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You are currently reading Abstract Cinema4d Render Tutorial, an entry on Signature Stop, Photoshop signature tutorials, renders, tag tutorials and signature backgrounds!

Published:
April 14th, 2009 / 8pm
Category:
Large Piece Tutorials, Miscellaneous Tutorials
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Abstract Cinema4d Render Tutorial

Today we will be learning how to create this awesome Cinema 4D Render. The tutorial includes information about creating a Cinema 4D render, as well as making unique materials and adding lighting to get colors. The tutorial result can be used for large pieces or small pieces such as signatures or tag art. You can download the cinema4d render at the bottom. To save some bandwidth, we’ve created thumbnails to support the tutorial. Enjoy!

Cinema4d render tutorial

Premium Members can download the cinema4d file, along with all the other tutorial PSD files and more content in the Premium section!
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Start a new file in Cinema4d. This is what your view should look like at this point. If it doesn’t, you can press F1 to return to perspective view:

perspective view

Press F5 to divide the workspace to 4, 1 for main angle and other 3 for the top, right and front angle.

cinema4d camera angles

Now select your freehand spline tool:

freehand spline tool

Start creating a a shape as you want in the top window.

cinema4d render tutorial

Create another shape while taking the top angle into consideration. See how we made the line lenght same as top:

Cinema4d freehand spline tool

Repeat it again at the front window, consider all angles:

All angles

Now go to nurbs tool, and select loft nurbs:

Loft nurbs

This is what the top right should look like:

loft nurb settings

Choose the splines and drag them under the loft nurbs

splines

Your render should now take shape:

cinema4d render view

Now, the arrow is for selecting points, the second box is for moving things around, the third is for changing the size and the last one is for picking the angle. We’re going to use these tools to get a different view on the render:

move tools

Select any of the above tools, and move or modify your splines untill you get the right camera angle and perspective:

camera perspective

Now select your loft nurbs and press C to simplify it (with the simplify option you can edit all of the display proporties, the splines will be merged into a single group).

simplify splines

We will be modifying our render with the following Objects (refer to the image below):

Number 1: With this tool we can bend the render,

Number 2: Curve tool, add a curve to the render,

Number 3: Bulge tool,

Number 4: Shear tool,

Number 5: Explosion effect, this one can be a bit tricky and requires some experimenting. They’re pretty self explanatory, Make sure you play around with them.

cinema4d objects

First, we’re going to add a Bend object with the settings below (obviously, try using your own settings rather than copying ours):

Bend object

Then we add a twist. Again do as you want, be creative!

Cinema4d twist

We add a bulge:

Bulge object

Group your object by going to Object > Group Object or press Alt+G:

Null objects

This is what your screen shuld look like:

cinema4d render

Now select your null object. We’re going to copy (CTRL + C) and paste (CTRL + V) the entire object, and move it around. They will probably flow nicely into eachother.

Using the following tools we can move the copied render around:

render move options

Our cinema4d render outcome at this point:

cinema4d render settings

Copy it again and now place it at left end of the window, flip it around and play around as you get something you like. Don’t worry if it doesn’t fit into your perspective, we can just change angles, sizes, zooms and so on.

cinema4d tutorial

We’re going to add 3 hyper nurbs, and by using Drag and Drop we will place our null objects inside of them. Here is what it looks like at the moment. Pay attention to the top right section of the screenshot, this is what it should look like if you’ve done the previous step correctly:

Hyper Nurbs

Shown on a black background renderred quickly:

cinema4d abstract render tutorial

Modify the left part of the render, (play with the settings of Bend / Curve / Bulge):

black background render

Now select all the hyper nurb object and group them (Alt+G):

Hyper nurbs object

Duplicate it twice and move these around, flip them, resize them, move them around untill you get something you like

duplicate the cinema4d render

Expand the render( open up the hyper nurbs and null objects) and modify the settings and places of your bend / curve / bulge in the bottom right corner:

expand the render

renderred quickly on a black background:

black background renderred

Now we are going to add some perspective, use the perspective and move tool to get into an angle that you like:

massive c4d render

The following step will add some depth into your render. Left click zoom in tool, and drag it to left while holding it:

cinema4d zoom tool

This should change the depth in your view:

add depth to cinema4d render

Renderred on a black background:

cinema4d render tutorial

Play with perspective / angles a bit more

cinema4d depth

cinema4d perspective tutorial

Our render is now ready, time to get started on material

Add a lumas to your material at color section and we modified it with these settings, you can do as you want.

cinema4d material settings

cinema4d material setting

material editor

cinema4d render material

Anisotrophy

Check reflection and drag it back to 17%

Material editor:

Modify the specular

Modify the specular

Add displacement

Add displacement

This is how it looks like with the material right now (and some lighting added which we will explain in the following step):

c4d lighting

Select lighting on your toolbar, and add Light. Don’t be afraid to add many different light locations. Check the top right area in this screenshot:

Add lighting

Now, modify the settings in the bottom right. Simply change the color settings, the type, brightness, and so forth. Use your own settings, try not to just copy ours:

cinema4d lighting tutorial

cinema4d render coloring

cinema4d lighting

cinema4d lighting

cinema4d render

We’re going to render our final image. Use your preferred settings. In case you don’t know how, select Render > Render Settings:

cinema4d render preview

To get a transparant background, you can save them as a Quicktime PNG and make sure you check the Alpha Channel checkbox!

Alpha channels

The higher you set the Antialising, the longer the renderring will take:

Add several effects if you like:

cinema4d render settings

Set your preferred size, we’ve set it to a generic 1280 x 1024 wallpaper:

save to picture viewer

Now select Render > Render to Picture Viewer ( CTRL + R), and if you’re satisfied (This step could take a while depending on the power of your computer), Save the image (File > Save As…) and you’re done!

Cinema4d render tutorial

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial, Premium Members can download the Cinema4d file in the Premium Member section along with extra tutorials, materials, PSD files and more!

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About the author

Hi, I'm Base. I've been developing and designing websites and graphics since 2004, and I love sharing my knowledge with the rest of the world!

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