Is Carrara a good alternative to Blender?

Geminii23

Hi everyone.  

So I am just now getting into creating some custom character stuff (not sure if Kitbashing is the proper term).  So for instance, I often am downloading 3D .stl files and converting to .obj to use inside Daz.  The trouble is that I am having to use Blender to do this.  And quite honestly I have never used a more frustrating program in all of my life.  Blender's UI is possibily the most unnintuitive and frustrating experience ever.  Import an .stl and then export out as .obj, fine.  Easy.  No problem.  But to navigate the 3D space on a mac magic mouse?!  WTF?!  To modify any of the vertices or hide them?!  Just painful and terrible!  Yuk.

So I wanted to know if Carrara is a better altenative?  I would really love to find an app that allowed me to download free 3D models and do some basic modifications then export to DAZ compatible files.  I also would love to learn how to modify/create textures for clothing and props beyond simply using photoshop to edit the flat diffuse, spec and displacement map images.

Can Carrara do this stuff?  Or is Zbrush a better alternative?  Looking for an app that doesn't have massive learning curve.

Thanks!

WendyLuvsCatz

well most user interfaces are better than Blender

Carrara vertex room is very similar to Hexagon without the need to validate stuff and constant freezes and crashes I get using Hex.

You can also load most DAZ content into Carrara (prior to genesis 3 but there are ways to do that too)

you cannot export duf or Poser format sadly but certainly obj

modeling clothes around figures and creating props for D|S is certainly doable and done by some vendors.

cdordoni

Carrara won't import STL directly, although you could convert in Blender. The issue is STL does not have any smoothing normals, so you would have to generate these yourself. Its possible to set the smoothing angle on import but this may not achieve what you want, so you might have to break the model up. Additionally, STL topology is not optimized for rendering. It often contains long spikey triangles that renderers hate.

It might be better to use the STL as a reference to build new surfaces.

 

Geminii23

th3Digit said:

well most user interfaces are better than Blender

Carrara vertex room is very similar to Hexagon without the need to validate stuff and constant freezes and crashes I get using Hex.

You can also load most DAZ content into Carrara (prior to genesis 3 but there are ways to do that too)

you cannot export duf or Poser format sadly but certainly obj

modeling clothes around figures and creating props for D|S is certainly doable and done by some vendors.

Hi th3Digit.  Thanks for the info.  I haven't used Hexagon, and I don't think it is compatible with MacOS (sierra+).

I am mainly using Genesis 2 and below stuff.  I have gotten pretty good at parenting .obj to different items on my models, though it is very tedious sometimes and your aren't really able to make them conform to the body shape.  So I am trying to find a program that I could load a clothing item, say a conforming body suit and create/modify the textures so that I can then export out and use those instead of the base model ones.  If that makes sense.  

For instance, I often see people creating really cool characters with lots of custom elements that completely change the look of a particular clothing item.  A good example is Smay's super hero suit or the M4 body suit.  I have been able to make some minor alterations in photoshop ot the built in textures, but it would be nice to completely alter the seams to create a new design for them.  These would not be for sale of course, just for my own personal use and all credit given to the original creators.  At some point if I got good enough, I would love to start creating my own completely custom clothing items from scratch.  But I always feel the best way to learn is to modify existing content.

Thanks

Vyusur

Blender is the most convenient and intuitive program for me. It's so easy and pleasant to work in blender as breathing for me. Usually I have to fight with other programs and waste my nerves, including Carrara. Especially when it comes to modeling. But Carrara gives a unique render quality and unique volumetric effects. This is its advantage even compared to 3d max.

Dartanbeck

One (of the Very Many) cool aspect of Carrara is that we can bring in Genesis 2 and earlier figures natively from within Carrara's Content Browser, and then use any morphs, clothing, pose files, etc., that we might have for them - directly within Carrara.

For the texturing thing, Carrara Pro has a 3D Paint feature which allows us to paint directly onto our mesh - but it's not perfect. It does work great, however, but can be a lot easier if we just do a basic painting in Carrara to get our seams how we want them to be, then export those maps and finish them in an image editor - Photoshop, in your example.

Tests that I have done which seem to me to be similar to what you're talking about, is that I've been able to import an OBJ of a clothing item (made for something else), also load in Genesis or Genesis 2 (M or F) and tweak the imported OBJ clothing to fit the base figure of Genesis, then export the result as a new OBJ using Carrara's Daz Studio OBJ preset, then bring that OBJ into Daz Studio as well as the same Genesis base figure I had in Carrara, and use DS's Content Creation tools to automate the process of rigging the new clothing model to work with that Genesis figure - so when I change the Genesis morphs, the clothing follows, etc., 

Carrara also has UV editing tools, so we can customize those as well.

Learning curve?

I've found it pretty easy to settle into Carrara. It has a very Poser/DS-like interface. I did need to come to this forum and ask question regarding certain things, which were very quickly answered. Most of the basic learning process is somehting we've all gone through - so we're all usually qalified to help with most questions beginners (to Carrara) might have. If we don't, we usually know just the right person to nudge for help! ;)

I do a lot of babbling in my video tutorials. Some folks (like the people I originally made them for) like it, others lose patience. But this tutorial shows the process mentioned above, but also converting from Genesis 2 Male to Genesis 2 Female using a plugin for Daz Studio. That might be more than what you're looking for, but it also might at least show you (rather than just reading) what the Carrara <|> DS workflow might be like - there are many ways to work in both! ;)

Here's a post I have with more related info, and also includes the above video and its accompanying forum thread:

► Modeling for Genesis

I modeled the two items on the top of this image directly in Carrara quickly, simply to test the idea of using the CCT (Content Creation Tools) in Daz Studio, just to be able to turn the models into conforming clothes to fit the figure. The bottom part of the image is all (except for the boots) clothing and hair for V4 that was auto-fit to Genesis 2 Female within Carrara. The boots were made for G2F. 

In the end, I always come back to do my scenes, animations, renders, etc., etc., in Carrara.

Geminii23

Dartanbeck said:

One (of the Very Many) cool aspect of Carrara is that we can bring in Genesis 2 and earlier figures natively from within Carrara's Content Browser, and then use any morphs, clothing, pose files, etc., that we might have for them - directly within Carrara.

For the texturing thing, Carrara Pro has a 3D Paint feature which allows us to paint directly onto our mesh - but it's not perfect. It does work great, however, but can be a lot easier if we just do a basic painting in Carrara to get our seams how we want them to be, then export those maps and finish them in an image editor - Photoshop, in your example.

Tests that I have done which seem to me to be similar to what you're talking about, is that I've been able to import an OBJ of a clothing item (made for something else), also load in Genesis or Genesis 2 (M or F) and tweak the imported OBJ clothing to fit the base figure of Genesis, then export the result as a new OBJ using Carrara's Daz Studio OBJ preset, then bring that OBJ into Daz Studio as well as the same Genesis base figure I had in Carrara, and use DS's Content Creation tools to automate the process of rigging the new clothing model to work with that Genesis figure - so when I change the Genesis morphs, the clothing follows, etc., 

Carrara also has UV editing tools, so we can customize those as well.

Learning curve?

I've found it pretty easy to settle into Carrara. It has a very Poser/DS-like interface. I did need to come to this forum and ask question regarding certain things, which were very quickly answered. Most of the basic learning process is somehting we've all gone through - so we're all usually qalified to help with most questions beginners (to Carrara) might have. If we don't, we usually know just the right person to nudge for help! ;)

I do a lot of babbling in my video tutorials. Some folks (like the people I originally made them for) like it, others lose patience. But this tutorial shows the process mentioned above, but also converting from Genesis 2 Male to Genesis 2 Female using a plugin for Daz Studio. That might be more than what you're looking for, but it also might at least show you (rather than just reading) what the Carrara <|> DS workflow might be like - there are many ways to work in both! ;)

Here's a post I have with more related info, and also includes the above video and its accompanying forum thread:

► Modeling for Genesis

I modeled the two items on the top of this image directly in Carrara quickly, simply to test the idea of using the CCT (Content Creation Tools) in Daz Studio, just to be able to turn the models into conforming clothes to fit the figure. The bottom part of the image is all (except for the boots) clothing and hair for V4 that was auto-fit to Genesis 2 Female within Carrara. The boots were made for G2F. 

In the end, I always come back to do my scenes, animations, renders, etc., etc., in Carrara.

Wow.  Thanks for all of that info.  Your example is very much what I am after.  To bring in objects and create a custom armor for example similar to your image of the girl with shoulder pads and bra objects.  Get them to conform and possibly add/connect to straps or other items, etc.  Then bring it all back into DAZ.  And like you said, possibly jump into photoshop to manipulate the textures.

So do you know if I need the Pro version or is the basic one sufficient?

I am already watching your video and will check out that other link too.  Thanks!

Jonstark

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

One (of the Very Many) cool aspect of Carrara is that we can bring in Genesis 2 and earlier figures natively from within Carrara's Content Browser, and then use any morphs, clothing, pose files, etc., that we might have for them - directly within Carrara.

For the texturing thing, Carrara Pro has a 3D Paint feature which allows us to paint directly onto our mesh - but it's not perfect. It does work great, however, but can be a lot easier if we just do a basic painting in Carrara to get our seams how we want them to be, then export those maps and finish them in an image editor - Photoshop, in your example.

Tests that I have done which seem to me to be similar to what you're talking about, is that I've been able to import an OBJ of a clothing item (made for something else), also load in Genesis or Genesis 2 (M or F) and tweak the imported OBJ clothing to fit the base figure of Genesis, then export the result as a new OBJ using Carrara's Daz Studio OBJ preset, then bring that OBJ into Daz Studio as well as the same Genesis base figure I had in Carrara, and use DS's Content Creation tools to automate the process of rigging the new clothing model to work with that Genesis figure - so when I change the Genesis morphs, the clothing follows, etc., 

Carrara also has UV editing tools, so we can customize those as well.

Learning curve?

I've found it pretty easy to settle into Carrara. It has a very Poser/DS-like interface. I did need to come to this forum and ask question regarding certain things, which were very quickly answered. Most of the basic learning process is somehting we've all gone through - so we're all usually qalified to help with most questions beginners (to Carrara) might have. If we don't, we usually know just the right person to nudge for help! ;)

I do a lot of babbling in my video tutorials. Some folks (like the people I originally made them for) like it, others lose patience. But this tutorial shows the process mentioned above, but also converting from Genesis 2 Male to Genesis 2 Female using a plugin for Daz Studio. That might be more than what you're looking for, but it also might at least show you (rather than just reading) what the Carrara <|> DS workflow might be like - there are many ways to work in both! ;)

Here's a post I have with more related info, and also includes the above video and its accompanying forum thread:

► Modeling for Genesis

I modeled the two items on the top of this image directly in Carrara quickly, simply to test the idea of using the CCT (Content Creation Tools) in Daz Studio, just to be able to turn the models into conforming clothes to fit the figure. The bottom part of the image is all (except for the boots) clothing and hair for V4 that was auto-fit to Genesis 2 Female within Carrara. The boots were made for G2F. 

In the end, I always come back to do my scenes, animations, renders, etc., etc., in Carrara.

Wow.  Thanks for all of that info.  Your example is very much what I am after.  To bring in objects and create a custom armor for example similar to your image of the girl with shoulder pads and bra objects.  Get them to conform and possibly add/connect to straps or other items, etc.  Then bring it all back into DAZ.  And like you said, possibly jump into photoshop to manipulate the textures.

So do you know if I need the Pro version or is the basic one sufficient?

I am already watching your video and will check out that other link too.  Thanks!

With platinum club, you can usually get the Pro version for even less than the Std.  Get the Pro version for sure.

Dartanbeck

I would suggest as jonstark. 3D Paint is only in the Pro version and it sounds like you'll be wanting that. 

The actual conforming procedure is done in Daz Studio, as you'll discover.

Beyond just that, Daz Studio is an excellent toolkit for further tweaking our creations to work better with the target figure. That's my main use for Daz Studio. Then I save those things to the standard DS library format, and load them into Carrara to do the actual magic. But DS (I've heard) is good for that too. I just cannot get used to it for that: animating and the like.

Daz 3D's YouTube channel has some nice video tutorials on using the CCTs. Here's a good one: Daz Studio 4 Content Creation Tools

Josh Darling's channel is also an invaluable resource to getting pro-results in the end.

chris poole

Hi "Is Carrara a good alternative to Blender?"

Having your fingernails pulled out with a rusty set of pliers is a better alternative then Blender ; ' )

Have you tried Meshlab for the STL files..
http://www.meshlab.net/

Geminii23

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

One (of the Very Many) cool aspect of Carrara is that we can bring in Genesis 2 and earlier figures natively from within Carrara's Content Browser, and then use any morphs, clothing, pose files, etc., that we might have for them - directly within Carrara.

For the texturing thing, Carrara Pro has a 3D Paint feature which allows us to paint directly onto our mesh - but it's not perfect. It does work great, however, but can be a lot easier if we just do a basic painting in Carrara to get our seams how we want them to be, then export those maps and finish them in an image editor - Photoshop, in your example.

Tests that I have done which seem to me to be similar to what you're talking about, is that I've been able to import an OBJ of a clothing item (made for something else), also load in Genesis or Genesis 2 (M or F) and tweak the imported OBJ clothing to fit the base figure of Genesis, then export the result as a new OBJ using Carrara's Daz Studio OBJ preset, then bring that OBJ into Daz Studio as well as the same Genesis base figure I had in Carrara, and use DS's Content Creation tools to automate the process of rigging the new clothing model to work with that Genesis figure - so when I change the Genesis morphs, the clothing follows, etc., 

Carrara also has UV editing tools, so we can customize those as well.

Learning curve?

I've found it pretty easy to settle into Carrara. It has a very Poser/DS-like interface. I did need to come to this forum and ask question regarding certain things, which were very quickly answered. Most of the basic learning process is somehting we've all gone through - so we're all usually qalified to help with most questions beginners (to Carrara) might have. If we don't, we usually know just the right person to nudge for help! ;)

I do a lot of babbling in my video tutorials. Some folks (like the people I originally made them for) like it, others lose patience. But this tutorial shows the process mentioned above, but also converting from Genesis 2 Male to Genesis 2 Female using a plugin for Daz Studio. That might be more than what you're looking for, but it also might at least show you (rather than just reading) what the Carrara <|> DS workflow might be like - there are many ways to work in both! ;)

Here's a post I have with more related info, and also includes the above video and its accompanying forum thread:

► Modeling for Genesis

I modeled the two items on the top of this image directly in Carrara quickly, simply to test the idea of using the CCT (Content Creation Tools) in Daz Studio, just to be able to turn the models into conforming clothes to fit the figure. The bottom part of the image is all (except for the boots) clothing and hair for V4 that was auto-fit to Genesis 2 Female within Carrara. The boots were made for G2F. 

In the end, I always come back to do my scenes, animations, renders, etc., etc., in Carrara.

Wow.  Thanks for all of that info.  Your example is very much what I am after.  To bring in objects and create a custom armor for example similar to your image of the girl with shoulder pads and bra objects.  Get them to conform and possibly add/connect to straps or other items, etc.  Then bring it all back into DAZ.  And like you said, possibly jump into photoshop to manipulate the textures.

So do you know if I need the Pro version or is the basic one sufficient?

I am already watching your video and will check out that other link too.  Thanks!

With platinum club, you can usually get the Pro version for even less than the Std.  Get the Pro version for sure.

Sadly I didn't renew my Plat.  Maybe one day soon I will get back on it.

cdordoni

InstantMeshes might be useful for retopologizing though I have experienced mixed results. Hard edges are prone to chipping or divits ... there's a check box for preserving hard edges that helps but its still an issue.

Jonstark

Geminii23 said:

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

With platinum club, you can usually get the Pro version for even less than the Std.  Get the Pro version for sure.

Sadly I didn't renew my Plat.  Maybe one day soon I will get back on it.

Just checked and right this moment the cost of Carrara 8.5 pro is $19.50 if you have Platinum Club, while the Plat club price for Carrara Std is $44.99 .   So if you spent $24.00 to join the Platinum Club  only for this one purchase, the total cost for the Pro version would be $43.50.   I realize that there's a current sale on for Carrara 8.5 to be 50% off even for those who don't have Platinum Club, but  under that scenario the cost for Pro would be $142.50 and the Std version would be $74.98, which makes no logical sense for anyone sane to buy it that way.  So what I'm saying is if you're going to pick up Carrara, you should also purchase the quarterly Platinum Club too, to drastically lower the cost, and at that point the Pro version is dramatically less expensive than the Std version.  

Plat club quarterly is not automatically renewing or anything, so it's a nice thing to have around for a little while in case there's any other things that pop up in the Daz store you might want to get at discount, and 3 months later just let it expire itself. 

Dartanbeck

I built up a pretty large content library using PC.

When I bought Carrara, I spent $99 for a year of PC, bought the book Daz was selling for $22 which came with Carrara 6 Pro (and Free DS and Hexagon) and a pile of content. Then I also bought the upgrade to Carrara 7 Pro and got a whole crap-load of awesome goods free with all of that - and bought some other stuff too.

Anyway, after a short time I realized that Carrara was totally worth its full price - if I would have paid that. Back then it was more, I think. Close to $600?

Milo

you could try the trial verson of 3d-coat and see if that would fit iny our workflow the way you want.

Diomede

I'm a Carrara fan, but there is an overlay intended to simplify the Blender interface.  Might work for you, might not.

https://www.bforartists.de/

Geminii23

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

With platinum club, you can usually get the Pro version for even less than the Std.  Get the Pro version for sure.

Sadly I didn't renew my Plat.  Maybe one day soon I will get back on it.

Just checked and right this moment the cost of Carrara 8.5 pro is $19.50 if you have Platinum Club, while the Plat club price for Carrara Std is $44.99 .   So if you spent $24.00 to join the Platinum Club  only for this one purchase, the total cost for the Pro version would be $43.50.   I realize that there's a current sale on for Carrara 8.5 to be 50% off even for those who don't have Platinum Club, but  under that scenario the cost for Pro would be $142.50 and the Std version would be $74.98, which makes no logical sense for anyone sane to buy it that way.  So what I'm saying is if you're going to pick up Carrara, you should also purchase the quarterly Platinum Club too, to drastically lower the cost, and at that point the Pro version is dramatically less expensive than the Std version.  

Plat club quarterly is not automatically renewing or anything, so it's a nice thing to have around for a little while in case there's any other things that pop up in the Daz store you might want to get at discount, and 3 months later just let it expire itself. 

So if I do Plat for one quarter, then buy Carrara Pro, total cost is only 43.50?  That is a heck of a deal.  Think I might need to jump on that!

Dartanbeck

Geminii23 said:

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

With platinum club, you can usually get the Pro version for even less than the Std.  Get the Pro version for sure.

Sadly I didn't renew my Plat.  Maybe one day soon I will get back on it.

Just checked and right this moment the cost of Carrara 8.5 pro is $19.50 if you have Platinum Club, while the Plat club price for Carrara Std is $44.99 .   So if you spent $24.00 to join the Platinum Club  only for this one purchase, the total cost for the Pro version would be $43.50.   I realize that there's a current sale on for Carrara 8.5 to be 50% off even for those who don't have Platinum Club, but  under that scenario the cost for Pro would be $142.50 and the Std version would be $74.98, which makes no logical sense for anyone sane to buy it that way.  So what I'm saying is if you're going to pick up Carrara, you should also purchase the quarterly Platinum Club too, to drastically lower the cost, and at that point the Pro version is dramatically less expensive than the Std version.  

Plat club quarterly is not automatically renewing or anything, so it's a nice thing to have around for a little while in case there's any other things that pop up in the Daz store you might want to get at discount, and 3 months later just let it expire itself. 

So if I do Plat for one quarter, then buy Carrara Pro, total cost is only 43.50?  That is a heck of a deal.  Think I might need to jump on that!

...and you'll also get hundreds of dollars of content that comes with Carrara Pro!

Genesis Content

• Victoria 5 Pro Bundle
• Michael 5 Pro Bundle

and More! 

Geminii23

Free content is always good.  In this case I think I am covered.  I believe I have almost everything offered for free already (I have a tremendous amount of DAZ content LOL).  I haven't seen many tutorials on Youtube for editing/creating clothing in Carrara.  Do most of the content creators here on DAZ use Carrara to design their clothes and props?  Lots of artists seem to be using Zbrush and soemthing called Marvelous Designer as well.  How similar is Carrara to these?

Thanks 

 

WendyLuvsCatz

Geminii23 said:

Free content is always good.  In this case I think I am covered.  I believe I have almost everything offered for free already (I have a tremendous amount of DAZ content LOL).  I haven't seen many tutorials on Youtube for editing/creating clothing in Carrara.  Do most of the content creators here on DAZ use Carrara to design their clothes and props?  Lots of artists seem to be using Zbrush and soemthing called Marvelous Designer as well.  How similar is Carrara to these?

Thanks 

 

not many do for clothes but I know some Renderosity artists do for props and sets

Geminii23

th3Digit said:

Geminii23 said:

Free content is always good.  In this case I think I am covered.  I believe I have almost everything offered for free already (I have a tremendous amount of DAZ content LOL).  I haven't seen many tutorials on Youtube for editing/creating clothing in Carrara.  Do most of the content creators here on DAZ use Carrara to design their clothes and props?  Lots of artists seem to be using Zbrush and soemthing called Marvelous Designer as well.  How similar is Carrara to these?

Thanks 

 

not many do for clothes but I know some Renderosity artists do for props and sets

Sorry for any of this being redundant sounding questions, but are people not using Carrara for clothes because it isn't capable?  My primary goal is to be able to import a clothing item or prop, a bodysuit for instance, and modify the seams, textures, bump, etc.  Then export the proper diffuse, displacement and bump maps as a new texture set for use on that clothing item.

Diomede

I use Carrara to make my own clothing for Daz Genesis figures for use in Carrara and in Studio.  There are some advantages and disadvantages.  The primary advantage is that Carrara loads Daz figures through Genesis 2 natively, and can export in Studio scale for figures and for morphs.  Because of the amazing MistyLara, one can also load Genesis 3 and 8 figures natively and export to Studio easily (easily, as in an export preset labeled "Studio" and in Studio an import preset labeled "Carrara.").  Furthermore, I can use the results natively in Carrara, which means I can integrate everything with Carrara's environments, effects, and modeling content.

 

Here are some examples of my workflow.  

Making full body morph for Daz genesis type figures (1st linked post outlines and then next posts include screenshots)

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2373941/#Comment_2373941

Making clothing content for Daz genesis type figures (thread has lots of resources, including step by step Carrara screenshots)

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/65357/the-male-content-creation-mutual-support-group-thread/p1

Workflow for a Genesis 8 Male FBM and clothing

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2820726/#Comment_2820726

 

There are disadvantages.  Carrara cannot use Daz Studio HD morphs, which might be something that you want.  Carrara cannot use Studio geografts without screwing up the uvmaps.  In the modeling and texturing functions, other pograms have more tools with their modeling, uvmapping, and 3D Paint functions.  So while Carrara can do these functions, other programs might have faster and more efficient workflows.

 

(Edit: now that Studio has DForce - features like drape and wrinkle morphs may be easier - but have not tested).

WendyLuvsCatz

well I make clothes in Carrara for what it is worth

I also have Zbrush and use the Zremesher on them

but I am useless at rigging them in D|S they do work quite  well with the new dforce though

this one was actually straight out of Carrara no Zremeshing

Dartanbeck

Geminii23 said:

th3Digit said:

Geminii23 said:

Free content is always good.  In this case I think I am covered.  I believe I have almost everything offered for free already (I have a tremendous amount of DAZ content LOL).  I haven't seen many tutorials on Youtube for editing/creating clothing in Carrara.  Do most of the content creators here on DAZ use Carrara to design their clothes and props?  Lots of artists seem to be using Zbrush and soemthing called Marvelous Designer as well.  How similar is Carrara to these?

Thanks 

 

not many do for clothes but I know some Renderosity artists do for props and sets

Sorry for any of this being redundant sounding questions, but are people not using Carrara for clothes because it isn't capable?  My primary goal is to be able to import a clothing item or prop, a bodysuit for instance, and modify the seams, textures, bump, etc.  Then export the proper diffuse, displacement and bump maps as a new texture set for use on that clothing item.

I'm actually only speculating here, but I really think that the main reason is because most of them are 3D modelers who were already doing what their doing before ever knowing about Carrara - 3d modeling software that gets regular updates and the like, like Modo (very popular among Daz3d modelmakers), LightWave (no longer seems to get regular updates), 3DS Max, Maya... etc.,   The stuff that professional modelers use.

Carrara has had a reputation for not being updated often enough long before it ever fell into the hands of Daz3d.

For me, that's fine. It has the tools I wanted and the tools I still need, so it actually saves me a lot of money - whenever they do update it... I simply HAVE TO buy the update! LOL

There are also professional modelers still using Hexagon, too. So the actual tools used might have something to do with the comfort in workflow, but less to do with the end result. Making clothing for Daz3d's latest figures is a process of bringing the OBJ mesh of the model into Daz Studio and rigging it for the target figure - which is mostly automated via Daz Studio's Content Creation Tools.

Nevercenter Silo is also a popular choice, as is Blender.

When I got into all of this, I didn't think about making clothes for figures, but I did want something that could edit the meshes. Carrara was the only thing I could find that worked like a Poser or Daz Studio (bring in Daz figures with their morph dials and rigs in tact) which also allows for modeling - and modeling it does! One major benefit Carrara has for modeling clothes is shown in that video I made - we can work on clothes directly on the target figure, whose morph dials and rigging is all still intact. Other modeler software requires a process of setting the right dials on the figure in Studio before exporting it as an OBJ to bring into the modeler, then model the clothes, etc., etc., 

For someone looking to become a serious 3d modeler, I might recommend a more modeling-oriented software. Modo is the one that is currently getting HUGE attention among the industry for making the most amazing changes in the latest development cycles, while Maya and 3DS Max are still seen as top-dog solutions - used by most of the popular filmmaking studios and the like. But Modo is still being spoke of within those same circles, and I think it will soon be placed up on that top shelf as well. Speaking of which, it seems that Blender Foundation is now going to get some funding to assist them in really pushing forward into all of this.

Some folks whom use Carrara have come to Carrara from any of those, and like it better. Carrara is a special thing - and I, for one, am very thankful that it's here!

3DAGE has shown me answers to a lot of my questions when I was looking to buy a modeler. He's shown me that what I was looking for was already under the hood of Carrara - right there waiting for me to push the right buttons. It's not just an excellent modeler, but it has a lot of different specialty modeler for different things. I love it!

Dartanbeck

When I modeled the clothing in the image above - the female impractical armor - I was using SubD modeling techniques because that works well with Genesis - Genesis being a SubD Cage technology. 

Well, when I brought my mesh OBJ into Daz Studio to use the CCT to conform it to Genesis, it all worked like a charm. Daz Studio's SubD gave the same result as the SubD I sculpted in Carrara, I imagine that's the norm, but it makes the point that it works, and it works well.

I also find Carrara to be very easy to use for how much of an "Everything CG" tool that it is. I mean, it has physics, particle emitters, height-map modeling, displacement modeling, dynamic hair, built-in atmospheres and skies, HDRI support, many types of lights and cameras, animated fire, ocean, fog primitives, volumetric clouds, sequenced image or avi animated texture and background support, several types of non-photorealistic rendering along with a very powerful photorealism ray trace engine, very simple-yet-fully-powerful material production, and on and on and on... it never runs out of ways to help any home artist or filmmaker commit their dreams to files that can be shared with the world!  All of that (and a lot more) including the very special ability to bring in fully intact Poser and Daz3d figures! 

V4, M4, both fully clothed and textured, along with Predatron's Droid figure, which also works exactly as it should within Carrara. The 'glow' appearance coming from the panels is done directly within Carrara, both by adding Glow to the Shaders, and then also with an Aura effect added during the render phase. there's also volumetric lighting coming down from the ceiling - again... all done right within Carrara.

Hundreds of Predatron's LeRez figures walking around this expansive scene thanks to Carrara's Surface Replicator

This one uses one of the other types of replicators in Carrara - one that doesn't require a surface - to create a fleet of ships in the sky amidst the Volumetric Cloud

I also like to use the Volumetric clouds to add atmosphere to already cool-looking atmospheres that Carrara is capable of

...and also as clouds!

Geminii23

Dartanbeck said:

When I modeled the clothing in the image above - the female impractical armor - I was using SubD modeling techniques because that works well with Genesis - Genesis being a SubD Cage technology. 

Well, when I brought my mesh OBJ into Daz Studio to use the CCT to conform it to Genesis, it all worked like a charm. Daz Studio's SubD gave the same result as the SubD I sculpted in Carrara, I imagine that's the norm, but it makes the point that it works, and it works well.

I also find Carrara to be very easy to use for how much of an "Everything CG" tool that it is. I mean, it has physics, particle emitters, height-map modeling, displacement modeling, dynamic hair, built-in atmospheres and skies, HDRI support, many types of lights and cameras, animated fire, ocean, fog primitives, volumetric clouds, sequenced image or avi animated texture and background support, several types of non-photorealistic rendering along with a very powerful photorealism ray trace engine, very simple-yet-fully-powerful material production, and on and on and on... it never runs out of ways to help any home artist or filmmaker commit their dreams to files that can be shared with the world!  All of that (and a lot more) including the very special ability to bring in fully intact Poser and Daz3d figures! 

V4, M4, both fully clothed and textured, along with Predatron's Droid figure, which also works exactly as it should within Carrara. The 'glow' appearance coming from the panels is done directly within Carrara, both by adding Glow to the Shaders, and then also with an Aura effect added during the render phase. there's also volumetric lighting coming down from the ceiling - again... all done right within Carrara.

Hundreds of Predatron's LeRez figures walking around this expansive scene thanks to Carrara's Surface Replicator

This one uses one of the other types of replicators in Carrara - one that doesn't require a surface - to create a fleet of ships in the sky amidst the Volumetric Cloud

I also like to use the Volumetric clouds to add atmosphere to already cool-looking atmospheres that Carrara is capable of

...and also as clouds!

Wow.  Some awesome stuff there.

Do you know if Carrara is a good tool to fix clothes that don't fit correctly?  For instance, I am using a pants item made for Genesis, but the autofit to G2M doesn't work all that well.

 

rk66

Here you can find many tutorial links:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/21414/

Sorted by topic, title, author, level ...

Jonstark

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

 

Wow.  Some awesome stuff there.

Do you know if Carrara is a good tool to fix clothes that don't fit correctly?  For instance, I am using a pants item made for Genesis, but the autofit to G2M doesn't work all that well.

 

Imo Carrara is the perfect tool to fix this, and it's fairly simple to do.  Assuming you've already re-rigged the Gen1 clothes with Gen2 rigging, then simply save in Studio as a figure asset. Open the clothing in Carrara, also open a G2M in the same scene.  You can then open modelling on the clothing figure and use 'soft select' to pull/push the bits of clothing that aren't fitting perfectly to the G2M until they are in the perfect position (for most clothing fits, won't take much time at all). Now you've got a rigged clothing item that fits G2M perfectly.  If you need to bring this back into Studio, then simply export the .obj of the clothing you modified, then import it into Studio and use the trasfer utility to rig it for G2M again, and save it to your library for future use.  I keep meaning to make a video on how to do this, as it's fairly simple and straightforward...

Geminii23

Jonstark said:

Geminii23 said:

Dartanbeck said:

 

Wow.  Some awesome stuff there.

Do you know if Carrara is a good tool to fix clothes that don't fit correctly?  For instance, I am using a pants item made for Genesis, but the autofit to G2M doesn't work all that well.

 

Imo Carrara is the perfect tool to fix this, and it's fairly simple to do.  Assuming you've already re-rigged the Gen1 clothes with Gen2 rigging, then simply save in Studio as a figure asset. Open the clothing in Carrara, also open a G2M in the same scene.  You can then open modelling on the clothing figure and use 'soft select' to pull/push the bits of clothing that aren't fitting perfectly to the G2M until they are in the perfect position (for most clothing fits, won't take much time at all). Now you've got a rigged clothing item that fits G2M perfectly.  If you need to bring this back into Studio, then simply export the .obj of the clothing you modified, then import it into Studio and use the trasfer utility to rig it for G2M again, and save it to your library for future use.  I keep meaning to make a video on how to do this, as it's fairly simple and straightforward...

Well, I am definitely going to be getting Carrara by this weekend.  Just waiting on some cash and hope fully that sale price will with the Plat + still be applicable.  Guess now is also a good time to do a quick 3 month membership since Black Friday is around the corner.

I have been immersed in an exercise of complete masochism all week long...  IE - I am doing my own custom Spider-Man texture for a G2M bodysuit.  Doing this entirely by hand so to speak, working with the diffuse, bump and displacement maps in Photoshop.  To be able to do this in 3D space instead if Photoshop I am sure would really be a huge time saver.  As it is now, I need to constantly export the files, re-apply in DAZ, render to see if things are lining up.  Edit.  Test.  Rinse.  Repeat.  And with all the damn webbing on this suit it is just crazy.  LOL

Geminii23

rk66 said:

Here you can find many tutorial links:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/21414/

Sorted by topic, title, author, level ...

WhooHoo!  Thanks for that.  Bookmarked!

3DAGE

Daz studio should have a "Bridge" to photoshop,.

this will interface between both programs,. so you can "send to" photoshop,. edit textures,. return to DS.

I'm not trying to disuade you from getting Carrara,. it's a much better application, with many more tools and options,.

just pointing you to something you may have missed.

Hope it helps :)