For those who don’t know the tool: Cinema 4D is Maxon 3D for modeling, animation, sims, and lookdev, with tight Redshift Renderer integration and common handoffs like USD. Think MoGraph, then render, then wonder why lunch is over.

The update in one sentence

Cinema 4D 2026.2.0 comes with new modelling (especially for cloth) and lighting features, plus broad fixes across animation, modelling, MoGraph, simulation, viewport, exchange, and rendering. As well as a load of smaller cool features and updates.

Fabric Brush gets hands-on with soft stuff

The big new feature is Fabric Brush, a modeling tool that uses the app’s simulation system to shape soft materials directly in the viewport. The intent is tactile: push and pull forms while the sim helps create folds, draping, and deformations, without setting up rigs for the job.

In practice, this is a new option for artists who want quick cloth-like sculpting while staying in a familiar modelling workflow. It aims for standard tool responsiveness while adding simulation-driven behaviour for the soft look.

Redshift goes nocturnal

Cinema 4D 2026.2 introduces a night-sky option in the Redshift Sun and Sky system for dusk and night lighting setups. If your scene needs a sky that reads after sunset, this is now a first-class mode inside that system, rather than a workaround of lights and environment tricks.

Cinema 4D 2026.2 ships with Redshift 2026.5.0. Older Redshift versions from 2026.0.0 and higher remain compatible, but they will not include the newer Redshift features, plus enhancements to integration and performance.

Redshift 2026.5.0 also raises a practical requirement: the minimum required version for the 2026 plugin becomes Cinema 4D 2026.2. On the Cinema 4D side, a related integration note calls out Redshift Live replacing Redshift RT.

Deformers, clones, and command lines get small superpowers

A few smaller changes target everyday rigging and motion graphics chores. Bend Deformer improvements add new symmetry origin options, so mirrored bends can come from a single deformer. For quick character tweaks, product flex shots, or anything that wants a symmetric bend without duplicate setups, this is a quality-of-life gain.

A new Xpresso Command Line Argument node allows passing string arguments into Xpresso setups during command line rendering. That is a direct nod to pipeline automation, where renders often start from a farm call, a script, or a build system rather than a human clicking the Viewer.

MoGraph users get a new loop option for the Target Effector, allowing the first and last clones to target each other in closed arrangements. That fits neatly into circular patterns, rings, and repeating layouts where “ends” should not exist.

In the Material Manager, an Active Object Material Filter shows only materials applied to the currently selected objects.

Animation, curves, and viewport comfort

Cinema 4D 2026.2 adds an Align Tangents command to quickly align tangents on F-Curves. If you spend time cleaning curves after mocap, procedural animation, or hand-keyed polish, this is the sort of tiny tool that can save a lot of clicks.

Exchange formats and rendering housekeeping

Cinema 4D 2026.2 includes an exchange crash fix when exporting to Alembic. It also fixes an issue where reimporting a previously exported skeletal animation USD scene could result in an incorrect preview area and scene length even though the export itself was correct.

Rendering and output fixes include preventing multipass images from being saved in viewport render, and a Physical renderer change where Remesh no longer recalculates during rendering. The Picture Viewer gets reduced color banding, and a Redshift-related workflow fix allows creating a render setting from a render to work with Redshift renders.

Redshift 2026.5.0 adds and fixes several Cinema 4D specific items, including a new default native Projection Mode intended to resolve material tag UV tiling incompatibilities with UV Contexts, a fix for UDIMs not rendering correctly when using Team Render, and a fix for random black images when rendering heavy meshes with deformation blur enabled. It also notes a faster connection and smoother navigation for the RS Live Viewport IPR, limited to Cinema 4D 2026.2 and higher.

ARM downloads and driver reality checks

Cinema 4D 2026.2 includes a warning for downloads on ARM: update the GPU driver to the latest version – they even have a link for Windows on Snapdragon users to Qualcomm for the latest drivers.

https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/8658038724124-Cinema-4D-2026-2-0-April-15-2026

https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/8814051767964-Redshift-2026-5-0-2026-04-April-15-2026

The post Maxon ships Cinema 4D 2026.2 update first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who do not know the tool: Redshift is Maxon’s GPU renderer for VFX, motion graphics, animation, and visualization. It is available for DCC applications including Cinema 4D, Houdini, Maya, and 3ds Max.

Maxon has released Redshift 2026.4. The update introduces Redshift Live, a new real-time render mode that replaces Redshift RT, and adds support for Vectorworks 2026 Update 4. The release marks a clear product shift. Redshift Live is intended as the new interactive rendering layer inside Redshift, with Maxon positioning it for look development and architectural visualization. That makes 2026.4 more than a routine feature drop. It is a directional release.

The current implementation is still limited. External reporting notes that Redshift Live does not yet support features such as subsurface scattering, hair, texture displacement, point clouds, volumes, motion blur, depth of field, light linking, or AOVs. For now, it is a real-time mode with a defined scope, not a full replacement for the production renderer.

The Vectorworks angle matters just as much. Support for Vectorworks 2026 Update 4 places Redshift more directly inside AEC and planning workflows, where quick visual feedback is increasingly expected. In that sense, Redshift Live and Vectorworks support belong to the same story.

Outside the real-time changes, Redshift 2026.4 also adds support for per-polygon materials with texture displacement, support for non-0-1 UVs for texture displacement, a new shader input for the RS Dome Light Material, and a light normalization mode for Physical Sun & Sky covering sun and moon lighting and camera contribution.

Cinema 4D users also get expanded Physical Sky features. Maxon says the system can now render stars, the Milky Way, and the moon. The release also adds conversion from Redshift Standard materials to OpenPBR materials, extending material workflow compatibility.

Taken together, Redshift 2026.4 is less important for any single checkbox than for what it signals. Redshift RT is gone. Redshift Live takes its place. Vectorworks support broadens the target market. The rest of the release improves the core renderer in smaller, more practical ways. Maxon is not just updating Redshift. It is repositioning it.

Maxon release notes:
https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/8814051767964-Redshift-2026-4-0-2026-03-March-17-2026

The post Redshift 2026.4 adds Redshift Live and expands support for Vectorworks first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Redshift is a GPU renderer built for fast lookdev and final frames. Vectorworks is a BIM (Building Information Modeling) and CAD hub where buildings get drafted and organised.

Architectural visualisation pipelines love a clean handoff, but they hate the part where you wait for it. Redshift for Archviz positions itself as a single-environment loop: preview inside your BIM tool, iterate while the model still feels editable, then render without rebuilding the whole look in a second app.

The core pitch is direct integration with Vectorworks, aimed at letting artists and designers stay in the same workspace while moving from real-time previews to final renders. The platform targets the usual ArchViz pressure points: quick iterations, look development that stays consistent from draft to final, and visuals that survive client meetings without the dreaded “we will render it later” disclaimer. Maxon describes this as an expansion of the same rendering technology used in its existing ecosystem, tuned for real-world, real-time architecture design workflows

Real-time lighting that behaves like a grown-up

In the feature set, the real-time preview leans hard into lighting, materials, and environment response. The toolset includes controls to change the time of day, sun position, and cloud cover, to show how natural light interacts with the design as you adjust conditions.

Cloud cover control is quite precise, spanning conditions from clear to fully overcast, specifically to visualize how clouds affect natural light, shadows, and the overall mood of an architectural render. That kind of environment knob matters because it ties directly to decision-making. When lighting direction and softness update instantly, material choices stop being theoretical and start becoming compositional tools.

Assets, materials, and the eternal fight against empty rooms

The content side is framed around libraries that help you get to “inhabited space” faster. A growing asset library includes materials, lights, and ready-to-use assets intended to speed up scene building while keeping physical accuracy and visual consistency.

On top of that, the feature descriptions call out drag-and-drop population of interiors and exteriors with a selection that includes furniture, vehicles, realistic plants, and people, and these assets interact naturally with surfaces.

Material coverage is physically correct, spanning concrete and metal through glass, wood, and textiles, with the promise that materials react naturally to light and environment. The workflow emphasis stays on applying, adjusting, and previewing changes in real time, so look development can happen while you are still shaping the design.

Mac and Windows parity, right from the start

Platform coverage is plain: Redshift for Archviz is available for Windows and macOS, andfeature parity across both platforms from the outset. That matters whether you bounce between machines in a studio or your clients do. It also matters if your pipeline includes artists who bring their own gear and do not want a surprise feature gap halfway through a project.

The Cinema 4D escape hatch for the fancy stuff

When a still image turns into a walkthrough, you need more than a preview window. The workflow includes the ability to send a project to Cinema 4D with a simple click, with the intent of enabling more advanced architectural visualisation work, including procedural animations and simulations.

The FAQ describes export from the Redshift for Archviz plugin to Cinema 4D, and states that geometry, materials, cameras, and basic lighting generally transfer well. Once in Cinema 4D, refining scenes, materials, and lighting with a higher level of control is as usual, and then extending the project with animation and simulation.

This is a practical bridge for teams who want the speed of in-app previs but still need a DCC stage for shot craft, camera choreography, or heavier scene management. It also keeps the promise of visual continuity: the same scene, lighting, and materials across preview and final output.

Installation and the beta-shaped reality

The tooling around installation is explicit enough to be useful. The install notes state that the current availability is for Vectorworks, with Revit and Archicad coming soon.

For the Vectorworks side, the guide references installing Vectorworks 2026 using default settings, downloading and signing into the Maxon App, installing an AEC Viewer, then activating the plugin inside the host application by customising the workspace and adding the Redshift entry from the Rendering category. Launch is a Auto Synch button inside the host environment. Use requires creating a MyMaxon account and accepting an EULA. The subscription bundle (Plans and Pricing) supports multiple instances with up to eight GPUs on a single computer.

Because this is new workflow territory, treat early adoption like you treat any new renderer, plugin, or bridge. Run a proper test scene, push the corner cases, and validate the round-trip before you bet a deadline on it. Do that before you put it into production.

What this means for working artists

The practical story is simple: real-time previews inside a BIM host, asset and material libraries geared at architectural scenes, cross-platform support on Windows and macOS, and a pipeline bridge into Cinema 4D for animation and simulation.

If you live in the overlap between design and storytelling, this kind of integration can reduce handoffs and shorten iteration loops. If you live in the overlap between client expectations and physics-based lighting, real-time environment controls can turn “maybe” into “yes” quickly.

Just remember the unglamorous part: new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, even when the marketing copy sounds like it was written by a very confident sunbeam.

https://www.maxon.net/en/article/maxon-introduces-new-real-time-rendering-and-cinematic-previews-solution-for-architects

The post Maxon ships Redshift for Archviz first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Druckli Tools is a node asset library for Cinema 4D by Dominik Ruckli. It installs via the Asset Browser as a zip database and adds procedural modelling, selection, distribution and generator assets aimed at node-based workflows.

Version two, asset browser first

Dominik Ruckli has released version two of Druckli Tools, a node asset collection for Cinema 4D. Vversion two includes all tools from version one plus additional assets, and requires Cinema 4D 2026.1 or later. On earlier versions not all tools will work. Installation is handled directly through the Asset Browser by connecting the downloaded zip file as a database. The zip does not need to be unpacked. Two variants are available. The full version contains example scenes and additional assets. A light version omits the heavier example scenes to reduce disk usage. The toolset is distributed via Gumroad . Pricing is “Name a Fair Price” .

Minor updates, practical fixes

Several assets from version one have been updated. All selection visualisers no longer rely on a default selection string that stopped working in Cinema 4D 2025.1, Users must now explicitly define or search for selections. The Ray Connector asset has been clarified. Its input was previously labelled as a points object, which led users to assume it required geometry. It actually operates on a matrix object.

Surface Stippling has been adjusted for large scenes. The previous version reportedly produced incorrect results on very large meshes. The updated asset is described as working correctly on larger scenes. A new stippling distribution variant has also been introduced for MoGraph workflows.

Plane Split rebuilt

The most significant change is a complete rebuild of the Plane Split asset, now referred to as version three inside the library. In the previous implementation, UVs, normals, weight maps and selections were not reliably transferred after cutting geometry. The new version is described as transferring UVs and normals correctly and offering optional transfer of vertex maps and selections.

Users can define the cutting axis and whether to generate top, bottom or both outputs. Selection transfer can be toggled for performance reasons when working with large meshes. The asset can also store new selections created at the cutting edge, including point, edge and polygon selections. Users can define custom names for border, top and bottom selections generated during the cut.

Normal handling is addressed explicitly. Proper shading after cutting requires correct normals. The author demonstrates generating a normal tag before cutting, either manually or procedurally, to avoid shading artefacts caused by Phong interpolation. This is a practical reminder that procedural cutting still depends on valid surface normals.

An included example scene demonstrates a procedural crystal generator built with Plane Split and the Close Polygon Holes asset. The setup uses repeated plane cuts, parameterised height, radius, side count, displacement seed and crack count to generate fractured crystal forms. The example is procedural and adjustable but relies entirely on the provided node assets.

Selection and visualisation tools

Outline Selection provides an alternative to Cinema 4D’s built in Border Selection node. According to the author, the default node can be slow on dense meshes. The custom implementation is presented as faster, although no benchmarks are supplied.

Select by Camera View creates selections based on a camera’s field of view. It supports viewport camera reading or object link input in node setups. Parameters include XY border offset, near and far clipping planes, optional exclusion of occluded geometry and surface offset tolerance for polygon selection. An example scene shows scattering trees only within the active camera frustum.

Vertex Map Visualiser displays per point vertex map values as numeric text in the viewport. Standard vertex maps are colour based and can exceed a normalised zero to one range depending on node operations. The visualiser reveals exact float values with adjustable precision and optional camera alignment. The author notes that camera aligned text can reduce performance on high density meshes.

Normal Visualiser exposes vertex normals in node-based workflows. Cinema 4D’s viewport normal display does not function inside node meshes. The asset requires a normal tag to read data. If only Phong smoothing is present, users must convert it to a normal tag.

Axis Preview visualises transformation matrices as axes, primarily for distribution and scattering setups. It displays X and Z orientation vectors per matrix, aiding debugging of alignment in node-based MoGraph workflows. These utilities target technical directors and look development artists who need numeric and vector-level feedback inside node graphs.

Modifiers and node utilities

Close Polygon Holes procedurally fills open boundaries on meshes. It can operate automatically on all holes or use an edge selection. When used in combination with Plane Split, it can cap newly created openings. If a normal tag exists, the asset can either respect it or generate flat shading normals.

Spline Smooth restores interpolation on resampled splines. In Cinema 4D, resampling removes interpolation type influence. The asset reintroduces interpolation modes such as Bezier or B-spline on resampled splines inside procedural setups.

3D Noise extends Cinema 4D’s Sample Noise by outputting a three-dimensional vector instead of a single float. Standard Sample Noise returns a one-dimensional value, requiring three nodes for XYZ displacement. 3D Noise outputs a vector directly, simplifying vector displacement workflows. Parameters include offset, noise type, octaves, seed, scale, amplitude, speed and remapping range. This reduces node count in displacement setups.

Get and Set Polygon Color convert between point-based and polygon-based vertex colour representations. The toolset allows per polygon colour assignment using arrays, iteration and conditional logic inside nodes. Example scenes demonstrate threshold-based colouring and polygon index comparisons.

These assets are procedural building blocks rather than UI tools. They are intended for users already comfortable inside the Scene Nodes system.

Generators and distributions

The Stitching asset generates procedural stitches along a guide spline on a surface mesh. It operates in real world scale. Parameters control stitch length, gap, randomness, zigzag or parallel patterns, thread count, lift, tilt, bendiness and global seed.

A grow animation system supports progressive stitching with different animation modes, including floating and machine style stitching. Users can define subdivision for performance versus smoothness trade offs and adjust fade spread and randomness.

Multi Loft functions similarly to Cinema 4D’s Loft object but operates on spline segments within a single connected spline rather than separate spline objects. It supports open or closed configurations, segment interpolation and optional caps. An additional optimise asset can weld resulting points.

Split Spline Mask extends the standard Spline Mask by producing open splines rather than always closed results. It includes axis selection, inversion and optional end point welding.

Two new distribution types are included. Surface Stippling Distribution adapts the existing stippling generator to MoGraph distribution. The author states that distribution density no longer depends on object scale, addressing behaviour in the earlier asset. Parameters include iteration count, neighbour count, search distance, strength, solver mode and optional vertex map driven charge for clustering and repulsion. Example scenes include toothbrush bristles, scale placement and large point distributions.

Paint Stroke Distribution builds on a previously published tutorial setup. It distributes strokes over a surface using flow splines derived from gradient intersection assets and vertex maps. Parameters are reorganised compared to the tutorial but functionality is described as equivalent. Example scenes demonstrate painterly portrait effects and more complex scenes with lighting and shadow driven maps.

The documentation is delivered primarily through tutorial videos by Dominik. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production to confirm stability, compatibility and performance under real project conditions.

// https://dominikruckli.gumroad.com/l/txmvnj

The post Druckli Tools V2 expands Cinema 4D nodes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Redshift from Maxon is a GPU renderer for Cinema 4D, Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini and Katana. It targets final-frame GPU rendering and USD Solaris pipelines, sitting at lookdev and lighting in production.

Consolidation, not features

Maxon has released Redshift 2026.3.0. The build includes plugins for Cinema 4D, Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini and Katana. It is a maintenance release focused on stability, host compatibility and incremental displacement updates. No new headline rendering features are introduced.

On Apple hardware, Redshift now requires macOS Sonoma 14 or higher. Maxon recommends macOS Tahoe 26.2 as the latest officially supported version, while noting known rendering artefacts on Intel CPU plus AMD GPU systems on Tahoe. On Windows and Linux, updated NVidia driver minimums apply, including specific requirements for Blackwell 50xx GPUs. Linux requires glibc 2.28 or higher.

Texture displacement cleaned up

Texture displacement receives performance improvements and several correctness fixes. The update resolves holes in meshes, vertical artefacts in the software ray tracer and cases where displacement disappeared on tessellated meshes without UVs.

Support for smooth normals has been added to texture displacement. The UV Context Projection node gains a new camera selection mode for camera projection mapping.

Additional fixes address deformation motion blur with displacement, incorrect auto-bump behaviour, and noisy details on scaled meshes. Material blending issues involving stacking and the Material Blender shader have also been corrected.

Hydra and Solaris updates

Redshift adds support for Houdini 21.0.559 and 21.0.596 and drops support for 20.5.654 and 21.0.440. The Hydra delegate now supports the Solaris 21.0 statistics panel in the latest Houdini 21.0 production build.

Hydra 2.0 fixes include motion blur limitations, primvars sampling issues, light linking problems, nested instancing errors and live updating of custom light and camera parameters. Support has been added for USD implicit surface primitives, USD mesh lights via the Geometry Light LOP, and updated USD and Alembic procedurals. AOV-related bugs affecting ObjectID, Depth, cryptomatte, deep and Refractions Light Groups have been fixed.

Redshift 2026.3 is a stabilisation release aimed at removing pipeline friction introduced in earlier 2026 builds. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production.

// Redshift 2026.3.0 Release Notes
// https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/Redshift-2026-3-0-2026-02-February-10-2026

The post Redshift 2026.3 fixes displacement headaches first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.