight. However, the wings can unhook during flight for specific maneuvers and changes in direction. The rear wings can vibrate to communicate danger or as a defensive mechanism. Bees can also make rapid flight movements using their rear wings for quick escapes. The rear wings are involved in stabilizing the bee's body during flight and contribute to overall flight stability. Additionally, bees use their hind wings for mating and for various non-flight activities such as resting and grooming. The base of the wings plugs into the ball of the socket, providing a slight flexibility and allowing for precise wing movements. The wing muscles responsible for wing movement are attached to the ball within the socket. As the wings flap at approximately 240 beats per second, the movement of the wings causes the bee's body to bob up and down during flight." This summary covers the main points about bee wings, their coupling, independent functions, flexibility, and the resulting movement during flight.

Hi guys. I have a model in which I wish to combine Cmotion to control the wings, while animating the rest of the body with key frames. When I go to move the body controller which would normally move the wings with it no longer functions, the wings now remain in place. Is there a way to get the wings to continue to flap while manually animating the rest of the body? Thanks. Dan

Still working on it. Here is a update.

Welcome back, I not been about much myself. I agree, we do live in a instant gratification generation which is not helpful for those who seek it often as they are missing out on the whole point of learning, you learn so much more by experiment and strive for answers, that's how I learn and then if that fails I ask chat GPT, although thats not been too helpful of recent.

Hello all. Been a while but Im back with a free tutorial for beginners to intermediate. I made a tutorial on how to model a simplified Bumble bee using primitives and basic tools. I will continue with this project in a second video on how to rig it and pose it. Full Video. Teaser Video

We would need to know what this is for, is it a low poly asset for a game, a high poly asset, and render or animation your asked to create. If you want a realistic animation or render you will need to model most of the forms and structures. Ultimately Substance painter will get you the best results by far, but your need a good model with quality Uvs.

If you have no lens geometry and want fake it, then do as follows. Very quick job here, few min, but make your lable in Photoshop, apply it as texture in C4D. Better results would be to model the main forms, apply the proper materials and render/bake that out. Programs like Substance painter comes in handy here. You can paint materials then bake them inc lighting, reflecting, spec e.c.t

If you get the results you want within a 3d render you can bake that down into a texture. Easy way is to render it, and with the image rendered use that as a texture. I like to do that kind of thing in Photoshop myself. All you need to have good Uvs, render out the lens and apply it at as texture. If you dont have any 3d object as a lens but want to fake it, then apply the texture to the area of your choice on the model, again good Uvs needed. Dan

Hi. Can you please tell us what render engine your using? With C4D own physical renderer I think what your looking for is Thin Film loaded into the reflectance chan. Dan

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

Thought id post this as I have been using Toolbag 4 as an alternative render engine for my final renders. Its fast, very easy to use and more important renders high quality outputs. https://marmoset.co/ Dan

Yes its all gone rental now, which is a shame as I would have snapped up the latest version of both RS and C4D, but I'm out the game now for Maxon products regrettably. Im guessing as your on RS 3.x you where on the last maintenance available. Dan

Certainly produces some great images, I liked trying out this engine. The price is just too expensive, and Vray is way way too expensive. Redshift is more affordable and very fast. Toolbag although not a full final engine at version 4 it is now more possible and can be got for $300 outright perpetual. Best deal of all is Maya Indie as it has Arnold, full version with it and that is very expensive as a stand alone engine. Dan

Will there be any attempts to improve how SSS looks for skin, and a hair shader. Iv seen great works in Marmoset Toolbag 4 for human characters, would U Render be able to contend? Thanks, Dan

As I have R25 which is a very good version, I think I will sub to Redshift, learn Blender over the next 6 months, If im not feeling it onto Maya while still using C4D during the transition. By then Id know Arnold by then. The version of Zbrush I have is more than enough, and I already have other software Im using such as Substance Painter and Wrap3D. I would have loved to have been part of Maxons future but due to their perpetual departure Im given no choice to put my time elsewhere.

It was no intention to mislead, I had said in my original post it was news from Maxons sales, but would be easy to not taken this on board due to tile not making this clear, I have added this to title. I have been asking this question going back more directly to thoes who should know, and had not been given a direct answer, this answer from Maxon sales was the best iv got.

Its assumed that all C4D users make enough money from it to pay for itself, and once you no longer can afford it, it means your retired from it, are not skilled enough to get work from it and therefore should not have it anymore. C4D is not about the hobbiest, its not about the art and community, its about money. (not how I feel about it) I dont like Subs because I don't do it full time, I am skilled enough but have other family commitments. These are personal circumstances, and Maxon is not personal, its business. C4D was once available to all users, and the MSA made it that much more affordable to many to keep it up. Subs work for Maxon, they have produced some decent features from it, and have made perpetual that much more less desirable with intent since the price increase, removal of MSA and Cinevercity. The ones you remain are finally pushed out with the removal of upgrades altogether. The reasons may be given that subs are more desirable but this was caused by two things. 1: Make perpetual less desirable option by doing what I said above. 2: Keep the full time earners using the software on Subs, get more customers in from bigger studios.

The thing is, they still haven't "officially" announced it, it was from my direct contact via Sales that I got this answer. "R25 is the latest available perpetual version – we have been told that there are currently no plans for any further perpetual releases (R25 became available last year and remains available with no upgrade/later version released this year)."

How was your transition to Blender, and do you know of any videos that aid a C4D user to move on as in a side to side feature for feature transition? Im inclined to move to Maya to at least keep using Orantrix for hair, but am not counting out blender, i have seen its new hair system but its still very limited to the capabilities of Ornatrix, but good to see the progress there in Blender. Dan

For some of us we cant just move on so easily as we have spent so much time getting proficient with C4D not to mention the plugins which in my case are super expensive. I feel at the least a proper announcement officially coming from Maxon should have been made, rather than hope this can slip off into the darkness as if nobody would notice and ask questions. R23 was a milestone in additions for character artists and had many additions that made this a very solid release. I was on r20 and for me this was a very bad place to leave my license. Im on r25, it has the new UI which is rather nice once you get used to it and it has some useful addition. I was so hoping that 2023 was available for perpetual upgrade as getting Redshift even the CPU version had Random walk which I had been waiting for two years. Symmetry again a long awaited feature. For character artists Maya Indie is the obvious choice as it comes with the full version of Arnold and Maya. Now Maya Creatives is out should you get some outsourced work on a project larger than 100k you can rent Creatives that does not have this limit. Again the bigger problem is learning it and getting proficient at it, then you got to get your plugins all over again. C4D has and is moving in a good pace and is getting the due attention its needed for some time, its a shame that they could not run Indie an license to replace perpetual in the least. Dan

With regret its sad to say that Maxon sales have answered my question regarding perpetual license and future upgrades. They said that R25 is the last perpetual version sold and its not eligible for upgrades now or in the future. This also accounts for perpetual licenses regarding upgrades. This rather simple question has been rather difficult to get an answer to, but now we have it. R25 is a very solid decent version, but as for the future someone like me who do this part time just wont fall on the subscription model if you also need RS GPU renderer to rent. On the up side Maxon are delivering the goods, and are pushing Cinema 4D in the right direction. R25 is the latest available perpetual version – we have been old that there are currently no plans for any further perpetual releases (R25 became available last year and remains available with no upgrade/later version released this year).