Realistic Neon in Cinema 4D and Redshift

Hello everyone! In this tutorial I go over my method of creating a realistic clear tube neon sign using Redshift and Cinema 4D's Fog Volumes.
As a bonus! Here's a $0 Gumroad link to the neon tube supports that I've made for my example project. They are free to download and use, so enjoy!
Thanks for watching!
Free Neon Assets:
igobyzak.gumro...
PureRef:
www.pureref.com/

[@mangosteen_media]

This is probably the hardest tutorial I've ever tried to follow along with. beginner warning - def intermediate to advanced. I couldn't even get the sweep to create the same volume as in the video.

[@igobyzak]

Yeah this may be difficult for beginners but hang in there! If you run into specific problems feel free to ask here.

[@davidandersson4657]

Same for me, cant see any volume: I get lost at 1:02:43, where he say we can see "something" but I cant see anything )) if any tips please let me know

[@JamesG714]

This may be the best looking Neon I've ever seen.

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!!

[@MDC.Design.Motion]

Zak, I hope you're doing fine. I just wanted to comment and quickly say thank you for all the great content and tutorials you've shared over the last years. I've really learned a ton as you're really an outstanding teacher, with such a great natural feeling for presenting information. Really a rare skill to be found. Always a joy watching your videos, keep it up.

[@igobyzak]

Wow, thank you so much for the kind words!!

[@rahulandesign]

One of the most indepth content on Cinema 4d & Redshift on KZbin. Kudos to you Zak! Wholly enjoy your breakdowns. Just wanna say a million thanks to you for existing and sharing your learnings here.

[@igobyzak]

Ah! Thanks so much!!

[@ChosenWan]

big thanks Zak, the way you think about the whole process really blew my mind. Really enjoyed watching this detailed break down. Really love it, man.

[@imkavindu]

Your voice and explanation remind me of good old Andrew Kramer's After Effects tutorials. Good Job! Subbed! Glad I found your channel.

[@igobyzak]

Whew! High praise! Thank you so much; loved Andrew Kramer's tutorials!

[@marktomphotography]

Wow, really impressive how you broke this down and recreated all the component pieces. Bravo.

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@Ricardo-de9ju]

Awesome content. Would love to see more RS stuff. Thanks for sharing interesting things, that makes the whole difference.

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much! More in the works!

[@DeadbatteryVT1300]

An excellent tutorial! You speak so clear and concise and your attention to detail is great.

[@ern_moldabek]

I think, Its best neon in 3d! Most realistic!

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@pelolocoblue]

This is a fantastic way of doing neon in c4d and redshift. Nice work

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@gamerprovlogs8784]

You best tutorial guy ever!

[@Dawood.k]

We need more tutorial on Redshift, keep going keep going

[@purplelight2947]

Thank you for exploring that!

[@erolskiy]

Incredible research and tutorial!

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@jinleung3994]

Your tutorial is great, thank you! All the best.

[@friedpixels]

Just fantastic, thanks for the video and tip of the hat!

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@popitastic]

Beyond excellent. Subbed and looking forward to much more Zak!!

[@andyboyle2615]

Thank you - really cool tutorial

[@MattWhittingham]

this was a great tutorial, learnt alot, thanks

[@mikebdaniels]

Great tutorial, thanks for putting it together

[@postartificial]

Amazing tutorial as always!

[@vlheikke5079]

Cool video! Thank you!

[@darrenzdr6889]

Really love this work！thank you！

[@zblack8329]

fantastic

[@EEE_motion]

great!!!

[@marc_elll]

3:18 - applying reference 5:48 - creating spline

[@777mekey9]

nice

[@alessandrodamario3319]

Great tutorial. Simple amazing! In my Cinema I don't have two tint options like in the video at 26:00 but only one. Anyone know why that may be?

[@andrewhartsock7864]

What type of lighting setup do you use? The glass looks so clear in the renderview. Would really appreciate any input.

[@igobyzak]

I think it's just a simple HDR for the ambient lighting since most of the light is coming from the emission of the neon.

[@antonverein]

Hi! Awesome tutorial, thank you! I have an issue though. Volume Builder doesn't have "Density" control, and i can't get the fog to look like the tutroial... I have r25 and r23 and both only have "Radius" control.

[@igobyzak]

Thanks for watching! Are you using Redshift to render? The density setting is in the Redshift volume material settings.

[@antonverein]

@@igobyzak Thanks for the reply! Yes i'm using Redshift 3.0.65. I'm referring to the density settings you're tweaking at 18:34, are they now in the material settings? There are some density options on the "advanced" tab of the volume material, i'll try to play with them, thank you!

[@igobyzak]

Oh I see! I think that Density value is only for splines. A low value will look like spheres cloned along the spline, a high value gives a more solid looking spline, less splotchy.

[@antonverein]

@@igobyzak exactly) mine looks like the spheres along the line. And what's weird, I don't have this setting on C4d R25, R23, or R24...

[@alekglasrud143]

I am having the same issue and cannot figure it out

[@autumnspectacle]

redshift jesus id say

[@NoDataAvaliable]

Zak, thank you for your great work! I'm just starting to learn C4D, you tell everything in great detail. I updated to version 2023.1 and linear fields stopped working (red dots don’t change to yellow). In version 26 everything works great. Can you tell me how to fix this?

[@igobyzak]

Thanks for watching! Hmm, I don't think there's any issue with linear fields. If this is for the vertex map are you sure you have fields enabled? Also, have you tried right clicking on your object in the object manager and selecting "Other Tags" - "Vertex Map"?

[@NoDataAvaliable]

@@igobyzak Thanks for the answer!

[@dmitriinizer]

​@@NoDataAvaliable Hi! Can you please share how you fixed it? I have a similar problem.

[@NoDataAvaliable]

@@dmitriinizer Hello! Unfortunately, I was unable to resolve this issue :(

[@dimanizer]

@@NoDataAvaliable thanks for replying! I sent a ticket to Maxon support and they replied to as follows: "Your situation triggered a limitation you cannot circumvent that easily. The vertexmaps calculation is done prior the calculation of the Sweep generator, so the change is not seen by the Correection Deformer anymore. In this special situation, you might need to convert the Sweep into polygons and use the vertexmap directly on the polygonal object."

[@aahritya_tv]

r25 looks so bad!! i thought it was blender for a splic second:/

[@thomascollier7754]

correction deformer to access the vertex map! 🤩

[@777mekey9]

I love your voice and your teaching！

[@mrgrotey]

Fantastic tutorial. I use 3DS Max and Arnold but I can take a wealth of knowledge from this and apply it. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much! That's great to hear!

[@bruceketta6316]

incredible tutorial... i think the best on youtube... really thanks!!

[@igobyzak]

Thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful!

[@bruceketta6316]

@@igobyzak do you do private courses in 4d cinema and redshift?

[@arvindsushil9333]

nice !

[@atiochryst]

Thanks⚡

[@cactusface23]

brilliant!

[@igobyzak]

Thanks so much!

[@_acu3470]

Is it any possible to use a color gradient for the volume fog?

[@igobyzak]

Well sorta. You can change the default black to white gradients in the Redshift volume material under scatter and absorption which will remap the colors based on the density.

[@_acu3470]

@@igobyzak ​ @i_go_by_zak Thank you very much Zak for your answer! Playing with scatter and absorption gradients kind of gives some results. I am actually trying to spread colors along the spline, sure you got me. I guess is not possible with this setup....

[@igobyzak]

@@_acu3470 Ah I see. Yeah I don't think that's possible with a single Volume Builder; BUT! if you use multiple volume builders for the same spline, and fade one volume's density to zero along the spline, and fade a second Volume's builder to zero in the opposite direction, you could blend between two different RS Volume material colors that way.

[@_acu3470]

@@igobyzak Fantastic thank you! It works that way!

[@DeadbatteryVT1300]

I am not seeing my fog in the render? I am on R24

[@igobyzak]

Yeah, gotta go into problem solving mode then. One thing to check, if you've renamed your volume builder after applying the Redshift material, you have to go back into the material and make sure your volume builder is in the scatter and emissions slots.