Maxon Computer is a leading developer of 3D software for the creative industries, best known for its flagship 3D modeling, painting, rendering, and animation software, Cinema 4D. Today, users across the world rely on Cinema 4D to create cutting-edge 3D motion graphics, architectural and product visualizations, video game graphics, illustrations and much more.
Maxon's client list includes ABC, Blizzard Entertainment, BMW, Sky, CNN, Fox, ITV Creative, MPC (Moving Picture Company), NBC, NFL Network, VDO, Sony Pictures Imageworks, The Walt Disney Company, Turner Broadcasting, Vitra, and many more.
Formed in 1986 by Harald Egel, Harald Schneider and Uwe Bärtels, Maxon's headquarter is located in Germany. Maxon operates subsidiaries in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and competence centers in Japan, France and Singapore. In addition, Maxon products are sold and supported by over 150 distributors and resellers in over 80 countries worldwide. Since early 2000, Maxon has been a part of the Nemetschek Group. Mid 2018, after 32 years of service, the founders of Maxon retired from management and new CEO David McGavran was appointed on July 16, 2018.
First released commercially in 1993 on the Amiga platform, Cinema 4D debuted on Mac OS and Windows OS in 1996. In 2000, BodyPaint 3D followed, an innovative 3D painting application available as an integrated part of Cinema 4D or as a standalone product for use with other 3D applications. Now in its 20th release, Cinema 4D has always been known for powerful features, rock-solid stability, ease of use and fast workflow.
Close relationships to hardware manufacturers like Intel and Apple guarantee optimized products that follow the pulse of technology closely. There has been a major feature-packed release of Cinema 4D almost every year since its creation. Despite this rapid development speed, stability remains excellent for the product. Maxon's experienced and enthusiastic programming team is still headed by Cinema 4D's original programmers, who ensure that all new features stay true to their aims from day one of power, speed, stability and ease of use.
Why Cinema 4D?
Easy to learn and extremely powerful: Cinema 4D is the perfect package for all 3D artists who want to achieve breathtaking results fast and hassle-free. Beginners and seasoned professionals alike can take advantage of Cinema 4D’s wide range of tools and features to quickly achieve stunning results. Cinema 4D’s legendary reliability also makes it the perfect application for demanding, fast-paced 3D production, and a range of attractively priced software packages is available to fit any artist’s needs.
EASE OF USE Getting started in the world of 3D is a blast when you can quickly create great-looking results! Cinema 4D’s intuitive and easy to understand operation and logically arranged interface makes it easy for beginners to jump right in and take control. And it never ceases to amaze professional users just how easy Cinema 4D is to use. Countless tutorials and a global, highly-skilled community play an important role in bringing beginners to a professional level of use.
INTUITIVE INTERFACE Cinema 4D is a pillar in our users’ everyday workflow. This is why we make sure from the start that new functions work intuitively and are exactly where users will expect to find them. The Cinema 4D layout can also be easily customized to precisely fit a user’s needs and saved for later use.
STABILITY Cinema 4D’s stability is renowned throughout the 3D community and beyond. All new features and functions are thoroughly put through their paces by our QA and beta testers before being released. Our free service packs, which are released on a regular basis, further optimize Cinema 4D and let us rapidly respond to changes in operating systems and drivers!
POWERFUL HELP SYSTEM Any questions about a specific function can be quickly answered by right-clicking on it and jumping straight to the integrated software documentation.
PROCEDURAL WORKFLOWS Stay flexible from beginning to end! Staying flexible for last-minute changes is important no matter which project you’re working on. Cinema 4D offers numerous options for working non-destructively: parametric modeling, procedural shaders, textures and more. And the Cinema 4D Take System lets you save and manage multiple versions of a scene in a single file!
Cinema 4D comes in four different flavours for everyone's taste:
STUDIO
Everything you need for high-end 3D
Cinema 4D Studio is the very best that Maxon has to offer for professional 3D artists. If you want to create advanced 3D graphics but need a helping hand to ensure you create jaw-dropping graphics quickly and easily, then this is the choice for you.
BROADCAST
The 3D motion graphics powerhouse
Cinema 4D Broadcast has everything you need to create dynamic broadcast graphics quickly and easily. If you are a motion graphics artist looking to add 3D to your existing suite of tools, then this is the ideal choice for you.
VISUALIZE
The professional solution for architects & designers
Whether you need to visualize a mobile phone, a building, a car or anything else, Cinema 4D Visualize provides everything you need to produce fantastic images and animations quickly, easily and to any level of realism.
PRIME
Professional 3D starts here
Renowned for its ease of use, speed and professional results, Cinema 4D Prime is an ideal choice for all graphic designers looking to add 3D to their toolset.
Cinema 4D Release 20
Welcome to the Deep End
Cinema 4D Release 20 marks a huge leap in technology, introducing massive new frameworks that put tremendous power in your creative hands. The possibilities are endless, your creativity is unleashed - it’s time to jump in the deep end.
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Product Comparison
Multiple Editions to Fit Your Needs and Your Budget
Each of Cinema 4D’s editions is designed to provide a dedicated feature set to a specific market, but they all offer the same intuitive interface and rock-solid stability. Choose the package of features that best fits your needs and your budget, and move up at any time as your resources or requirements change.
Cinema 4D Prime
Professional 3D Starts Here
INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FEATURES:
Modeling
Materials &
Texturing
Lighting
Basic Fields
Animation
Camera
Advanced Renderer
UV Editing
Extensive API:
C++, Python
Prime Library
incl. materials,
objects & presets
Cinema 4D Broadcast The 3D
motion graphics
powerhouse
INCLUDES
ALL FEATURES
OF CINEMA 4D PRIME AND:
Physical Renderer
OpenVDB Volume
Modeling
Advanced Camera
Tools
Team Render (3
Nodes)
MoGraph Tools
Advanced Fields
Broadcast
Library, incl. materials, cameras and
objects
Cinema 4D Visualize The professional solution
for architects & designers
INCLUDES
ALL FEATURES
OF CINEMA 4D PRIME AND:
CAD Importer
OpenVDB Volume
Modeling
Physical Renderer
Advanced Camera
Tools
Team Render (3
Nodes)
Sketch & Toon
Visualize
Library, incl. materials, presets and
architectural objects
Cinema 4D Studio Everything
you need
for high-end 3d
INCLUDES
ALL FEATURES OF
ALL OTHER PACKAGES
CAD Importer
OpenVDB Volume
Modeling
Physical Renderer
ProRender (new
GPU-based Renderer)
Advanced Camera
Tools
Team Render
(unlimited Nodes)
MoGraph Tools
Advanced Fields
Sketch & Toon
Dynamics
Sculpting
Hair System
Advanced
Character Tools
Motion/Object
Tracker
all
Libraries, Advanced presets and demo
scenes
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D
Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or higher on Intel or AMD 64-bit CPU with SSE3 support or MacOS 10.11.6 or 10.12.4+ with 64-bit CPU running on Intel-based Apple Macintosh 4 GB RAM (8 GB or more recommended), OpenGL graphics card supporting OpenGL 4.1 (dedicated GPU recommended)
The GPU renderer requires an NVIDIA or AMD graphics card on Windows or AMD on MacOS that supports OpenCL 1.2 or newer. Metal support requires MacOS 10.13.2 or newer. We recommend at least 4 GB VRAM for GPU rendering. USB port, registration is required.
Graphics cards
Although Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D support all OpenGL 4.1-capable graphics cards, we recommend using a dedicated 3D graphics card with an AMD or NVIDIA chip set.
Maxon is not responsible for the compatibility of individual graphics cards with the OpenGL, OpenCL or Metal mode. Due to the large number and types of available chip sets, operating systems and driver versions we cannot guarantee the compatibility of all systems.
Please make sure that you always use the most current official graphics card driver (no beta versions).
Important notice
We test the compatibility of our products with the driver and OS versions available at the time of the announcement of a new Cinema 4D/BodyPaint 3D release and focus on typical mid-range to high-end systems and basic coverage on low-end (min. requirements) systems. Additionally, we try to keep up with hardware, driver, and OS updates as soon as they are released.
Nevertheless, please understand that we cannot guarantee support of new hardware and operating systems shipped after the announcement of this Cinema 4D/BodyPaint 3D version.
The technical specifications of Maxon products are constantly changing. Please use the most current demo version of the software to test its compatibility on your computer (especially if you have a more elaborate configuration).
Regarding NVIDIA 3D Vision
A quad-buffered graphics card is required to use NVIDIA's 3D Vision Shutter glasses for viewing the stereoscopic display in Cinema 4D.
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