Create an Absract Furry Eye Scene using Cinema 4D

In this intermediate to advanced level tutorial you will learn to use primitives, SweepNurbs, complex materials, and the hair module to create this very interesting abstract Eye with Hair. Using Advanced Render to create a sharp and convincing final image will also be discussed.

Step 1

Create sphere object (Objects > Primitive > Sphere) with a Radius of around 32m, and 64 segments.

Step 2

In Coord., change the R. B value to 90, and the S. Y to 0.5.

Step 3

Make the object editable (C on keyboard), select a half of the object, press (Functions > Split ), and then press Delete.

Step 4

Create a disk object (Primitive > Disk) with a 64m Radius, and place it in the middle of the hemispheres.

Step 5

Use the Loop Selection tool (Selection > Loop Selection) to make circular selections, then use Extrude Inner (I on keyboard), with an Offset of around 0.7m and Preserve Groups checked, to reduce the size of the selected polygons.

Step 6

Create a new material. Under Color, set the Color to white, the Brightness to 10%, the Mix Mode to Multiply, and use Layer in the texture channel.

Step 7

In the Layer, add a Fresnel with a light grey color, and Noise with a high Global Scale value (600%-1000%). Set the Noise mix mode to Multiply, and the Opacity to 20%.

Step 8

Check on Transparency, set the Brightness to 60%, the Refractions to 1.5, and un-check Total Internal Reflection.

Step 9

Check on the Reflection, change the Brightness to 20%, and use a Fresnel with a grey to white gradient as the texture.

Step 10

Check on Bump, set the Strength to 5%, and use Noise with a high Global Scale value (around 1000%) and grey and white colors.

Step 11

Under Specular, change the Width to 30%, the Height to 65%, and the Falloff to -10%. Check on Specular Color, and change the color to (255, 245, 225).

Step 12

Drag the newly created material to the selection to assign it to the selected polygons.

Step 13

Duplicate the material and un-check Transparency. This will be the base material. Assign it to the Disk object and one hemisphere.

Step 14

Create a new material, and under Color, change the Color to orange (255, 138, 22). For the Texture, use a Fresnel with a white to grey gradient, and change the Mix mode to Multiply.

Step 15

Check on Luminance, then change the Color to orange (255, 143, 0), the Brightness to 25%, and the Mix Mode to Multiply. For the Texture, use Layer with ChanLum (with default values), and Fresnel with a white to dark grey gradient and the Mix mode set to Multiply.

Step 16

Check on Transparency, change the Color to light orange (255, 161, 81), the Brightness to 85%, and the Refractions to 1.5. Un-check Exit Reflections, and change Absorption Color to a greyish peach (216, 167, 149). For the Texture, use a grey and white Luka Noise.

Step 17

Check on Reflection, and change the Brightness to 31%.

Step 18

Check on Bump, and change strength to 20%. For the texture use Noise, with Noise set to Stupl and Global Scale at 500%.

Step 19

Under Specular, change the Height to 130%, the Fallof to 26%, and the Inner Width to 7%. Check on Specular Color, and set the Color to light yellow (255, 250, 210).

Step 20

Assign the orange glass material to the hemisphere with radial selections. Make sure that the orange material tag is placed before the black one.

Step 21

Create a Sphere object with a Radius of 4m, and S.X around 0.65. Place it at the edge of the orange hemisphere, and assign the black glass material to it.

Step 22

Select the black hemisphere, then select all of the polygons in it and add hair object (Hair > Add Hair).

Step 23

In the Hair attributes, under Fill Hairs, check on Fill Hairs and change the value to 65000, and under Advanced, check on Shadows. Under Dynamics Properties, change the Drag to 18%, the Rest Mix to 62%, the Elastic Limit to 74%, the Rest Hold to 25%, and the Deform to 18%.

Step 24

Add a Turbulence object (Objects > Particle > Turbulence), with a Strength of 500, and Scale at 1000%. In the Hair attributes, under Dynamics Animation, set the Frames to between 10 and 25, and press Relax.

Step 25

Double click on the Hair material. Under Color, change the Brightness to 50%, and under the Roots Texture, set the Noise type to Electric with a Global Scale of around 200%.

Step 26

Under Specular, for Primary change the Strength to 40%, and the Sharpness to 15, and for Secondary change the Strength to 70%, and the Sharpness to 25.

Step 27

Under Thickness, change the Root to 0.5m, and the Tip to 0.05.

Step 28

Check on Scale and then Kink, and change the Kink value to 10%.

Step 29

Check on Clump, and change the Clump value to 80%. Check on Bend.

Step 30

Create a SweepNURBS object, and add two circle splines (Objects > Spline Primitive > Circle) to it. Put one at bottom of the SweepNURBS with a 35m Radius, and put the other one at the top with the Ellipse option checked, a 3m Radius, and a 0.5m Radius Y. Make sure to tweak planes at object attributes to get right results.

Step 31

Create another SweepNURBS object. Then create a helix spline (Objects > Spline Primitive > Helix), with a Start Radius of 0m, an End Radius of 10m, and an End Angle of 8640. Choose the Plane as XZ, and place it above the hemispheres. Create a circle spline with a 0.5m Radius, and then add both splines to the SweepNURBS.

Step 32

Create a Cylinder object (Objects > Primitive > Cylinder), with a Radius of 0.25m and a Height of around 150m, and place it above the hemispheres.

Step 33

Create a Tube object (Objects > Primitive > Tube) with an Inner Radius of 1m, an Outer Radius of 2m, and a Height of 7m, and position it so it will cover the place where Cylinder and Helix SweepNURBS are touching the hemispheres and the other SweepNURBS.

Step 34

Create a new material, and under Color, change the Color to orange (255, 138, 25), and the Brightness to 80%.

Step 35

Check on Diffusion and Affect Luminance, and for the Texture use any Noise with a 1% Global Scale. Now change the Mix Strength to 10%.

Step 36

Check on Luminance, and change the Color to (255, 235, 220). Change the Brightness to 35%, the Mix Mode to Multiply, and use a Backlight as the Texture. Under the Backlight options, change the Color to light grey.

Step 37

Check on Reflection and change the Brightness to 20%.

Step 38

Check on Bump, change the Strength to 5%, and for the Texture, use a Noise with the type as Blistered Turbulence, the Global Scale at 200%, and grey and white for the colors.

Step 39

Under Specular, change the Width to 65%, and the Height to 5%.

Step 40

Assign this material to the Helix SweepNURBS, and assign the base material to the other objects (Tube, Cylinder and other SweepNURBS).

Step 41

Create a sky object (Objects > Scene > Sky), and add Compositing tag to it. In the Compositing tag attributes, under Tag, un-check Seen by GI, Seen by Refraction, Seen by Reflection, and Seen by AO.

Step 42

Create a new material, and under Color, set Gradient as the Texture, use dark blue for the colors (14, 20, 41) and (38, 48, 65), and change Turbulence value to 50-60%, and Octaves to 2.6. Assign this material to the sky object.

Step 43

Create another sky object, and add Compositing tag to it. In the Compositing tag attributes, un-check Seen by Camera. Create a new material, and under Luminance, use an HDR image. Now assign it to the new sky object.

Step 44

Create a light object (Objects > Scene > Light), change the Shadow type to Shadow Maps, and position it to match your needs.

Step 45

Duplicate the light object, and change the Brightness to 50-60%. Under Scene, change the Mode to Include, and drag the Hair object into Objects field.

Step 46

Choose a good point of view, and add Camera object (Objects > Scene > Camera).

Step 47

Open the Render Settings (ctrl+b or Render > Render Settings…). Under Output and Save, tweak the settings to match your needs.

Step 48

Under Anti-Aliasing, change the Anti-Aliasing quality to Best, and the Filter to Sinc.

Step 49

Under Hair Render, at the Render options, change the Render type to Raster (Post), the AA Quality to User, the Type to Subpixel, the Filter to 220%, and check on Reflection, Refraction, and Traced Shadows. Also, change the Tracing Memory to High.

Step 50

Add a Global Illumination effect, and in the General options, change the Diffuse Depth to 2. Under the Irradiance Cache options, change Stochastic Samples to Low, and the Record Density to Low.

Step 51

Render your scene, and you should have an awesome abstract Furry Eye!

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