Forester for Cinema 4D Frequently Asked Questions

Which versions of Cinema 4D does Forester support?

Forester and its Expansion Packs for Windows and Mac OS X are compatible with Cinema 4D  R18, R19, R20, R21,  S22, R23, S24, R25 , S26, 2023 and 2024. 

If you are running an earlier version of Cinema 4D than R18, you can get in touch with us to check for plugin compatibility.

Is there a trial version of Forester?

There is no trial version of Forester. All the functions of Forester are demonstrated very clearly in the video documentation, which exposes all facets of the tools. The reason that Forester does not have a trial version is due to the fact that Forester is a generator plugin, whose elements can be made editable.

Does Forester support Team Render and CommandLine rendering?

Yes Forester supports free Team Render and CommandLine rendering. Just place the Forester plugin folder in your client machine Cinema 4D plugin folder and Forester will load on the render client normally. The main machine does require a Forester license, but the render client machines do not require a Forester license.

Do existing Forester customers need to purchase a Maintenance Plan ?

Existing Forester 1.x customers can download and install 1.x point updates for free within 2 years after purchase. After the initial 2 years period has elapsed, existing customers can purchase a 1 year maintenance plan to stay current with the latest Forester 1.x point updates for the next 12 months. Although the Forester license does not expire (unless the customer hardware is changed, in which case we provide a new license key), customers are recommended to purchase the maintenance plan to stay compatible with the latest version of Cinema 4D. The maintenance plan does not guarantee the introduction of new software features.

What is the upgrade plan for Forester customers?

Customers who have purchased Forester version 1 will receive all 1.x updates for free within the first 2 years after purchase. After the initial 2 years period has elapsed, a yearly maintenance fee is required to stay current with point updates within the 1.x cycle.

Forester licenses are permanent. They will never expire. When/if a user upgrades their machine, we provide a new license key upon request.

The same policy applies to the Forester Expansion Packs.

How is Forester licensed on the user’s machine ?

Currently, Forester is locked to the Mac Address of the chosen machine, which is the digital address of the Ethernet card on the user’s Windows or OS X machine.

When licensing according to the Mac Address, before requesting the license key, the user needs to decide which machine he/she will be installing Forester on. The provided license will enable the user to use Forester on that specific machine. A single purchased license entitles the user to run Forester on 1 single machine.

Does Forester have support for Cinema 4D License Server?

For machines running off a License Server, Forester is licensed according to the Mac Address of that machine. Forester does not support floating licensing at the moment.

How to render animated trees and plants with Motion Blur?

To render with motion blur, tree and plant wind needs to be cached using the CACHE SIMULATION button. The cache simulation button is found under the Simulation tab for trees, and the HyperWind tab for MultiFlora plants.

Does the Forester library contain any built-in materials?

Forester’s tree library comes with simple tree bark textures. MultiFlora plants also have built-in textures that will update whenever the user selects a new plant from the included library. The MultiFlora creates automatic texture tags depending of the type of plant chosen. Users can also use custom textures if needed.

Does Forester use Alpha Maps?

Forester trees and plants are procedural geometry. This eliminates the use of Alpha Maps, and thus keeps the rendering very efficient. Users can however opt to use alpha maps, as any other type of map supported by Cinema 4D,  if they so require.

What renderers does Forester support?

Forester supports all major Cinema 4D third party renderers, including Arnold, Octane, Corona, Redshift and Vray. Forester does not generate native render engine materials, only basic Cinema 4D materials. The Expansion Packs have the added value of generating native render engine materials, which can then be assigned to regular Forester assets by the user.

Other render engine which are still in the alpha/beta state are not fully supported. Please email us if the renderer you are using is not mentioned in this F.A.Q.

How many trees and plants come installed with the Forester library?

Forester ships with 72 different Forester trees and 50 different MultiFlora plants. These trees and plants are all procedural, and therefore can be changed with unlimited variations.

Can Forester be activated to run on several Cinema 4D installations on the same machine?

As long as it is on the same machine, users are allowed to run Forester on their installed Cinema 4D versions.

Does Forester run on Mac OS Catalina / Big Sur / Monterey ?

Forester running on Mac OS Catalina and above might give a warning the first time it runs. To enable Forester to load normally, open the Mac System Preferences – Security and Privacy, while Cinema 4D is loading. When a warning window pops up, like “ForesterR26.xlib” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified click on Cancel, and in the System Preferences – Security and Privacy click Allow Anyway. Repeat this for all issued warnings.

Close Cinema 4D and run it again, this time when you get the warnings, click on Open. From then on, Forester will load normally without issuing any warnings.

Does Forester ship with a rock library?

Forester does not ship with a rock library. This website features a rock gallery to show what is possible with the Forester Rock object. Users are encouraged to create their owns rocks and save them in the Cinema 4D preset browser for later use.

Can a Forester license be transferred? If Yes, what is the cost of the license transfer?

A customer who has purchased a license for a 3DQUAKERS software product, such as Forester, can transfer the license to another user, by paying a license transfer fee. The Forester license transfer fee is 100 USD (one hundred United States Dollars) plus VAT. Each Expansion Pack license transfer fee is 25 USD plus VAT.

Once the license transfer has been completed, the previous license owner has no more legal right to use the software product and is required to remove it completely from their computers.

If you have questions that are not answered in this F.A.Q. feel free to contact us.