how to make the plant editor make just the top level branches, for a tree canopy?
is there a way to save replicated leaves as a single obj mesh?
I forget some of the detail so quickly. Aaargh. I do have a bunch of experiments with the plant editor in the posts before and after the following comment.
Fantastic! I was just going through my Generation 3 library as well. Most of those days for me meant collecting freebies from all over the web, since I wasn't much aware of Daz3d yet. Once I've found Daz3d, however, I made it my mission to become a Platinum Club member.
So I went into my Product Library and went through all of it, starting from the first order I made and worked forward. I've had so many questionable (positively Aweful!!!) renders throughout the years... but my Product Library is just gorgeous! LOL What gives???!!!
Big fan of Awful Soul right from the start. They became... hmmm... tip of my tongue... then Alpha Seed, and now Aery Soul. New Rosie 5 with be paying hommage to them with some of my Gen 3 and 4 Awful Soul/Aery Soul/Alpha Seed collection! :)
Ooops. Sorry to babble. Your nostalgia made me feel nostalgic! :)
Woah! What an awesome method for making Hair shaders!
I was trying something (and failed miserably) similar, and... I don't know... never got back to it.
Tips from my current Carrara hair endeavors that might help you out in this:
1 -Don't 'think' reality too much. Experiment with settings even if they feel 'unreal'
Remember, we're going for a texture map, not a science fair win. Trying various thickness options and shader settings can go a l o n g way toward getting the results you're looking for. For example, I had some hair that I thought was "just right", except that it was leaving a really dark... something where it met the scalp. Turned out I had too high hair count, or inadequate lighting. Either way, lowering the hair count fixed it and looked great in the end.
2 - Real Hair has a taper to it
Does it really? I've seen a lot of hair in my days and it's always pretty darned unifrom to me - root to tip! This doesn't mean to NOT use the taper in the shader. It can really help in the end, to acquire just that right look. But don't be a slave to it either. Sometimes it can be too strong and give that "invisible" appearance that seemed to frustrate you back when you were working on this.
There's more, but I gotta go for now. Cheers, my friend! Awesome thread as always!
in the replicator settings click on the button that says create real instances
Be aware, there's a bug - if you have a scale range set for the replicator, those sizes won't get carried across to the real instances.
Tim, seeing this post reminded me that I've been meaning to come in here and tell you how much I love your work! I get so busy with my project that I haven't been paying much attention to my wonderful growing catalog of Daz3d goodies. Yours is absolutely Supreme! Love the meshes, love the textures, the layouts... you do Amazing work!!! Thanks!
(I still remember when you first came to the forum stating that you endeavored to becoem a PA, showing behind the scenes shots of your modeling work! So cool... Look at you now!!!)
Not directly Carrara tutorials, although almost everything I've done so far can translate to Carrara. During my month in Maine, I'm watching/reading lots of tutorials and taking lots of reference photos. I've been noting which tutorials I've completed and posting occasional freebies and reviews.
- model a building exterior and door in Hexagon (and UVMap)
- create PBR shaders in Substance Painter
- load the shaders in Daz Studio
- rig the outer door in Studio
The result should be a small set that is compatible with Carrara. When done, and if I'm satisfied, I will make it available as a freebie.
Awesome! I keep making tidbits of "Learning Time" as I go too! So much to get done, but I don't want to let the stuff I've been studying get lost in the archives of unconscious thought either.Lets just keep pushing forward, shall we?!!!
Thanks for all the feedback, Dartanbeck! Great to see you posting again.
Here is my latest project. The subject of 4-armed men came up in the commons. I am adpating one of my old meshes for Brash into a 4-armed man. Mesh is OK. Still less than 10,000 polygons. The skeleton / weightmapping needs work.
Production pause for the 4-armed man. Traveling again, so I'm on my laptop for a while. Will get him some fig leaves wehn I get back to my new wonderful machine.
- Heightmaps can be stacked in the import dialog and set to different heights
- Carrara terran filters can be applied and then the resulting heightmaps can be exported.
- Image editor filters can be used to combine multiple heightmaps and export a new combined heightmap
- Carrara ca then have new terrain with single heightmap for ease of replicators
For this, I started with a very roough hill in an image editor. I applied ad saved different levels of blur. In Carrara, I inserted a new terrain, deleted th default generator, and imported the most blurred heightmap. I set the height relatively high. I then stacked the same heightmaps but with less blur at much less height. I duplicated the terrain a couple of times and created new masters. I applied the terrace filter to one terrain. I combined the erosion (rain) filter to the other (set very low), with the advanced filter ridged hetero fractal (also set very very low). I exported the heightmaps for the terrace and erosion filters. In my image editor, I stacked the two newly exp[orted heightmaps and applied use lighter color. Adjust the brightness and contrast to determine which of the two is emphasized more.
With a single combined heightmap, it is easier to create masks for replicators, roads, etc.
Started with this very rough heightap for an island or a hill
Quick test render combining blur, rain erosion, fractal, and terrace. With a few more adjustments to address the streaks, could be suitable for a seaside village with buildings, etc. on the flat places.
aa01 photoshop fie with base terrain hill drawing with layers for levels of blur.JPG
1574 x 835 - 109K
aa05 rpeat for base no blur this time only 3 feet orless just to get rough.JPG
1587 x 843 - 151K
aa09 apply terrace filter.JPG
1537 x 825 - 154K
aa12 to get roughness back add a advanced fractal filter ridge noise hetero very low height 5 and adjust roughness to taste.JPG
1533 x 833 - 174K
aa17 can play with brightness and contrast if want to make ne or other layer more dominant.JPG
1584 x 744 - 109K
aa18 new terrain load a single map for combined terrain.JPG
Thanks for all the feedback, Dartanbeck! Great to see you posting again.
Here is my latest project. The subject of 4-armed men came up in the commons. I am adpating one of my old meshes for Brash into a 4-armed man. Mesh is OK. Still less than 10,000 polygons. The skeleton / weightmapping needs work.
ended up adding a new camera. dunno what i did to make the camera 1 prod frame jump sizes they way it did.
Happens to me when I set the view to my Director's Camera (maybe any other camera or saved view?)
When I use the cure I mentioned above, the view remains correct within the production frame, but the production frame pops back to how it should be (and the view follows accordingly) - all is right again! ;)
Comments
how to make the plant editor make just the top level branches, for a tree canopy?
is there a way to save replicated leaves as a single obj mesh?
in the replicator settings click on the button that says create real instances
Ohhh thank you!!
I forget some of the detail so quickly. Aaargh. I do have a bunch of experiments with the plant editor in the posts before and after the following comment.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2413911/#Comment_2413911
Be aware, there's a bug - if you have a scale range set for the replicator, those sizes won't get carried across to the real instances.
Thanks safety tip
this thread should have a banner!!
Claymation 2020 - Heat Miser is Leaner, Meaner, and Animated with Carrara Tweener.
I have migrated most of my old files to my new PC. Many custom critters are up and running, but some require fixing shader references.
Fantastic! I was just going through my Generation 3 library as well. Most of those days for me meant collecting freebies from all over the web, since I wasn't much aware of Daz3d yet. Once I've found Daz3d, however, I made it my mission to become a Platinum Club member.
So I went into my Product Library and went through all of it, starting from the first order I made and worked forward. I've had so many questionable (positively Aweful!!!) renders throughout the years... but my Product Library is just gorgeous! LOL What gives???!!!
Big fan of Awful Soul right from the start. They became... hmmm... tip of my tongue... then Alpha Seed, and now Aery Soul. New Rosie 5 with be paying hommage to them with some of my Gen 3 and 4 Awful Soul/Aery Soul/Alpha Seed collection! :)
Ooops. Sorry to babble. Your nostalgia made me feel nostalgic! :)
Woah! What an awesome method for making Hair shaders!
I was trying something (and failed miserably) similar, and... I don't know... never got back to it.
Tips from my current Carrara hair endeavors that might help you out in this:
1 -Don't 'think' reality too much. Experiment with settings even if they feel 'unreal'
Remember, we're going for a texture map, not a science fair win. Trying various thickness options and shader settings can go a l o n g way toward getting the results you're looking for. For example, I had some hair that I thought was "just right", except that it was leaving a really dark... something where it met the scalp. Turned out I had too high hair count, or inadequate lighting. Either way, lowering the hair count fixed it and looked great in the end.
2 - Real Hair has a taper to it
Does it really? I've seen a lot of hair in my days and it's always pretty darned unifrom to me - root to tip! This doesn't mean to NOT use the taper in the shader. It can really help in the end, to acquire just that right look. But don't be a slave to it either. Sometimes it can be too strong and give that "invisible" appearance that seemed to frustrate you back when you were working on this.
There's more, but I gotta go for now. Cheers, my friend! Awesome thread as always!
Tim, seeing this post reminded me that I've been meaning to come in here and tell you how much I love your work! I get so busy with my project that I haven't been paying much attention to my wonderful growing catalog of Daz3d goodies. Yours is absolutely Supreme! Love the meshes, love the textures, the layouts... you do Amazing work!!! Thanks!
(I still remember when you first came to the forum stating that you endeavored to becoem a PA, showing behind the scenes shots of your modeling work! So cool... Look at you now!!!)
Awesome! I keep making tidbits of "Learning Time" as I go too! So much to get done, but I don't want to let the stuff I've been studying get lost in the archives of unconscious thought either.Lets just keep pushing forward, shall we?!!!
Thanks for all the feedback, Dartanbeck! Great to see you posting again.
Here is my latest project. The subject of 4-armed men came up in the commons. I am adpating one of my old meshes for Brash into a 4-armed man. Mesh is OK. Still less than 10,000 polygons. The skeleton / weightmapping needs work.
many hands make light work... looking great so far, top modeling
makes it so much easier to count to 30
and if he's modest he could fig leaf front and backside at same time
Production pause for the 4-armed man. Traveling again, so I'm on my laptop for a while. Will get him some fig leaves wehn I get back to my new wonderful machine.
Heightmap Fun for Carrara Terrains
- Heightmaps can be stacked in the import dialog and set to different heights
- Carrara terran filters can be applied and then the resulting heightmaps can be exported.
- Image editor filters can be used to combine multiple heightmaps and export a new combined heightmap
- Carrara ca then have new terrain with single heightmap for ease of replicators
For this, I started with a very roough hill in an image editor. I applied ad saved different levels of blur. In Carrara, I inserted a new terrain, deleted th default generator, and imported the most blurred heightmap. I set the height relatively high. I then stacked the same heightmaps but with less blur at much less height. I duplicated the terrain a couple of times and created new masters. I applied the terrace filter to one terrain. I combined the erosion (rain) filter to the other (set very low), with the advanced filter ridged hetero fractal (also set very very low). I exported the heightmaps for the terrace and erosion filters. In my image editor, I stacked the two newly exp[orted heightmaps and applied use lighter color. Adjust the brightness and contrast to determine which of the two is emphasized more.
With a single combined heightmap, it is easier to create masks for replicators, roads, etc.
Started with this very rough heightap for an island or a hill
Quick test render combining blur, rain erosion, fractal, and terrace. With a few more adjustments to address the streaks, could be suitable for a seaside village with buildings, etc. on the flat places.
laptop workflow screenshots are not as fun as big complicated Howie Farkes renders.
Need to set up team viewer next time you travel
Did a little more work on the 4-armed man.
how do you reset the production frame. it zoomed way beyond the borders of the preview window.
been trying all kinds of set to default, pans, camera not working. woes
Brainstorm - maybe check to see if the frame dimensions are locked? If so, unlock them and resize.
not locked. dunno. thanks tho !
ended up adding a new camera. dunno what i did to make the camera 1 prod frame jump sizes they way it did.
Woah! Cool!!!
I can testify to this fact!
Check it out! He's become envious!
click the little triangle on the Zoom Tool (left tool panel - looks like a magnifying glass) from the drop-down, select "Default Zoom"
Happens to me when I set the view to my Director's Camera (maybe any other camera or saved view?)
When I use the cure I mentioned above, the view remains correct within the production frame, but the production frame pops back to how it should be (and the view follows accordingly) - all is right again! ;)
mann i coulda sworn the particle emitter had a checkbox so they wouldn't appear larger when closer to the camera.
i dont see it tonight
Thanks for all the insight, Dart and Misty. Unfortunately, I can't help with the particle emmitter.