Updates Include New Digital Sculpting and 3D Camera Tools, Plus Better Integration with Nuke, After Effects and Photoshop

Update: A previous version of this story gave the impression that Cinema 4D R14 would be free to all current users for a limited time. In fact, the upgrade is free only for users who purchase R13 during the month of August 2012. We apologize for the error.

Maxon today unveiled Cinema 4D R14, the latest version of its effects, matte painting, sculpting, motion graphics and rendering software program. The company says some 200 "productivity-boosting" features are included in the release for Mac OS X and Windows. Digital sculpting tools, camera enhancements, particularly for matching and framing 3D elements in a 3D scene, and rendering upates lead the new feature set.

Users who buy the current version of Cinema 4D during the month of August 2012 will be future-proofed — they receive a Maxon Service Agreement for one year at no charge, which automatically entitles them to the R14 update.

Cinema 4D R14's new sculpting tools will now let artists turn any base mesh into "virtual clay," letting them directly texture, animate and render sculpted meshes and even bake complex objects into low-poly meshes. A redesigned snapping system brings new efficiency to the program's modeling toolset.

New camera tools include the Camera Calibrator, which matches 3D camera images to a 3D environment, Camera Focus Picker, which controls focal distances, and Camera Composition Helper, which helps frame 3D scenes.

New shaders for wood grain and weathering effects, in addition to accurate GI calculations with Multiple Importance Sampling and radiosity maps, ramp up R14's realistic render power. Artists can now also color grade their projects with new grading curves in the Picture Viewer and as a post effect.

Another key R14 improvement is workflow integration, with new code under the hood that gives Cinema 4D a more seamless place in a full post pipeline. Full support for OpenEXR and FBX files (introduced in R13) lets artists directly export Cinema 4D files to a Nuke project with multi-pass layers. Similarly, thanks to tighter integration with Adobe After Effects, artists will also now be able to import and export native Cinema 4D files to AE. While not built into the software, the Photoshop Extended exchange plug-in will let them open and work on Cinema 4D scenes in a Photoshop 3D layer.

Cinema 4D R14 will be available as a free upgrade to new users who purchase R13 by August 31, 2012. New users can purchase R13 Prime for $995 (or $895 with proof of ownership of a competitive program); R13 Broadcast for $1,695 ($1,595 competitive sidegrade); R13 Visualize for $2,295 ($1,995 competitive sidegrade) or R13 Studio for $3,695 ($3,495 competitive sidegrade) to be eligible for the upgrade through the end of August. Standalone pricing for R14 has not yet been announced.

For more information: www.maxon.net