Tynkere Carrara FAQ scrapbook & other things
Tynkere
Posts: 834
One of my newyears resolutions is to set aside time to learn Carrara. With that in mind, notice the store has ‘gel master pack’ on sale.
Subjective-- only I can answer-- but good idea to pick up resources like this, or experienced uses can just do same thing if know how to use all the tools?
Hope that makes sense-- been a long day...
Am interested in making terrain and either export, or learn more about how torender in verion 8.5 pro if that helps.
thanks for reading
--Bruce
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Edit: changed title to make topic easier for me to find for reference.
Post edited by Tynkere on
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well I still don't own that
there are a lot of cool freebies you can start with
there is a sticky thread Dartanbeck has at the top of this forum chockablock full of resources
and ask for help if needed, there are many lovely people in this forum who would be happy to offer assistance
Cripeman on youtube is a good source of tuition
also linked in the stickied thread
great news Bruce, looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Any of the Carrara products are well worth buying.
For examples, if you buy the gel pack you can sit down and pull it apart and figure how it works - and that way make your own at a later stage
I have learnt a lot by participating in the Carrara Challenges
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45254/learning-tips-and-tricks-from-prior-carrara-challenge-wip-threads/p1
The resources as pointed out by Wendy have also been a continual source of learning, as well as PhilW's tutorials.
There is an excellent thread by Dartanbeck that explains the terrain modeler step-by-step.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37867/building-carrara-terrains-intro/p1
Took a chance on the bundle although using it probably a little beyond me right now.
Discovering Carrara isn’t as easy IRay preview, click & render. Somehow, in playing around between ‘assemble’ through ‘render’ -- I made an .avi file. Short little movie of a nice hillside! Ooops...
Will take advantage of tutorials & links for more structured approach. Playing around in it is still fun though. Baby steps I guess.
Thanks for replies & best wishes
--Bruce
just ask people for advice - you'll get more than enough
hint 1 - scenes always come in with ambient at 20 percent - reduce that to less than 5 percent :)
via on right hand side instance list click 'scene'[
up the top right you will see 'effects'
click on 'ambient' you will see a slider - adjust the slider
The first page of the following thread starts a step-by-step sample scene just to introduce the Carrara interface. It is not a good scene, but it should help with the "where is that button?" of most software learning curves.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/119181/no-one-asked-me-diomede-posts-screenshots-on-whatever/p1
Later in the thread is additional information on random topics which might be useful.
@Headwax_Carrara
Hints! That should help make learning fun. 'Ambient' too high will reduce shadows-- too many 'photons' ?
@Diomede_Carrara
Bookmarking link as a sort of quick-start guide. Like the opening sentence. “Carrara... What the...?
Quick walkthrough *very* helpful in just figuring out what you’re supposed to do for some things-- click & drag for example.
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First attempt at sky, terrain & light/shadow placement. If the grid is showing it will render as gray, or missed a material setting? Looks like he could be standing in water. Hmmm.... ; )
(‘Preview’ render in lower left side shows pasture as green under horse; ‘Render as new Window’ obviously not. Will have to look at basic 'rendering' tutorials)
Thanks again for encouragement and replies.
Hey, you have a render! Next, the Mona Lisa.
the bottom gray looks like the default ground for realistic sky. You can either uncheck the ground option in the atmosphere tab or raise your terrain vertical.
The late great Cripeman made many short free YouTube videos on specific Carrara topics. Ask here, or google Cripeman Carrara, or get PhilW tutorials, or check out Dartanbeck’s information manual stickied at the top of the forum, or just experiment. We’ll be here to try to help.
Thanks. Was indeed the ‘ground’ checkbox.
Meanwhile, can’t help but thinking of what @Bunyip02_Carrara said about learning through the challenges.
Didn’t know you could do multi-pass renders. Pretty cool. Being able to create different types of renders like that might open things up for NPRs.
So... It’s very late in the game, but would the following qualify as entry? Might as well just jump in with both feet!
Admittedly, it’s more Photoshop than Carrara so will understand if it’s probably not what the challenge is about. : )
Based on what others had used, I picked Position, Object Index, Depth, Shadow & Material Diffuse to use as layers in PS.
Enjoy weekend!
That qualifies this month!
Traditionally, the coordinator of the (sort of) monthly challenge chooses the theme and makes the rules. This month, multipasses and post work are not only allowed, they are encouraged. There is a sticky at the top of the forum that has links to prior challenge WIP threads and entry threads. The requirements for each challenge can vary quite a bit. Sometimes there are no rules at all. Sometimes we have to use one of Carrara’s modelers for an item in the scene. Sometimes the requirement is related to lighting. Etc., etc., etc. The regulars often show how they used the requirement in the work-in-progress thread. Can learn quite a bit by participating in a few challenges.
Thanks. Looking forward to future ones & will review the archived WIP topics.
What started as “I have to spend time in Carrara” is now-- “Hey! This is pretty cool!”
Now it’s DS learning projects that are on hold. :)
@Tynkere - Bruce, looking good! You post your own entry in the entry thread, and link back to at least one of your posts in the WIP thread. You also have the opportunity to provide some context or discussion if you want - optional. Closer to RRRR in that sense than Its Raining Men.
See here.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/302651/entry-thread-carrara-challenge-44-any-element-not-just-the-5th-deadline-morning-1-28-daz-tim#latest
Ooops! Good thing for notifications. Thanks for tip.
Doesn't stand much of a chance of course, but no chance at all if don't enter it in right place!
Couple suggestions. There are quite a few free plugins that will make Carrara even more fun and useful. Some of them include
- a free scene filter that allows GMIC filters to be automatically adjusted, stacked, and applied by Carrara’s renderer, by Philemo.
- a plug-in that converts Carrara’s dynamic strand hair to obj mesh. Within Carrara, great if doing toon renders. Also allows Carrara hair to be exported for use in other programs. Also by Philemon.
- Fluidos for Carrara. There is a version for Studio in the Daz store. This one is for Carrara. Thanks, Alberto.
- A texture randomizer for replicated instances, by Sparrowhawke. Great for crowds, etc.
- Quite a few formerly paid plugins by Digital Carvers Guild are now open source.
these are just a few. There are also paid plugins, such as the draping program VWD.
HI Tynkere:)
Carrara is a big application with a lot of functions which allow you to create whatever you want,.. although you can simply load a premade figure and render it, just like daz studio.
my advice is,.. learn carrrara, experiment with all the features,. and have fun learning how to create.
ask lot's of questions here .
Terrains can be added to a replicator and "tiled" to create a much larger scene, or you could create multiple terrains and move/scale/rotate to suit.
the terrain shaders are very powerful, especially when you add texture maps rather than standard colours.
Carrara has a really great set of shader functions, although it's lacking in some areas, such as SSS and displacement,. the Bump and normal map channels can produce great results.
if you get stuck or confused,. ask questions here.
and welcome :)
Thanks. Will have a backlog of reading to do. Tried rendering at 2191 x 2922 on an aging i-7 (6700) desktop. No thermal errors, so I'm good to go!
Noticed when importing a DS actor, G3 or G8 will cause CAR to crash? Was there a plug-in for them, or my memory is going bad? I think one for G3 was mentioned back when first bought Carrara-- March of last year I think.
Anyway, having fun getting used to interface and how the lights/shadows work. Did this one over the holiday. Already liking CAR if it can control shadows more like 3DL. :)
nice render, liking your thread in the a rtforum as welll - sorry dont use genesis so cant help in that regards
For G3 and G8 Misty (Mystarra) is our resident guru who has made them available for Carrara.
If you search for Janette and Johnathon Carrara by MistyLaraCarrara over Renderosity you will find an answer to the G3 usage in Carrara.
For G8F https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/180916/beta-g8f-carrara-preset
For G8M https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/193901/g8-male-beta-carrara-preset-up-freestuff
Note that the fix for G8F has a bit of a toe problem.
Use of G3 and G8 will also need to use Blended Weight conversions for clothing and hair.
One of my favorite things about Carrara is the control over the lights and shadows. Being able to make a light only light a choosen list of things, or light everything except a chosen list of things allows for some very artistic control of your light and shadows that is much harder to do in more physically realistic lighting. I do enjoy the simplicity of lighting in iRay and Blender Cycles but sometimes you just want something less "real" for dramatic effect.
Thanks for replies.
Notice a similar topic about "Veronica" but didn't want to cme off as hijacking.
That said, I might be having trouble too.
Incorrect install, or many of the facial controls don’t work in DS?
Example: in DS, if you try to raise her eyebrows or do much with mouth (except open it) the sliders don’t do anything.
Clothes seem odd too. They work for G8F but not for Vicky?
Appreciate your patience. Since I’m late to the party, about 80% of runtime is G8. The ones I use the most are the ones I bought first-- Mike and Vicky. A shame about the toes. That’s pretty weird! O_o
--Bruce
PS: What a coincidence that some renders feature "Bruce the Wizard" !
Thought all of us were philosophy professors. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9SqQNgDrgg
ha ha a scream ;)
Hello Bruce the Wizard
With the Facial controls do you have the Head Morphs and Expressions for G8 installed in DAZ Studio ?
Clothing, as G3 and G8 are unsupported by DAZ3D in Carrara there is a problem with Autofit on those figures. I have done a long method to get clothes to fit on a different figure that involves DAZ Studio, Hexagon, morphs and some work in Carrara. Misty might have some sage words of advice as well as Wendy.
Eyes, Dart had some advice here :- https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/4267291/#Comment_4267291
With the eyes you could also try adding the G8 normal maps from the textures folder to your shaders, if you need help about that give a yell.
RE: Genesis+ figures. Folks have already mentioned the imortant issues, but I'll throw in my two cents. Here is my current approach to using Genesis 1-8 characters - just another set of options. Your mileage will vary.
- Warning- some of this is considered advanced, some not. This is not intended to overwhelm you, just give you something to refer back to. When and if you ever want to create a custom genesis+ character or whatever, ask and will point you to more clear examples. In the meantime, here is a taste of some of the possibilities, from the most basic use of existing conent, to creating custom genesis+ characters, clothing, hair, and props.
- BASIC use of genesis+ figures. - Within Carrara, load the genesis+ figure from Carrara's content browser. Select the actor level of the figure, go to shader tab in properties tray, drag and drop a saved global Carrara shader for that genesis+ figure on to the multicolored sphere at the top of the properties tray. Use morph parameters menu to adjust genesis+ shape. Load and conform other items from content browser. Adjust shaders if necessary. Load or create lighting, sets, props, and other scene elements. Apply pose preset or select joints and use rotation tools, including expression morphs and adjustments. Make any adjustments for poke through, etc. Make sure lighting is still what I want. Adjust render settings (especially tile size which scrolls below my screen - argh), including any desired multipasses. Render.
- for one-time or infrequent projects, I load the genesis figure directy in Carrara, dial spin a desired shape from the morphs listed in the parameters menu, and do whatever I want to do entirely withn Carrara.
- for regularly used characters derived entirely from purchased content, I load the base figure in Studio, dial spin whatever morphs I want, and save as a scene subset. To use in Carrara, I go to the content tab in Carrara's browser menu, and load the saved figure from the location the scene subset was saved to.
- for textures and shaders to be used in Carrara, I save an adjusted global shader for aquired character packs. A saved global shader can be dragged and dropped on a figure in Carrara and adjust all of the materal zones in one move. Yay! That is so awesome. It means I do not have to adjust the bump map and highlight channel etc. for every arm/leg/toenail etc. each time I load another figure. Just adjust once when first acquire the character set and save as a global shader to Carrara's shader broiwser. But where can a beginner find examples of Carrara-specific shader settings? Assuming you have Carrara 8.5, it should have come with examples of global shaders for Michael 5 and Victoria 5 in the browser tray at the bottom of the interface. I believe these two examples can be found in subfolders labeled Skin \ Genesis \ Michael 5 and Skin \ Genesis \ Victoria 5. I used the settings in these as a starting point to create Carrara-specific shaders for other genesis+figures, which I then drag and drop when I load the appropriate figure. I don't hold myself out as a realistic shader person so I will refer you to others for more advanced specifics. There are threads here in the forum, tutorials, etc., etc., etc. to help.
- for my custom character shapes, I load the base genesis in Carrara, turn off smoothing, and use Carrara's vertex modeler to shape the character as desired. I just ignore the topology warning. Sometimes I may want a single combined morph for dial spun combination that I want to be able to adjust on a single slider. If so, I just dial spin a shape instead of using vertex modeler tools. When satisfied with the shape however achieved, I save out as an obj using the preset for (Daz Studio Morph). In Studio, I load the base figure and use morph loader pro to import my morph. In the morph loader menu, I use the obj format preset for Carrara. If figure proportions have changed, I make sure to align the joints. For extreme morphs, I mght want to adjust weightmaps and JCMs and that sort of thing, but not usually necessary for most basic changes. I save as a morph asset. If morph asset saved correctly, in the future I load the base figure in Carrara and find the custom morph in Carrara's parameters menu. Within Carrara, I use like any other morph. Of course, these custom morphs work when just using Studio as well.
- for custom conforming clothing and accessories, load the base figure in Carrara. Use Carrara's vertex modeler to create the clothing or accessory. When satisfied, export the mesh in obj format using the Daz Studio Full Scene preset. NOTE - the preset for Daz Studio Full Scene is not the same as the preset for Daz Studio Morph used for creating custom characters above. In Studio, load the base figure. Import your custom clothing mesh using the obj preset option for Carrara. Use the transfer utility to convert the mesh to a conforming figure. Couple of save options. For personal use, can be convenient to save as a scene subset or as a wearable preset. If you plan to distribute then save as a figure/prop asset, but that also requires some isolation and grouping of associated dsf, data, and texture files. To start, just save the custom clothing item as scene subset. Then, in Carrara, can load you custom clothing item directly from where you saed it as a scene subset or wearable preset. It should conform to the appropriate genesis figure and morh with it just like other content. You can also use this method to model your custom clothing to your custom morphed shape, then use the transfer utility's option to reverse to base shape when doing the conversion. Of course, these custom clothing items work when just using Studio as well.
- for custom hair, I load the base figure in Carrara. Sometimes I creae a hair cap to grow the hair on, but depends on the project. A lo of times can grow the hair directly on the genesis figure. I use Carrara's dynamic hair modeler to grow / drape / brush / cut the basic shape of the hair style I am going for. I use Carrara's hair shaders to supplement shape with frizz etc. I use Philemo's free hair-to-mesh plugin to convert the hair to an obj. NOTE - have to adjust the "display percentage" in the hair modeler to avoid making the hair obj too dense. When satisfied, I export the hair obj and convert to a conforming figure using the same steps and settings as for conforming clothing above. The uvmap for a hair strand is a single vertical box so can create transparency maps to make frayed fringes. For morphs for the custom hair, I use the same base Carrara dynamic hair with Philemo's plugin. It will preserve the number and order of vertexes for correct morphs as long as same settings for things like display percentage etc. are preserved. Of course, these custom hair figures should work when just using Studio as well.
- for custom sets, I load and pose Genesis figures when constructing props and sets. For example, I created a custom leprechaun figure. If I want appropiate furniture, I can load and pose the leprechaun in Carrara and make sure the fellow's feet touch the floor when he sits in his chair.
Of course there are always more points of view!
I have learned SO MUCH from this forum I would be hard-pressed to remember what I've learned from whom. But as 3dage says, Carrara is VAST. There's a LOT to absorb! SO I did like he said, and to help in this, I actually bought some ink and printed out the whole user's manual and stuck it in one of those gigantic three-ring binders. Reading from that is amazing. Being a hard copy, I can drag it around with me and read at times when I cannot access my computer - it has an enormous wealth of info!
On the other hand, being a PC member (it didn't always have a "+" in it!) afforded me opportunities. I was a member since my first purchase because I needed to build up a library of assets - and the membership helped immensely. In saving so much money, I decided to buy many of the Carrara-specific products as well. Some of them because I thought they could really help in what I was doing, others just because I felt like buying them at the time.
Well some of these products were not only really helpful as products, but also had instruction files that taught me a bit more about Carrara than I expected, which was a real boon. I mean, I read the file, so I couldn't un-read it. So whether I needed the info at the time or not, I still gained at least some of the experience of the creator... and that really helped in my early days.
Also, I agree with everything everybody wrote above. Great, sound advice and... see? it's working! You're making some wonderful renders!
Thanks for replies.
That’s disappointing about G3/G8 clothes. G1 or G2 will have to do for now.
Meanwhile, very worried if aging i-7 can run Carrara without significant lag.
Screenshot: for those who might use older desktops, do you have a preferred settings here?
Test G2M as subset from DS took very long time.
3:07PM - Load a G2M subset into a scene that has “off road car” and terrain. Finish by 4:11PM.
Save. Approx 4:31PM -- file is saved.
While waiting, duplicated scene in DS & render. Time: approx 49 minutes.
1.) My mistake in assuming setup wizard meant render times. It means general performance of the app?
2.) I have the PDF for version 7 but cannot find one for version 8.5. Textures that come with “off road car” aren’t loading correctly, so... Manual for version 7 good or out of date?
Sage advice to print it and learn textures before anything fancy!
For now though, any tips/advice for improving load times from library and save times greatly appreciated. Am using version 8.5.1 build 19 if that means anything.
Best wishes & enjoy weekend.
Your "aging i7" should be fine for Carrara. Until it died recently I'd been running Carrara for years on a laptop that had Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.30Ghz x8, and rarely had any problems, even on some pretty big scenes.
Unfortunately having a Genesis (or Genesis 2) in the scene will always cause Carrara to take forever to load/save and the files will get seriously bloated.
The reason for this is that when DAZ Studio saves a file with Genesis in it, it just creates a sort of pointer to where your Genesis files are, but when Carrara saves it saves the entire figure with all possible morphs in the scene file. You can try using @Alberto's free morph eraser plugin to reduce the size of the Genesis to make it save/load faster: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/298236/genesis-morphs-eraser-plugin
Nope, it means render times. Setup Wizard is a means to initiate a new scene with terrain and atmosphere.
Thanks. That’s reassuring. Would’ve been bitterly disappointing if Carrara a no go. Just now getting used to the interface!
Will check out the ‘morph eraser’ then.
Good to know about render settings too. 800 page PDF should answer most everything might've asked here, or else-- "can't find it via internet search or in the manual." ;)
Yes good to print out the manual. I lugged mine around for about six months everywhere I went (except the shower :)