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268 3D Computer Graphics

Setting Up a New Project, Backing-up, and the File Menu


1. Create a new scene folder inside your Student Work folder. For example, you could
call it Project_1.

2. Inside your scene folder, create a folder called 'Tex'. This is where you will store all
the texture image maps you import into your scene.

3. Launch Cinema 4D.

4. Select 'Save' from the 'File' menu and save your new scene to the scene folder you
created in step 1 above.

5. Whenever you bring new textures into a material, make sure you save a copy of the
texture in your project location if you are prompted to do so.


When you finish work for the day backup to your flash drive: Choose File menu -> Save
Project with Assets and save your whole project to your flash drive.



File Menu

New... - Opens a new document and makes it the active (current) document. Until you save
the new document and give it a name, the title bar of the document window will show
Untitled. If you have several documents open, you can switch between them using the
main Window menu.
Open... - Loads a file (a scene, a material, etc.) from a storage device (such as a hard disk)
into memory and opens it in a new document window. If the current document window is
empty, this is used instead. You can also use the Open command to import files (see the
Import filters in the preferences).
Merge... - Adds scenes, objects, materials, etc. to the active document.
Revert to Saved... - Reverts the scene to its most recently saved version. Because you will
lose any changes made to the current document since it was last saved, a dialog first checks
that you want to revert to the saved version.
Close - Closes the active document. If it contains any unsaved changes, a dialog opens to
check if you want to save the scene before closing it.
Close All - Closes all open documents. If any documents contain unsaved changes, a dialog
opens to check if you want to save the scene before closing it.
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Save - Saves your document without first opening the file selector. The scene is saved using
the name chosen when you selected the Save As command (i.e. the name that appears in
the title bar). If this is the first time you are saving a new document and it does not have a
name yet, then the Save command behaves just like Save As.
Save as... - Always opens the system file selector. The filename you enter here will be
displayed in the document windows title bar. CINEMA 4D automatically appends the
appropriate extension (.c4d for scenes) to the filename.
Save Incremental... - Each time a file is saved using this function a new file will be created,
numbered sequentially in ascending order. An unlimited number of copies can be saved (at
least until your hard drive is full). If a file name is sequentially numbered, e.g. xxxxx001,
this number will automatically be recognized and subsequent files named accordingly
(xxxxx002, xxxxx003, etc.).
Save All - Saves all open documents. If a scene has not yet been saved (and therefore is
untitled), the appropriate system file selector opens for you to choose a name and path.
Save Project with Assets... - Choose a folder and enter a name. CINEMA 4D creates a new
folder in the specified path and saves the scene there. In addition, it creates a sub-folder,
named Tex, into which it copies all the pictures and textures necessary for rendering the
scene.
Export - A scene can be exported to a foreign file format for subsequent work in other 3D
software. The file types listed below are available. CINEMA 4D automatically adds the
relevant file extension to the file. Each 3D program works differently, therefore it is not
always possible to convert all information within a scene. Further, the result will always
differ according to the materials and lighting used, so a manual re-working may be
necessary.