Opinion on Cinema 4D ( Prime or Bodypaint 3D ) for game assets creation

Andreicus

Hi guys, i'd like to know your opinion about Cinema 4D Prime version or Bodypaint 3D version ( it contains all the features of Prime+sculpting and painting ) for game assets creation for the marketplace and personal works in general.

The price is not too high ( 750 € for Prime or 850 € for Bodypaint 3D ) for a perpetual license and you can find a used license for 400 € but i read that Cinema 4D is bad when it comes to UVs and exporting meshes for games but i never used it so i'm seeking some opinion.

Cinema 4D comparison page: https://www.maxon.net/en/products/infosites/product-comparison/

I'm currently trying Modo and i like it so far but before trying out another software for 1 week or more i'd like to hear some opinion.
  

V0X

I’ve been a c4d user for over a decade. I’ve done everything from motion graphics to game content to industrial design. I say all that to put some weight behind what I’m about to say.

Skip C4D.

Maxon is one of the most customer-tone-deff 3D tool companies still around. This is coming from a hallowed beta tester of many years. They just don’t care about games and they barely care about the needs of their motion graphics customers. C4D is most easily summed up as one the most beautiful and easy to learn packages that only get you 70% there and will force you to supplement that last 30% with a myriad of other applications.

Before learning C4D I would strongly encourage you to learn Blender. Modo and Houdini are great packages if you are looking to spend money, but really give Blender a shot, it’s nothing like it used to be and it’s versatility is down  right shocking considering it’s price and pedigree.

Andreicus

V0X said:

I’ve been a c4d user for over a decade. I’ve done everything from motion graphics to game content to industrial design. I say all that to put some weight behind what I’m about to say.

Skip C4D.

Maxon is one of the most customer-tone-deff 3D tool companies still around. This is coming from a hallowed beta tester of many years. They just don’t care about games and they barely care about the needs of their motion graphics customers. C4D is most easily summed up as one the most beautiful and easy to learn packages that only get you 70% there and will force you to supplement that last 30% with a myriad of other applications.

Before learning C4D I would strongly encourage you to learn Blender. Modo and Houdini are great packages if you are looking to spend money, but really give Blender a shot, it’s nothing like it used to be and it’s versatility is down  right shocking considering it’s price and pedigree.

Thanks for your answer, Blender was the first software that i learned when i started doing CG about 4-5 years ago, i used it for 1 year than i switched to Maya until now.
Because of that i know that Blender is a good software but i never really liked the interface and workflow.

Houdini is awesome, i learned it a couple of years ago when i was into FX and i also used it for terrains but now i'm not using it anymore because, well, i don't do FX and for terrains i use Gaea from Quadspinner and traditional modeling in Houdini is...not really a joy compared to other softwares but for procedural modeling is a life saver.

With that said i was looking at Maya LT ( but it is expensive ), Modo Indie ( all the "modo indie is not developed anymore" speculations are gone so i think it's safe to buy now ) and Cinema 4D but on the net i read only complaints about c4d so....

alheck

Speaking as a motion graphic designer first, it's easy to question if C4D is any good at game development.  The answer is yes.  UV mapping system is strong, the ability to sculpt from low poly to a high poly count then bake out normals is fantastic, being able to use bodypaint on not only your color channel but all of  your channels is huge, rig and weight your character, build custom ik splines and joints with springs, add external mocap to your rig is easy.  And it's all in one program.  Maya is pretty weak.  Blender has grown so much and is very impressive.  But there's so much under the hood for C4D if you take the time to learn it.  It just works differently and a lot of focus is placed on fui designs and stuff.  But it can solidly help in game development.

kanga

I taught C4D for about 4 yeas at the local collage. It'll do everything you need for game art. Now I am using Blender and for me its a no brainer but it will depend on your millage. The thing I like most about Blender is the large, fast moving, inventive and responsive community. All Blender asks of you is the time to get to know it.

Andreicus

kanga said:

I taught C4D for about 4 yeas at the local collage. It'll do everything you need for game art. Now I am using Blender and for me its a no brainer but it will depend on your millage. The thing I like most about Blender is the large, fast moving, inventive and responsive community. All Blender asks of you is the time to get to know it.

I'm currently waiting for blender 2.8 to comes out after i read that it will introduce industry standard hotkeys ( hotkeys taken from Maya for modeling and animation and Zbrush for painting and sculpting ) and UI.
For the moment i'm using Maya LT ( bought 1 month subscription to do stuff ), i tried out c4d ( prime ) but it feels too limited compared to Maya.

I don't think i should start re-learning Blender until the 2.8 comes out because it will be quite different i think... but maybe i'm wrong and the transition from 2.79 and 2.8 will be smooth, i don't know.

kio

Feature wise 2.79 isn't all that different to 2.8.  the main difference is the revamped viewport and scene handling via collections - but that doesn't really change how blender works. So  I think it's perfectly fine to learn the basics and sometimes shortcomings of blender right now, there is also lots of nice stuff to explore.

That said, don't think too much about switching software all the time, the grass is always greener elsewhere. It's more important to actually work and just create something

Andreicus

kio said:

Feature wise 2.79 isn't all that different to 2.8.  the main difference is the revamped viewport and scene handling via collections - but that doesn't really change how blender works. So  I think it's perfectly fine to learn the basics and sometimes shortcomings of blender right now, there is also lots of nice stuff to explore.

That said, don't think too much about switching software all the time, the grass is always greener elsewhere. It's more important to actually work and just create something

Well i used Maya for over 3 years as my main package ( i used blender for 1 year until i switched to Maya ) and never looked back until now but you know, when you start selling stuff on the marketplace and the income per unit are quite good but not "stable" and you must pay a license every month because is rental you start thinking about it.

But you are probably right ahah, i tend to overthink all my decisions even where there is no need to.

kio

Haha don't worry, I totally understand. I've gotten too old to pirate software at home, and really not feeling buying/subscribing to something, so I ended up looking into blender and feel like it's pretty solid.

In the studio this doesn't really work as we have 80% Maya clients and are a bit locked in the Autodesk world because of that. if that is not an issue for you, other DCC applications are well worth a try.

I feel like Modo/Houdini/c4d are all very valid choices and good tools, but free is hard to beat heh

( open source and non-profit aspect of blender is also a big plus in my book)

kanga

Andreicus said:

...

I'm currently waiting for blender 2.8 to comes out after i read that it will introduce industry standard hotkeys ( hotkeys taken from Maya for modeling and animation and Zbrush for painting and sculpting ) and UI.
For the moment i'm using Maya LT ( bought 1 month subscription to do stuff ), i tried out c4d ( prime ) but it feels too limited compared to Maya.

I don't think i should start re-learning Blender until the 2.8 comes out because it will be quite different i think... but maybe i'm wrong and the transition from 2.79 and 2.8 will be smooth, i don't know.

Yeah I downloaded the 2.8 Beta just to give the eevee render engine a whizz. I like the interface improvements and the viewport model graphics seem improved as well. The majority of nhotkeys seem the same. Ive toyed with Blender in the past but only now switched over. If you have used Blender for a year Im not telling you anything new.

Im doing product development at the mo and have used Max, Maya, C4D, Houdini and tried 3DCoat and as yet havent hit any solid wall in Blender that I cant get through and its powerful enough to do all I  need in a modelling app. For game art if I was you I would be looking to spend my money on the other parts of my pipeline like ZBrush and Substance painter, which Blender can Probably also do. But what can I say,.. Im a spoiled brat

Cheerio

Andreicus

kanga said:

Andreicus said:

...

I'm currently waiting for blender 2.8 to comes out after i read that it will introduce industry standard hotkeys ( hotkeys taken from Maya for modeling and animation and Zbrush for painting and sculpting ) and UI.
For the moment i'm using Maya LT ( bought 1 month subscription to do stuff ), i tried out c4d ( prime ) but it feels too limited compared to Maya.

I don't think i should start re-learning Blender until the 2.8 comes out because it will be quite different i think... but maybe i'm wrong and the transition from 2.79 and 2.8 will be smooth, i don't know.

Yeah I downloaded the 2.8 Beta just to give the eevee render engine a whizz. I like the interface improvements and the viewport model graphics seem improved as well. The majority of nhotkeys seem the same. Ive toyed with Blender in the past but only now switched over. If you have used Blender for a year Im not telling you anything new.

Im doing product development at the mo and have used Max, Maya, C4D, Houdini and tried 3DCoat and as yet havent hit any solid wall in Blender that I cant get through and its powerful enough to do all I  need in a modelling app. For game art if I was you I would be looking to spend my money on the other parts of my pipeline like ZBrush and Substance painter, which Blender can Probably also do. But what can I say,.. Im a spoiled brat

Cheerio

Yes, i already bought all the other softwares like Substance, Marmoset, Zbrush ( core version, for what i usually do i don't need the full ) etc. because with a max of 100 € or 150 € for each one you are ready to go with a sweet sweet perpetual license.

Regarding the hotkeys, i mean this: https://developer.blender.org/T54963
They are another set of hotkeys that they will be natively integrated into Blender 2.8 to emulate Maya and Zbrush but they won't replace the original ones.

Just for curiosity, do you use the Maya preset ( the ones found in the user preferences ) for the mouse or the hotkeys in Blender 2.79 ? 

kanga

No just getting used to the standard Blender Hotkeys. I would be using the 3dMax hotkeys tho. I thought if I was going to switch I would go all the way. Probably easier in the end.

Andreicus

Yes I did the same, I kept only the Maya navigation style because it is the standard and I like it, if anyone is interested in having a Maya style navigation while keeping blender hotkeys I raccomend this tutorial: https://youtu.be/12fqTUyDts0 because if you use the preset you won't have the blender hotkeys anymore

EGGO

Well.. Cinema4D is my main 3d app (+ ZB and SP). I can't say it's amazing for everything but it actually depends on how you use it and a bit of plugins) And C4D is not crashing.... The only downside for me actually is it's price. I'm Studio user but I completely understand all complaints about it's price.
Almost all my works done with Cinema4D help if interesting: https://www.artstation.com/eggo

Andreicus

EGGO said:

Well.. Cinema4D is my main 3d app (+ ZB and SP). I can't say it's amazing for everything but it actually depends on how you use it and a bit of plugins) And C4D is not crashing.... The only downside for me actually is it's price. I'm Studio user but I completely understand all complaints about it's price.
Almost all my works done with Cinema4D help if interesting: https://www.artstation.com/eggo

I'll take a look at your works when I get home, thanks, I'm currently testing out both of them, one downside of C4D is that with prime you don't have scattering and advanced duplicate/array tools like Mash in Maya or the array tool of blender that they would be quiete useful when modeling ( correct me if I'm wrong, I'm still testing it) 

EGGO

Yep. Prime doesn't have mograph..