Create Amazingly Realistic Renders Using Advanced Render in Cinema 4D

Jun 28th in 3D Art, Maxon Cinema 4D by Mountaga Kane

Maxon’s 11th release of Cinema 4D introduces significant improvements to Advanced Render. AR 3 now uses two new algorithms (Irradiance and Quasi-Monte Carlo), making it much easier and faster to get clean, and beautiful renders than ever before. In this tutorial we will learn how to take advantage of these amazing new features!

Author: Mountaga Kane

Hi my name is Mountaga Kane, and I am a 17 year old digital artist living in Pennsylvania. When I first became interested in 3d, I decided to start out with Maxon's Cinema 4d because of its mid-range price, ease of use, and short render times. In my free time I like to watch cheesy B movies with friends, and help to moderate the 2d graphics forum: www.audigex.com.

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User Comments

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Viktor June 28th

Nice tutorial very useful for cinema 4d but I would like to ask you what are your amterial settings
( Reply )
1. M.Kane June 28th
  
  Hi, there’s supposed to be a zip with all the project files, I must not have sent it to Kaleb. Check back soon to get the zip and more Cinema 4D tutorials. Also, this was more a tutorial to test the waters, if you have any suggestions for tutorials e-mail me and I will see what I can do. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial
  ( Reply )
  1. Bob June 29th
    
    I would really like to see some advanced text
    great tutorial
    gotta love pokemon :b
  2. Kaleb Aylsworth July 1st
    
    Sorry about that! You can use the download link to get the project files now:)
Mr Crumpets June 28th

I saw this,and I thought, hey, wasn’t this supposed to be made for moi? And then I saw the name . Congratz on getting on cgtuts though.
( Reply )
Guest June 29th

Where is the archive?
( Reply )
Salman June 29th

can we get torrent downloads for tutorials here too?
( Reply )
belo June 29th

yeah,,,,
i love cinema 4D..
absolutely video tuts too..
( Reply )
Alex Beltechi June 29th

Awesome, and *just* what I needed. Thanks
( Reply )
Rafael Guerra June 29th

Really nice…i haven´t upgraded to 11 yet though…maybe its the right time.
( Reply )
Mimo June 29th

Dude that was awsome, just what I need to know about lighting in C4D…
Keep it up
( Reply )
Robbie Stewart June 29th

holy shit this makes me want them to make a CGI pokemon movie. final fantasy advent children anyone? fucking epic idea!!
( Reply )
1. Viktor June 29th
  
  Haha like Clouds hear or particle effects
  ( Reply )
sean steezy June 29th

Thats an awesome pokeman ball. these are some crucial skills, thanks!
( Reply )
Max June 29th

wow cool tut thanks!!
pls more tuts about Cinema 4D!!!
( Reply )
Carlos Eduardo Papacidero June 29th

Fantastic !
( Reply )
John Doe June 29th

Sweet, Keep the Cinema 4D tutorials coming.
( Reply )
AzteKpr1de June 29th

Wow nice XD, but I don’t have Cinema 4D =(. We really need more Maya and Zbrush tuts =P.
( Reply )
1. Kaleb Aylsworth June 29th
  
  We are trying to keep it as balanced as possible between all of the major packages that our readers are asking for:) There will be more Maya and Zbrush on the way very soon!
  ( Reply )
josé carlos June 29th

These tutorials are the best, I love cinema 4d.
thanks
( Reply )
Nathan June 29th

Gotta Love ScreenCast…
( Reply )
Simon Bronson June 29th

Thanks Mountaga,
that was really informative and helpful. I’ve never used the color mapping effect before, I’m sure its going to come in handy.
cheers.
( Reply )
1. Mountaga July 1st
  
  Yup, color mapping is really useful in pinch. Remember its not just for indoor either, you can use it for over/under exposed outside shots too.
  ( Reply )
Carlos Eduardo Papacidero June 30th

Follow my first Try:
http://twitpic.com/8ta7c
( Reply )
1. Mountaga June 30th
  
  Hey Carlos, nice render and thanks for reading my tutorial. I’m glad people find it useful.
  ( Reply )
  1. Carlos Eduardo Papacidero July 1st
    
    Mountaga, tanks for this Tutorial, i always have problems with illumination and render settings … Now i will try the “studio” render …
    Another “outside” render:
    http://twitpic.com/8ww5e
  2. Carlos Eduardo Papacidero July 2nd
    
    And now the Studio Render !
    http://twitpic.com/8zq1d
    Tanks Again !
Ray June 30th

Really, really good tutorial!! Thanks!
Couple of questions… in your workflow – any reason why you don’t use the preview renderer in C4D with low settings?
And…
Also, any reason you don’t use the ‘Create Sky’ option to get a sky and sun (your way has more control I am guessing)?
( Reply )
1. Mountaga June 30th
  
  Well you can easily do the same thing by switching to the hardware viewport shader. I just like using my way because with it I can render to the picture view with the final dimensions in low settings (including ray effects like reflection) and I at the same time I won’t put unnecessary strain on my gpu.
  For your second question, you are absolutely right I could use the new (and amazing) physical sun and sky. However for exterior shots I prefer to use a HDRI mapped sky object because you get more subtle lighting. I will however use the physical sun and sky for interior arch/viz because the haze and ozone settings just add a distinct touch of quality. It all depends on what type of look I am going for, sometimes I may even use the hdri/sky object method for interior renders.
  Hope I helped
  ( Reply )
  1. Ray June 30th
    
    Yeah, thanks – good explanations.
    Looking forward to more on C4D from you Mountaga!
Mike June 30th

Thanks very much for that, I learnt alot
( Reply )
Max Stanworth June 30th

Id love to see more “Text” orientated Tuts such as creating some awesome e3D type with different textures and lighting etc some thing you can render and import to photoshop and use in other digital art.
something like this but different http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/photoshop/illustrative-typography/
( Reply )
1. Kevin July 2nd
  
  I totally AGREE with you! We definately need text & Studio shots
  !LOVE TYPO!
  ( Reply )
Wobblz June 30th

Great tutorial. Im installing the 11th edition and im going to try it out now.
Id love to see some material tutorials. It would be a nice sequel of this one.
( Reply )
arnoldc June 30th

thanks! where’s the file anyway?
I love to hear more Cinema4d in cg tuts…that could be awesome!
the tut site is getting more better
( Reply )
Dario Gutierrez June 30th

Nice render!! I love Cinema 4D.
( Reply )
FDL June 30th

!!!!!men, this tutorial is awesome!!!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!!
( Reply )
m-_g July 1st

Thanks a lot Mountaga !
It’s the first time I can render an objet looking real, with DOF and “true” lighting…
It’s quite easy to follow for strangers (I’m french), and the result is quite good.
I will try the second part (studio lighting) tomorow
My first try : http://gallery.me.com/fugoo#100037&bgcolor=black&view=grid
Hope there will be more C4D tuts, they are very good here.
m-_g
( Reply )
1. Mountaga July 1st
  
  Hey glad you liked it!
  ( Reply )
PatWeiss July 1st

Hey Mountaga,
thanks so much for your Tutorial. I learned so much about setting up a studio-setup! I now i now where my mistakes were! i appreciate it! Very useful. Next time i’ give it a try!
Thank You! I cant say that enough!
Cheers,
Pat
( Reply )
1. Mountaga July 3rd
  
  Hi Pat,
  Glad you liked it and I’m even more glad it was so useful for you.
  ( Reply )
Matt July 1st

Great tutorial.
Although, I and many have been waiting for the associated files to properly follow it. Are they going to be available soon?
( Reply )
John July 2nd

Good but nothing new really. This sorts of tutorial is avaliable around the web. What I want is how to do models that is not just som knifed squares, like a car maybe. keep it up anyway
( Reply )
1. Kaleb Aylsworth July 3rd
  
  You’ll be happy to see what’s coming up on Monday then!!
  ( Reply )
Diego SA July 4th

The name of the tutorial does justice to the final result. This pokeball looks so realistic! Awesome! Pokemon, LOL!
( Reply )
Andrew July 5th

…should auto light also be disabled in the render settings when using GI/HDRI?
…many places i’ve seen state that it ought to be off, or perhaps it doesn’t make that much difference?
andrew
( Reply )
1. Mountaga July 6th
  
  What version of Cinema 4D are you using? In r11 auto light is automatically turned off, in older versions you have to manually turn it off when you enable Global Illuminatiion
  Cheers
  ( Reply )
  1. Andrew July 6th
    
    …great, thats fine then…
    …i have only ever had r11 and didn’t see any difference between having it on or off in renders, so wasn’t clear if it did automatically turn off, as when adding GI the check mark was still on auto light…
    many thanks,
    andrew
anonymous July 6th

This does not fucking help me!@!!!!!
( Reply )
1. Mountaga July 7th
  
  Well what will help you than? Like I said before e-mail me ideas for tutorials and I’ll see what I can do, that way you get the tutorials you want.
  ( Reply )
Jon July 8th

This is a great tutorial, and I really appreciate you writing it. I always have a lot of people asking me to render their logos in 3D for them, and usually a studio setup is the best (and quickest) way to go about it.
One problem I’m having though, is actually right towards the beginning of the studio render, when you create the spline for the backdrop. I do exactly as you say, and create a rectangular spline, make it editable, and then make sure that it’s not a closed spline. All goes well up to this point, until I try to add a chamfer. It seems that C4D won’t let me select single points on the spline. Basically, it’s automatically selecting the back bottom corner point (the one that’s to be chamfered), the corner point above it, and the top middle point (the one for the “roof”). Any idea as to why I can’t just select the bottom corner point by itself? I’ve worked with C4D quite a bit in the past, so it’s not like I’m a complete novice at this, but I’ve honestly never come across this problem before. I’m using release 10.5.
Thanks ahead of time for any advice you might be able to give me, and thanks for the great tutorial, both parts of it!!!
( Reply )
1. Jon July 8th
  
  Nevermind. I’m still not sure exactly what I was doing wrong, but I started playing around with the selection tool a bit, and I was finally able to select just the points that I wanted to.
  Thanks again!
  ( Reply )
  1. Mountaga July 8th
    
    Hmm, my only guess would be you using loop or ring selection by accident? They cursor looks like regular selection, so sometimes I accidentally use it before switching back.
Irving July 9th

Great understanding of lighting to create a fine balance between each aspect.
GI really is smtg special.
great tutorial.
( Reply )
Mike July 14th

How come mine doesn’t become as intense and light when i turn up the “key” and “fill light” just before the color mapping part? Anyway really nice tutorial!
( Reply )
1. Mike July 14th
  
  And also when i turned on GI it didn’t start going dark before rendering. Please help!
  ( Reply )
  1. Mountaga July 15th
    
    First off, what version of Cinema are you using?
Mac.soft July 18th

Thank’s for this tutorial !
( Reply )
luciano July 23rd

Hi,
Great tutorial Carlitos, I am experimenting with GI and sky textures, but some materials seems to absorb more blue light from sky texture than others…any idea how to avoid this so blue reflections from sky?
( Reply )
1. M.Kane July 28th
  
  You can go into the illumination tab of a material and edit the “Receive GI” saturation.
  ( Reply )
Ahmed August 3rd

i want to download the video
how can i download it???
( Reply )
dreadsnipa August 10th

hey, I’m having a big problem. Everytime i load up the outside scene and try to render the wood texture screws up. Can someone please help me?
( Reply )
joyoge designers' bookmark August 12th

Nice render! I love Cinema 4D, thanks for the tut..
( Reply )
Franco August 14th

Where are the textures?
( Reply )
3D_pro August 22nd

…as Franco is already asking where are the textures, Joe?
( Reply )
Jason September 4th

Why can’t we download the video tutorial? C’mon guys.. if we can watch it here for free at any time why not make it available for download?
BTW what’s the file format of the video?
Thx!
( Reply )
Suko September 28th

Great tutorial! I really liked how you explained everything you did, and why you did it. Thx.
( Reply )
patrick riley October 14th

aperture not arputar
not VIGNET its pernounced veinet
Just letting you know for future tuts.
hazystudio.com
( Reply )
eli November 6th

It’s not letting me use soft shadows on the back two poke-balls. What’s going on here?
( Reply )
Mutes November 14th

Brilliant!
( Reply )
Erium November 18th

Great tutorial thanks for your work.
( Reply )
Miguel Ruiz November 29th

Realy.. Realy.. Nice tutorial.. thanks.. this is the best tutorial I’ve seen…
( Reply )
Kevin December 9th

Name
( Reply )
Kevin December 9th

Wonderful tutorial! It is pitched just right – you show people what C4D is capable of, but you do not overwhelm them. Thank you for your effort.
( Reply )
Rick Bross December 14th

Great man, thanks!
( Reply )
joseph December 19th

hi,guys am very new in cinema 4d but i understand the interface n its really great but can sam one really sort me on exterior and interior lighting pliiiiiiiiz,thanks
( Reply )
bypeseeme December 27th

Buenos dias. http://lezopolos.br
( Reply )