jbatista

Are these viewport enhancements also available for pc users or its just metal/ mac users?

Hi Most of the bugs i find are related to material preview. Sometimes the update is super slow and sometimes it doesn't update at all. I mean, i have to break the connection of the shader in order to the preview to work. The other bug was actually a weird situation but i found the solution. when i open the node editor, the window is usually locked by default and sometimes i forced it to open other materials and because it's locked it refuses to do it. I looks that the system is jamming but actually only the lock. Some other minor bugs i found out myself that was just me and my lack of knowledge about this system. I found how to do it well later. by the way @Vozzz, i found out what are the material assets and how to do/edit them. Thanks for the tip. This is stuff that's not easy to find and it's super awesome. thanks Batista

Hi everyone I've been testing the new R20 node system, and so far i have mixed feelings about this. I jnow it's just the Demo installation but i find this system very buggy and i sometimes it erases all my node tree for no reason at all. Anyway, i have a big question about this system. Is it possible to create instance nodes of shadders or values (example: a checker node), that we can use in different node materials at the same time and we only need to update one and the rest automatically updates itself? Like arnold instance nodes for example. Do we have to use xpresso for that or this system is cleaver enough? I've try to search for that information but there isn't much about it , and If we cant share or instance shadders across multiple node based materials then this system is not that good. thanks cheers Batista

Great Work! Good to see that prorender is evolving in order to help artists in their work. I just have one question since your character has a little of hair. Does prorender supports hair rendering and hair material in this version? or it's geometric hair ? cheers jbatista

Hello everyone! Cinema 4D instance object is cool but it lacks some major features to be awesome. One of the things i miss most it's the hability to load an object plus a proxy. This way we can instance many objects at a higher resolution with the possibility to switch to a simpler low-res version. The new feature in C4D LOD can do something like this and probably better, but it's slower to setup, so i added a few upgrades to the native instance object allowing the user to load both proxy and high res objects. But there's also a bonus: This tool also incorporates a python script that allows the user to automaticly render the high res version even when the proxy is selected. This way we can setup our scene with hundreds of instances with lowres objects and render much heavier stuff. This was inspired in the xref auto-exchange tool but this one works with scene objects. This script was refered in a later post in this forum : Thanks to everyone involved on it's creation. @ruimac @mikeBeckman Hope you enjoy it and have fun with it. Cheers Jbatista Power Instance.zip

Great movie! Very well done and fun to watch.

Hi I opened your file but i'm having a little difficulty understanding the purpose of these controllers. I suggest you to try to use the IK spline because it's a little simpler.

Well this is quite a sensitive matter because i think users will defend their software of choice. In this matter, Maya users will always say their software is the best in the world, and because there are a lot of Maya users their numbers make a difference. Personally i prefer to give credit to the artist instead a piece of software. A strong modeller will always be good in almost any kind of software just because the user's experience is the best tool. Regarding that list i would put Modo and Blender ahead of maya and even houdini. Zbrush is more a sculpting software so i wouldn't compare with others besides mudbox or 3dcoat.

Well In an old post from Cactus Dan i saw this His FBX exporter could bake into pc2 format. But i really don't know much about it. Hope it helps

Hi Can't really help with your questions about the unity - c4d bridge, but regarding the PLA a know that are a few more options besides CV smart export. Steady Bake and Nitro Bake are two plugins that are really good at baking stuff inside c4d, with or without deformers. Nitro bake is a paid plugin and i never worked with it but seems powerfull, but steady bake is free and it seems to work ok. steady bake: http://tcastudios.com/?p=19 Nitro Bake: https://nitro4d.com/product/nitrobake2/ cheers

At least for now we have a few official clues about things that are going to change. https://www.MAXON.net/en-us/news/MAXON-blog/article/modernizing-and-moving-forward/ For the new stuff i believe that proRender will get a deeper integration within all shaders (hair, mograph, etc). The system inner core from single to multi thread in some of the C4d modules (i don't believe that the entire software will be multi-threaded in this release but at least several of it's modules). More viewport enhancements since this is something that they are working since R17. I know that MAXON is trying to get a share from the Character animation market (since xsi died), and so i believe they will continue to develop tools like the new weight manager, skin tools, etc. Vr stuff because now is trendy :) And i would like to see integrated some plugins that wil never be updated again like Cactus Dan plugins and Navie. That would be awesome for the c4d community.

Height Map Generator The Height Map Generator is a free Xpresso tool that optimizes the making of Height / displacement maps. It's concept is based on a Blender plugin called Easy Height Map (https://www.blendernation.com/2018/02/21/easy-height-map/), and it's a tool that i think it is very usefull when you need to create simple or complex displacement maps in a fast production rate. The plus in this tool is that we can create both single or animated sequences and use them in displacement maps, displacer deformers, shadding effectors, sculpt tool as stamps maps, etc. Photoshop can do this kind of effects as well but there things that are better made with 3d tools (particles, cloners etc) Due to file size, you can download it from the link bellow. The zip file includes: Heigh map generator file, an example texture, an example project, instructions, and basic commands. https://drive.google.com/open?id=15M4jYk1trNU2lhNwHSeVaJsGg71coAq_ This is the first release so if you find bugs or if you have suggestions for enhancements, please post them. Hope you enjoy it Cheers Jbatista HEIGHT_MAP_GEN_v01.c4d

Hey I managed to do the effect but i made a small change. The clamp point was not working properly in this example so i switched to surface wich is a polygon clamp and it worked ok. It's basically the same but with a single face. Due to file size i could only export the dummy and the telephone. Copy it into your scene. Cheers TestingC4Dcafe2.c4d

Probably it's better to create a new null with a new constraint and adapt it to the model , than copy it from the example i sent you. If you want you can send me a file with the hand geometry only and I could try from here. Cheers

Have you setup your clamp point like this? (screenshot)The standard settings of the clamp won't do it but like this it might.

Hi there Well i already tried to that using the normal port in the point node in Xpresso, but until now I've been unsuccessful. If you are willing to try a different approach you can do it with constraint > clamp > point. I think the effect will be similar but it uses constraints instead of point position. I if you need a fast solution, this might help. File included. I PS: i have animated a sphere then i deleted the points but one. I clamped the null on that point and that also gives me position and rotation. I 've duplicated the sphere for u to see the motion. Cheers Via constraint.c4d

Hi There objects that are indeed complex and have many ports. But like in 3ds max Material Slate editor, nodes can expand and retract if you want to show more options or less. So in this case, Xpresso subfolders could have that capability as well. Also we have the delete unused ports feature that would eliminate the useless ports when we want. I also give the example of houdini were nodes are even color coded in their ports to help you connecting to compatible ports as well. @borg I don't think the other softwares "suck" with that approach. Color codding, multi-port display, backdrops (like in nuke), are usefull features when you work massively with nodes. C4d xpresso's have little display options and actually i think is bad to think that all the others are wrong and this is the only software that is right. At least give the users the option to decide wich approach you want. That would be great for c4d to be more node friendly. Thank you all for your replies Cheers

Thank You That way it's certainly faster however it could be nice to have that possibility. Usually other softwares display all ports (maya houdini max) and sometimes that is usefull. And because xpresso nodes have a"remove unused ports" feature, it could be faster to get rid of the useless ports. I think xpresso is a great tool but it's interface needs a serious upgrade, or at least more options. jbatista

Hi there Is it possible, or does anyone knows how to to display all input and output ports in Xpresso nodes, instead of enabling one by one? That would be a great help to visualize the entire connection possibilities. jbatista

Hi Dave Thanks for your idea. I never imagined this tag could have such rich features. However this system also clamps the position of the object between 0 and 100% wich limits the move of an object in a closed spline. My ideia with the enhanced follow spline was to enable the possibility of making a object move along a closed spline (exp:circle) in a infinite way, positive and negative. But i think i can also do the same xpresso with the camera crane and un-clamp the position. It could be a nice feature. thanks for tip Jb

Hi Everyone So, if you are tired of using the the same Align-to-spline TAG because it sucks when it comes to loop or to go negative (and also loop negatively) and don´t want to buy plugins, or using mograph, or spline constraint (because this one also sucks) , don't worry. I created a simple tool with Xpresso that does the job in the ways we need. The instructions are simple: just merge the file (EFS.c4d) or copy from other file, and then move the Align-to-spline TAG to the object you want to align. Then child the null or leave it. You'll always need these two objects (tag and null) for each object you want to align, so merge as many as you need. The controls of the tag are in the null (enhanced follow spline). There is also a layer called EFS just to hide unnecessary items. By the way, i don't know if there is a similar tool like this out there (hope there is) , but since i found none just to say that i didn't copy this from anyone's work. That's it. Hope you enjoy it. Jb PS: if you have questions about it, just say it EFS.c4d