Designing a Lava Lamp

The base

1. Create a new document in cinema 4d.  Create a new primitive Cone (Objects > Primitive > Cone).

2. This will be the first part of the base for our lava lamp.  Use the following settings to make your cone appear more like a base of a lava lamp:

3. In the objects palette, click the object called cone, and then copy it (Ctrl + C).  Paste it, and use the rotate tool to flip it:

4. Click F5 to get to your 4-port view, and use the move tool to move your base top on top of the other cone:

Click to enlarge

5. Set this cone up as follows:

6. Copy paste the top part of your base, and create a boolean (Objects > Modeling > Boolean).  Drag both of the top cones under the boolean:

7. Click on the cone that is at the bottom of the boolean, and change it so that its settings are as follows:

8. The boolean will cut out the space that the bottom object takes up in the first one.  We can use boolean's to do other things like this, but we can cover that later.  Now, create a new material.  Set it up as follows:

9. This pretty much concludes the base.  Create a floor object, and a light so that we can see our creation when we render it (NOTE: If you have not learned about lighting or creating floor objects, go take our other tutorials now!):

The Centerpiece

10. Now we need to create the glass piece that will lie in the center of our lava lamp.  Create a new Primitive Cone, and set it up as follows:

11. Now set it up so that it lies directly on top of the base:

12. Right click on this object in the objects Palette, and click Make Editable.  Then select the Polygon tool from the tool bar:

13. As you can see, our object has been divided into all of its separate faces.  Click on the Live Selection tool:

14. Double click it to get to its Active Tool settings, and uncheck Only Select Visible Elements:

15. Now, in your view-port, select the faces around the bottom of your lava lamp:

16. While holding Ctrl, drag over the faces that do not make up the very bottom of the middle part:

17. Now that only the bottom is selected, we can start making it bend more like a real lava lamps glass.  Right click anywhere in the view-port, and select Bevel:

18. Drag your mouse to the right until you have curved your base like this:

19. Repeat this selection method for the top of your lava lamp, and round it out like you just did for the bottom:

20. Now, copy paste this middle piece, and then create a boolean.  Drag both pieces under it, and then select the bottom one.  Resize the bottom one so that it is smaller than the original by just a little:

21. Create a new material, and set it up as follows:

22. Apply this material to the boolean:

23. The middle part is basically done.  If you want, you can use a metalball to make the lava inside of it.  Objects > Modeling > Metalball.  Drag spheres underneath it, and then arrange them to look like a lava lamps.

The last thing we need to do is create a top to the lava lamp.  Just use the techniques shown in the base part of the tutorial to make a top.  Create a cone, and then place it so that it lies on top of your lava lamp.

Click to enlarge

Another Variation: