More Nurbs

If you were to want a smoother, pipe-like type of arm rests or legs for your chair, Cinema 4D provides us with an easy way to do that as well, through Sweep Nurbs.

Sweep Nurbs:
This nurb takes the shape of one spline, and traces out the outline of another spline with it. If you were to draw out the shape of a coat hanger with a spline for example, you could then drop a small spline circle onto your scene, representing the size/width of the coat hanger’s wire, and then drop a Sweep Nurb on to your object manager. To use the Sweep Nurb, you must FIRST parent the circle spline to the nurb, and THEN parent the coat hanger spline to the nurb; once that’s done, make sure your object manager lists the Sweep Nurb first, then the circle, and finally your other spline, because if it’s not in that order, your geometry won’t work as you want it to.  You should then have a 3D coat hanger ready to go.  If you wish to adjust the thickness of the wire, simply scale/transform the circle spline to your liking.

You may also apply this technique if you wanted to make your coat hanger outline be blocky, or shaped like a star, using the corresponding spline shapes instead of the circle.

Loft Nurbs:
Another type of useful Nurbs is the Loft Nurb. A loft Nurb essentially allows you to combine multiple spline shapes together to form a 3D object.  Let's say you had no idea Cinema 4D had a built in cylinder primitive for example, and you wanted a cylinder.  With the Loft Nurbs, all you would have to do is drop 2 circle splines, move one of them is straight up above the other (to whatever you want the height of your cylinder to be), and then parent them both to the Loft Nurb.  Just keep in mind that you can set as many different spline shapes, at as many different distances as you want, with this Nurb, so take advantage of it to create something interesting!