Installation Help, Please?
tiggersprings
Posts: 304
Hi, there.
So, I bought Carrara 8.5 Pro last week during that brief promotion since I had my Platinum coupon... I was finally getting ready to download and install... When I realized I have some questions...
It looks like from "My Product Library" that I have both Pro and 8.5 and it's base content. Do want/need to install both? If so, does it matter what order they're installed in? I'm running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. So do I need to install both the 32 bit and 64 versions of each or can I just install the 64-bit version.
I'm a Poser user coming Carrara, not a DS user... But, I'm thinking of going ahead of installing Genesis and trying it in Carrara, so I may have more questions once I get to installing the Genesis bundles... :ohh:
Thanks in advance...
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
8.5 is 32 bit 8.5 pro is 64 bit. If you have a 32 bit system you need to install 8.5, but use the 8.5 pro serial number to get the pro features.
Thanks. ;-)
After you install Carrara 8.5 Pro, also install these three items:
Carrara 8 Native Content
Carrara 8.5 Native Content
Carrara 8.5 Pro Native Content
They each contain different content items for Carrara.
Thanks.
Also, the Render Node goes on a different computer in your network than your main computer. If you use the node and have plugins or special leaf shapes, those will need to be installed on the node computer as well as the host/main computer.
Oops. I guess I can uninstall that then. We only have one PC in the household. Thanks.
Oops. I guess I can uninstall that then. We only have one PC in the household. Thanks.
It's a common mistake that can cause a real headache for the user.
It's a common mistake that can cause a real headache for the user.
Thanks.
Okay, so yesterday Carrara wasn't showing all my Genesis related stuff. I finally downloaded Daz Studio Pro 4.6 and ran the content database thing. That seems to have fixed it, from what I see so far. So does that mean I have to keep DS installed and run the database whenever I install something for use in Carrara? I hope not, I don't like Daz Studio and don't plan to use it, so I really don't want it installed, either. What about content bought from other stores. I don't have much Genesis stuff from elewhere, but it did dawn on me yesterday that I do have at least one outfit, though I bought it for V4, K Pop by Mada (Renderosity).
I don't have D|S or C8.5 or use Genesis, DIM or the CMS, so I can't speak with 100% accuracy. From what I understand, DIM can't install non-DAZ stuff, and the CMS won't recognize it as far as I know. The 3rd party stuff, if it's in a runtime, should be able to be loaded through Carrara's Content Browser, so long as it sees the runtime. It's as easy as directing the browser to locate runtimes or adding them yourself.
I do believe that certain Genesis functions really need set up in D|S, such as Autofit. Many here use it as a simple plugin for Carrara. The Smart Content Tab in Carrara's browser needs CMS to be running I believe and it also needs Studio from what I've read. You're not alone in your complaint about having to use D|S to use Genesis or the CMS.
For me, V4, M4, and earlier work perfectly fine for me in Carrara without D|S. They look very real, and considering the headaches with Genesis, it was not a compelling reason to upgrade Carrara from version 7.
Just a reminder that the DIM content installer and the smart content function are two different things. Once content is installed, I don't think you need the Studio CMS database running in order to use Genesis content. If you look at the tabs in the browser tray at the bottom of Carrara 8.5, you will see different tabs for "Content" and "Smart Content." Once installed, you can load Genesis and related content directly to Carrara from the "Content" "My Daz 3D Library" "People" "Genesis" folder that is in the content tab (not smart content). Note that the "My Daz 3D Library" folder is distinct from the "My Daz 3D Runtime Library". The latter has content organized in the classic Poser figures/props/hair... runtime subfolders. You may have to open Studio once after installing Genesis-related content to get the database to recognize it, but I'm not sure. After that, you never have to run Studio again (unless you install more such stuff). A lot of the folders in the "My Daz 3D Library" will appear empty. Ignore it. Just load {! Edit - Poser related content !} from the "My Daz 3D Runtime Library."
I don't use Genesis very often so I might be wrong about needing to run Studio once after installing new content.
If you do decide that you like the smart content database, and want to integrate even more of your content into it, you might be able to follow this set of instructions.
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/creating_content/packaging/tutorials/adding_metadata/start
Haven't tried it myself because I almost never use the smart content tab. I do think it was a good idea, but it is too slow for me. Maybe it performs better on fancier computers than I have.
I'm one of the people that uses Studio and Poser as plugins for Carrara. For example, if I want to make conforming clothes, I will occasionally use Studio's transfer utility or Poser's wardrobe wizard after I model the clothing mesh on the figure loaded in Carrara. I am too lazy to group and name all the body parts if I only plan to use something for one or two images. The occasional slight poke-through is much easier to fix than the time it would take to group a complex model. The transfer utility and wardrobe wizard can create the body part groups from a base mesh.
If you plan to sometimes export Carrara props, etc. from Carrara to Poser, try to remember the magic number 1.042. That is the scaling that you will need when exporting from Carrara. Why are Poser objects so small?
Interesting. My apologizing for taking so long to reply. I've been away from the computer for most of the last few days.
Ah, that could be very useful indeed. I see that Carrara has some cute models that might be fun to let my toons play with in Poser.
So far, my journey into Carrara land isn't going very well. I hate the camera controls. And my screen resolution is set kind of small (bad eye sight), so not all of the dialogue boxes show properly. I hate that software companies tend to be prone into forcing users into certain resolutions. Might be okay if you have a very large monitor (or maybe a dual monitor setup), but my working space is too small for either option. >:(
Just FWIW, I use the hot keys for camera control. After a while, it gets to be second nature. More here:
http://www.3dbuzz.com/forum/threads/170353-Keyboard-Shortcuts-for-Max-Maya-Bryce-Carrara-Motionbuilder-Maxwell-Modo-Daz-Studio
Just FWIW, I use the hot keys for camera control. After a while, it gets to be second nature. More here:
http://www.3dbuzz.com/forum/threads/170353-Keyboard-Shortcuts-for-Max-Maya-Bryce-Carrara-Motionbuilder-Maxwell-Modo-Daz-Studio
Thanks. Yep, trying to learn the shortcuts. Most are fairly standard, it seems.
Anyone know if there's a way to save camera presets for specific figures to the library or something? So they can be used on any scene with that figure (like in Poser)? I had a couple of crashes while I was trying to work with Sadie for Genesis and wound up gnashing my teeth and walking away for a few days because I got sick of fiddling with the camera over and over. Not good for the learning process. LOL
I'm not sure you can do exactly that. What I do is create a camera for the scene (which may be a figure with hair, clothes, texture, morphs, etc.), then save the scene using the "self-contained file" option (something like that - it saves everything). Then I import the Carrara file into another Carrara file when needed, the camera is included. The downside is the files get pretty big, but with umpteen terrabyte drives being cheap ...
:coolsmirk:
Oops. I guess I can uninstall that then. We only have one PC in the household. Thanks.
To me, one of the many beauties of Carrara is the fast rendering. Or more specifically, the many choices of rendering options, depending on what you want. I am sitting in the middle of four computers, all of which have their uses, but I'm not using a render farm like "Render Node". The fastest machine, which is pretty fast, can render most Carrara video (yes, there are many options) at about 5 seconds per frame. So a five minute video has 5x60x30 frames, about 9,000 frames. At 5 seconds per frame, that is about 12 hours render time (of course, this should be done in short cuts, 5 to 10 seconds each). Obviously, there are a lot of factors, but overall that's not bad, for pretty good quality. A five minute video is pretty long, and qualifies for the 48 Hour film contest. So that's pretty good render time, IMHO.
And BTW, I also use Vue a lot, but the animation rendering is way worse (slower) than Carrara, again IMHO. The quality of the still images, OTOH, can be stunning.
Thanks. Yep, trying to learn the shortcuts. Most are fairly standard, it seems.
Anyone know if there's a way to save camera presets for specific figures to the library or something? So they can be used on any scene with that figure (like in Poser)? I had a couple of crashes while I was trying to work with Sadie for Genesis and wound up gnashing my teeth and walking away for a few days because I got sick of fiddling with the camera over and over. Not good for the learning process. LOL
Sadly, I think the only way to do this is to do as Steve K suggests and save a scene file. I tried several different ways and the camera reverted to the default position. It kind of aggravated me because I used to use Raydream Studio (Carrara is descended from Raydream) and you could save camera positions in that program.
So, you can save a scene with your figure and the camera and then import the scene into an existing scene and it will load that scene as a group.
Where I respectfully differ from Steve, is that you do not need to save internally. Internally saved files are extremely large. All the image maps that are used in the scene will be stored internally, but Carrara converts them to a high quality lossless format which increases the size, so even if you used a .gif for a texture it would be up-converted, which won't really help the quality, just increase the size.
My suggestion would be to save locally. Saving locally references the original location of the image maps, so if you load up a V4, the image maps will be loaded from the texture folder in the runtime. If you move the runtime, then Carrara will ask you to find the image maps. Your scene will save as a smaller size and should also load more quickly.
If the scene must be portable, such as taking it from a home computer to a work computer, then you will probably wish to save it internally despite the large size.
Completely procedural shaders (no image maps) are very small, and saving internally won't create a large file. Geometry is also always saved internally even if you save locally. It's very important to purge unused objects, unused shaders and unused clips from your scene from time to time, but especially before saving. To do so, go to Edit-->Remove Unused Masters. There's also an option to consolidate duplicate shaders. This is very handy on something with a lot of shading domains, such as a figure.
Also, unless space is tight, uncheck the Compress file option as you can get file corruption sometimes. The scene will also save faster and load faster.
Darn. Well, as it stands now, I don't think I'll be using Carrara much, then... But, it's early days. I guess I could just save a "dummy" file for figure versions that I'll be working with often where the camera is zoomed in to where I like it as a "starting point"... I do that some times with Poser, especially now that I'm starting to play with adding SSS to character skins that didn't originally have it.
I do use the earlier Daz figures (Generation 1-4), but I haven't loaded my external Poser runtimes into Carrara yet to play. So far, I've just been playing a bit with the built-in content and what Genesis content I have (it's installed directly on the main drive for now). One thing I learned with my earlier adventures at learning Paint Shop Pro 7, and then later Poser, was there's no substitute for learning that's better than just playing and experimenting. :-)
My Carrara "education" is in early days, and I'm feeling a bit grumpy today. I have smashing headache. So think I'm better off not tryint to do anything serious with it for today. I'm really wanting to try out anything glows. LOL But, I think I'll wait until I feel better.
There may be a way to do it. It's not something I really do or need to do, as each scene is different for me. You could check the manual for cameras. I know it says C7, but the cameras are virtually untouched except for new avatars.
Good plan. Any program as complex as Carrara can seem overwhelming at first. I've been through many of them (Poser, Bryce, Lightwave, ...) and finally settled on Carrara as the best balance between useability and features, especially the vast library of Poser content that is affordable and works seamlessly in Carrara.
And just to clarify my earlier comment on saving cameras, i.e. saving a Carrara file for later import to another Carrara project, if its just a figure and a camera, it may not be too big. I tend to end up with multiple figures (both human and otherwise), lots of props, light domes, etc., etc., and the files can get pretty big, but your goal doesn't need all that.
Thanks. I haven't done any more experimenting the the last few days. I'm feeling a bit better this morning, though, so who knows what the day will hold. I need to investigate render settings for sure. The few test renders I did looked kind of... blotchy... Not exactly the right word, but, close...
Don't hesitate to ask!
Glad you're feeling better. If you get a chance, posting a sample render may help us see the problem.
A wild guess is the lighting is off, you can adjust it in the "Scene" tab (see the Scene Tab pic below). The "ambient" setting can be either "Basic" or "Sky" and the ambient light level for either can be 0 to 100% (default is 20%). The next line down is "Atmosphere", I usually use "Realistic sky", then pick one of the many preset "realistic skies" that come with Carrara. Also, by default you have one "distant light" for which you can adjust the brightness, shadows, etc.
The other thought is the render settings (see "Render Room" pic below). By default, you get "Photorealistic" and "Fast" antialiasing, which should be pretty good, not blotchy. But if "Photorealistic" got changed somehow, you might get some pretty messy renders.
Thanks.
Well, it's not very good but here was my first render with Sadie for Genesis. :red: I have three lights in there. I've never been very good with doing lighting from scratch in Poser, I'm better at adjusting existing sets for what I want. So, Carrara is probably going to be the same, if I can find some lights. LOL
I haven't taken much time to play yet... :red:
Nice render!
If you want to give it a try, I made a complete Carrara environment that I give away for free.It is called Fantasy Village Terrain. It was done for two reasons. The first reason was as a thank you to the Carrara community for all the help that I received over the years. The second reason was as a way to practice distributing a "product."
The scene includes some light rigs to simulate GI. There's a large array and a smaller array. The details are included in a detailed pdf included with the scene. I have don't include buildings, but I did place some proxy objects where I suggest buildings go. I even include a link in the manual to some free medieval style buildings with very generous usage rights.
http://www.sharecg.com/v/69697/view/5/3D-Model/Fantasy-Village-terrain
This link is for a string of rigged holiday lights that utilizes a surface replicator to place light sockets with bulb lights (point light) along the length of the cord. The outsides of the bulb part of the socket is uses a colored translucency to make the bulb lights appear different colors. They're not meant for the main lighting in your scene, but you can get some neat effects with them.
http://www.sharecg.com/v/73481/view/5/3D-Model/Carrara-rigged-Holiday-Light-String
Thanks. Feeling like a newbie is a terrible thing. I still don't know Poser inside-out... I don't know what I was thinking tackling another product... LOL It's not a great render, but it's the first one i've bothered to keep.
Oh, that looks great. Your renders are gorgeous. I have time to check out your set tomorrow.
Thanks.
Your render looks much better than my first Carrara render. You would be amazed at what I don't keep. ;-)
The way I look at it is, we were all new once. I would look at it as more of an opportunity than a chore. After all, the day we stop learning is the day we die. It certainly can be frustrating at times, but even if you don't like the render you've come up with, if you look at it critically, there's usually something that you maybe feel worked better than the image as whole. Maybe it's a shader you worked on, maybe it's a light effect. The point is, even failures can teach us something and just because it's "bad" doesn't mean that it's all bad.
I still don't know Carrara inside and out, and I've been using it since version 5 and Raydream Studio 5, before that. When I started Carrara, I thought about what I wanted to do and picked an area or two to focus on. Lighting and texturing work hand in hand, so that's where I started. Your own interests will probably be different than mine.
You might try the lighting presets in Carrara's "Scenes" tab.
You might try the lighting presets in Carrara's "Scenes" tab.
Duh! I forgot about those! I haven't opened one in years! Thanks for pointing that out to tiggersprings (and reminding me).
Good points, evilproducer. :)
I'm not a total 3D newbie, though. I've been using Poser since late 2005. So, I do have some idea of what I'm doing. I just figured that would make the learning process a bit different (maybe easier) with Carrara. And, not so much. I don't know why I expected it to make a difference. It never helped when I've ever so briefly tried to make friends with Daz Studio a couple of times. LOL
Steve K, I had forgotten about those. I found them when I was poking around. I'm so new that I sometimes forget to get back to things that I've "found" before. I've started taking notes, but it doesn't help a whole lot... Thanks. :lol:
Any way, here's a pretty mediocre render with Sadie for Genesis in one of the pre-fab scenes. I made some changes to lighting and added my own camera. I wanted a bit more moderate light than the empty scene. I think I changed it a wee bit too much... but, I'll learn... I enabled DOF, gamma correction, and both indirect and sky light since the prefab scenes had some openings.