Artboard Bridge

Your Illustrator artboards on the walls in Cinema 4D. True to size, checked in millimeters, and back again.

Illustrator · 10 artboards

Film

The whole workflow in under a minute.

Video coming soon

How it works

From layout to booth. And back.

Import

Drop your .ai or PDF file on the window. Every artboard comes in with its name, trim size, bleed and position.

Link

Drag an artboard onto a wall, a polygon selection or the side of a cube. The artwork sits at true size. No UVs, no helper planes.

Check

Every wall is checked in millimeters. Red: size or aspect ratio is off. Yellow: a file is missing or changed. Green: it fits.

Update and export

New export from Illustrator? Pick the newer version and apply it. Or start in 3D: turn surfaces into artboards and send them to Illustrator.

In Cinema 4D

Thirty artboards. One drop.

A 6 × 4 m corner stand with 30 prints, all from one Illustrator file. No image imported by hand.

The window: artboards, materials and walls, linked like nodes.

Rendered with Redshift. The scene also opens and renders without the plugin.

Every print at its real size, down to the millimeter.

Download

Free. Version 0.18.

For Cinema 4D 2027 with Redshift on Windows.

Download 0.18ArtboardBridge_v0.18.zip · 222 KB

Version

0.18

Requires

Cinema 4D 2027 with Redshift, Windows

Plugin type

Python command plugin with a dockable window

Interface

English and German, follows Cinema 4D

Your scenes

Standard Cinema 4D and Redshift. They load and render without the plugin.

Install in four steps

Unzip the file. You get a folder named ArtboardBridge.

In Cinema 4D, choose Edit > Preferences and click Open Preferences Folder… at the bottom. Then close Cinema 4D.

Copy the folder into plugins there. Create plugins if it is missing.

…\plugins\ArtboardBridge\

artboardbridge.pyp

Start Cinema 4D and open Extensions > Artboard Bridge. Dock the window and save your layout.

Not showing up?

Check that the folder isn’t doubled after unzipping (ArtboardBridge\ArtboardBridge\…). Errors appear under Extensions > Console. To update, replace the folder. To uninstall, delete it.

Changelog

0.18: Drag a surface onto another artboard and it sits parallel in front of that wall, 1 mm apart by default.
The link stays, and Check reports deviations.
0.17: Link edges with handles at their midpoints: drag from one edge to another. Esc cancels.
0.16: Link two artboards edge to edge and the target object moves into place: flat, outside corner or inside corner.
Chains follow, and Check reports gaps.
0.15: Object nodes get one input per polygon selection: a plane as a whole, a cube per side, each with its own size and rotation.
0.14: One button names an object or its own material after the artboard.
0.13: Create artboards from surfaces.
The Export node writes an Illustrator script (artboards, bleed, outlines) and a PDF template.
Exported artboards link back by name on import.
0.12: Move, scale and rotate the artwork inside an artboard with handles, as in Illustrator.
0.11: Switch between the Illustrator layout and your own arrangement (key I).
0.10: Planes and cubes work as surfaces without Make Editable, cubes per side.
0.9: Node window: wires to the port, chain highlight, drop preview, problem list, shortcuts, context menu, quick search, frames, grid and preview cache.
0.8.1: Navigation and look of the material node editor. Every material is a node: artboard, material, object.
0.8: Fixes from the first trade fair project.
Source file node with import in the panel.
Fit object or artboard, several masks per artboard.
0.7: PSD layers become planes at real size, staggered in depth. They work without the plugin.
0.6: Prints run unfolded across corners, plinths and edges.
0.5: Masks per artboard, by name suffix or by dragging. Your own material gets a mask input.
0.4: Drag your own Redshift material onto an artboard. It gets a port named after the artboard with the image path.
0.3: Versions per artboard: find newer exports, see them marked, jump back in the history.
0.2: Import from .ai or PDF: names, trim size, bleed and position, without external programs. Images are found in the export folder.
0.1: Dockable window with artboards in mm. Artwork at true size without UVs, checked red, yellow or green. Scenes render without the plugin.

Kestro is an invented brand, made for the demo stand.