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C4D Tut: Replace Missing Textures Quickly

FYI this video was made quite some time ago and new updates to C4D have changed the way this works, and have made it even easier. Here are some updated resources to check out:

In this tutorial I’ll show you the quickest way to re-link missing textures in Cinema 4D. It’s a quick tip, but will save you tons of time!

37 Responses
  3. Chris
    Reply

    Thanks Joren, I ran into this as well. You can also access it through the window menu, it’s called “Selection/Structure info”. I don’t understand why they call it something different in the window menu than it’s called in the texture window but whatever.

  4. Adam
    Reply

    GREAT TIP! Thanks so much Joren. I have a question about using the content browser. I have gathered c4d scenes/models/materials from free resources and it doesn’t seem like theres a good way to put them into the content browser and be able to see them. For example I have one .C4D file that is just a mixture of 50 materials. I’d really like to be able to browse/organize those materials without having to open up that specific scene file. Do you know any solutions for this?

  5. Joren
    Reply

    Hey Adam, yeah there is a way to do that, it would probably be easier for me just to record a quick tip on that and post it up rather than write you, so keep your eyes open and I’ll try to get that up ok? Thanks for the comment man!

  6. Bryan Godoy
    Reply

    Great tip.

    Personally, sometimes I find it easier to copy the “tex” folder from the scene where the model came from and then coping and pasting that same “tex” folder into the new project.

    At times I might not need every single image in the folder but it’s always easier to delete from the Finder (Mac) then to relink each texture one by one. Hope this makes sense.

    Thanks for showing us another way, always helpful.

    -B

  8. Jan
    Reply

    Hi Joren, thanks for the tip!

    There is also another quick way how to deal with the “missing” textures: Edit-Preferences-Files-Texture Paths. You’ll navigate to the folder with textures and after closing the window, all textures will be working again.

    Jan

  12. christina gulotta
    Reply

    Success!!! I wish I knew this last week when I had this issue! I’ll be sure to check into your site a little more often! thanks a million

  13. Rupert
    Reply

    He Joren, awesome tutorial, really speeds things up when reconnecting lost textures. But I have a question I hope you can help me with.

    I have a model in C4D R13 and have given it some self made textures, also in C4D. But I have this plug in for Adobe After Effects called Element 3D which allows you to import 3D documents (in case you didn’t know). Only thing is, it opens without the given textures, so when opened in AE, it is plain white/grey-ish.

    Do you have an idea how I can keep those textures or how I can add those textures in AE?

    I have heard of a way to save your C4D textures as jpg or png, which can also help, only thing is, I can’t find a tutorial or anything which explains how..

    Can you help?

    Much appreciated!

    Rupert

    1. Joren
      Reply

      There are a couple tutorials on my blog talking about Element 3D and brining in textures, just search for element on my search bar. Or try videocopilot.net, he has some tuts on that process as well. Cheers!

  14. Shalom Ormsby
    Reply

    This came in handy today, although in R13, this info is now found in Mode / Project Info / Textures (not “Info Manager”).

  21. Marcelo
    Reply

    Hello guys,

    I am user of c4d R16 and for rendering I use maxwell render.
    But I’ve been suffering a lot to replace textures.
    When I use only c4d the solutions are really simple, but when I use maxwell I cant find a way to replace all the textures at the same time.
    Its really painfull replace all 45 textures even more when I am am passing with a big trouble to choose texture at the c4d.
    Theres a bug that when I choose the bitmap the c4d just freezes!
    Too much painfull! hehe

    If somebody it’s passing by the same problem that I am, and discovered how to fix, please 🙂 let me know.

    Thanks!! 

  22. Joseph
    Reply

    I’ve been using this technique for many years now but have been wondering if there is an easier way when you have… say 75 textures that are missing. I tried using the preferences // files // Texture Path and it doesn’t seem to link everything up. I seriously have to sit here clicking on every image path and reselecting every texture map/image. It can be daunting.

  23. Jake
    Reply

    Thanks Joren, great tip 🙂

    I have been finding the same issue as Joseph and it seems really strange to me that Maxon can’t recreate the find/replace like in Adobe After Effects. In AE if you have missing assets and you link one file in a folder full of files of other missing assets it automatically updates all missing files in that structure. Surely it cannot be that difficult for Maxon to do something similar as it would save huge amounts of time.

  24. Olly Killick
    Reply

    Hi

    I tried doing this through the ‘project info’ menu in R13. It doesn’t update in the OpenGL preview. Any ideas?

    Thanks
    Olly

  25. Elia
    Reply

    Thanks Joren, great tip 🙂

    I know this post is a bit old, but anyway I found an other way to locate textures in their related materials.

    If you go to “Windows” and than “Texture-Manager” it opens up in a window which looks pretty much the same as the window Joren was showing in the movie. But if you klick now on a texture which has a red cross, it automatically select all the materials which have this texture inside.

    I have some materials which I use now for years and some of them have in a bumb map or in a reflection channel, still images which I don’t need. So to sort those texture out of the scene and to avoid future “Errors” with Team-Render or Renderfarms, you can delete those “Ghost-Textures” and get rid of them 😉

  28. Maria
    Reply

    Thanks so much! This seems like such a basic part of C4D workflow, if it is as you say, such a common thing. And yet it was difficult to find clear info on this particular topic. Should be be part of any texture 101 tutorial or class.

  29. Loso
    Reply

    Great tip for replacing a few files. FOR MULTIPLE files, click window>texture manager. Here you will see all of your textures. At the bottom it will list how many textures are in your scene, and how many are missing. You’ll notice two boxes; “Replace” and “With” which is where the magic happens. All you have to do is replace the old directory name with the new one. Depending on if you just renamed the texture folder and need to relink, or have the textures in an entirely new location, you will have to adjust the drop down menu next to the Replace button, which has Full Path, Directory, and Filename.

    Example. I had a file structure of E:\Project\Files\tex\texture001.jpg. I renamed the Files folder for better organization to “Project Files” and that’s when my textures went missing. I opened texture manager and selected all textures (CTRL+A on PC). In the Replace box, I put “Files”. In the With box i put “Project FIles.” I then selected “Full Path” from the drop down box, and clicked Replace. This fixed all my missing textures.

  30. Loso
    Reply

    FOR MULTIPLE FILES, another faster way is:
    1. go to window> texture manager.
    2. Select Edit>Select All.
    3. Select Edit>Relink Textures.

    Now just navigate to the folder where your textures are to relink all textures.

  31. Dave
    Reply

    Thanks for the video, Joren! I read the comments and didn’t see my specific use-case so thought I’d share it here. If you want to delete a texture so you don’t get a render error for missing texture, you can:

    >>> Select Window dropdown > Texture Manager > Select the texture[s] you want to delete > Edit dropdown > Clear Textures.

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