Is anyone using Carrara 8 & 8.5 Pro for Animation?
pmart868
Posts: 37
Hi to all
Is anyone using Carrara 8 & 8.5 Pro for Animation? I have been looking without any luck.
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looking? where? What are you trying to find?
Wow, loads of people, you may want to look up:
1) https://www.youtube.com/user/SciFiFunk
2) https://www.youtube.com/user/joeping
3) https://www.youtube.com/user/Dartanbeck
4) https://www.youtube.com/user/Mec4D
You can also visit the carrara animation showcase put together by Holly Wetcircuit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLK2Niozipw&list=PLMqkFJEqYHtu34uVZxTwObCs1PwNystEV
There's lots more, but this could do for starters, of course you can reach any of them here via the forum, great helpful people.
Thank for the links and your responses. I see pages of stills on DAZ Gallery website, but none on animation and more very few new products for Carrara.
You need to spend some time sifting through this forum, there's a lot of useful information tucked away in so many threads, for example: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15970/
Just use the search function (as limited and frustrating as it may be) to dig up what you need.
And of course there are tons of tutorials here: http://carraracafe.com/category/tutorials/
Carrara can use most of the figures from Poser, most of the figures from DAZ3D (including the new DSON format). Carrara Pro can import FBX and Collada (maybe standard can too?) OBJ, 3DS, LWO.... That's most models on the web.
With plugins you can import animated OBJ, MDD, and some USGS terrain data.
For some reason DAZ 3D doesn't list Carrara as able to use it's figures. No one here can understand why. Possibly because some minor shader tweaking is sometimes necessary, possibly because DAZ 3D doesn't know better. The products listed "for Carrara" here are exclusively for Carrara, but that is hardly all that Carrara can use.
You might browse the Animation forum here:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/42/
In particular, the two "48 Hour Film" topics (trailer and full six minute video for "Be Mine") have links to animations I did in Carrara Pro 8.1.
Yes, the apparent small user base for Carrara doesn't seem to justify much work by the vendors, although the great Howie Farkes puts out a landscape product once in a while. And of course Poser format products load directly in Carrara, no "import".
Also, a lot of the content for Daz Studio works well in Carrara (figures/props/etc.). But often some adjustment to the materials are needed. Daz Studio (DS) Plugins and Scripts won't work in Carrara, and DS dynamic clothing won't work in Carrara. The same is true for Poser content, it all load directly into Carrara, except for the weight mapped figures for designed for Poser9/PoserPro2012 or newer.
Hi again to all,
Thank you all for all the links, I guess I was not looking in the right places. I guess I am really looking for a way to use/track live video in or with Carrara 8.5 Pro animation. Any Ideas?
Really nice work by all Carrara animators. Keep up the good work :D.
http://carraracafe.com/projects/modern-times-sci-fi-film/ best sample
http://www.markusrothkranz.com/astro102205/clips.html More examples (kind of old)
http://carraracafe.com/tutorials/matchmove-assistant-for-pfhoe-and-carrara-tutorial/ tutorial for PF Hoe
http://www.ssontech.com/index.html <-- Syntheyes has a format that can be read by Carrara (.syncar)</p>
Thank you Holly Wetcircuit. have you used and tracking plugins/software for Carrara yourself and if so, what is your recommendation? Thank again in advance.
I have not used it personally, but if you search for "syncar" in this forum some discussions will come up...
Again I am very grateful for your speedy reply and advice Holly Wetcircuit.:cheese:
You can also load video files and image sequences into Carrara. You could load them into a shader and apply it to a plane or Splat, or you could load it into the scene's Backdrop (or even Background). Carrara has a shadowcatcher which is very useful.
I did this as mostly a test and proof of concept. It's a live action video in the scene's Backdrop to set my angles and lights with a shadowcatcher for the ground and applied to the animated grass (it catches shadows and acts as a mask for geometry behind it). I did render with and alpha channel and did the final composite in my video editor, but you could do the composite in Carrara on its own, but you lose some control in post production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8puXTRXt7Y
I have been experimenting with Carrara Pro 8.5 and animation. There is a lot to learn and you can see the results at https://www.youtube.com/user/joeping
Carrara is versatile for animation. Its a shame more people don't use it. Since I am an animator more than a modeler it's a god send. It's miles ahead of DAZ Studio in animation capabilities. It also ingrates with DAZ content very well. The Nonlinear animation clips alone are worth the price. It has a great lip sync plug in, works well with motion capture. The rendering is quick and that helps a lot when animating thousands of frames. The particle system is fun to use. The physics engine produces good results. Hair simulation is easier than you would think. Making large scenes is easy with the surface replicator. Simple crowd simulation is available through the PYSwarm plug in. The community on this forum is a great asset for knowledge and inspiration.
Sorry, this is sounding like a fan boy rant. There are always problems that need to be fixed for Carrara 9 (I hope). Just my 2 cents as I am having fun using Carrara 8.5 Pro for animation.
Thank you evilproducer and joeping. Both you guys (joeping and evilproducer), are miles ahead of what I have done so far. Thanks again.
The link below is storyboard demo I did with Carrara 8.5 Pro. Please let me know what you all think. Again thanks in advance.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvyh3qgpfc361bc/Bhola Motoworks Ltd - demo.mp4
So is that a download link or is it streaming? I get an error from Dropbox.
Edited to add that I got it. I don't know why DB puked the first time.
Since it's an animatic (animated storyboard), the fit and polish doesn't need to be there. If it's a demo to get the job and it's supposed to be CG or incorporate CG, you may wish to spend some time on the lighting. The animation itself looks very nice- maybe a bit more facial movement in some areas. I usually say this for most mimic stuff though.
Thank you for the kind comments evilproducer. It was a Demo for a Job. The idea was first to shoot it as a video. When they (the Client), saw it asked if I can upgrade the animation.
I know plenty need to be done, The voices are my wife's and mine. Not trained voice actors. I also believe that an atmosphere of other people in the background is needed, if upgrading as an animation. The Lighting is a challenge for me. I guess I will have to play with it until I get it right. I thank Carrara is a very powerful program. I guess I need to spend more time with it. Any further advice is greatly appreciated. Thank again.
Try starting with the main light, in this case the sunlight. Use 100% shadow intensity and hard shadows initially. Turn off the scene's ambient light as well. This way you can see where the really dark shadows are going to be. Then you can decide to use spots and other lights to fill the scene. If you have a fast computer or render nodes, you could try enabling the Skylight in conjunction with the sunlight and that may get you pretty close. Think about how it would be lit in real life and try and simulate it.
Evilproducer I will do so and get back to you with the results. Thanks again.
Hi
You might like to become a CarraraTor !.
(Don't worry - we don't send you a tee shirt and funny hat to wear )
Its a site just for Carrara Animators and I thoroughly recommend you sign up to the forum.
Check it out http://bond3d.wix.com/carrarators#!home/mainPage
And while I'm here I invite some of the "old hands" who are posting in this thread to visit CarrarTors and join the fun - though members are very serious about what they do.
Thanks Ooseven, I will do so.
Hi
You might like to become a CarraraTor !.
(Don't worry - we don't send you a tee shirt and funny hat to wear )
Its a site just for Carrara Animators and I thoroughly recommend you sign up to the forum.
Check it out http://bond3d.wix.com/carrarators#!home/mainPage
And while I'm here I invite some of the "old hands" who are posting in this thread to visit CarrarTors and join the fun - though members are very serious about what they do.
I benefit from the occasion to recall that very few posts are visible to those which are not connected...
I bought Carrara primarily to do animation, though I also use it for stills.
It is fun to play with and is quite capable. Mimic is awesome, but I hope to learn to tweak it a little.
I still have and use Anime Studio Pro and Toon Boom Studio for 2D, depending on the project.
I'm not much of an artist and I think in 3D rather than 2D, so it is helpful to have a 3D app that can bring my pitiful creations to life!
This animation was done as a title sequence for a keepsake DVD of a play my community theatre group staged. I haven't posted it to youtube, but you can DL it from dropbox and is about 25 MB in size:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7370483/U-Farce-Titles-AAC-Audio.mov
I created it using a combination of Carrara elements and Anime Studio elements.
On the Carrara side of things, I used a dialed down version of The Girl, rendered with the 'toon scene effect and an alpha channel. The thing she's twirling around is a jacket with a spin modifier and target helper (It makes sense if you see the play). The hand holding the twirling jacket is tracking the jacket's target helper. The hand on the hip is also tracking a target helper parented to the hip bone. The animation is hand keyframed.
The handcuffs are from the Object Browser and were rigged by me. When they open and swing, it is an oscillating tweener with damping. The letters in Unnecessary have physics applied to make them fall. I then converted the physics to keyframes to control the stopping point and remove unwanted movement.
The Anime Studio uses springed rigging for some effects. The blobby thing is a cartoon bagpipes (again, you'd have to see the play).
All the elements were then composited in Final Cut Pro.
Hi evilproducer, Hats off to you. I am speechless!!! I can only doodle. Again well done.
I'm not sure you'll find this video interesting... Real musicians, but the most of the cathedral inside views were rendered with Carrara. Tracking was done with Syntheyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fADPM7DFtq8
A screen capture of Carrara :
That is very impressive on many levels, but especially using Carrara in a very professional video. Great job especially on the lighting.
Not so much reverb for a church but excellent realization !
Thanks ! :)
It's not professional - I'm a total hobbyist ;)
By the way, the volcano scene with the lava behind the singer was rendered in Carrara too... and you can also recognize the typical Carrara skies in the following sequence (in the ruins).
A lot of work was done with the lights indeed. The candelabras use 7 lights each.