SDK Change Notes for Cinema 4D 2027.0.0

Table of Contents

Summarizes the API and documentation changes made between Cinema 4D versions 2026.3.0 and 2027.0.0.

Overview

2027.0

Cinema 4D 2027 is ABI compatible with Cinema 4D 2026 and retains its ABI version 2026000. Plugins compiled with the 2026 SDK do not have to be recompiled and will work in all releases of Cinema 4D 2027. A recompilation is only necessary when you want to build with the 2027 SDK; as some APIs have changed in a source incompatible way, plugin sources might then require changes, see Migrating to the 2027.0 API. See ABI Compatibility for details on ABI compatibility.

Note
Our guarantee for exactly one major version of ABI stability remains unchanged. You might see longer periods of stability in practice in future releases, but there is no change in the official policy of exactly one major version of ABI stability. There is no guarantee beyond that.
Updated
the CMake build system to natively use CMakeLists.txt module configurations. Legacy projectdefinition.txt files can be converted by enabling MAXON_MIGRATE_LEGACY_PROJECTS during CMake configuration, see Migrating from projectdefinition.txt. The overhauled Build Systems manuals document the new workflow.
Added
example.build, showcasing a plugin module that builds and links against static and dynamic libraries.
Added
objectdata_objecttree.cpp, to document customgui_itemtree.h and customgui_longicons.h. These formerly unexposed custom GUIs now also have new helper functions and are documented in the API.
Added
toolhints.cpp, documenting the new tool hints system in Cinema 4D.

API Changes

Summarizes the technical changes made to the public APIs of Cinema 4D within the scope of these change notes.

The section below lists the differences between the 2026.3.0 and 2027.0.0 API as collapsible sections organized in frameworks, files, and changes. The collapsible sections each denote the number of changes they contain in light gray on the right of the section bar. Note that change means here block of change, so 10 consecutive lines which have all been changed count as one change. Click a section bar to expand or close it it, or click the ↧ or ↥ button to expand or close a framework section and all its nested sections. With the ▸ button found on file sections, you can jump to the complete file dif for that file, a ⇲ button will transport you to the matching documentation page of a file or framework.