Use 3dsky, Evermotion & CGTrader Assets in Cinema 4D
You work in Cinema 4D. You need a specific piece of furniture, a kitchen setup, or a bathroom fixture for your archviz project. You go to 3dsky, Evermotion, CGTrader, or Dimensiva — and 90% of the models are .max files with Corona or V-Ray materials. Until now, that meant they were off-limits.
The Asset Library Problem for Cinema 4D Users
The biggest 3D asset libraries for architectural visualization are built around 3ds Max. That's where the archviz industry lives, and that's what the asset publishers target. Here's the scale of what Cinema 4D users are missing:
- 3dsky — over 500,000 models. Furniture, decor, lighting, kitchens, bathrooms. The largest single source of archviz assets on the internet. Primary format: .max with Corona materials.
- Evermotion — Archinteriors, Archmodels, Archexteriors. Complete scene packs with hundreds of objects each. Delivered as .max files with Corona or V-Ray materials.
- CGTrader — millions of models across all categories. The highest-quality archviz models are overwhelmingly .max files with Corona or V-Ray setups.
- Dimensiva — curated furniture and decor from real manufacturers. Clean, production-ready .max files with Corona materials.
- Chaos Cosmos — integrated directly into Corona and V-Ray. Thousands of assets with renderer-native materials ready to drop into a scene.
These platforms offer .max files with Corona or V-Ray materials as the primary — and often only — format. Cinema 4D-native versions are rare, outdated, or nonexistent. If you work in Cinema 4D, you are effectively locked out of the largest pool of production-ready archviz assets in the industry.
What Happens When You FBX-Export a Purchased Asset
You buy a sofa from 3dsky for $15. It comes as a .max file with 12 CoronaPhysicalMtl materials — carefully tuned for fabric weave, brushed metal legs, polished wood accents. There are nested CoronaBitmap chains feeding color correction nodes, Multi/Sub-Object assignments splitting cushion fabric from frame leather from metal hardware.
You open the file in 3ds Max, export as FBX, and import in Cinema 4D.
The result: a gray, untextured mesh. All 12 materials are gone. The texture paths are broken. The Multi/Sub-Object assignments have been flattened into a single material slot. The $15 asset is now useless without 2-3 hours of manual material recreation — finding the original textures, rebuilding each shader from scratch, guessing at roughness values, and reassigning materials to the correct polygon groups.
Now multiply that by every asset you need for a project. A living room scene might use 30-50 individual assets. At 2-3 hours per asset for material recreation, you're looking at 60-150 hours of tedious manual work — or you simply give up and don't use the asset at all.
This is a pipeline-breaking cost. It's not a minor inconvenience — it makes entire asset libraries economically unusable. Read the full FBX vs MAX2C4D comparison to understand exactly what gets lost and why.
How to Use 3dsky and Evermotion Assets in Cinema 4D
MAX2C4D eliminates the entire FBX detour. Here's the actual workflow:
Download the .max file
Purchase and download from 3dsky, Evermotion, CGTrader, Dimensiva, or any marketplace. Keep the .max file and its texture folder as-is.
Open Cinema 4D and select the .max file
Use MAX2C4D's file browser directly inside Cinema 4D to select the .max file. No need to open 3ds Max yourself.
MAX2C4D handles the conversion
The plugin launches 3ds Max in the background, reads all materials, exports geometry and scene data via OBJ + JSON (not FBX), and imports everything into Cinema 4D automatically.
All materials arrive intact
CoronaPhysicalMtl, VRayMtl, texture maps, node graphs, Multi/Sub-Object assignments — everything transfers. The asset opens in C4D looking exactly like it did in 3ds Max.
Place the asset and render
Drop the converted asset into your Cinema 4D scene. No material rebuilding, no texture relinking, no guessing at shader values. Hit render.
3ds Max (Original)
Cinema 4D (MAX2C4D)
Art Deco apartment scene — 3ds Max with Corona materials on the left, Cinema 4D conversion via MAX2C4D on the right.
Batch Converting an Asset Library
If you've accumulated a library of .max assets over the years — furniture collections, material libraries, entire Evermotion packs — converting them one at a time would be impractical. MAX2C4D's batch exporter solves this by converting hundreds of files in a single run.
Point the batch exporter at one or more source folders. It scans for .max files, lets you filter by filename pattern, and processes everything in sequence — launching 3ds Max headlessly, converting each file, and writing the results to your output directory.
- Multi-folder source — select multiple directories to convert assets from different collections in one pass.
- Filename filtering — convert only files matching specific patterns (e.g., all sofas, all tables).
- Headless execution — 3ds Max runs in the background. You can keep working in Cinema 4D while the batch processes.
- Real-time progress — track which file is being converted, how many remain, and estimated time to completion.
- Batch reports — after conversion, get a summary of what succeeded, what failed, and why.
An entire Evermotion Archmodels pack — 100+ individual .max files with Corona materials — converts in a single batch run. Learn more about the batch exporter.
Real Example: Art Deco Apartment
To show what a full asset library conversion looks like in practice, we converted a complete archviz scene — an Art Deco apartment originally purchased from an asset marketplace. The scene was created in 3ds Max with Corona Renderer and includes dozens of individual purchased assets: designer furniture, light fixtures, bathroom fittings, kitchen appliances, decorative objects.
MAX2C4D converted the entire scene in under 4 minutes. Every material intact. Every texture linked. Every light positioned and configured. The Cinema 4D render matched the 3ds Max original without any manual adjustments.
See the full Art Deco Apartment case study with side-by-side renders, conversion stats, and material breakdowns.
Which Asset Libraries Work Best
MAX2C4D supports Corona and V-Ray materials — which covers the vast majority of archviz asset libraries. Here's what to expect from each platform:
3dsky
Mostly Corona materials, some V-Ray. Excellent conversion quality. Single-asset files convert in seconds. The largest source of archviz models — and now fully accessible from Cinema 4D.
Evermotion
Mixed Corona and V-Ray depending on the collection. Full scene packs (Archinteriors, Archmodels) convert well — including all materials, lights, and cameras. Use the batch exporter for entire packs.
CGTrader
Varies by seller. Corona and V-Ray models convert perfectly. Check the product description for which renderer the .max file uses — if it says Corona or V-Ray, MAX2C4D handles it.
Dimensiva
Primarily Corona materials. Clean, well-organized models from real furniture manufacturers. The material setups are typically straightforward, resulting in excellent conversion quality.
Chaos Cosmos
Corona and V-Ray materials with direct renderer integration. Assets downloaded through Cosmos use the same material types MAX2C4D converts, so they work out of the box.
Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use 3dsky assets in Cinema 4D?
Yes. Most 3dsky assets come as .max files with Corona materials. MAX2C4D converts them to Cinema 4D with all materials intact — CoronaPhysicalMtl, texture maps, node graphs, and Multi/Sub-Object assignments all transfer. You get the exact same asset in Cinema 4D that you purchased on 3dsky.
Why do Evermotion assets lose materials in Cinema 4D?
Evermotion scenes use Corona or V-Ray materials that the FBX format cannot transfer. FBX only supports basic Standard materials, so all renderer-specific data — node graphs, material layers, render settings — is stripped during export. MAX2C4D bypasses FBX entirely, reading the .max file directly and rebuilding all materials as native Cinema 4D shaders.
How do I convert CGTrader .max files to Cinema 4D?
Download the .max file from CGTrader, select it from within Cinema 4D using MAX2C4D, and the plugin converts it automatically — including all Corona and V-Ray materials, lights, and cameras. No intermediate formats, no manual steps, no material rebuilding.
Does MAX2C4D work with Chaos Cosmos assets?
Yes. Chaos Cosmos assets that use Corona or V-Ray materials convert fully. The materials are rebuilt as native Cinema 4D shaders with all properties preserved — diffuse, roughness, metalness, bump, normal maps, and any nested node graphs.
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