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<aside> 📌 Version: 1.6 User’s guide last update: 2023.10.23 Compatibility: C4D R19 R20 R21 R22 R23 R24 R25 R26 R2023 R2024

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What is this?

Line-Connection is a plugin that allows you to Generate connection lines between selected objects in Cinema 4D(sequencely or randomly).

How to install?

1. Extract the zip file.copy the line-connection_1.6 folder into your plugins folder,if no,create one folder named “plugins” Then your file path may like this: C:\Program Files\Maxon Cinema 4D 2024\plugins

   

2. Open cinema 4d. You can find the it under the plugins or Extensions menu. There are two option. LC_order for connections in order by your choosing sequence. LC_random for connections randomly between your choosing objects.And you can define how many lines it will generate.

   

Instructions:

1. Select two or more objects,then execute LC order.
2. It will generate lines between objects sequencely and create a ripple object under every select object.
3. Then in your object manager panel,you will get two null objects:ALL_con_Point and All_Ripple_objects.
4. Don’t select or click other objects,just move the handle in your view port,you can adjust the position and curvature of the lines.

Parameters：

All_con_Point:

• Spline_Material: If sweep on is off,you can only see the spline ,this is the spline’s material.
• **Sweep_on:**Sweep on or off.
• **Sweep_Radius:**Radius of your sweeped line.
• **Circle_subdiv:**Subdivision of the sweep circle.
• Dash_on: Dash line or solid line.
• View_lights:View lights or not.there is a light at the tip of every line.it will move from start to end along the spline.this option is just for the need to do compositions in the compsite softwares like aftereffect.
• **Icon_size:**Control the size of the handle
• Diffuse_on: Diffuse of lines’ material on/off
• Luminance_on: Luminance of lines’ material on/off
• Dash_Color: Lines’ color

Null objects under the All_con_Point：

(handles for adjusting lines’ shape)

• Spline_type:Spline’s type
• Bezier_control:Only useful when spline type is bezier.
• Animation_control：Line’s animation control.most times you don’t need to adjust this parameter.
• Animation_Reverse：Reverse line’s animation.
• Dash_Animation：Control if dash has an animation.
• Animation_speed：Dash animation’s speed
• Dash_density：Dash lines density.

All_Ripple_Objects：(parameters ofrippleobjects)

• Global_Control_On：On/off of global control
• Ripple_radius:Radius of ripple.
• Poly_num: Subdivition of ripple.
• Rotate_H/P/B: Rotation of ripple objects
• Ripple_thickness:Outside circle’s thickness.
• Ripple_center_radius:Radius of center circle.
• Dissolve:On/off of ripples’ opacity animation when it becomes bigger

Children of All_Ripple_Objects：

Same as All_Ripple_Objects but control for ripple objects individully。

Video Tutorial：

https://youtu.be/B_APUyqY-jY：

https://youtu.be/EWET8sh-Ys0

❓Frequence Asked Questions:

1.How to find built-in materials?

Open the layer manager, open the hidden and locked layers in the image, and you can see the materials

• Sweep_Mat: The material of the Sweep object ,say the material of the line mesh(either solid or dashed)
• Spline_Mat: When the sweep is not used, the material of the line is hair material, which is rarely used
• Ripple_center: Ripple center material
• Ripple_Mat: Ripple circle material

2.Does it support other renderers?

No. Because there are too many other renderers for C4D. so,

3.What if you use other renderers, such as RS or OC?

If you use other renderers, it is recommended that you render layers separately.

Render the lines and ripples in the default renderer, and then composite them in AE:

Steps:

1,Switch to the renderer you are using, hide the lines and ripples objects,

2.Render the scene with your renderer (OC, RS...), so get the animation without lines and ripples.

3.Switch back to the default renderer, and turn on the render and display of the line and ripple objects.

4.Create a new default shader, set it to a pure black material without color or highlight, and name it PureBlack, as shown below:

5.Turn on the Material Override in the rendering settings, select PureBlack for the custom material, and add Sweep_Mat, Ripple_ Center and Ripple_ Mat to Exclude.

6.Then re-render to get an animation with only lines and ripples, and finally combine it with the animation obtained in step 2 in AE.

4.Why my animation disappeared:

Please check if you have moved the parent-child relationship of the objects generated by the plugin, or renamed some objects.

These operations can cause issues with the plugin.