Carrara content folder

pfeijao1979

Hi.

I am trying to install content in Carrara but i don't know the correct path to put the content.

Now i have a presets folder and a scenes folder for "HDR ProSets Yosemite Pack One", and i don't know where to put it.
And for other figures, like michael?

Thank you

fixmypcmike

The Presets and Scenes folders go directly under the Carrara application folder (e.g. ...\DAZ 3D\Carrara 8.5\).

Dartanbeck

Once you added the part about Michael, I think we need to have a really good look at what needs to be done for a fun, successful time in Carrara. I have written a (hopefully) helpful article Here at the Carrara Cafe that just might straighten all of this out for you ;)

pfeijao1979

Hi, thank you for the answer, it helped.

But i have a problem now with "HDR ProSets Yosemite Pack One", i load any of the scenes, but when i render the scene, it is there, but i just get a picture of the floor!
I rotate the camera, etc, but that's all i get.
another thing, does carrara already work with genesis 2, 100%? Because i load it, like the clothes and its working! But i think the textures are not.

Thank you

Dartanbeck

Genesis 2 is not yet fully supported in Carrara.
But to change materials, use one of the character presets figures, that come into Carrara with textures on them already.

Now go Edit > Remove Unused Masters > Consolidate Duplicate Shaders

Now go Edit > Remove Unused Masters > Remove Unused Shaders

Now select Actor in the right panel, and then go to the texture room (paintbrush icon upper right of your screen)

The far right list is a collection of all of the shaders on Genesis. Since we've consolidated, you'll notice that some domains have the same shader.

There will be three main skin shaders, but the shader names probably won't help much, so look at the body part domain instead of the shader name. These three are as follows:

One for the torso, which also maps the back of the head

One for the Face, though you may need a separate one for special make up - we'll talk about doing that later

One for the limbs

Now look at Image two.

This is where we open each of those three shaders and switch out the texture map for a different one from our collection.
This whole process becomes very second nature and easy. There's a lot more to the shading of Genesis than this, but this will help you to get started.

When you buy a Genesis character product, the default installation location for the texture maps is as follows:
Documents > My DAZ 3D Library > Runtime > Textures

Inside that folder you'll find a bunch of folders. It will either be under DAZ > Characters or the Character name, or the Artists name. If you use DIM to install, you can go to the "Installed" tab and right-click on the entry and have it show you where all files have been installed to. Just look for what comes after Runtime > Textures

Note that I say Documents, no My Documents, as DIMs default goes to the Public Documents, not User

Dartanbeck

The reason I labeled A, B, and C in the second image, is that the default shaders won't have anything in the Highlight channel, except for perhaps a color. You can make it Black if you like, but for more realism, the texture map folder will have at least three maps for each of the three domains (and more) that I mentioned previously. Maps with a suffix of "S" like Torso_S, is the one you plug into B, the Highlight channel.

Texture Name
Texture Name_M
Texture Name_Tx
are all example of what the color map name will look like. The Color texture maps go into A (Color channel)

Texture Name _S
Texture Name_Spec
are example of Specular maps, which belong in B (Highlight channel)
Note that sometimes you need to lower the brightness slider under the image, if it appears too glossy in your render

* Using the slider value in Shininess channel, you can control how the Spec map gets spread. Lower values = smooth, higher values up to around 30 = tight, which works better for wet looks with a brighter Highlight value.

Texture Name_B
Texture Name_Bump
are examples of Bump maps, which go into C (Bump Channel)