resources
Scene/Setup
dynamicsReductor
One of my guilty pleasures: Procedural, automatic, noise-driven setups. Maybe somebody can learn a thing or two about dynamics, Xpresso or the Physical Renderer ‒ I had fun...
Download dynamicsReductor
Plug-In
solo for Cinema 4D 2023.0.1 PC and R21 - R 15 PC/Mac
Solo lets you "solo" one or more selected objects, all unselected objects will be hidden. By default this happens for the editor view but it can be set for both editor and renderer simultaneously. Another mode is disabling all unselected deformers/generators.
Download solo 2023 PC
Plug-In
Neutralize
This C.O.F.F.E.E.-Plug-In lets you "neutralize" objects with one click. Just define a material or let the plug-in generate one and you're good to go.
Download Neutralize PC/Mac
Scene/Setup
boGraphCircuit
This is a motion graphics scene with a not overly complex XPresso setup but a huge effect. Using random particles and some deformers it makes for a pretty versatile generator. This one also shows how to make presets for UserData Interfaces via the Python tag.
Made with R16 Studio. Download boGraphCircuit.c4d
Plug-In
reNAME v2
"reNAME" doesn't need much of an explanation, for it does what it says, it names and renames objects and materials. Additionally it lets you append prefixes and suffixes, exchange parts of names and enumerate objects and materials.
Download reNAME v2 PC/Mac
Plug-In
DoubleXpresso
DoubleXpresso is a simple command, which lets you duplicate selected Xpresso Nodes, but unlike the built-in click and drag functionality, it will maintain incoming connections. For further details on usage and installation see the included PDF.
Download DoubleXpresso
Script
4DRENALIN
This Python-Script just opens the most recent recovery scenes from the c4d bugreports folder and strips the _recover_scene-prefix from their names. Somewhat a kickstart for your Cinema 4D after a crash.
Download 4DRENALIN
Scene/Setup
dissolve
Back in the day, like 2008, when there was no XParticles, no Python, you had to rely on good old Thinking Particles and C.O.F.F.E.E. Learn how and download dissolve
Script Collection
Null Stuff
5 tiny but handy scripts to null object rotation, position and point positions. Copy the .l4d file to the layout folder and the .csc files to the script folder.
Download Null Stuff
Scene/Setup
icosahedroid ‒ fully procedural, simulated lowpoly bboy kung fu.
This is a procedural experiment without keyframes, that runs in real time and ‒ with a little bit of imagination ‒ reminds of breakdance or martial arts. Based on dynamics simulation, collisions and simple noise movement. Apart from that the file shows a bit about camera automation with Xpresso.
To change motion styles open the noise shaders in the displacement deformers and change parameters like noise type, scale, animation speed and so on. To switch to a more fight-like motion activate the force object.
Download icosahedroid.c4d
Scene/Setup
autocam
Simply switching to the next cam every x frames via C.O.F.F.E.E.-Tag.
Download autocam
Script
WIPBatch
Yet another Python-Script. It enables you to specify a folder and it will inject the active camera and render settings of the currently open document into every c4d-file in that folder. You can apply the changes to copies in order to keep the originals untouched. The new/changed files are then added to the render queue, which lets you basically render all scenes with the same render settings and camera. This is useful when you, like me, frequently save incrementally while working on a project and end up with a whole bunch of WIP scenes. In a nutshell: use it to make an animation of the WIP shown in the image above (hover mouse).
Download WIPBatch
Script
motionstopper beta
There are several approaches to achieve a kind of stop-motion-effect. This Python Script uses the Time Track to manipulate objects. The advantages of this way are that it is nondestructive, the time track can be easily manipulated and you can have motion at normal framerate in the scene.
Limitations are: Firstly no undo yet. One might have to bake expressions/tags first if they influence motion and all tracks of animated/keyframed objects have to have the length of the document for the script to work properly. Other than that it is pretty straight forward.
Download motionstopper
Scene/Setup
Pithon
The name is a blend of the number "pi" and the snake "python", this has nothing to do with the language Python. That being said, the expression ‒ a C.O.F.F.E.E. Tag ‒ basically lets you animate text in several ways without MoGraph or stuff. It's from 2007 so I don't remember exactly how it works but I'm sure you'll figure it out.
Download Pithon
Script
incrementalRender
Increments the index number in a render output filename or appends one and starts rendering in just one click.
Download IncrementalRender
Script
RenderInstancseON/OFF
Two Python scripts to switch the "Render Instance"-Option on/off.
Download RenderInstances
Script
letterbox
Toggle between default and fully opaque, black, cinematic letterbox bars.
Download letterbox
Script
toggleShading
Quickly toggle between Editor Shading Modes a.k.a. Display Types "Gouraud Shading" and "Lines".
Download toggleShading
Script
toggleMode
Quickly toggle between modes. In this example it's "Model" and "Point" Mode since these are the most frequently used for me. Change them by looking up the IDs in the Command Manager (SHIFT+F2) or Script Log and replace them in the CallCommand()-Calls.
Download toggleMode
Script
toggleKnifeMode
Quickly toggle between knife modes "Line" and "Loop".
Download toggleKnifeMode
Miscellaneous
Experimental Stuff
Scene/Setup
Kabbalah
This expression is the sister of "Pithon" with an additional anagram generator. It got its name from the context in which it was made and is still a bit buggy. But then again judaic mysticism isn't hard science anyway. Feel free to change or even correct the thing.
Download Kabbalah
Scene/Setup
Skalator
This one was a kind of prototype, a proof of concept for a C++ plugin named "4Dial" which was much more advanced and nearly finished. Unfortunately I lost the code. D'oh! The idea was to have a plugin to generate scales and dials for electronic gear like synthesizers etc. and I was tired of using arrays. Maybe it is interesting for somebody. Handle with care, since object generation by expression tags is not recommended. Works nicely though...
Download Skalator