CV-ArtSmart: Download and Install

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Instructor Rick Barrett

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  • Duration: 05:17
  • Views: 36700772
  • Made with Release: 14
  • Works with Release: 14 and greater

Learn how to download and install CV-Artsmart from Cineversity

With Cineversity’s ArtSmart plugin, you can easily add artwork from virtually any Adobe Illustrator or PDF file to CINEMA 4D Release 13 or greater.

In this video, you'll learn how to download, install and use the ArtSmart plugin.

Current Version: 2.82

If you don’t already have CV-Toolbox installed, please watch this video for instructions: CV Toolbox Download & Install

To Install CV-ArtSmart Manually:
You will need to download the .zip folder from Cineversity by clicking the "Files" button above. You will then need to extract the plugin before placing it in your plugins folder.
When you're inside Cinema 4D, Go to Edit > Preferences > Open Preferences Folder. This will take you to your Cinema 4D Preference folder.
Navigate to the Plugins folder and put the CV-ArtSmart Plugin in this folder.
If you already have C4D open, you will have to restart the program before you will see the plugin appear.

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Transcript

- With Cineversity's ArtSmart plug-in, you can easily import artwork from virtually any Adobe Illustrator or PDF file. ArtSmart uses Cinema 4D's Python API and requires Cinema 4D release 13 or greater. ArtSmart can be used with Cinema 4D Prime, Broadcast, Visualize or Studio. Although, the MoGraph integration is available only with Broadcast and Studio. To get started with ArtSmart, simply click the Files link to the left of the video. Once the file downloads, extract it into the Plug-Ins folder of your Cinema 4D installation. Restart Cinema 4D and you'll find CV ArtSmart within the Plug-Ins menu. There's actually two options. If you just want to import the splines, you can do this quickly using the CV ArtSmart Import command. The CV ArtSmart Object offers a powerful and flexible workflow to add extrusions, offsets, animation and materials that are retained even if you reload the Illustrator artwork. If you want to make either the command or object more accessible, you can search for ArtSmart within the Customized Commands Manager and add a keyboard shortcut or drag the icon onto one of your pallets. Keep in mind that ArtSmart doesn't change to the native Cinema 4D Illustrator import at all. You must use the ArtSmart Import command or the ArtSmart Object in order to access the powerful ArtSmart engine, and the Import Illustrator file saved with version nine and above. You do need to save artwork as a PDF-compatible file, an option that's enabled by default in Illustrator. Files can be saved with or without compression, although the file will load more accurately within ArtSmart when Compression is disabled. The actual path data should be identical either way. But PDFs and Illustrator files with compression might import separate splines representing the stroke and fill of a single path. Compound path handling is also more accurate when Compression is disabled, and more information can be collected about layers in the artwork. Also, keep in mind that ArtSmart can't currently parse fonts, so you'll still have to create outlines for many texts prior to saving the file. Text will be ignored, so a good workflow might be to just copy the text objects and create outlines, while retaining the original text in case you need to make changes. A few other advanced Illustrator features like gradient fills and transparency also aren't currently supported. To load your artwork, simply click the File Selector within the ArtSmart Object, and then choose the file. By default, the artwork is automatically centered on the X, Y plane. You can disable the centering by deactivating the Center X, Y checkbox. The three sliders here allow you to quickly add depth to your artwork, and all three can be animated. The first slider allows you to adjust the Z-offset between each Illustrator layer. With the second slider, you can adjust the offset between each path. These sliders are global, affecting every path and layer in the artwork. The third slider allows you to specify the extrusion depth. As soon as you add extrusion, a virtual Extrude NURBS object is applied to each path. All the cap and fillet options for the extrusions can be set up in the Caps tab, and the options here are identical to the Extrude NURBS object. On the Layers tab, there's a subgroup for each Illustrator layer, with additional sliders to modify the global offset, path spread, and extrusion depth for the paths within that layer. There's an option to center the artwork on the Z-axis, which really only becomes useful once you've added path offsets. You can also adjust the spline interpolation for your Illustrator splines in case you need to smooth them out or reduce segments for speed. The fill color for each path is automatically applied to the object color of each extrusion. You can use the Create Materials option to generate Cinema 4D materials for each fill color within each layer. Materials are automatically linked with the proper extrusions. In the Layers tab, you'll find a subgroup for each path within a layer. In this group, you can link a different material to each extrusion, or link a material to the cap or rounding portion. If you own Cinema 4D Broadcast or Studio, you can enable the Use MoGraph option. Note that the object fill can't be displayed when MoGraph is used. So you want to create materials first to retain the fill color. The Use MoGraph option applies a fracture object to each Illustrator layer so you can add animation using MoGraph effectors. Effectors added in the Layer Effectors tab will animate each Illustrator layer. In the Layers tab, you can use effectors on each layer to animate the paths within that layer. Two remaining buttons on the Object tab allow you to quickly open the artwork in Adobe Illustrator and reload the artwork in the ArtSmart Object. When you click Reload, the Spline data will be updated to match the Illustrator file. All your offset and extrusion options will be retained and ArtSmart will do its best to match your existing materials with each path. Enjoy using ArtSmart and please let us know in the Cineversity forums how it enhances your workflow.
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