The release of Cinema 4D 2024.0 is focused on a workflow where the first change, as mentioned in Maxon's feature overview, pertains to speed and performance. Changes in the release include support for rigid bodies in the Unified Simulation Framework, the ability to emit Pyro sims from particles, and new normal editing and modeling tools. In addition to this, the update brings improved performance, with Maxon representatives claiming that Cinema 4D 2024.0 is "over two times faster than previous versions of the software," and Redshift is now the default renderer.
Notably, Cinema 4D 2024.0 also introduces significant innovations in modeling tools. The Unified Modeling structure, introduced last year, now supports rigid bodies on top of cloth, soft bodies, and gaseous fluids. This change opens up possibilities for more complex simulations, such as allowing solid objects in the scene to deform cloth or interact with smoke and fire.
Simulations are GPU-accelerated, and in Cinema 4D 2024.0, users can assign a specific GPU for this task. Users can choose from simplified collision shapes to further enhance the performance of rigid body simulations.
The gaseous medium modeling system, Pyro, introduced in Cinema 4D 2023.1, also receives several significant new features. In addition to volumes and geometric surfaces, points can now be used as emitters, allowing Pyro sims to be generated from particles or from a MoGraph Matrix object.

The ability to increase the resolution of Pyro simulations has been introduced, enabling quick low-resolution test simulations with the option to add details for final rendering, as demonstrated above. When increasing the resolution, the low-resolution simulation cache is transformed into a finer voxel grid, and new noise structures are added. This process is made possible by broader changes in simulation caching: users can switch between different caches to compare simulation versions. Additionally, the ability to set an initial state for Pyro simulations has been added.

Vertex normals processing has been updated. Previously, Phong tags automatically calculated vertex normals. The new normal editing manager allows for more precise control over the direction of normals and the ability to flip them. This change should make it easier to correct shading artifacts on models. The existing Vertex Map Manager (VAMP), used to transfer point data between objects, can now transfer vertex normals as well as vertex colors.
Among the new solid surface modeling tools, Pattern Selection stands out. This tool duplicates a set of selected polygons into an array covering the object's surface, allowing for the creation of effects such as grids and chain links.

There's also a new deformer called the Projection Deformer, which allows you to deform one mesh along the surface of another, as seen above. For working with organic objects, Cinema 4D's sculpting brushes have received a new "Surface Smear" mode, which drags the mesh along the surface similarly to the old "Magnet" tool.

There's also an improved workflow in Cinema 4D's node editor, with new features for visually organizing node graphs using "frames," which are colored backgrounds that can be applied to groups of nodes, and commenting with "sticky" notes. The release notes also mention a range of new nodes and updates to existing nodes.

Among other changes, there's improved support for Redshift materials, lights, and cameras when transferring data to other DCC applications in formats like OBJ, FBX, glTF, and Alembic.

Cinema 4D 2024.0 is available for Windows 10 and above, as well as macOS 11.7.7 and above. The update is only available through a subscription, which costs $94 per month or $719 per year.