Cinema 4D

By Maxon Computers


Brief notes

  • All aspects of the model are stored in a single file, this includes geometry, camera specs, materials, etc.

  • A left hand coordinate system is used, x left to right, y up, and z out of the page (screen).

  • Files are stored in Motorola byte order so byte swapping is required for other-endian machines.

  • It uses a tagged/chunked approach which allows parsers to successfully read the entire file even if certain chunks can't or need not be handled. This is achieved by simply adding the size of a chunk to the header of each chunk allowing a parser to skip to the next chunk if necessary.

PDF file of file format

This is for version 4.x released in 1997. It include C++ translation source code.