New Team Render Controls Processing Across a Network
At SIGGRAPH this week in Anaheim, CA, Maxon announced Cinema 4D R15, which will incorporate new tools for modeling, text creation, rendering, and sculpting.
Interactive beveling — a long-standing request from the C4D user base — offers increased control over object edges and curves, making it easier to create clean meshes. "We researched for a couple of years to come up with an efficient, interactive beveling algorithm," said Maxon President and CEO Paul Babb at a press event yesterday.
New type tools include kerning and tracking tools that can be applied with MoGraph effectors or through Xpresso. Kerning and baseline shifts can be specified in X, Y, and Z space for truly three-dimensional type effects. And Maxon has improved dynamic sculpting, with advanced masking, mirroring, and duplication and a new Amplify brush. Babb acknowledged that scultping tools are still a new realm for C4D, but said the company has been taking guidance from user demands.
The new Team Render feature is a peer-to-peer networking system that allows users to control render nodes across an entire network, distributing rendering tasks for single frame or complete animations and viewing results in real time. It's geared to small- to mid-sized collaboration and is controlled entirely from within the Cinema 4D interface. A new, faster irradiance-caching algorithm has been created to improve performance.
Other new features include improved texture management, a camera crane, and color-grading curves for filter shaders. A new series of videos went live on Maxon's Cineversity site further explaining many of the new features.
Babb spoke briefly about Cineware, which bridges Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects, and confirmed that Maxon is looking to integrate Cineware with "other applications" in the future — including other Adobe products.
Cinema 4D R15 is scheduled to ship in early September. (Availability of the new features via Cineware will depend on Adobe making an update to its own software, Babb said.) A complete list of new features is at the Maxon website: www.maxon.net/r15.
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Posted this elsewhere but as a motion graphics guy, this is the third update in a row (13-15) that offers little or nothing new, except for the rendering improvements that help us all, and maybe the camera crane (IF we get it in Broadcast?). The only way I’m upgrading from 12 –and even that withheld some of the new Dynamics features from Broadcast users, and things Springs and Motors– is if they bring several features from Studio into Broadcast. Namely Full Rigid and Soft Body Dynamics support (not just for MoGraph objects), and springs, hinges and motors at a minimum. Why would you leave that stuff out of a motion package… they’re all predicated on simulating different kinds of motion! lol
I feel like Maxon does not care about motion graphics users at all because of how they leave key features that are motion-centric, out of the Broadcast edition. They try to force you to get stuff you don’t need (hair, etc) by paying an extra $2000 for Studio, just to get the few items you DO need (that logically fit in the motion basket). Seriously considering a switch to Modo and their new motion plugin if they refine their workflow a bit more in 801. Better modeling tools, and less than half the price for full edition. Maxon needs to get with the program and stop nickel-and-diming everyone to death with which-features-go-in-which-versions.