Planetary Rings
The Planetary Rings shader is a plugin for Cinema 4D.
The Gas Giant shader recently released is fine for the actual planet, but doesn't include the ability to add rings. With this new shader, you can now do that and add rings to your gas giant planet. It has a lot of options for getting the kind of rings you wand, and of course is fully procedural.
Here are some sample renders showing what this shader can do. Click the small image to see a larger version. (The star field background is generated using the StarScape shader available on this site, and the planets use the Gas Giant shader.)
- planet_rings_default
Planet Rings shader with default settings.
- gasgiant_example_rings
Example gas giant with thin rings.
- tn_planet_rings_saturn
Rings shader using a similar pattern and colours to Saturn.
- planet_rings_uranus
Uranus has very thin rings, with an inner grey ring and outer blue rings.
- planet_rings_uranus
Shadow cast by the planet onto the rings.
- planet_rings_closeup
Closeup of the ring system.
The shader interface looks like this:
Availability
Planetary Rings is the third in a series of 'space scene' shaders and objects. It is free to download and use, and you can download a copy from the links below.
Compatibility
Planetary Rings is compatible with the following versions of Cinema 4D:
| Cinema 4D version | Compatible? |
|---|---|
| R2024 | Yes |
| R2025 | Yes (Windows only - see this blog article for details) |
There are no versions of the plugin for C4D R2023 or earlier.
Download
Download Planetary Rings for R2024
Download Planetary Rings for R2025 (Windows only)
Page last updated March 24th 2025