Cinema 4D Tip: Cache Hair Dynamics to Disk

Lock Hair dynamics on schedule: cache to disk for deterministic, flicker‑free renders and confident client reviews.

Why cache Hair simulations?

• Deterministic playback: identical results across machines, sessions, and Team Render.
• Speed: instant scrubbing and faster look‑dev without re‑simulating each frame.
• Stability: prevents pops from changing evaluation order or scene updates.
• Portability: self‑contained files that travel with your project to render farms or collaborators.

Prep checklist before caching

• Finalize project scale and FPS in Project Settings to avoid invalidating caches later.
• Use low‑poly collision proxies with Hair Collider tags for stable, fast solves.
• Keep Editor Hairs low; caches record guide motion, not high‑count render hairs.
• Freeze your hierarchy: changing guide count, emitters, or root placement post‑cache requires a recache.

How to cache Hair to disk (robust workflow)

• Select each Hair object and open its Attributes. Go to the Hair dynamics/cache page.
• Choose a project‑relative cache path (e.g., ./caches/hair/shot_010/) for easy versioning and portability.
• Set the frame range to the exact shot span (include pre/post‑roll if forces need settling).
• Calculate/Build Cache to Disk. Wait for completion; avoid interacting during the bake.
• Switch the evaluation mode to read “From Cache” so playback never re‑simulates.
• Repeat for all Hair objects and any separate grooms in your scene.

Team Render and handoff tips

• Use “Save Project with Assets” to package caches, or maintain a shared cache directory with relative paths.
• Keep caches on fast local or networked SSD volumes for consistent I/O.
• Name caches with tokens: show_shot_asset_take_v### to prevent accidental overwrites.

Performance and quality pointers

• Balance dynamics settings (Drag, Stiffness, Substeps) for stability before baking; caches won’t fix unstable solves.
• After caching, you can raise Render Hairs for final density without re‑simulating.
• If you change guide topology, collider shapes, time scale, or FPS, clear and rebuild the cache.
• For long shots, segment caches by ranges to simplify re‑bakes when only part of the sequence changes.

Interchange and long‑term archiving

• For DCC/inter‑renderer exchange, bake guides to Alembic; many pipelines prefer this for version control.
• Store caches outside your scene file; keep scenes lean and reference caches as external assets.

Pro tip: When dialing looks, cache a short preview range to disk, approve motion, then commit the full shot bake. This keeps iteration tight and predictable.

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