Constraining Objects to a Surface in Cinema 4D

This tip shows a quick, repeatable, and simple technique for placing objects (trees in this case) along an uneven surface in Cinema 4D. Make sure to watch until the end for the caveats involved.

In this video, we look at the challenge ahead of us, and then see how we can solve it with the Cloner object. I don’t go into that approach in detail, but after we see the Cloner’s solution we take a closer look at how we can place the trees with pinpoint precision, making sure they stay on the surface of the terrain.

A Note About Alignment and Normals

I neglected to mention that once the object is being constrained to the surface of the landscape, you can set the “Align” option as “Normals” to have each object use the surface normal (or the Phong normal for smoother transitions) as it’s axis alignment. This is not particularly useful for trees (as they all reach for the sky), but it’s very useful for placing rivets or bolts on the curved surface of a vehicle.