Cinema 4D 9/9.1 Handbook (Graphics Series) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author), Anson Call (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you are new to Cinema 4D – this is the book to get you started. Despite its ease of use Maxon’s Cinema 4D R9 is an incredibly powerful and diverse package. The Cinema 4D 9/9.1 Handbook teaches how to harness this power and flexibility through a project-based approach that allows you to create impressive projects as you learn C4D’s array of tools and functions.

The book is best for beginners. It explores the most powerful and frequently used aspects of the program and explains how best to use them. Through intensive tutorials, you will learn ideas and techniques not covered in the manuals. You will also learn about the theory and why things work the way they do. Plus, if you have been using earlier versions of C4D, this volume will get you up to speed with the new tools and functions quickly. Cinema 4D R9/9.1 is a major upgrade, including updates to most facets of the program. The book has been updated to reflect these changes, including new chapters on NURBS, Polygon Modeling, Materials and Texturing, and Cloth. The organization of the book has also been reworked to provide a better workflow and all chapters have been updated to reflect any feature changes in R9/9.1.

HIGHLIGHTS * Explains the standard C4D workflow—where to start, how to start, and when to finish * Explores a variety of ways to use the modeling tools—primitive methods and NURBS, NURBS editing, polygon creation, and HyperNURBS * Teaches how and when to use the texture capabilities for creating textures from scratch, stylizing textures, creating photorealistic textures, and using textures to denote geometry * Covers procedural, bitmapped textures, and mapping textures to surfaces * Teaches animation tools contained in C4D, along with cinematography and camera movement, function curves, and the new Motion Blending function * Includes extensive sections on the new character animation functionality within C4D, including the use of bones and the theory of movement, forward and inverse kinematics, setting up FK and IK chains, and how to use them to create a desired motion * Explains how to put cloth on animated characters, and how Sketch and Toon can transform your models into stylized drawings * Includes a companion CD-ROM with book images, tutorial files, a demo of C4D 9, and more

On the CD! C4D DEMO * Includes Mac and PC installation files for the C4D 9 demo IMAGES * All images from the book in full color TUTORIALS * All backgrounds, textures, and image files necessary to complete the tutorials in the book BONUS TUTORIALS * A few extra tutorials from previous editions DOCUMENTATION * Maxon’s documentation for C4D R9/9.1 PRINT ME * Contains printable files that can be used as references, such as keyboard shortcuts

About the Author

Adam Watkins is the director of Computer Arts at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX. He is also the author of the Maya 4.5 Handbook, The Cinema 4D R8 Handbook, and the Final Cut Pro 3 & DVD Studio Pro Handbook. Anson Call has a BFA and MFA in graphic design from Utah State University. He is currently an assistant professor at Iowa State University where he researches and instructs in 3D modeling, animation, and rendering. He also contributed to the Cinema 4D R8 Handbook

Product Details

• Paperback: 426 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584504021
• ISBN-13: 978-1584504023
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #737,131 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Beginner to Intermediate Level, April 24, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Aimed at the beginner through intermediate user, this book uses a series of tutorials to lead you through the design and implementation of several projects using Maxon's Cinema 4D. Through these projects, most of the features of the program are illustrated and the reader quickly understands what the program is all about.

To be sure, Cinema 4D has so many features and capabilities that they cannot all be covered in a book even twice this size. Instead the book attempts to teach the core, fundamental capablilities of the program and leave the reader to experiment with the other features by himself.

The CD of the book is more complete than usual. It has a Demo version of the program for both Mac and PC. It has all the images used in the book. There are some extra tutorials that come from earlier versions of the book. These files can (mostly) be downloaded from the Maxon web site, but having them here on a CD is a lot faster and more convenient than downloading.

I really like the writing style that the authors use, for me it comes across as clean, easy and yet conveys the information I wanted.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny, June 20, 2005

By	Todd Groves "3dtodd" (Santa Monica, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read this book from cover to cover. I was asked by CreativeCow.net to write a review for it. You can check out the review there. Suffice it to say, this is by far one of the best books I've ever read covering a 3D app; in this case, Cinema 4D. If you're just starting to get your feet wet in Cinema 4D, then this is THE book for you. As the above reviewer pointed out, the accompanying CD comes with a demo as well as all the images from the book in full color. So, if you can't make out the details from the picture in the book, you will find a clear, full color version of the same image on the CD. The books is intended for beginners and is extremely well written to meet your needs as a beginner. Of special note, is the coverage of character modeling, boning, skinning and animation. The coverage is quite extensive and will enable you to create a complete and fully-animatable character. I could not recommend a better book for beginning Cinema 4D users then this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs better organization, November 3, 2006

By	Philo Calhoun (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book, like Tony Alley's "3D Modeling with Cinema 4D R9" is geared towards beginners. Unlike Tony Alley's book, some of the lessons are disorganized and do not clearly outline an approach to modeling, animation, lighting, or creating materials. The examples are fairly good in the beginning of the book, but towards the end, the author has individual paragraphs for each animation tool but never clearly describes how to use them. By attempting to cover so much material, the author leaves out details that gives one a somewhat muddy understanding of the program.