This SDK offers the most powerful toolset. It is the right choice if you need speed, full access to all parts of the application and want to create complex projects.
Development Environments
MAXON supports Xcode for the Mac and Visual Studio for PC. SDK Support can’t offer any support for other compiler or IDEs (e.g. no GCC compiler or Eclipse).
| Release | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Cinema 4D 2024.0 | Visual Studio 2019 and 2022 | Xcode 13 |
| Cinema 4D 2023.2 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 12 (macOS 11) / Xcode 13 (macOS 12) |
| Cinema 4D S26 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 11 (Intel) / Apple Xcode 12 (Intel and M1) |
| Cinema 4D R25 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 11 (Intel) / Apple Xcode 12 (Intel and M1) |
| Cinema 4D S24 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 11 (Intel) / Apple Xcode 12 (Intel and M1) |
| Cinema 4D R23 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 11 |
| Cinema 4D S22 | Visual Studio 2019 | Xcode 11 |
| Cinema 4D R21 | Visual Studio 2017 (see note in docs) | Xcode 10 |
While it is, of course, a good idea to own a CINEMA 4D license for plugin development, the free Demo version is already sufficient, as it includes the complete SDK.
Note that, depending on the C4D edition, parts of the API may not work. For example, you won’t be able to use MoGraph functionality if you only own a Prime or Visualize edition.
C++ Plugin Code Style Guide
In this document, you will find a public version detailing how we write C++ code at MAXON. Using this style guide can prove useful to facilitate collaboration and code sharing.
- Source publication on our community Github repository.
- Improve readability for the SDK support team.
- Establish a common ground to share code snippets on the SDK support forum.
How to get Plugin IDs
Public resources
Latest Relevant Articles
Cinema 4D 2024.0.0 Release
On September the 13th, 2023, Maxon Computer released Cinema 4D 2024.0.0. Alongside this release, a new Cinema 4D SDK and SDK documentation have been released, reflecting the API changes for 2024.0.0. For an overview of the features of Cinema 4D… Continue Reading
About the Upcoming Changes of the Cinema 4D C++ API
Dear Development Community, As we continue to work to provide customers with industry-leading 3D solutions, Maxon will make significant changes to the API of Cinema 4D in its next major release. This does not only include the feature additions and… Continue Reading
Cinema 4D 2023.2.0 Release
On March the 29th, 2023, Maxon Computer released Cinema 4D 2023.2.0. Alongside this release, a new Cinema 4D SDK and SDK documentation have been released, reflecting the API changes for 2023.2.0. For an overview of the features of Cinema 4D… Continue Reading
Cinema 4D 2023.1.0 Release
On November the 9th, 2022, Maxon Computer released Cinema 4D 2023.1.0. Alongside this release, a new Cinema 4D SDK and SDK documentation have been released, reflecting the API changes for 2023.1.0. The major changes in this documentation update are in… Continue Reading
Cinema 4D 2023.0.0 Release
On September the 7th, 2022, Maxon Computer released Cinema 4D 2023.0.0. Alongside this release, a new Cinema 4D SDK and SDK documentation have been released, reflecting the API changes for 2023.0.0. The major changes in this documentation update are in… Continue Reading