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Most Cinema 4D
users are artistically biased and, being so, loathe programming or
anything related to it. Of course, there is an excellent book written by yours truly with the sole intent of teaching COFFEE, the official scripting language of Cinema 4D, to the non-programmers. But, since COFFEE is very similar to javascript, it is not very easy to learn by the non-initiated in programming languages. If there only was a simpler language, more similar to spoken English that could serve as a stepping stone for non-programmers start programming without having to learn a complex computer language. The good news are that THERE IS SUCH A LANGUAGE. It is called DeCaf and it was made specifically for people that want to start programming and don't have a clue in how to start. DeCaf was designed from the ground up to assure that it was simple enough to be understood by non-technically minded people. It tries to look as close to plain English as possible. It also frees the would-be programmer from many setup and background tasks. As an example, the following two scripts do exactly the same. However, the DeCaf version is smaller and, I hope, is much easier to understand for the non-initiated. |
| DeCaf | COFFEE |
| variable count,t,the_parent create null named "Spiral" the_parent=#current t=0 repeat 45 times using count << #current=the_parent create sphere as child << radius 200-(t/2.5) >> set position 250*sine(t),t*2,250*cos(t) set rotation t,0,0 t=t+10 >> | main(doc,op) { var count,t,obj1,obj2; obj1=AllocObject(ONull); doc->InsertObject(obj1,NULL,NULL); obj1->SetName("Spiral"); t=0; for(count=0;count<45;count++) { obj2=AllocObject(OSphere); doc->InsertObject(obj2,obj1,NULL); obj2#PRIM_SPHERE_RAD=200-(t/2.5); obj2->SetPosition(vector(250*sin(t*3.14159/180),t*2, 250*cos(t*3.14159/180))); obj2->SetRotation(vector(t*3.14159/180,0,0)); t+=10; } GeEventAdd(DOCUMENT_CHANGED); } |
The result of both scripts is the following: |
DeCaf is still being developed. A lot has already been done but a lot is still left to do. Since DeCaf is intended to be a tool for beginners, special attention has to be taken to make it as simple and hassle free as possible. You can contact me if you have any questions about DeCaf or you can check out this FAQ section to see if any of your doubts are addressed there. |