Maxon Cinema 4D 9

The modelling power on offer has been strengthened too. New tools include Polygon Close for filling holes within objects, and Stitch and Sew for filling gaps between objects. Most impressive is the excellent Brush tool for interactively applying no fewer than 13 different effects, from smearing through to smoothing. The crucial Knife tool has also been enhanced and now offers five different modes for cutting lines, loops, holes, planes and paths. And the main surface editing commands, such as Matrix Extrude, are now controlled non-modally through the Attribute Manager, again with the option of real-time updating.

The biggest modelling enhancement is the introduction of N-Gons. Previously, as with most modelling applications, Cinema 4D supported 3- and 4-pointed triangles and quadrilaterals; now this limit is lifted entirely and you can create N-Gons - polygons with any numbers of corners. This is ideal for creating objects from scratch, especially as you no longer have to add your points and then join them in a two-stage process. It also comes into its own when simplifying a model with the new Melt tool, which converts multiple polygons into a single N-Gon, and also when adding detail with the Knife tool: this creates new N-Gons by default, so keeping the mesh under control and easier to edit.

Like Cinema 4D's object handling and its HyperNURBS handling in particular, the introduction of N-Gons is another example of how Cinema 4D abstracts you from the inherent complexities of 3D handling. In practice, this means another boost to productivity and ease of use. Best of all, when you do need to get down to the nitty-gritty of mesh-level manipulation, the hands-on editing power is there too.

Author: Tom Arah