xRefs Are Your Best Friend
I will be speaking solely to Cinema 4D users, but there is a similar tool in every single 3D application for use, so some of this should translate over.
xRefs in Cinema 4D are an extremely handy tool when doing production work. They allow an external C4D project file to be referenced in the scene reducing clutter of large scene files and allowing the user to edit individual “objects” with out having to dig around. The xRef ”object” can be found alongside the primitives panel or in Object>Scene>xRef in Cinema 4D. Once you select the xRef object you have to choose what .C4D file to reference in the Attributes Manager.
Their best usage bears fruit when you are dealing with a finicky client or an ever changing product launch. It gives you a work flow that allows animation to be finalized on huge projects that battle with last minute changes. The ability to swap out colors, materials, and even the actual object becomes possible. This way you are not re-animating whole sequences, you simply swap/or update the xRef and replace with the new file.
Swapping out the reference isn’t where xRefs depth ends. xRefs are able to be modified to include or exclude all of the referenced object’s internal parts which can quickly become complex, referencing different parts of a single file to rebuild, rig and animate. For example, designing and modeling a “machine” in a single file then referencing the different parts and animating in a new scene would make it easier to go back and change details, materials, textures, etc on the machine and keep all parts animated. This along with importing animation give you a wide range of tools that you can use in all of your projects.
Consider using xRefs next project, they are not the end all tool, but they could end up being extremely valuable.
Hey guys! I like to play with 3 dimensions of space and 1 dimension of time, but unlike Einstein, I only make motion art. So I spend most of my time expressing myself in some abstract, visual way, and I have really latched onto Motion Graphics. I am a newbie here in the field, but I have a passion for the work. Feel free to if you are also a newbie or someone just looking into this awesome form of art, I always enjoy helping people out.
If I am understanding xRefs (as a non-C4D user) from this article, its similar to using Comps/Pre-Comps in After Effects, or Nested Timelines in an editing program, or Layer Groups in Photoshop. Am I way off base here?
You aren’t too far off, the biggest difference than just a pre-comp is that it is an external file.