Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop Makin’ Waffles with Elly Wade

Unlock your creativity with this hands-on workshop designed for those new to Cinema 4D and its built-in render engine Redshift. Whether you’re an aspiring motion designer, visual artist, or just curious about the world of 3D, this course will provide you with the fundamental tools and techniques to bring your ideas to life! 

• Getting Started with Cinema 4D and Redshift: Get comfortable with the interface, navigation and key tools for creating and modeling 3D objects.

• Lighting and Composition: Understand fundamental 3D principles for lighting and composition, including working with the Redshift Camera and Lights.

• Exploring Redshift Texturing: Dive into Redshift’s material system and node editor. Discover how to begin creating your own materials and some of the most used nodes.

• Introduction to Animation: Learn how to animate objects and cameras to bring your scene to life.

• Rendering: Understand the key fundamentals to creating a great render, balancing speed and quality.

This workshop is perfect for beginners with little to no experience in Cinema 4D or Redshift. With easy to follow along steps and projects, you’ll walk away with a fundamental understanding of the key tools and skills to kickstart your 3D journey! 

In this episode you’ll dive into the world of 3D, get familiar with the Cinema 4D interface and navigation. Learn how to create and change geometric shapes with Deformers and the importance of topology to build a foundation. Finally dive into using Generators to add more organic or complex details to your mesh.

In this episode you’ll begin exploring Redshift, learn about different light sources, including Dome Lights, HDRIs and Area Lights, and how to combine them to add interesting lighting to the scene. Familiarize yourself with the key principles of lighting, such as intensity, color, temperature and shadow, and how they can be used to influence mood, contrast and focus.

In this episode you’ll learn Redshift’s material system, exploring the basics of how to create and customize textures using the powerful node-based editor. Understand how to build various material types, from simple plastic and metal to more complex textures like cardboard and food. Dive into some of Redshift’s most common nodes and shaders, including procedural Maxon noises.

In this episode you’ll get comfortable with Redshift’s render settings, focusing on the key concepts to ensure your projects are optimized for both quality and speed. Explore techniques to fine tune your render, including Depth of Field (Bokeh), Motion Blur and PostFX, and learn the importance of sampling and global illumination (GI) to balance high-quality with efficient render times.

In this episode you’ll dive into the basic principles of animation, such as keyframing and Cinema 4D’s timeline, to start moving objects and cameras around your scene. Learn how to create and adjust keyframes for dynamic movement and discover the powerful MoGraph tools to begin exploring the possibilities within animation.