11.0

CINEMA 4D R11 Quickstart – Materials

Our eye still looks a little blind. We’ll change this in the next chapter by adding a pupil texture. Before we do

that, though, we’d like to give you some more modeling tips.

Adjust the inﬂuence of HyperNURBS: Select both cubes and several polygons in the Object Manager. Press the

“V“ key on your keyboard, select the “Structure“ menu and click on “Weight HyperNURBS“. If you now click

anywhere in the editor window with the left mouse button and drag the mouse to the right you can determine

the strength of the HyperNURBS for the selected polygons. If you are not satisﬁed with the result and have

unclean edges try this function in the “Use Edge Tool“ mode. This will give you better results. You can also

simultaneously press the “.” key while dragging in the Viewport.

If you should want to select points that lie within an object or if you have “Only Select Visible

Elements“ deactivated and want to avoid accidentally selecting points on the backside of the

object simply activate “X-ray“. You will ﬁnd this function under display / x-ray. This lets you see through the

object and see every point (Polygon / Edge). Accidental selection of hidden points is thus not possible and

you have an excellent overview of the inner points of the object which would normally not be visible from the

outside.

7. Quick Tutorial – Materials

A well-modeled object can make a mediocre impression if the right textures aren’t used. Textures give a

model color, highlights, structure and other important surface properties. A texture placed into the bump

channel, for example, gives the object’s surface an uneven, bumpy look without actually altering the geometric

structure. This effect can be used to imitate skin wrinkles, scars or the surface of an orange. The displacement

channel works in a similar fashion, only that it actually does change an object’s geometric structure. Using

the luminance channel you can give an object’s surface a self-illuminating property or integrate an SSS effect

(sub-surface scattering) which lends the surface a slight translucent / reﬂective look, like human skin or candle

wax, for example. In short: Textures have the same signiﬁcance as the outer shape of an object because they

are necessary for achieving the desired atmosphere, coloring and surface structure.

We will begin with a brief introduction to the individual material channels:

Color: This is where the material’s color or the base color for the texture is set.

Diffusion: This channel makes your texture “irregular“. Through the application of a

noise shader or a texture your object receives a dirty or dusty look. If desired it can also

inﬂuence the specular, reﬂection and luminance channels respectively.

Luminance: The material is given an illuminative property which is also taken into account

in the Global Illumination calculation.

Transparency: This is where you determine the material’s opacity.

Reﬂection: Gives the material reﬂective characteristics.

Environment: A texture is used to simulate an environment reﬂection.

Fog: This channel lets you apply a fog property to a material.