Carrara or DAZ Studio?
barrieM
Posts: 292
I last used Carrara 7 pro 6 years ago on a mac G5. I now have an iMac Late 2013 running Sierra. My old Carrara 7 doesn't work properly on the imac so I am thinking about upgrading to Carrara 8.5. It is expensive so I am also considering the Free Daz Studio. If Daz Studio doesn't read Carrara files, I will go for Carrara 8.5.
• Can someone please let me know if DS will open Carrara files.
• Are there any problems with running Carrara 8.5 on iMac Sierra?
Thank you
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DS will not open Carrara files.
Apparently, Carrara works in Sierra.
Carrara 8.5 works just fine on Sierra, in my experience.
DAZ Studio will not open Carrara files; Carrara will open DAZ Studio files (but it can't handle Genesis 3 content).
It doesn't need to be an either/or choice; you can use both. I use both DAZ Studio (which is free) and Carrara 8.5 (which is often available at a huge discount; I think upgrades have sometimes dipped down into the $20 range for PC+ members). Sometimes I set up a scene in DAZ Studio -- which I think has better posing controls -- and then import it into Carrara for further work. The two applications complement each other nicely.
Carrara 8.5 Pro works fine in Sierra (late 2012 iMac), and as Bytescapes mentioned, it's frequently heavily discounted. Don't get the standard edition though - it's only 32 bit and does quite a lot less (plus it's never discounted anything like as much). I also use both DS and Carrara.
From my brief experience with Studio, it will cost you a lot more (money or time to learn eg scripting) than Carrara Pro to bring it up to the standard of what Carrara Pro does 'out of the box'.
Depending on what you want to do of course.
barrie, Carrara 8.5 Pro is now on sale at $45.50 for PC + members. I purchased the PC+ membership for 4 months simply to buy Carrara. Note that both combined were less expensive than without the membership. I've since purchased a yearly membership simply to get the other bonus features it offers... but you can cancel it after the 4 months if you don't want it.
While Carrara "native" files will not load in Daz Studio... you can save as a Vertex Object which should load in Studio. Some PA's design/model in Carrara create a product version for Carrara as well as another for a Daz Studio version. Note that a Studio version requires additional work for products.
I do have Daz Studio, which comes with some bonus products to get started creating renders... but seldom use DS... I use Carrara everyday.
you can now get most Genesis 3 stuff into Carrara too thanks to an off site solution at Renderosity
Thank you very much for all your helpful comments. Special thanks for the PC tip I think that is the way to go.
Barrie
I almost never use Daz Studio right now, but I still think it's worth having both installed if we're into collecting content from the Daz3d store (or other markets).
The newer Daz Studio has some truly wonderful tools for working with content situations - here's a small example:
Say we see some clothing that we really like, but it's made for a different figure than what we're using. Load the clothing (without conforming to the figure) into Carrara along with the intended figure we want to fit it to.
Now, with everything still in their T-Poses, do the reshaping necessary to fit the clothing to the figure directly in the Assemble room, so we have the figure as a mannequin
When finished shaping, export the reshaped clothing as an OBJ using the Daz Studio preset in the exporter, then import it into Daz Studio using the Carrara preset in the Importer
Also load the intended target figure into Daz Studio and use the transfer utility to turn this OBJ into conforming cloth for the intended figure. It really can be as simple as that! Some things can require more fiddling with weight maps and such if we really need something precise, but the automation algorithms do a fantastic job all on their own!
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Aside from that, I enjoy using aniBlock animation files in Carrara using the aniBlock Importer for Carrara. For the most part I don't use Daz Studio for this, but Daz Studio does give real-time feedback when browsing through the aniBlocks in our collections and aniMate 2 has a plethora of handy functions for tweaking aniBlocks - further customizing them to our specific needs.
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I'm a Carrara user through and through. Barely touch Daz Studio, like I said. But I still really like having both on board. Even if you don't want to install it yet, definitely Buy it (Daz Studio) while it's still free. It's worth every penny of the suggested retail, and one never knows when it'll stop being Free. ;)
Can't find any reference or price to upgrade from 7 pro to 8.5pro. Also can't find the $45.50 deal. Please help.
Don't recall ever seeing an upgrade - you just buy the new version. It's currently back up to $85: with Daz store discounts you have to strike while the iron is hot, or you'll need to wait for it to come around again.
Today Carrara is at $24.30 only if you have a PC+ Membersip.
Got it for $30. Since I last used Carrara about 6 years ago I am very rusty and would appreciate some help.
Tried to load an old Carrara 7 file. It stopped loading but didn't tell me what file it was looking for. I vaguely remember Carrara 7 showed the file it was looking for.
* How can I get C 8.5 to show the file it is looking for?
Also
• How do I get the shaders and figures to show up under the content tabs?
I guess the first question is, did you load Carrara and its contents according to the instructions? If you don't follow these instructions to the letter, and use the DIM (Daz Install Manager), you might have a more complex experience than is necessary.
I should add, welcome back!
If this is on a Mac, it's a bug related to the OS version. There's a thread about it and a workaround here: http://direct.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/134851/finding-missing-textures-with-carrara-for-mac-el-capitain-and-sierra but I can't vouch for the workaround working (IYSWIM) cos I haven't actually tried it.
Thanks TangoAlpha. The Workaround worked perfectly. It was very easy to install. The person who modified the framework did a fantastic job.
I used install manager for just the application and assumed it would install the files. I missed the checkbox that tells it to install after downloading. The preset shaders, objects and scenes that were in C7 are not in C8.5.
Are these normally installed with the app download?
is there way to install them without re-installing the app?
If the filed haven't installed, they should still be in the DIM "Ready to Install" tab. You can select them there and fire off the installers. It's worth going into Setting first though, and checking the Applications tab to see that it's recorded the correct app location for Carrara.
On the Mac, native content is installed into the app package, so you have to select "Show Package Contents" in Finder if you want to browse your content.
The Macintosh Carrara 8.5 Pro that I recently downloaded did not contain the standard "presets" and "scenes" that came with Carrara 7. after two download attempts (manual and IM) I gave up and simply replaced the presets and scenes of C8.5 with the presets and scenes of C7. The 8.5 "presets" folder contained one folder called "Shaders" which contained one "skin" shader. The "scenes" folder contained one folder called "Lights". Don't know what went wrong. I have assumed that C7 presets and scenes are compatible with C8.5. Please let me know if anyone sees a potential problem.
The presets and scenes are not part of C8.5. You have to download and install them seperately. The old files should be compatible. I use them and I have a Mac running C8.5.
I don't have a Mac, so can't help you with organization or installation. But just to reinforce a main point of several posts, the program file is different from the content file. You should have an installation file for the program itself. You should also have two Carrara specific content files, one for Carrara 8, which is relatively large, and one for Carrara 8.5, which includes supplements since C8. You may also have additional content bundled together with Carrara, but these will be listed in your account separately from your Carrara content.
I never downloaded Carrara 8. Is this why I have had so much difficulty?
Currently I am trying to get a figure into a sitting position. I vaguely remember doing it with a body manipulator but so far no luck. Not yet found instructions or a tutorial. will someone please point me in the right direction.
You might start here.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/119181/no-one-asked-me-diomede-posts-screenshots-on-whatever/p1
Diomede, thank you for your very helpful pointer. You put a lot of work in the tutorials which are very easy to follow. The expanded screen shots are a very nice touch.
Your work is much appreciated. By the way I am not a new user, just rusty after a 6 year break and a 73 year old memory. Your tutorial reactivated a few memory cels. Thanks.