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This was an issue for me because I had created a custom figure that I was trying to save animations / NLA clips for.
If you have PhilW's video tutorials, the Intro series has a section on nonlinear anmation (NLA) clips on disk four. The Daz rigged figures like V4, Genesis, Genesis 2 Male, etc. load in Carrara as a group containing the mesh and the bone skeleton. If you use these basic Daz figures or Poser figures, they will load as animation groups. These happen to be animation groups, not just groups. Meaning what?
Just groups. If you load 2 primitive objects in a new scene, you can highlight them both, go to the Edit menu, and then Group them together. You will see a group level containing the two objects that looks just like a Michael 4 group containing its mesh and its skeleton. However, this just-a-group will have no tab for NLA and is not the same as a Michael 4 group for animation purposes.
Animation groups. If I create or load a mesh as an object, and then load or construct a bone-skeleton as an object, I could group them. If I group them from the EDIT menu, I will get just-a-group, so will have no NLA tab and will be limited for some animation functions, although I will still be able to attach the skeleton and pose the figure. If instead, I select the mesh and the skeleton and go to the ANIMATION menu tab, I can select CREATE ANIMATION GROUP from the drop down menu. This will create a group that looks the same in the lower right instances tray, but that has an NLA tab in the properties tray.
My original problem - Way back when, I had modeled the cyclopstrich and created a skeleton and attached it within a just-a-group. I had saved this just-a-group to the browser. So, when I loaded my cyclopstritch group this month and tried to create NLA clips and to save its animations, it was not an animation group so I had trouble.
Solved by loading the cyclopstritch group, ungrouping, then regrouping as an animation group. I also had to do some minor editing of the weightmaps but not sure if that was related to ungroping and regrouping.
You won't have this issue if you animate standard Daz figures.
Here is a comparison of a just-a-group which was created using the EDIT menu. NOTE - no NLA tab in upper right.
and an animation group created using the ANIMATION menu. NOTE-the NLA tab in the upper right here is present here.
Thanks Diomede, I could have asked in my Animation in Carrara thread, I've added a link to this challenge there, but figured that it would be very useful to ask the question here and have the info in this challenge... I find myself torn between 2 threads. :)
Great explananation and examples. I really must re-watch PhilW's earlier tutorials as well as begin reading his latest one Animation in Carrara Video Tutorials and mmoir's Create a Walk Cycle in Carrara as well as thumb through the manual.
Here is a quick concept test. As discussed in the No One Asked Me thread, I modeled a book with multiple pages and then rigged it in Studio, and finally opened the DUF file in Carrara.
Book modeling and rigging here. https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2572126/#Comment_2572126
Here, I placed a fake Studio 5.1 render as the front cover. I then set the above sample Cyclopstritch run animation as the shader for the front of the first page. I then created a very short test animation in Carrara opening the cover and starting to turn the first page. Hopefully, you can see the animation running (briefly) on the inside page as it turns.
very brief test anmation here
https://youtu.be/xZhPYsoCSIM
Very cool! You could extend this by having the book closed, sitting on a table, zoom into the book, and then the book opens until you get to the animated page - a magic book! 10 secs should be about right. Just a thought.
Great minds think alike! I was thinking of someone sitting in a chair with the book. Zoom in the cover and then open the book. Basically the same concept. Depending upon time constraints, I plan to have a long enough animation to turn more than one page. Each subsequent page would get a closeup before being turned. Each would have a different animation.
A play within the play!
But, concept has to be tempered by time, among other hurdles.
It was brief... I paused and rewound it then stepped through to get a gool look at the with the animated pic.
I'll be adding a brief tip for adjusting or rather moving multiple keyframes to the Animation in Carrara - Let's Animate thread.
Lots of nice work by everyone here, as usual.
Vyusur, is that a native Carrara render? Those are some lovely blue shadows. Did you do any post work?
Quick update of the cyclopstritch cavalry - toon III render.
: https://youtu.be/CtUYCWU5gXg
One could easily use Daz3d as their muse, or any of its artists, like, for example, Mike Moir!!!
One of my latest purchases from Mmoir is the phenomenal scene of inspiration itself, Island Butte Cafe!
Like his other scene-creation kits, this one has many places and things to explore with your cameras, just as it comes as a product.
If any of you don't know what I mean, just load in one of his scenes and look around. It's truly amazing how many interesting things you'll find. This one, the product's name depicts the Cafe. So if we start there, we'll find all sorts of places for action, adventure, romance, drama, comedy, or just a relaxing drink after a fine meal. Or are we more interested in the imaculate job the staff has done with the surrounding vegetation, or whom ever is circling the Island Butte awaiting landing clearance? Perhaps we've come to scale the cliff, or maybe we're down on the beech, or on a nearby (yet fairly distant) island, or sailing the ocean.
Grab that Sun light and change the atmosphere of the scene. Okay... I gotta go... I'm felling inspired to render!
Now I need to start from page one (this thread) and check out what all of you have been doing! ;)
Speeking of which, I just had an epiphony:
Any one of you could be considered my muse! LOL True story!
Thanks, wgdjohn. I really appreciate your suggestions - and everyone else's.
Dart. Great to have you visiting the forums again. How about an Island Butte Cafe entry?
My Muse Today....
Amazing Grace
Click fur bigger photie
using Darts environment.... and Carrara's modelling tools to create the flying bagpipes with help from 3DU wings adapted to work in Carrara ... no postwork
hate to hear it's dying warbles if you shoot it
more of my kitty video
Yikes Stezza... that's freaking awesome!
Wonderful Kitties, little sister!
We'll see ;) You certainly have me mused, that's for sure!
Carrara's global illumination can do wonders for awesome shadows ;), as can a nice artificial GI dome
EDIT to add:
That is one helluva nice render Vyusur!
DesertDude, it was Octane render without any post work.
Thank you, Dart! Happy to see you back again.
I got a very rough start for a tree tonight. It's barking at me to shape it up a bit. I've posted more details in Modeling Thread... Here.
John, the very first Carrara challenge was entitled "welcome to my garden." Several people created vegetation using a variety of approaches. Might be worth checking out.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22245/carrara-monthly-challenge-fabulous-prizes-voting-now-open/p1
So, back to the project in which I rendered a landscape background with the intent of having some figures in the foreground on a small terrain. My muse for the landscape is Pennsylvania as linked above. But my muse for the approach is definitely our very own PhilW. In his tutorials, he shows how to render a snowy background with a female warrior and big cat in foreground - how to match the lighting, etc.
Here is one of my custom human figures as a fur trapper along the Appalachian frontier in the 18th century using similar approach.
I thought for a moment that you were going to say that was Phil you had dressed as a fur trapper.
I love that image Phil made! I have a folder in my Videos with all of Phil's course's "About Phil" and/or "About this Course" videos - I love seeing all of the cool art in those! Of course, I also still love watching Phil's courses! Which reminds me, I still need to grab his latest!
Will do... I worked on it a bit later last night and am not happy yet... looked good before I got carried away. I was trying the move tool which just refused to work right... seemed to want to not move gradually but move in too much of an amount at once. Thought about this earlier and there has to be a grid option turned on... probably in right panel, not by me (knowingly). I'm wanting to try an entirely diff approach than last night using Double Sweep along with a few Polyline or Curve tools on a group of polys I'll copy out of the bottom of the stump... before I added dem legs.
Wendy, I think it could be Phil in his youth on a trip stateside to Wyoming. :)
[edit - I'd forgotton to add a new pic showing where I finished last night]
I could see Phil as a fur trapper.... with his buddy Mingo
Like your experimenting John
My Muse Today....
Dog Pipes!
but I ain't got a pug!
So cool! This is one cool thread/challenge! Bravo to every single person involved! Rock On!!!
I'll be experimenting 'til gets too close to entry thread closing... then I'll just toss in the towel and load some trees from Woodland Pack or another great Carrara product. Been wanting to find a way that agrees with me to model a tree in vm since I first saw one at DAZ which I now have a couple of.
Took a look at the first Carrara Contest "welcome to my garden"... the upside down Carrara tree's roots look about like what I want... will want at least 1 tree for a close up with unusual roots. Other trees won't matter much as they will fade into the woods... a lot will be nearly entirely hidden. Reminds me... need to make a terrain for all of them to grow on. :)
While it is some of the words in "Out of the Woods" by Taylor Swift who I have in a few of my playlists and am using as my Muse... I thought you might be interested in seeing these two files... I'll only bore you with the links but pay special attention to the amazing VFX in each and how they are used.
Taylor Swift - Out Of The Woods – The Making Of and the resulting video Taylor Swift - Out Of The Woods
Off to get that new start on my strange tree.
I deny that I have ever been to Wyoming! But thanks for considering me to be a Muse.