Cinema 4D: 3D Sculpting Tutorial

Since version R14, CINEMA 4D has had a sculpting tool that allows you to work very intuitively. It is particularly suitable for modeling organic shapes and characters.

In order for modeling from basic objects to work well, the view preset must be changed slightly: The orange border of the active object and the grid lines should be deactivated.

If you want to design an object that consists of complex shapes, such as a dragon, an animal or a human figure, you can use the so-called basmeshes in the presets.

To be able to sculpt an object, it must be very finely subdivided. You can change the subdivision level at any time. The finer it is, the larger the file becomes, but the smoother and more realistic the shapes are displayed.

The build-up determines how much the model deforms while you are working on it. A low build-up value means that you brush over the same area several times without setting the tool down; the deformation becomes more pronounced each time. A high build-up value deforms more strongly from the very first brushstroke.

If you want a stroke to look even even though it is drawn by hand, the "Even stroke" option helps: a kind of line is placed between the tool and the point of action to largely compensate for jittering or slips.

Symmetry is particularly important when sculpting faces or bodies, as only one half of the object needs to be modeled. However, symmetry can also be applied across all three axes and even radially.

In most cases, the removal of the brush tip is best used unchanged. However, if you want it to be harder at the edges or have a different profile, this can be set in the "Removal".

With the stamp tool, textures can be designed as polygonal surfaces according to their luminance distribution. Or more simply: you can use this tool to make a texture look embossed or raised.

The template is a structure that is displayed in the foreground. The structure can then be transferred to a polygon object using the "Lift" tool. The differences in luminance thus become differences in height.

The mask makes it possible to partially protect an object. No deformations can occur where the mask is painted on. The layer principle is also valuable when designing: Different processing stages can be created on different layers.

"Raise", "Wax" and "Repeat" are tools that apply elevations, indentations or specific patterns to an object. The smoothing tool blurs everything softly and smoothes out unwanted corners or edges, the eraser erases back to the original undeformed state.

The two tools "Flatten" and "Remove" are very similar. Here you can see exactly where the differences lie. "Fill" applies material, but is based on existing height differences.

"Grab" can pull small or large sections in a different direction and thus deform the overall model. "Inflate" is self-explanatory, while "Constrict" and "Knife" can contract polygons to create or contour edges.

Here you can already see the result of our creative workshop. In addition to modeling, which will be the main thing, we will also be texturing with the SSS shader and lighting the scene.

When preparing a future sculpting object, it is important that the mesh structure is as uniform as possible. This is the only way to convert the many millions of polygons into displacement and normal maps later on.

Before you start modeling, you should set up the tools for this. This includes deciding whether size, hardness and symmetry should be linked together. You also need to check the symmetry settings, especially when designing characters.

The eye socket (orbit) is shaped using the lift tool. You can click on "Invert" or hold down the Shift key.

The zygomatic bone runs approximately horizontally along the sides of the skull. It is shaped out of the sphere using the lifting tool. The eye bulges around the orbit are also modeled with this tool.

The beveling tool divides the sphere into two main parts: The actual skull bone and the facial skull. As this is done with a very large tool tip, the uniform polygon structure is largely retained.

The nose is created using the inverted "lift" tool. The upper part, the nasal bone, is pulled slightly outwards. However, as the nose consists mainly of cartilage and skin, only the nasal cavity is visible.

The upper jaw (maxilla) is pulled into the correct position by grasping it. It is then shaped, taking care to place it parabolically. Later, the teeth are inserted into the jaw.

The bone on the nasal bone is very thin. To make this visible, we contour the edges with the "constriction" tool. It is worth combining the hardness of the tool with the pin pressure.

During modeling, it can happen that the proportions of a model get a little out of shape because you focus too much on the details and too little on the overall impression. This can usually be easily corrected by using a generously dimensioned "Fassen" tool.

The surface is now being provided with scratches and unevenness. It was previously too smooth and did not look organic enough. Applying the irregularities works wonderfully with the "Rectangle" painting mode.

The template is used to work on larger areas of the skull in order to apply structure everywhere. The cranial sutures (sutures) are also modeled into the bone.

During baking, the modeled shape is converted into a total of three textures: Displacement, Normalen and AO-Map. In this way, everything that currently still consists of polygons can be placed as material on the original base object and the entire file can be rendered quickly.

The teeth are formed from simple cube objects. To make them appear a little more uneven after the Hyper-NURBS rounding, a few selected edges are modified by a different Hyper-NURBS weighting.

The material already contains the most important channels, as these have been created by baking and assigned suitable values. Nevertheless, the bone can be made more realistic, e.g. by using subsurface scattering (SSS) and a photographed texture.

After switching back to the standard layout, the scene is illuminated: Two point light sources and a spotlight provide dramatic light. The AO and GI are particularly important in the render presets.