Cinema 4D R23 is here!

The focus this time is on animation and character rigging but expect other improvements in areas like UV editing, new post-production filters and effects, better viewport rendering, workflow enhancements, and updated core engine to python 3.

Keyframing

It is now easier to manipulate keyframes by copying an ease curve to different keyframe segments or tracks without affecting the values. You can now create markers based on BPM, jump between marked ranges, and navigate between markers with a completely new interface. You can now filter the attribute manager to only show the attributes animators, and zero in on specific tracks with Timeline filtering.

Rigging

A new pose manager was introduced, allowing to easily store, recall, and blend key character poses as scene-independent assets. You can now save variations of your object's parameters that are not tied to the scene and reuse them in other scenes.

There is an improved way to deform geometry while preserving detail. The deformer itself smooths any deformation above it and works particularly well with joint-based skin deformations. An additional tag allows the smoothing to be adjusted per object.

A new workflow allows you to create Character Definitions for commonly-used rigs and easily retarget animation regardless of joint orientation. Two new presets for the Character Object allow you to easily define character rigs for animating joint-based animation of a face.

UV editing

UV Snapping is now completely integrated into Cinema 4D's main snapping toolset. There are new improvements to the interface and UV layout window. UVs of multiple objects can now be viewed concurrently in the UV Editor.

Now is possible to align Islands based on selected Edges, Straighten Edge Selections, and rectangularize UV islands.

Rendering, post-production, and compatibility

Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks technology is integrated into C4D’s render settings, so all of this works in the interactive viewport and with your final C4D renders. It is now possible to apply more than 200 preset film looks, import LUTs, or work with individual tools for color correction, film grain, chromatic aberration, and more. You can also save your own Looks presets and use them between other host applications like After Effects, Premiere Pro, or FCPX.

Viewport

The Screen-Space Reflections and the new Viewport Core introduced in S22 improves the render previewing and the visualization of the final composite.

The future of C4D

The new scene nodes system shows a glimpse from the performance of the next generation Cinema 4D core and object system, revealing new possibilities in procedural modeling.

Improved workflow The core Python engine of C4D has been updated from Python 2 to Python 3. Improvements to OBJ import/export, better support for PBR materials and vertex colors, and support for sequenced files.

FBX now offers the option to export the baked animation of bind joints and to export marker ranges as Takes. Possible to import / export models, cameras, and lights in usd, usda, usdc, and export usdz.

Other relevant features Deformer objects now have better viewport representation showing their direction and function. Whether using deformers for modeling or animation, it's easier to align and scale deformers properly to procedurally modify your mesh. An implementation of the open-source Instant Mesh algorithm allows automatic retopology and quad-based polygon reduction.

Here you can take a look at the entire features list.