Tried opening the 3DL preset in Carrara, 20 minutes later at 20% loaded I pulled the plug.
Tried opening the 3DL preset in DAZ Studio 4.22, got a fatal error, DAZ Studio crashed.
Opened the 3DL preset in DAZ Studio 4.10, success. Found out the 3DL preset was loading the LAMH hairs to the figure.
Posed the figure in DAZ Studio, opened the LAMH window tab, exported the LAMH hairs as obj. Exported the posed figure as obj as well at DAZ Studio scale 100%.
Opened Carrara, loaded figure obj with disable Auto-scaling.
LAMH saved the hair obj's as 4 groups, loaded each one with disable Auto-scaling, positioned them to the figure.
Figure came in as blank shaders, loaded the relevant maps. Hairs were grey in colour, adjusted to black colour with 70% transperancy in the Alpha channel.
Thanks, we will flag these up. I beleive the issue is that with these transfers from other stores they were meant to be just the exisating package, which had already been checked by the other store - having QA recheck several hundred items in a very short space of time would not have been possible - but something seems to have gone wrong with some of the sets.
Thanks, we will flag these up. I beleive the issue is that with these transfers from other stores they were meant to be just the exisating package, which had already been checked by the other store - having QA recheck several hundred items in a very short space of time would not have been possible - but something seems to have gone wrong with some of the sets.
Loading the duf files in Carrara does result in an I/O error message.
After some research I found an unsupported option for the operation key, that causes the importer to abort the import with this rather non-specific I/O error message.
There are basically 2 solutions:
- change "blend_source_over" to an supported option (e.g. "alpha_blend")
- or remove the line entirely and also the comma at the end of the line above it.
Loading the duf files in Carrara does result in an I/O error message.
After some research I found an unsupported option for the operation key, that causes the importer to abort the import with this rather non-specific I/O error message.
There are basically 2 solutions:
- change "blend_source_over" to an supported option (e.g. "alpha_blend")
- or remove the line entirely and also the comma at the end of the line above it.
Thanks, on my to-do-a-render list !!!
EDIT - a quickie after updating one to see that it works !
I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.
looks good... looking at the fur on the image you may need to untick wrapUV apply the smoothing and maybe apply the fur transmap manually
Thank you @stezza. The HH Werewolf wants to thank you for its hair that now feels, in Carrara, as it was intended to be!
Summing up...
To use the HH Werewolf by Herschel Hoffmeyer https://www.daz3d.com/hh-werewolf
in Carrara:
1 ---- to show the eyes)
- Load the werewolf >> in Instances select MODEL >> texturing room >> eyes outer shell >> set ALPHA to zero
2 ---- to give fur the correct look)
- Load Fur >> in Instances select MODEL >> modeling room >> UV editing mode >> untick UV wrappings
- Here in modeling room (again with Fur MODEL selected) you can also enable smoothing
(not sure if this actually has an effect)
- Also, with Fur MODEL selected >> texturing room >> set ALPHA and BUMP to the corresponding texture maps
(you'll find these in the
Runtime/Textures/HerschelHoffmeyer/Werewolf/Fur/
directories where you installed the HH Werewolf)
@Stezza and anyone else, do you agree with this?
Did you add also other texture maps?
I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.
Thanks much for exploring. At least I know now that I cannot use the items in Carrara 6 Pro and can remove the items from my wishlist.
I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.
Thanks much for exploring. At least I know now that I cannot use the items in Carrara 6 Pro and can remove the items from my wishlist.
You're welcome. If I can help, I am happy to do it.
Asking advice here often leads to good results :-)
Thanks, we will flag these up. I beleive the issue is that with these transfers from other stores they were meant to be just the exisating package, which had already been checked by the other store - having QA recheck several hundred items in a very short space of time would not have been possible - but something seems to have gone wrong with some of the sets.
Textures have been updated !!! Many thanks again Richard !
Thanks, we will flag these up. I beleive the issue is that with these transfers from other stores they were meant to be just the exisating package, which had already been checked by the other store - having QA recheck several hundred items in a very short space of time would not have been possible - but something seems to have gone wrong with some of the sets.
Textures have been updated !!! Many thanks again Richard !
I am playing with the wonderful (at least, if you like anime characters) "No Name Doll" by Glidman (ShareCG).
She's made for Poser so she does not work well in DS and Carrara, but I am trying to find the best workarounds to make her work decently.
Anyone interested here in my tips about using her in Carrara (and maybe DS) when I'm done experimenting?
I am playing with the wonderful (at least, if you like anime characters) "No Name Doll" by Glidman (ShareCG).
She's made for Poser so she does not work well in DS and Carrara, but I am trying to find the best workarounds to make her work decently.
Anyone interested here in my tips about using her in Carrara (and maybe DS) when I'm done experimenting?
Ah-ha! Now "do a Stezza!" will become the thing to say when one starts modeling! Yeah! It's Stezza time!
When I read about Premier membership I did not like the idea. If it just uses Connect is a complete "NO!" to me. I need to manage my ZIP files.
But this is obvious, as I always like to undust old characters (trying to get them before they disappear) and use them in Carrara.
My latest findings along with Apollo Maximus? Far East Girl by Red Viper, Deco-Maybe-Decoco by Akatora, Anime-Maya-Ball Joint Dolls by Studio Maya, Sadie, Little one and so on.
But these are other stories, since we are going back to talk about... (see next post by me)
I was planning to experiment for a while, but since Bunyip02 seems to be a Noname Doll fan like me, I'll share what I understood until now as a draft that hopefully will become a "Definitive Noname Doll in Carrara guide" :-)
Let's start!
I installed all the Noname Doll related files (NND from now): base doll, update 2 and update 3
(you'll probably find the updates links among the related stuff in the main Doll page).
Then I also installed the "Suit for NonameGirl by Glidman", which is a suit and the doll with some Daz Studio compatibility added (by sasmson1111).
(in fact, the comment in its page on ShareCG about this working in DS and Carrara is me again as cunningham)
Anyway, I did not get the chance to play with it a lot.
But recently I got Poser 12 in a Humble Bundle deal and so decided to load her in her natural environment -Poser- for a comparison.
What's my opinion? I think this DS version by sasmson1111 (NNG from now) works, but to a certain extent.
It takes clothes, mats and even some poses properly. You can move her by rotating joints, but pulling hands and feet around often breaks the mesh. NNG also has less morphs than the original NND has, in both body and head (even though it adds a new "Alita body" morph).
So I decided to try the original NND: it does not work directly in Carrara.
Enter good old Carrara plugin called Daz Studio!
In DS (my version is currently 4.22) load her from the !Noname Doll 1.3 thumbnail (the updated one).
Now, with the NND 1.3 selected, go to
- Edit >> Figure >> Rigging >> Convert figure to weight mapping >> Triax
(I tried other conversion types but you get issues like losing movement of the body, eyes and others)
- Save as Scene Subset.
- Import in Carrara.
Now, what you get is far from perfect, but works decently.
She has the advantages/disadvantages of NNG (apart from Alita Body). But also has much more: all the body and head morphs seen in Poser are retained (some of them do not work, though); clothes conform and follow better; applying something occurs at normal speed (when I apply something to NNG, instead, my Carrara 8.5 Pro takes several seconds in which it seems to freeze).
Unluckily, in all versions, NND and NNG, some poses make the mesh "explode". Sometimes the model adds distortion after distortion to the mesh and becomes unusable. In such cases, you can delete the broken NND/NNG and load a new instance of her which should work correctly, even in the same file.
A lot of Parameters, as well, make the mesh explode (as they have enormous -10.000/10.000 limits). But here we can move them more gradually by the up/down arrows or, better, "Enable range check" by clicking the gear to the left of the parameter and set the limits to small figures.
Eye parameters do not move the eyes, but you can rotate them with the normal tools.
Hand poses, no matter which you choose, just apply to the right hand.
Odango Buns hair work in NNG version. They also work in the Poser version, but load with wrong size: in the "Motion" tab just set x and overall to 100.
So, I have more luck with the NND version, but in some cases the NNG could be useful.
Well, nothing prevents us from importing the Daz Studio converted NND and mounting the runtime in both Poser and DS formats, so we can use both dolls and their related stuff in Carrara.
After all, great characters often have a body double to help them :-)
Noname Doll NND (to the left) studying her body double NNG (to the right)
Used a Triax NND with an Aiko 3 clone to fit some Aiko clothing & hair on her. Clone is a bit out due to the NND model but good enough for me with some post work.
I made an image using Them Bones Bundle by Orestes Graphics (see the "Show us your Renders!!!" thread).
If you like I can write some notes about it as well.
I bought this as it's supposed to be more complete and cheaper, but since it is tricky to use it in Carrara, I'll write some tips about it.
From its author's (Orestes Graphics) description: "Them Bones Legacy includes Them Bones, More of Them Bones, Them Bones 3, and Them Bloody Bones Products in a single package with numerous updates. Poser and Daz Studio files are now separated for your convince. All Daz Studio materials have been updated for Iray compatibility and saved in DUF format, Poser Materials have been re-created in MC6 files. There is also a new texture set never before released. The figures included have been updated to weight mapped rigging."
As you can imagine, this new version
Them Bones Legacy Bundle with Iray Updates
does not work out of the box in Carrara (at least in my Carrara 8.5 Pro).
Can we find workarounds for this?
Brave Carrarists surely can handle it.
So, let's find the content directory where you installed "Them Bones Legacy".
- If you use the Poser version (adding a "Runtime" to your content browser) some stuff loads properly with default materials: articulated skull, coffin, grave, Bones 01-10.
But the rest of the stuff, cage, piles, scatter... loads with no textures. And since the poser mats are in .mc6 files, Carrara can't see them.
(image 01)
- If you use the Daz Studio Iray version (adding a "Folder" to your content browser), all stuff loads properly with default materials.
But even though Carrara can see the DS mats, when you try to change the materials of the various scattered and piled bones, nothing happens.
(image 02)
Everything seems to load better from DS content, except the Coffin and the Dirt Grave that look better when loaded from the Poser version. It is probably a matter of tweaking the shaders, especially the Bump Amplitude.
So, once again, we'll have to use our sister application Daz Studio 4 as a Carrara plugin (which should of course be considered as its main purpose)!
In DS4 I loaded some stuff (using of course the DS version), but mostly, we need 6 copies of "TB Bones 01" (I chose this one because it has all the skeleton parts; this is important to get the entire shader) and one of the Cages.
Now, for each of the "TB Bones 01" we apply a different material. I followed the order in which they appear, so I have the Bones 01
Ancient | Bleached | Bloody | Dirty | Fresh | Old (the default shader)
(image 03)
Save as a .duf scene or subset scene to be imported in Carrara.
Importing in Carrara, we should now have something like this, depending on what you exported from Daz Studio.
(image 04)
This could be enough for a basic use... But the brave Carrarist knows that this is also the best moment to improve the shaders!
In the runtime you installed the product in, follow the path:
Runtime >> Textures >> Orestes
I think that the directories inside relate to:
- AO_TmbItms: the Coffin and the individual bones
- thmbns02: the Cage
- thmbnsgre: bloody splats and bloody bones
- thmbonez: dirt grave and most bones, scatters, piles, skeletons
Select an item and in Carrara's Texture Room we can look which texture map is loaded; based on that, we load the related bump map (probably missing at this point) in the bump channel and adjust the bump amplitude in the top shader.
The blood related materials will probably make good use of some shininess/highlights.
When satisfied with all the shaders, save your file (as a .car Carrara file) and keep it like this as it might be useful again, you never know.
Now we must drag the tweaked shaders from the objects in this scene to our Shaders tab of the Carrara browser.
Select one of the imported bones/items and go to the Texture Room.
To the top right you'll see the Multiple Shading Domains ball: drag it into the "My Shaders" folder, giving it a meaningful name. Now the whole shader of that item is ready to be applied to other items.
Repeat the process for all the shaders you are interested in.
Regarding the Cage, we do not need the entire Multiple Shading Domains ball; Just drag the "Cage" shading domain (which is its metal part without the bones).
Remember that, even though not directly from inside Carrara, you can arrange your user stuff in Carrara's browser, if you like.
Open your computer's file manager (Explorer in Windows; I suppose this also works with Finder in MacOS) and go to:
Documents\Daz 3D\Carrara 8.5\My Presets\My Shaders
(I don't know the exact path for MacOS but it should be easy to find)
Make a new folder here, named something like "Them Bones Legacy" or whatever you like.
Now, when you open Carrara, the browser will show with a white triangle that there are subdirectories in My Shaders; click the triangle to open that and drop the shaders in its space.
Once we have all the desired shaders in the browser, we are able to apply them to items in the scene.
Drag a shader into the scene: shading domains throughout the scene turn red as you go over them; when the target item turns red, drop the shader.
Daz Studio content items may at this point ask whether to create a new Master Shader multiple times: keep saying OK, since it is applying each part of the shader to the different parts of the item.
The Cages will accept the shaders for the bones but lose the metal material; but since we did save the single "Cage" shading domain before, we can re-apply it to just the cage part.
Individual bones are even more trickier! They do not load the whole skeleton shader properly, so the workaround I found goes like this:
Load the individual bone, let's say a Femur. Go to the Texture Room and leave it open there.
Put in the scene a complete bones group with the shader you want to apply to that individual bone. Open this in the Texture Room, too.
Now you can see both of them: since this particular individual bone is a femur, in the complete skeleton shader open the "Legs" domain; drag the Top Shader of Legs onto the Top Shader of the femur; this should load properly as it is made for a leg, like the femur is.
And this is what I found until now. Comments and corrections are welcome. Hope this helps some Carrarist as the product is tricky for us, but really worth :-)
Comments
Looking good Wendy !!!
Gnu for DAZ Horse 2 by AM - https://www.daz3d.com/gnu-for-daz-horse-2-by-am
Tried opening the 3DL preset in Carrara, 20 minutes later at 20% loaded I pulled the plug.
Tried opening the 3DL preset in DAZ Studio 4.22, got a fatal error, DAZ Studio crashed.
Opened the 3DL preset in DAZ Studio 4.10, success. Found out the 3DL preset was loading the LAMH hairs to the figure.
Posed the figure in DAZ Studio, opened the LAMH window tab, exported the LAMH hairs as obj. Exported the posed figure as obj as well at DAZ Studio scale 100%.
Opened Carrara, loaded figure obj with disable Auto-scaling.
LAMH saved the hair obj's as 4 groups, loaded each one with disable Auto-scaling, positioned them to the figure.
Figure came in as blank shaders, loaded the relevant maps. Hairs were grey in colour, adjusted to black colour with 70% transperancy in the Alpha channel.
Rendered out once I set up my background.
Help needed again Richard Haseltine more missing textures !!!
Can you please report the following for missing textures :-
Enchanted Forest: Kirin - https://www.daz3d.com/enchanted-forest-kirin
S1M: Hal Patterson - https://www.daz3d.com/s1m-hal-patterson
S1M: Ray Noserus - https://www.daz3d.com/s1m-ray-noserus
Enchanted Forest: Kirin - Carrara message informing of missing files, checked DIM, no textures downloaded
No textures on figure.
S1M: Hal Patterson - Carrara message informing of missing files, checked DIM, no textures downloaded
S1M: Ray Noserus - Carrara message informing of missing files, checked DIM, no textures downloaded
Many thank-yous in advance !!!
Would have thought that Quality Assurance/Control would have picked these up .....
Thanks, we will flag these up. I beleive the issue is that with these transfers from other stores they were meant to be just the exisating package, which had already been checked by the other store - having QA recheck several hundred items in a very short space of time would not have been possible - but something seems to have gone wrong with some of the sets.
Thanks again Richard !!!
Cottage Garden Flowers Vol 3 - Persicaria
Loading the duf files in Carrara does result in an I/O error message.
After some research I found an unsupported option for the operation key, that causes the importer to abort the import with this rather non-specific I/O error message.
There are basically 2 solutions:
- change "blend_source_over" to an supported option (e.g. "alpha_blend")
- or remove the line entirely and also the comma at the end of the line above it.
Thanks, on my to-do-a-render list !!!
EDIT - a quickie after updating one to see that it works !
Hello. Will Howie Farkes’ Country Lane 2 (https://www.daz3d.com/country-lane-2) and Country Lane 2 – Autumnia (https://www.daz3d.com/country-lane-2-autumnia) load in Carrara 6 Pro? The store pages do not state what version of Carrara is required. I bought Country Lane – Bundle (https://www.daz3d.com/country-lane-bundle) that includes Country Lane Hedgerow and Country Lane (https://www.daz3d.com/country-lane) earlier this month because the Country Lane store page states that is was designed for any version of Carrara 6. I have Carrara Pro 6. Thanks.
Just seen this message. I have the stuff, I hope to check it for you as soon as I can... :-)
Thanks much!
it might have the MipMap issue
I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.
Thank you @stezza. The HH Werewolf wants to thank you for its hair that now feels, in Carrara, as it was intended to be!
Summing up...
To use the HH Werewolf by Herschel Hoffmeyer
https://www.daz3d.com/hh-werewolf
in Carrara:
1 ---- to show the eyes)
- Load the werewolf >> in Instances select MODEL >> texturing room >> eyes outer shell >> set ALPHA to zero
2 ---- to give fur the correct look)
- Load Fur >> in Instances select MODEL >> modeling room >> UV editing mode >> untick UV wrappings
- Here in modeling room (again with Fur MODEL selected) you can also enable smoothing
(not sure if this actually has an effect)
- Also, with Fur MODEL selected >> texturing room >> set ALPHA and BUMP to the corresponding texture maps
(you'll find these in the
Runtime/Textures/HerschelHoffmeyer/Werewolf/Fur/
directories where you installed the HH Werewolf)
@Stezza and anyone else, do you agree with this?
Did you add also other texture maps?
Thank you again :-)
Thanks much for exploring. At least I know now that I cannot use the items in Carrara 6 Pro and can remove the items from my wishlist.
You're welcome. If I can help, I am happy to do it.
Asking advice here often leads to good results :-)
looking good..
The other texture map that can be added is the normal map for the creatures body.. I also set the setting to 116
glad to help
Thank you, Stezza. You're right: even better!
Textures have been updated !!! Many thanks again Richard !
Great, thanks for letting us know.
I am playing with the wonderful (at least, if you like anime characters) "No Name Doll" by Glidman (ShareCG).
She's made for Poser so she does not work well in DS and Carrara, but I am trying to find the best workarounds to make her work decently.
Anyone interested here in my tips about using her in Carrara (and maybe DS) when I'm done experimenting?
Yes to any tips that you have found. Downloaded all the iterations of Noname doll, was able to pose the DAZ_NonameGirl_by_ Wolf by manually rotating the joints in Carrara, using the Poser pose files resulted in baaad misjointed pose. https://sharecg.com/v/94331/related/21/DAZ-Studio/Suit-for-NonameGirl-by-Glidman
not bought but apparrently Premier exclusive content uses Connect
since that content doesn't work in Carrara it's probably best not to even go there
One of the potential reasons I did not fall for it, also will let my DAZ + lapse and become a base member.
Is an incentive to do a Stezza and do my own modelling, have been putting it off for a while now !!!
Ah-ha! Now "do a Stezza!" will become the thing to say when one starts modeling! Yeah! It's Stezza time!
When I read about Premier membership I did not like the idea. If it just uses Connect is a complete "NO!" to me. I need to manage my ZIP files.
But this is obvious, as I always like to undust old characters (trying to get them before they disappear) and use them in Carrara.
My latest findings along with Apollo Maximus? Far East Girl by Red Viper, Deco-Maybe-Decoco by Akatora, Anime-Maya-Ball Joint Dolls by Studio Maya, Sadie, Little one and so on.
But these are other stories, since we are going back to talk about... (see next post by me)
Ok, back to the wonderful Noname Doll!
https://sharecg.com/v/94144/browse/11/Poser/Noname-Doll-by-Glidman
I was planning to experiment for a while, but since Bunyip02 seems to be a Noname Doll fan like me, I'll share what I understood until now as a draft that hopefully will become a "Definitive Noname Doll in Carrara guide" :-)
Let's start!
I installed all the Noname Doll related files (NND from now): base doll, update 2 and update 3
(you'll probably find the updates links among the related stuff in the main Doll page).
Then I also installed the "Suit for NonameGirl by Glidman", which is a suit and the doll with some Daz Studio compatibility added (by sasmson1111).
(in fact, the comment in its page on ShareCG about this working in DS and Carrara is me again as cunningham)
Anyway, I did not get the chance to play with it a lot.
But recently I got Poser 12 in a Humble Bundle deal and so decided to load her in her natural environment -Poser- for a comparison.
What's my opinion? I think this DS version by sasmson1111 (NNG from now) works, but to a certain extent.
It takes clothes, mats and even some poses properly. You can move her by rotating joints, but pulling hands and feet around often breaks the mesh. NNG also has less morphs than the original NND has, in both body and head (even though it adds a new "Alita body" morph).
So I decided to try the original NND: it does not work directly in Carrara.
Enter good old Carrara plugin called Daz Studio!
In DS (my version is currently 4.22) load her from the !Noname Doll 1.3 thumbnail (the updated one).
Now, with the NND 1.3 selected, go to
- Edit >> Figure >> Rigging >> Convert figure to weight mapping >> Triax
(I tried other conversion types but you get issues like losing movement of the body, eyes and others)
- Save as Scene Subset.
- Import in Carrara.
Now, what you get is far from perfect, but works decently.
She has the advantages/disadvantages of NNG (apart from Alita Body). But also has much more: all the body and head morphs seen in Poser are retained (some of them do not work, though); clothes conform and follow better; applying something occurs at normal speed (when I apply something to NNG, instead, my Carrara 8.5 Pro takes several seconds in which it seems to freeze).
Unluckily, in all versions, NND and NNG, some poses make the mesh "explode". Sometimes the model adds distortion after distortion to the mesh and becomes unusable. In such cases, you can delete the broken NND/NNG and load a new instance of her which should work correctly, even in the same file.
A lot of Parameters, as well, make the mesh explode (as they have enormous -10.000/10.000 limits). But here we can move them more gradually by the up/down arrows or, better, "Enable range check" by clicking the gear to the left of the parameter and set the limits to small figures.
Eye parameters do not move the eyes, but you can rotate them with the normal tools.
Hand poses, no matter which you choose, just apply to the right hand.
Odango Buns hair work in NNG version. They also work in the Poser version, but load with wrong size: in the "Motion" tab just set x and overall to 100.
So, I have more luck with the NND version, but in some cases the NNG could be useful.
Well, nothing prevents us from importing the Daz Studio converted NND and mounting the runtime in both Poser and DS formats, so we can use both dolls and their related stuff in Carrara.
After all, great characters often have a body double to help them :-)
Noname Doll NND (to the left) studying her body double NNG (to the right)
(couch courtesy of Carrara tutorials by PhilW)
lol....
a lot of settings need adjusting in the Parameters tab... adjust by clicking on the gear and change the values from -100000 and 100000 to -1 and 1
Thanks for the tips therixx !!!
Used a Triax NND with an Aiko 3 clone to fit some Aiko clothing & hair on her. Clone is a bit out due to the NND model but good enough for me with some post work.
To get an autofit A3 clone follow the Tutorial TriAx Figures from Old Parametric Figures - https://www.renderosity.com/freestuff/items/96369/tutorial-triax-figures-from-old-parametric-figures
I made an image using Them Bones Bundle by Orestes Graphics (see the "Show us your Renders!!!" thread).
If you like I can write some notes about it as well.
All right, please welcome the Carrara guide to...
Them Bones Legacy Bundle with Iray Updates
There are some products by Orestes Graphics that go under the name "Them Bones".
These are 4 separate products
https://www.daz3d.com/them-bones
https://www.daz3d.com/more-of-them-bones
https://www.daz3d.com/them-bones-3
https://www.daz3d.com/them-bloody-bones
I do not own them.
I suspect they work properly in Carrara, but I can't be sure about it.
Now, there is a fifth, more recent product that collects them all, as well:
(one Product to Collect Them All, muah ha haaaa...)
Them Bones Legacy Bundle with Iray Updates
https://www.daz3d.com/them-bones-legacy-bundle-with-iray-updates
I bought this as it's supposed to be more complete and cheaper, but since it is tricky to use it in Carrara, I'll write some tips about it.
From its author's (Orestes Graphics) description:
"Them Bones Legacy includes Them Bones, More of Them Bones, Them Bones 3, and Them Bloody Bones Products in a single package with numerous updates. Poser and Daz Studio files are now separated for your convince. All Daz Studio materials have been updated for Iray compatibility and saved in DUF format, Poser Materials have been re-created in MC6 files. There is also a new texture set never before released. The figures included have been updated to weight mapped rigging."
As you can imagine, this new version
Them Bones Legacy Bundle with Iray Updates
does not work out of the box in Carrara (at least in my Carrara 8.5 Pro).
Can we find workarounds for this?
Brave Carrarists surely can handle it.
So, let's find the content directory where you installed "Them Bones Legacy".
- If you use the Poser version (adding a "Runtime" to your content browser) some stuff loads properly with default materials: articulated skull, coffin, grave, Bones 01-10.
But the rest of the stuff, cage, piles, scatter... loads with no textures. And since the poser mats are in .mc6 files, Carrara can't see them.
(image 01)
- If you use the Daz Studio Iray version (adding a "Folder" to your content browser), all stuff loads properly with default materials.
But even though Carrara can see the DS mats, when you try to change the materials of the various scattered and piled bones, nothing happens.
(image 02)
Everything seems to load better from DS content, except the Coffin and the Dirt Grave that look better when loaded from the Poser version. It is probably a matter of tweaking the shaders, especially the Bump Amplitude.
So, once again, we'll have to use our sister application Daz Studio 4 as a Carrara plugin (which should of course be considered as its main purpose)!
In DS4 I loaded some stuff (using of course the DS version), but mostly, we need 6 copies of "TB Bones 01" (I chose this one because it has all the skeleton parts; this is important to get the entire shader) and one of the Cages.
Now, for each of the "TB Bones 01" we apply a different material. I followed the order in which they appear, so I have the Bones 01
Ancient | Bleached | Bloody | Dirty | Fresh | Old (the default shader)
(image 03)
Save as a .duf scene or subset scene to be imported in Carrara.
Importing in Carrara, we should now have something like this, depending on what you exported from Daz Studio.
(image 04)
This could be enough for a basic use...
But the brave Carrarist knows that this is also the best moment to improve the shaders!
In the runtime you installed the product in, follow the path:
Runtime >> Textures >> Orestes
I think that the directories inside relate to:
- AO_TmbItms: the Coffin and the individual bones
- thmbns02: the Cage
- thmbnsgre: bloody splats and bloody bones
- thmbonez: dirt grave and most bones, scatters, piles, skeletons
Select an item and in Carrara's Texture Room we can look which texture map is loaded; based on that, we load the related bump map (probably missing at this point) in the bump channel and adjust the bump amplitude in the top shader.
The blood related materials will probably make good use of some shininess/highlights.
When satisfied with all the shaders, save your file (as a .car Carrara file) and keep it like this as it might be useful again, you never know.
Now we must drag the tweaked shaders from the objects in this scene to our Shaders tab of the Carrara browser.
Select one of the imported bones/items and go to the Texture Room.
To the top right you'll see the Multiple Shading Domains ball: drag it into the "My Shaders" folder, giving it a meaningful name. Now the whole shader of that item is ready to be applied to other items.
Repeat the process for all the shaders you are interested in.
Regarding the Cage, we do not need the entire Multiple Shading Domains ball; Just drag the "Cage" shading domain (which is its metal part without the bones).
Remember that, even though not directly from inside Carrara, you can arrange your user stuff in Carrara's browser, if you like.
Open your computer's file manager (Explorer in Windows; I suppose this also works with Finder in MacOS) and go to:
Documents\Daz 3D\Carrara 8.5\My Presets\My Shaders
(I don't know the exact path for MacOS but it should be easy to find)
Make a new folder here, named something like "Them Bones Legacy" or whatever you like.
Now, when you open Carrara, the browser will show with a white triangle that there are subdirectories in My Shaders; click the triangle to open that and drop the shaders in its space.
Once we have all the desired shaders in the browser, we are able to apply them to items in the scene.
Drag a shader into the scene: shading domains throughout the scene turn red as you go over them; when the target item turns red, drop the shader.
Daz Studio content items may at this point ask whether to create a new Master Shader multiple times: keep saying OK, since it is applying each part of the shader to the different parts of the item.
The Cages will accept the shaders for the bones but lose the metal material; but since we did save the single "Cage" shading domain before, we can re-apply it to just the cage part.
Individual bones are even more trickier! They do not load the whole skeleton shader properly, so the workaround I found goes like this:
Load the individual bone, let's say a Femur. Go to the Texture Room and leave it open there.
Put in the scene a complete bones group with the shader you want to apply to that individual bone. Open this in the Texture Room, too.
Now you can see both of them: since this particular individual bone is a femur, in the complete skeleton shader open the "Legs" domain; drag the Top Shader of Legs onto the Top Shader of the femur; this should load properly as it is made for a leg, like the femur is.
And this is what I found until now. Comments and corrections are welcome. Hope this helps some Carrarist as the product is tricky for us, but really worth :-)
Thanks for all of that - much to read !!!