One of the things that I am growing to respect even more in this product is the outward looking sensibilities that MAXON has taken with C4D. (By that, I mean C4D is not developed in isolation regarding the workflow of filmmakers.) New to r11.5 is even better integration with After Effects and Final Cut Pro. Animated sequences intended for post production enhancement can use C4D’s improved composite tagging with a special tag called Object. C4D will now include tidy 3d space and position information that AE or Motion can read and then apply replacement footage onto the designated objects in 3D. For example, If you use any software in your studio for motion tracking like Syntheyes, this means that you can do a moving crane shot of a person looking out a window, process it via Syntheyes into C4D and magically create the same camera move for a sky scraper fly-by. After rendering the animation, if you’ve tagged a window element as the “Object”, back in AE you can simply replace the window object with your crane shot footage yet still allow any architectural elements to naturally get “in the way” visually. Slick.
The MoGraph module, combined with the Broadcast Edition, engages the same real-world simple functionality that enables filmmakers to concentrate on the end result instead of figuring out how to get to the end result. The improved physics and replication is controlled by sliders and real-time updates eliminating guess work.
There are other, nuanced, ease-of-use improvements, as well. C4D has in improved rendering system with this release making it faster to get real-time rendered results. Key framing and getting visual queues to key frame status has been improved. Scene management now utilizes a distilled and more organized option set, eliminating the need to hop around the software and adjust settings in multiple locations.
The new Picture Viewer now lets users compare renderings, apply image filters and save filter settings as post effects, and even view animations.
A solution bigger than the software.
Finally, because of the ubiquity of C4D in the film and broadcast markets, rendering animation sequences isn’t problematic for humble filmmakers. For example there is a free plug-in for a Render Farm called Rebus (http://www.rebusfarm.com/) This extremely affordable service let’s you export your render to them from within C4D. Useful? You bet. I had a sequence that was going to take almost eight hours to render on my network in the studio. Instead, I sent it to Rebus via the C4D plug-in and it was completed in 15 minutes for a very modest fee. Nice.
All workspaces are customizable and there is always multiple ways to accomplish any given task depending on your personal preferences. If you like to use pull-down menus, just use them. If you like floating palettes, no problem. If you like using icons within the workspace, it’s easy to do. More of a hot key or right-click contextual menu person? You can get there that way, too.
