DIM & Carrara8.5
Joseph_T
Posts: 43
I recently purchased and installed using the DIM "Central Business District for Carrara" and "Night and Day City".
To load a building into Carrara I select File > Import > Windows C > Program Files > Daz3d > Daz Studio4 > Presets > Objects > Instabuildings and I get a bunch of Car. files. That's the only place I can find it in Carrara.
Why does the DIM make it so difficult to locate anything?
I don't know if anyone is familiar with Pro Tool 12, but if I order a Reverb or EQ or any plugin from Pro Tools the install manager puts reverb in the reverb folder and EQ with my other EQ.s, and if I buy any compatible plugin from any software, the Pro Tools install manager puts it in the right place, no searching.
What's wrong with Daz?
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Comments
Carrara actually has a kind of a funky way of dealing with its own specific browser content. It was coded in like that long before Daz3d ever got their hands on it.
However, by looking at your path, I think you have DIM installing Carrara stuff to your Daz Studio software install instead of the Carrara install location. Check and make sure it's C > Program Files > Daz3d > Carrara 8.5 (if not, go into DIM and fix it)
It's actually much nicer once we get used to it, and know how to get the stuff into our browser panel.
Here's a simple method:
This simple method has the one downfall in which it will give us a new folder which contains Everything, including what's already in the browser. For the more advanced (and pain-in-the-arse) method, see below
In Carrara's Browser go to the Scenes tab and
Now at the bottom of the Scenes tab list, there will be a new slot to open by clicking the little black arrow
The products you're talking about have some sample scenes in there under the "PhilW" folder, but if others put stuff in the Scenes folder, you'll see those in here too.
Advanced Method
Same as above, but instead of adding the "Scenes" folder, select only the individual folders, one at a time, which are not included in the main Carrara installation.
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Okay that was the Scenes tab
Move on to the Objects tab and repeat the process, but this time add the "Objects" folder within C > Program Files > Daz3d > Carrara 8.5 > Presets
Again, this adds everything that anyone adds to the objects folder. While it might seem better to simply do the Adanced Method, it also forces us to add a new folder when we install other new products from other artists.
By adding the whole folder, we get new stuff as soon as it's installed, without having to add any more folders. I've switched to doing it this way on this new computer and like it a LOT more than having to add all of the extra folders - I have purchased a lot of Carrara-specific content. I love it and learn a lot from exploring them!
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Some products, like Tim Payne's Skies for Carrara, will have other things to add to the Misc tab and some things like that require that we tell the browser what type of content the folder contains. Don't worry, Tim explains ho to do this very well in his very nicely made pdf tome, provided with the product(s).
That looks like you have an incorrect path to the Carrara application -- it should be putting Carrara native files under Carrara, not Daz Studio. In DIM, can you go to Settings (gear in upper right corner) > Applications and post a screenshot?
Applications
Thank you Dartanbeck, but I have also purchased "Carrara Enhanced Remote Control", "Carrara Pro Master Shaders and Brushes" and "Shader Power Tools for Carrara".
Will I have the same problem with these?
Also, isn't there a Carrara tutorial explaining these things, how is someone who has read that the DIM should always be used so that folders will be loaded in the right place.
Thank you for your help.
I wrote this when Carrara 8.5 was just coming out:
Installing Carrara 8.5
Installing software is usually an easy task for most of us. But when it comes to our DAZ stuff, things have been changing lately. What is the best way of doing things? I've paid for it, but how should I proceed from here? The cool, yet confusing thing is that, we have more than one way to install Carrara 8.5 depending on our ultimate preferences. I'm going to refer you over to Jared from here, in order of what is considered to be the preferred method first:
The Carrara 8.5 Setup Guide is a strongly recommended read for everyone installing Carrara. Don't be confused at first, by the long lists of included stuff. Just take your time, start from the top and work your way down. This guide gives you the opportunity to choose from either method as you go: Use the DIM, or not. And if you do not use the DIM, you'll need to follow through the rest of the guide reading the instructions in each step for Bitrock Installer methods. If you do use the DIM method, you'll likely find the entire process very easy from here on out - but it's good to follow through the rest of this short document anyways.
One Important Note
that I'd like to point out, before you get too far, is that I didn't see mention of removing previous install locations from the DIM, if you've removed those copies of Carrara. If you have uninstalled previous versions of Carrara, and have had the DIM installed, you may have an installation path for Carrara within the DIM. Click the little gear in the upper right corner of DIM. This opens the Settings dialog.
Open the Application Paths tab and look to see what versions of Carrara you have listed for paths. If you have other versions listed that are not in use, remove them by highlighting the path and click the minus "-" sign below. Otherwise, Carrara content will get installed to that path as well as the new one.
If you wish to keep other versions of Carrara installed along with your copy of version 8.5, then keep their paths allocated within the setting of the DIM - so that they, too, receive installations of Carrara products. DIM is supposed to install Carrara products to all Carrara paths listed.
If you are a veteran user whom is not planning to use the DIM yet, simply select the blue, download buttons from your DAZ 3D account > Product Library to your desired location. Most all installers have been replaced by .zip files, but not all. You're likely well aware of the Bitrock Installers, but just in case: Simple launch the installer and make sure that the path of installation goes to the correct Carrara installation path. If you use more than one version of Carrara, you may need to do this more than once. The new zip format downloads contain a manifest file for the DIM to read. This is handy if you ever decide to go by way of DIM, simply placing this zip file into the DIM's Downloads folder will give DIM the access to install the files for you - and catalog their existence in the database. Otherwise, simply open the Content folder within the zip. Carrara content products simply install directly to the installation path directory. So you simply open the zip, ignore the manifest and open the 'content' folder. Now drag the entire contents into Carrara's installation folder.
Another note
I can totally understand being reluctant towards the DIM. For a person like me, whom buys most everything, with very few exceptions from DAZ 3D, it really didn't make any sense to not use it anymore - especially since I'm going for the gusto, and going Carrara 8.5 Pro, with full intentions of making the most of Genesis and the up and coming Genesis 2 - and all of the new Triax stuff that the future holds.
There have been many changes very recently. Changes in Genesis, Daz Studio, Carrara, and content - including how that content gets delivered. DIM is an ingenious method created by the makes of Daz Studio Pro, for us to download and install our products easily and correctly. But even more, it has the ability to detect updates to the things that it has installed to our computers - and update the files for us. The whole process is amazing - and I'm glad that I've finally taken the plunge.
If you decide to do so, Please heed this advice:
Only use DIM to install what is not installed. If you want DIM to install something that is installed, get rid of it first!
WARNING: If you already have a large runtime collection, do not write into the existing runtimes with DIM. Write to new runtimes that you create using DIM instead. Genesis is ultimately important to keep straight. Never have more that one installation of Genesis or any of its supporting content. Never install over existing Genesis or Genesis support products - always uninstall first!
The final statement above is very important - and the DIM knows exactly how to do it perfectly, time after time. It is when people do not heed that advice, when you'll see posts about I/O Errors, and duplicate files errors... if the problem starts to take hold, the only plausible fix, aside from weeks of combing through file folders, knowing exactly what to do, is to remove everything and start from scratch.
This is why it is best to keep Genesis up to date, the right way. Which means a fresh install directly after uninstall. The way DIM does it!
Thanks,
Last week I was so frustrated I did a back to factory system restore on my PC and used DIM to install everything back. I didn't change any paths or create folders or runtimes, I rely on DIM for that. I purchased the two building items made for Carrara thinking that I wouldn't have any problems, they are made for Carrara, I was wrong. Prior to that I purchased the Carrara tutorial by Phil W and learned an awful lot about the amazing things you can do with Carrara, it's just hard to find the folders after downloading them. I went into the DIM, found where the City Building was located, but could not find it in Carrara so I imported it into the scene, but thought there has got to be a better way.
Here's how I deal with my Poser content with various runtimes using only DIM.
Like you, I did a complete reinstall of everything.
Daz Install Manager - Installing Custom Poser Runtimes
Basic walkthrough of designing your own custom runtime structure
Then I take my most needed item from there and optimize them for Carrara and save them to the Carrara browser. Here's an article I wrote on how I do that, which works Really good for me:
Your Carrara Browser
Making great stuff isn't as cool if you can't remember where you put it. Let's get some good habits going right from the start
...and this one is just a couple of pointers that really helped me to truly get better. They seem small, but these practices really have made all the difference in the world for me:
Navigating in Carrara
some good tips on how to get around the work space, go to where you want to be at specific times, and how to send stuff to specific locations within your scene
It's hard to remember that it was a bit tricky to get used to using Carrara, because now it's the easiest to use software I know. But when I really think back - especially by opening some of my very first saved scenes - I do recall that there was a LOT that I simply had no clue about, until I found out, kind of by accident, from reading other people's posts in the forum. So I'm really glad that I started looking at a lot of different questions. It's amazing how some of these subjects evolve into massive tomes of information!
I thought it might be fun to build an index of Cripeman's awesome video tutorials. Back when he started making those, a lot of folks were posting stuff like: "Never use Carrara for this or that - it just sucks" sort of negativity from folks whom just gave up too quickly or whatever. Sometimes it was just negativity for the sake of being negative.
So I asked Cripeman if he would mind - he was honored and gave me his blessing - and then kept making more wonderful tutorials.
Well, as I was building this consolidated index, I was also writing answers to some questions, and seeing others doing the same, and the forum started to turn from really dark to something much more friedly and fun, like it used to be. So I started writing more and more as well as collecting links to helpful threads.
By the time I posted the Cripeman's Carrara Video Tutorials Index I had a lot more to say as well, so I put that in a Table of Contents post of an all new ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ which grew and grew as I exhausted myself for many Many hours, and kept coming back to add more and more.
► Forum Help Links became a place where I would start collecting links to threads asking specific questions that I thought might be helpful for others. That way, folks could look through the index for questions to help find answers. If they find the topic they're looking for, but the answer isn't clear for their needs, asking for specifics in that same thread will alert those who have decided to follow the topic, so questions would get answered really fast! They pretty much do anyways around here, but these threads can disappear from the front page fairly quickly so, at least for me, this index has really helped a lot.
Like right now, I can go into ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ and find links to paste - so while it has helped others, it also helps me (and others) to help other people.
But that was made using our older forum, which worked differently. The old forum was strange, so that manual thread worked pretty well. But when they fixed the forum, many links in the Manual thread bacame broken. It took me a LOT of hors to fix it to where it is now, but I know that there have to be at least a few that still don't work quite right. There are a LOT of links throughout that thing! LOL
So I fairly recently started a new thread, using some of the links from ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ as well as adding some new ones and new content, kind of linking to it while also adding some fresh material and building it using this newer forum software, which I've also added to the Table of Contents in the Manual thread, since it is a sticky thread. The new one I was working on is:
► Learning CARRARA and need some help?
It could really use a new name... but....
Anyway... Cheers! We can almost always find ways to help extinguish headaches around here! ;)
Dartanbeck
I think what Joseph_T might possibly be asking now is whether Phil's product should appear in Carrara's browser the next time it's opened after correct installation with DIM, ie...it gets saved to the proper Carrara Content in the Carrara programme.
So, if you do have your Carrara Content correctly set up with DIM, does City Central Day and City Central Night show up under PhilW in the list under SCENES in the Carrara browser, and does Instabuildings (City Centreal Day and City Central Night) should up under OJECTS?
Or do you have to click on the File Folder Menu icon and add the folders manually? Am going by a re-read of Dart's post of 24 April, just before and including the last paragraph Advanced Methods.
To be fair, it's a bit tricky to get going with Carrara only content as the setup guides seem to focus on using DAZ and Poser content.
Firstly thanks for buying these sets, I hope you get a lot of fun use from them.
As has been said, it looks like when you installed them, they installed to the Daz Studio folder and not the Carrara folder - but it looks like you have it pointing to the Carrara program folder now so it should now install to the right place.
If you try to open a scene preset, you should see the Night and Day City and Central Business District scenes listed as options.
If you don't see the appropriate objects in your Objects browser at the bottom, use the Add Folder option at the right of the Browser window to add the Instabuildings folder - then you will be able to browse and add individual buildings directly into Carrara by dragging them in as usual.
It is a pain that you have to do this, it is a Carrara quirk, but once done, you shouldn't have to do it again.
Gotcha Phil.... I have it now and it's stunning!
Silene
Thank you, Silene!