Quick Setup
Last updated
Last updated
The CC4D Tools are designed to work only with a bone hierarchy generated by Character Creator or ActorCore, wich means characters with the type CC3+, ActorBuild and Humanoid as long as it has been rigged with the AccuRig System inside Character Creator, the standalone version of AccuRig or coming from the ActorCore library.
Important: If the Character is coming from a diffrent source like eG Mixamo and was just ‘characterized’ in Character Creator the system will NOT work. The CC4D Control Rig and setup depends on the specific CC4 bone hierarchy and naming conventions. It is planned to integrate a workflow for 'non-standard' skeletons in one of the next versions
Before exporting the character from CC4 as FBX make sure to restore its bindpose
Click File > Export > FBX > Clothed Character
For the export settings choose Cinema 4D as the Target Tool Preset
If the type of your character is CC3+ you can use the FBX option Mesh and make sure the A-Pose (Bind Pose) is selected under the Default Pose tab
If the type of your character is actorBuild, actorScan or humanoid it is NOT possible to export the character in its bind pose using the FBX option Mesh
you can export it in a T-Pose and reset the bind pose in Cinema 4D or use the FBX Option Mesh & Motion and select the option current pose under the include motion tab
To correctly export the characters textures and material parameters for utilizing them in the Advanced Materials of the Auto Material Setup make sure to uncheck 'Bake diffuse and specular maps from Digital Human Hair' and 'Bake diffuse maps from skin color'
For the use in the Base Materials of the Auto Material Setup you can leave them checked
Open up the 'Advanced Export Settings' by clicking the little cog/sun icon in the top right of the FBX Export window
make sure 'Export JSON for Auto Material Setup' is checked
Its important that the character is exported in its bind pose or has been reset to its bind pose in Cinema 4D before proceding with the setup or it may lead to unexpected results.
Before exporting the character choose any of the poses you like from the Preview Motion tab
as there is not really a reset bind pose option in the AccuRig standalone version as in CC4 the character needs to be reset to its bind pose in Cinema 4D once it is exported
Click File > Export > Export FBX
Choose Cinema 4D as your Target Application
The CC4D Import Character script will streamline and simplify the process of importing a character FBX file by automatically loading the correct import settings, utilizing the Convert Nulls to Joints, Optimize Joints and Remove Morph Targets tools to clean up the hierarchy and the option to apply the Auto Material Setup, the CC4D Control Rig as well as the CC4D Face Rig directly on the import.
click the CC4D ImportCharacter icon in CC4D Tools palette
select the character FBX file exported from Character Creator 4, AccuRig or ActorCore in the file dialog
in the 'CC4 Import Settings' dialog you have the option to import the character with or without pose morphs and if you want to remove the morph targets for those pose morphs.
You can also decide if you want to import your character with or without materials and if you want to import them as Default Materials or run the Auto Material Setup and import them as Base or Advanced Materials*
As a third option you can decide if you want to apply the CC4D Control Rig and CC4D Face Rig automatically on the import*
The character will automatically be imported within a CC_Character Null Object
The file paths to the imported character FBX file and JSON cofiguration file ( if provided ) will be stored under the CONFIG tab of the CC_Character Null Object as well as the 'CC Character Type' and the 'CC Facial Profile' (if the imported character has one attached to it and the CC4D Control Rig and CC4D Face Rig have been applied on the import)
* Those options will only be available in Cinema 4D Version R26 and higher due to some missing or incomplete functionality of the Asset Browser in earlier versions
You can import the FBX with the default settings in cinema 4D
the only thing to disable would be the import of animation tracks
after you imported the FBX you will see the joint hierarchy, starting with the CC_Base_BoneRoot or the RL_BoneRoot (depending on your characters type) as well as the characters geometry in the object manager
If your character was not exported in its bind pose select any of the weight tags on your characters geometry
in the attributes tab click the Reset Bind Pose button
make sure there are no animation tracks on the joint hierarchy before you do this otherwise the character may snap back to the pose it was imported with
When exporting a character from CC4 with the default ‘Cinema 4D’ export preset for some reason all of the tip bones or joints are exported as null objects. So the first step in the setup process is to convert all those null objects back to joints. Doing this manually would be a very tedious task, but with the CC4D ConvertNullsToJoints script this can be done with one click.
select the root joint of you characters joint hierarchy
click the CC4D_ConvertNullsToJoints icon in the CC4D Tools palette
the script will convert all null objects it finds inside the joint hierarchy to joints, add them to their respective weight tags on the characters geometry and transfer over any weights those null objects might have
To ensure the CC4D Control Rig & Setup will work correctly the joints of the character need to be aligned in the right way, the twist joints of the arms and legs need to be in the correct spot and the arms, legs and finger joint chains need to have a slight bend to it so the IK systems of the CC4D Control Rig will bend the right way once the setup is applied.
select the root joint of you characters joint hierarchy
click the CC4D_OptimizeJoints icon in the CC4D Tools palette
the script will align all the joints, correct any offset of the elbow- & knee share joints as well as of the arm- & leg twist joints and makes sure the arm, leg and finger joint chains are bending the right way so the IK systems of the CC4D Control Rig will work correctly
When importing a FBX from CC4 with Pose Morphs into Cinema 4D all morphs get imported as seperate meshes linked to the Pose Morph Tags of the characters geometry. Removing those morph targets while keeping the pose morphs itself intact can be a very tedious process when done manually inside C4D. This script will automate this process and removes all morph targets for the selected meshes or all meshes in the scene.
select one or more meshes of which you want to remove the morph targets
if nothing is selected the morph targets of all meshes in the scene will be removed
click the CC4D_RemoveMorphTargets icon in the CC4D Tools palette
the script will remove all morph targets for the selection while keeping the pose morphs itself intact and removes the extra geometry from the scene
The CC4D Control Rig is a set of predefined control objects, equipped with both Forward Kinematics (FK) and Inverse Kinematics (IK) systems, wich can be attached automatically to the bone hierarchy of characters exported from Character Creator 4 using the CC4D Control Rig Setup Script
make sure you converted all null objects inside the characters joint hierarchy to joints using the CC4D ConvertNullsToJoints script and aligned all joints using the CC4D OptimizeJoints script
make sure the characters joint hierarchy and its geometry are the only objects in the scene
click the CC4D CTRL-RIG icon in CC4D Tools palette to add the Control Rig to the scene
click the CC4D controlRigSetup icon in the CC4D Tools palette to run the setup
if everything was prepared correctly the script will attach the Control Rig to the characters joint hierarchy, rearange the hierarchy in the object manager and store all of the characters rig elements on a respective layer in the layer manager
The CC4D Face Rig is an extension of the facial profile that was setup in Character Creator and adds a set of predefined control objects as a more usable and animation friendly interface than the raw poseMorphs exported with the FBX. It supports the CC4 Extended, CC4 Standard as well as the Traditional facial profile. A facial profile in CC4 is a collection of various poseMorphs or blendshapes for the characters face and the difference between those facial profiles is the amount of morphs they hold. While Character Creator supports geometry based morphs as well as bone based morphs and a combination of both, only the geometry based morphs will get exported with the FBX. By default the rotation of the eyes and the movement of the jaw in CC4 is handled by both, geometry- and bone based morphs. The CC4D Face Rig will take care of the transformations of those facial bones for the eyes and the jaw once the setup is in place.
If your character uses a facial profile that consists of only geometry based morphs you should also have no problem setting up the face rig. But if you have a profile that has morphs in it wich depend on the transformation of certain facial bones other than the Eye_Look or the Jaw morphs you will not get the expected result as those morphs will not be exported with the FBX.
Before applying the CC4D Face Rig make sure the CC4D Control Rig has already been attached to the character as the face rig depends of certain objects of the control rig
Click the CC4D_FACE-RIG icon to add the Face Rig to the Scene
Click the CC4D_faceRigSetup icon in the CC4D tools palette to run the setup
if everything was prepared correctly the script will attach the Face Rig to the Head Controller of the Control Rig and connect the facial controls to the facial poseMorphs on the characters geometry and to the jaw- as well as the eye joints
to run the CC4D Material Setup select the materials you want to replace, the objects whose materials should be replaced, or leave everything unselected to replace all the character's materials.
click the CC4D Material Setup icon in CC4D Tools palette
The script will then try to find the characters texture folders based on either the character FBX file location or from the JSON configuration file
If the script was able to locate the characters texture locations another popup will show up that lets you select the material type. You can choose between Basic and Advanced* Materials. If the script was unable to find the texture locations you will get a error message.
Based on the type selection the script will then replace the characters materials with the material templates from the CC4D asset browser contents and populate them with the characters textures
The Basic materials are RS Standard materials with some predefined texture- and node setups while the Advanced materials hold a custom CC4D shader group with custom parameters to resemble the Character Creator 4 shaders as close as possible.
If a JSON configuration file is provided for the material setup the Advanced materials will also be populated with the shader settings and parameters from Character Creator
* Those options will only be available in Cinema 4D Version R26 and higher due to some missing or incomplete functionality of the Asset Browser in earlier versions
You can learn more about Character Creators facial profiles & expression sets
The CC4D Material Setup will automatically setup the character with render ready materials for Redshift in Cinema 4D. It will replace the selected materials, the materials of the selected objects or —if nothing is selected— all materials in the scene with material templates from the CC4D asset browser contents and populate them with textures and parameters exported from Character Creator, based on the characters FBX file location or a file if it is provided.
If the script can not locate a in the scene with a JSON file path specified in its CONFIG parameters, or a configuration JSON file based on the scene's file location, a popup will appear. This allows you to either manually select a JSON file exported from CC or proceed with the material setup without a configuration file.
CC3+ Setup Guide
Humanoid Setup Guide
AccuRig Setup Guide
Face Rig Setup Guide (CC Extended Profile)
Face Rig Setup Guide (CC Standard Profile)
Face Rig Control Overview
