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CINEMA 4D R11 Quickstart – XPresso
Nodes are XPresso’s cornerstones. They represent objects or functions. Nodes have an input and an output
which allow them to exchange information with other nodes. You can view a node’s complete input by clicking
on the little blue box in the top left corner of the node. A node’s output can be viewed by clicking on the red
box. Take a look at the exits of the cylinder’s nodes. Some of them will surely be familiar to you (Attribute
Manager).
Think about what it is we want to happen. We want to pull the small cylinder up, i.e.; change a Y-value. This
movement should in turn influence the Y-value of the medium cylinder which should stay exactly in the center
of the Y-positions of the big and small cylinders. We can say that we want to set the medium cylinder to an
average value of the other two cylinders.
Click on “Cylinder_big’s“ red corner and select Coordinates / Position / Position Y. Do the same for “Cylinder_
small“.
Both cylinders can now pass on their respective Y-position. We will use a special node to calculate the average
between these two points.
Switch to the X-Pool tab and drag a “Mix Operator“ node from System Operators / XPresso / Calculate / Mix onto
the surface where the other nodes are (small tab at the top left next to the X-Manager). Set the “Mix“ node’s
“Mixing Factor” to 50% in the Attribute Manager.