Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings

Emaa — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 19:58:28 GMT

All the channels presented and explained in this section are found in the Surface parameter settings in ArchiCAD.

They can be accessed in Options > Element Attributes > Surfaces...

How can I retrieve the Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine properties like Color, Fog, Glow, Grass, etc?

Operating system used: Windows 11 25H2

Re: Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings

Tamas Polyak — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:39:00 GMT

Hi,

I've asked a developer about it.

Regards,

Tamás

Re: Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings

Tamas Polyak — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 15:28:13 GMT

Hi,

I've got the reply from the developer, see it below.

Regards,

Tamás

With general API you cannot access this data.

There might be a work around, using ModelerAPI, but this works with a generated model only, which can be good for example if you want to export the model into a 3D format.

Check the DumpMaterialRenderingSettings function of the ModelAccess_Test example add-on of the API DevKit (Examples\ModelAccess_Test\Src\ModelAccess_Test_Writer.cpp). This can print the C4D parameters stored for the material attributes like this:

 
 
Parameter 1  : C4D_VER_MAIN
	type: numeric
	value: 1.000000
Parameter 2  : C4D_VER_SUB
	type: numeric
	value: 8.000000
Parameter 3  : C4D_CHCOL_COLOR
	type: numeric array
	dims: 3x0
	[1] value: 0.827451
	[2] value: 0.784314
	[3] value: 0.670588
Parameter 4  : C4D_CHCOL_MODEL
	type: string
	value: OrenNayar
Parameter 5  : C4D_CHCOL_DIFFUSELEVEL
	type: numeric
	value: 1.500000
Parameter 6  : C4D_CHCOL_ROUGHNESS
	type: numeric
	value: 0.000000
Parameter 7  : C4D_CHDIF_MIXSTRENGTH
	type: numeric
	value: 0.150000
Parameter 8  : C4D_CHLUM_BRIGHTNESS
	type: numeric
	value: 0.000000
Parameter 9  : C4D_CHTRA_BRIGHTNESS
	type: numeric
	value: 0.000000
Parameter 10 : C4D_CHTRA_REFRACTION
	type: numeric
	value: 1.450000
Parameter 11 : C4D_CHTRA_FRESNELREFLECTIVITY
	type: numeric
	value: 0.000000
...

However the mapping between the parameter names and the names displayed on the Surface Settings panel is not available here, these are part of the Cinema Rendering plugin only.

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Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings

Re: Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings

Re: Which ArchiCAD API to use for Cineware and Redshift by Maxon engine to retrieve settings