Cineversity

Brand new to C4D and struggling so hard to follow this tutorial.

When he brings in the wind deformer, makes it a child of his seaweed and places it near the bottom of the “stalk” then presses play there is almost no movement. Mine - with the settings all at default because I have barely used any of the tools in C4D besides the ones from this set of tutorials - my seaweed rotates aggressively. So from that point on I can’t get it to recreate what is happening in the tutorial because it is so radically different from what’s happening in the video and I don’t know how to fix it.

Hi studio,

Please have a look at the file below:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/w0B89X3365a3f2XWKKvOFhwlupdc5wXHThQZgP9B9CQ

So, what to do when things are not working?

Go back to the point where it was working and check again. Often it is just one missed step. To recognize those little steps and see what they do will help you spot other problems in the future. There are no mistakes, only gained experience.

Things often work together and build upon each other. To see what one or the other does create a copy. Then adjust only one parameter at a time and check again.

The application will normally do anything based on the received parameters and other parts that can be changed. So when it all of a sudden works in the copy but not in the original set up, you can select two identical objects and compare the Attribute Manager numbers. If they are the same, it must be something different. When two (or more) identical objects are selected, the Attribute manager also shows where the settings do not match (Multiple Values).

If all parameters are the same, even the position, it can be that the order of the objects is different. This matters. (the orange copy in the file!)

There is more, but please just ask when the tips from above will not help anymore.

All these explorations are important, even if things might not work directly. Whatever happens, as long as you explore it, your knowledge will grow.
Any of these steps will pay off at one point. Jumping over those will leave little black holes in the knowledge. Nothing that I wish to have for anyone.

Enjoy the ride, and you will see it will get better every day.

If you attach a project file to your question (zip the file), it would be easier to determine what happens; images are only secondarily useful here.

Cheers

I am working through the Getting Started tutorial (https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/getting_started_with_cinema_4d_r20/getting_started_with_cinema_4d_part_06_introduction_to_deformers) in which he describes handles on the wind deformer as I point to in this screen shot. I do not see any such handles no matter the tool I use in editing the wind deformer. Surely I’m missing something obvious or is this another difference between the latest version of the software and the tutorials?

Hi david.pollock,

Please note, if there is a question about a tutorial, please use only the Help button right below the video. This keeps things organized and sets up the headline (which should not be changed). Thanks for considering.

The part that you have a question about is around 20:00 [min:sec]

I’m not sure if I got your problem correctly, but I believe it was the rotational bands. He mentioned: Press the R key.

E = move
R = rotate
T = scale

Please look at the 60-sec clip that I have recorded for you. I hope I have included all options around that timeframe.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/rVwFQoJKCLecgrfitlvfn4T08ZfxDmJ8eJM7BPpA67R

All the best

Thank you much, but no, that’s not what I am talking about. At about 19:30 in the tutorial, he references a “little dot” to control the size of the deformer. I don’t have a dot.

Hi david.pollock,

So the image is taken from the Video.

Please check if you are in Model mode, and not in point, edge, or polygon mode.
Perhaps just use a new project file, call up a Wind deformer and check if the dots are there.

All the best

Images are R22 and R25 (Model mode)

Hmm. I clicked on model mode to check (not sure what I was in at that time). Went to Object mode and then back to Model, and the handles are there. Before this, they were simply not ever showing. Perhaps I was in polygon mode or something. I’m really not sure, but I see them now. Thanks.

You’re very welcome, david.pollock.

I’m glad you can work with it now and continue the series.

Enjoy.