Code?

[djembeplay]

I feel like there is already an infinite depth of things to learn about a program like C4D. The thought of learning code as well seems very overwhelming (SDK, Coffee...) for someone who knows nothing about it.

Is learning this aspect of 3D critical? I mean, surely one can do professional work without needing to know SKD or C++ and without needing to use Coffee, right?

[Raptor365]

It's just another tool that's nice to have in your back pocket when needed.
I doubt most employers would require it, I haven't see any mention of it in job postings anyways.

Usually a vfx house will already have someone handling the programming. It appears that way with the bigger studios anyways.
I'd have to check again but didn't one of the in-house programmers from digital domain used to work for Nasa? The guy that does the custom fluid sims. So, they're in pretty good shape.

It's really only needed if you want to do things beyond what your current applications allow you to do.
I wouldn't think it's critical at all, especially if your a modeller, a texturer or what have you. It's just another handy and powerfull tool to have especially for free lancers, imo.

[djembeplay]

So what sorts of things can you do with it that you otherwise cannot with your existing tools?

[Raptor365]

Basically anything you want, if your capable of accomplishing it. All plugins are done with coding. Many of the tools you currently have began as plugins and were picked up by maxon. Weren't some of Cactus Dans character rigging plugins recently included with C4DR11? I think they were.

You could write your own dynamics engine or fluid sim if your capable of the math.
It's endless really. To give you an idea, basically every program on your computer was probably written in c++ but using the Windows SDK instead. The core of c++ itself is fairly basic.