Cinema 4D on Render Network (Beta) Guide

An in-depth look into the C4D x Render Network integration

The Cinema 4D integration for the Render Network is currently in a BETA Phase, and we recommend all users test a small sample of any scene on the Network BEFORE submitting an entire project or scene using the integration.

This will prevent wasted funds on avoidable errors.

The BETA is recommended for testing purposes, NOT for large-scale production work.

The Render Network has launched the first Beta version of its native C4D integration. The following guide will continue to be updated as the Beta continues, with feature additions, improvements and changes reflected throughout.

Current Cinema4D Versions supported in Beta:

  • Cinema4D 2023.2.2

Current render engines supported in with Cinema4D in Beta:

  • Standard & Physical (CPU - Tier 3 only)

  • Octane for C4D Plugin 2023.1.2-R6

  • Redshift 3.5.16 (GPU-only. Closed beta, for access please write to support)

If you are in need of support, please contact the Render Network Support Team at https://help.otoy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and select "Render Network C4D Beta" in the ticket category.

Below you can find tables containing information about current supported Octane features, unsupported Octane features, and the status surrounding those features:

Octane Feature NameSupported: Y or N?Additional Info

Baking Camera

Y

Cryptomattes

Y

Custom OCIO Configurations

N

See Photo Below for current allowed configurations**

C4D Light Linking

Y

Deep Images

N

In development

Denoiser

Y

External OSL Files

Y

Hair Rendering

Y

Octane Scatter

Y

Octane Scatter (via .csv import)

Y

Only Octane C4D 2022.1.1.R6 and higher

OSL Shaders

Y

Pyro

Y

Pyro (Motion Blur)

N

Not available on launch, coming soon

Vectron

Y

Only for files created in Octane C4D 2022.1.1.R6 and higher

Volumes

Y

Below you can find tables containing information about current supported C4D features, unsupported C4D features, and the status surrounding those features:

C4D Feature NameSupported: Y or N?Additional Info

Additional File Formats (non PNG & EXR)

N

In development

Ambient Occlusion

Y

Alembics

Y

Audio Files

Y

Capsules

N

In development (excluding Python reliant capsules)

C4D Render Effects (Denoise, Sharpen, Tone Mapping, etc.)

Y

C4D Noises

Y

C4D Procedural Shaders (effects and surfaces)

Y

Cloners + Effectors

Y

Deformers

Y

Fields

Y

Generators

Y

Hair Object

Y

Hair Shader

Y

IES Lights

Y

Magic Bullet Looks

N

External Plugin not currently supported

Metaball

Y

Mograph Color Shader

Y

Mograph Beat Shader

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Mograph Multi Shader

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Mograph Camera Shader

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Mograph Cache (Internal)

Y

Mograph Cache (External)

Y

Motion Blur: Geometry

Y

Motion Blur: Volumetrics

Y

Motion Blur: Sub-frame Motion Blur

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Motion Blur: CameraMoblur (on/off)

Y

Motion Blur: Lights

Y

Motion Blur: Instances

Y

Motion Blur: Pyro-generated volumetrics

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Multipasses

Y

Octane Object Tag Hair Shading

Y

Octane Light IDs

Y*

Octane supported

ORBX Files

Y

Parenting/Constraints

Y

Python/Python Tag

N

External Plugin not currently supported

Pyro (motion blur via velocity channel)

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Rende Region

Y

Simple XRefs

Y*

Standard/Physical supported, not Octane

Sketch & Toon

Y

Stage Object

Y

Substance Assets

Y

Takes

Y

Text/Mograph Text/Text Spline

N

Needs to be converted to paths or polygon objects

Thinking Particles

N

Workaround in progress

Vertexmaps

Y

Viewport Rendering

N

Error under investigation

Volume Loader Object

Y*

Needs to be inside a "Volume Loader" folder with a relative path

Volume Builder Cache

N

In development

Volume Mesher

Y

Watermark Effect

Y

Machine Info not supported

Additionally, during Alpha and closed Beta testing, certain features were discovered to need preparation in order to function currently. Those can be found in the table below alongside instructions for those features.

Feature NamePrep Instructions

Assets from the C4D asset browser

Needs to be saved into the project folder

C4D Particle Emitter

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Cloner

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Cloth

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Rope

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Soft Body

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Rigid Body

Needs to be cached

Dynamics: Hair

Needs to be cached

IR/LM Global Illumination

Needs to be cached

Motion Blur: Hair

Needs to be cached

ORBXLoader

Relative path in PAI needed

Octane VDB Volume Object

Relative path in PAI needed

Physical/Standard Caustics effect

"Save Solution" needs to be turned off

XRefs

Relative path in PAI needed

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