THANK YOU
I'm truly sorry, tho, since this conundrum of conundrums is making me cranky & grumpy, please have pitty & mercy on me... it's been an unpleasant experience recently. I'm not trying to be an ill-tempered curmudgeon, or attack anything, or anyone... but, this isn't adding up. Hopefully, in your infinant maturity & humanity, you can overlook my aggaravted tone, as I'm quite baffled, boggled, and lost. It's NOT my overt intention to be rude, or drenched in malice & ire. I just want to use a 3D extruded file, and its not happening, and I keep getting this run-around cycle on this same toppic for several years.
However....
See, this is what's confusing:
If Cinema 4D is supposed to be automattically installed WITH After Effects, then why is it that I never actually experience this ever happening?
If it's automatically installed, then why is it never there?
If it's automatically installed, then why does it tell me I must install it?
If it's automatically installed, then how is it incorrectly installed?
So, when I tried to research what to do about it, I found different soucres claiming different things, and all were outdated. Or it just tells u WHAT C4D is... as tho I didn't know what it was.
I found a source from last year that claimed I needed to go to Maxon's website and download a demo version, but when I got there, there were no demo versions, only whatever it told me to download. (Most search engines send you to old sources, even if you type in 2021)
But, once I downloaded it, then it made me do all these things, it then wanted to download some other version, then installed, and then re-installed it again. (Overall, I think it was at least 3 times installed, and an update)
So, if After Effects comes WITH Cinema 4D Lite, AUTOMATICALLY, then WHY am I always told to use the AE Installer? And WHY wasn't it (C4D) there in the 1st place???
In othr words, WHAT SHOULD I DO???
This is what the Loading screen on Cinema 4D looks like today, and the "About" screen:
(It was called other things, but not "Lite" yesterday, nor on the 25th when I installed it, and it changed a few times.) Today, it's called Cinema 4D Lite.
This it what it says today:
It seems to be called Cinema 4D Lite today, but it was called something else when I installed it the other day.
Trying to apply the Cinema 4D Cineware effect to any layer doesn't work. Nothing happens but the error message prompt, and there's also no "Options" showing. I checked the Menu also, and there's nothing in there either.
* Yes, the Error message happened, but
* No, there's no "Options" in the effects controlls.
The only way I saw anything LIKE an "options" part in the effects controls was IF I set a Layer to 3D using the cube icon in the box settings area.
However, it's called "Geometry Options" and "Material Options", yet these have NOTHING to do with Cinema 4D, and are just 3D settings due to the Cube icon setting.
I keep asking myself: AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG? DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG? AM I JUST NOT SEEING SOMETHING???
But, the stuff that OUGHT TO HAPPEN, or EXIST, just isn't there.
Perhaps I'm not aticulating myself clearly enough. Sorry.
So, I need A: Steps to fix the issue with Cinema 4D not working with After Effects
However, This article doesn't give any instructions with steps to do A.
What the Article states is:
B: What Maxon Cinema 4D is
C: Various processes and versions of Cinema 4D, and that it requires you to sign up and do those steps
D: reiterates that its supposed to install normally with After Effects (however, I've actually never experienced this to actually ever happen, it also has a fragment of something about it pausing at about 80% instalation of C4D, but no explanation of what this is, means, etc. I've also never experienced this either. WHen it installs, it just installs then moves onto another application like Photoshop to install it)
E: How to uninstall it (but I've already done that many times over the years)
F: How to Uninstall it
G: Working with Cinema 4D: importing, Editing etc.
None of these things in the Article, B-G help, me with what I need which is A.
If its supposed to be fixed using the installer, then how does that work? (Red Herring)
So, see how there's a disconnect here??? (Red Herring)
Like, these things don't make sence, and it's not helping.
I need to know that part about what I'm supposed to do, like steps.
Like, do this, this, then that.
Like, if you do these things, then it will work.
So far, this isn't really that user friendly. Like, if it's automatically supposed to be installed WITH After Effects, then why wasn't it? And WHY did I need to go to MAXON's wesbite? (See? I need to KEEP POINTING THIS OUT. Am I getting rthough to anyone yet?)
And, if the way to fix it with with the AE installer (which I'm pretty sure is what I originally thought it was, the pop-up app that one uses to access Creative Cloud) then why isn't there anything on it to do what the error message prompt told me to do????
See what I mean????
It's like there's something missing. Like, did someone forget to code something for this when it was being programmed??? (I'm not that great at coding, and I only use Dreamweaver once in a while.)
Or, is it like when maybe u guys have been doing this for years, that you just had it all installed for so many years, that you fogot about it, and presumed it was all fine? Meanwhile, a lot of changes occured each year, and it just sort of slipped through the cracks? (Isn't there, like, a term for that? Like maybe seemless cohesive integration or something??? IDK)
I get it that YOU GUYS understand it, but whatever that is INSIDE UR HEADS, its just not really being communicated out to everyone else that wasn't already inside the bubble.
Hmmmm.... (Just speculating) Maybe this is why everyone I knew gave up on this stuff several years ago. And no one new ever does anything with it... so, it's like a club of old timers then??? Is that a good business model, tho?
I guess this explains why I can only find old tutorials, or articles, or videos.... and no one actually knows anything...
Or, do you guys actually just dislike MAXON? Are you guys beefing, maybe? That's a bummer.
That's too bad, if so. I think Cinema 4D is nicely done. It's not as user intuitive as 3DS Max, but it's actually a nice chunk of software, and growing on me. That's usually the 1 I'm more interested in using. (Altho Grease Pencil Blender is lookin' kinda interesting, sort of like Disney Tarzan's old software, -what was it called? Canvas, or something?? IDK)
If you guys are beefing with MAXON I hope u can find some way to work out your differences, like maybe a peer mediator.
I 1st learned 3D stuff back in 1999, but I'm not really a 3D artist, per se. I mostly only use it (3D stuff) for basic things particles & extrude, maybe a basic bump map here & there, or some kind of vulumaetric lighting or atmosphereic densitity. Not realy into stuff like NURBS, n it's NOT like I need After Effects to be like Octane Render, or V-Ray (athlo' they're both awesome). I barely know anything about these things anyway, because I'm not overtly a 3D artist, and its not my raison d'être.
I know 3D guys tend to be a like a tribe, n they all know stuff, and ONLY like other people that already know those things... but, from the outside, it's hard to understand u guys. Mostly I draw stuff, paint, do photography, Video, video editing, particles, and composite stuff.
All I wanted to do was use something I extruded a few years ago. Basic Betty stuff.
In 2018, I couldn't get the other 3D settings in AE to extrude anything EXCEPT TEXT. Trying to make something extrude, like a logo, especially if it had a hole in it, didn't work unless it was text (also lots of old outdated sources, and no one could figure it out either), so I had to figure it out in Cinema 4D back then, which was the only thing I could get to work. That took me an entire month to figure out, and I could still never get easing in & easing out to work with C4D inside AE, and no one could explain to me HOW, either. (It's as if people ONLY KNOW that C4D COULD be used within AE, but mostly only use either JUST C4D but not AE, or JUST AE and NOT C4D, so they probably just tried it once years ago, and that's all they ACTUALLY "knew", which really wasn't knowing much of anything... so their conculsion was lacking, and premature. Nobody at UMASS Boston knows either; I asked.)
After Effects is probably my #1 Favorite Software. The main reason I bought the entire Creative Cloud was BECAUSE I NEED IT. I mostly just use After Effects, Premiere, and Photoshop. So, it was just a better deal to get the entire thing, since alone, After Effects & Premiere together is higher.
I keep runing into this issue where people whom are the experts just presume you already understand what they mean, which doesn't help anyone who never did it before. Like, to you guys its just easy, but you've done it for probably decades, and inside your bubble a lot of things are already a given. Also, most AE users only use it for JUST certain things, and not the others, and AE DOES A LOT.
Like if ur using trackmattes for most of ur work, ur probably not gonna know ANYTHING about Keyframe Assist for Tradiational Animation frames from (Toon Boom Harmony or DragonFrame), and someone that mostly uses it for video editing won't understand particles, Wave Warp, or various ways to do bubbles like Foam, or Mercury, or displacment maps. Or people who only do motion graphics text stuff but have no concept of tradiational animation principles like strait-ahead, in-betweens VS "tweening", or aniticipation animation, or recoil, reccoche, or object weight.
This is also an issue with 3D stuff, but with 3D artists, they are so tribal, that if u came from outside they have a kind of disdain for you, yet also want everyone to be a 3D artist like they are.
Another issue I frequently run into is 3D Artist (including it with regaurds to AE) streamers on Twitch, because whenever they tell you to ask questions, they always insist they are an expert, that they want to help people learn, and know everything, and its easy. But, whenever they insist to ask them, they often avoid it, say its easy, then say vague things. Then, when I do whatever they said, they then alter what they said and say "Well, I'm NOT REALLY an expert in THAT", or "I haven't really done that," or "I haven't done that in more than 10 years", or "That's not really my expertise" even tho they just bragged about it mutiltple times, then even tho I've ALREADY had conversations about stuff being outdated, and having this EXACT ISSUE, and people behaving EXACTLY LIKE THAT, they do the thing WE JUST TALKED ABOUT, and that they claimed they'd NEVER DO.... like pretend they're an expert, then tell you to go look it up... even tho' I'd already looked it up, and found outdated stuff, and people pretending they knew it.
Or, if they do know it, they talk about things I don't even know whatever it is. Like if no one knew what a displacement map was, let alone the complexity of it, or even if someone didn't even know what nesting was, and your answer to the N00b was "well, you just need to pre-compose that, and add a displacement map" THEY WOULD HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU MEANT.
Have you guys ever heard of the Feynman Technique???? That's what I use to teach people stuff. (I'm actually using it in how I typed this whole entry.)
Seriously, tho', is it REALLY that bad to admit u just don't know? I mean, I DON'T KNOW, n I'm STILL trying to figure this stuff out... HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO LEARN???
Probably since its so frustrating, and I'm running into the same kinds of pesky setbacks, and people who either don't communicate well, are tribal minded to outsiders, or have internal pride aspects of admitting they don't know, that its NO WONDER nobody knows what to do, nor that its not even working. I've been running into these kinds of issues since 2016.
Seriously, how hasn't this been tested, like a focus group?
I sat through a whole course on UI/UX design, back in August/September.
So, its just SO PERPLEXING to me, that a fabulously fantastic software company like Adobe is having this issue. Like in 1999, Adobe stuff was SO USER FRIENDLY that children could use it. So, what happened??? That was the great bragging right of Adobe software, because it was better... but, now it's like INSIDERS ONLY, so sink or swim.... My friend, who wrote the 1st ever How-To Book for Photoshop, was the guest speaker host at Macworld 2010 for the Adobe Photoshop Aniversary.
C'Mon, guys! I wanna be TEAM ADOBE. But, all the young people like other stuff out there, and I got some too. My daughter actually prefers other software.
You know I DO actually type feedback in the Adobe Survey Questions Promps, I just don't know if you guys care anymore. But, you don't really get much room to type a detailed amount of explanations.
Anyways, I'm STILL LOST, CONFUSED, and NOTHING IS RESOLVED.
I'm STILL in THE EXACT SAME SPOT, with the EXACT SAME PROBLEM I already had BEFORE I installed MAXON Cinema 4D from thier website, BECAUSE it was never installed on my PC at all ever from Creative Cloud. In fact, since 2018, I've gone through MULIPLE COMPUTERS and video cards, and IT NEVER INSTALLED THEN EITHER, AND I let my daughter (who's at UMASS) install it to her PC, and its NOT THERE EITHER.
It's as if this has probably been an issue for years, but nobody wanted to be THAT GUY who said something. Or, since so many people insisted it works fine, and its easy, that somehow they're stupid or wrong, and don't want to admit it, or already feel nervous because they don't understand it, and just gave up. Like INCEPTION of miscommunication within misunderstanding, and misunderstandings within miscommunications... Like a disconection of disconections.
Maybe, it doesn't work at all, because it hasn't worked for years, and there's no way to fix it, because there's nothing built in so it can be fixed, and maybe it's not built in because no one knew it doesn't work, because everyone is timid and didn't tell anyone, nor checked it, and people whom have used it for years, just do updates every month, so it just coasts through just fine, and presumes its still working for everyone else, when it only works for them.
Has anyone ever tried to get just a new Apple & a new Windows PC, then install Creative Cloud to SEE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS? I think if u did THAT u would probably see AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SIDE OF THINGS.
I just presumed that if I had a problem, I could just look it up, then fix it... but, that was not the case.
So, then I presumed that if I asked here, then someone would know the missing parts I couldn't find, then fill it in, and then it would be fixed.
But, objectively speaking, it looks like there's many parts missing, and no one actually knew this, and so its just been put off, and put off, and that's where we are. (An Elephant in the room everyone is pretending isn't there, because they just want to go along with whatever everyone else is doing)
Logically, if I was doing the wrong thing, then it implies there's a right thing, or right way to do it, ergo stop doing it wrong, then do it right, thus it would be fixed.
Or, maybe there's some part I was unaware of... so, if I just knew THAT PART, I could enlighten myself about that part I was unaware and ignorant of, then I could see a more complete picture.
However, there's nothing there.
When I go to the Creative Cloud installer, THERE IS NOTHING THERE.
So, if THERE IS NOTHING THERE TO FIX IT, then one could ONLY CONCLUDE that IT CAN'T BE FIXED.
I already have C4D on my computer, but it also doesn't work in AE.
But, also, when I install After Effects to the PC, it also never installed C4D. NEVER EVER.
So, SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT.
I kept thinking, like, maybe there's some kind of setting I need to find, or switch something on... but no one is saying that.
I'm TRULY SORRY. But, I'm hoping this isn't the case where there's A BIG CRACK IN THE PIPE n no one has ever wanted to point out that there's a big crack in the pipe, or they just presumed its supposed to be like that... n, I also don't wanna be THAT GUY... but, maybe its a BIG CRACK IN YOUR PIPE... maybe...
Otherwise, wouldn't it just work, tho?
LIKE, what am I missing here???
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