Tag Archive for: cinema4d

C4D install variations

Do you ever need to run various configurations of c4d on a regular basis? For example an install without plugins? Or perhaps you are beta testing a render engine, and you regularily need to switch between stable and beta version? Well here i’ll show you how to do that without duplicating your whole c4d install folder.

Cinema4D looks in 2 places for plugins/scripts/layouts etc. The first place is in the root folder of c4d. c:/program files/maxon/cinema4d or wherever you have it installed. The second is called a prefs folder. This by default lives somewhere in your “my documents” folder. and is unique to each user account on your computer. Here i will show you how to manually tell c4d which prefs folder it should look at when launching.

Make a shortcut to cinema4D in your R17 folder.

shortcut

right click on it and click properties.

now in the Target field add:[  -g_prefspath=”E:\dropbox\c4d prefs”]

 

without the square brackets. So mine looks like this:

  • “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R17\CINEMA 4D.exe” -g_prefspath=”E:\dropbox\Dropboxc\4d stuff\c4d prefs\prefs”

Don’t forget the space before the “-g_prefspath”.

properties

Now when you open Cinema4D from that shortcut, thats where its going to get all your layouts and shortcuts and plugins from.

You can make as many of these shortcuts as you want. What is important is that you install your plugins into the “plugins” folder inside the prefs folder and not in your root directory. Because the root directory plugins will load all the time regardless of what c4d shortcut you click.

If you want to get your old prefs and put them there you can do that easily. By opening cinema4D from the cinema 4d.exe file. pressing ctrl+e, and clicking the “open preference folder” button in the bottom left of the window. From there you can also check where your current open instance of C4D is getting its preferences.

prefs

Now you can rename these shortcuts to Cinema4d clean, Octane Beta, Octane stable etc..

Keep in mind that each version will have its own shortcuts and layouts. So be wary of that. maybe find a software that will sync just some of the files inside those folders, I haven’t looked into that yet.

 

Note: in R15 it was different, so my target path looked like this: “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R15a\CINEMA 4D 64 Bit.exe” -homedir “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R15a\myprefs”

cheers,
Aleksey

 

Cinema 4D in the cloud

Many of you might have Cinema4D on more than one computer. There is a pretty simple way of syncing up all your layouts, shortcuts and plugins between multiple computers. Here i will explain the process with Dropbox.com, but you can do the same thing with copy.com or any other service (Copy link is a referral, so you and my girlfriend both get an extra 5gb of storage) Copy has been discontinued

 

Make a shortcut to cinema4D in your R17 folder.

shortcut

right click on it and click properties.

now in the Target field add:[  -g_prefspath=”E:\dropbox\c4d prefs”]

 

without the square brackets. So mine looks like this:

  • “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R17\CINEMA 4D.exe” -g_prefspath=”E:\dropbox\Dropbox\c4d stuff\c4d prefs\prefs”

Don’t forget the space before the “g_prefspath”.

properties

Now when you open Cinema4D from that shortcut, thats where its going to get all your layouts and shortcuts and plugins from.

If you want to get your old prefs and put them there you can do that easily. By opening cinema4D from the cinema 4d.exe file. pressing ctrl+e, and clicking the “open preference folder” button in the bottom left of the window. From there you can also check where your current open instance of C4D is getting its preferences.

prefs

Now you can pin that shortcut to the start menu or copy it onto your desktop. Wherever you want 🙂

If you want an extra 5gb on top of the free 15gb you get at copy.com, click here: https://copy.com/?r=fTEbri
and help my girlfriend get an extra 5Gb too =)
Copy has unfortunately been discontinued 🙁

Note: in R15 it was different, so my target path looked like this: “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R15a\CINEMA 4D 64 Bit.exe” -homedir “E:\soft\CINEMA 4D R15a\myprefs”

cheers,
Aleksey

 

Adjusting multiple variables in increments at the same time in Cinema 4d

This was something that i always wondered how to do, but never bothered finding, and now it appeard in slack, so i’m posting it here for memory and easy reference. And my attempt to get a blog going 🙂

Originally posted by Rick Barret from Maxon

The following variables are available:
x: Represents the parameter’s original value
num: Represents the index value. The selected elements/objects will be numbered
tot: The total number of selected elements/objects
rnd(value): A random value between 0 and “value” will be ascertained

Examples

You have three spheres at a position (parameter P.X) of 100, 200 and 300 meters, respectively. If you select all three spheres simultaneously and enter x+200 in the P.X field the spheres would be placed at 300, 400 and 500 meters, respectively.

 10 light sources: You want to increase the intensity of the light sources incrementally in steps of 20, beginning at 0. Select all light sources and enter num*20 in the Intensity field. Corresponding to the order in which they appear in the Object Manager, the first light will have an intensity of 0, the second light an intensity of 20, the third an intensity of 40, etc.

 You want to randomly disperse the intensity of ten light sources over a total value of 200: Select all light sources and enter x+rnd(200) in the Intensity field. If all light sources previously had an intensity of 0, each should now have a random intensity within a total value of 200.

 You want to set the Fillet Radius for twenty eight cubes to values ranging from 0 to 100 with equal intervals: Select all cubes and enter 100*(num/(tot-1)) into the Fillet Radius field.