Using Cinema 4D Plugin

With Anima it is possible to easily generate animations in Cinema 4D using the native plugin included in the installer. The plugin for Cinema 4D optimizes memory usage and gives you the flexibility to use your choice of renderer including Redshift, V-Ray, Corona, Octane or the built in Physical Renderer.

For each scene you import, the plugin will create 2 types of object: an Anima import object, which is the root object of all the Anima content and includes all the parameters and features available in the plugin, and the Anima actors, which represent each one of the characters of your simulation. The actors are grouped per scene and represented in the node tree with the name that the scene has in the imported Anima project. Also, the actors imported using the Anima Drop will be grouped at the scene level under the name "Dropped characters".

To edit the parameters for actors, select the Anima import object and all the options available will appear in the Attribute Manager.

To open a scene

Loading, controlling and rendering an Anima scene into Cinema 4D is really simple, just follow these steps:

1. Go to the Extensions Menu and click on Anima > Anima Import.

2. Browse to the location of your Anima project, these have a .aniproj file format. Select it and Click Open.

3. The Select Scene menu opens with a dropdown list showing all the available Anima scenes in the project. Choose the one you wish to load and click Open.

4. The Material Adapter window opens. This automatically detects and creates photorealistic materials for your current renderer but also allows you to select from alternative options like Plaster or Semi-Opaque materials for stylized results. To load photoreal materials leave the settings on Regular Config and click Apply Materials to import the Anima scene.

This parameter is set in the Anima project directly when using the Anima Drop:

...or when using the Anima Designer, in Anima Menu > Project > Settings:

There, in the drop down, you can Select the Texture Quality for the materials that the plugin will automatically generate for your actors, adapted to the Render Engine that you have currently selected in your scene:

Which correspond to the following square sizes in pixels:

When you import an Anima project into Cinema 4D, the Anima import object is generated and set as parent of all the Anima scenes and assets generated. This root object is used by the plugin as the controller of the actors. Although it is not visible in the viewports, it will be selected when you click on any character of the scene.

It can be used to control many aspects of the display and playback of the characters, and for interacting with the same scene loaded inside the Anima Designer, through the Alive Synchronization connection.

When the Anima import object is selected, the following options will be available in the Attribute Manager:

Object Properties

Project Path – The Anima project associated with the scene controller. Click on the folder icon (on the right) to load a different project.

Reload current scenes – Reloads the Anima project and opens the Select Scene window. You can use this to either open a different scene, replacing the existing characters or update the scene after making changes to it in Anima standalone.

Browse scenes – Opens the Scene Dialog to select other scenes and loads the selected scenes into the current C4D scene. It multiple scenes are selected,  all of them will be added.

Convert drop models to scene – Converts the models added using Anima Drop into a new Anima scene that can be edited using the Anima Designer standalone application.

Display Properties

Show all – Sets all the actors to be displayed as mesh in the viewport.

Arrow/Mesh – Controls the number of characters that can be displayed in as mesh. If there are more characters in the scene than this value then the additional characters display as a simple arrow. This can be used to improve the viewport playback responsiveness. It doesn't affect the render, all the models will be shown at render time.

Unlock children (Deprecated, use the Scene Objects instead) – Allows to move, rotate or scale all the actors contained inside Anima scene. (It doesn't work for individual characters).

4D actors – This is used to improve the playback responsiveness in the viewport when 4D actors are present in the scene. By default the option selected is Colored. It is only applied in the viewport, the renders will always show the original animated textures. Options:

Colored: Displays the 4D actors with a single plain yellow texture for a better performance (on viewport only).
Textured: Displays the 4D actors with their native animated texture.

Playback

Playback Speed – Controls the animation speed. Use value less than 100% to play back animations in slow motion or greater than 100% to speed them up.

Offset in secs – Offsets start and end point of the animation. Measured in seconds.

Apply to – Sets the scene that will get the defined Playback and Offset.

Backgrounds and Scene Information

Backgrounds – Displays the objects selected from the C4D scene that will be sent to Anima as collision backgrounds through Alive Synchronization.

Scene Information – Displays useful statistics about the scene. Can be useful for analyzing performance.

Anima Alive and Plugin Info

Anima Alive – Shows the state of the Alive Synchronization connection.

Plugin Info – It shows  a quick preview of Anima's version and copyrights

To delete actors

To delete individual actors, select any actor and press the delete key.

To delete all actors - select the root Anima import object and press the delete key.

Change Visibility of Individual Actors for Arrows

Select an actor, and in the object attributes, check the box "Is arrow".

Optimize Viewport Previews

Displaying hundreds or thousands of animated characters can be taxing for your viewports. To make sure you never see a slow-down the Anima plugin allows you to display characters as arrows when their number exceeds a set threshold.

To use this feature:

1. Select the root Anima import object.
2. Open the Attribute Manager.
3. Adjust the Display Value. This represents the number of characters to display in full mesh mode.

Change Playback Speed

With the Anima plugin you can change the playback speed of simulations, and this can be done individually for each one of the Anima scenes that are loaded. This is ideal for creating slow motion and high speed effects, or simply to apply subtle adjustments to the scene.

To use this feature, follow the process described below:

1. Select the root Anima import object.

2. Open the Attribute Manager.

3. Select the scene were you want the new speed to be applied (or Affect all scenes to apply it to all the Anima scenes currently loaded).

4. Adjust the Playback Speed value or slider. Values less than 100% slow down the animation and values greater than 100% speed it up.

Offset Animation

You can fine-tune animation by offsetting it along the timeline. To use this feature:

1. Select an Anima scene object.

2. Open the Attribute Manager.

3. Select the scene were you want the new speed to be applied (or Affect all scenes to apply it to all the Anima scenes currently loaded).

4. Adjust the Time Offset parameter. Negative values move the animation backwards in time, positive values move it forwards.