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Morphs are the fastest, most precise way to blend shapes and states in Cinema 4D—ideal for facial rigs, corrective deformation, and seamless object transitions.
Quick setup (Pose Morph Tag)
- Start with clean, frozen geometry in a neutral pose. Consistent point order is critical.
- Select the object, then add Tags > Character Tags > Pose Morph.
- In the Pose Morph tag, enable the channels you need:
- Points: for blendshapes (facial, cloth wrinkles, product morphs).
- UVs: for decal swaps or texture layout changes.
- Object/Hierarchy: to morph PSR and states across object hierarchies.
- Parameters: to store and blend parameter values (handy for light/material variations in look-dev tests).
- Switch to Edit mode, add poses, sculpt or adjust each target, then animate in Animate mode using the sliders.
- Choose Mixing mode:
- Relative: combine multiple poses additively (best for facial rigs).
- Absolute: single-pose dominance (good for full-asset swaps).
Corrective shapes that behave
- Set the tag to Post Deformers when you need morphs to correct deformations after Skin/Joints (fix elbow/knee collapses).
- For pre-skin sculpting, keep it Before/Default so Skin deforms your morphs naturally.
- Use Xpresso + Range Mapper to drive morph weights from joint rotations (automation for corrective shapes).
Mirroring, naming, and organization
- Adopt a clear naming convention: L_Smile / R_Smile, Brow_Up, etc.
- Use the Pose Morph Mirror tool to flip left/right poses; ensure your axis and name patterns (L_/R_) match.
- Group related poses (phonemes, brows, lips) and color-code User Data controls for fast animation.
Performance and stability
- Keep only essential poses active; disable or hide rarely used targets to lighten evaluation.
- Avoid changing topology after creating poses. If you must, rebuild or transfer poses before edits.
- For heavy scenes, bake morph animation to Point Cache or Alembic for snappy playblasts and client previews.
- Leverage Sculpt-to-Pose Morph when converting high-level sculpt layers into animator-friendly sliders.
Export and interchange
- FBX/GLTF to engines: enable Blend Shapes/Morph Targets; keep names clean and limits reasonable (e.g., 50–100 for realtime).
- Avoid extreme deltas per pose to prevent shading artifacts in game engines.
- For DCC-to-DCC transfer, Alembic preserves baked deformation reliably.
Troubleshooting
- Morph not visible or double-deforming? Check tag order relative to Skin and try Post Deformers.
- Exploding mesh? A pose was edited with mismatched point order—rebuild that pose or revert topology.
- Viewport lag? Reduce active poses, and toggle off channels you’re not using (UVs/Parameters).
Pro tips
- Use User Data sliders on a master control and wire them to Pose Morph via Xpresso for a clean animation UI.
- Blend multiple subtle correctives rather than relying on one extreme fix—the result looks more natural.
- Maintain a shared pose library per asset to ensure consistency across shots.
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