Customer Reviews

CINEMA 4D 11 Workshop

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm sending this garbage book back. Perhaps when someone at the publisher's office bothers to proof read it the book will be updated and become useful. As it stands now this is an unstructured piece of garbage and not worth the price of the blank paper on which it is printed.

I already know Cinema 4D and wanted to brush up on R11 -- however the poorly worded text, the laugh-able "workshop" approach (give me a break) takes the form of "Step 1 DO THIS, Step 2 NOW DO THAT"... and no where does it tell you HOW to approach each step, WHY that approach is better, or even WHERE to find the darn commands they are referencing in C4D. UUGGGHH!!

"Cinema 4D 11 Workshop" is a waste money but when you consider how few books there are for C4D, what choice do you have? In my opinion this book is as poor as C4D's help system/no reference manual. I have been a 3D modeler in Lightwave and Rhino for nearly nine years and never have I had so much trouble with a book or been so disappointed.

This is NOT a book for beginners. The author assumes that the reader already knows something about C4D----consequently much time can be lost trying to find things. In several cases, I could not complete a project because I could not find something.

Because this book has been translated from German to English there are places were the translation is impossible to understand.

I take it that the original version of this book [in German] had a DVD/CD because once or twice the author refers to using photographs as a template for a project. Also, in the Introduction the author refers to a DVD/CD.

Many of the points made in the negative reviews of this book have some validity, others don't: It is occasionally confusing, and there are a few misprints and, in fact, its not a good book for the complete beginner in c4d and definitely not for the beginner in 3d programs in general (get Anne Powers "Cinema 4d"). BUT, if you carefully go through the projects in this book, and are willing to re-read when you don't get it the 1st time, you'll learn more than from any of the other books available on c4d (as of 3/10). If you prefer a safe and easy ride, go elsewhere. The fact is this book is jam packed with info, especially if you extend the examples into your own projects. 5% of the time it will p--- you off, the other 95% of the time you'll learn a lot- more than from any other source except the c4d manual.

Just to be fair, I am writing this based on the first 2.5 tutorials I did, and the animation section I read (about 100 pages total):

I love the sample tutorials and the end results. They are very realistic, inspiring, and beautiful. It makes me want to follow and create them. I learned a lot of tricks following these samples. The writer goes in depth to explain how to create a realistic looking texture, and what is a preferable setting, and how the advanced renderer will help with making objects realistic, casts a shadow without having the lights to really cast them. They are very valuable knowledge.

People criticized the lack of CD/ DVD, but the project files can be downloaded via a URL printed on the book. Make sure you look out for that. I thought it is better this way anyway.

Then the cons: The book was not easily understandable. Everything is written in 1 big paragraph, and they don't tell you explicitly where to find a certain tool. However, in a strange way I find it helpful because I learned more when I had to try and figure out things on my own. It is quite time consuming, challenging and frustrating when you are going through it, though.

There were a few errors here and there. It is not too big of a deal for me, but it makes me feel that the book might be translated by someone who doesn't know or care about how to use C4d. I also wish that they would tell you more about the shortcut keys.

Cinema 4d is a modular application. The book covers the entire studio bundle. All optional modules like mocca, mograph, hair, particles, advanced renderer...etc are touched on. Unfortunately, I only got the Cinema 4d broadcast edition (mograph) and the advanced renderer module, but not the rest. So when I was all excited about starting the advanced animation tutorials, I was surprised to find out that I don't have the modules that are required to do these tutorials. So pretty much a big chunk of the book, about 50+ pages become useless to me. I wish they would have told us in the beginning of the book, so I didn't have to spend an hour looking for the modules that I don't have. (I didn't give up looking immediately because I thought it was just one of those unclear instructions that require some effort in figuring out.)

One last thing: Since they focused a lot on the optional modules, they don't talk a lot about how to do animation in the traditional key-frame way, and how to move the camera...etc. I wish there were at least 1 tutorial on that.

I am still giving it 3.5-4 stars because the book takes us to pretty advanced levels of modeling with very inspiring projects.

Not many C4d books out there, despite the fact that for many it is the most manageable 3d software rich with features and good After Effect integration. With that said, this book is worth it because there aren't many, if there were than I would sing a different tune. There are typos, misdirections, grammatical errors, (at one point you are asked to make a cube with a RADIUS?!) Usually a close inspection of the screen shots will reveal the error (oh he meant width, or oh he skipped this part.) The biggest flaw however is the lack of CD or DVD. ***SEE EDIT*** The second project is next to impossible without the reference photo and no search online has yielded it. Unfortunately it is this tutorial that covers the most used tools, as well as the introduction to rigging and animating. Those people who gave it 5-stars must have low standards for their learning materials, HOWEVER, I urge those who gave it one star to find a better text. Until something comes out this book will have to make due. Maxon really needs to start publishing because the way to get a huge user base is to provide the means to train the users, just look at the extensive Maya book series.

***EDIT***
There is a companion website that includes project files as well as a bonus chapter. It is written in the conents page AT THE BOTTOM several inches below any other content. This is helpful and improves some of my previous complaints but should definitely have been far more visible and addressed again in the tutorials. Oh well.

It boggles the mind how anyone can rate this book beyond a possible 3 stars. Unless you're an advanced 3d designer this book offers no help. IAs you can tell i am a beginner in 3d creation. Since my background is mostly fine art and graphic design I wanted to expand my horizon with a good 3d book to take me to the next level. This was not that book. After opening the first page it already failed me in explaining the basic tool sets. Where things where, or even what they did once I discovered them. The book is obviously for the advanced/master level but does a piss poor job of illustrating that to the buyer upon purchase. Definitely a return day one.

...are just some of the things that this book is NOT. It is also not for beginners, which is odd considering how basic the workshop tutorials are. Create a flashlight. Create a love heart. Create a vase. Now there's nothing wrong with those projects -they're good solid building blocks for anyone learning this great 3D program. But von Koenigsmarck plows straight in, and makes the assumption that the reader understands some terminology that he or she may not have run into before as a 3D modelling beginner. Do you know what a Deformer is? Know how to create a Bulge Deformer? Because von Koenigsmarck assumes you do, and has already told you to subordinate one by the top of page 2. Not how to create one. Just to do it. Occasionally he steers you in the wrong direction. Or jumps a couple of steps. It's all the fun of having a lecture by a Subject Matter Expert, without any of that boring stuff like "Please sir. What do you mean by Frame Selection?"

Add to that, endless pages of screen caps, all in glorious light grey/dark grey at size 6 font. Yes, I know that these are screen caps of the real program, but has the editor never heard of brightness/contrast adjustment layers?

There were some interesting things that I learnt from the book (and a lot more that I learnt while trying to find a solution for something important that the book had not told me how to do). Unlike a few of the other reviewers, I didn't find any problems with von Koenigsmarck's english. Maybe I got a proof-read version.

If you already know the basics of C4D, you may find a couple of useful tips or tricks in these pages. Buried deep. But if you already know the basics, you're probably already beyond the scope of this book. It's a Beginner's book, written for Intermediate users.

I would be sending this book back if I could. Unfortunately I am in Africa and the cost to get the book here was almost more than the book itself... Anyway, the author is too close to the projects and needs to let a newbie work through the book with him supervising. He will then notice how many times one gets stuck, with not enough information to go further. This should then be worked into the book to make it more user friendly. I mean, the kind of guy who buys this book will not be a C4D expert, thus it needs to be more detailed in the actual steps taken to do the tutorials . Sorry Arndt, I do not recommend.

like the old version of this book,Cinema 4d 10 workshop,only tutorials in the book,that thing help me nothing a for animation,I hate to say,but maybe help some people to model,I won't waste any money on cinema 4D 12 workshop,If the book still has nothing that help me learn cinema 4D.

I've purchased many "tutorial" books over the years, taught myself flash, html, css and even Cinema 4D (basically) and I got up to page 9 of this book and was baffled by the lack of instruction. The tutorials are poorly written giving no explanation of where commands are to be found, for God's sake I spent 10 minutes looking for the select point tool. It's just not worth the headache.

In my eyes, if you already know C4D and are pretty decent at using most tools and commands, then this book may work for you but for us that just use it for minor projects, it's nothing but a headache. Sorry Arndt. You seem very knowledgeable in the program, but teaching may not exactly be your foray.