I was introduced to the new release of Cinema 4D at Siggraph 2002. Release 8 has undergone many wonderful changes such as a customizable interface, increases in speed, simplification of many of the commands, as well as the introduction of a number of new features such as an Attributes Manager, Light Inclusion and Exclusion and many more. While I saw the product demonstrated, took notes, and have materials in front of me to describe the changes, I do not have a product to work with for it has not been released and I do not review betas, so remember, this is just a peak at some of the new features without any illustrations or examples to give it depth.

I will list and briefly discuss some of the new and enhanced features. Aside from new features, two enhancements to Cinema 4D as exemplified by numerous modifications are speed of workflow and simplicity of operation.

As stated above, the Attributes Manager is one of the new features of Cinema 4D Release 8. It can be called the hub of release 8. It allows for the adjustment of a scene's attributes in real-time. It, also, allows easy access to an object's tag and material properties as well as timeline integration. So as not to change an attribute by mistake, attributes can be locked and unlocked as desired.

Along with the new Attribute Manager, is a new object referencing system that makes working with objects less complicated for it no longer mandates reliance on the name or hierarchy of an object. Objects can have multiple names that are the same, and the "Smart Pointer" will identify the object correctly.

When selecting objects, multiple selections are easy to do in release 8. In the Attributes box, the coordinates of all the objects are shown at a glance and the one selected is highlighted. This makes for simple identification and modification. One can also select multiple materials. When multiple objects are selected, let's say cubes, the axis is automatically centered on the current selection; however, any individual object's axis can be used as the source for manipulation.

There are new modeling tools in release 8 such as polygon-weighted modeling, edge selection tools, railsplines, and deformers. Spline deformer modeling now allows users to transform any polygon or parametric object into a new shape based on up to 4 splines. There are other tools available. One is a new conversion tool. This one allows for points, for example to be converted to edges, and polygons or edges to be converted to points or polygons, etc.

While the construction of the objects has been simplified, so has the timeline. Even though it might look similar to the one in release 7, it, too, has become more intuitive and yet more powerful with the individual axes of an object being able to be keyframed.

Objects and attributes can be dragged and dropped onto the timeline window, thus, increasing the speed of the workflow. Individual keyframing has been increased as has been the ease of accomplishing it. The X,Y, and Z attributes of position, scale, and rotation can be keyframed individually while nearly all objects and time parameters can be animated on their own tracks.

In addition, an f-curves Manager has been introduced to fine tune the function curves of each animation track. Bezier handles can be created to insure smooth curves. Multiple curves are possible as is the ability to lock curves and color code them. Buttons are even available to toggle sound scrubbing in this Manager.

Animation can now be controlled by the Xpresso Editor through the Xpresso Pool. But this control extends beyond Animations. The Xpresso Pool contains packets ( that can be created by the user) of combinations of objects and modifiers which can be reused to simplify operations and curtail the need to keep building over and over again new operations and presets.

As mentioned in the beginning of this brief "sneak peek" into Cinema 4D R8, an important enhancement is increased speed. The new OpenGL implementation increases speed in a number of areas. It takes advantage of the advanced graphic cards on the market while making the most of the more moderately priced cards. It redraws faster than in previous releases and even utilizes active dual plane support which only redraws what is changed. In addition, the animation rendering speed has increased by up to 40% over previous releases.

A feature just mentioned in the beginning was the Light Inclusion and Exclusion feature. This is part of a selection filter. One can select what one wants included or excluded. Light is just one of many choices.

Outputting can be done in popular 2D and 3D formats such as Shockwave 3D, Macromedia Flash, QuickTime VR, and more.

These are just a few of the new features available in the new release of Cinema 4D. More information is available on the Maxon website at http://www.maxon-computer.com/index_e.html .

When will all of this be available? I was told it is slated for sometime this fall, but it is still in a beta stage. The pricing and product packaging has changed to make it more economical and customizable. These costs can vary with retailer, etc. The core Cinema 4D Release 8 model will retail for $595. (US). Additional modules can, then, be purchased. Two bundles will be available. Cinema 4D XL R8 will retail for $1695 (US). It will contain in addition the Cinema 4D, Mocca (Character Animation), Advanced Render Module (Radiosity, Caustics, Optics), Thinking particles (Advanced particle system), Pyrocluster (Volumetric fore and smoke effects).

Cinema 4D Studio R8 will retail for $2595 (US) and will include everything that is in the Cinema 4D XL R8 bundle plus BodyPaint 3D, Dynamics, and NET Unlimited.

The upgrade prices (all US) for release 7 users are:

• From Cinema 4D XL V7 to Cinema 4D XL R8 $495 or to Studio R8 $1495
• Users of Cinema 4D ART may upgrade to XL R8 for $1095 or Studio R8 for $1995
• Users of Cinema 4D GO may upgrade to R8 for $495, XL R8 for $1295, or Studio R8 for $2295