Riptide Pro Documentation

Description

Riptide Pro is the commercial version of my popular (and free) 'Riptide' Wavefront .obj file Import/Export plugin [NOTE: Starting with v1.7, Riptide Pro can also Import/Export .mdd files]. The Pro version was based on the feature-set of version 1.9 of the obsolete free plugin, but has been enhanced to include a multitude of new options and features along with some bug fixes and added stability along the way.

The Wavefront .obj file format - while limited in scope - has proven itself to be a valuable and widely available format for exchanging 3D geometry between various 3D Applications. The format itself doesn't support things like cameras, lights or rigging - it's mostly limited to static geometry - but it's human-readable text structure has made it a popular choice as a common geometry exchange format.

Even with such a simple format, there has been a fair amount of variation in the interpretation / implementation between various applications. The goal and design behind Riptide (and subsequently Riptide Pro) is to account for some of these differences and provide a robust set of options to allow the end-user (you) to make the best use of these files within Cinema 4D and when exporting to other 3D apps.

The original Riptide provided a good set of features and allowed a lot of flexibility not found in other implementations. Riptide Pro takes this idea to the next level, providing a host of new (and reworked) features, more flexibility and the ability to create 'Preset' configurations, allowing you to easily switch between setups for various conditions. You can think of Riptide Pro as "Riptide on Steroids".

Below is a chart that details some (not all) of the differences between the free 'Riptide' plugin and Riptide Pro options...

Riptide Riptide Pro

Import Options:

Import .obj files yes yes

Import .mtl files yes yes

Multi-File Import
no
yes

Option Presets Last Used only Last Used, several pre-defined, plus unlimited user-created

C4D R10+ 'Layer' creation no yes

Mesh Scaling Up only Up or Down

Import Ngons yes yes

Import Normals yes yes

Import UV Coordinates yes yes

Import Materials yes Yes - with enhanced channel and texture control on a per-preset basis

Import Groups yes Yes - including multi-grouped faces

Import UVMapper Regions yes yes

Swap Y/Z Axis no yes

Flip X Axis no yes

Flip Z Axis Yes (always) Yes - as an Option

Center Mesh Axis no yes

Reverse Faces yes yes

Flip UV Horiz/Vert yes yes

Phong Tag Yes (always) Yes - as an Option, with settable angle, per-Preset

Line Segments:

Convert to Ngons no yes

Convert to Splines no yes

Spline Splitting no yes

Spline Grouping no yes

Mesh Splitting:

Split by Object no yes

Split by Group yes Yes - also preserves Vertex-ordering

Split by Region yes yes

Split by Material yes yes

Export Options:

Export .obj files yes yes

Export .mtl files yes yes

Multi-File Export no Yes - multiple options

Sequenced Animation Export no Yes

Option Presets Last Used only Last Used, several pre-defined, plus unlimited user-created

Mesh Scaling Down only Up or Down

Export Faces (toggle) yes yes

Export Ngons yes yes

Export Normals Yes (requires Normal Tag) Yes - With only a Phong Tag

Export UV Coordinates yes yes

Export Materials yes yes

Export 'Object' Records no yes

Export Groups yes Yes - including multi-grouped faces

Export UVMapper Regions yes yes

Flip X Axis no yes

Flip Z Axis Yes (always) Yes - as an Option

Swap Y/Z Axis no yes

Multi-Grouped Faces no yes

Reverse Faces yes yes

Flip UV Horiz/Vert yes yes