Chaos Corona Forum
Chaos Corona for Cinema 4D => [C4D] General Discussion => Topic started by: mrittman on 2017-02-22, 17:26:52
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Am I the only one that is somewhat confused by the way materials are set up in Cinema 4D? When you compare its material setup to 3ds max, it just feels much more complicated. You can see what I'm talking about in the attached image. In Cinema 4D there's sliders and inputs and everything else, whereas 3ds max just has a few settings, which is so nice. Just wish Maxon would simplify the dang material editor! Okay, enough venting lol.
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they are almost the same. But yes, C4D UI is biggest and confused.
In 3ds max we haven't any slider (it's a little bit redundant, if you have already a number input)
And, in 3ds Max all textures input are in a separated rollout.
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as 9years c4d user and half-a-year max user i prefer cinemas UI much much better and find it more easier and flexible.
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In 3ds max, with his compact UI, you can see almost all the shader parameters in a tiny space.
In C4D you have open a lot of different sections. =)
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Yeah I'm just hoping when they release the node editor in Beta 2 that it helps simplify things further.
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https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php/topic,13808.0.html
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One thing to note in your comparison, is that the the C4D window you're showing is how the material setup looks for Corona materials. Regular C4D materials don't look exactly like that. They use something called the Reflectance Channel where you can layer many different effects to create complex materials. Yes, it is not very user friendly, but only when you add a lot of layers. I ended up buying Topcoat from Greyscale Gorilla which makes working with Reflectance materials much more intuitive.
On top of all that, having all those image wells and keyframe buttons makes it very powerful if you know how to make it sing.
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Oh I wasn't aware that Reflectance worked with Corona. Don't you need to create all new materials when you use it? TopCoat is nice, but I thought it only worked with the Physical renderer.
Yeah having all those options are nice in the Cinema materials, just kind of confusing at first glance haha. Like for example, does Brightness under the reflection channel correlate to Level in the 3ds max version?
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Oh I wasn't aware that Reflectance worked with Corona. Don't you need to create all new materials when you use it? TopCoat is nice, but I thought it only worked with the Physical renderer.
Yeah having all those options are nice in the Cinema materials, just kind of confusing at first glance haha. Like for example, does Brightness under the reflection channel correlate to Level in the 3ds max version?
Yes the Brightness has the same effect as level in max - but only if you don't have a map in the slot.
But with the new PBR Materials you rarely have to touch the reflection anyway. Just use the glosiness - as easy as that!
BTW I like the C4D Editor way more than the max one which just looks awful ;-)
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@mrittman The reflectance channel works with Standard and Physical Renderers. It replaced the standard reflection channel. But my point is, that interface you're showing in C4D, only shows up like that when you create a Corona-specific material. It has it's own tabs and options. C4D's isn't less confusing, but I didn't want people to get the wrong idea.
So in that reflectance tab, you can add many layers of materials, textures and effects. Topcoat just adds a nice GUI to the process and adds a bunch of easy-to-use features such as bumps, dents, lots of bumps, blurs, metallic presets and so on. I can make a complex material quickly without know how the deep controls of the reflectance channel works.
Anyway, they're working on a nodal system anyway so this is a moot point, right?