Looking for interface resource

[droshack]

come on guys, 50 views and no posts... not even a pleasant your and idiot, get over it and go back to work! ;) i am sure someone has an opinion... let me hear 'em

[thorn3d]

My basic hint/tip is the obvious one... C4D isn't maya, and has its own way of working. Some of the UI concepts are better, some worse, some just different.

The solution is to read whatever documentation you have, and spent time working with the app to learn it bit by bit. The only way to learn how C4D really works is to work with it on small-scale projects, then increase the areas of the app you utilitize as your knowledge of the app increases.

thorn

[AdamT]

Yeah, I didn't want to offend by saying RTFM, but the manual covers the UI pretty thoroughly.

[droshack]

yes i tend to agree. I have yet to fully digest all 1005 pages during RTFM'ing and have not been able to find some answers. The whole model tool/object tool is a little vague... I think I get it and about to do some experiments to learn more. model-model object-animation. is the "rule" ANYWAY... what gets me is the scaling non-uniformly seems to be locked out on some object or with some options listed.... aughh it just confuses t me to think about it. it just seems like a lot or redundant tools with little bitty vauge differences... differences that I have yet to learn.


I was appealing to the collection of expertise gathered to see if I was missing a core concept or if it is just lack of C4D experience.... which it looks like it is. so back to the program and RTFM'ing:thumbsup:

[AdamT]

Well, I'd be happy to try to answer any specific questions, but I don't know of a general resource that explains the UI as well as the manual. But a few tips:

You can't use the scale tool to do non-uniform scaling of primitives. Should work with anything else;

Never use the object tool. Yep, just don't screw around with it or it will screw you back. :);

In order to manipulate the little orange handles on the primitives and deformers you need to be in move, rotate, or scale mode. IOW, they don't work if you are in a selection mode.

hth

[squidinc]

Never use the object tool. Yep, just don't screw around with it or it will screw you back.

why not?? I always do.. am I missing something... awww crap :eek: :sad:

[AdamT]

Originally posted by squidinc
why not?? I always do.. am I missing something... awww crap :eek: :sad:
Hey, if it works for you maybe I should start using it! :)

But the reason I say don't use it is that it can cause very bad problems if you use it to scale your objects. It screws up the axes in a way that's hard to repair. I'm told there are times when it's preferable to use it, but I never ever do and AFAIK it hasn't caused me any problems.

[squidinc]

I think it's time I had a look at the manuals, I'm not sure what the difference is between model mode and object mode :shrug: I'll keep an eye out for any weirdness though :thumbsup:

[droshack]

AdamT - thanks!

that little bit was informative about the orange manipulators. I didn't think there was any type of resource out there about the UI, as I have checked... so I thought I would risk the heckling and ask here.

the whole object/model tool seems crazy. It seems like there was some basic transform that would not work in one mode or the other. I need to write down my questions as I go so I can get some specefic questions out.

thanks for the responses!

-d

[thorn3d]

The Model Tool scales the model... the point and polys which create it are spread apart in literal model/local coordinates.

The Object Tool takes the WHOLE THING and makes it bigger... it isn't scaling the geometry, it's scaling the "space" in which the model lives.

Which one you should use depends on what you are doing. The concept usually throws beginners way off. It's briefly covered in the manual, but if you aren't clear on the difference i highly recommend you experiment with both (and with both + deformer, or with animation) to see the difference.

thorn

[LucentDreams]

Yeah, squid it hasn't been a problem yet as you haven't really been animating, once you get into animation, not just with bones as some tend to think, but any type of animatin, you'll start to see how they do act differently. up until I really got into rigging and either naam or Donovan explained to me about how using the object tool to scale bones was bad, I used the object tool exclusively and neer touched the model tool. Part of the reason they changed which one was default was to try and prevent that.

[squidinc]

ah gotcha, cheers :thumbsup:

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