From Daz studio to Carrara

mhscspo

how do you save an animation that was made in Daz studio so that it can be opened in Carrara

and alson how to save a character so it too can be opened in Carrara..

Dartanbeck

The easiest answer is the awesome AniBlock Importer for Carrara

Here, Jonny Bravo shows us how to install and use the plugin, which is now completely second-nature to me. It was this plugin that convinced my buy the full version of aniMate 2 for Daz Studio, so I could bake my own aniBlocks that I've either made myself or tweaked. But when he shows us to Copy/Paste the clips, don't do that. Instead, drag in the clip again from the clips tab. 

Jonny Bravo ROCKS!!!

Some others might be able to help you out with how to work with BVH exports and importing them back into Carrara... that never quite caught on with me.

I do some of my own animation work - and when I do I usually do that directly in Carrara. Manual keyframing, I mean. But most of the time I get most of my animation data from aniBlocks or animated PZ2 (Poser) files, like those from PoserMocap, for example.

Here's a little article I've written about how I use aniBlocks in Carrara and combine various elements from other aniBlocks to create custom motions, and also has more info for those new to aniMate 2:

► AniMating in Carrara

For animated PZ2 files, like those from PoserMocap, SKAmotion, and others (usually for pre-Genesis figures, like M4 and V4), just select the base figure and double-click the PZ2 file from the Content browser within Carrara, just like we'd do it in Poser or Daz Studio.

BVH files work great... I just haven't had a need to use them yet, since I've bought so many aniBlock collections and animated PZ2 files that have been suiting my needs enough to where I can handle animating the rest by hand.

String Theory's BVH Optimization Methods

String Theory has created a fine video tutorial on using DanceForms software (Free at the time of this writing) to optimize BVH files for any type of figure you might be using. More inline with what I'm talking about here, his tutorial describes yet another method for tweaking these things: After importing an aniBlock or BVH or any other method of adding keyframes - even by using Puppeteer - simply right-click in the Sequencer Track for the figure and add an Editable Clip and then we can just use our usual tools to make our adjustments. His thread on the subject can be found here.

For figures before Genesis, Fenric's BVH/PZ2 Exporter for Carrara - allows us to export BVH and/or PZ2 (animated or not) files from Carrara which, for me, is a godsend! One of the (several) main reasons that my main heroes are still Generation 4 (M4, V4, etc.,) or Generation 4 compatible, like Predatron's (and other) figures.

My early learning experiments with animating in Carrara:

Dartanbeck

Dartanbeck said:

Here, Jonny Bravo shows us how to install and use the plugin, ~~  But when he shows us to Copy/Paste the clips, don't do that. Instead, drag in the clip again from the clips tab. 

While watching the tutorial, watch what happens in his "Clips" tray on the right of Carrara's interface as he pastes. It actually adds a whle new loop to the try.

This might not seem like a big deal and, who knows... it might actually not be a big deal. But what this means is that it's adding that data AGAIN to the scene size for memory and storage - so it's not an efficient way to work. But if we're just doing a quick animation like this example... it's really not a big deal on today's 16GB+ RAM computers.

Instead, just drag that same clip into the sequencer from the tray each time. 

Another way is to save the Master Clip with a looping point, like the Hip (common) or the figure itself, I've seen folks use various parts. If we do that, we can then use the "Loop" options in the NLA clips.

It can kinda be a little learning curve at first... and it can also just keep getting more and more ellaborate as we learn. Just come back and ask when bumps in the road get too hefty to cross safely! ;)

It's a blast. I love putting art in motion!

mhscspo

thank you...

3DAGE

actually the aniblock importer is no longer required to get an animation and figure into carrara,. even dynamic cloth sim's can be opened in carrara from a saved DS scene file (duf format)

Bake any simulations or aniblock animations to the DS timeline.

then save the DS scene DUF

open carrara,. load the saved DS scene from your My scenes folder in your DS content library.

Carrara suppoerts Genesis/genesis 2 and all previous generations of Poser/DS figures EG: Vicky/Victoria 2/3/4 _ Michael/2/3/4

Genesis 3 and above require Triax weight-mapping which carrara does not currently support.

Dartanbeck

Well, Genesis 1 and 2 were Triax. It's Quaternion Skinning support that the current Carrara 8.5 is lacking for Genesis 3 and 8... but....

Wow... Very cool. I haven't tried working that way, since I prefer to saty inside of Carrara all the time - but I do love how well aniBlocks (etc.,) work in real time in Daz Studio, so maybe I'll give this method a shot! 

Thanks 3DAGE!!!

Dartanbeck

mhscspo said:

thank you...

My pleasure. The stuff I've mentioned in that post have been working really well for me for years now - and I just love it!

mindsong

Per the above advice, I'd go with either Dart's or 3DAge's recomendations - both are based on good results and experience. Perhaps we can get some thoughts from @th3Digit on this topic. A wealth of perspective there too!

I'll add that *DS* BVH import and export are pretty-much hosed beyond belief. A simple G1 t-pose bvh export will mangle the same G1 when re-imported onto the same character... nice. Not sure about Mil4 characters in the latest versions, but I've wasted a lot of time fighting that dragon. There should be a law against advertising that capability in DS, based on how badly it works these days... You might give your own BVH's a try in DS, but it's not the first path I'd take based on the other available options (per Dart, it seems Carrara's handling of BVHs is much more reliable!). DS FBX seems to be a hit/miss, depending on your sources and targets.

I'll also add that I believe Carrara pulls in poser-style PZ2 pose/animation files as well (as Dart mentioned), so if you use DS/Poser/Carrara, it may be a viable common meta-format for your transfer and workflow.

Like Dartanbeck, I chose aniblocks as my 'common' format because I prefer to build/tweak/tune animations in DS and they can be imported into Carrara and Poser with the respective import utilities. Doing it again, I'd probably still save my various animation chunks to an aniblock core library - for DS preview and manipulation, but would transfer to other tools using dufs to Carrara, and pp2s to Poser on an as-needed basis.

Given that the rest of the industry seems to be migrating to FBX for animation management and transfer - even eclipsing the venerable BVH format, I really wish Carrara and DS had usable/reliable FBX export/import without the zillion hacks that smarter folks than I have figured out in trying to get things to go back and forth between apps.

Curious what you come up with!

cheers,

--ms

edits: to clarify/tweak thoughts

Dartanbeck

Awesome, mindsong!

mindsong said:

(per Dart, it seems Carrara's handling of BVHs is much more reliable!).

per Dart's mention of StringTheory's method ;) LOL

 

mindsong said:

I'll also add that I believe Carrara pulls in poser-style PZ2 pose/animation files as well (as Dart mentioned), so if you use DS/Poser/Carrara, it may be a viable common meta-format for your transfer and workflow.

Yes. For pre-Genesis figures, I actually really like Poser's PZ2 save abilities - one of my favorite parts of Poser, which comes with the lowliest version of Poser, I believe.

It's kind of like Carrara's NLA Clip format, except that it applies to the figure via a double-click on a library file, so it works in Poser, DS, and Carrara (and anything else that can work with Poser files?)

I really like how we can select which parts of the animation we want to store to the PZ2. In Poser, I'll create the entire animation, say, a walk cycle for example, and then make a PZ2 of only the waist down through the whole animation. Then make one (PZ2) for the torso, one for the neck and head, one for the arms, etc., so that I can apply any part of the animation I want to, without having to add the rest. I often like to leave the neck and head alone so that I can animate those by hand to match up with the scene I'm 'filming'. Same with arms, which I don't always want to have that counter-balancing behavior. Perhaps the character is holding a gun, some papers, a cup of coffee... whatever. So I like to have the ability to animate those myself, by hand. 

Of course, we can anyways. Just delete/edit any keyframes we don't want, right?

mindsong said:

Like Dartanbeck, I chose aniblocks as my 'common' format because I prefer to build/tweak/tune animations in DS and they can be imported into Carrara and Poser with the respective import utilities. Doing it again, I'd probably still save my various animation chunks to an aniblock core library - for DS preview and manipulation, but would transfer to other tools using dufs to Carrara, and pp2s to Poser on an as-needed basis.

I thought that I'd want to build and tweak in DS, which is why I bought aniMate 2 - the full version (we do get aniMate 2 free with DS - I'm not sure if the new DS has the full version or a Free version) but I find myself doing most of my building/tweaking right in Carrara - because I just love staying in Carrara if I can.

GoFigure and other vendors have some really nicely made aniBlock sets available. GoFigure's motion capture works really well for getting the main motions down on keyframe. I must also add that PoserMocap's motion capture is also very well done... Very Well Done! 

So I like to just pick motions that are similar to what I need, load them in, and start tweaking by hand to fit the scene.

3DAGE

Genesis 1 and 2 were Triax. It's Quaternion Skinning support that the current Carrara 8.5 is lacking for Genesis 3 and 8

Thanks Dart :)

too many things crashing together in my head these days.