I thought for my own peace of mind, it would be great to write down all of the things I’ve learned this semester, to remind myself how far I’ve come. At the start of the semester, I had only used Cinema 4D for a few hours, following a few tutorials over the summer. The work I was creating was simply from blindly following the tutorials, and I had no understanding of what I was doing and why. Now I can happily say that I would be able to model anything in Cinema 4D, one way or another.
Rendering
- I know what raytracing samples are and how increasing the samples decreases the noise in a piece, but increases the render time
- I know that there are many different render engines, and that ‘physical’ isn’t the best, but its the one I use because it’s the best for my budget.
- I know that global illumination can light a scene really nicely, however massively increases render times and isn’t very practical.
Modelling
- I know the difference between modelling in object mode and edit mode, and that object mode is less destructive, but edit mode makes an object more malleable.
- Mograph editing tools are really useful (subdivision surface, cloner, etc) and I can apply them to objects.
- I know how to use deformer tools to create custom shapes in object mode.
- I can create models from simple vectors
Lighting
- I know how to use a physical sky, but they slow down renders.
- I know how to use a HDRI, but like a physical sky, they slow down renders.
- I know how to use my own lights to create my own lighting set up, that is much quicker for rendering.
Cameras
- I know how to render through the camera view
- I know which lenses look better when using the camera, and how to change the focal distance.
Keyframing
- I know how to access the dope sheet to customise keyframes
- I know how to duplicate and manipulate keyframes within the dope sheet menu
Material Creating
- I can create my own custom materials by using the different settings to customise things like glow, reflection, displacement etc.
- I can keyframe materials to change and loop
Other
- I know many key shortcuts for different tools
- I know the workflow associated with creating a 3D motion piece.
- I can use the IK tool to rig and keyframe a character’s movements.
- I know the 12 basic principles of animation and can implement them into my work
Jennie Hawkes 