CINEMA 4D CERTIFICATION

• Preferences
• Project Settings
  • View Clipping
    
• Object Manager
• Viewport
• Attributes Manager
  • Basic Tab and Object Manager Relationship
    
  • Presets
    
• Material Manager
• Coordinates Manager
• Timeline
• Layer Manager
• Asset Browser
• You should know which Managers you can open using buttons close to the corners of the Viewport (Hot Corners)
• The main C4D interface has three main Tool/Command/Modes Palettes, Horizontal on the top and Vertical in the left and right side of the viewport
• You should know what each command/tool/mode does and that the Tools palette on the left is context-sensitive

• View
• Cameras
• Display Modes
• Options
• Filter
• Configure... Viewports in Attributes Manager
  • HUD
    
  • Background Reference images
    

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• Viewport
• Navigation Shortcuts
• Viewport Framing Shortcuts

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• Using Preset Layouts
• Creating Custom Layouts
• Save / Load Custom Layouts
• Customize Commands
  • Customize Existing Palettes
    
  • Creating and Saving Custom Palettes
    
• Customize shortcuts
• Commander - SHIFT+C

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• Hierarchies
• Object Naming in Object manager
  • How to organize your scene using meaningful names for Objects
    
  • Manual Naming
    
  • Naming Tool
    
• Null Object / Groups
• Object Manager Helpers - Filters
  • Search tool
    
  • Path Bar
    
  • Hierarchical Level
    
  • Filters
    

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• Local (Object) - Global (World) Coordinate Systems
• Coordinates Manager
• Coordinate Manager Dropdown menus
  • Obj (Rel)
    
  • Obj (Abs)
  • World
    
  • Scale
    
  • Size
    
  • Size+
    
• Attribute Manager Coordinates
  • Differences and Similarities between Coordinate Manager and Coord. tab in Attribute Manager
    
    • Attribute Manager, Always Local Coordinates
      
    • Rotation order - HPB Rotation, Rotation Order and Gimbal Lock
      
      • Freeze Transformation
    • Attribute Manager - Coordinates - Live
      
  • What happens when a parent has non-normalized Scaling (not 1,1,1 in the Scaling in the Attribute Manager)?
    

• Move
• Rotate
• Scale
  • Difference between Model Mode & Object Mode with Scaling
    
• Axis’ Locks
• Axis Extension
• Axis Gizmo
  • Move
    
  • Scale
    
  • Rotate
    
• Quantizing
• Placement Tools
  • Place
    
  • Scatter Pen
    
    • Scatter object
      
      • Edit Mode
        
  • Dynamic Place
    
    • Combined Gizmo
      
    • Effect of the Scale parameter
      
    • Enabling gravity
      

• Using
  • Searching, Smart Search, Datails panel, Keywords, ...
    
• General understanding of assets and databases
  • VIDEO: Introduction to Assets and Databases
  • How to create/mount a custom database
    
  • Where else in Cinema 4D are databases being used?
    
• Creating Assets for Asset Browser
• Presets
• Sharing Assets
• Importing legacy libraries (.lib4d files)

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• Primitives
  • What are Primitives and how they compare to similar objects in other software
    
  • Why can’t we Scale Primitives non-uniformly with the Scale Tool in Model Mode?
    
• Deformers
  • What can we expect from Deformers
    
  • How to apply Deformers
    
    • As Child
      
    • As Sibling under a Parent Object
      
  • How does the order in the Object Manager affect order of execution?
    
  • Constraining Deformers
    
• Modeling & Object Generators
  • Extrude
    
  • Lathe
    
  • Sweep
    
  • Loft
    
  • Boolean Object
    
  • Connect Object
    
  • Symmetry Object
    
  • Instance Object
    
  • Polygon Reduction Generator
    
  • Remesh Object
    
• Splines
  • Primitive
    
  • Editable
    
  • Importing Splines from other software
    
  • Editing - Manipulation
    
    • Knowledge of all Spline Editing Tools
      
  • Spline Attributes
    
    • Type
      
    • Open - Closed
      
    • Intermediate Points
      
  • Spline Mask
    
  • Spline under Connect Object
    
• Polygon Modeling
  • Components
    
    • Points
      
    • Edges
      
    • Polygons
      
    • Component Attributes
      
    • Weights (Vertex)
      
    • Selections (Polygon - Edge - Point)
      
    • Normals
      
  • Phong Tag
    
    • What does it do?
      
    • What are Edge Breaks?
      
  • Basic Understanding of “Topology”
    
    • Triangles
      
    • Quads
      
    • N-Gons
      
    • Complex Poles
      
    • Topological Flow
      
    • Why we need Retopology (examples)
      
  • Mesh Tools for Modeling (Mesh Menu)
    
  • Good Understanding of all Mesh Editing Tools
    
  • Component Selections & Selection Patterns (Loops, Rings, Fills, etc.)
    
  • Component Modeling Axis
    
    • Move, Scale & Rotate Tools Attributes
      
    • Modeling Axis Tab
      
    • Object Axis Tab
      
    • Soft Selection Tab
      
  • Snapping (General Snapping Knowledge)
    
  • Solo
    
  • Mesh Troubleshooting with Mesh Checking
    
    • Coplanar
      
    • Non-Manifold (and how to resolve)
      
    • Complex Poles
      
    • Triangles, Quads & N-Gons
      
    • z-fighting
      
  • Axis Center...
    
  • Subdivision Surface Modeling
    
  • What is Texture - Sculpt Baking?
    
    • Bake Object
      
    • Bake Material
      
  • Sculpting (Overview)
    
    • Sculpting for adding Texture Detail using Baking
      
    • Sculpt Menu
      
    • Baking Sculpt Objects
• Volume Modeling
  • What are Volumes?
    
  • Volume Modeling
    
  • General Understanding of Volumes (VDBs) in the industry
    
  • What are Volumes and Voxel Grids
    
    • What data can they contain
      
    • What we use them for
      
  • Reference Videos
    
    • VIDEO: Using Volumes with Fields I
      
    • VIDEO: Using Volumes with Fields II
      
    • VIDEO: Creative motion graphics workflows with VDB
      
    • VIDEO: Behind the Voxels: Bringing Volumes to Cinema 4D
      
    • VIDEO: Cinema 4D Volumes Reference Series
      

• What are UVs?
• UV Tile
• Automatic Unwrapping
• Overview of the manual UV Unwrapping Process
  • Cuts - Seams
    
  • Pins
    
  • Unwrapping - Relaxing
    
  • Packing
    
  • UV islands
    
  • Projections
    
• View menu

• Understanding Material fundamentals
  • What does a Material applied to an Object consist of
    
    • Material
      
    • Channels
      
    • Type
      
  • Material Tag
    
  • Understanding Projections
    
  • Projection Types (Geometric UVs - Spherical, Cylindrical e.t.c.)
    
  • Camera - Frontal Projections
    
  • Material Coordinates [Material Tag Attributes]
    
  • UV Tile Coordinates
    
  • Using PRS to place Materials [Texture mode]
• Material Channels
  • Color [Albedo]
    
  • Diffusion
    
  • Luminance
    
  • Transparency
    
  • Reflectance - PBR
    
  • Bump
    
  • Normal
    
  • Displacement and Sub Polygon Displacement
    
  • Alpha
    
  • Viewport Settings for Materials
    
• PBR Materials
• Nested Dielectrics – How to create Proper “Liquid in Glass” renders
• Textures (loaded bitmaps used to define the properties or data of a material channel)
• Shaders
  • Noise
    
  • Gradient
    
  • Fresnel
    
  • Colorizer
    
  • Filter
    
  • Layer
    
  • Ambient Occlusion
    
  • Lumas (or Light Node in Nodal Materials)
    
• Overall understanding of Shader flow
  • Standard material (Layered approach)
    
  • Nodal materials
    
    • Overall Nodal Material Construction
      
    • Renderer Specific Differences
      
  • HDR images & Panoramas
    
    • What is an HDR?
      
    • Color Bit Depth
      
    • 8, 16 & 32 bit images
      
    • HDR Formats
  • What is a Panorama (360, 180 e.t.c.)
    
  • How do HDRs and Panoramas Correlate
    
• Pin Material Tag

• What is 3D Painting?
• When to use 3D Painting
• Paint Setup Wizard
• Combining UVs - sculpting - baking and 3D Painting

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• Understanding CG Lights and Lighting
• Light Components
  • Diffuse
    
  • Specular
    
  • Shadows
    
  • Falloff
    
  • Inclusions / exclusions
    
  • Visibility - Volumetric
    
• Light Types
  • Omni
    
  • Spot
    
  • Area
    
  • Infinite
    
  • Dome Light Setups
    
• Lighting Setups
  
  • 3 Point Lighting
    
  • Indirect illumination techniques
    
    • Reflectance
      
    • GI (Global Illumination)
      
    • Fake GI (Light Domes)
      

• Understanding CG Cameras
• Camera types
• Camera Attributes
• Camera Rigs that imitate Dollies, Cranes, etc.
• Camera Effects
• Depth of Field
  • Camera Focus
    
• Motion Blur
• Lens Effects
  • Camera Composition Helpers (Camera Object - Composition)
    
• Stage Object (Multi Camera)

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• Overview
• Using Takes to create variations of the scene
• Using Takes as render layers

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• Overview
• Add / Subtract objects, hierarchies, materials, etc.
• Layer Channels
  • Solo, Visible in Editor, Visible in Render, Visible in Object Manager, Locked, Animation, Generators, Deformers, Expressions, Xrefs
    

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• Keyframes
  • Creating
    
    • Automatic
      
    • Manual
      
• Timelines - Keyframe interpolation
  • Keys (Dopesheet)
    
  • F-Curves
    
  • Animation Tracks
    
    • Attributes
      
    • Looping
      
    • Repeating
      
• Camera Animation Techniques
• Object Animation
• Parameter Animation
• Procedural Animation (Concept of Animating without Keyframes)
  • Vibrate
    
  • Track Modifier tag
    

• MoGraph Generators
  • What are MoGraph Generators
    
  • What each MoGraph Generator does
    
    • Cloner
      
    • Matrix
      
    • Fracture
      
    • Voronoi Fracture
      
    • MoInstance
      
    • Text (under primitives)
      
    • Tracer
      
    • MoSpline
      
• MoGraph Modifiers
  • MoExtrude
    
  • PolyFX
    
• MoGraph Clones (also called MoGraph Nodes or MoGraph Particles)
  • What parameters does a generated MoGraph Clone inherit from the Cloner?
    
    • ID
      
    • Color (RGB-A)
      
    • W(UV) coordinates
      
    • Weight
      
    • Matrix (Position - Scale - Rotation)
      
    • Time Offset (only Keyframes)
      
    • Visibility
      
    • Blending amount (between blending clones)
      
      • Blend geometry
        
      • Blend Parameters
    • Which instance is the Clone (ID)?
  • Clone iteration
  • Clone Blending
    
  • Clone Keyframe Animation Modes
    
    • Play
      
    • Loop
      
    • Fixed
      
    • Fixed Loop
      
  • Effectors
    
  • Fields
    
  • MoGraph Tags
    
  • MoGraph Shaders
    
  • Instance Modes Differences: Advantages and Limitations
    
• Effectors
  • Applied to MoGraph Generators
    
    • Function
      
    • Parameters
      
  • As Deformers
    
    • Component Coordinate system
      
• Tracer Object
• MoSpline
• PolyFX

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• What are Fields?
• Concept of 3D Masks
• Normalized vs Arbitrary Values
• Clamps and Remapping
• Blending Modes
• Field Groups
• Where can we use Fields?
  • Effectors Falloff
    
  • Deformers Falloff
    
  • Volumes
    
  • MoGraph Selections
    
  • MoGraph Weights
    
  • Component Selections
    
  • Vertex Maps
    
  • Normal Maps
    
  • XPRESSO
    
  • Simulation: Forces Falloff
    
  • Field Force
    
• Reference videos:
  • VIDEO: Cinema 4D Fields: Introduction
    
  • VIDEO: Walking Through Fields: Triggering Animation: Series Overview
    
  • VIDEO: Using Fields with Volumes I
    
  • VIDEO: Entering the fields
    
  • VIDEO: Fields as controls for the Strength of MoGraph Effects
    

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• Light Estimation
• Camera Matching - Calibrator
• Camera Tracking (General Overview)

• Smart Hierarchy construction
  • Nulls
    
  • Splines or Nulls (as Controllers)
    
  • Tags
    
  • IK Tag
    
  • Target Tag
    
  • Align to spline
    
  • Constraints
    
• Basic IK Hierarchy
  • Inverse Kinematics VS Forward Kinematics (IK vs FK)
    
  • Using IK Tag on Object Hierarchies or Joint Hierarchies
    
  • Setup
    
  • Goals
    
  • Pole Vector
    
  • Binding
• Joints – What they are and How can we use them
• Pose Morph tag
• Priority parameter

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• Set Driver - Set Driven
• What is XPresso?
• XPresso interface
  • How to add objects to XPresso
    
  • How to create inputs and outputs by dragging Attributes
    

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• Dynamics
  • Rigid Bodies Overview
    
  • Soft Body Overview
    
  • Knowledge of the Dynamics settings (part of the Project settings)
    
• Particle Systems
  • Standard Overview
    
  • Thinking Particles Overview
    
  • Third Party (know of them)
    
• Hair Overview
• Cloth Overview
• Caching Geometry
  • Cloth cache tool
    
  • Dynamics Body tag
    
  • Alembic
    
  • Point Cache
    
  • MoGraph Cache
    
  • Jiggle
    

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• Project Clean-Up and Organization
• Performance Optimization
• Render Optimization

• Render Settings
• Render Region (IRR)
• Viewport Render for Preview and Animatics
• Final rendering / Offline rendering
• Output to File - File Formats
• Multipasses - AOVs
• Render Tags
  • Compositing Tag
    
  • External Compositing
    
• Picture Viewer

• Compositing Project File Export
• Exporting Sequences
• Exporting 3D Data

• Particles
• Volumetric / Atmospheric Effects
• Sketch and Toon
• Hair Rendering (Hair & Splines)
• Faking Rendering Effects in post

• Passes Overview
• Object / Material Buffers
• z-Depth
• Motion Vectors

• Setting Up Team-Render Overview
• Render Queue Overview

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