Does DAWN work in Carrara 8.5?
scottidog2
Posts: 319
Just wondering, does DAWN work in carrara 8.5?
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I think someone mentioned that the DS version does, but don't quote me on that.
I've loaded and posed the DS version of Dawn in 8.5. Have not had much time to do anything else.
That could have been me - yes, use the DS version, the Poser version comes apart!
I too seem to have hit this issue, is there anywhere we can inform Daz about this, do we even have a bug tracker anymore?
Help > Contact Us.
What issue?
Help > Contact Us.
What issue?
Contact Us isnt really a bug tracker though is it? With the old tracker we could keep track of bugs, hence the name and we were told that a bug tacker would be back in place "Daz Soon"
The issue I am refering to and PhilW mentioned above, is that if you load the Poser version of Dawn into Carrara, and add a morph, or a pose to her, it completely rips her apart.
See Image
This happens with Hivewire poses and other vendor poses, I have not tried the DS version as I do not use it, although I have heard a few possible work arounds, but would prefer this is fix in Carrara if it is indeed Carraras fault
Contact Us isnt really a bug tracker though is it? With the old tracker we could keep track of bugs, hence the name and we were told that a bug tacker would be back in place "Daz Soon"
The issue I am refering to and PhilW mentioned above, is that if you load the Poser version of Dawn into Carrara, and add a morph, or a pose to her, it completely rips her apart.
See Image
This happens with Hivewire poses and other vendor poses, I have not tried the DS version as I do not use it, although I have heard a few possible work arounds, but would prefer this is fix in Carrara if it is indeed Carraras fault
Poser 9 weight-mapping isn't supported in Carrara.
guess i'll have to get the DS version then - makes me wonder what we do pay for in carrara
Besides, isn't Dawn a 3rd party product, independent of Daz and Smith Micro? I would think you'd need to contact Dawn's developers with whatever issues crop up regarding Dawn. MS doesn't support Firefox if it doesn't work on your PC, does it? I know Apple doesn't support Firefox if you have issues with it on your Mac. Why should Daz be different for a product they have no hand in developing?
Daz doesnt even support genesis properly in its OWN flagship program, and if you had bothered to read what I put I said IF it was a problem with Carrara, seeing as it isnt I have already posted on Hivewire asking them to look into it.
Also by your logic, Daz shouldn't support SM figures and SM shouldn't support Daz figures, as they are both 3rd party to each other :shut:
Which implies it's a Carrara shortcoming that Carrara and DAZ does not support Smith Micro's weight mapping scheme.
You are correct that I am saying that SM and DAZ have no responsibility to support each other's figures. If DAZ wants to sell figures that work in Poser, it is up to DAZ to make them work with Poser and to support the figure if they advertise or sell the figure based on Poser compatibility. The same would go for Smith Micro if they wanted to sell figures that work with D/S or Carrara.
The makers of Dawn do provide a version that works in Carrara, it is the DS version. Both versions are free, so you can test both. You don't need DS to use it in Carrara (but DS is also free). Sorry if I'm missing the point here, but I don't see what the problem is.
For what it's worth, my view is that after an initial flurry of interest, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of support for Dawn and I can easily see it going the same way as any many other third party figures in the long run.
Much like Daz made out it was all SM's fault that Genesis didn't work in Poser? - goes both ways, although can't say I use genesis in Poser either
Phil - I would expect a product like Carrara which isnt free to be able to handle anything you throw at it (I mean it is labled as a Pro app), as I said in my post I SAID IF Carrara was at fault, I never said it was I was merly saying that it could be, and that I would test out the DS version to see if it had the same problems, it doesnt, and after playing about with Dawn, yes she shows promise but untill there is more support for her I will stick with V4
From the beginning, the creators said there would be two versions of Dawn, a poser version and a studio version.
Keeping that in mind, I have two Dawn runtimes, one for poser and one for studio. If you use poser poses for the studio version you get wonky poses.
I do wish that Carrara could handle the newest generation of poser rigged content, but the studio version works well in Carrara.
There are lots of Pro apps that cannot handle lots of 3D formats - try loading a Poser character directly into Maya, 3D Max or Lightwave! And they cost way more than Carrara.
oh we pay for the other stuff that it was designed for
some of it even works ;)
of course a manual would be handy.......
I am trying Dawn in Carrara now and I can say that...
- Dawn SR2 works in Carrara 8.5.Pro.
You have to use the Daz Studio version of Dawn, though. Poser version - as stated by @PhilW above - loads but seems to break apart when you try to pose her. Since you use the DS version, you cannot add Dawn through a poser Runtime. So, in the Carrara browser, instead of adding a new Runtime, you need to choose "Add Folder" and when the dialog asks which kind of files it is for, you specify that it is for "content" and not "poser runtime".
- Dawn Bikini is working, too.
- I think there is a problem with Dawn ponytail hair. instead: I load it on dawn, move her and save the file. When I open the file again the hair is replaced by a cube. I also cannot set different MATs on the hair.
Has anybody tried the new Dawn Special Edition?
P.S. @PhilW, I love your Carrara tutorials!
Therixx - thanks for the kind comment!
I thought that Dawn had the same Poser rigging as Tyler, Rex, Roxy, etc. If so, would the plugin that works for Poser 9+ weightmapped figures also work for Dawn (taking into account the issues with the feet)?
Try a google or yahoo search for Fenric’s Poser Weight Map Injector plugin
Not sure if the plugin needs to have an add-on for specific figures, and if it does, whether Dawn is supported.
This is very interesting, @diomede.
Anyway, it did nor work for me: I tried the whole process (except Step 2 since I just own Poser9) and PoserWeightmapInjector.exe threw an exception apparently while reading the character's "left pinky toe" and therefore failing to create the _converted copy of the scene.
Still, this could be very useful with other figures (or, to someone else, maybe with Dawn in the case I got something wrong or my Win10/Carrara8.5Pro configuration is for some reason inappropriate).
@PhilW Thank you, I got through the Daz Store your Infinite Skills tuts and Carrara 8.5 Pro on sale. Coupled, they're one of my best deals ever! Learning a lot!! :-)
So, I guess nobody tried the new Dawn Special Edition and her Heroine Hair...
In case I do, I'll let you know here if they work
I am a huge fan of that combination! Carrara rocks, the more we learn about it, the more awesome it is!!!
You are right @Dartanbeck, and by the way, I'm glad to find you here too, since I have to say thank you for some useful writings of yours that I read around ;-)
Therixx - no, thank YOU!
The "PrepPoserFiles" does as much as I felt safe to do automatically, but it can't fix everything. One thing is to do a quick check in the Poser Hierarchy Editor, and make sure that everything is in the order and location you'd expect: I am amazed by the number of figures where the feet are direct children of the Hip (or the BODY!) instead of the shins.
Carrara's Poser file reading is extremely antiquated. In Poser 8, they added TWO things that DAZ chose to ignore. Capsule zones (which really I can understand leaving out), and multiple actors per bone (which in retrospect I understand, but is very annoying). Many, many figures use the new ability to affect more than just "yourself and your parent"... but Carrara gets snitty and refuses to bend anything at all if there is more than one "otherActor" entry. "PrepPoserFile" tries to take those out, but if the first one in the file isn't the "main" one, you can get bad results.
Unfortunately, outside of relatively simplistic proofs of concept I find that it's just too much work to be worth the trouble.
And thanks to @Fenric of course. Your stuff is interesting, I have to browse through it soon :-)
Dusk works as well... here he is with the new gorilla morph applied with some Carrara hair
Cool work, Stezza!
Hello guys.
Unluckily Dawn Special Edition does NOT work well in Carrara 8.5. :-(
(problems in eyes and lashes transparency)
But with a little hacking, YES, we can make her work properly :-)
I'll be back in a few days since I want to write down how to do it for everyone who may be interested...
I was thinking to write a page on my website. Is it okay to link a URL here?
Hi everybody,
I am writing it, so as soon as I will have my webpage ready with the final version, I will post the URL here.
In the meanwhile, you can find a hopefully useful draft of what I'm writing here below.
---------------
Dawn & Dusk in Carrara
In my experience:
- Carrara can use them
- but with some flaws
- that you can more or less solve with some hacking
My tests were done under this setup: Carrara 8.5 Pro (64-bit) running on Windows 10 Home edition.
So, do Dawn and Dusk work in Carrara? And how?
Well, as far as I know...
I tested the following characters: Dawn SR2 (the original Dawn character), Dawn SE (Special Edition) and Dusk.
Hivewire's people models come in 2 flavours: Poser and Daz Studio.
While Poser versions do load in Carrara, when you try to apply some pose they seem to break apart.
Therefore, we'll use the Daz Studio (DS) versions. Once the DS versions' files are unzipped in a directory, we'll add this to Carrara as a content runtime/folder.
Since we are going to use the DS versions, in Carrara's browser we do not choose "Add Runtime..." (this is for Poser stuff); we choose instead "Add Folder..." and then specify that the kind of files to display here is "Content".
Now we can access the content of this directory from the "Content" tab in Carrara's browser.
Let's load a character: Dusk (but the same goes for Dawn).
He appears in the main view. In the Instances tab we see him with this hierarchy:
Dusk --> Dusk --> Actor --> Hip --> ...
We can move him around in 3D space when "Dusk" is selected, but to use his bones for posing (e.g. with the rotate tool) we need to select "Actor".
To apply clothing, hair, MATs or a preset pose, drop them on the figure in the main view or on "Dusk" in the Instance Tab (not the outer "Dusk container"; the inner "Dusk" which directly contains "Actor").
Selecting different parts as "Dusk/Dawn", "Actor", "Head", gives us access to various parameters of the character.
Applying MATs to clothing and hair is probably easier by dropping them on their item in the Instance tab than in the main view.
Main issues I found:
Dawn SE has the biggest issue: she loads with wrong transparency of eyes/lashes, thus she looks like she has something covering her eyes.
You can try to fix this by selecting in the instance tab DawnSE --> Dawn --> Actor.
Now go to Carrara's Texture Room: to the right you'll see the Shading Domains for the model.
Double click "Eyelashes_Large" to open its settings; on the left find the "Alpha" channel; set it to "Value (0-100%)" and check it is 0,00%.
Double click "Cornea" and repeat the same process.
Double click "Eyelashes"; on the left find the "Alpha" channel; this time set it to "Texture Map"; click the little folder icon to load the file "DawnSELash.jpg". It is located here (inside the directory you are using for these Dawn and Dusk models):
Runtime --> Textures --> Hivewire 3D --> DawnSE.
Go back to Carrara's Assemble Room: your Dawn SE should render properly.
You can now save this fixed Dawn SE in Carrara' browser or in a normal Carrara (.car) file, so that next time you can start with an already working Dawn SE instead of having to fix her again.
Dawn SE has 3Delight and Iray MATs (Dawn --> MATs --> 3Delight/Iray): use Iray because the other version wipes the MAT out leaving the character darkened.
Dawn SR2 takes her MATs for eyes and makeup properly; you can find them in Dawn --> MATs.
Dusk has AoA SSS and UBER SSS MATs: use UBER because the other version wipes the MAT out leaving the character darkened.
Dawn Heroine Hair has 3Delight and Iray MATs: use 3Delight ones because they look better (Iray has probably some problems with transparencies).
Dawn ponytail hair: I load it on dawn, move her and save the file. But when I open the file again the hair is replaced by a cube [I get this message on opening: an object description is missing in the file. Do you wish to continue (a cube will replace the missing object)?].
I also cannot set different MATs on the hair.
Dusk Briefs seem to be alright when loaded in the main view, but disappear inside Dusk when you render.
Do not worry: they are just too small; get access to the brief's parameters by selecting in the instance tab DuskBriefs --> Actor.
Set parameters like this (or whatever works for you):
LoosenAll = 0.05; LoosenFront = 0.2; LoosenPelvicFloor = 0.8
Now they should render properly.