Collaboration with other software
About model and data exchange with 3rd party solutions: Revit, Solibri, dRofus, Bluebeam, structural analysis solutions, and IFC, BCF and DXF/DWG-based exchange, etc.

exporting to c4d

Anonymous
Not applicable
I think that I've tried just about all the various options and so far find the OBJ format to work the best. However, when I export by materials, which makes sense, ALL the AC geometry of that material comes in as ONE single polygon object in C4D. This is a major, major pain as there is no easy way to split all the polygons like the explode command in autocad...you have to do it polygon by polygon. What I would really like to see in the file transfer is all the polys of one material to come in under a single null object in C4D so that each part is easily accessed amd edited in C4D and yet comes in already "sorted" by material under the null object. This would save a lot of time. By the way, that is the way FormZ objects come in, except I used to do it by layers, but same concept.

Have I missed an option here somewhere that might work better? I did try the AC to C4D exchange plugin...and offhand can not remember the results as far as how the geometry came in.
151 REPLIES 151
Greg Kmethy
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
The AC11 "Exchange Plugin" (saving ac4d format) was developed by Maxon. Starting with v12 we agreed with Maxon to take over this development and create a new .c4d export add-on based on their new platform (Melange). Unfortunately, Melange lacked the support of one of the most ciritcal features of the connection workflow, which is scene update. They committed to add this to Melange in the shortest possible time so hopefully will be able to update the AC-C4D export add-on accordingly soon. We will keep you posted on the issue.
Gergely Kmethy
VP, Customer Success, Graphisoft
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
My apologies.
There was another post from Owen here, which was an answer to Gergely's post.
It looked like the post appeared twice so I removed one of them.
Strangely, both instances disappeared.
There may be something wrong with the php of the forum.
Please, Owen, could you repost your question.
Sorry again.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
owen
Newcomer
Laszlo

no problem, I saw I somehow managed to double post and so i deleted the second .. or was it the first. I think the forums got confused and gave us both our way.
gkmethy wrote:
The AC11 "Exchange Plugin" (saving ac4d format) was developed by Maxon. Starting with v12 we agreed with Maxon to take over this development and create a new .c4d export add-on based on their new platform (Melange). Unfortunately, Melange lacked the support of one of the most ciritcal features of the connection workflow, which is scene update. They committed to add this to Melange in the shortest possible time so hopefully will be able to update the AC-C4D export add-on accordingly soon. We will keep you posted on the issue.
Gergely,

We really appreciate your communication here, and i have noticed other GS guys seem to be posting more - please keep it up!

It is good to hear GS have taken over development of the Exchange Plugin from Maxon, and I completely understand you that there is a problem with 'Melange' and nothing you can do regarding an AC>C4D11 Exchange Plugin until this is resolved by Maxon - hopefully soon.

However you have not really answered the question we had which is:

Can the existing AC11 Add-On be 'fixed' to be recognized by AC12 and export an .AC4D file from AC12 that we can open in C4D10.5, just the same as we currently can with .AC4D files coming from AC11? Forget about C4DR11 and 'Melange' for a minute ... most of us are still using C4D10.5 and this would fix all our problems and certainly bridge the gap until the R11 plugin works.

If this is going to require substantial effort from GS, and you reasonably expect a fix to 'Melange' to be forthcoming from Maxon shortly, then I'm sure we would all completely understand it if you said it is not a good use of resources - just say so, we can handle the brutal truth. However if the existing Add-On can be made AC12 compatible relatively easily then i'm sure everyone suffering from this problem would really appreciate the effort.

One last thing - regardless of the above, when the 'Melange' issue is fixed and a new Add-On for AC12+C4D11 is developed, will the .AC4D files be useable by both C4D11 and C4D10.5? I would assume 'Melange' might raise some problems doing this. We just want to be sure that C4DR10.5 does not fall through the cracks between AC and C4D development - again, many people are still using this with no plans to upgrade to R11.
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
owen wrote:
Laszlo

no problem, I saw I somehow managed to double post and so i deleted the second .. or was it the first. I think the forums got confused and gave us both our way.
Ok, so that is the reason.
I tried to delete the second first. It did not allow me. I guess at that point you were already trying to delete it.
Then I went on to delete the first, which was successful.
Next thing I knew - both posts were gone.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Greg Kmethy
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
owen wrote:
Can the existing AC11 Add-On be 'fixed' to be recognized by AC12 and export an .AC4D file from AC12 that we can open in C4D10.5, just the same as we currently can with .AC4D files coming from AC11?
The "Exchange Plugin" was Maxon's product. They own the code, therefore Graphisoft can not update it. Maxon is committed to solving the problem on Melange basis, since that would benefit all their partners as well, and they would need to do it anyway at one point. From a technical point of view, porting the AC11 Add-on to AC12 does require quite a bit of programming, becasue of the differences in the API. (For example, AC 12 has a new element type, the curtain wall.)
owen wrote:
One last thing - regardless of the above, when the 'Melange' issue is fixed and a new Add-On for AC12+C4D11 is developed, will the .AC4D files be useable by both C4D11 and C4D10.5? I would assume 'Melange' might raise some problems doing this. We just want to be sure that C4DR10.5 does not fall through the cracks between AC and C4D development - again, many people are still using this with no plans to upgrade to R11.
I can not answer this. It depends on whether Maxon will incorporate the changes on the Cinema side in 10.5 as well or not. 10.5 does support Melange, so I would assume this is technically possible. We, Graphisoft have a single add-on for 10.5/11.
Gergely Kmethy
VP, Customer Success, Graphisoft
owen
Newcomer
OK thanks for the update, i think i understand a bit more now too ... I will shut up about it now!

(well at least for another couple of months)
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hello,

I am following this thread since some time now and there is much important information for me in it. As Gergely already pointed out, the way data is exchanged between ArchiCAD and CINEMA 4D si exchanged changed. Those changes brought some problems, but also gives us much more possibilities in the future.

To help me understanding your problems better, could you please give me a quick overview on your workflow and some information on what kind of work you are doing and what kind of projects you are working on.
Are you mostly doing still or animations also? Are you using any other software after rendering in CINEMA 4D? What is the biggest problem with the exchange between ArchiCAD 12 and CINEMA 4D? How often does a project get updated and what kind of data is getting changed?


Thanks for the information.

Bernd Lutz
Wokka
Contributor
Bernd,
Welcome to the forum! Great to see we are not forgotten.
Are your questions for any ArchiCad><C4D users or are they solely for Owen?
Warwick Lloyd-Martin
3 D E N V I R O N M E N T
http://www.3de.com.au
Windows 11 Pro 64bit
ArchiCad 4.55>27 AUS
Lumion 12.5/2023
D5 Render
Anonymous
Not applicable
Wokka wrote:
Bernd,
Welcome to the forum! Great to see we are not forgotten.
Are your questions for any ArchiCad><C4D users or are they solely for Owen?
Thanks for the welcome.

The questions (and any additional questions I didn't ask but you like to answer) are open for all. It is important for me to get a good overview on the different work processes.


Chao
Bernd
owen
Newcomer
Wokka wrote:
Bernd,
Welcome to the forum! Great to see we are not forgotten.
Are your questions for any ArchiCad><C4D users or are they solely for Owen?
chime in .. you guys probably know way more about this than me! We manage systems for a number of clients so workflows do vary a little bit, but are essentially the same and I imagine the same as most Exchange users. Will write more when I'm not on a tiny keyboard..
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5