Cineversity

Hey,
as the title says I’m interessted in how you guys handle this workflow? Especially if you bounce back and forth between the apps.
I mean if you start in C4d and just want to add additional footage,... in AFx and use the one way route it isn’t much of a deal as you could use Cineware ot an AEC file (which doesn’t work when you use relative path and tokens to setup your render) to get this data into AFX.

So I’m more interessted in going back and forth between the apps and getting the coordinates to always align properly. Normaly this should be a straight forward workflow as well but I normally use camera rigs(from HelloLux),... in C4d to make my live easier and this is when it gets trickier. I found out that I have to bake the animated camera properties into keyframes when I want them to be reflected in AFX. But when I do so the coordinates “change” from a relative position of the camera in relation to the null into an absolute world position and this is when the coordinate systems don’t match up anymore when I sent the camera, lights,... back into AFX. Is the only way to get a good back and forth workflow to use the camera from AFX as is without ever setting it as a child/or using any other fancy cam rig? How do you guys go about it?
And I also had problems with lights not being in the right spot where they are supposed to be when sending them from C4d via Cineware into AFX(and here I didn’t change the camera as I used a 3d track and just placed some lights in the scene). Did anyone else notice this strange behavior?

Thanks for your tips
Cheers

Hi Maui,

Have you tried to un-parent [Main Menu> Character>Commands> Unparent] the camera before baking?
Sorry, I’m unfamiliar with this 3rd party rig, I have never seen it. Un-parenting might break it.
Perhaps HelloLux has a forum and knows how it should be done to be successful? He is certainly someone who does things right.

If the objects are not represented as they should, please contact the support. As long as you stay in c4d, things should be the precise.

https://www.maxon.net/en-us/support/how-can-we-help/

All the best

Thanks for your fast reply.

I guess it is a general problem of using any kind of camera-rig and want to align the coordinates systems of both apps - in the tests I did I sent text in 3d space from AFX to C4d did some simple camera movement tests, baked the camera and used cineware to get those back into AFX but as described in the first post now the camera coordinates are diffrent and the AFX 3d Text doesn’t align with the extruded Cinema 4d Text even those should sit on top of each other; this also happens to 3d nulls I exported into the AFX scene.

If I would un-parent the camera before baking the animation it wouldn’t work as 3 nulls are used for adjusting heading, pitch and banking of the camera (here is link to the HelloLux Rig: http://helloluxx.com/tutorials/cinema4d-2/cinema4d-misc/cinema4d-orbit-camera-preset/ ) and so no animation would be left.

The position of the lights didn’t change in C4d but after I sent them into AFX. But I will do some more tests and see if it will happen in other scenarios as well.

Hi Maui,

Please check with the support. If data is not correct during/after an exchange/roundtrip for you, then this needs technical support.

https://www.maxon.net/en-us/support/how-can-we-help/

I can’t reproduce this here.
You might check to transfer the camera to a single non rigged camera, and back this camera. Which allows as well to keep it as back up.
Anyway, I do not see how I can help here, as I’m not supposed to do technical support here.

I assume you have the newest versions of all apps and plug ins.

All the best

I’ve contacted the support and they helped me out.
I have to make my camera rig setup a child of the, from AFX generated, Null Object as it is “used” to compensate for the difference in the coordinate systems - AFX uses the top left as 0,0,0. When I make my animation under this null and bake it into keyframes everything lines up after I come back to AFX (but I have to check the different camera options in the Cineware Effect to make sure everything works as expected).

The problem with the lights not lining up as expected is a known issue and they are working on it.

Hi Maui,

Thanks a lot for sharing your results. Very nice of you.
Since I’m not supposed to handle tech stuff here, that was the best way to go.

My best wishes and fingers crossed the next update handles this issue as well.