Cinema 4D

Installation

To be able to export to gLTF format, the exporter must first be downloaded and unpacked in the “plugins” folder:
Download gLTF Exporter

To find the plugins folder right click on the Cinema 4D icon and select “Open file path“.

If there is no plugins folder here, create a new folder “plugins” and copy the contents of the zip file into it.

If you now start Cinema 4D, you will find a new entry under File → Eport → GLTF.

Export options

To export a scene in gLTF format click File → Export → GLTF. Now select the target directory and click on save. A new window will open with the following options :

Export Normals: Deselect for Flat Shading.
Export UV Coordinates: Export UV information as well
Scale: Defines the scaling of the exported scene
Export Textures: If textures are to be included in export
Double Sided: Select to avoid back-face culling
Export TRS Animations: Export TRS animation tracks.
Export Morph Animations: Exports either Pose Morph or PLA animations.
Export Skin Animations: Exports TRS animations with joints.
Bake Animations: Baked every frame of animation
Substeps: Number of substeps used for sampling the individual frames.
Export Frame: Export the status of the document in the current frame or in another specified frame.
Export Frame Number: Export of a single frame
Export Cameras
Flip Z: Switch from left-handed to right-handed coordinate system.
Export as Binary(.glb): exports GLB (all files/textures are merged into one file)

Cameras

GlTF 2.0 provides basic support for cameras with perspective and parallel projection (also known as orthographic). This can be changed in the camera settings.

Materials

(*) Supported fields are highlighted in blue

glTF uses the PBR approach to describe materials, which translates well to Cinema’s reflectivity channel. To achieve a similar looking result when exporting, we recommend working with a single reflection / specular layer in the Reflectivity channel.

PBR Metallic Roughness

The information of the glTF-PBR material is coded into three main parameters:

Base color: Set by the layer color selection or by the color selection in the color channel.
Metallic value: Determined by the value of the reflectance of the main reflective layer.
Roughness value: Determined by the roughness value of the main reflective layer.

Texture mappings to the above parameters are also supported:

Base color texture: Set the bitmap texture in the layer color or color channel.
Metallic Texture: Set the grayscale bitmap texture under Reflection Strength.
Roughness texture: Set the grayscale bitmap texture under Roughness strength.

Normal Map

Normals can also be set to Custom Normal Map and Bitmap in Custom Texture in the Reflection / Specular main layer under Bump Strength, Mode. Can also be set in the normal channel and in the shock channel.

Other maps

(*) Supported fields are highlighted in blue