Getting Started
Q: How do I install this tool?
A: Through Cargo, Greyscalegorilla's app. Open Cargo, go to the Tool page, click
install, then restart Cinema 4D. See Installation in the user guide for the
one-time Connector setup.
Q: I do not have Cargo. Where do I get it?
A: Download it at greyscalegorilla.com/cargo and sign in with your
Greyscalegorilla account. See Installation.
Q: How do I run it once it is installed?
A: Run Crate from the menu. It scans your open scene
automatically, so the asset list is there right away.
Usage
Q: What is the shortest path to a packaged scene?
A: Open your scene, run Crate, fix anything red with Search Folder for Missing,
pick a Destination, choose Folder or Zip, and click Archive. See Quick Start.
Q: Does it change my open scene?
A: No. Relinks live in memory and the archive is saved from a clone, so your live
document is never modified.
Q: An asset is still missing. Can I archive anyway?
A: Yes. Crate warns you, then archives without that asset and logs it in the
manifest so nothing is a silent surprise. Or cancel and keep hunting for it.
Q: What is the difference between Folder and Zip output?
A: Folder leaves the finished project folder in place. Zip compresses it into a
single .zip and removes the loose folder, so you are left with just the zip.
Zip is the tidiest option for a handoff.
Q: What is Smart grouping?
A: An optional mode that sorts your assets into tidy category subfolders inside
tex (Materials, Texture Maps, Lighting, LUTs, Bokeh, XRefs, Caches, Other)
instead of a flat pile. It is off by default. See the Smart grouping walkthrough.
Q: Can I bundle a render with the archive?
A: Yes. Click Include Render and pick a still, an mp4, or one frame of a sequence
(Crate pulls in the whole sequence). It lands in a render/ folder and is listed
in the manifest.
Compatibility
Q: Does this work in my version of Cinema 4D?
A: Yes, for Cinema 4D 2023 through 2026, on Mac and Windows. See Requirements.
Q: Does it work with my render engine? I use Octane / Redshift / something else.
A: Yes. Crate archives with Cinema 4D's own collect engine, so asset paths from
any render engine come across portable. Redshift node materials are handled
correctly, and beta testers have confirmed clean handoffs in both Redshift and
Octane. See Requirements.
Q: Does it collect assets from the Maxon Asset Browser Database?
A: Yes. Assets brought in from the Maxon Asset Browser show up in the scan and are
baked into the archive under their real filenames, so the packaged scene opens
without needing that library. Natively these can only be relinked by hand one file
at a time, which is exactly the pain Crate removes here.
Scope
Q: Can Crate just keep references to my central asset folder instead of copying
everything next to the scene?
A: No, and that is on purpose. Crate's whole job is to produce a self-contained
archive that opens on any machine, so it always copies every asset into the
project folder and rewrites the paths to be relative. If you want assets to come
in referencing a shared download location instead, that is a Cargo importer
setting (Preferences > Cargo importer), not something Crate does.
Troubleshooting
Q: I installed it in Cargo but I do not see it in Cinema 4D.
A: Give Cinema 4D a full restart. Newly installed tools only appear on a fresh
launch. If it still does not show, see Troubleshooting in the user guide.
Q: The scan says 0 assets but I know there are textures.
A: Press Scan to refresh. If the list is genuinely empty, your scene may be all
procedural, which Crate states plainly, and it is still archivable. If a scan hit
an error, the reason is named in the dialog and the full details are in the Cinema
4D console. See Troubleshooting.
Q: A texture reads as missing but the sequence is on disk.
A: Looping or animated sequences report frames past the real range as missing.
Crate treats a sequence whose frames exist on disk as found and collects the real
frames.
Q: It did not do anything. What now?
A: Open the Cinema 4D console (Extensions > Console). Crate logs every step
verbosely, so the reason is almost always right there. See Troubleshooting.
Licensing
Q: What do I need to use this tool?
A: An active Greyscalegorilla or Everything Bundle subscription. Tools install
and stay licensed through Cargo.