Really newbie question - Why can't I see anything I load into Carrara?
Knittingmommy
Posts: 8,191
I'm trying to follow one of Dartanbeck's Carrara videos and I loaded Genesis into Carrara. It gets a status bar and everything looks like Genesis has loaded, but I can't see Genesis at all! Why not? How can I already be doing something wrong when I just started?
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Post edited by Knittingmommy on
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Check to see if it is scene size. When Carrara starts, it asks you what size new scene you want. The very large scenes are for landscapes. You can load a figure in them, but the figure will seem tiny.
Try starting a new scene and pick medium size, then load your figure.
Yup. Just as diomede says. Large Magnitude scenes make normal Daz3d content appear really, really tiny in the work space.
In the Scene tab of the browser, those Landscape presets, and several others, are Large magnitude for vast scenery shots.
With an object or character selected, you can always press the number zero on your keyboard. That zooms in onto the selected item. It's a neat trick to find things you've added to a scene, even if they don't appear where you had expected them to. Works even with large scenes and tiny characters.
Thank you, guys! That was it. I can now see Genesis. Now, I just have to figure out all of the rest. Not tonight, though. Oh, thanks for the tip, Jay! I wondered if there was a way to do that, but I hadn't gotten quite that far yet.
Cool! Yes... patience in the beginning is key to getting used to Carrara - and it pays off exponentially in the future!
When you say that you're following one of my Genesis videos, I take it you're probably watching this one?
If so, first of all, I kind of apologize for babbling so much and somewhat changing the subject here and there without coming to a point at many places... I was really pretty new at working with Genesis at that time and was really just winging it - messing around trying to get to the point of adding Genesis and related content into Carrara - and then what? Well we have to add textures to those clothes, which loaded in without any shaders, etc., Add the Carrara-optimized shaders to Genesis and then - the all-important "Consolidate Duplicate Shaders", which is VERY important!
Also new to me was the new interface additions to handle the immense collections of morphs we acquire for Genesis, along with new features, like the Zeroing menu under the Animation menu... so I was a bit distracted as to where I should take this on-the-fly babble session.
Anyways, I think that if you can make it through, relax and pick up what I'm doing in there, you'll see what we can do with loading in Genesis and getting the figure ready for rendering.
Now, I know you've mentioned Genesis, but one video that I really like, except perhaps for my usual babble-on and on style, is this one, which is using Victoria 4 as the figure, but I'm actually discussing Consolidate Duplicate Shaders, using the Directors Camera, and making and understanding some important changes to the shaders - which was why I chose V4 for the video, because the way she (and many other models from her generation and earlier) comes in default - really NEEDS those shader changes - and knowing what those shader channels do to the appearance of your figure is very important for rendering ;) here's that video:
I actually wanted to say: WELCOME TO CARRARA!!! And then offer this thread as a place to frequent for info and ideas:
Learning Carrara and need some help?
Still a lot of babble... I just can't seem to help that. But it has a lot to offer in the subject of Finding Answers and learning new ways to have fun and render with Carrara.
It basically leads us around to a bunch of various threads within this Forum and other places, offers advice, links to help ideas... and it'll keep growing.
It is hoping to eventually replace my earlier tome of help:
►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄
which was made in the earlier forum software and isn't quite as easy to use in this newer forum - but it's still the place where I go to grab links to help other folks with questions - which brings up my next point:
When you run into a snag or come up with something cool that you want to share, come into this forum and start a new thread (like you just did with this one) and you'll see that you'll get all kinds of answers and replies! This is an excellent place to hang out and learn and share accomplishments in Carrara!
Welcome aboard and Have Fun!
Dartanbeck
One tip that I think might be helpful for people used to Studio when dabbling in Carrara is to tweak the skin shaders until you get something you like, then save that globally to your shader browser. The next time you load that figure, just drag and drop the saved skin shader to the globe of the "actor" level's shader tab. Typically, most Daz skin products are made for Studio so have to be adjusted. An exception is Carrara skin producs by Ringomonfort. Although I am rarely going for a photoreal look so any tips in this area that I give should be taken with a grain of salt (others can give better tips for preferred settings), here are some typical default skin topics to keep in mind.
Carrara's texture system is based on channels in a shader tree. You can find the shader trees for a figure's material zones (face, legs, torso, etc) by selecting the "actor"level of the figure and entering the texture room. You find the texture room by clicking the paintbrush looking icon in the upper right menu. Here you will find a shader tree for each material zone of the figure. Each tree is made up of channels (color, alpha, etc.)
- color - Sometimes Carrara translates this channel as a texture map multiplied by a color. For Victoria 4 that extra color is blue, which almost everyone dislikes. Many people just drag and drop the texture map from the multiply subchannel to the main color level. That will fix it. I prefer to change the multiply from blue to white, which also displays the texture map. I can go back later and play with the multiply if I want for a particular scene. If it loads without the multiply, I add one so that the texture map is multiplied by white.
- alpha - my experience loads fine (meaning no effect, the figure is 100% visible). I do switch from the color white to "none", but that is unnecessary.
- highlight - Carrara does not always load the highlight maps included with skin products, or if it does, the settings should be tweaked. I like to load the map and multiply by a very small number or the effect will be much too strong. Often, the corresponding Daz map will have an S on the end. For example, the Daz PA product Saki comes with a greyscale texture map entitled SakiLimbsS.jpg. I load that in the highlight channel of the legs, arms, etc. I then multiply by a Value (0-100) and choose something small like 5-10 percent. If you can't find the texture maps, you can use DIM to find files that come with a product (if you installed with DIM).
- shininess - I typically do not load a product map here. Instead I typically choose a small value.
- bump - Often, Daz products' bump maps are not loaded by default, but there are usually some choices here. Many Daz skin products come with both a bump map and a normal map. You can use either. Like the highlight map, I find that the bump map will have too strong of an effect if loaded straight. Two ways to adjust. One would be to use a multiply to reduce its effect. The other is to go to the top line of the shader tree (says Top Shader) and look for the "bump amplitude." You can increase or decrease the bump effect here. Carrara can load normal maps in the bump channel (there is a "normal" option in the drop down menu when clickng on any shader chnnel). Again, pay attention if the effect is too strong or weak and consider a modification.
- reflection - I am totally out of my depth here. The best Carrara photoreal artists use a microreflection approach and get pretty amazing results. See the various tests by Magaremoto in the renders thread. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1520296/#Comment_1520296 ; I just generally choose a small number here.
- transparency - I set this to none
- refraction - there is a refraction option in the drop down menu. I select this and then use "other" with a setting of 1. It is worth exploring the other options for refraction for other uses (caustics).
- glow - I set this to none. I remember old tutorials in which people experimented with slight glow for skin but will leave that to others.
- subsurface scattering - I do not load a Daz SSS map here. I'd be curious if anyone else has gotten good results that way. Most importantly, if you want to use SSS in Carrara, you have to make sure the enable box is checked here. You will see options for diffuse reflection, color, translucncy, etc. Skin tone matters a lot. In the attached, I used a pinkish color. In the attached, diffuse reflection (45), translucency 25 ,intensity 20, refraction index 30, fresnel effect 22. Again, I am no expert on realistic skin, but those are settings you can start with and then experiment.
- translucency - I've been using none.
Now, it is important to think of other material zones that use the same shader. Just copy the finished (legs or whatever) to other zones that share the same limbs maps, such as forearms, shoulder, etc. You will have to go through once and optimize other areas, such as the face and torso. Once you have something you like, click and drag the global shader (ball at the top) to your shader browser. There is a plugin (by Fenric) to help with many tedious shader tasks.
In the future, you only have to click and drag the saved global shader to your figure. But there is a one-time conversion cost when adapting Daz skin shaders to Carrara, except for specific PAs, such as Ringomonfort's products.
Here is a skin test by Magaremoto
@Dartanbeck Thanks for the welcome and the video links. Yes, to that first one, that is the video I was trying to follow which is why I chose Genesis. I do have a lot of V4/M4 stuff so I can try out the other video you linked, too, which I hadn't found. I appreciate the links to the videos and to the two forum threads. I hadn't found those, yet, and now have them bookmarked. I'll read through them once I've finished going through the videos and have, at least a little, better understanding of what I'm doing. You'll probably end up seeing me a lot as I'm tend to be very chatty at times. :) I have a Laboratory thread over in the Art Studio and I do a lot of tutorials on things I don't know anything about. Kind of a beginner showing others what you can do even when you don't know anything and, hopefully, help those that are even more clueless than I am succeed in their efforts to learn to use different plugins and software. I basically just love to tinker.
Carrara is one of those things I got on sale when I first started with DS and just never got the hang of it. I've been really determined, lately, to learn how to use what I have purchased in the DAZ store, like software and plugins, and that all mostly ends up going up on my Lab thread. While I'm not technically a beginner anymore, I'm still learning. I think it is important for a lot of the newcomers popping up in the forum to be able to see some walkthroughs and tutorials by someone who is starting in a somewhat similar place and making some of the same mistakes they make. The major difference is that I've learned enough about how things work with the various software and render engine options that I know just a little bit more about where to find the answers and who to ask. So, readers get a chance to see where I mess up and how I managed to fix things. So, I'll probably end up with a post over there for beginners showing how to get started in Carrara from a beginner's perspective. Provided I get things figured out. :) I'm sure I'll be posting here a lot.
@diomede You've been in my Lab thread! I remember talking to you about Bryce, Carrara and Hexagon! :) That's a lot of good information and I'll be referring to that as I go along with my experiments. Thanks for all of the tips!
I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do in Carrara. We'll see how long it takes me to get anything decent that I'm willing to share with all of you Carrara experts. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I work my way through everything.
We are not all experts i just dabble in it and at times I manage to suprise myself enough to win a Carrara challenge.
On that note the carrara challenges are really good to back through and look at as most poeple post good screenshots of what they are doing to get the images they have in the final image. The intent is to push us to learn how to use Carrara and its various tools.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45254/learning-tips-and-tricks-from-prior-carrara-challenge-wip-threads#latest
Your lab thread is a great resource. I am occasionally experimenting with Daz Studio. Looking through the lab thread has really helped. I love the tutorials, tips, and discussions. Next up for me? The look at my hair product.
Absolutely! I also like to shine a light of friendliness as well - so new users know not to feel unwelcome in asking questions - or too afraid to be ripped apart with horrible remarks ;)
Awesome! It's great to see Carrara interest being posted around in as many places as possible.
You'll see... you'll get the hand of things pretty darned fast - and then you'll know why we all love Carrara as much as we do!
Have fun!!! ;)
Thanks! It is nice to know I'm not just talking to myself and others find it useful. As soon as I'm finished with Jaguar Sadie's photo shoot for my new avatar pic, I'll be working on two more LAMH tutorials so there will be an actual hair tutorial and a beard/mustache tutorial in the near future. I, also, have plans to look at Garabaldi since I have it, too.
Thinking of those, doesn't Carrara have something similar? I remember seeing something about growing hair in Carrara when I was searching for videos, but I was more concerned with getting started tutorials so I didn't actually look at those, but it looked like there was something similar to LAMH built into Carrara, possibly?
Well, I think that's working. One reason I chose your video is that I've seen your name all over the place in relation to Carrara. Always friendly, curteous advice! :)
We'll see. I'm pretty sure I can get a handle on most things. Even in DS, though, there are still things I have trouble working out. I have a feeling the bit I'll have the most fun with and the most frustration is animation. I'm slowing learning how to do that in DS. I've heard it's easier in Carrara, but I haven't gotten that far into it yet. I need a few successful renders under my belt to get the feel of the program before even looking at that part in Carrara.
Yes! Carrara has dynamic hair built into it. It can be animated and responds to physics too. :)
I'm sure you can easily find better examples, but I've used it quite a bit for things in renders:
@Dartanbeck put together a YouTube playlist of @jonstark 's great videos summarizing his experiments with Carrara hair that are full of great tips and explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1AV-hcsC4&list=PLXrNZxsK3Q4lxlOrnPSEQZp89zyFiCeP2
Yes, Carrara has dynamic strand-based hair, as MDO2010 points out. I am really only interested in LAMH to use in Studio. Similarly, Carrara has built in replicators, but I am trying to learn the new Howie Farkes plugin Ultrascatter to use in Studio. Similarly, Carrara has a vertex modeler but I am learning Hexagon (actually have this one dwn pretty well). And, Carrara has terrains but I am learning Bryce. Essentially, the "free" program Daz Studio requires a whole lot of plugins and bridges to things that are not free to even begin to have the functionality of Carrara.
Here are some links to help wth dynamic hair, replicators, terrains, and modeling in Carrara. The program is so much more than a vertex modeling plugin for Studio.
Dynamic Strand Based Hair
Jonstark posted the results of many of his tests. He also posted some youtube tutorials.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/51604/tutorial-creating-realistic-carrara-hair-for-animations-and-still-renders/p1
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/post/quote/67583/Comment_1568266
Replicators
Thread on replicators methods, tips, and tricks
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/38177/
Cripeman tutorial on replicators
Terrains
and 
terrain modeling. See http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37867/
Cripeman tutorials on terrains
Vertex Modeling
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/96301/modeling-objects-in-carrara-q-a-come-one-and-all#latest
.
@MDO2010 Thanks for the answer. I thought so, but wasn't completely sure. I remember seeing one of those pictures before! Thanks for the links. Those are always welcome!
@diomede
Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm slowly getting learning more about using these other programs, too. I can use Hexagon fairly well now for simple things. I'm hoping that means that it won't be too traumatic learning how to use the Assembly (that's the one where you make things?) room. I've just started figuring out Bryce. I didn't know for a long time that you could make your own landscapes in Carrara. I recently found a video where someone shows how to take a landscape from Bryce and use it in Carrara. It looked pretty cool. It's always nice to have options. I have Ultrascatter, too. Not really getting the hang of that one yet. But, I haven't spent as much time as I could with it yet. I need to sit down with a project and go through the Ultrascatter thread and try all of the things they are trying with it. It is nice to know that Carrara has something built in because that was one thing I really hate about DS, having to hand place all objects for large outdoor or underwater scenes. That is probably the one reason why I haven't done that many of them until the Instancing plugins came out. As soon as I know what I'm doing in Carrara, large outdoor landscapes are the first thing I plan to try in it. :)
Again, links are always welcome! Thanks. I'll work my way through them as I get familiar with Carrara.
I will continue to lurk over at your laboratory thread. Thanks for all the help.