P&P Lesson 16 - Jay Payne - Cinema 4D as a Design Tool - Prototyping

Lesson 3 - Workshop Notes
Cinema 4d as a Design Tool - Prototyping

Part 1 - Cans

1. Create a project folder
Project Name
C4d (C4d, texture images)
Artwork (illustrator, photoshop,)
Output (Images, Movies)

2. Set up Illustrator 
Open illustrator / open ‘Canshape.ai’
Open rulers / Move centre to bottom of shape
Reduce artboard size to fit
Save file as - Illustrator 8

3. Cinema4d
Merge ‘Canshape.ai’ / rename paths
Create 2 Lathe Nurbs / add each shape
rename accordingly / tick flip normals

4. Create an environment 
Create a Floor / Create a Background
Add a Compositing tag to floor
tick ‘composite background’
Create a new material / change colour to white (?)
Add material to floor & background

5. Create Materials 
Create a new material
Add Reflectance to material
Add... / Reflection (Legacy)
Layer Colour / Texture / Fresnel / dielectric / PET
Turn down Globals
Colour channel / add ‘canable.jpg’
Add this to can lathe



6. Adjust Mapping 
Material tag / projection / cylindrical
Side = front / Rt click / fit to object
test render / map should fit can

7. Create a Material 
Add Reflectance to material
Colour / grey 36%
Reflect / Layer / GGX / Rough 20%
Layer Colour / Texture / Fresnel / dielectric / PET
Turn down Globals / 50% & 60%
Add this to top lathe

8. Add Lights 
Omni Light / Coords XYZ / -500, 1000, -500
Copy light / Coords XYZ / 500, 1000, -500
second light / intensity = 50%
Add an Area light / place on right of can
Coords XYZ / 500, 400, -400 / Rot H = 45deg

9. Render Settings 
Anti-Aliasing / from Geometry to Best
Add Ambient Occlusion
Output / size = A4 portrait / dpi=300
Current frame / save / jpg / 95%
Test Render

10. Add Clones 
Cloner object / Random effector / Grid array
Count = 3,1,1 / Size = 400,200,200
Random effector / Parameter / rotation only
Rotation H = 180 (ish)

11. Render Out 
Change background colour & label artwork as necessary
Save file





Part 2 - Bottles

1. Set up Illustrator
Open illustrator / open ‘bottle.ai’
Or create a bottle shape / and a liquid shape
Open rulers / Move centre point to bottom of shape
Reduce art board size to fit
Save file as - Illustrator 8

2. Cinema4D 
Merge ‘bottle.ai’ / rename paths
Create 2 Lathe Nurbs / add each shape
rename accordingly / tick flip normals

3. Create an environment 
Create a Floor / Create a Background
Add a Compositing tag to floor
tick ‘composite background’
Create a new material / change colour to white (?)
Add material to floor & background

4. Create Materials 
Browser / Presets / broadcast / Materials
Glass / Glass Stained (green)
Transparency / Refraction = 1,2
Turn absorption to white
Turn off bump channel
Copy Material / change colour to yellow
Add yellow to liquid lathe
Add green mat to bottle lathe

5. Create a Lable 
Add a cylinder object / caps / untick caps
Adjust size to fit snugly around bottle
new material / Alpha channel / add beer mask.jpg
Invert mask / add to cylinder
material tag / turn off tile / projection / cylindrical
Right click on tag / Fit to object
Colour channel / add ‘bearlable.jpg’
Reflectance Channel
Add... / Reflection (Legacy)
Layer Colour / Texture / Fresnel / dielectric / jade
Turn down Globals / add to cylinder



6. Bottle Top 
Spline tool / Add a Star shape / 20 points
XZ axis / inner rad = 33 / outer rad = 37
Add a Circle shape / Rad = 33
Add a Circle shape / Rad = 29
Add a Circle shape / Rad = 17
Add a Circle shape / Rad = 0
Create a Loft Nurbs / add all above shapes
Move to top of bottle / move shapes to create a cap
Select the loft object / U subdiv = 41 / V subdiv = 2
Iso subdiv = 3 / Tick Organic form / Caps / turn off
Simulate / Cloth ? Cloth Surface / Add loft to this
Cloth surface / subdues = 2 / Thickness = 1

7. Cap Material 
New Material / Reflectance Channel
Add... / Reflection (Legacy)
Layer Colour / Texture / Fresnel / dielectric / PET
Colour / add ‘cap.jpg’ / Add material to cap
Material tag / projection = flat
Rt click / fit to object / say yes to sub-object
Left of viewport toolbar / select Texture Mode
Use rotate tool to rotate texture 90deg
Rt click on texture tag / fit to object / say yes
Left of viewport toolbar / select Model Mode

8. Add Lights 
Omni Light / Coords XYZ / -500, 1000, -500
Copy light / Coords XYZ / 500, 1000, -500
second light / intensity = 50%
Add an Area light / place on right of bottle
Coords XYZ / 500, 400, -400 / Rot H = 45deg

9. Render Out 
Save file / Render out