This is the documentation for the Cinema 4D R21.115 C++ SDK. It describes how to develop C++ plugins for Cinema 4D. For more information on this documentation see Introduction.

Latest Changes

For latest changes of the API see Changes in R21.

Resources and Examples

• The Cinema 4D SDK is included in every distribution of Cinema 4D.
• The Project Tool is available on developers.maxon.net.
• General information on how to use Cinema 4D can be found in the Cinema 4D User Manual.

The sdk.zip file contains these example projects:

• cinema4dsdk: Contains various example plugins based on classic API hooks.
• maxonsdk: Contains various example plugins based on MAXON API interfaces.
• microsdk: Is a minimal example project combining classic API with elements of the MAXON API.

The example projects are also available on GitHub.

Quick Links

Setting up a new project	Plugin Development	Best Practices
Project Tool Development for macOS Development for Microsoft Windows Development for Linux	Plugin Development Plugin Types General Plugin Information Manual Plugin Functions Manual	Plugin Migration Programming Advice Debugging

Overview

Introduction	Foundations	Data & Algorithms
Basic information to start plugin development Introduction Getting Started: Introduction FAQ: Introduction	Basic building blocks of the API Foundations Getting Started: Foundations FAQ: Foundations	Generic and reusable data structures and algorithms Data & Algorithms Getting Started: Data FAQ: Data
Application Development	3D Concepts	Modules
Elements for generic application development Application Development Getting Started: Application FAQ: Application	Handling 3D scenes and elements 3D Concepts Getting Started: 3D FAQ: 3D	Extensions of Cinema 4D like MoGraph or Xpresso Modules