Happy modeling, and don’t hesitate to post a link to your results here.

camaro_splinecage

In this video, I show how to import several reference images, to copy and paste parts of them onto the model using projection painting and how to blend them together using layers and layer masks.

I’m obviously projecting in a lousy way here, but the goal is to show the process, not to produce a masterwork

Don’t hesitate to post a comment if you have any questions.

On a side note : you’ll notice I use the parallel camera, and constant shading mode. The parallel camera allows to project on the model the best way, since there’s no deformation coming from the perspective. Projection painting projects the texture onto the model based on the view angle, so this is an important step, in my opinion.

Constant shading mode is as important, as it allows to see every detail of the texture without having its aspect affected by the diffusion of the material.

here is a simple Xpresso setup to create a switch between two materials without reaffecting it to the texture tag manually. Especially useful when working with proxy texture (or low resolution videos) to switch back to the high resolution one at render time.

First, you need to create the User Data that will hold the boolean switch. Here, I placed it on a Null Object.

Then, add a Xpresso tag, and drag the texture tag of your object, as well as the Null Object containing the User Data.

Using a condition node, you’ll tell your boolean User Data to act as a switch between the 2 materials. Drag the two materials from the material manager, and link their “object” output to each input of the condition node.Set your condition node mode to “material”, otherwise it won’t link your “object” outputs.

That’s it. Enabling/disabling the switch will yield a 0 and 1 value, which will make either the red or green material to be affected to the texture tag.

Here is the file : switchc4d

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P.S : In the video, I am locking the “texture tags” layer, so you can better see what is happening, but it is more efficient to just hide this layer in the hierarchy, as it will filter out all the unnecessary textures tags (the ones already assigned to a material). Especially useful if you have tons of objects and materials in your scene.

>> First, you’ll need to launch the Command Manager, by going into the menu “Window>Layout>Command Manager” (Shift+F12).

>> Now, enter “script” into the name filter field, and select the Script log and Script Manager and open them (hit “execute” to launch them).

>> The Script Log is a manager that allows you to keep track of certain commands. Not everything is supported, but most tools and tools options are, so this is a neat way to have C4D create the code for you, especially if you are not too good at scripting (like me).

>> The Script Manager is where you will script your actions and tools. The default script is the “save as template” command, so you first need to create a new script for your preset.

>> Now that you have created your new empty script, keep an eye on the script log, and select the Weight Tool (for example).

>> Notice how the log shows what tool you selected, and put it into a form that C4D will understand. This is actual scripting in Cinema4D (to empty the script log, just select the text and hit “backspace”).

>> Now, set the options of the Weight Tool as you wish. Be careful to enter them in one go, because the log will keep a trace of every changes you make, even if you change the strength value 3 times. You don’t want the tool to change the strength value 3 times each time you call for it, that’s not really efficient.

>> Here, I set my weight tool to paint in absolute mode (meaning that I want it to set a specific value each time I click the mouse, without any degree of variation), and you can see that my script log reflects those changes.

>> Just copy the script available in the script log, and paste it into the script manager, in its entirety.

>> You’re done. If you click “execute”, it will call the Weight tool with these specific values. Just set the Weight Tool back to other values, execute the script and see how it works.

>> The last things you might want to do is to place the icon in a palette, or in your interface. Just drag and drop it wherever you need it. You can even assign a shortcut to this script. Optionally, you can also set your own customized icon by clicking on the “load icon” button, and loading your image.

Of course, don’t forget to click the “save all” button, to save any number of scripts you have created. These are saved into the “Library>Scripts” folder, and can be found via the drop down menu at the top of the script manager.