For those who don’t know the tool: Cinema 4D is Maxon’s 3D application for modelling, animation, simulation and motion graphics. Version 2026.3 updates UV work, MoGraph cloning and simulation particle management.

UV editing starts over

Cinema 4D 2026.3 introduces a completely new UV editor. It uses the same viewport technology as the main 3D viewport instead of the older system built around BodyPaint dependencies. The workflow remains familiar. Projection, unwrapping, relaxing and packing still occupy recognisable parts of the layout. Automatic packing remains available as a one-click route for assets headed to 3D painting tools such as Substance 3D.

Manual workflows gain ABF unwrapping, local relaxation, pinning, revised packing controls and access to standard modelling tools. The geometric packing method remains available for arranging islands inside the active tile.

Seams become explicit

Version 2026.3 replaces proximity-based UV separation with explicit seams. A seam behaves as a specialised edge selection tag. Artists can mark geometry, clear the active component selection and continue working without losing the UV boundary. This reduces accidental welding when neighbouring UV points sit close together. It also keeps modelling selections and UV boundaries separate.

The editor includes a dedicated seam selection tool. Artists can draw seams directly, extend them through loops and paths, or generate them from polygon selections. Marking selected polygons creates a seam around their open boundary.

Fewer ceremonial clicks

Several smaller changes target operations repeated throughout a working day. Loop selection can stop at existing selections while allowing an enclosed loop to be subtracted. Clicking outside the geometry clears a component selection without switching back to the Move tool. Island alignment also becomes more direct. Hovering over an island edge previews the target, while clicking aligns the island to that edge.

The coordinate manager now works in UV space with absolute values. Artists can position islands precisely and define how much of a tile their bounding boxes occupy. The current build displays these percentages at ten times their actual values. A shown value of 400 corresponds to 40 percent. The bug is planned for correction.

Welding gains directions

The revised weld tool previews which island will move. Direction arrows appear while hovering over compatible edges. Artists can move one complete island onto another or use a modifier to make both sides meet at the midpoint. This provides better control over which parts of an existing layout remain stationary.

The editor also includes a standard transform gizmo with working rotation axes. The previous UV gizmo has been removed. A possible replacement remains under design. Selected UV edges can be straightened and pinned before another unwrap. Mirror commands can place sufficiently similar islands together for symmetrical texture work.

Pins can take a break

UV pins can now be suspended without deleting them. Artists may release the pins temporarily, adjust an island and then reactivate the same constraints. A brush tool provides smear, smooth and relax modes with adjustable size and strength. These operations work locally and respect active pins. Selection synchronisation between the 3D and UV viewports can be enabled or disabled. Context menus adapt to point, edge or polygon mode. The workflow still expects artists to understand why they are cutting an asset. It simply removes several clicks previously required to prove it.

UDIMs remain active

The editor supports UDIM workflows. Opening a texture with a recognised UDIM token can load either the selected image or the detected tile sequence. Moving an island outside the default tile activates the destination tile. Artists do not need a separate Create UDIM command. Unsupported tile numbers appear in red. The default tile may also display in red despite remaining valid. Multiple UV tags can exist on one object.

BodyPaint stays

The rebuilt editor does not remove BodyPaint 3D. Artists can still paint in 2D or 3D and work with layered bitmap textures. Direct support for Redshift materials remains limited in this workflow. Artists can save the painted bitmap and load it into a Redshift material afterward. The new editor therefore separates modern UV handling form the older painting system without deleting the latter.

Particle properties get a map

Simulation particles receive a Particle Property Manager. It lists particle properties and identifies where each one originates, where it is read and where it is modified. Custom properties appear as artists add them. Selecting an entry can locate the scene entity using it, which should help when debugging larger particle setups.

MoGraph learns the edges

MoGraph gains three Advanced Distribution types: Edge, Rivet and UV Projection. The Edge distribution clones objects along mesh edges. It supports multiple source objects, random or iterative clone assignment, count controls, gaps, pinching, initial rotation and random seeds.

Scale can change toward an edge’s centre or its endpoints. Spacing remains aware of clone dimensions as scale changes.

Surface Offset moves clones relative to the mesh. Scaling can remain uniform or follow the edge direction. Colour can stay constant, follow a linear gradient or vary randomly.

An Animation Speed parameter animates the distribution without requiring a separate effector.

Rivets without the rigging ritual

The Rivet distribution places clones around polygon boundaries. Typical targets include screws, bolts and repeated fasteners. It generates separate corner and interconnect clones. Artists can control their count, spacing, scale, spin and jitter independently. Polygon selections restrict the effect to chosen areas. This allows a procedural modelling stack to preserve selected front faces while excluding bevel polygons.

The distribution also works with ngons when supplied with the relevant selection. Curved ngons may produce less predictable placement because they do not lie on one plane. Standard effectors can animate rivets. A Plane Effector and Field can offset, rotate and scale screws as they arrive. The same distribution can also drive boolean cutters for matching recessed holes. It is a narrow tool. Narrow tools are excellent when they replace an afternoon of rigging.

Clones surf across UV space

UV Projection places and animates clones through an object’s UV coordinates. It evaluates a clone’s position in the 2D layout and projects that position back onto the 3D surface. Regular UV layouts provide the cleanest starting point. A plane maps directly to a grid, while a torus carries the same movement around its curved surface.

The distribution includes deterministic and dependent animation modes. Deterministic mode reproduces the same result for a given frame. Dependent mode uses the previous frame’s state and behaves more like a simulation. Dependent animation includes wind, turbulence, variance, noise speed and speed variation. These controls can create quick surface flows such as droplets running down a character head.

More complex interactions may still require particles and a Node Modifier. For graphic motion or lightweight surface animation, the UV route reduces setup considerably. New tools and workflow changes should always be tested on representative assets before entering production.

The post Cinema 4D 2026.3 Rebuilds UV Editing first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

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.

Gaussian Splat Studio brings Gaussian splat point data into Cinema 4D as something you can actually work with, not just stare at. The tool is built to import, view, render, and export Gaussian splats directly inside the host app, while keeping viewport controls and render controls in their own lanes. That separation matters because splats tend to swing between two extremes: either they look great and crawl, or they move fast and look like a snow globe during an earthquake.

The core exchange format here is obviously PLY, the same file type commonly produced by mobile capture and processing services. The workflow shown starts with a real-world capture from a phone or camera, then a reconstruction step in a service such as Polycam, which outputs PLY splat data for the plugin to ingest. The result inside Cinema 4D is a splat object you can navigate around, tweak, and eventually render or export back out again.

Viewport control that admits splats can be ridiculous

Splat scenes vary wildly in scale and density. Different captures can come in at very different sizes (D’uh), so the plugin exposes world scale controls to get a scene into a sane range.

It also acknowledges the other common splat reality: point counts can be enormous. A referenced example uses 12 million points, and the plugin includes options meant to keep navigation responsive. One of the visible tactics is interactive splat reduction in the viewport, where quality deliberately drops while you navigate, then returns when you stop moving. The reduction can be turned off, but it exists specifically to keep the editor usable.

There is also a fast preview mode intended for heavy scenes, letting you switch to lighter display settings for camera setup, animation work, and general layout without changing the underlying splat source. The idea is simple: keep interaction smooth while you work, then restore full settings for final output.

Three looks, one splat

The plugin exposes multiple viewing and rendering looks for splat data. True Gaussian splat mode aims for a scan-faithful result. Point cloud mode is presented as both a stylized look and a faster way to iterate, with circular dot rendering as a deliberate aesthetic option. There is also a proxy geometry view described as a way to see what is happening under the hood, rather than a default look.

Alongside those modes, the plugin provides controls for splat size and for the minimum and maximum pixel radius of splats. The workflow frames these as practical dials for balancing detail versus fill. Smaller splats carry more detail, larger splats help fill larger areas. Push the balance too far and thin features can disappear or areas can open up into holes, so the controls exist to tune a capture into something that holds together under motion and framing changes.

A notey: not every PLY is oriented the same way. When a non-Gaussian splat PLY comes in on the wrong axis, the plugin includes a YZ flip option to correct orientation. That kind of messy reality is exactly what a production tool should deal with. If a format is technically correct but visually wrong, artists still have to ship.

Rendering paths and why the viewport can be the honest one

Gaussian Splat Studio supports rendering through the viewport as well as through Cinema 4D render modes, including Redshift and the Standard and Physical renderers.

The workflow shown treats the viewport render as a useful path for accuracy, while also outlining limitations. Native viewport rendering does not provide an alpha channel, so the tool includes an alpha mode that changes what the viewport output looks like. The result is not a perfectly white matte, and the explanation is that this is expected because semi-transparent values are part of how the splat output should composite more accurately. If a comp pipeline needs a harder matte, the suggestion is to adjust levels in the compositing step.

For Standard and Redshift rendering, the plugin builds what it needs in the background when you enable rendering, including generating a shader setup for the geometry it creates. Enabling rendering is off by default and is making the system a little slower while you work, so it is something you switch on when you actually need those render paths.

Relighting as a dial, not a fight

Splat captures often come with baked lighting characteristics. The workflow shown adds a relight blending control in the Redshift render appearance settings, letting the render transition between a fully luminescent look that preserves the captured lighting and a state that responds more to Redshift lights.

MoGraph-friendly splats are the real headline

Once a splat lives in Cinema 4D as something editable, it becomes available to the same ecosystem of tools artists already use to art direct motion graphics and look development. The plugin supports MoGraph-style controls through Effectors, Forces, and Fields, with a workflow that matches common object setups: select the splat object, add an effector or force, and it registers into the plugin’s control tabs. If you add tools out of order, the workflow shown notes you can drag them in manually.

This is the point where splats stop being a novelty and start being a production asset. If you can isolate, animate, and stylize parts of a capture with the same tools you use everywhere else, splats become another piece of the pipeline rather than a special-case import.

Export, cleanup, and downstream handoff

Gaussian Splat Studio supports exporting results back out as PLY, including exporting cleaned results and exporting as splat PLY.

If your pipeline depends on strict interchange, it is also worth remembering that PLY is a general container format used across different kinds of point data. The workflow explicitly differentiates between Gaussian splat files and regular splat files that can both be PLY, which is why orientation fixes and viewing modes exist in the first place. If you need a reference for the file format itself, the PLY format specification is hosted by Stanford.

Price and platform support

The price for Gaussian Splat Studio is $59.99. The product page lists compatibility for Cinema 4D versions 2024, 2025, and 2026, on Windows and Mac. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, especially when they touch rendering, caching, and export handoffs that can ripple through an entire shot.

https://alphapixel.net/products/c4d-gaussian-splat-plugin/

The post Alpha Pixel adds Gaussian Splats to Cinema 4D first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Maxon released Cinema 4D 2026.1 on 3 December 2025 as part of the Maxon One December update.
The version expands the unified simulation framework, enhances MoGraph placement tools, improves project-variant management, and delivers a wide set of smaller workflow fixes.

Liquid Flow: GPU-accelerated fluids inside the unified simulation

The new Liquid Flow system extends Cinema 4D’s unified simulation framework to support fully GPU-accelerated fluid behaviour. According to Maxon’s documentation, it integrates seamlessly with existing Pyro, Cloth, and Soft Body solvers, and supports interaction among all simulated elements in a single scene. Liquid Flow exposes parameters for viscosity, surface tension, and emitter behaviour, allowing artists to iterate interactively. GPU compute mode is available on supported NVIDIA and Apple Metal devices.

MoGraph: Advanced Distributions and Capsule-based control

MoGraph’s Advanced Distributions introduce new procedural placement types (Stack and Cannonball and a Hexagrid) designed for building layered or spherical arrangements of clones without custom formulas. These distribution modes work with Effectors, Fields, and Capsules, and can be baked or referenced for product-visualisation layouts or dense motion-graphics assemblies. The update also refines Field layer previews and caching behaviour, reducing redraw lag in high-clone scenes.

Take System: faster iteration and clearer hierarchy

Cinema 4D 2026.1 updates the Take System to simplify the creation of multiple look variations. The new behaviour includes automatic naming, consistent render-setting inheritance, and improved preview switching.
This revision targets motion-graphics artists who iterate colourways, camera setups, or lighting passes for client reviews.

Cineware for Unreal: better fidelity and re-import handling

The Cineware for Unreal Engine plugin gains improved lighting consistency and material assignment during export and re-import. Updated metadata handling preserves naming and hierarchy when projects move between Cinema 4D and Unreal. Interactive playback performance within Unreal has also been tuned for scenes containing animated geometry and dynamic caches.

Viewport, interaction, and asset fixes

The 2026.1 release delivers numerous stability updates and UI refinements documented in Maxon’s changelog:

• Viewport stability: reduced crashes when manipulating large MoGraph instances and multi-viewport setups.
• Spline modelling: corrected Tangent and Control-Point editing behaviour.
• Redshift integration: improved synchronisation of material previews and displacement updates.
• Pyro caching: faster cache rebuilds when adjusting simulation domains.
• Capsule Assets: fixed scene-reload issues with procedural Capsules containing nested Field nodes.

While not as headline-grabbing as the Liquid Flow rollout, these smaller changes contribute directly to daily production stability.

Unified Simulation Framework: one solver, multiple domains

Cinema 4D’s unified simulation approach continues to consolidate solvers under a shared architecture.
Liquid Flow joins Cloth, Pyro, and Soft Body within the same system, allowing bidirectional interactions such as fluid–cloth or smoke–liquid coupling. Simulation caches remain GPU-accelerated but can still be baked to CPU for network rendering. This alignment also simplifies export to Redshift’s volumetric rendering and compositing in After Effects through Cineware.

Quality-of-life improvements

The release notes list over 50 usability and reliability adjustments. Highlights include:

• Faster Undo/Redo operations for geometry-heavy scenes.
• Corrected timeline scrubbing when previewing cached dynamics.
• Updated OpenColorIO configuration handling for consistent colour management across Maxon One apps.
• Restored Viewport Filter settings persistence between sessions.

Collectively, these fixes target workflow friction rather than headline innovation — an area professionals will likely appreciate more than marketing slogans.

Availability and testing reminder

Cinema 4D 2026.1 is included in active Maxon One and Cinema 4D subscriptions, downloadable through Maxon App v2025.12 or newer. Users with perpetual licences under maintenance can check eligibility through Maxon’s support portal. As always, artists should benchmark GPU simulations and rendering performance before updating production environments. Pipeline compatibility with render-farm nodes and Unreal export should be validated per project.

The post Cinema 4D 2026.1: Fluids, Distributions, and Practical Fixes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.