
FastRay (Cinema 4D's first name) is released for the Amiga.Christian and Philip Losch enter their ray-tracer into Kickstart magazine's monthly programming contest, and win the competition.Visualize (adds Virtual Walkthrough, Advanced Render, Sky, Sketch and Toon, data exchange, camera matching).PyroCluster (simulation of smoke and fire effects).NET Render (to render animations over a TCP/IP network in render farms).MoGraph ( Motion Graphics procedural modelling and animation toolset).MOCCA ( character animation and cloth simulation).Hair (simulates hair, fur, grass, etc.).Dynamics (for simulating soft body and rigid body dynamics).The only difference between the two is the splash screen that is shown at startup and the default user interface.)

In essence Cinema 4D Core/Prime and the BodyPaint 3D products are identical.
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With v4, however, Maxon began to develop the application for Windows and Macintosh computers as well, citing the wish to reach a wider audience and the growing instability of the Amiga market following Commodore's bankruptcy. Initially, Cinema 4D was developed for Amiga computers in the early 1990s, and the first three versions of the program were available exclusively for that platform. The "Lite" variant is dependent on After Effects CC, needing the latter application running to launch, and is only sold as a package component included with AE CS through Adobe. This is part of a partnership between the two companies, where a Maxon-produced plug-in, called Cineware, allows any variant to create a seamless workflow with After Effects.

"Lite" acts as an introductory version, with many features withheld. 2014 saw the release of Cinema 4D Lite, which came packaged with Adobe After Effects Creative Cloud 2014. There is no technical difference between commercial, educational, or demo versions. It replaces all previous variants, including BodyPaint 3D, and includes all features of the past 'Studio' variant. As of R21, only one version of Cinema 4D is available.
