Its been a few days since I really messed with C4D… so I decided to mess around with it a little this morning. Nothing major today, as I wasnt much up for it. But I gotta keep on…..

The more I use it though, the more Im convinced this is my definitive modeller.

Theres…. nothing really special about this, save the fact its my initials (and yeah, C4D can do text too out of splines, but thats not how this was done)

Basically, I wanted to box model in here a little bit (since I do a ton of box modelling) as well as figure out a replacement for the shell feature in Silo (which basically turns a flat polygon into a two sided, thickened mesh) I also wanted to figure out the protocols for smoothing it too, since thats also how I build my outfits. See, to smooth in Silo, you only have to subdivide, coz everything is already nurbs based. And if you want it to stay crisp, you apply a crease to the edges you want crisp. In C4D, however, u turn it into a nurbs object (otherwise, the edges stay creased, no matter how many times you subdivide – subd only adds polygons)

Interesting little difference in the way the two work. The question remains though…. can you have it both ways? Im most undoubtedly sure…. but Ive yet to figure that out.

There is no shell equivalent that will automatically do what Silo does – best you can do is box model something and give the box actual dimensions and then apply the hypernurbs and delete the backside polys. Or to extrude the edges of the flat box and pull them into the back side. Not a big deal tho…. I faked it in Silo too at times without using shell. Its a small price to pay, to be able to have everything C4D does.

Ive also learned the difference between subdivision editor, and subdivision renderer on the hypernurbs settings (the numeric values each is based on)  The editor surely puts the poly in, so that you can visibly see how it subdivides in the viewport. But unless the renderer matches that number, when you finalize a mesh, it wont be subdivided to the editor number – it will be based on the renderer number. Even if you have the editor set to 20000000 poly levels, if the renderer is set to 2, thats what it will be (also, how something will render as well)

But I also notice that C4D (as Ann had said) can create some bad poly, just at random when applying extrusions and junk. But honestly, if you know your topology, its not any worse than any other modelling program, and can be fixed simply. I had already learned before, when doing my urn, how to draw poly, and fill poly holes. Today, I learned the stitch and sew tool, which is very cool. In the case of vertices, where the points are separated, but do not form quads (to be able to draw a poly), stitch and sew is what you use to fuse them together into one vertice.

And can I just mention HOW FRIGGON NICE it is, to be able to align the normals, and have it actually work! Silo fronts that it can, but it always just crashes on me and then I have to reverse them one friggon poly at a time.

Finally, I messed with the render settings before rendering this. I added an object glow, to make it glowy.