How hard is C4D to learn? What resources are good for training?

P

Policar

Carbonite Member
I am a beginner to 3D. Learned Studio max a decade ago (not that well, but the basics of subdivision surfaces, IK rigs, texturing, lighting, very basic but still took a month to learn).

I am now using a mac exclusively and do not have the budget to afford Studio Max. I am also going to take a motion graphics course. How hard is learning C4D?

What resources are good for learning it? I have Lynda etc. but tbh I do much better learning from a book. I find tutorials terrible because the pace is unbelievably slow.
 
I love Cinema 4D. I find it to be very approachable. At the same time, the rabbit hole goes VERY deep.

Your question might get this typical answer: easy to learn, a lifetime to master.

The same probably goes for many applications where there is often not only ONE way to do things, but rather, it's your skill and imagination that will be the limiting factor.

Personally, I think video tutorials should be much more time effective than a book, but that's of course dependant on the tutorial. Lynda.com can be great, but in my experience it's best for beginners to intermediate users. Since 3D and Dynamics is such a huge area, no one will ever cram everything there is to know into one tutorial or series of tuts.

What area of C4D would you like to master? What would you use it for?
 
Thanks, that's actually an encouraging answer. I liked 3DS because it was relatively easy to learn and I found it more intuitive than Maya and no harder than XSI. I like its compatibility with FumeFX, but it seems TurbulenceFD is adequate for most use cases and compatible with C4D. If Studio Max integrated as well with After Effects and were OSX compatible and affordable, I wouldn't switch, but I've been OSX-only for 10 years. (Before then, I used Max a lot in boot camp.)

My professional uses are basic motion graphics and basic 3D that I can sell as photoreal through comp... buying a stock model and maybe even using Element 3D, too, although Element 3D seems super gimmicky to me, but many of my professional use cases are basic.

My personal use is for spec work, where the sky's the limit: turbulenceFD or fume particle work with tracking and occasional IK work and a lot of camera tracking, but I'm learning boujou, too. I'd like to master After Effects integration because that's what pays the bills (any less than $150k USD/year in my current market and you're starving... fwiw I'm still starving) but I want to be a generalist who can say "yeah, I can do that" 60% of the time so we don't have to bring in a specialist 100% of the time.
 
I think C4D is a very solid choice for Motion Graphics—probably the premier choice for that even. Great connection to AE.

I like that C4D is pretty easy on the eyes and I never come away feeling the interface is cluttered, like I do when I see videos from other apps. You get used to them I guess.

I would try to connect with active users that are good at what you want to be good at. I'm sure every sub part of C4D has its own little community.
 
I've been wondering the same thing. C4D had a big sale recently. I have been using 3DS max for a number of years and wondered how difficult it would be to use C4D.
One of my workstations is a MacPro running Bootcamp and Max.

I stockpiled several books and print outs of training, but found in the end that video tutorials helped me the fastest to learn
 
AndreeOnline said:
I think C4D is a very solid choice for Motion Graphics—probably the premier choice for that even. Great connection to AE.

I like that C4D is pretty easy on the eyes and I never come away feeling the interface is cluttered, like I do when I see videos from other apps. You get used to them I guess.

I would try to connect with active users that are good at what you want to be good at. I'm sure every sub part of C4D has its own little community.
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Cool, sounds good. If I were ambitious I'd go with Nuke and Max, but I'm not. It's hard for me to get hung up on things like Mental Ray not being available or whatever when I consider my rather limited painting/sculpting/animating capabilities. Simpler and almost as good is great.
 
Policar said:
(any less than $150k USD/year in my current market and you're starving...
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My gawd. Maybe that's true in your area but I suspect in your area a "starving artist" has a different
definition of "startving" than in the rest of the world.

One thing I've noticed over the years is the average animatior(specialist) has a 5 year life cycle before
burnout. That opens a whole other topic though.

Hey man, at the other end I do know a person making that level of money so I can't say one way or the other.
Best wishes and if that's what you want to do then and have a go at it. -Beers (my unprofessional opinion).

:).


However, and you can do your own research, I suspect maya is the big dog. C4D as well as other 3D programs can get specific jobs done again depending on the artist. Some of these tasks are handled by movie studios contracting out to VFX/SFX houses and then further contracted out to "begginers" in return for a movie credit==no pay. Most VFX ARE starving and most VFX companies are temporary work until they go out of business. See CGSociety posts and the companies going bankrupt working on hollywood films.

So...150K a year. Like I say, all the best. Please research first because being any kind of an artist means doing it because you love it, including music, and IF you make money at it...-Cheers.
 
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Another case in point, and all due respect to this author, but it's so typical of the lack of respect VFX people get.
I've seen it "countless' times. It's great for a learner and I've done it for free on many projects and did gain alot of experience.

Features though? Lolllll. Are you fkin kidding me?

I've heard one offer of getting a chance to do some VFX work for free basically in return for getting some experience with working with 4K footage. Excuse me?

Anyways,

-Cheers.

//Oh Crap. I missed this gig. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?334238-VFX-artist-needed
 
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I tried 3DSMax several years ago and I didn't like, then move on to Maya; great package but a kind of complicated for me, then I did give a try to Cinema 4D and since then I'm hooked to it.
For video tutorials I do recommend just a introductory one like Lynda or Digital-tutors (Plurasight) essential trainings, then jump yourself to experiment with it, because that is the best way to become a good user, working with projects even the personal ones, for how to videos look in youtube.
Basically, everything depend of your personal preferences because I'm almost sure that you can create great things with any of these packages.
 
Gord.T said:
Another case in point, and all due respect to this author, but it's so typical of the lack of respect VFX people get.
I've seen it "countless' times. It's great for a learner and I've done it for free on many projects and did gain alot of experience.

Features though? Lolllll. Are you fkin kidding me?

I've heard one offer of getting a chance to do some VFX work for free basically in return for getting some experience with working with 4K footage. Excuse me?

Anyways,

-Cheers.

//Oh Crap. I missed this gig. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?334238-VFX-artist-needed
Click to expand...

I'm confused. What do features have to do with anything? I hear you about burn out and breaking six figures being hard. I haven't been able to get to that level, but I need a career path that puts me somewhere around there within the next few year. A DP can make $150k pretty easy and an AC $100k at a high level, so I might have to transition to another field, eventually, but probably neither of those.

Right now I'm just looking to do pretty basic 3D, mostly for personal use.
 
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I recognize that having a studio arts background is pretty essential to get great. If I had the money, I would definitely go back to school for that, but I don't. I used to draw pretty well, are there any books on Amazon that recommend approaches toward learning to draw? I was just going to buy large paper and start with still life.

I know drawing comics is a whole 'nother thing, but what do you recommend for that? I would like to be able to do this, too. Thanks.
 
A year of Cineversity comes with a Maxon MSA. YouTube and Vimeo are full of tutorials too.

Despite new opportunities for 3D artists, there's a real glut of workers out there on the market and the competition can be pretty fierce. It's a very popular thing for people to want to do. Good luck getting anywhere near six figures unless you are really talented and good at networking or have some great sales and business skills if running your own business.

Also, keep in mind, the tech moves really fast and there can be a lot more learning to do in your spare time to stay relevant compared to many other industries.
 
Me too. Those thoughts never end. Mostly there are teams of people behind these works. Special cases for specialists that only focus on one task but I find that as an amateur to be an impossible goal. -

While I'm here, I like this video from a team of CG artists...no idea what programs they used...that's not the point. epic!!! -Cheers.

 
Those computer graphics, VFX, 3D elements, etc. were always fascinating to me, especially how advanced they are in today's biggest films.

It's like where do you start?
 
I think it's surprisingly affordable to just pay for the work. Comps and modelers usually make $50-$60k/year I'm now learning whereas DPs will make $200k. But there's so much more overheard with vfx than making a straight hire. But yeah that stuff is impressive.

Anyhow, I decided to go back to Studio Max after a lot of deliberation. C4D is amazing, though.
 
Oh, ignore what I said. Most people here can tell when I'm a bit hammered and ranting. I can do
that sometimes. I feel so at home here. It's all good man. Anyways...

I.M.O:

C4D is artist friendly whereas Maya and 3DS Max are technically based. 3DS Max being more
intuitive to me than Maya but Maya has recently made great strides in modifing thier software
to make it easier for newcomers to attach to. And trying the new demos I find that is very
true.

C4D has also been bought out by another company and R17 is getting pretty competitive in the
field I should think. I just upgraded from R10.1 and yeah. Someones putting money into it.

In the end, considering everything else I've said on the subject, there are free 30 day demos
to try. C4D has tons and tons of free tutes-vids on youtube. Maybe if someone is considering
trying C4D, maybe watch several YT tutes first to get a feel for it.

-Cheers.
 
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Gord.T said:
Oh, ignore what I said. Most people here can tell when I'm a bit hammered and ranting. I can do
that sometimes. I feel so at home here. It's all good man. Anyways...

I.M.O:

C4D is artist friendly whereas Maya and 3DS Max are technically based. 3DS Max being more
intuitive to me than Maya but Maya has recently made great strides in modifing thier software
to make it easier for newcomers to attach to. And trying the new demos I find that is very
true.

C4D has also been bought out by another company and R17 is getting pretty competitive in the
field I should think. I just upgraded from R10.1 and yeah. Someones putting money into it.

In the end, considering everything else I've said on the subject, there are free 30 day demos
to try. C4D has tons and tons of free tutes-vids on youtube. Maybe if someone is considering
trying C4D, maybe watch several YT tutes first to get a feel for it.

-Cheers.
Click to expand...

I missed what you wrote, but wish I hadn't now.

Anyhow, I taught myself Studio Max in a couple weeks when I was in high school and it's pretty easy technically, but I'm definitely more technical than artistic. Maya tripped me up more when I tried to learn that (granted I had less time with it) and both XSI and C4D seem unintuitive because they don't remind me of Studio Max. C4D seems to be less technically oriented so it's probably not for me. I'm not a good artist, so I'll just go with what's familiar and powerful technically for procedural effects.
 
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