Has it Really Been 4 Years Since a Release?
DBuchter
Posts: 70
A few may remember me - I've been around since the specular days (I created the CNN "This is CNN" animation back then), but I haven't been working in Carrara about a year. As a matter of fact, I was part of the 8.5 Beta team. I can't beleive there have been no minor, let alone major releases. Has the dev team been let go?
Feeling sad to see this awesome product languish.
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Comments
I totally agree.
There are "big things planned for the back half of this year". It's been said by 'DAZ_Steve' so it seems serious.
See here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/176866/daz-building-buzz-for-studio-for-2nd-half-of-year
When you look at the software comparison chart on daz studio's page it is obvious that what is missing is modeling and texturing capabilities.
It's of course only an assumption, but it's reasonable to think what they have in mind is about that. But there are different ways to do it.
Could it be, at last, a new version of Carrara ? I certainly hope so. That would be great news.
On the other end, it could be adding those capabilities to daz studio ... taking them, and others, from Carrara. That would be terrible news, because I'm afraid it would mean the end of Carrara.
Being pessimistic I think the 2nd hypothesis is the most probable. That they never mention Carrara tends to support this.
But I would LOVE to be proven wrong !
someone asked about a Carrara bridge for DAZ stufio and was rather enlightened by my reply there is no need as C8.5 loads DAZ studio duf files, nothing else actually does natively.
OK there is DSON and a duf python for Blender too apparently but Carrara is pretty unique in being a modelling and environment creating render software suite with Physics and Particle that will load and use DAZ and Poser content, at least up until both started making it incompatible.
I don't think it was actually intentional that it was left behind just not the money spinner they hoped for as 99% of content buyers (I don't mean forum users, the main market) pose attractive figures for still renders with nothing else needed that cannot be postworked or put as a background.
this iC7 video sums up IMO why DAZ are foolish not continuing development on Carrara and Bryce
both could actually do this now even without the speedtrees but just imagine what they could be
Sorry. I know iClone 7 comes with a lot of new features that Carrara doesn't have . That is why my next movie is going to be done mainly in iClone. But not landscapes. And not trees. That's where Carrara wins hands down. Carrara landscapes are unbeatable. In the demo presented, it all looks cartoonish to me. Maybe it's the textures that lack definition. I've been trying for days to export Carrara terrains in iClone. There are ways. But the testures still look cartoonish. iClone terrains are not for me. Nope. Not for me.
Besides, you need a special program to create terrains in iClone called "Earth scultor" ($50) that creates height map terrains. And it still doesn't render half as good as Carrara. Sorry. Not for me.
I also wished for DAZ to sell Carrara to another publisher. The new DAZ management only see Studio and content as a source of revenue.
Four years this month
Happy Anniversary
To be brutally honest, I think they (daz) felt that Carrara was perfect enough already and so could not think of anyways to improve her...
Personal opinion...
The plug-in developers have made some great advancements for Carrara. If Carrara users could nudge them a bit in the right direction, no update would be needed.
I would gladly pay for a dependable (fluid) particle system and the ability to realistically break apart objects.
EDIT: improved cloth, improved cumulus clouds, more versatile magnets.
The last Daz update was great for those who use content, but other than that...negative lights, barn door lights and new icons...pretty much worthless for my money!
Have you looked at VWD and the Carrara plugin (Virtual World Dynamics)? Seems to work very well, and even though the base program was designed as a plugin for Poser, you don't need Poser, or any Poser/DAZ figures to use it.
I think you are right. Currently, I am busy learning Carrara "as is." But at some point, I would be willing to help start a general plugin fund. The problem may be in arriving at a concensus regarding the most desired features wanted in a plugin.
I do not have the budget to get 9 at the moment. Hopefully it will not come out too soon I guess.
uh. Are you joking?
How about 'save files are identified as Carrara and auto launch the app like nearly everything else', the ability to have ctrl-A select entire file name when saving/loading, generally updating file UI to match current standards.
And that's the most basic stuff.
.car files launch carrara on my win7 pc.
+1
same here on my Win10Pro
yanno one o' the most **underated** feature of carrara
open more than 1 scene at a time!!
so often i want to refer to something in another scene, or one of the native content demo scenes. no fuss, open 2 or 4 scenes at a time
cant do it in ds cant do it in poser
sorry, is that a rhetorical question?
there is a cultural gap here in terms of humour and irony
+2 - same on my Mac.
Can't run 2 instances of Carrara at the same time though (nor DS etc), but that's a Mac limitation.
2 0f carrar 8.5 here thanks to your's and other's advice on getting 32 gig :)
VWD doesnt work on the second instance of carrara - that's about it
I must get some extra RAM for my PC come to think of it...
Tango,
I run two all the time on my Mac. I'm usually rendering one and setting up a scene in the other. You have to install two copies of the program. They share the same preferences which makes it easier. I don't have to load content sperately.
Network rendering.
-- Walt Sterdan
Wonder if Substance will do that too . . . .
head wax: No, I'm genuinely asking because you might be being sarcastic in some weird way. Carrara could definitely use some polish and it shows its age. It could use a few more tools to round it out, UDIM support, and so on.
As for the autolaunch thing... uh. Weird. Hasn't worked in this Win10 box, and I'm pretty sure it didn't work in Win8. I always have to launch the app then find the file (which is a little harder than in other apps because, again, the file UI is a bit dated)
I'm not a hater, by any means; I'm finding all sorts of neat things Carrara can do that I can't easily do in any other software. But it could REALLY use a tune-up, if nothing else.
Tango,
You don't have to rename it, just put it in a different place. I have a sub folder in the Daz folder that I keep the second copy.
You should be able to copy the contents of your Carrara folder and put into another folder and just run it... at least you can on Windows.. no need to do another installation.
others have had that issue too, I did with multiple versions of Carrara installed, it's a Windiws default programs thing, you may be able to fix it by assigning Carrara.exe to open .car files in default programs.
find a .CAR file RMClick it .... properties and then adjust if needed.
IRay integration into Carrara would be amazing. Incorporate the new Genesis 3 and 8 and it could be yet another platform to sell DAZ content. I really wish they would update it.
I think that there is always something to complain about regarding any software, updated or not.
We good consumers are programmed to believe that unless a software product is "updated" every year or so, that it is "dead." To me, that is just nonsense. Unfortunately, it gives rise to the idea that "if I can't figure out how to do something in Carrara, it must be because it hasn't been updated properly." People seem to constantly underestimate the depth and functionality of Carrara.
I've read so many threads here in the forum which illustrate this issue. At least 50% of the time - and probably even greater than that - people post to complain that Carrara is lacking a certain function, only to have several regular Carrara users chime in saying that Carrara indeed not only has that function, but that it works very well.
I also wonder when I hear complaints about not having access to the latest Daz character generations. Is Misty and her work invisible?