Easiest way to add a person ( Character) to a technical animation.

Box8068_31c338ee4b

I have been using Carrara 8.1 for over a year. I use it for technical animations so I am never using human forms. I have modeled everything I need in Carrara. For my next project I do need to pose ( not really animate) a man. My experience with Carrara is learning a new aspect can be VERY time consuming. Since I almost never need the human form I do not want to spend hours figuring this out.
For my needs it is not a wise use of my time. So I am looking for advice for the easiest way to pose a clothed man in one of my projects. I am exploring the following options.

My Carrara purchase includes M4 and V4. I am avoiding this option for two reasons. I assume ( I don't know) using m-4 and v-4 would take a good amount of time for a newbie to clothe texture and pose. Also I did my install without DIM so I didn't even download m-4 or v-4. I would rather not get side tracked with the whole dim issue and putting all these pieces together.
Carrara does come with a man and woman model in it's normal library. They are not rigged for posing, and they don't seem to have different shading domains.
So I assume my best option is to buy something on turbosquid ( open to other website suggestions) that is pre rigged and dressed and shaded. If I go this route what is the best file format to purchase? One that requires the least tweeking? I don't need this man to be photo realistic but I don't want him to look too much like a toon.
This project is already taking much too long, so I am trying to get this step ( posing the man) down to a couple hours at most.
So I guess my questions are. Is there a method I am overlooking? What is the best website to purchase or download free what I need ( a rigged dressed man). What would be the best file type to avoid too much tweaking.
Thanks
8068

wetcircuit

Look at the "low res" line in the daz store (lorenzo). These are good figures that feel generic enough to not be distracting. Render fast and low overhead. He comes with a casual or suit option and a few racial looks. Very usefull and easy.

Box8068_31c338ee4b

Holly
Thank you. Looks perfect. I purchased and the next step to download is to install DIM. My Carrara install is pre Dim, am I going to hate life if I run this installer?
Most of what I use in Carrara I have modeled in Carrara and have in my objects in the browser. just a little scared of installing and running DIM.
Should I be? I work mostly on my P.C. guess I could run the DIM on the Mac ( where I don't care if it's messed up) then create a project with Lorenzo save it and open that project on the P.C.?
Thanks Again
Brad

WendyLuvsCatz

with C8.1 you need not use DIM
just choose Poser format, unzip the download and under content add the runtime
you can then load the figure from the content browser and add poses etc or manualy pose him
do look into M4 & V4 too you have them included so not cost, again can and should use them in Poser format.
these figures much easier to use than anything you would get elsewhere.

Box8068_31c338ee4b

Brilliant!
Thank you both, works, just what I needed!
Brad

DBuchter

8068 said:

I have been using Carrara 8.1 for over a year. I use it for technical animations so I am never using human forms. I have modeled everything I need in Carrara. For my next project I do need to pose ( not really animate) a man. My experience with Carrara is learning a new aspect can be VERY time consuming. Since I almost never need the human form I do not want to spend hours figuring this out.
For my needs it is not a wise use of my time. So I am looking for advice for the easiest way to pose a clothed man in one of my projects. I am exploring the following options.

My Carrara purchase includes M4 and V4. I am avoiding this option for two reasons. I assume ( I don't know) using m-4 and v-4 would take a good amount of time for a newbie to clothe texture and pose. Also I did my install without DIM so I didn't even download m-4 or v-4. I would rather not get side tracked with the whole dim issue and putting all these pieces together.
Carrara does come with a man and woman model in it's normal library. They are not rigged for posing, and they don't seem to have different shading domains.
So I assume my best option is to buy something on turbosquid ( open to other website suggestions) that is pre rigged and dressed and shaded. If I go this route what is the best file format to purchase? One that requires the least tweeking? I don't need this man to be photo realistic but I don't want him to look too much like a toon.
This project is already taking much too long, so I am trying to get this step ( posing the man) down to a couple hours at most.
So I guess my questions are. Is there a method I am overlooking? What is the best website to purchase or download free what I need ( a rigged dressed man). What would be the best file type to avoid too much tweaking.
Thanks
8068

I would say the best and simplest way is to use a DAZ character such as M4 or Genesis, just because it works so well in Carrara. I think it'll take you much more time to import a mesh and bone it and weight paint it and then cloth it yourself. Depending on your output - photo real or not, the DAZ models are high quality and very, very simple to pose. You can also buy clothes, hair, poses, etc. that just applies to your model in one step and, voila - you're done.

PhilW

The "LoRes" figures are a good suggestion and they work well, but you are wrong that using V4 and M4 is difficult. The reason that they (and other figures) are so popular is that they are ready to use - rigged, UV-mapped, etc with lots of clothes and textures available (at a cost of course, but very cost effective against the time it would take to do your own!). If you give them a try, I think you will find them very easy to use.