Carrara 2 Blender

wavyeye

Hi there.

I've created a few video demonstration tutorials showing how I export to Blender.

For too long Carrara's render engine has been too slow for me, and it has serious problems with complex architectural interiors.
When I say serious I mean that in this day and age a render shouldn't crash after three hours and not be recoverable.

The quality of engines that plug into Blender just out shine whatever Carrara can produce in terms of realism and most notably speed.
Don't get me wrong, I've been using Carrara professionally for a long time, way before Daz ownership, and have taken its render room through its paces, but we have to live in the real world and use our tools within their limitations.

Carrara is fantastic at scene set up and asset management and Blender has a direct plug in for Thea Render (the renderer I put my money on). You can render progressively, meaning within seconds you see what your getting. I tried Lux (thank you Spheric) but if you give Thea a go the difference in speed is undeniable (and speed of development). I did evaluate Octane, I know from another thread that a plug in is coming but its not my cup of tea.
So here is some workflow examples of how I export from Carrara to Blender.

I hope you enjoy them.
http://woodscreation.co.uk/category/tutorials/

swordvisions

I have been using blender for quite a while mostly for modeling. I have not used cycles much. I usually render in Carrara, but thanks to your tutorials, I will have to experiment with cycles and daz content.

magaremoto

many useful tips in your tuts thank you; have you ever tried to export-import obj from carrara to thea via accutrans 3d? apart from transparencies, textures and many shader channels are being loaded quite correctly and the adjustments needed are quick to make

magaremoto

I also wanted to make a comparison between thea and Carrara engine; although the difference is quite noticeable-especially with regard to the reflections and refractions of some basic materials -, however Carrara is doing its job pretty well. I stopped the render after 3 hours (first image) because of t the blurry reflections on the floor, whilst I stopped thea after about an hour (second image)

wavyeye

Hi Mageremoto.

So I wrote a great post replying to your images and hit the sumbit post button only to be thrown out of the forum to my account overview.
I'll try that again then..

Yes, your images perfectly illustrate my frustrations with Carrara's ageing render engine (nice render by the way).
Given enough shader tweaking, fake light tricks, a hundred spot renders and a healthy amount of post production to get rid of the inevitable colour cast, you might be able to get a half decent image out.
It did serve me well for many years, but that way is so old school, I want state of the art.
I will still use Carrara for what its good at, asset management and figures, but nothing does everything well so you need a decent tool bag.

I want realistic (i.e. blurry) floors that render quicker than my beard grows. I want to use physically based materials, lights and cameras with exposure control, and I definitely want to not receive a render time hit when using depth of field.

I can see the appeal of AccuTrans but I personally will stick with using my Carrara, Blender, Thea workflow.
Using my OBJ export methods you could go straight to Thea (the other scale number is 0.3048) but then you would be missing out on all that Blender has to offer (hair, fluids, physics that work), with it's live plugin to Thea you can adjust your materials in Blender using Theas MatLab. Of course for those artists who want to keep the costs down you could always render with one of the many free renderers that plug into Blender.

My image rendered out at 2000x2000 pixels in under 20 minutes using a single GTX660 (I've trimmed it down for decency).
I am rather excited about Theas imminent 1.3 update that will give us CPU+GPU power, my render times are already crazy quick.

magaremoto

woodscreation said:

Hi Mageremoto.

So I wrote a great post replying to your images and hit the sumbit post button only to be thrown out of the forum to my account overview.
I'll try that again then..

Yes, your images perfectly illustrate my frustrations with Carrara's ageing render engine (nice render by the way).
Given enough shader tweaking, fake light tricks, a hundred spot renders and a healthy amount of post production to get rid of the inevitable colour cast, you might be able to get a half decent image out.
It did serve me well for many years, but that way is so old school, I want state of the art.
I will still use Carrara for what its good at, asset management and figures, but nothing does everything well so you need a decent tool bag.

I want realistic (i.e. blurry) floors that render quicker than my beard grows. I want to use physically based materials, lights and cameras with exposure control, and I definitely want to not receive a render time hit when using depth of field.

I can see the appeal of AccuTrans but I personally will stick with using my Carrara, Blender, Thea workflow.
Using my OBJ export methods you could go straight to Thea (the other scale number is 0.3048) but then you would be missing out on all that Blender has to offer (hair, fluids, physics that work), with it's live plugin to Thea you can adjust your materials in Blender using Theas MatLab. Of course for those artists who want to keep the costs down you could always render with one of the many free renderers that plug into Blender.

My image rendered out at 2000x2000 pixels in under 20 minutes using a single GTX660 (I've trimmed it down for decency).
I am rather excited about Theas imminent 1.3 update that will give us CPU+GPU power, my render times are already crazy quick.

I know what you mean and I definitely agree with you when I think of my work; I've been using many, many 3d apps (including blender and thea) according to my needs and to their peculiarity, but actually I can't state a preference or a hierarchy; carrara is a good tool and has strengths and weaknesses like all 3d apps even more expensive. Once you understand what the software can do for you, you add another arrow in your quiver. The only thing I can say after 10 years in cgi is that you can't stop learning: one day you'll wake up finding out that thea or blender is not enough for you and maybe decide to use Carrara along with octane. Long live 3d :)

Sci Fi Funk

A good discussion. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. Following it all with interest...

magaremoto

here is a sample of easily handled models in carrara, set up in minutes and ready to be animated. Not as realistic as woodcreation's but likely and plausible imo. Blender is more powerful and complete than carrara but for daz and poser character animation is my ultimate choice so far

DustRider

Thanks woodscreation! Lots of useful information in your tuts for anyone wanting to use Blender (Cycles, Thea, etc.) for rendering.