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Comments
Wow, the atmosphere system now has me more interested in Carrara then ever.
Simple to apply to any scene and adjust, yet it can take experience to get to know its subtlties and get it working exactly how you want it to. This scene is not meant to be considered complete, but rather an environment into which I can add content models I buy or models that I make.
But it serves as a good demonstration for what you've just said, because this is the Realistic Sky with its atmospheric fog, which is the hazy depth of the image you see. The cloud up above is one of Carrara's volumetric clouds, which I'll often use as ground fog as well.
Not an attempt to make a sale or anything, but my EnvironKits products come with a Base scene as well as several preset scenes like this one. The Base scene is used to create the other presets, and it includes a complete 360 degree environment, all set up with lighting, atmosphere, clouds, and moving water - each of which can be easily turned on or off and even includes tips that we can open up directly within the scene, meant to help new users get to grips with building environments in Carrara.
Some of the presets do come with the clouds turned on, as easily seen in the browser, for those times when we just want to load up the preset and shoot a render. Anyways... just thought I'd mention those because they can really help in seeing some good settings for the Realistic Sky and Volumetric Clouds and such. Fun.
But we're always happy to teach you how to do it on your own right here in the forums! ;)
As Dart says Carrara Rocks. As I say Carrara is Funnnn. Both are very true.
Why is that? Carrara is very fast, slick, efficient and powerful and easy to use. Does it need anything? Of course it does... What, What tell us What?? Well it could use improvements here and there to what it has as well as fixes for the few things it has as well as the few programs that either never worked or no longer work. The latter refers to ArchiTools but I'm sure there are other programs/plugins that worked with earlier versions and have suddenly quit working, I'm using 8.5 Pro but did not try it with 8.1 Pro and didn't have 7 Pro so can't say when it stopped working.
What Carrara Does Not Need.
Regarding Genesis 3 support. G3 should have never been released until it could work with all DAZ programs, I've stated that in a support request and have long ago stopped buying G3 figures and products. G3 support for Carrara should have existed already and should not require a wait for a paid upgrade.
Not too long ago I started Carrara Needs and Wants. Since I've been using Carrara nearly daily and have discovered more things that could and should be improved or added. I really need to start writing these down as I run across them... oh well I'll start tomorrow. :)
Those are only a few of my few opinions.
I haven't tried Architools in a while, but spurred on by your comment, I just tried and it seems to work fine for me in 8.5 Pro. In what way is it nit working for you?
Hmmm...I was in another part of the forums running my mouth about how the iRay renders on DAZ Studio need a HRDI atmosphere similation so we wouldn't need to be reliant on iffy HRDI sets that can be difficult to obtain anyway never knowing that DAZ 3D practically has the basis for adding it to DAZ Studio in Carrara already.
While, I agree that Carrara doesn't need iRay rendering for animations (OK, truth is if you had the computer(s) and the model sets to do it quick enough yes Carrara would be great to render animations in iRay) but could use iRay in simulated iRay atmosphere for rendering in stills and then, ahem, port that to DAZ Studio.
Anyway, thanks. I will try one or all of those kits that Dartenbeck has set up for a headstart on setting up.
Dart's sets are well worth getting. In addition to being useful in their own right, you can learn from studying how they are put together.
Remember to go to architools actual website and grab the latest fixes for 8.5 as well as the other plugins they sell the updates are there, not sure why they are not in DIM still.
I'd love a greenscreen feature in Carrara 9 (or maybe someone can think of a way to do this?)
What I'd like to do is to render as a video overlay. So background is one colour (say green), and I could also specify some objects in the scene as greenscreen objects. These objects I could then match to the video.
So lets say I wanted to do a dragon flying around a building. In Carrara I'd represent the building as a simple polygon model. The only thing I want rendered is the dragon, but I want the dragon to disappear as it flew behing the unrendered (or greenscreen rendered) building. The camera in Carrara would be matched to the motion of a real camera. Then I'd overlay the carrara render on top of the video - and now I've got an amimated dragon attacking my ex-wifes apartment building. Hours of fun!
You can use avi or an image series already in backdrop or any texture channel
I use this feature extensively
And render an alpha pass too for compositing in other software
Yes, all the tools are already there. You can use a shadow catcher plane or object shape too in addition to the things Sad has mentioned. Check out those things in the manual and you will be good to go. Ex-wives look out!
Yes! Here is a homework assignment I did 'out loud' for my fellow classmates for the VFX for Guerrilla Filmmakers course, where we needed to take several camera shots of the same people running through different parts of the set to make just those few people work as a whole mob in the shot. The instructor for this taught us how to do it using HitFilm Express (Free version) and, when I saw what we had to do, I couldn't help but to do it using Howler, since I've always wanted practice in this sort of thing using this beloved software!
This one was done really quickly using HitFilm Express, where we used masking and 3D compositing (Layers within the scene) to keep background things from coming up front in the shot. For example, the dragon is masked from covering up the man and the foreground barrels. EDIT: and the car! LOL
As Wendy mentions, we can render to Alpha, which is very powerful. If it's an animation, just use sequenced png, tga, or bmp files - whichever ones support the Alpha (grayed out option if the format won't accept it)
...and just to add to that, we can still use spherical background maps in the background for use in lighting and reflections - and the map won't render if rendering to Alpha, yet the effects of it are rendered in the rendered subject - like reflections in the eyes, for example. Sweet!
Gotta Love Carrara!!!
Thanks, really like the dragon scene.
LOL! I should have spent more time on it - made the whole thing look a lot more 'real' but time was not on my side - as is often the case.
It was a really fun class!
That's awesome! Exactly what I was looking for. Carrara is awesome. I'm a little confused on how to do the compositing layers however, can you give a little more detail on that Dartanbeck? I gotta try that!
This is a beneficial overview:
Keep in mind that HitFilm 4 Express is Free and is a great way to get started into all of this.
Also, if you don't need masks, we can composite new renders directly over previous renders in Carrara using either (or both) Background and/or Backdrop in the Scene properties. I used to render Orcs running toward the camera, starting with a few in the distance. Then, with that file still open in Carrara, load that new animation into the Backdrop, switch around the positions of the Orcs and give a few quick tweaks to their morph dials, zoom in slightly, and render again, and repeat.
The huge advantage to doing this in HitFilm, Fusion, or some other compositor, is that we can get real-time feedback as we set things up, add additional elements and effects like blurs and/or particles, etc., Both HitFilm and Fusion have excellent particles, blurs, and a bazillion other wonderful effects!
Awww Shucks! <blushes> Thanks Phil!!!
In truth, I did build them as a sort of tutorial as well as a collection of presets for when we just don't feel like building anything! ;)
This is the second tutorial I've ever made, and it's too long, and it has annoying background music... but it does show you what the first one, Woodlands, is all about - so you don't have to invest to see it.
...and this one (my third tutorial, just as bad! LOL) is a demonstration of me adding the Palenque Ruins from Daz 3D into Woodlands and setting a scene around it using the contents of the kit. Tutorial shortcomings and all, I still like this one ;)
Have I ever mentioned that I love Carrara? Well, Carrara freaking ROCKS!!! Love it!!!
Speaking of tutorials, I'm working on a new series that (hopefully) does away with all of the horrible ways of what I've done previously. Planned, scripted, storyboarded, performed, edited... yeah... much better. I'll let you all know when they're ready.
Thanks. It was Woodlands that I was first going to buy. I will go for the Mermaid one then.
The moment that I leave, see later, the ArchiTools editor Carrara presents problem requesters when trying to re-enter the Assembly room. The requesters are different. they appear if I close them and try to do anything even after closing and opening an empty scene. They simply reappear... this causes Carrar to be stuck in an endless loop of different problem requesters. Only choice I have is to close Carrara then start all over again. This problem is caused either by closing the ArchiTools model window or leaving it open and then closing the entire scene window. Trying to open an empty scene only only presents another problem requester. I only have ArchiTools via DIM from DAZ.
Glad I mentioned it... thanks for letting me know it works for you in 8.5. I'll have to grab the update from Inagoni and install manually as Milo suggests. Note: I have had an Help/support ticket open for quite some time, months, about the problem.
I'll go back and edit my post once I find the solution.
http://www.inagoni.com/?page_id=460 is their download link
Thanks Milo. Grabbed it awhile ago. I'ts version is 1.3 from 2014 while the one via DAZ/DIM is verstion 1.0.0.0. Good grief that explains a lot. Will try it out tomorrow.
Part of the problem is that Carrara has tools and features that Daz knows neither how to support nor market. It has elements of quality, even in the degenerate state of its current code, which Daz management does not see the point of, like that formula editor which is worked into half of those features. Daz's focus has always been content (and the contents' clothes, and the contents' environments), and anything that draws its attention away from that focus is alien to Daz, even if it's features in something Daz itself has already paid for.
There is a more cynical part of me that wonders if Daz is actually disinclined to learn its capabilities, because producing software that's capable of editing its own content to that degree means that they might get competition in their own marketplace. That's a very cynical view, and I hope I'm wrong.
So Cararra hasnt been updated in a couple years, when is version 9 coming out and what can we expect?
Please merge with this thread.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/80146/so-is-there-a-carrara-9-coming-at-all/p1
which also refers to this comment from another forum.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/944221/#Comment_944221
"Jon isn't in a position to make "promises" on behalf of the Software Dev team. Jon [and "Rawb"—also known as "other Rob"] are Web Dev guys. The technical side of Daz Connect (i.e. figuring out how it will work, and then making it work) is a joint effort between the Web Dev and Software Dev teams, at the behest of executive management. The policy side of Daz Connect (i.e. deciding whether it exists at all, and when/what it is applied to) is up to Marketing and executive management.
Is Genesis 3 support being worked on for Carrara? Yes, it is. Will I give you a date on when a build that has Genesis 3 support is going to be publicly available? Sorry, I will not—not yet anyway.
I will say that support for dual quaternion skinning (a prerequisite for Genesis 3 support, and quite useful in its own right) has been implemented and has been with the Private Build testers for several weeks now. Feedback on the feature(s) thus far has been positive. I will also say that earlier this month the Private Build testers were asked what they thought about releasing a build with the dual quaternion skinning support. The responses we got basically boiled down to it not being enough to make much of a difference in the current climate. We [reluctantly] agree, and so decided to hold the feature until Genesis 3 support could be implemented.
And on that note, recently the Private Build testers were given a build that provides their first look at Genesis 3 support. Initial reactions have been positive, however there are a few things that we knew were not working correctly before we gave them the build. We are looking for [and getting] feedback from that team to help us suss out where the other problems are.
As for the question of Daz Connect support in Carrara... It is still a bit too early to commit. I know that is probably not what you want to read/hear, but that is all I can really say about it right now. There are still some things to be ironed out, and dealing with those things in two very complex applications at the same time—particularly with a team that runs on the lean side anyway—would be very unwise. Daz Studio is the proving grounds for Daz Connect integration.
-Rob"
This is a question which no user can answer,.
Daz Productions Inc. are the company who own, develop and release Carrara
You'd need to contact them directly using the HELP menu above.
Hell, I'd be thrilled if they just reworked the interface so that it looked more like FCPX and simplified some of the options.