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Wendy, Dart, and Stezza, thanks for the information on Replicators. Yet another Carrara function that I have never used.
One of these days I'm going to finish Phil's tutorials. :)
I bet! I live in a tiny city and walk to work. Some folks just don't care/see and shouldn't be driving in the first place... but we need inspiration from somewhere, right?!!!
I made a scene a long time ago where a rude driver cut the lane on another driver, and Dartanbeck on his dragon swooped down and grappled the offender off the road to a canyon to 'have words'! LOL
Love the idea! Have you seen this commercial?
I still watch Phil's tutorial quite a bit - often as something entertaining to watch, and I always learn somethng even though I've seen them a bazillion times now. He covers a lot of ground in those things!
But don't be afraid to hit up a replicator without a tutorial shy of this one:
The very top button changes how the replicator replicates in 3d space. The default is a grid across Carrara's default ground plane but there's also Rectangle (makes a perimeter), Ball (makes a sphere), arc, and others. Play around.
So we're in Grid mode on the top button. By default, Carrara has made a grid of 10 x 10 in x and y, and only 1 in z, so that's why it's only got 1 object high in the grid. Change that number to 5 and you've now got objects above and below the ground plane as well.
We're not done yet.
Next down in the panel is Grid Cell with 3 boxes, one for each axis. This is the size of the space being replicated. So to make objects closer together in any axis, lower this number (ft. by default) or increase to make them further apart. This area gives a lot of control toward your outcome.
Center Grid simply centers the entire replication at 0,0,0 in 3d space. Deselecting this makes it more like a default volumetric cloud with the hotpoint in a corner, then that corner goes to 0,0,0
Now here's the part that can add a lot of realism to something like what started this whole thing - randomization.
In here, we can change the randomness in any or all axis, as well as their rotation. So when I replicate star ships on a hangar deck, I give subtle amounts of random rotation to the z axis, but none of the others. Inversely, I add random spacing to x and y, but not z.
Play around with anything. Some folks experiment with a sphere or cube, but I like to go into my library and grab something much more fun!
Oh, and with a zippy computer and/or a bit of restraint as to how much replication is going on, we can also select the replicator in the Assemble Room and tell it to show us the complete mesh instead of bounding boxes. In some cases (quite often, actually) I'll also click the "Make Real Instances" button in the replicator, so that I can then grab individual replicants and edit them manually!
Thanks! It is great to see you back, and I look forward to your renders.
And thanks for the Replicator info.
My pleasure, and it's really fun to be back again!
Yeah, try that replicator to just plunk several copies of an object quickly onto the floor and you'll immediately see how helpful it is - especially if the object is something that cannot be duplicated, like a rigged figure. Most vehicles in my runtime are rigged. So I can toss a fleet together in a few clicks.
trying a new thing for the garden cat #1.
a 1025^2 terrain.
exporting as hightmap.
adding a terrace filter with big terraces and exporting.
once more this time with small terraces and exporting.
not saving the carrara file.
using gimp to combine the hight maps.
exposing the small terraces as steps going down from big terraces.
drawing a mask, for a foot path, on part of the big terraces and on the steps.
the rest is the raw terrain.
saving the new hightmap and path mask.
importing the new hightmap for a terrain, and the path mask for shader mixers.
problem #1
the terrain is "pixeleted" with very small terraces.
using smooth and noise filters to make it a bit better, but you can still see it sometimes.
putting alot of stuff with surface replicators on the terrain helps too.
problem #2
while the path mask works great as a shader mixer in the terrain.
in surface replicators it puts stuff on the edge of the path.
useing the mask path in gimp to make a new one: wider and less smooth.
and importing the wide path into surface replicator.
...
that looks awersome Bunyip
also this could prove useful to some
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/slug/landscape-stamps
free this month
Thanks Wendy !!!
Hey there Bunyip and Wendy.
I'm struggling with the rules a bit for category 1, and your posts have made it obvious that I need to clarify things.
In the very first Challenge, HW said that plants and terrains must be constructed in Carrara. My modeling skills are poor, so making plants is a big challenge. However, I had planned to suck it up and honor the rule as set forth by HW.
So, the question is, do we stick with the original rule, or do we allow plants and terrains from non-Carrara sources? (or even from pre-made Carrara sources like Howie or TA?)
Appreciate some feedback. Honestly, I'm leaning towards honoring the original rule, which I think implies making plants and terrains from scratch. But if there is strong resistance to this idea, I will reconsider, thanks.
I think I will try to figure something out for this challenge, I never really posted my work on these forums before. But I am a long time Carrara user.
"RULES - plants and rendering must be made in Carrara. If you use any premade objects etc for the non plant based parts of the scene please say what they were. Up to TWO entries can be made by each participant. "
To me that is saying that premades can be used as long as they are credited. Half of the plants in my scene are Carrara items, the rest are premades.
Sweet! Love your machine specs too! Yikes... can I borrow that thing for a few years? Always wanted a Z800 series workstation!!! :)
The part you highlighted is talking about the non-plant parts of the scene. I believe the actual rules were that all of the plants are supposed to be created in Carrara. We'll see what UB says though. Maybe HW will chime in as well?
Doesn't matter to me. I just saw that in the highlighted area so thought I'd mention it ;)
Also, since Howie and TA plants are made in Carrara, they probably count as legal, right?
This is the way that I interpreted it as well. As for using Howie plants, I think that the idea was that those of us who have never made a plant are supposed to stretch our skills a bit. Sure, making trees is easy enough - but a garden is usually more than trees. It's those pesky smaller plants and flowers! :) I've looked at some tutorials, but I've never even made grass, so I am in deep water here.
I read it as all plants/terrains are to be Carrara constructed and premade objects are not of plant or terrain but other stuff like wacky models and maybe a Genesis figure or two...
~ waits for clarification from the OverSee'er ~
where does that leave the fluidos terrains?
think i'll just skip the garden one.
can't make a hairy tomato or pickle in the plant/terrain editors.
If premade, then probably not.
If we follow the original example, there is no rule that restricts you to the plant and terrain modelers. The hair modeler can be used for grass, and the vertex and spline modeling rooms can be used for anything.
Thanks for the vote. Of course, no worries for you, however it goes. :)
When I first started Carrara, my biggest complaint was that there was no grass or rock presets. The response was "make it yourself." So three years down the road, I made a rock today. :) Actually, I kind of looked like a creature, so I got carried away trying to turn it into a monster. That will have to wait.
Rock today, grass tomorrow!
rocks are so easy to make ... just use the polygon tool then Construct Organic.. untriangle it smooth it and there's a rock ... use displacement tool on it if you like as well. Then texture it
That's pretty much what I did!
Not so easy for a beginner, though.
I'm for interpreting the rule in whichever way UB (the challenge coordinater) decides.
For context only, people were allowed to make their plants using any Carrara function that pleased them. In addition to the plant modeler, that included the vertex modeler of course, but also the spline modeler, the hair modeler, and even the terrain modeler. Yup, for plants on a distant mountain, I duplicated a terrain, added a noise filter in the terrain filter list, and chose a green color gradient. Just reduce the z direction a little and the original terrain will have some simple greenery.
Mmoir had some grass and rock presets in the store, but alas....
Dartenbeck said
Dude the HP Z800 is like ten years old now, LoL
Yeah, but it is still a beast. I'm glad you are going to enter. Welcome!
Thanks for the context. That's pretty much what I said to Misty a few posts up.
Hey, that's clever. I think I get it.
I actually have the product, but have never used it (long story). But again, it is a premade product, so not in the original spirit of learning.
OK, with experienced users like Dart, Stezza, and Diomede in basic agreement, I have gone back and clarified the original rules. We are going "old school" for category 1.
In category 1, plants and terrains must be created by the artist using a Carrara function. No premade plant or terrain products offered outside Carrara allowed.
A couple of final questions - does the above rule include shaders? In the original Challenge, was it OK to use shaders created outside of Carrara? And how about premade Carrara trees and terrains that came with the program (original content)? I can go either way with these items.
More questions
What counts as a plant? Is my tree man a plant? Modeled and uvmapped in vertex modeler, shader mixer mask for torso painted with Carrara 3D Paint tools, modeled leaves then replicated on head for hair/beard.
Vicky on a cylinder with a tree man. (Don't call me an ent!)