• Introduction
• Cloner object
• Effectors - Overview
• Group effector
• Delay effector
• Formula effector
• Inheritance effector
• Random effector
• Shader effector
• Sound effector
• Spline effector
• Step effector
• Target effector
• Time effector
• Linear Clone Tool, Radial Clone Tool & Grid Clone Tool
• Matrix object
• Fracture object
• Instance object
• Text object
• Tracer
• Spline mask
• Displace Deformer
• Extrude deformer
• Spline wrap
• Cache tag / Baking animations
• MoGraph shaders
• Manual and Tutorials
• Goodies / Samples Scenes Etc
• XPresso for MoGraph
• Release 10 and MoGraph
• Conclusion

Introduction

MAXON announced MoGraph on April 18, 2006. This was timed to coincide with the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show in Las Vegas which is the world’s largest electronic media show. I don’t think many people saw this coming and also so soon after the release of the superb HAIR module. However when you think about it, this was a very smart move on the part of MAXON. CINEMA 4D already has some foothold in the broadcast graphics market and the addition of MoGraph gives more weight to this. The effects that can be achieved with MoGraph may well make users of other applications jump ship or integrate CINEMA 4D into their production pipeline.

So what is MoGraph? Well it’s a module for CINEMA 4D 9.6 and 10 that allows the easy creation of spectacular visual effects using primitives, logos, text etc. The review will demonstrate examples of these effects and most of the MoGraph objects along with a number of mini tutorials.

MoGraph includes the functionality of quite a few existing CINEMA 4D plugins and some that are no longer available, notably Jenna. In most cases MoGraph surpasses what these plugins did and the usage is generally easier as well. Typically MoGraph works by cloning / duplicating an object with a “Cloner” object. You then apply “Effectors” to create the visual effect and animate parameters. The clever thing is these effectors can be stacked and you can have complex hierarchies of cloners and effectors. This all sounds complex but in practice it’s very straight forward. There’s also a range of deformers that can be applied to objects as well. We’ll explain and demonstrate all of this below.

We aplogise in advance for the length of this review and the time that it has taken to produce it. The module has so much in it and can do so much that we couldn't possibly give people an idea of its capabilities within just a few pages. Similarly to write with any authority and provide examples learning the module does take some time and we've still got a way to go to fully understanding it and being able to utilize everything to its full potential.