Super Cinema 4D. Video course (2018)

The most complete training course for creating 3D graphics and visual effects in CINEMA 4D software

Cinema 4D is a program that has been successfully used by both beginners and professional 3D artists to create impressive videos and designs. The main advantage of this program is that it has a very simple interface, interacts easily with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop, and is easy to learn. At the same time, it is extremely powerful and characterized by stable performance. Surprisingly, despite the enormous popularity of Cinema 4D, there are catastrophically few high-quality training courses for this program, especially in Russian. The authors decided to fill the gap and continue the line of their super courses, releasing the most detailed video course on the Cinema 4D program.

Key features of the course

Close interaction with the teacher. When taking a course on our online learning platform, you have the opportunity to communicate directly with the course author, ask Mikhail any questions and receive timely answers.
Step-by-step training. From simple to complex. The course allows both beginners and people who already have some experience in the program to learn equally effectively from scratch.
The most complete course available today. Moreover, it is the only complete course. Covers all the features of the program. After studying it, you will know almost everything about Cinema 4D!
Additional training for Octane and Redshift. The video course contains bonus chapters on working with the very popular third-party renders Octane and Redshift. Many CG artists use these tools to create the most realistic scenes possible.

Course content

The course consists of 117 lessons, organized into 11 chapters, and two additional bonuses. The total duration of the video lessons of the course is 43 hours and 30 minutes. The course examines in detail all the basic features and tools of the Cinema 4D program from the ground up to professional heights.

Chapter 1. Introduction to Cinema 4D. 14 lessons (4 hours 11 minutes) The first chapter is an introductory mini-course in Cinema 4D. This chapter is intended for those unfamiliar with 3D graphics and Cinema 4D in particular. In the lessons in this chapter, you will learn the basic concepts of 3D graphics and start Cinema 4D for the first time. During this chapter, you will explore the interface and basic tools of this program. Learn the basics of modeling, texturing, animation, and rendering. This chapter does not contain boring theory and all new knowledge you will receive in the course of practical work on creating a three-dimensional animated scene with a train.
Chapter 2. Interface, settings and basic functions of the program. 8 lessons (1 h. 46 min.) At the beginning of this chapter, we will analyze the program interface in detail, learn how to customize it "for ourselves", and also study all the main panels and windows. Next, we will figure out what our project can consist of. Let's talk about the layer system and project hierarchy. As a result, a general idea of the project structure will form in your head. Let's get to know the different tags and also talk about bindings. This chapter is the foundation for the entire course, as it shows techniques that are used on an ongoing basis in any project. Finally, we will install useful extensions for more productive work in the program.
Chapter 3. Parametric modeling. 14 lessons (3 hours 24 minutes) In general, modeling can be different. If you need to create some kind of simple model, then it is best to do this using primitives, generators and deformers. Yes, you will be limited in your options, but you can very quickly create the necessary geometry by adjusting the predefined parameters. This kind of modeling is undoubtedly easier and faster than polygon modeling (when you create geometry by working with polygons, edges and points). In this chapter, you will explore all the parametric modeling tools that you will need in your future work.
Chapter 4. Deformers. 14 lessons (1 h. 54 min.) You probably already guessed that to create more complex and effective three-dimensional scenes of ordinary primitives (cube, sphere, cylinder, etc.) will not be enough. The question arises, how do you break out of the standard shapes and create something more interesting from primitives? Here deformers come to our aid. Deformers are special tools that, as the name suggests, can deform geometry. Thus, we can modify any objects and create completely new geometry. You need to bend some object - here's the Bend deformer, you need to twist something - the Twist deformer, if you want to explode something - the Explosion deformer. In this chapter, we will look at some of the most useful and commonly used deformers that make it easy to create complex and custom models.
Chapter 5. Practice. 1 Session (42 min.) In the previous chapters, you learned a lot. Now let's try to consolidate all the knowledge gained with a practical example. In this chapter, under the strict guidance of the author, you will create a complete headphone composition from scratch based on splines, parametric modeling, and deformers.
Chapter 6. Light and shadow. 4 lessons (1 h. 53 min.) Light and shadow are important components of any composition, because they help us create truly realistic 3D scenes. You just need to correctly adjust the lighting of the scene and it can be transformed immediately. This chapter gives you the most complete overview of all of the scene lighting options in Cinema 4D. You will get acquainted with all types of light sources, from the Sun to a regular light bulb. You will learn various parameters of light sources, learn to work with shadows, and also master techniques and tricks for lighting interiors and exteriors. In the course of this chapter, we will collect a few lighting setups that will allow you to quickly and easily illuminate any model in the future.
Chapter 7. Materials and textures.10 lessons (3 h. 18 min.) You probably already know that if you create a regular three-dimensional cube in Cinema 4D, it will be gray and nondescript. How to make this cube consist of beautiful stone or glass? The answer is very simple: you need to create the appropriate material. For many, content in Cinema 4D is a complex and confusing topic. But as you study this chapter, you will find that working with materials is a very interesting activity. In this chapter, we will go over all the methods for creating realistic materials from the very beginning. You will learn how to create your own materials from scratch and apply them to your objects. We will cover the creation of plastic, various metals, glass, and many other commonly used materials. In the lessons of this chapter, we will put together our own library of ready-made materials that you can use in future projects.
Chapter 8. Rendering in Cinema 4D. 11 lessons (3 h. 1 min.) After you've created a 3D scene, you need to render it to get the final image or video. How realistic and visually attractive the result you get depends on the choice of the render and its correct setting. In this chapter, you will learn how to work with all standard renders: Standard Render, Physical Render, AMD ProRender. Let's analyze the pros and cons of each of them, let's see how to optimize the render settings so as not to wait for beautiful results for long hours. In addition, you will learn how to post-process your rendered material in After Effects, which will add even more realism to your work and make it even more attractive.
Chapter 9. Animation in Cinema 4D. MoGraph.18 sessions (5 h. 14 min.) Cinema 4D is a very popular program among motion designers. Most of the motion graphics videos, which collect thousands of likes, were created in Cinema 4D and After Effects. How did she deserve such love? The point is that Cinema 4D has advanced functionality aimed at creating stunning animations. Especially worth highlighting is the MoGraph module, which is built into Cinema 4D. For the sake of this module, many CG artists and designers are starting to use Cinema 4D instead of other 3D software. MoGraph is a separate block with tools to solve and automate complex animation tasks. Today, these tools are used in almost every animation video. In this chapter, we will go over all the most essential generators and effectors from the MoGraph block. Let's put together some spectacular animated compositions from scratch. Let's look at the principles of animation and working with the Timeline in Cinema 4D.
Chapter 10. Dynamics.10 lessons (3 h. 37 min.) Few people know, but Cinema 4D has ample opportunities to create realistic dynamics. In other words, in Cinema 4D you can make objects in a scene interact with each other in a way that obeys the laws of physics. Objects can fall, bounce, bump into each other, and even break apart. However, they can be influenced by various forces, such as gravity, friction, wind, etc. This chapter focuses on the dynamics and various physics simulations in Cinema 4D. Here we will analyze the interaction of solids, soft bodies, tissues and particles. Let's see how to combine dynamics and MoGraph to create cool animation effects. This chapter will cover most of the practical examples, from creating realistic destruction to entire animation projects.
Chapter 11. Advanced Modeling.18 Sessions (12 hours 25 minutes) In the previous chapters, we learned the basic modeling techniques in Cinema 4D. But this knowledge will not be enough to create complex 3D models. Therefore, in this chapter, we will delve deeper into the topic of modeling and master a number of advanced techniques to help you create any model you can imagine. The focus in this chapter will be on polygon modeling. With it you will create a spectacular violin model. In the lessons in this chapter, you will learn how to create truly complex 3D models, as well as learn about the rules for creating a polygon mesh and how to avoid various unwanted artifacts. This chapter was written by Georgee Dairon, a professional 3D artist. Georgee specializes in creating complex 3D models for various computer games.

Bonus chapters

Render Octane.5 lessons (1 h. 24 min.) A lot in 3D graphics depends not only on the choice of a 3D program, but also on the choice of a suitable render. If you take a scene and render it with different renders, the results can be strikingly different from each other. In this case, not only the visual component of the final image may differ, but also the time that you spent on rendering. Professional 3D artists and motion designers rarely use the standard Cinema 4D rendering and increasingly prefer third-party solutions such as Octane or Redshift. This is why we decided to write two bonus chapters dedicated to these renders. Octane Render is one of the fastest physically correct renders in the industry today. With it you will not only be able to get amazing results in minutes, but also to control how the scene looks, at all stages of work, which greatly enhances your creativity. In this chapter, you will get acquainted with all the basic parameters of Octane and learn how to tune it in such a way as to make the most of your scene and make it as beautiful as possible.
Render Redshift. 3 lessons (41 min.) In this bonus chapter we will talk about Octane's main competitor - the Redshift rendering. Recently, many 3D artists prefer Redshift for its convenient features and stable performance. Redshift does a great job with complex scenes, which is why it is used to create CGI for world blockbusters. At the same time, Redshift is easy to learn, and even beginners can work with it. The author of this chapter is Ivan Bezrukov, a professional 3D artist and motion designer. Vanya is the author of VideoSmile.ru and has been delighting us with quality lessons for a long time.