accuracy in cinema 4d

[Anonymous]

hope i've posted this in the right place...

i've recently started using cinema 4d, mainly to improve rendering quality and boy is c4d good. however, i would like to take advantage of the great modeling tools available so that i can add objects to my archicad models.

the problem is, i'm really struggling to even start as i don't know how to constrain anything. could anyone please tell me if c4d has any constraining methods (similar to guidelines, snaps, direct input of length, rotation etc as you draw as in ac10 or sketchup)?

it's so frustrating because the tools are so powerful but the fact that i don't know how to draw an accurate spline means i can't use any of them!

i have checked many forums but its hard to find the right keywords and posts are returning either irrelevant or not at all.

thanks in advance

[stefan]

There is snapping, there is a grid, there is a transformation dialog (translate, scale and rotation), you can edit vertices, edges, faces and whole objects... so it is there, but C4D and other digital content creation applications are NOT meant for CAD. There are no optimized drafting tools which you are used to with CAD software.

You could start from an ArchiCAD model and continue working on that, if that makes it more productive. You can import 3ds, obj and vrml models from ArchiCAD into Cinema4D. Or use MaxonForm or the Exchange plugins (not free).

[Anonymous]

hi stefan,

after several sleepless nights in front of my pc, i am now starting to find my way around. i have found the tools you suggested and with those and the help of some great tutorials, i am know able to model some usable objects and i must say, it is definitely worth the time investment.

regarding export from ac, i notice that importing anything not flat or square creates lots of unwanted geometry. is that something that slows rendering and is it worth trying to clean up the geometry?

if so, which of the optimising tools is the one to use? i've experimented with some but the truth is, it takes some getting used to and i don't really want to get involved in that if it doesn't affect render time.

[stefan]

Derek wrote:
regarding export from ac, i notice that importing anything not flat or square creates lots of unwanted geometry. is that something that slows rendering and is it worth trying to clean up the geometry?

I think that is to be expected. Some edges are invisible in ArchiCAD, but they emerge again in other applications. The triangulated geometry has always been there and now it shows up. When triangles lie in a flat surface, you would not see this in rendering.
When you have a facetted look and you had a clean, smoothly curved geometry, you need to add the smooth-tag in C4D, to recalculate the normals.

[Anonymous]

i'll look into it - thanks for your help.

do you really live in a castle in belgium?

[stefan]

Derek wrote:
i'll look into it - thanks for your help.

do you really live in a castle in belgium?

I work there 😉