Project Dogwaffle Howler

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Wow!  That is cool! So, it says it does 3d painting, ie, painting on the object itself. And it does rigging. As well as modeling. So, are those really hard to do, or fairly easy to learn. Because my brain is about crammed full..lol

PhilW

Are they easy to learn?  Well they are a step up from Daz Studio's "Load a character, pose and clothe it, press render", but you can take things at your own pace, learn what you need and the other stuff sits there patiently in the background for when you need it. Simple modelling is pretty straightforward, but it can get as complex as you need. Simple rigging is pretty easy to set up as well.

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Thanks PhilW, Now I'm not sure if I want to wait for it to come down some more (Apparently in December it was $18 and I missed it), or get it now. Since I'm really busy right now, and money is tight, I'm leaning towards the former. I have the DAZ Deals add-on now for Firefox, and I have it set to notify me when the price goes down more, so, have to see. March Madness is starting, and my goal is to spend less than $100 for the whole month! lol.

Dartanbeck

Yeah, if money is tight and you're busy, you might wait. It goes on sale quite often - not sure about this low, but...

I'm usually saying why we NEED to BUY Carrara, but that's for people who are doing stuff with Daz figures, animation or something. Carrara is my favorite reason to turn on a computer - period. Then I take my renders into Howler and have even more fun! 

Carrara's 3d workspace is really vast. Here I brought in some low rez scifi buildings and scattered them all out in front of the camera and then grouped them all together. Then I duplicate that group and give it a slight rotation and duplicate it again and again until it surronded the whole scene. 

I can use that in the background to make stuff like this, or I could easily bring this ship and cloud into the above scene as well

I just did this one after watching a war movie with my son... made me sad :(

The thing is, folks that are really used to Poser or Daz Studio can do similar stuff in those. It's all what we like and how we end up putting various elements together in the end. I am a firm believer that any of these apps can take us where we want to go. I really felt a need for Carrara (was in Poser) because of the modeling tools. I needed to be able to edit the mesh of certain things - not so much model my own stuff... just edit stuff I buy or download.

So then I started finding the atmosphere controls, clouds, terrains... etc., Now I'm a total Carrara addict and love it!

PhilW

I didn't know about the Daz Deals add-on - thanks, I do now!

Dartanbeck

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

Thanks PhilW, Now I'm not sure if I want to wait for it to come down some more (Apparently in December it was $18 and I missed it), or get it now. Since I'm really busy right now, and money is tight, I'm leaning towards the former. I have the DAZ Deals add-on now for Firefox, and I have it set to notify me when the price goes down more, so, have to see. March Madness is starting, and my goal is to spend less than $100 for the whole month! lol.

Okay, after my last post I really have to add this:

The part about Poser that I was always missing was the ability to open a model, like a piece of clothing or hair, and manipulate the mesh. I tried the magnets and just never got what I wanted from them. I messed around in it for a few years anyway because I didn't know something like Carrara existed. I even did searches for software that could load Poser/Daz3d figures (back then Daz Studio wasn't quite as much competition to Poser) but was also a modeler. I checked the LightWave forums and they could do it, but in a very round-about way and then they couldn't work like they do in Poser or Daz Studio.

When I found Carrara, I actually had blinders on in regards to all of the other awesome features it has. I wanted it just because it was a vertex modeler with UV Map abilities, could make morphs and the biggie was that in could load in Poser figures! I consider Vicky1, 2, 3 and 4 and Michael 1, 2, 3 and 4 to be Poser figures, even though they're made by Daz3d. Same with the Millennium Dragon, Horse, etc.,

I'm saying that so you know where my mind was at when I discovered it. 

Times were hard for us. I couldn't afford it. But I told Rosie that I wanted to find a way to get this software. About a year later I had the cash, thanks to her helping me save for it. I paid a lot more for it then - even though Daz3d helped a LOT. I got Carrara 6.5 Pro in the Figures, Characters and Avatars book (then sold here at Daz3d), Upgrade to 7 Pro (included 8 Pro upon its release), AniBlock Imported for Carrara, and two Nerd3D products for $201.68, which was till less than half the price for Carrara 7 Pro on it's own if it wasn't on sale.

I have been sooo happy with Carrara ever since. I think you might already know that. Phillip Staiger and I both love Carrara, and in very different ways. 

PhilW, whom just posted above, has some amazing course on Learning Carrara, sold through Daz3d via Infinite Skills, and now he's just released a new one on animation under his own name. I have all of the ones through Infinite Skills and just love them. They show me all of the parts of Carrara I didn't think I was interested in. Like I said before... I wanted Poser with Modeling capabilities. Those are just a smidgeon of what Carrara has available for us! 

Here I go on and on babbling about it if you have an hour to kill! LOL

Dartanbeck

My first post in this is an article about PhilW's Courses with links to them

► Learning CARRARA and need some help?

PhilW

Dart is my unpaid PR department!

TangoAlpha

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

Thanks PhilW, Now I'm not sure if I want to wait for it to come down some more (Apparently in December it was $18 and I missed it), or get it now. Since I'm really busy right now, and money is tight, I'm leaning towards the former. I have the DAZ Deals add-on now for Firefox, and I have it set to notify me when the price goes down more, so, have to see. March Madness is starting, and my goal is to spend less than $100 for the whole month! lol.

Pretty sure that was in combination with PC+, coupons and maybe other stacking deals. For me as a PC+ member it shows as $21.84, and using a monthly PC+ coupon will get that down to $15.84. I think you'll be hard pressed to get it cheaper (maybe if there's a DO special sometime during March Madness, but you can't guarantee the base price will still be this low - it's a gamble).

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Oddly, even though I'm PC + it shows as 27+ for me, if I could get it down to that 15, I'd snap it up. It's odd how stuff will show up different prices for different people, even if they have the same things...

I'm interested in the rigging aspect, and the 3D painting aspects especially. I'm doing content development, and having those tools would be great. I've got Blacksmith3d basic, and it does some of the painting, but I guess I'm just not good with it, because it leaves seams, which is what I'm trying to get rid of!. Luckily, I do have Howler, and with a lot of back and forth with DAZ I can get good seams.

Thanks for all the recommendations!

PhilW you are welcome! Some of the the adverts in the mailbox are repetitive, but they are working on improving that.

 

Dartanbeck

Carrara's 3D Paint certainly takes some getting used to - and really works best if the model has good UV Mapping. But it'll paint anything, regardless. And it has PSD-style layers with blend mode and opacity like Photoshop, etc.,

I have the extra brushes they sell here at Daz3d too, which adds even more fun, but you'll be able tyo use your custom Howler brushes in there as well. If I remember correctly, we'd load the png into the brush and then store the brush, but I might not have that right. I know there's a way, and I could help figure it out if you ever want to, but cannot figure it out. 

It also has Tablet support, which I've used a few times only when 3D Painting, then I turn it back off for usual 3d scene work.

Carrara has cool, simple animation effects for making animated Howler brushes too. You're not that into animations though, are you? But Carrara's trees and stuff could likely be rendered into brushes as well - and can render to png or whatever with alpha too.

Sorry... not trying to hard-sell! LOL

Dartanbeck

Oh... and PhilW and TangoAlpha will see lower prices because they're both Daz3D artists, whom get a bit more of a discount.

Dartanbeck

Forgot to show the brushes I got. The DP Brushes in the Bundle are also available as two separate volumes.

 

Dartanbeck

Still, 3D painting is certainly different to get used to than painting texture maps in 2D, that's for sure!

 

Dartanbeck

If you'd like to see some discussions regarding the 3D Paint feature, here's a very recent one:

* 3D Painting

 

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Well, I took the plunge. I cobbled together, sales and coupons and I am now the confused owner of Carrarra 8.5Pro.

I guess I'll have to start lurking in the Carrara discussion area so that I can find a clue-by-four. Meanwhile, I'm running through the links you've already posted. I'm even more lost than when I got Poser last year...

Dartanbeck

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

 I'm even more lost than when I got Poser last year...

Oh No! Well when you think up a nice specific list of questions who's answers will help remove such confusion, pop in and get a thread started... all manner of us will surround you... lift you up... tip you up-side-down a few times... and the confusion will eventually go away! ;)

Dartanbeck

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

Well, I took the plunge. I cobbled together, sales and coupons and I am now the confused owner of Carrarra 8.5Pro.

Congratulations! And Welcome aboard! Now we just have to change this to:

 

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

Well, I took the plunge. I cobbled together, sales and coupons and I am now the confused happy and excited owner of Carrarra 8.5Pro.

 

chickenman

Don't worry we all start out like that but after a little while and help from the very helpful individuals on hee you will find you have a second love of a program after Howler.

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

@ Dartanbeck - lol! Okay, I will work towards that!

@Chickenman - I know that the people on here are very cool and helpful, and while that is a tall order (to love it second only to Howler), that would be a wonderful thing, because I'm not thrilled with Poser, Blender, Hexagon or quite frankly even DS. I think things at them that I want them to do, or look like, and they don't just DO it! lol.

chickenman

We will see if we can help you realize the images you are wanting to create.

If you noticed the Carrara Challenges the intent of them is to help us learn more about carrara.

Recently with more new people using carrara when i have hosted the challenge I have tried to keep the rules simple in order to encurage new poeple to participate.

Side bonus is that if you win there is a Nice Prize, besides the items from DAZ.

PhilW

At the risk of self-promotion, have a look here for a structured introduction to Carrara - the first several chapters are free to view.

http://www.infiniteskills.com/training/learning-carrara-8.html

I hope that will be enough to orient you and get you started with making you own images.

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Thank you Chickenman and PhilW! I will definitely look into both of those! I am doing seventy-eleven different things right now, so it may be a minute or two before I get to them!

 

Oh, and for those who may not have seen it, here is a bunch of freebies for Howler:

http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/download/index.html

Dartanbeck

Speaking of Project Dogwaffle,

Howler 11 - Axehead is HERE

Here is a wonderful (and large) press release all about it!

Howler 11 Released

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Question....Do these work in Carrara? http://www.daz3d.com/cstools-3d-brush-alphas-2?cjref=1&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate

And for those looking for an older version of Howler or Artist, real cheap, they are on sale right now at DAZ, of Course the Demo Version of Howler 11 (or at least 10) is also available at the site above (Best3D.com)

Dartanbeck

tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

Question....Do these work in Carrara? http://www.daz3d.com/cstools-3d-brush-alphas-2?cjref=1&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate

And for those looking for an older version of Howler or Artist, real cheap, they are on sale right now at DAZ, of Course the Demo Version of Howler 11 (or at least 10) is also available at the site above (Best3D.com)

I'm not sure because it doesn't list what format they're in. 

I was just trying to figure out how we add new brushes and, for the life of me, I just can't seem to manage. When I click on the create new texture in 3D Paint, it says that my Wizard files are missing. Not sure why that is. I'm pretty sure that my other computer, which has Carrara 8 and 8.5 was able to create new textures in this way.

Maybe PhilW can help. If not we'll get Ringo involved... he knows for sure. Actually, Phillip Staiger might know as well. GKDantas (another person we might be able to contact) also knows how to do it.

All of the brushes for 3D Paint are grayscale jpg images. So I know that any brushes we find/buy can be converted somehow. PS brushes can be converted. I know that because you and Phillip taught me how! LOL

We just need to learn the finicky way to get them loaded into the Carrara interface. Then it's a simple matter of saving the brush. So to get a whle library of brushes into the interface can be a slightly time-consuming event, but worth it in the end. At least to me it would be.

Dartanbeck

PhilW said:

At the risk of self-promotion, have a look here for a structured introduction to Carrara - the first several chapters are free to view.

http://www.infiniteskills.com/training/learning-carrara-8.html

I hope that will be enough to orient you and get you started with making you own images.

It's an investment for sure. But I have the complete series from Infinite Skills and just love them! PhilW is an excellent teacher - and he's very patient. I know this because of all of the times I have him repeat himself. He never gets tired!

Here's an article I wrote in my thread:

► Learning CARRARA and need some help?

I have a few "Babble-sessions" recorded on my YouTube channel about various things Carrara-related. In this endeavor I have received quite a few requests for more - some for specific things - which is actually why some of those were made in the first place.

I have to say... I don't really care for my tutorials that I've put up so far and am endeavoring to make new improved ones. Much more on-topic and to-the-point and no more distracting background music/sounds, etc.,

I also have a few (as do others) articles written at Carrara Cafe - a Daz3D supported webspace specifically for Carrara users to hang out... Sweet, eh?!!!

However, those things are just tips and tricks. Yes, I find that it's important stuff - that's why I record them. But if you really want to get into "Learning Carrara", digging into a plethora of the different tools and features that you now have at your disposal, I have to suggest that you grab the Infinite Skills instructional courses, hosted by our very own Phil Wilkes.

I have his complete works and, even though I consider myself an advanced user, I still really enjoy running through his courses - either start-to-finish or by selecting just a few - and get into some good ol' Carrara know-how. Here's the thing:

Carrara has a Massive amount of features and tools. Funny how it's specific combination of functions is unique to itself, isn't it? I'd think that more software companies would want to have all of these wonderful benefits under one roof... don't you? Hmmm. 

All of this stuff can be really daunting if we try to just dig in and try and figure how it all works all at once. Like anything else, each of these things takes a measure of practice and experience to truly gain those skills and have them sunk into our muscle-memory.

So while it's really fun and beneficial to go through each lesson in turn, I find that the stuff that I need to know 'right now' sinks in really well at the time, while some of the other things might be wonderfully understandable at that time, but when I finally get around to trying out those features, a good recap from my personal instructor is just what I need to succeed. 

I also often put him on just for the entertainment value of it - while everybody else in the house is watching crap on the TV! LOL

*Note that you don't need both "Learning Carrara 8" and "Learning Carrara 8.5" - as the latter is the same but with updates regarding new features of version 8.5, so if you already have the former, you may get just the 8.5 updates via the "Learning Carrara 8.5 - New Features Supplement". Very nice of Phil to suggest the upgrade option to Infinite Skills... and it was really nice of them to comply ;)

Learning Carrara 8.5 - If you're buying this for the first time, just get this one, even if you have 8.1 and not the 8.5 upgrade. The price is the same and, who knows? After seeing the new stuff, you may see that 8.5 is better for you. Otherwise, it still covers the same material. 

Check the link (click the image) and scroll down the page to see the Table of Contents. This course is INCREDIBLY useful to any Carraraist, new, used or old. It covers a wonderfully detailed look at Carrara as a whole - with perfect demonstrations to drive the topics home.

The working files are also a wonderful addition to the Carrara browser! I download the working files and add them to my own special "PhilW" category in my My Objects browser, and I'm often glad to have those examples there - not just to see what he did, but quite often just to save some time and load in a project which helps my specific needs!

If you don't already know how to create your own custom browser in Carrara, I've written the following article for you:

Your Carrara Browser
Making great stuff isn't as cool if you can't remember where you put it. Let's get some good habits going right from the start

Advanced Carrara Techniques - puts us in the drives seat of Carrara's modelers with brilliant detail. There are times where the course takes us to a point where he could either repeat a technique or skip past it. Instead, he demonstrates a different method using a different modeler or a different method within the same modeler! Really cool. 

Right from the start he gets us into the processes of UV Mapping, including UV unwrapping with seams and pins. This is essential for any model maker to learn and fully understand. What good are models if they can't look right in the end, right? When it's a good opportunity within the course to revisit UV Mapping... he does. Very well executed.

The models that he shows us how to build are very nicely done, with full explanations and details along the way - and he provides them in the working files which, again, work great as working examples, but also as valuable content! The Sopwith Camel airplane (shown on the Cover art) he makes within the course is absolutely stunning!!!

He also covers many other techniques and tips that really help take us to those next levels in our projects. We could be satisfied with the wonderful country cottage scene he teaches us to build. But Phil continues on and builds some beautiful field grass, forms it into clumps and replicates it to specific parts of the terrain! He leaves no stone unturned - even the ones that he makes in Carrara! ;)

Particles examples, making clothing three different ways for V4 (applicable to any figure), taking us into PhotoShop or Daz Studio when appropriate to complete the instruction... and a Lot Lot More! I'm sure you'll agree that any and all of these course are worth a LOT more than what they cost. It was the cost that kept me away at first. I was embarrassed that I waited so long once I finally took the plunge. He even teaches us how to create HDR images!!! Highly recommended!

Again, the working files are also a wonderful addition to the Carrara browser!

Realism Rendering - is a journey through Phil's extensive research on getting realistic results with Carrara's native render engine. He does a wonderful comparison between images rendered via LuxRender's PBR via Luxor and those rendered in Carrara's native Photo-Realistic engine using knowledge gained from his research into "Linear Workflow" practices.

My rendering habits have forever changed after taking this course. 

Like all of his courses, this one doesn't skimp on education or entertainment. Phil is perfect at delivering a good solid foundation of skills needed to really understand Carrara, which gives each of us something special according to how we use it.

He covers the intricacies of indoor lighting and rendering, along with a bonus tip of a very ingenious method of making quick models to fill the scene - even if you don't model! I don't want to ruin the surprise, so I can't tell you what it is... It's cool, though and it works great!

Building shaders for realism, setting good default rendering and scene settings, exterior scenes, human portrait rendering, and a wealth of information about all of the various light types available to us. He takes us through shading a model of a car to stunning results, he takes a simple scene from Carrara's native browser and, by creating all new shaders, lighting and environment elements, turns the thing into a masterpiece - with added post work examples in PhotoShop! A real treat, this course is!

Yes... everybody runs Carrara in different ways. We have our favored methods, we have our own agendas and workloads and workflows... 

Phil's lessons aren't so much: "This is what you do", but more "Do this and this will happen", which adds to our overall knowledge, which makes us all better at whatever we do when we sit behind Carrara.

So I'd like to take this time to very respectfully thank my instructor for immensely increasing the rush that I feel when I do what I do in Carrara...

Thank you, Phil Wilkes

You Totally ROCK!!!

Love ya, my friend and mentor!

Mistara

just picked up Project Dogwaffle - PD Howler 8.2 in the sale 

Tiffanie Gray - IDLM

Awesome! The videos I'm doing for 10/11 will pretty much work in 8, as well. Welcome to the Howling!

chickenman

I see 9.6 is fairly cheap as well.

Glad i won it during one of the Carrara Challenges sponsered by Project Dogwaffle Howler..