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Home » MAXON Reveals CINEMA 4D R16 at Siggraph

MAXON Reveals CINEMA 4D R16 at Siggraph

The annual Siggraph graphics convention functions much like NAB does for the rest of the industry – it’s the place to be when new products, whether hardware or software, are announced for the visual effects industry.

The show returned to Vancouver this year, and while we weren’t able to attend, we did watch with interest. Maxon, for example, unveiled some juicy features in the latest release of their capable and industry lauded 3D animation package CINEMA 4D. In my opinion, it’s a very compelling upgrade. (Full disclosure: I’ve worked as a consultant to Maxon over the past couple of years.)

In the past few years, CINEMA 4D has emerged as a core go-to 3D application that artists and animators around the world who work in motion graphics and visual effects. Why’s that? I think Maxon’s approach of keeping the interface and learning curve as simple as possible has attracted many who find programs such as Autodesk Maya a complex tool. It’s also important that the company chose to work with Adobe to open up After Effects to true 3D with its CINEWARE plug-in. This is offering a real work-a-day solution.  As the company likes to say in its advertising: “Maxon: 3D for the Real World”.

So, What’s New?

To start with, there’s a new motion tracker in the R16 release of CINEMA 4D. While C4D already integrated well with After Effects’ 3D tracker, the addition of a native motion tracker inside of CINEMA 4D makes solving for 3D cameras from live action 2D footage easier and more efficient. This also allows for more creative control thanks to the automatically generated point cloud it creates in the viewport.

The tracker handles full 3D tracks, but it’s more capable than that, handling nodal pans (tripod-mounted shots that rotate from one point) and planar tracks. In addition, there are several tools to help in tracking such as a masking tool, which omits problematic areas in the scene as well as position, vector and planar tags which help to align the tracking data to the viewport.

If you do a lot of modeling, you’re sure to like the new PolyPen in C4D R16. In the past, creating, cutting, cloning, extruding and modifying polygons was often tricky and complicated, requiring you to switch between point and edge modes. You also had to select different tools such as the knife, extrude, and weld tools. The PolyPen integrates all of these functions, allowing you to do it all with just one handy “super-tool”. It also allows point and edge snapping for greater precision.

That’s pretty neat if you ask me. However, one of the best things about the new PolyPen is its ability to project polygons onto another object as you create them. This is useful when you are trying to re-topologize a mesh that may have been sculpted and whose polygons do not have the correct topology for animation.

Reflect on This

Taking cues from other third party renderers, MAXON has rethought the whole concept of how light is reflected on surfaces by adding a new Reflectance Channel. This major improvement in creating materials allows you to create layers of reflections on an object, simplifying the creation of many different kinds of complex materials such as car paint and other real world materials such as grimy, rusty metal and even fabric. In addition, due to the way the reflectance channel deals with light, you may be able to forego the use of global illumination altogether.

C4D R16 now has a unified effects render engine, which allows for the raytracing of Hair and Sketch lines in better quality and in a fraction of the time. In addition, Team Render – MAXON’s tool for distributed rendering, which takes advantage of all the machines on your network – now features a client-server architecture that allows you to control all your render jobs via a browser.

Much More to like

Aside from the Motion Tracker and Reflectance channel, I like the new version’s interaction tag that allows you define how an object moves and behaves. This is great for TDs and character riggers and it also works with XPresso and Python.

There’s also includes a new Bevel Deformer which allows you to apply bevels non-destructively to entire objects or specific selection sets. The Bevel Deformer’s attributes can also be animated.

C4D R16 Sculpting also has a fair share of improvements such as a new Select tool that allows for new symmetry and fill options on any editable object, as well the ability to sculpt on parametric objects. In addition, improvements to R16 modeling include a new Cogwheel spline primitive to generate involute and ratchet gears as well as a new Mesh Check tool to evaluate the integrity of a polygonal mesh. There are also new Deformer Falloff options and the ability to add textures to the caps of MoText, Loft, Lathe and Sweep objects.

CINEMA 14 R16 also includes a reorganized and improved content library. This includes a preset library which contains custom made solutions such as new house and stair generators as well as modular doors and windows. You’ll also find a new tool to animate the folding of die cut packaging as well as customizable modular bottles, tubes and boxes. In addition, the content library now contains high quality models made for MoGraph, preset title animations and interactive chart templates.

Other important new features in R16 include support for the most current versions of FBX and Alembic. There’s also a Solo Button to isolate individual objects in the viewport as well as the ability to create on-screen annotations for the insertion of convenient information, notes and reference to be added to your scene. Finally there’s a new UV Peeler that allows for new and efficient ways to unwrap the UVs of cylindrical objects for texturing.

Conclusion

In each new release of CINEMA 4D, MAXON delivers compelling features to make the software more useful to the working artist. I think the new enhancements and features on R16 make for a very compelling and robust release that should appeal to users of previous versions.

Another exciting piece of CINEMA 4D news that broke at Siggraph was word of a new bridge between CINEMA 4D and Arnold, Solid Angle’s popular ray tracing rendering software. Arnold has been used on numerous high-end feature films such as Pacific Rim and Gravity. It’s also a regular item at studios such as ILM, Framestore and MPC. Click here to find out more.

 

About Joe Herman

Joe Herman is a filmmaker, artist and post production specialist and writes often about the industry. You can reach him at joe[at]legendmultimedia[dot]com. Or reach and follow him on Twitter @JoeHermanTweets.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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