

Cinema 4D R16 adds a typically diverse set of features to Maxon’s 3D app, including a new matchmoving system, the unclassifiable PolyPen tool, and better rendering and sculpting. Homepage image: Kingcoma.

Originally posted on 5 August. Scroll down for updates.

Maxon has announced Cinema 4D R16, another big update to the 3D package that adds a new matchmoving system, an interesting new geometry-painting-cum-retopo tool, and extends the rendering and sculpting features.

Cinema 4D R16 will be on show at Siggraph 2014 next week, and is due to ship later this year now shipping.

New multi-layered reflections, overhauled network rendering

Rendering tops Maxon’s feature list for R16, with a new Reflectance material channel that lets users create multi-layered materials with separate reflection properties for each layer, and render them as separate passes.

(Interestingly, Maxon suggests woven cloth as a use case, alongside obvious applications like car paint.)

The cloth shading model has itself been overhauled, along with the hair and Sketch rendering engines, enabling users to combine raytraced hair and toon outlines in the same render pass.

The Team Render network-rendering system introduced in R15 has also been updated, giving it a new client-server architecture, with jobs controllable via a standard web browser.

The PolyPen: a Swiss Army knife of a modelling tool

Of the new features, the most fun is probably the new PolyPen (above), which replaces the Create Polygon Tool.

It’s a Swiss Army Knife of a tool, with a range of uses – the demo video advertises over 25 functions and modes – including painting geometry or instances onto surfaces, and retopologising models freehand.

Other updates to the modelling tools include a new non-destructive Bevel Deformer; falloff settings for most other deformers; improved symmetry modelling; and a does-exactly-what-it-says Cogwheel Spline.

In addition, the sculpting toolset introduced in R14 has been updated again, although it’s mainly workflow updates this time round, aside from a new Selection Brush.

New 3D camera-tracking system, plus smaller features and fixes

Visual effects artists get the Motion Tracker: a new matchmoving system with the option to refine an automatic solve by masking regions of the footage, or setting up Position, Vector or Planar constraints.

There are also the usual range of miscellaneous features – including a ‘UV Peeler‘ for unwrapping cylindrical objects, quirkily enough – and workflow tweaks.

The Content Library also gets an overhaul, with new ready-made assets targeted at Cinema 4D’s key user groups: architectural visualisation professionals, product designers, illustrators and motion graphics artists.

All in all, a pretty balanced – and customarily diverse – update.

Updated 3 September: Cinema 4D R16 is now shipping on Windows and Mac OS X. Pricing remains unchanged at between $995 and $3,695 depending on which edition of the software you buy.

Read a full list of new features in Cinema 4D R16

Watch videos of the new features on Maxon’s YouTube channel

Tags: camera tracking, Cinema 4D, Cinema 4D R16, cogwheel, Content Browser, layers, match moving, Maxon, modelling, motion tracker, network rendering, new features, PolyPen, price, reflection, release date, rendering, retopology, sculpting, Siggraph 2014, TeamRender, Video Features