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MAXON™ has done it once again by introducing a number of terrific features in their latest release of CINEMA 4D™. Most of the new features are much needed by artists and have long been anticipated. Users will find unparalleled ease of use with a smooth work flow, with seamless integration into any production pipeline. These new enhancements will not only benefit the hobbyist but will be invaluable to the studios where CINEMA 4D is fast becoming indispensable.
Let's take a look at what is new in this latest release and how it will benefit you.
♦A Completely New GI Rendering Engine:
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This is one of the most exciting new features to me. Stunning realism coupled with ultimate control makes this new feature a must have. You will find the option to turn it on under the "effects" button in your render settings. See screen shot. The GI Rendering engine has been re-written to be faster and flicker-free while reducing artifacts in your animation renderings. There are new Sampling Modes that can be used when using objects, instead of lights, to illuminate your scene and the objects near the source.
I found that the application performed very quickly while rendering which is a real advantage for users.
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♦ Improved Rendering Speeds
Optimization in system efficiency offers rendering speeds nearly twice as fast as previous releases. The overall render quality has been greatly improved as well.
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♦ Non Linear animation
The new Non Linear Animation system in R11 offers you two methods for managing recorded data. Motion clips allow you to take your keyframes and convert them to a clip, which can then be duplicated, scaled and blended with great ease into different motion clips. These sequences will then include all of the animation data within them. The motion clips contain no key frames but can be mixed together. They are set up horizontally on the time line and you can add transitions to create seamless movement from one clip to the next. The second method involves using layers, whereby you stack the keyframes and enhance animations in a non destructive way. This can allow you to have a character shake his fist in one layer while running forward on the next layer and even yelling in the third layer. This is wonderful because it allows you to have a series of movements contained in the keyframes that you can apply simultaneously as well as allowing you to turn off and on layers at will.
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♦ BodyPaint3D
BodyPaint3D has been further enhanced by including some wonderful new tools and options for artists. You can now import Photoshop .abr format brushes and utilize support of the Wacom 6D art pen which includes Pen Rotation. You will find a much tighter integration with Photoshop which now includes support for the layered tiff image format as well.
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♦ Support for 64-bit on Mac OS X
CINEMA 4D R11 is the first 3D package completely re-engineered to take full advantage of the Mac OS X 10.5 release. As a native 64-bit Cocoa application, CINEMA 4D can be used in 64-bit mode to utilize greater RAM resources so you can build and render more complex scenes. All 64-bit processors are supported. Users will find that they can easily switch between 32-bit and 64-bit mode to suit their individual needs.
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♦ Ghosting, Doodle, and Collada
3D ghosting which was formerly referred to as "onion-skinning" has been added. This mode can give the impression of movement in a previous and a following frame while animating. It’s very simple to activate through the display tag, where you will find a dialog box that includes draw modes, frame ranges and custom colors for ghosting. Doodle allows you to add comments on the current screen which will appear when you view that frame only. It can be used for Pre-Production, as well as the planning of shots, thumbnailing, etc. This is a very nice tool for those working in pipelines in studios or even the hobbyist who wants to note a particular spot for future reference. The Doodle tool can be animated as well and can create notes or sketches. Collada support has now been added, which allows you to import and export 3D items between Cinema4D and other Collada supporting applications such as Photoshop CS3.
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♦ Projection Man
Projection Man allows the artist to quickly project a painting onto any geometry in a scene. This makes it extremely easy to create beautiful and complex matte paintings. As mentioned before, a tight integration with Photoshop and BodyPaint 3D really simplifies editing and construction of complex scenes. Digital matte painting provides much of the magic of movies, utilizing camera mapping to project detailed paintings onto simple geometry to create an environment that a 3D camera can move around and through. Projection Man revolutionizes the work flow for creating digital mattes, making it simple to setup an initial painting and even easier to patch the matte when necessary.
♦ CineMan
CineMan is the CINEMA 4D connection to Renderman. Pixar's RenderMan™ has become the standard in the motion picture industry for its use on films and as a format for exchanging rendering data. With R11, the Advanced Render 3 module includes support for the RIB format so you can render your CINEMA 4D projects using Pixar's Render Man Pro Server, or other Renderman-compliant engines including 3Delight from dna research and AIR™ by SiTex Graphics™. Third-party render engines integrate well into CINEMA 4D. CineMan makes it easy to fit CINEMA 4D into any professional pipeline.
Cineman supports the following RenderMan engines:
- Pixar's RenderMan Pro Server™ (Win & Mac)
- dna research 3Delight™ (Win & Mac)
- SiTex Graphics AIR™
Extensive CINEMA 4D R11 tutorials and demonstrations can be found on the MAXON USA 24/7 (deleted the period after USA) education and training resource site, Cineversity. I found Release 11 to be a major step forward for CINEMA 4D and its capabilities. A new online updater also runs each time you launch the program and checks for updates. If there are any updates available, it will download and install the update for you. The new functionality and tools provide even more capabilities for the hobbyist as well as the professional artist. I cannot see any downside to this version at all.
Release 11 - Product Pricing and Availability
If you have any questions regarding products not listed, please call your MAXON PR representative.
Links to Commercial Pricings
CINEMA 4D Core
CINEMA 4D XL Bundle
CINEMA 4D Studio Bundle
BodyPaint 3D Release 4
Links to Vertical Bundles Prices
CINEMA 4D Architectural Edition.
CINEMA 4D Engineering Edition.
Link to Training Prices
Cineversity
Availability:
MAXON products are available through resellers and direct from MAXON. Customers can call their toll-free number (877-ANIMATE) or visit their online shop for a list of resellers and/or direct sales information.
Release 11 - System Requirements
Operating Systems
Windows
Macintosh
Windows Vista (all versions)
Mac OS X 10.4.x
Windows XP (Pro / Home)
Mac OS X 10.5.3 or higher
Windows XP Pro 64 Bit
Windows 2003 Server
Mac 10.5.0, 10.5.1,10.5.2 are not recommended
Windows 2003 Server 64 Bit
Processor Support
Minimum Processor - Windows
Minimum Processor - Macintosh
Intel Pentium 4
IBM PowerPC G5
Athlon 64/MP (K8 with SSE2)
Intel CoreSolo
Sempron (K8 with SSE2)
VIA C7
Supported Processors
Intel Pentium M
Intel Pentium 4
Intel Pentium 4D
Intel XEON
Intel Core Solo
Intel Core Duo
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Core 2 Quad
Intel Celeron
Intel Celeron D
AMD Sempron (K8)
AMD Athlon 64
AMD Opteron
IBM PowerPC G5
AMD Athlon MP (K8 with SSE2)
AMD Phenom
Unsupported Processors
Intel Itanium
Intel Itanium II
Intel Pentium
Intel Pentium II
Intel Pentium III
Intel 486
AMD K6
AMD K7
AMD Athlon/Athlon XP
AMD Duron
Power PC G4
Render acceleration cards are currently not supported. Examples: Gelato (Nvidia cards), Aegis Physix, BlueICE, ART VPS
Game consoles are generally not supported and can't be used for Net rendering either. Even if they use technology that is similar to PCs, they neither have the RAM nor the operating system that would allow them to run CINEMA 4D.
MAXON Support and Education Support
FREE Tech Support: Support has always been FREE for ALL MAXON customers. The tech support department is open during regular business hours Pacific Time by calling their main number at 805-376-3333.
Award-Winning:MAXON provides the same level of professional support for all customers. Professionals, Students, Teachers and Hobbyists all receive the same high level of professional support as their Commercial customers. Pre-Sale Technical Support is also provided to insure customers purchase the software that best suits their needs.
Educational Resources
Cineversity: There are over 1,200 video tutorials online on our Cineversity training web site. Some
tutorials are freely available (approximately 200) and the rest are available through a subscription-based membership.
Resources for Schools and Instructors:
MAXON provides FREE curriculum for schools and FREE training for instructors.
Visit the MAXON website for updates, free content, and demo versions. http://www.maxon.net
Review by Kathie Berry
Websites: http://www.berry-designs.com & http://www.planit3d.com
Email: kathie@berry-designs.com
Copyright 2009, PlanIt 3D
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