Cinema 4D Training Resources

Cinema 4D has been rapidly increasing in popularity of the past few years, probably due to it’s ease-of-use when compared to other 3D applications and it’s strong motion graphics tools and tight integration with Adobe After Effects. The following is a list of free and fee-based resources from around the web that I have found useful. Thanks to @fmagic & @toe_fur for input.Motionworks

Since this is Motionworks I’ll start here. We’ve have been adding various Cinema 4D tips and tutorials as well as releasing Making It Look Great 6 with Tim Clapham, an 8 hour workshop that covers design and production techniques for Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects, with a focus on using Mograph. Anyone serious about learning Cinema 4D must spend some time with Tim, it’s certainly given me more confidence with the software.

Hypa.tv

The Hypablog is Tim Clapham’s own blog and has a wide range of free Cinema 4D and After Effects tutorials, tips and downloads.

Cineversity

Cineversity is Maxon’s own training resource for Cinema 4D. You’ll find a bunch of free tutorials as well as a huge library of fee-based learning that you can access via subscription. Some of the instructors are better than others when it comes to lesson delivery but there is a huge range of lessons to chose from here, even some from Tim Clapham.

Greyscale Gorilla

Relatively new on the scene but rapidly growing in popularity is Greyscale Gorilla. Hosted by Nick Campbell, the site offers a range of free Cinema 4D tutorials that don’t assume you are a 3D expert and Nick’s relaxed teaching style is easy to follow and fun to watch.

3D Garage

3D Garage offers training for various 3D software applications. I picked up their Cinema 4D Signature Courseware when it was first released a few months back. The host Dan Ablan is clear and easy to follow.

Ko Maruyama

Ko has been a Cinema 4D evangelist and trainer for years. You’ll find him on Cineversity and a range of handy short tutorials on his own site including many that explain Cinema 4D basics for After Effects users.

TVGRAFX

This site has a range of free and fee-based tutorials including a series that focuses on working with Cinema 4D Xpresso. Some handy stuff here.

cmiVFX

When I was first starting in Cinema 4D I purchased a couple of these on-demand tutorials. They are pretty in-depth and the presenter Michael Marcondes obviously knows his stuff. As a beginner I found some sections a little hard to follow but these are definitely worth a look if you understand the basics.

Bending Pixels

Rob Garrott has some older but still useful tutorials on his site, including basic camera and lighting setup and using still images and Quicktime movies as textures.

C4DTuts

C4DTuts isn’t as active as the AETuts site but there are still some useful tutorials there including one on setting up a scene with HDRI lighting.

Base80

Base80 has lots of Cinema 4D tips, tricks and tutorials with a strong focus on Xpresso.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt has an amazing array of mostly written tutorials. Something for everyone here.

Creative Cow

Creative Cow is a reliable source of tutorials and Cinema 4D is no different. There is a particularly useful series of Mograph tutorials by Mylenium hosted here.