CINEMA 4D - Texts

CINEMA 4D 

SPLINES AND EDITS • NURBS TOOLS USE • MODELING TOOLS 

5.1 SPLINES 

Cinema has very good toolset for editing splines. Splines are 

very useful for creating models. Especially Splines with Nurbs 

tools can make work on complicated models much easier. Very 

complex curves can be imported from Adobe Illustrator native 

format *.AI 

Splines are located in menu Objects or with their icons in main 

TOOLBAR. 

Splines are primarily a sequence of vertices, connected 

by lines, lying in 3D space. The shape of these connecting 

lines (straight or curved) defines the interpolation. 

Apart from the direct connection of the vertices with 

straight, rigid lines, there are other kinds of splines that 

use an interpolation method where the lines between the 

vertices are curved instead of straight. These splines have a soft leading edge without 

sharp corners. 

The spline itself is infinitely thin. They have some thickness for visibility in a viewport. 

A spline is not visible when rendered. 

The spline’s line has no three-dimensional depth, even though it occupies 

the 3D space. However, many complex 3D objects, among other things, can 

be constructed in seconds out of these curves by using them with NURBS 

objects. 

After the spline is created it can be pulled along its depth in order to make tubelike 

objects. You can also rotate a spline around an axis to create objects that have 

rotational symmetry, such as wineglasses. Or you can construct a skin over several 

splines, with the finished object simulating the contours on a map. More of these 

spline-modeling capabilities are discussed in the NURBS section. 

To create a new spline curve: 

From menu Objects > Spline to create an empty spline. 

- Select mode for POINT EDIT and use tool MOVE with icon or from menu 

TOOLS 

Create points for the spline by Ctrl-clicking in each place where you want to create a 

point. The first point defines the start of the spline. 

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• If you Ctrl-click on the curve between two existing points, the new point will be 

placed on the spline between the points. 

• If you hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys while clicking, the new point will be created 

at the beginning of the spline, giving a new starting point. 

If the Close Spline option is enabled and you Ctrl-click the starting point, the 

spline will be closed. 

• Position of curve points can be adjusted with tool MOVE. For multiple selection hold 

Shift and LMB. 

• The spline is always created in the view of the active viewport. For FRONT VIEW 

will be created in XY plane. In TOPVIEW in XZ plane. In the perspective view, the 

freehand spline will be created on the plane that is perpendicular to the camera 

direction. 

For some operations, such as the aligning of objects along a spline (Arrange 

command) or the movement of objects along a given curve (Align To Spline tag), the 

direction of the spline (where it begins and ends) is important. For this reason, the 

spline is color-coded. By default, from the first vertex, the starting point, and 

moving outwards, the curve is colored from yellow to orange to red (the end 

point). This colored display is visible only when the Points tool is active. 

Segments 

A spline is made from several partial curves, or 

segments. For example, if you create some text, you 

will see that only one object is created, even though 

you typed in several letters. The text object now 

consists of several outlines — one outline or more 

per letter. Even when converted to editable it is still 

only one object. 

For example, the word ‘Test’ consists of four letters; 

that makes four separate segments. However, 

another, fifth, segment is also present — the inside 

of the ‘e’ is a further spline segment. If this type 

of element is later extruded to form a 3D object, 

CINEMA 4D will automatically punch out a hole that 

is the same size and shape of the internal segment of 

the ‘e’. 

Holes are formed only if a spline lies completely inside another spline and both form 

closed curves. If two segments overlap in any way, no 3D object can be formed. 

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Do not confuse the Polygon object with the Spline object. Although both are 

essentially just empty containers, the former consists of polygon vertices only while 

the latter is made up of spline vertices (and splines). 

To create a new spline segment 

Add a new point that will be the start point of a new segment (initially, this new point 

will be connected to the last point of the previous segment). 

Choose Structure > Edit Spline > Break Segment The connection to the 

previous segment is now broken. Add further vertices. All new vertices now belong 

to the new segment. You can create further segments. If we need first vertex of new 

segment to be in the same position as the last vertex of segment created before we 

can use move tool. If a spline consists of several segments, then new vertices are 

always created from the active vertex. If no vertices are active, then new vertices are 

generated at the last-created segment. If several vertices at different segments are 

active, new vertices are always generated at the first-created segment. 

Attribute manager - Settings for SPLINE 

OBJECT PROPERTIES > TYPE 

Linear 

This simplest of all the spline types connects the vertices, 

which define the polygon, with straight, directly connected 

lines. You can use these splines to create angular objects 

or to simulate sharp jerky movements for animation. 

Cubic 

This kind of spline has a soft curve between vertices. The 

interpolated curve passes directly through the vertices. 

Looking at the two points at the top right of the diagram, 

you can see that the curve bulges more than is probably 

required. This behavior is called overshooting, and it often 

appears with closed curvatures. This becomes clearer 

when you compare this section of the curve with the same 

section of the curve with Akima interpolation. 

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Akima 

This spline type creates a soft curve between vertices. 

The interpolated curve always passes directly through the 

vertices. Overshooting does not happen with this type of 

curve. 

B-Spline 

This kind of spline also creates a soft curve between 

the vertices. However, the curve does not pass directly 

through the vertices. This produces a very smooth curve. 

The vertices control only the approximate path of the 

curve. Distant points have less influence on the curve 

than those lying closer together. Control points are also 

endpoints of tangents of this spline, derivation of shape. 

This type of curve belongs to the NURBS. 

Bezier 

This spline type creates a soft curve path between the 

vertices, which can be controlled very precisely. The 

interpolated curve always passes through the vertices. 

Overshoot does not happen. This interpolation is based 

on NURBS geometry, shape is controlled with tangents. 

Tangents are in control points and defines force affecting 

the shape. Bezier splines are offering the most control. 

Working with a Bezier spline and its tangents 

If you activate a vertex of the spline (i.e. by clicking on it), additional control points 

at the tangents to the curve become visible. With MOVE tool and LMB we can drag 

the tangent end point. Changing the direction of the tangent handles controls the 

direction of the curve at each vertex. By adjusting the length of these tangent 

handles, you can control the strength of the curvature. Drag the tangent end point 

towards the vertex point and observe the symmetrical movement of the opposite 

handle. 

You can change the lengths of the tangents separately 

from each other. To do this, Shift-drag a tangent end 

point. 

You may set different tangent directions on the 

right and on the left of the vertex. To do this, Shiftdrag 

a tangent end point. With this approach you can 

make the otherwise smooth path of a curve produce 

sharp corners and peaks. 

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If the tangents of two neighboring points have zero 

length, the segment that runs between the vertices 

will be linear. Thus, you can mix linear segments 

with curved spline shapes. 

If you double-click on a Bezier vertex with the 

Move, Scale or Rotate tool active, a dialog opens 

that allows you to accurately enter both the position 

of the vertex (in the spline’s object coordinates) and the position of the tangent 

end points (relative to the vertex) numerically. If you convert a Bezier spline to a 

different type of spline, all tangent settings will be lost. If a spline is converted from 

a non-Bezier type to a Bezier type, all tangents will be assigned default positions and 

orientations. 

OBJECT PROPERTIES - Close spline 

Each spline segment can be closed or open. If 

a spline is closed, the start and end points are 

connected. There is a big difference between 

closing a spline (and interconnecting the start 

and end points) and simply positioning the start and end points together. In the first 

case, the transition from the start to the end point is soft, in the second case it is 

abrupt. To close the spline, Ctrl-click the start point or use option CLOSE SPLINE in 

Attribute manager. 

INTERMEDIATE POINTS, ANGLE 

Here you can define how the spline is further 

subdivided with intermediate points. This affects the 

number of subdivisions created when using the spline 

with NURBS objects. 

We will describe two basic modes: 

NONE 

This method of interpolation locates points only at the 

vertices of a spline, using no additional intermediate 

points. You cannot enter values into the Number or 

Angle boxes. 

NATURAL 

This interpolation type divides spline by number of 

points in number box. The points are positioned closer 

together on areas of the spline with more curvature. 

You cannot enter values into the Angle box. The 

interpolation is not affected by reversing the point order. 

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Create Spline (Curves) 

The Spline object allows you to 

quickly create new splines from 

scratch. However, for some shapes 

this approach can be clumsy and 

unnecessary. For this reason CINEMA 

4D includes spline curves. These are 

interactive tools that remain active 

until you select another tool, such as 

Move. You can thus create any number 

of these splines without the need to 

select the command each time. 

Splines are created in active viewport. 

Freehand 

You can use this command to draw curves directly in the viewports. Select the 

Freehand tool, then click in a viewport and keep the mouse button pressed. You 

can then draw the Freehand curve for as long as the mouse button is held down. 

Releasing the mouse button will end the Freehand spline creation and the finished 

spline will appear. (This is especially useful when tracing patterns with a graphics 

tablet.) 

• Freehand Splines are always created on the camera plane when you work in the 

perspective views, not on the construction plane, which is the case for the Bezier, B- 

Spline, Cubic, Akima and Linear splines. If you want to draw a spline onto one plane 

(XY, ZY, XZ etc.) you should switch to the corresponding view. 

Bezier, B-Spline, Linear, Cubic, Akima 

Using these commands, you can create the exact type of curve you require. Choose 

the desired spline type. Point editing mode is activated automatically. Click to create 

each point. Once you’ve added the desired points, either click the starting point to 

close the curve or press Esc to exit the mode. You can then edit the spline in the 

usual way (drag to move a point; Ctrl-click to create a new point, etc.). 

With these functions we create spline with interpolation. Differences are discussed 

at the beginning of this chapter. To end editing press Esc. Other editing functions are 

same as for Spline object . 

. 

• You can alternatively create the points in the same way as for the Spline object. 

After choosing the command, rather than clicking to create points, use Ctrl-click 

instead; to move a point, drag it; to close the spline, click the starting point 

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5.2 SPLINE PRIMITIVES 

CINEMA 4D gives you a generous number of predefined curves. Add to this the 

possibility to convert vector based artwork files from other programs (see ‘Vectorizer’) 

and to add graphic characters (see ‘Text’) and you have a wealth of spline primitives 

at your fingertips. All of these spline primitives are parameterized. This means that 

the spline is merely the graphical representation of a mathematical formula built 

controlled by parameters you can edit the Attribute manager. 

As a result, this mathematical formula initially has no properties to edit within the 3D 

viewport. It has no vertices to manipulate. To adjust the vertices with the Points tool, 

for example, you must first make the spline editable (Structure > Make Editable). 

Then spline is not parameterized anymore and act as normal curve. You can, however, 

apply deformer objects or NURBS TOOLS to the spline even if the spline has not been 

made editable. 

When creating a new spline primitive from the OBJECTS menu, the spline appears in 

the viewports and its parameters are displayed in the Attribute manager where you 

can set various curve parameters. Let’s try some of them. 

Object properties 

Common settings 

Some of the spline settings are present for each type 

of primitive. These common properties are described in 

this section. 

These settings are PLANE, point order - Reverse 

interpolation of curve Intermediate points, Number, 

Angle 

Use this drop-down list to define in which of the three 

planes (XY, XZ, ZY) the spline primitive is to lie. By 

default the spline is always positioned so that it is 

visible in the current active view. 

This means that if the spline is created in the XZ (top) or XY (front) view, then the 

spline will be seen, for example, as facing towards the XY plane in the 3D viewport. 

In each of the following examples the spline primitive has been created in the frontal 

view (XY plane). 

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Reverse 

If this option is enabled, the order of the points is reversed. Reversing the points of 

the spline primitive not only has an effect after the conversion to an editable spline 

curve. The reversal of points also affects commands such as Align to Spline 

Intermediate Points, Number, Angle 

These interpolation settings define exactly how finely the vertices of a spline will be 

positioned. The various choices are described earlier in this chapter. 

Some spline primitives 

Arc 

This command creates arc elements.. 

Type 

With this option you choose the circle element to 

be used in your arc. Choose from ARC, SECTOR, 

SEGMENT, RING 

Radius 

Defines the circle radius from which the circular 

element is to be created. 

Inner Radius 

If you set Type to Ring, this defines the inner radius of the ring. 

Start / End Angle 

Using these two values you can define the start and end point of the arc element. 0° 

defines the value as the positive X-axis, 90° the positive Y-axis, 180° the negative 

X-axis, etc. These examples assume you are working in the XY plane, as mentioned 

earlier. 

Cogwheel - This command creates a cogwheel. 

Teeth - Defines the number of teeth for the 

cogwheel.. Minimum value is 5 

Inner, Middle, Outer Radius 

The overall size of the cogwheel is defined by Outer 

Radius, while Inner Radius defines the depth of 

the teeth. For avid mathematicians: Depth of teeth 

= (outer radius – inner radius). The third value, 

Middle Radius, gives the height at which any bevel 

will start to take effect 

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5.3 SPLINE EDITS 

Tools for editing of curves are located in top menu 

Menu > Structure > Edit Spline 

• You must first make spline primitive editable 

Hard / Soft Interpolation 

This command switches all selected points to hard/soft 

interpolation. If no points are selected, all points of the 

spline are automatically changed to hard interpolation. Hard 

interpolation means that the tangents of the appropriate points 

are set to a length of zero. Soft interpolation means that the 

tangents of the appropriate points are set to a standard length 

and direction. 

• Could not be applied for B-Spline 

Equal tangent length 

•This command can be applied to Bezier Splines only. All other types of spline have 

preset interpolation which cannot be changed.. 

For each selected point, the shorter tangent handle is set to the same length as its 

partner tangent. If no points are selected, all points are automatically included in the 

action. 

Equal tangent direction 

•This command can be applied to Bezier Splines only. 

All other types of spline have preset interpolation which 

cannot be changed. 

Tangent is usually controlled with the handles for each 

control point. If one tangent is not set properly you can 

move handle independently with the Shift key to fix this 

problem. 

Tangents of selected points have same direction so are 

forming a line. If no points are selected, all tangents will 

have the same direction. 

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Join Segment 

A spline can consist of several unconnected segments 

(a text spline is a good example of this). If you want 

to connect two of these segments, select one or more 

points of each segment and use the Join Segment 

command. The start points of each spline are joined to 

the end points of the other spline. If you directly select 

the end points of the two segments, however, these are 

also joined. If these end points have the same position, 

one of them will be deleted when joining. 

You can join either two or all segments at the same 

time. If more than two segments are selected then 

only the first two are joined. If no points are selected, 

all segments of a spline are joined. 

Break Segments 

• This command requires a point selection and works in 

point mode only. 

With this command, you can create a new spline 

segment. Select one of the points that you want to separate. After using Break 

Segment, you will have a new segment and all points on either side of the separated 

segment will become a new segment. If the selected points are not consecutive, a 

number of spline segments will be created. 

To add a new segment to an existing spline, you must first create the first point of 

the new segment. Before the break, it is still connected to the old segment. If you 

now use Break Segment then the new segment will start here; you can now add new 

points using the Add Points command. This function works only with points selected 

and you must be in POINT EDIT MODE 

Explode Segments 

Using this command, you can split the individual segments of a spline into separate 

objects. An individual spline object is created from each segment of the original. Only 

the first segment of the original spline remains. You do not need to have a selection 

and you do not need to be in point mode. The new spline objects become sub-objects 

of the original spline and are given the names ‘.’. 

For example, a text spline object can easily be split into individual letters. 

(Keep in mind that certain letters, such as ‘e’, may be exploded into two or more 

segments because of their holes. You may want to group these segments to 

re-create the entire letter.) 

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Set first point 

• This command requires a point selection and works in point mode only. 

When you choose this command, the selected point of a spline is defined as the 

new start point of the spline and the remaining points are re-sorted accordingly. If 

there are several segments within the spline, you can select multiple points within 

each segment; each segment will be re-ordered according to the chosen points. If 

more than one point per segment is selected, the first point within the spline order is 

defined as the start point. Remember that the start of a spline is colored yellow while 

the end is reddish in color. 

Reverse sequence 

This reverse the point order of a segment (i.e. make the first point the last point, 

the last point the first point and re-order all intervening points), select one or more 

points of the segment and choose Reverse Sequence. You can also apply this option 

simultaneously to several segments by Shift-selecting the points of these segments. If 

no points are selected, the sequence of the complete spline (and all of its segments) 

is reversed. 

Move Up / Down sequence 

With Move Down Sequence, the sequence number of each point is incremented and 

the last point of the original sequence will be the first point in the new sequence. 

(Points doesn‘t need to be selected) With Move Up Sequence, the sequence number of 

each point is decremented. 

Chamfer 

Chamfer is an interactive tool. This means you control the tool directly with the 

mouse; select the tool then drag left or right within the viewport. Chamfer converts 

each selected point to two points with soft interpolation between them. Using this 

you can very quickly create rounded corners of a square. Only the selected points are 

chamfered. If no points are selected, all connected points of a spline are chamfered. 

For an open spline, the start and end points will not be included in the chamfer. If a 

point possesses tangents then these will be set to zero before chamfering. 

Crossection 

• The splines must be selected in the Object 

manager. 

With this interactive tool, you can create cross 

sections for a group of splines; we’ll refer to 

these as ‘rail splines’. 

Cross sections are always created at right angles 

to the current view. You should therefore select a 

view in which you can see the rail splines directly 

from the side, top or front. 

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If you activate the Cross Section tool, you can drag to draw a line where a cross 

section is to be created. 

Three cross-sections have been created. In the 3D viewport you can that this has 

created circles (more or less) that are wrapped around the three rail splines. These 

cross sections are Bezier type splines. These cross sections are especially useful 

when used as children of a Loft NURBS object. The order of these rail splines is 

important. When working with more than two rail splines, make sure that these are 

placed in the correct order within themselves in the Object manager, because C4d 

uses this object order when creating the cross sections. The start point of the cross 

section spline is located on the first rail spline and the end point on the last. 

Project 

• The accuracy of the projected spline depends on two factors: how finely the spline 

is subdivided (the Project function does not add new points) and the alignment of the 

splines to the surface. For best results, use a Bezier spline. 

Using this command, you can project splines onto object surfaces. 

Project automatically converts procedural splines to editable splines. Please note that 

this step is not reversible (although you can, of course, use the Undo function). Each 

point of a spline is individually projected. If a point cannot be projected (e.g. because 

no surface is available for it), then it will remain at its original position. With Bezier 

splines, the tangents are adapted to fit the surface. 

Projection 

Use this dialog to choose the type of 

projection. CINEMA 4D projects the spline 

onto all visible surfaces (hide the surfaces 

of any objects that you want to exclude 

from the projection). 

View 

Projects the points according to the current 

view in the viewport. 

XY, ZY, XZ - The spline is projected according to the selected plane (the points are 

moved perpendicular to the plane, onto the object). 

Radial XY, ZY, XZ 

With Radial the spline is projected spherically, outwards from the object coordinate 

origin of the spline. If several intersections are found, then the furthest one is used. 

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5.4 MODELING with SPLINES using NURBS TOOLS 

In this chapter we will demonstrate how to use LATHE (NURBS rotation) function. 

Lathe is basic method used to create rotational objects. This object is defined with 

basic spline which is rotated around Y-axis of the local axis system. 

Let‘s use LINEAR SPLINE either from Objects Menu, or from 

Spline palettes from Top TOOLBAR. Cursor is changed to an 

arrow with Curve symbol which indicates selected tool, click to 

the viewport to add the first point of the curve. Add more points 

to create curve similar to the one shown on the picture. Finish 

edit mode by clicking selection tool (arrow) from Toolbar 

Position and point alignment can be done with Coordinates 

manager. Another method is use of the tool Set Point Value 

set the values of the selected points 

Select points which we need to align or set value and from the 

menu 

Structure > Set Point Value 

Leave The point coordinates will not be changed for 

the respective axis. 

Set Sets the point coordinates to the Val value along 

the respective axis. 

Center 

Centers the points along the respective axis. 

Coordinate system sets Coordinate system which is 

used. 

If we are done with basic curve, click into the viewport to deselect all points. Rightclick 

to get available Tools menu and select tool Create Outline at the bottom of 

this menu. 

This tool creates outline of our curve but can create also outline of polygon object. 

Drag mouse left to create offset curve which is connected with the original curve. You 

can also create new independent curve too (settings in menu Active object) but we 

won‘t use it in this case. 

We will use the same method as in the previous case to align points in inner part of 

profile. Be careful to set inner points to axis of an object. 

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If we have our curve selected in Object manager as active object 

for editing, in Attributes Manager under Object tab you can see 

its parameters. Here yo can change different curve properties and 

also if curve is closed or not. (Close Spline). Deselect the box. Curve 

will be now open between the first and the last point. (Yellow and 

Red dots). 

If those points are not in the rotation axis, select those points and 

in context menu called with right-click are tool which we can use. 

These are Set First Point, Reverse Sequence, Move Up / Down 

Sequence 

Move curve to have its open ends on rotation axis in the beginning 

of coordinate system (0,0,0). 

Curve is now ready to be rotated 

Insert NURBS Lathe to the scene form top menu 

Objects > NURBS > NURBS Lathe or use icon from palette 

In object manager move curve under Lathe function. Next to 

cursor is an arrow, which changes when we drag an object over 

LATHE icon from horizontal to vertical. That shows, if we drop 

Curve object now, it gets into Lathe hierarchically as a child. 

We got rotational object. 

Center of rotation is defined by lathe 

axis and can be changed by moving this 

axis (in mode AXIS TOOL) with MOVE 

tool. Also the shape of rotational object can be changed by 

moving of Spline object (in mode Model EDIT) 

Model Tool - work with model 

Axis Tool - work with model axis 

In VIEWPORT settings we can switch to WIREFRAME mode and 

see wireframe model, created with LATHE. Green checkmark 

will turn on and off rotation function. 

In Attributes Change curve type to B-SPLINE and try how 

it works and how the curve and the whole lathe object is 

affected. Try all types of curves and notice differences between 

them. Return curve to previous mode. 

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Insert HyperNURBS from menu Object from the main TOOLBAR 

Move the whole Lathe group with Curve under HyperNURBS in Object manager. New 

object is created and it is quite similar to B-Spline rotation. Only difference is in curve 

connection in the axis of rotation. That is affected by HyperNURBS. Click on green 

checkmark for HyperNURBS and disable it for now. Green checkmark turns to red 

crossmark. 

Let’s edit parameters of Lathe. In Object manager 

select this function and in Attributes manager tab with 

parameters is shown. 

This function has to main tabs Object and Caps. 

It tab OBJECT we can edit 

Isoparm Subdivision - number of isoparm for viewing, 

Angle - through which the spline is to be rotated. 

Subdivision -Defines the number of subdivisions along 

the rotation. 

Movement - Movement is the longitudinal distance from 

the beginning of the lathe to the end. If you set Movement 

to 0, the spline rotates on a circle. 

Scaling- Scaling determines the final scale of the spline. 

Flip normals -Flips (reverses the direction of) the normals of the Lathe NURBS. 

(Visible after object is converted to editable). Caps options are not important for this 

case. 

We will finish model of the first glass. In lathe parameters select subdivision to 48 and 

this will create smooth surface on our object with edges where points are on a linear 

curve. We can edit it a little . 

Right-click or from menu structure call menu with tools and select Knife, which can 

cut curve and add this way control points. Before edits change curve to linear mode. 

Check if Knife tool has option line (line cut). Knife works this way: left-click to start 

cut (outside of curve), hold LMB and move line to the end point of cut, release LMB 

Add points to the curve accordingly to picture on next page. Points at the edge of 

glass will make fillet cleaner and points at the rotation 

axis will eliminate sharp point which occurs during 

rotation. We have first model with circular shape. 

Our goal is to create a few glasses with different shape 

which will be always defined with our curve. 

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So, make two more copies. Select Lathe group with Curve in 

Object manager, and with CTRL key pressed down drag and drop 

them in Object manager until cursor gets + sign. When dropped 

copy is created. 

Change position of new LATHE object in the scene with MOVE tool. 

With visibility dots make original group invisible. 

Switch to our newly created copy in Object manager and change 

Subdivision to 8. Now we created polygonal model of Whiskey 

glass with simple change of segments. 

Switch viewport to perspective window and visually check position of both glasses. 

(For change of position it is necessary to use) 

New glass with polygonal shape is nice but to make 

it realistic it needs fillets on the top edges. We will 

fix this with HyperNURBS function. Copy again 

model of this glass and set it to the middle of the 

scene (coordinates 0,0,0) .Hide other glasses. 

Select new model of glass and convert it to editable. 

New object is now not controlled by curve. It turned to polygon mesh. Delete content 

of previous HYPERNURBS which and move our polygon object there instead. 

Turn this group on. Select active tool to Edge edit mode and select all vertical edges 

on both, inside and outside polygons of glass. 

How to select edges for editing 

Select with LMB and add more elements to selection with SHIFT key. Add desired 

vertical edges, and also rim edges on the top of this glass. For easier work 

temporarily disable HYPERNURBS function either with checkmark or with Q-key. 

If you select more elements than needed you can subtract them from selection with 

LMB while holding CTRL key. 

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Turn on HyperNURBS, use select tool and click on Active Tool tab, where we will set 

roundness of edges. 

Roundness of edges we will set with 

HyperNURBS Weight window. 

Set value to 85 % and confirm with button 

Set. With this method we have very similar 

glass to our previous lathe model but edges 

are nice and smooth. This new glass is much 

more realistic. We can select bottom rim 

edges and set their weight to 75% too. Move 

our last glass to different position and turn on 

visibility for all glasses to compare them. 

5.5 NURBS TOOLS USE 

We have just explained practical use of Tool Lathe to create 

rotation objects. Now we will discover some other tools for 

NURBS modeling. All NURBS tools are accessible form MENU 

OBJECTS or with icons from TOOLBAR 

Extrude NURBS 

The Extrude NURBS object extrudes a spline 

to create an object with depth. The extruded 

object appears as soon as you drop the spline 

into the Extrude NURBS in the Object manager. 

You can also use splines to cut out holes. 

If, for example, a single spline object has two 

segments (an outer circle and an inner circle), 

the inner circle will be interpreted as a hole. 

CINEMA 4D detects hole splines automatically. 

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• All segments must be contained within a single spline object — additional splines 

will be ignored. To connect the splines, select them and choose Functions > Connect. 

Attribute manager 

Movement 

Into these three input boxes, enter the 

extrusion distance along the X, Y and Z-axes 

(based on the local axis system of the NURBS 

object). 

Subdivision 

Defines the number of subdivisions along the 

extrusion axis.. 

Iso Subdivision 

Defines the number of isoparms used to display the Extrude NURBS when the isoparm 

display mode is active. 

Flip Normals 

Flips the direction of the normals of the Extrude NURBS. Usually normals are in the 

correct direction. However, with open contours it is not possible to know which way 

they should point. In this case, you can control the direction of the normals, either 

by changing the direction of the spline or by enabling the Flip Normals option. This 

option does not effect the caps, since their normals are always calculated correctly. 

Hiearchical 

If this option is enabled, you can group, say, several splines within a Null object and 

place this group in an Extrude NURBS. Each spline of this group is now extruded 

separately. This is important especially for a text spline when you have enabled its 

Separate Letters option. In this case, a separate spline is created for each letter; 

these splines are in an object group. The Hierarchical option must be enabled to 

extrude these separate letters. 

Untriangulate 

This option removes polygon edges where possible by converting triangles to 

quadrangles. If the spline intersects itself that does not take the option into account. 

Caps 

Use these settings to add caps and/or rounding to the Extrude NURBS. The Caps and 

Rounding settings are described later in this chapter. 

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LOFT 

The Loft NURBS stretches a skin over two or 

more splines (although see the tip below). The order 

of the splines in the Loft NURBS determines the 

sequence in which they are connected. 

If you want to create loft on only one curve (flat 

text) Spline should be closed. Loft can be used for 

combination of closed and opened splines too. 

Original Splines. Creation of Loft surface. 

• You can use a single spline with a Loft NURBS to 

create a surface. 


Mesh Subdivision U/V 

This gives the number of subdivisions in the U 

direction, i.e. along the circumference of the crosssection. 

Isoparm Segmentation 

Defines the number of isoparms used to display the Loft NURBS when the isoparm 

display mode is active. 

Organic Form 

If this option is disabled, the Loft NURBS lines pass 

directly though the spline points and the distances 

between the lines adapt to the spline points. If the 

option is enabled, the Loft NURBS lines maintain 

equal parametric distance to each other, creating a 

looser, more organic form. 

Loop 

If this option is enabled, the first spline is connected 

to the last spline in the V direction. 

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SWEEP NURBS 

The Sweep NURBS requires two or three splines. 

The first spline, the contour spline, defines the cross 

section and is swept along the second spline, the path, 

to create the object. The optional third spline (rail 

spline) can be used to modify the scale of the contour 

spline over the object’s length. 

• The contour spline should lie on the local XY plane.. 

• You can use splines with multiple segments, e.g. you can sweep an entire word 

along the path. 

The contour spline is swept along the path in the direction of the contour’s Z- 

axis. If you are using a planar (two-dimensional) path spline, there are no further 

considerations. 

However, the behavior of the sweep is a little more complicated with a non-planar 

(three-dimensional) path. If you enable Banking, the following rules apply: The 

contour spline is rotated at the start of the path spline so that its X-axis is parallel to 

the average plane of the path spline. 

This plane can be used to control sweep but loop option can not be used at the same 

time. In this case is appropriate third spline to control direction and size of profile for 

the whole sweep. 

Banking allows you to use arbitrary 3D paths. However, it is not suitable for a precise 

sweep since the contours may break up, depending on the path. If the Banking option 

is disabled, the following applies: the contour spline is rotated for each subdivision 

so that on the one hand its Z-axis is always tangential to the path spline and on the 

other hand its X-axis is parallel to the XZ plane of the path spline. You can use this XZ 

plane to control the sweep, although you do lose the ability to model loops, since the 

contour flips over when the path runs vertically. 

Finally, there is another, much more powerful functionality — you can use a rail spline 

to control the direction and/or scale of the contour as it runs along the path. The path 

spline controls the positioning of the subdivisions. Adaptive spline interpolation is 

usually a good choice since it generates a relatively low number of surfaces. Uniform 

spline interpolation, on the other hand, is the better choice for animation since the 

subdivisions will be a uniform distance apart. 

A common mistake when using rail splines is to use a path spline with adaptive 

interpolation. This can generate insufficient subdivision for the rail to work properly 

— a higher resolution is required. You can solve the problem by setting the path’s 

Intermediate Points to Natural. 

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Figure shows - ADAPTIVE INTERPOLATION and 

NATURAL INTERPOLATION and final object. 

Control splines are on the right side 

Attribute manager - Object properties 

Isoparm subdivision 

Defines the number of isoparms used to display the 

Sweep NURBS when the isoparm display mode is 

active. 

Scaling 

Determines the size of the contour at the end of the 

path. The contour is 100% at the start of the path 

and the size is interpolated in between. 

Rotation 

Defines the rotation about the Z-axis that the 

contour has passed through by the time it reaches 

the end of the path. 

Growth 

Defines the size of the sweep. 50% means the 

contour spline is swept along the half of the path. If 

the path is closed, you can set caps (but not rounding) when the growth is less than 

100%. 

• You can animate the growth by recording the Growth parameter. For example, 

you can gradually write a word by using a circle spline as the contour and a spline in 

the shape of the handwriting as the path. 

Parallel movement 

If this option is enabled, the contour is swept in a parallel manner (i.e. it is not 

rotated at all). 

Banking 

If Banking is enabled, the contour spline will lean into the curves of the path spline. 

The initial banking angle is set to the average plane of the path spline, which is 

calculated from the position of the path’s spline points. The banking angle must be 

chosen at random for straight lines since they cannot define a plane. In this case, turn 

off banking to make the contour will run parallel to the path spline’s XZ plane. 

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Use Rail direction 

Enabled (left) and disabled (right), If enabled the rail spline will influence the rotation 

of the contour about its Z-axis. 

CAPS 

Parameters are the same for Sweep, Extrude, Lathe and 

Loft NURBS 

Start/ End 

Use the Caps and Rounding page to 

change the rounding at the start and 

end of the NURBS object. Parameters 

Step and Radius have separate 

settings for each cap. 

Fillet, Cap or both are common parameters. 

Steps - Here you enter the number of subdivisions for the 

rounding at the start of the object. 

Radius - Determines the radius of the 

rounding at the start of the object. 

Fillet type 

Choose the shape of the rounding 

from this drop-down list. When the 

constrained mode is active, all fillet 

types except the Engraved type 

extend the length of the extrusion of 

the NURBS object. 

Different materials for the hull, caps and rounding 

You can apply different materials to the hull, caps and 

rounding. To do this, either convert the object into polygons 

For example, using the Extrude NURBS you can create edges 

with different material then the rest of cylinder created with 

NURBS tool. 

Restricting a material to an invisible selection — in this case, 

the rounding at the front of the text. 

Apply a material to the start cap by using the 

Selection box (Texture tag). For example: 

C1 = Cap 1, C2 = Cap 2, R1 = Rounding 1, 

R2 = Rounding 2. 

Or you can drag materials on polygons 

manualy. 

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5.6 MODELING TOOLS 

Modeling tools are also another method which gives us further 

possibilities how to model out project. Some of them we will 

discuss in this chapter. You can find them in the menu Objects 

> Modeling or through Toolbar Icons 

BOOLE - Boolean operations 

It performs realtime Boolean operations on primitives or 

polygons. This means that you can see the result in the viewport 

as soon as you make the two objects children of the Boole 

object (try two spheres for testing). The default Boolean mode is A subtract B. 

• The Boole object also works with hierarchies. This means you 

can cut not only one but two or more holes in an object using 

A subtract B. Each further cut object must to be located in a 

hierarchy under the first cut object. 

• For a cleaner cut (i.e. if you can see defects), increase 

the number of subdivisions for the objects. 


• Most of these settings are available in High Quality mode 

only. 

Boolean Type 

Four Boolean modes are available: 

A + B A - B A intersects B B minus A. 

A Union B: Object A is merged with object B. 

A Subtract B: Object B is subtracted from object A. 

A Intersect B: The volume of intersection is shown. 

A Without B: This is similar to A subtract B, but it is not a genuine Boolean 

operation. It cuts holes in object A without capping the holes. 

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High quality 

The Boole object incorporates a high quality Boolean algorithm known as Better 

Boole. Enable the High Quality option to use the Better Boole algorithm, which 

generates a cleaner mesh with fewer polygons (triangles). 

Create single object 

If you convert the Boole object to polygons (Functions > Current state to object 

or Make Editable) and this option is enabled a single object is created. If the option 

is disabled, the Boole object’s Phong tag will be evaluated if present. 

Optimize 

This parameter is only available if Create Single Object is enabled. If the Boole object 

is converted to polygons, points within a set distance of each other are merged to a 

single point. Enter the desired distance into the 

box. In the example, the Boole has been applied 

to the top-right and bottom-right objects. The 

following settings were used. 

Left: Create Single Object disabled. 

Center: Create Single Object enabled. 

Right: Create Single Object and Create Phong 

Breaks At Intersections enabled. 

Instance 

To create an instance of an object, select the object in the Object manager 

that you want to instance and choose Objects > Modeling>Instance. 

The instance now appears in the Object manager. 

To change which object is referenced, first select the Instance object in the Object 

manager to display its settings in the Attribute manager. On the Attribute manager’s 

Object page, you’ll find a box called Reference Object. Drag and drop the name of 

the object that you want to be instanced from the Object manager into the Reference 

Object box. 


To reach these commands, click the triangle next to the Reference Object box. 

Clear 

Removes the reference to the original object. 

Show in manager 

Scrolls the Object manager if necessary to make the original object visible.. 

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Selected Element 

An instance object is a special duplicate of an object that does not have its own 

geometry. As a result, instances require far less memory than conventional 

duplicates, but the advantages do not end there. Imagine that you have created a 

street scene with over 40 street lamps (all instances of the same original object). By 

adjusting the brightness of the original lamp’s light, you can change the brightness of 

all lamps in one go. You may even edit the original with the modeling tools and the 

instances will follow suit. Material properties are adopted as well. Only the position, 

scale and rotation are independent of the original. 

An instance object will not significantly increase the size of the saved CINEMA 4D file. 

However, the CINEMA 4D editor will still need to allocate additional memory as if the 

instance object were a non-instance duplicate. The Scene Information dialog shows 

instance objects to consume as much memory as duplicates. 

SYMMETRY 

• The Symmetry object works with geometry and splines only, not with lights, 

cameras and so on. 

The Symmetry object is especially useful when polygon modeling symmetrical (or 

nearly symmetrical) objects such as faces. Model just one half of the object and the 

other half is generated automatically. Once you’ve finished modeling one side you 

might want to make the Symmetry object editable to convert the generated half 

into polygons. You can then tweak either side separately to avoid the model looking 

unnaturally symmetrical. 

Try something simple: create a sphere, convert it to polygons with Functions > 

Make Editable and select the Points tool. Select the Rectangle Selection tool and, in 

the Front view, select the right half of the Sphere object’s points and delete them. 

Create a Symmetry object and, in the Object manager, make the sphere a child of the 

Symmetry object. 

The right half of the sphere is generated and the sphere is complete once more. 

Note that only the left-hand side has points. Now edit some of the points on the lefthand 

side, perhaps with the Magnet tool. Notice how the generated side is updated 

automatically. 


Mirror plane 

Determines which plane is used as the mirror. ZY is the default since it is used in the 

front view for objects with vertical symmetry, such as a face. 

Weld points 

If the Weld Points option is enabled, points at the mirror’s edge are welded 

automatically — two points become one. 

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