Camping...

whispers65whispers65 Posts: 952
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Carrara can do scenery so very well. A lot of it is just breathtaking to me.

I haven't even tried to mess with it in quite a while now. My nephew's cancer was precedent for quite a while.

But now I'm wondering. With the newer version, how possible is it for my characters to go camping?

The problem I see is that I have all of this stuff in Daz Studio but can't ever achieve an outdoor environment such as Noble Pines.

But in Carrara there is all of this scenery I long for but it doesn't seem to be able to take the Daz Studio stuff or does it now?

What are the possibilities?

Comments

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited October 2013

    8.5 has Genesis support, and indeed does come with M5 and V5 packs included as content.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited October 2013

    Also, rather than taking an existing DAZ Studio scene and loading it into Carrara, which I think you can do now, in 8.5, I think it's a better solution (myself, anyways) to use what you've done in DS as an idea of where to go - and just starting over building the scene in Carrara.

    The thing is that you'll find that Carrara has such a vast working space. Setting things deep in the background is a flick of the wrist in Carrara, where DS and Poser make you really work for it.

    Here is one of my Carrara products: Carrara EnvironKit - Woodlands
    This was made to provide a bunch of new preset outdoor landscapes for just this sort of thing. Here are a few pictures that use DAZ products, just mainly using the kit as a background creation system - which is really what I developed it for. Sort of a fast background for DAZ models. The first picture is one of the presets alone, with no DAZ Products added. The last one barely shows my kit - but what happens is that it completely removes the blankness when you really need something in the background.

    It all started with my need for these sorts of things. A quick way to add a background that has ground and scenery elements and lighting so that I can create consistent looks.

    Perhaps you can get some ideas on doing this on your own from watching my How-To videos:
    Getting Started in Woodlands
    Build a Scene in Woodlands
    I ramble on a bit, but...

    Now I'm not trying to get you to buy the kit, but to show you examples of how well we can make our own scenes in Carrara that work perfectly with DAZ products. That's the only way I use Carrara... is with DAZ products.

    AFShantyTEWa.jpg
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    DragonBerries.jpg
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    DragonMother.jpg
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    WL_RavensRest.jpg
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    Hi_Lake_Slow.jpg
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    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    That last image is the Shanty Town product by TheAntFarm :) I love it!
    Well... I like all of my DAZ products, in truth.

    Anyways, I have found ways to really cater to using DAZ Products in Carrara scenes - how to build the scenes to work with content, rather than fudging around trying to get the content to work with a scene. I am always more than happy to help, too... so if you decide to take the plunge, and want some advice... just ask.

    Carrara's plant editor is incredibly powerful at making really nice plants and trees. But sometimes it's nice to use some of the beautifully modeled trees from the store, too. It all depends on what you like to do - and the look you're going for. I think that Carrara Fire is also great for camp fires and such. It's so customizable with its simple settings. It doesn't have to be a blazing inferno... although it can be! But it's also easy to dial it down and have a few flickering flames coming up from the embers, too!

    While it may take a little getting used to at first, I still find Carrara to be the best overall solution to 3d animation and/or renders for me.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited October 2013

    Carrara can do scenery so very well. A lot of it is just breathtaking to me.

    I haven't even tried to mess with it in quite a while now. My nephew's cancer was precedent for quite a while.

    But now I'm wondering. With the newer version, how possible is it for my characters to go camping?

    The problem I see is that I have all of this stuff in Daz Studio but can't ever achieve an outdoor environment such as Noble Pines.

    But in Carrara there is all of this scenery I long for but it doesn't seem to be able to take the Daz Studio stuff or does it now?

    What are the possibilities?

    DAZ's Poser style millenium figures have worked in Carrara natively for years, since version six. Since Poser and Carrara use different shader systems and render engines, there's usually some minor shader adjustments needed.

    These images use a Carrara terrain, Carrara dynamic hair, Carrara trees, Carrara volumetric clouds, Carrara atmosphere, and Poser style buildings, M4, the mil-horse. I used Carrara 7.2 to produce these pictures.

    Jousting_copy.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 2M
    Averting_Disaster_copy.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 2M
    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • ringo monfortringo monfort Posts: 945
    edited December 1969

    Also, rather than taking an existing DAZ Studio scene and loading it into Carrara, which I think you can do now, in 8.5, I think it's a better solution (myself, anyways) to use what you've done in DS as an idea of where to go - and just starting over building the scene in Carrara.

    The thing is that you'll find that Carrara has such a vast working space. Setting things deep in the background is a flick of the wrist in Carrara, where DS and Poser make you really work for it.

    Here is one of my Carrara products: Carrara EnvironKit - Woodlands
    This was made to provide a bunch of new preset outdoor landscapes for just this sort of thing. Here are a few pictures that use DAZ products, just mainly using the kit as a background creation system - which is really what I developed it for. Sort of a fast background for DAZ models. The first picture is one of the presets alone, with no DAZ Products added. The last one barely shows my kit - but what happens is that it completely removes the blankness when you really need something in the background.

    It all started with my need for these sorts of things. A quick way to add a background that has ground and scenery elements and lighting so that I can create consistent looks.

    Perhaps you can get some ideas on doing this on your own from watching my How-To videos:
    Getting Started in Woodlands
    Build a Scene in Woodlands
    I ramble on a bit, but...

    Now I'm not trying to get you to buy the kit, but to show you examples of how well we can make our own scenes in Carrara that work perfectly with DAZ products. That's the only way I use Carrara... is with DAZ products.

    Great Scenery!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited October 2013

    BTW, the scene used in evilproducer's images is Free! Yeah! evilproducer made it. Spent his whole life on it! Well, almost! lol
    No, serious. He made this beautiful Fantasy Village and has it for free at Carrara Cafe! And the manual is a good lesson in Carrara on its own!

    Great Scenery!!!

    Thanks Ringo! :)

    This image uses a few elements of my kit in evilproducer's Fantasy Village and has an interesting line-up of characters. From left to right:
    Genesis, Victoria 2, Michael 4, Victoria 4, and Loretta Lorez. The horses are both Millennium Horses. evilproducer's cool "C" block relocated to show in the image... if you can find it in all that atmosphere! lol

    Edited again!
    Okay, the lower image I made in evilproducer's Fantasy Village as well... but I made that flowering tree we're next to in the Carrara plant editor. Well all the other trees are, too, by ep.

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    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    And here's a Howie Farkes. I opened it, changed the render settings somewhat, and hit the render button. Just gorgeous!

    HFBDA1a.jpg
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  • ringo monfortringo monfort Posts: 945
    edited December 1969

    BTW, the scene used in evilproducer's images is Free! Yeah! evilproducer made it. Spent his whole life on it! Well, almost! lol
    No, serious. He made this beautiful Fantasy Village and has it for free at Carrara Cafe! And the manual is a good lesson in Carrara on its own!

    Great Scenery!!!

    Thanks Ringo! :)

    This image uses a few elements of my kit in evilproducer's Fantasy Village and has an interesting line-up of characters. From left to right:
    Genesis, Victoria 2, Michael 4, Victoria 4, and Loretta Lorez. The horses are both Millennium Horses. evilproducer's cool "C" block relocated to show in the image... if you can find it in all that atmosphere! lol

    Amazing that all these different characters plus the environment call fit in Carrara. Like you have said setting up scenes like this one is much easier in Carrara than in DAZ Studio or Poser.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    Right. That was a huge thing to get used to!
    I loved getting used to that!
    I can just keep putting things in - and... let me check... yes, it still renders faster! lol

    Good call, Ringo!

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    BTW, the scene used in evilproducer's images is Free! Yeah! evilproducer made it. Spent his whole life on it! Well, almost! lol
    No, serious. He made this beautiful Fantasy Village and has it for free at Carrara Cafe! And the manual is a good lesson in Carrara on its own!

    Great Scenery!!!

    Thanks Ringo! :)

    This image uses a few elements of my kit in evilproducer's Fantasy Village and has an interesting line-up of characters. From left to right:
    Genesis, Victoria 2, Michael 4, Victoria 4, and Loretta Lorez. The horses are both Millennium Horses. evilproducer's cool "C" block relocated to show in the image... if you can find it in all that atmosphere! lol

    Edited again!
    Okay, the lower image I made in evilproducer's Fantasy Village as well... but I made that flowering tree we're next to in the Carrara plant editor. Well all the other trees are, too, by ep.

    Thanks for the plug Dart! I'm still waiting on PhilW's royalty check for using, Fantasy Village in his product name! ;-)

    Here's the drop box link for anybody that wants to try it:
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7370483/Fantasy-terrain1.7.zip

    And here's the ShareCG link if anybody would rather go that route:
    http://www.ShareCG.com/v/69697/view/5/3D-Model/Fantasy-Village-terrain

  • whispers65whispers65 Posts: 952
    edited December 1969

    Wow great stuff!

    Well I knew this last update was supposed to support Genesis figures which is primarily what I use but I was sure what all else I could use like clothing, accessories, etc from Studio.

    Hopefully I have off this weekend. I've worked pretty much every weekend for a month so maybe I will get some play time.

    I have no problems building the scene from scratch. that will help me get my head back into the game. My nephew's cancer kind of side tracked me this last year so I haven't made a lot of headway on anything. It was if he couldn't have any fun so neither could I.

    At any rate, I would love to produce some renders such as above.

    Hmmmm....on Howie's stuff, I wonder if my Sasquatch character will work. It is for Genesis. I'm thinking prob so but maybe not the LAMH product? At any rate, I can put "Bigfoot" in some of its natural habitat. :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    I'm thinking prob so but maybe not the LAMH product? At any rate, I can put "Bigfoot" in some of its natural habitat. :)
    You'll have to experiment with Carrara's Hair and grow som on your Sasquatch! ;)
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Wow great stuff!

    Well I knew this last update was supposed to support Genesis figures which is primarily what I use but I was sure what all else I could use like clothing, accessories, etc from Studio.

    Hopefully I have off this weekend. I've worked pretty much every weekend for a month so maybe I will get some play time.

    I have no problems building the scene from scratch. that will help me get my head back into the game. My nephew's cancer kind of side tracked me this last year so I haven't made a lot of headway on anything. It was if he couldn't have any fun so neither could I.

    At any rate, I would love to produce some renders such as above.

    Hmmmm....on Howie's stuff, I wonder if my Sasquatch character will work. It is for Genesis. I'm thinking prob so but maybe not the LAMH product? At any rate, I can put "Bigfoot" in some of its natural habitat. :)

    Hopefully your nephew is doing better, and if not, I'm sorry he has to g through that hell. From the sound of it, at least he has family around him to love and help.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited December 1969

    Hopefully your nephew is doing better, and if not, I'm sorry he has to g through that hell. From the sound of it, at least he has family around him to love and help.

    Ditto. And I hope you're hanging in there as well. I know through my own trials with my poor Daughter how hard it can be being the rock. Just seeing loved ones go through horrifying times is harsh.
  • whispers65whispers65 Posts: 952
    edited December 1969

    Actually my nephew is doing good. He's gone through all of the chemo and radiation and had his last surgery and is currently being home schooled while he recovers. They said his cancer is officially in remission and hopefully it will stay that way.

    He's 15 so video games keeps him going so I keep him supplied and just bought him the new Xbox 1 that will come out soon. I'm broke but he is worth it. I also managed to get him an autographed cap or two. the hospital suggested that as a way to help kids with the loss of their hair. and it's the one thing I can do.

    For me, I felt so utterly helpless because I'm a fix-it type guy and I can't fix this. And for a while I felt like if he couldn't have fun then I couldn't either so I was in limbo.

    Now that things are better I feel like I can live again. I know it doesn't make sense but that's how I felt.

    Now if I can just get this sale out of the way lol. Then I can start rendering again. I hate being this way. I freeze until whatever is going on is over.

  • whispers65whispers65 Posts: 952
    edited November 2013

    Ok not camping yet but I did reinstall everything (nothing was showing up when I called up 8.5 Pro, but it all does now)

    I'm trying to watch some tutorial vids today.

    *Edit*

    Oh yeah Dart, I subscribed to your YouTube channel. No ones voice ever sounds like I think they will lol.

    Post edited by whispers65 on
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