Carrara - where to next?

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Hi All, 

Recently a Daz help person confirmed to me that Carrara is no longer in development. I had surmissed as much, as many people on the forums have, but it was very disappointing news nonetheless. Carrara is a great, flexible program and something of a giant killer. 

 I know Carrara will continue to work for some time, but it is only a question of time before an OS changes breaks the program. It is an option (one could keep a dedicated machine, not update it and use it solely for Carrara) but given the large number of assets, models and resources I have, I would prefer to start moving things before they break.

So I am wondering what software people are planning to transition to next and if anyone has had success importing their files to a new software package?

I have tried MODO - it is a very powerful modeller but modeling is not my primary interest.

I have tried MAYA - but it is really a studio package that assumes distributed, specialist expertise across particular aspects of the software

I am trying Cinema 4D - that has a sympathetic UI and can import fbx files from Carrara but materials are altered and enviroments such as skies do not transfer. 

DAZ studio is way too limited, has a baffeling interface, and relies on posing purchased assets. 

I know there wont be a program that simply imports Carrara files entire - but as close as possible would be good. 

Ideally the software should run on Mac and PC and allow distributed rendering between them. 

If anyone has any experience in trying software as a substitute, I would be grateful to hear your suggestions. 

Cheers

Thread tilte edited by Moderator

WendyLuvsCatz

only thing that comes close IMO is Blender 

free opensource but a PITA to use

I do struggle with it now and again before returning to Carrara and giving a sigh of relief 

yes I too will try cling to Carrara as they try to pry it from my dying hands 

Stezza

we shall carry on regardless 

 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Thanks Wendy, yes, I left Blender off the list by accident but I have a similiar experience with it - a nightmare interface. Like it was put together by hundreds of different people with differing ideas - which is pretty much the case. Great open source project but I need something clean, simple, intuitive, powerful enough and visually based - Carrara really. 

Has anyone imported carrara files to Blender with any success? It might be useful in that case as a way to transfer files to another program. 

0oseven

How about Poser ?  [ Assuming you have a desire to work with Daz Characters ]

You said "I have tried MODO - it is a very powerful modeller but modeling is not my primary interest."

What is your primary interest ?

Retro Lad

The Iron Lung Returneth

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

HI OOseven

Yes, I should have made my interests clear. No I don't have an interest in character posing - I guess Daz Studio would do for that. 

I make large scale photographic prints and video works. They are modelled enviroments - many feature architectural forms. I also use it to create models that I base paintings on.

Actually, since my user name seems to have simply become my real name - you can look up the work online. Just search using the name and artist.

Thanks for your input.

VIArts

FlashGarcia said:

The Iron Lung Returneth

Doth Garcia happeneth to be thy last name as well?

Headwax

Nice body of work Stephen.

Bendigo show looks good.

You do mostly non organic work? Might effect your choice of software.

Not the answer you seek - but nothing will fill Carrara's boots for most of us.

Carrara still works for most. There is 'plenty' of plug in development.

As far as I can see, Poser looks like it's lost the 'battle' against Daz.

As an aside, you'd be doing us a favour if you change the title of your post to something more optomistic perhaps.

The end of carrara is more likely to come from lack of new users.

Doomsday predictions certainly stop new users climbing on board.

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Hi Andrew

Thanks for that and your work looks very interesting too - like the crossover between the two realms of the digital and the analogue - the digital is ultimately analogue after all. Also, the early Rennaisance and the early digital have a lot in common it seems to me. 

I am not sure how one changes the title of the thread but also I guess this is the reality - if Daz is unwilling to develop the program, or to sell it off, then it is the end, no matter how drawn out. It is a great shame. I have been using it since version 1 when it shifted from Matacreations to Eovia. I have a lot invested in it continuing but that isn't going to happen it seems. 

But I don't want to start another thread around Carrara's possibilities but rather, what might be an adequate substitute. 

Cheers

s

 

 

Diomede

Just for future reference, you can change the title of a thread that you started by editing your first post.

If you started a thread, go to your first post 

- click the gear icon in the upper right

- edit your title or post as desired.

- click the blue save button when your edits are satisfactory

 

As for me, there are many tasks that I will continue to use Carrara for because it is convenient for me and I am doing it just for myself.  However, I am trying to learn other programs for specific tasks.  Eventually, I might have found a substitute for all tasks, in which case I will have stopped using Carrara.  I have tried learning Blender several times, but it still does not click (wish it did).  The Blender for Artists overlay does help.  I hear more improvements to the Bender interface are on the way.  Hope so.  Meanwhile, I am trying to learn Hexagon, Substance Painter, 3DCoat, and Studio.  Quite a pain to try to replace one program.

 

WendyLuvsCatz

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba said:

Hi Andrew

Thanks for that and your work looks very interesting too - like the crossover between the two realms of the digital and the analogue - the digital is ultimately analogue after all. Also, the early Rennaisance and the early digital have a lot in common it seems to me. 

I am not sure how one changes the title of the thread but also I guess this is the reality - if Daz is unwilling to develop the program, or to sell it off, then it is the end, no matter how drawn out. It is a great shame. I have been using it since version 1 when it shifted from Matacreations to Eovia. I have a lot invested in it continuing but that isn't going to happen it seems. 

But I don't want to start another thread around Carrara's possibilities but rather, what might be an adequate substitute. 

Cheers

s

 

 

well on the  Renderosity Carrara  forum there is a Dr Bernie intent on moving Carrara users to other softwares he keeps mentioning if you wish to check it out

sorry cannot link forum rules here 

I cannot tell you what the latest thing is he is spruiking as I blocked him but by all means Google if youare interested. 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Thanks Diomede and Wendy,

Yes, one size does all is pretty big order but I will check out those leads. 

 

Steve K

My main goal is short animations in Carrara, using purchased content (I'm not a modeler) in both Carrara and Poser format.  I have a very large collection of such content, and doubt that any other program would be even close to Carrara's capabilities with such content.  I have three high end Core i7 machines that all run Carrara with no problems, two Win7 and one Win10.  Two of the machines were custom built with sturdy components, the other is a laptop that is pretty sturdy also.  I think I can hang on for a long time ...  If I have to pick another program, it would probably be Poser for my purpose, but it is less capable than Carrara.

WendyLuvsCatz

I would need at least 5 separate programs to replace Carrara and getting everything in from one to another a PITA

it probably would end up being DAZ studio or iClone for rendering if it came to that but neither is without their limitations 

Headwax

head wax said:

Nice body of work Stephen.

Bendigo show looks good.

Not the answer you seek - nothing will fill Carrara's boots for most of us.

Carrara still works for most. There is plenty of plug in development.

You'd be doing us a favour if you change the title of your post to something more optomistic perhaps.

The end of carrara is more likely to come from lack of new users.

Doomsday predictions certainly stop new users climbing on board.

 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba said:

Hi Andrew

Thanks for that and your work looks very interesting too - like the crossover between the two realms of the digital and the analogue - the digital is ultimately analogue after all. Also, the early Rennaisance and the early digital have a lot in common it seems to me. 

I am not sure how one changes the title of the thread but also I guess this is the reality - if Daz is unwilling to develop the program, or to sell it off, then it is the end, no matter how drawn out. It is a great shame. I have been using it since version 1 when it shifted from Matacreations to Eovia. I have a lot invested in it continuing but that isn't going to happen it seems. 

But I don't want to start another thread around Carrara's possibilities but rather, what might be an adequate substitute. 

Cheers

s

 

 

Thanks for that kind comment on my work. I have a Carrara made work coming up at Maitland Regional Gallery (group show "Concerning Peace." )  in the next few weeks if you are in the area. 

Lots of amazing artists - Australian War Artist George Gittoes amongst them

Good point about the Rennaisance and Digital. It's a kind of new birth. Interesting seeing Digital work making new headways into old places.

Good luck with the hunt - if/when you find something let us know.  

Off topic - did you notice that Digital Carver's plugins are now free (and open source ?)

 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Hi Andrew

Maitland is a tad distant but good luck with the show - no doubt a website or other to get some sense of it.

I did see Digital Carver's plugins and have them. Make Carrara even harder to lose! Very generous of him to make them available too. 

Will let you know if I find something. Just going to check out Shade3D

Headwax

Thanks :) 

Yes Eric is very generous.

Aforementioned Dr Bernie suggests  

Possible candidates:

Houdini: At $ 199.- per year it's a steal of a deal, but it's too hard to learn. It's for pros, not hobbyists.

Cinema4D: Excellent package but you need the full studio version - a $3800 deal - to do FX'es and particles and physics and things like that. That is way out of my price range.

Strata 3D: Excellent package. Relatively easy to learn. It has a $19.- monthly subscription plan that you can cancel at anytime. It is more suitable for a photoshop / illustarator / Strata3D pipeline, but it might work with Daz/Poser content. It has an excellent modeler too, in the Hexagon / Silo league.

Cheetan3D: Mac only) At $99.- it's a literally jaw-dropping deal. It can be viewed as C4D's little brother. It has a particularly well implemented Bullet physics engine with real time simulations, real time particles, a modeler that almost matches Hexagon and Silo features, 2 built-in renderers one of which uses Intel's Embree and is super-fast and, from what I have seen so far, its render quality is superb.

Dr Bernie's words not mine!

 

Stezza

Dr Bernie -- lol 

Paintbox

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba said:

Thanks Wendy, yes, I left Blender off the list by accident but I have a similiar experience with it - a nightmare interface. Like it was put together by hundreds of different people with differing ideas - which is pretty much the case. Great open source project but I need something clean, simple, intuitive, powerful enough and visually based - Carrara really. 

Has anyone imported carrara files to Blender with any success? It might be useful in that case as a way to transfer files to another program. 

Give Blender 2.8 another chance when it arrives, probably in Q4. Its a huge update. Amongst others they are redoing the interface, and it will come with a Blender 101 interface persona, making it fall in line with other packages.

Current Blender has a steep curve, but it tops of at a certain point, and from there it gets easier. You’ll have an aha moment and it starts making sense. But the criticism of the current interface is valid. It relies a ton on keyboard shortcuts and thats a starters nightmare.

 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Thanks Andrew, 

that is very useful - although this Dr Bernie character seems to drive a few of the regulars a little spare. 

Just tested Shade3D imports - not bad, can get around a fair way without any instructions but seems to lack any useful presets such as skies etc.

Must confess, everytime I open a program I begin to wonder just how realistic it would be to keep an old Mac Pro not upgraded and just for Carrara....

 

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Thanks Paintbox,

I will look out for it. The UI is the thing that puts me off so if they fix it...

In many ways the distributed development model means Blender will never die and it means a lot of useful plugins. Not like all other proprietry programs that can languish, or go under, when their developers discover more lucrative money making streams - which is the point of these businesses. 

Retro Lad

I would recommend focusing on "open source" software as a Carrara substitutes. Personally I am sick to death of flakey, muddleheaded, companies and corporations treating great CG programs like stray dogs and cats, and then promoting their own junk software and telling their customers to take it or leave it.

Head Wax is now in charge of the Iron Lung.

LightofHeaven,

Doth Garcia happeneth to be thy last name as well?

My real name is Tim Fonseca, and FlashGarcia was just a pun on Flash Gordon. Maybe I could have called myself , "The Mongrel", since I am Basque, Spanish, French, and German, etc. A genuine, first class, candidate for Hilter's gas ovens. Hah hah

Silver Dolphin

Blender 2.8 is getting a user interface face lift. Hopefully, those programmers at Blender who are stubbornly holding on to their keyboard shortcuts can come out of their cave and make an interface like Carrara. I mean if Carrara had Evee and Cycles it would kill. I love the interface of Carrara! I wonder can Evee and Cycles be added to Carrara? I am a Lightwave user for years and the interface is something I'm used to, but Carrara's interface is way better. The difference is power. I can do more with Lighwave. If the stuborn diehards in Blender make a usable interface I will jump on the Blender bandwagon. Hey all that power and free what's not to like? >>THE HORRIBLE INTERFACE<<

Chohole

Please remember

Not currently in development does not mean that it will not come back into the development system at a later date,

WendyLuvsCatz

Chohole said:

Please remember

Not currently in development does not mean that it will not come back into the development system at a later date,

I will die at a later date too 

hope Carrara does not sooner

Bunyip02

Silver Dolphin said:

Blender 2.8 is getting a user interface face lift. Hopefully, those programmers at Blender who are stubbornly holding on to their keyboard shortcuts can come out of their cave and make an interface like Carrara. I mean if Carrara had Evee and Cycles it would kill. I love the interface of Carrara! I wonder can Evee and Cycles be added to Carrara? I am a Lightwave user for years and the interface is something I'm used to, but Carrara's interface is way better. The difference is power. I can do more with Lighwave. If the stuborn diehards in Blender make a usable interface I will jump on the Blender bandwagon. Hey all that power and free what's not to like? >>THE HORRIBLE INTERFACE<<

You might want to check this out:- https://www.bforartists.de/

Bunyip02

Chohole said:

Please remember

Not currently in development does not mean that it will not come back into the development system at a later date,

Sending out positive vibes - Carrara 9 please !!!!!!

Persona Non Grata

.

stephenhaley_db4490c8ba

Hi Bunyip02

Thanks for that link, I will give that a go, it looks a likely solution. 

And I know, Chohole, (and I wish) but they said no plans to develop. After what is 3 years or so, I imagine there are few programmers left in the company with enough familiarity with the program to revive it, even if they wanted to.

I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I'm looking now..   

Mistara

the only thing "Carrara is no longer in development" means to me is my daz store addiction is over. literally.  no moars waking up at 2am to check the new shiny.