Cinema 4D on Render Network Guide

An in-depth look into the C4D x Render Network integration

The Cinema 4D integration for the Render Network is currently in a BETA Phase, and we recommend all users test a small sample of any scene on the Network BEFORE submitting an entire project or scene using the integration.

This will prevent wasted funds on avoidable errors.

The BETA is recommended for testing purposes, NOT for large-scale production work.

The Render Network has launched the first Beta version of its native C4D integration. The following guide will continue to be updated as the Beta continues, with feature additions, improvements and changes reflected throughout.

Current Cinema4D Versions supported in Beta:

• Cinema4D 2023.2.2

Current render engines supported in with Cinema4D in Beta:

• Standard & Physical (CPU - Tier 3 only)

• Octane for C4D Plugin 2023.1.3_R3

• Redshift 3.6.00 (GPU-only. Closed beta, for access please write to support)

If you are in need of support, please contact the Render Network Support Team at https://help.otoy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and select "Render Network C4D Beta" in the ticket category.

Below you can find tables containing information about current supported C4D features, unsupported C4D features, and the status surrounding those features:

C4D Feature Name	Supported: Y or N?	Additional Info
Additional File Formats (non PNG & EXR)	N	In development
Ambient Occlusion	Y
Alembics	Y
Audio Files	Y
Capsules	N	In development (excluding Python reliant capsules)
C4D Render Effects (Denoise, Sharpen, Tone Mapping, etc.)	Y
C4D Noises	Y
C4D Procedural Shaders (effects and surfaces)	Y
Cloners + Effectors	Y
Deformers	Y
Fields	Y
Generators	Y
Hair Object	Y
Hair Shader	Y
IES Lights	Y
Magic Bullet Looks	N	External Plugin not currently supported
Metaball	Y
Mograph Color Shader	Y
Mograph Beat Shader	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Mograph Multi Shader	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Mograph Camera Shader	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Mograph Cache (Internal)	Y
Mograph Cache (External)	Y
Motion Blur: Geometry	Y
Motion Blur: Volumetrics	Y
Motion Blur: Sub-frame Motion Blur	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Motion Blur: CameraMoblur (on/off)	Y
Motion Blur: Lights	Y
Motion Blur: Instances	Y
Motion Blur: Pyro-generated volumetrics	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Multipasses	Y
Octane Object Tag Hair Shading	Y
Octane Light IDs	Y*	Octane supported
ORBX Files	Y
Parenting/Constraints	Y
Python/Python Tag	N	External Plugin not currently supported
Pyro (motion blur via velocity channel)	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Render Region	Y
Simple XRefs	Y*	Standard/Physical supported, not Octane
Sketch & Toon	Y
Stage Object	Y
Substance Assets	Y
Takes	Y
Text/Mograph Text/Text Spline	N	Needs to be converted to paths or polygon objects
Thinking Particles	N	Workaround in progress
Vertexmaps	Y
Viewport Rendering	N	Error under investigation
Volume Loader Object	Y*	Needs to be inside a "Volume Loader" folder with a relative path
Volume Builder Cache	N	In development
Volume Mesher	Y
Watermark Effect	Y	Machine Info not supported

Additionally, during Alpha and closed Beta testing, certain features were discovered to need preparation in order to function currently. Those can be found in the table below alongside instructions for those features.

Feature Name	Prep Instructions
Assets from the C4D asset browser	Needs to be saved into the project folder
C4D Particle Emitter	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Cloner	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Cloth	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Rope	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Soft Body	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Rigid Body	Needs to be cached
Dynamics: Hair	Needs to be cached
IR/LM Global Illumination	Needs to be cached
Motion Blur: Hair	Needs to be cached
ORBXLoader	Relative path in PAI needed
Octane VDB Volume Object	Relative path in PAI needed
Physical/Standard Caustics effect	"Save Solution" needs to be turned off
XRefs	Relative path in PAI needed