Cinema 4D Connector - Visual Studio Code Extension

Provides an extension for VS Code to exchange code between the Script Manager of Cinema 4D and VS Code.

The extension also provides syntax highlighting for resource files and string resources as used by Cinema 4D, as well as other tools to assist Cinema 4D plugins and scripts developers.

All the commands of this extension can be found by pressing ctrl+shift+P and searching for C4D.

Installation

To use all the features it is necessary to install:

• From Cinema 4D 2023.2 you do not need to install any Cinema 4D Plugins, for more information please read the Cinema 4D Connector documentation.

• From Cinema 4D S26+ to Cinema 2023.1 you need the Cinema 4D plugin, downloadable here. Once downloaded, extract the archive to the Cinema 4D S26+ plugins folder. You then need to activate the extension in the Cinema 4D preferences in the Extensions | Code Exchange menu, activate the WebSocket Json checkbox.

• The Cinema 4D Connector extension for Visual Studio code, directly accessible in the Visual Studio code marketplace, or download it here.

Features

In-depth documentation can be found in Cinema 4D Connector - Documentation.

• Load Script in Script Manager: Load the active script from Visual Studio Code editor to Cinema 4D script manager.
• Execute in Cinema 4D as a Script in Script Manager: Execute a script directly into Cinema 4D.
• Debug in Cinema 4D as a Script in Script Manager: Start a debugging session for the given script to Cinema 4D.
• Autocompletion for the c4d Python package: Provide autocompletion on the fly when typing for the c4d package.
• Load Cinema 4D Script Template: Loads a template script.
• Python Console output forwarding: Cinema 4D Python console outputs is forwarded to a Visual Studio Code console called "Cinema 4D".
• Syntax highliting for *.res and *.str files: The syntax for files with the extension .str and .res has a syntax colouring.

Known Issues

• Autocompletion does not work for the maxon package.
• Autocompletion does not work for temporary scripts from Cinema 4D, those whose path begins with Root@, e.g. Root@12345678/Scripts@12345678/untilted.py.
• Autocompletion for methods from the c4d package will generate incomplete default argument if this argument is part of the c4d package, e.g. the automcpletion will output only BaseContainer while it should be c4d.BaseContainer.
• When the Load Script in Script Manager command is used on an untitled file, it creates a new temporary file in Cinema 4D and this is returned to Visual Studio Code. This file should be used to exchange data to/from Cinema 4D.
• The first debugging session will show a message about the deprecated use of ptvsd, this is a false positive and can be ignored.

License

This extension is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.