Cinema4D MCP — Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Cinema4D MCP Server connects Cinema 4D to Claude, enabling prompt-assisted 3D manipulation.

Table of Contents

• Components
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Setup
• Usage
• Agent Skill
• Development
• Troubleshooting & Debugging
• File Structure
• Tool Commands
• Usage Guide — practical tips, extraction patterns, and known issues

Components

1. C4D Plugin: A socket server that listens for commands from the MCP server and executes them in the Cinema 4D environment.
2. MCP Server: A Python server that implements the MCP protocol and provides tools for Cinema 4D integration.

Prerequisites

• Cinema 4D (R2024+ recommended)
• Python 3.10 or higher (for the MCP Server component)

Installation

To install the project, follow these steps:

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/ttiimmaacc/cinema4d-mcp.git
cd cinema4d-mcp

Install the MCP Server Package

pip install -e .

Make the Wrapper Script Executable

chmod +x bin/cinema4d-mcp-wrapper

Setup

Cinema 4D Plugin Setup

To set up the Cinema 4D plugin, follow these steps:

1. Copy the Plugin File: Copy the c4d_plugin/mcp_server_plugin.pyp file to Cinema 4D's plugin folder. The path varies depending on your operating system:

   • macOS: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Maxon/Maxon Cinema 4D/plugins/
   • Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Maxon\Maxon Cinema 4D\plugins\

2. Start the Socket Server:

   • Open Cinema 4D.
   • Go to Extensions > Socket Server Plugin
   • You should see a Socket Server Control dialog window. Click Start Server.

Claude Desktop Configuration

To configure Claude Desktop, you need to modify its configuration file:

1. Open the Configuration File:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   • Alternatively, use the Settings menu in Claude Desktop (Settings > Developer > Edit Config).

2. Add MCP Server Configuration: For development/unpublished server, add the following configuration:

   "mcpServers": {
     "cinema4d": {
       "command": "python3",
       "args": ["/Users/username/cinema4d-mcp/main.py"]
     }
   }
   

3. Restart Claude Desktop after updating the configuration file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cinema4d": {
      "command": "cinema4d-mcp-wrapper",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Usage

1. Ensure the Cinema 4D Socket Server is running.
2. Open Claude Desktop and look for the hammer icon 🔨 in the input box, indicating MCP tools are available.
3. Use the available Tool Commands to interact with Cinema 4D through Claude.

Agent Skill

If you use agent skills, the maintained companion skill for this MCP lives in vladmdgolam/agent-skills.

The skill captures production-oriented guidance that sits on top of the raw MCP tools, including:

• when to prefer inspect_redshift_materials over ad-hoc Python for Redshift inspection
• when to fall back to execute_python_script for full C4D API access
• current Redshift limits when the runtime or node space is unavailable
• practical MoGraph extraction and debugging workflows

Testing

Command Line Testing

To test the Cinema 4D socket server directly from the command line:

python main.py

You should see output confirming the server's successful start and connection to Cinema 4D.

Testing with MCP Test Harness

The repository includes a simple test harness for running predefined command sequences:

1. **Test Command

... View full README on GitHub