Interface

Say Goodbye to the Classic Scheme

Release 11 now only comes in Light and Dark Schemes. The Classic scheme is no longer officially supported but I was able to transfer my customized Classic Scheme directly from my CINEMA 4D R10.5 installation over to my R11 installation. Likewise with custom layouts, scripts, plug-ins and Browser Libraries. These all transferred and loaded without any problems. The exception being some plug-ins which require a new serial number (In most cases Plugin suppliers are more than happy to supply serial numbers so that their plugin continues to work). Plug-ins should be the only item added to the main MAXON folder. All other items must be added to the User Preferences folder. Adding items to the main MAXON folder could interfere with future automatic updates or even cause CINEMA 4D to crash. Custom Schemes appear in the Main Preferences drop-down menu and are separated from the standard Light and Dark Schemes by a divider.

Selecting Schemes in Preferences

The good news in Release 11 if you´re familiar with either the Light or Dark schemes is the interface looks virtually the same as the Release 10 interface. BodyPaint 3d R4 as mentioned in the BodyPaint section of the review has had its Paint and UV editing layouts completely redone to bring them up to date with current work flow practices.

At first glance, there does not appear to be any interface enhancements in this release of CINEMA 4D but there has actually been a lot of work done with the HUD and USER DATA interface. The annoying bug which distorted HUD element placement when changing viewports has been fixed. Elements now retain their relative positions in the viewport.

WHAT´S NEW?

When you are working in R11 you now get the active tool icon following the mouse around. This can be disabled if you don´t like it but is quite handy and should be good for following tutorials as it´s more clear what tool is being used. There are 2 preferences options for this, Basic and Advanced. Basic is for navigation type tools e.g. Move and Rotate whereas the Advanced options is to display the icon of tools like Extrude and Inner Extrude.

Tool icon follows the cursor	Tool icon preferences

USER DATA and HUD

Instead of the single column list, User Data can now be organized into Groups. These Groups can be set as individual Tabs in the Attributes Manager. The elements within the group can also be arranged horizontally in columns. This allows better management and improved workflow, particularly when using large numbers of parameter inputs.

The User Data and Groups can be used in a variety of ways:

• As a combined Attribute Manager where the attributes of items can be easily accessed and set without first having to be selected in the Object Manager. This includes Materials and MoGraph Objects as well as the usual Objects, Splines, Lights, Deformers and Generators. All available parameters can be set and keyframed from here.
• All User Data items can be easily added as HUD elements and automatically set as a Grouped Element if required. The Grouped Element can also be re-arranged using the new Layout option in the HUD.
• User Data Groups can be set to appear as individual ports in the XPresso Editor. This is achieved by moving the Group into the same hierarchy level as the Default User Data in the User Data Editor. Sub-groups will open and show as normal hierarchy blocks in the XPresso node port. If there are no individual Parameters added to the Default User Data, then it is replaced by the Group Tabs. The same will apply in the XPresso Editor.

The following image is an example where the Texture tag is selected. By clicking on the small black triangle the Material settings open up for easy editing. Previously you would have had to double click the texture tag to bring up the settings for the Material or edit the Material by double clicking on it in the Material Manager.

Easy access to settings

USER DATA (Set Up) - Groups and Parameters are added to the User Data by clicking the appropriate Data or Group button. To demonstrate the Group Tabs, in this example I have created three sets of Sliders with two new Groups. Groups and Sliders can simply be dragged into the required order. Changing the actual Group order will also set the order of the Tabs in the Attribute Manager.

• The first pair of sliders appear as normal under the Default User Data entry and Tab.
• The second pair appear under the SLIDERS Tab. This has no sub-group and so appears in the standard open format.
• The third pair appear under the second SLIDERS Tab. This does have a sub-group and so appears under a foldable Group bar.
• Note the Short Name option for the sliders marked with an (a). More on this under Properties.
• If no Sliders are added to the Default group, the User Data tab will be removed from both the Attributes Manager and the XPresso Node leaving only the Group Tabs visible.

User Data Groups	Tabs in Attributes Manager

Below is how the Sliders appear in the XPresso Editor node.

XPresso Editor - User Data Groups

I have purposely used capitals to differentiate from the standard ports on the Null Node. Group entries will appear in alphabetical order. Setting the entries as capitals makes them more obvious. Another option is to prefix the Group name with a bullet character. This will add the Groups to the bottom of the Node ports and below the default User Data port. (This is just a personal preference and is up to the individual whether to use it or not.)

USER DATA Properties Tab - When you create a new User Data Parameter, there are new options in the Properties Tab.

User Data - Properties	User Data - Short Name

Name: Type an appropriate name for the Data here.
Short Name: By default this is automatically entered as the original Name. Re-type a shortened name to save space in the Attribute Manager if required.
ID: This is entered automatically and does not need any user action.
Animatable: Enable this option if you want to keyframe the parameters in the Attribute Manager.
Data Type, Interface and Unit: Select and set the required Data Type from the first drop-down. Depending on the Data Type selected, appropriate parameter options can be set.
Default Value: You can set a parameter default value which can be reset at any time from the Attribute Manager.
The above image on the right shows a sample for Left & Right Hand Controls using short names with the default values set to 50%.

USER DATA Details - There are more display options under the Details tab. Availability is dependant on the Data Type selected. Link Fields can save a little more interface estate by hiding the Icon. Lens Glow has the option of having a Preview. The Data Spline is fully customizable.

I would like a Fold All function for the Groups and a scalable panel in the User Data Editor. The Groups unfold every time the User Data Editor is re-opened. Having a Fold option would make it easier when adding a new group or entry to a large User Data field.

SCRIPT EDITOR

Even if you have never touched C.O.F.F.E.E. before, there is now a great way to automatically generate the C.O.F.F.E.E. code to create your own mini-scripts to speed up workflow. Have you ever needed a quick reset button? Simply set a parameter, Control + click the parameter name in the Attributes Manager, select Create Script from the dropdown, and save the resulting script. Drag the icon button into your interface. Done! Whenever you want to reset a value, just click the button. This technique will also work with multiple Parameters and values. Simply set the values, multi-select, create script and save. That is it. No coding, no editing or de-bugging code typos. It really is that simple and is an excellent helper if you do want to get started with scripting as the generated scripts can be copied and built up into more complex C.O.F.F.E.E. code. This really is an absolute bonus to code-phobics (like me) who want to get started but don´t have a clue where to begin. The Script Log and Command Manager allow you to access the coding ID´s for tool operations. Use these in combination with the Script Editor and it is possible to create repeatable operations with a single click of a button. A superb feature indeed.

Miscellaneous

The interface can now be locked. A new Lock Interface command in the Layout menu toggles the interface being locked and unlocked. When the interface is locked you can´t make changes e.g. dock and undock toolbars. Handy for beginners who sometimes destroy their layouts then struggle to get them back to their original state.

If you added an Interactive Render Region icon to a toolbar, now when the IRR is active in the viewport the icon highlights to indicate that an IRR tool is currently active.

Attribute Manager corners of tabs are now rounded to match how corners are rounded on the rest of interface like toolbar buttons.