Maxon Announces Cinema 4D Release 23

Maxon has announced Cinema 4D R23, it’s annual major update to the popular professional 3D modeling, rendering, and animation software package. The announcement took place during the virtual IBC 2020 conference.

This next generation of Cinema 4D improves animation and UV workflows, character animation toolsets and the inclusion of the new Magic Bullet Looks technology.

What’s New in Cinema 4D R23

Cinema 4D R23 introduces a new Scene Nodes system, which Maxon says offers customers a preview of the performance users can expect in the future development of Cinema 4D. Plugin developers gain access to new Python 3 and creative pipelines will benefit from the inclusion of USD import/export and updates to FBX and OBJ handling.

Image of new Cinema 4D R23 with Magic Bullet Looks technology in action.

Details of the updates in summary are:

• New Character Animation Tools — Includes new Character Solver and Delta Mush workflows as well as a new Pose Manager and Toon/Face Rigs.
• Animation Workflow —  Better Keyframing, Filters for the Timeline and Attributes Manager, and more.
• UV Workflows — All the powerful UV editing capabilities introduced in Cinema 4D S22 (the subscription-only upgrade) plus new tools geared toward UV workflows for hard-surface models.
• Magic Bullet Looks Integration —  Easily apply one of over 200 preset film looks, import LUTs, or work with individual tools for color correction, film grain, chromatic aberration and much more.
• Scene Nodes —  Scene Nodes allows users to explore massive Distributions and Procedural Modeling in advance of further Cinema 4D core engine development for optimal creativity and experimentation.

“Cinema 4D R23 delivers robust advancements to the animation workflows and core technologies that empower 3D artists to create content intuitively and to the highest production standards,” said Dave McGavran, Maxon CEO. “We look forward to debuting all that is creatively possible with R23 alongside innovations from our sister companies Red Giant, Redshift, and partners.”

Visit Maxon’s website for a complete list of new features and updates.

Cinema 4D R23 Pricing and Availability

Cinema 4D R23 can be downloaded on September 9th and will be available for both macOS and Windows. For system requirements go here. For pricing information visit here.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Currently, the Redshift Renderer is only available on Windows with Nvidia GPUs. This is a new rendering engine that the C4D community has been very excited about. It is also of hot interest to Maxon’s Nemetschek Group sibling companies Graphisoft and Vectorworks which both utilize the Cinema 4D rendering engine in their software. Maxon says here that the company is currently working on an Apple Metal implementation of the Redshift renderer so it is not reliant on CUDA-based Nvidia cards, which don’t exist for Mac computers.