I AM SOOO STUPID!

I am revisiting my F4 Phantom project. AS a practice I never SAVE my FILES SAVED AS INTERNALLY unless I am going to PART out the rendering to other machines. Then when done Delete those files on my other machines.

SOMEHOW I save saved every one of my file version as INTERNAL! and now my very complicated and complex SHADERS do no have the NAMES ON THEM!

It there any way to find out what a shaders say Texture map was named before it was saved as INTERNAL?! GAWD why in the hell would any progam NOT keep the MAP name in the header room even of it was saved internally....

Also is render time effected if the files associated with the object such as texture maps are save internally or externally?

ANS is there any way to Save EXTERNALLY an file that has already been saved INTERNALLY so your map have their names againI bet thats a problem

Post edited by richard.chaos_91798ec102 on

Comments

  • tsaristtsarist Posts: 1,614
    edited December 1969

    You know, I'm not certain how that works.
    I'm not sure how I save anything.

    I THINK my machine is set to save Externally, but I have no idea what the difference between the 2 is.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Not sure if there's a way to get your file names back. Maybe Save As--> External. You'll be asked to save each and every shader. Carrara will fill in a default name in the Save dialogue, such as shader or something like that. You will want to change it because the next shader Carrara asks you to save will have the same default name and will overwrite your previous shader. You will be fine by giving them your own names.


    I think the biggest issue with internally saved files is the file size. If you're using th 32 bit version that could effect render times if you bump up against the upper limit of its RAM limitions and Carrara has to write to the scratch disk more than normal. I suppose the same issue could crop up if youm use the 64 bit version, and have an insufficient amount of RAM.

  • edited December 1969

    Well saving INTERNALLY is like EMBEDDING files is like say Indesign .

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited December 1969

    I bet the map names are there - just not showing.
    Try exporting the model, and selecting the appropriate material export options during the process. Now you should be able to see the names in the new folder where you export them to. If not, at least you'll have the maps.

    As for the shaders, you could save them to your browser.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited December 1969

    Well saving INTERNALLY is like EMBEDDING files is like say Indesign .
    Right. So if you open the .car file in Notepad, you'll be able to find the names of the maps - but in a jargon that not many can understand.
    I'm hoping that the export deal can help you.
  • edited December 1969

    Yea Carrara has renamed them all and will want to save them out as these new file names I am sure

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    I forgot to mention that I prefer to save my files locally. If it's something you want to be portable, when you create your project, create a folder for it. If it's using image maps, create a sub folder within the project folder for your textures. Save your scene file within the project folder. When you are done, and want to archive it to another drive, or if you want to share or sell it, merely zip the project file.


    The advantages are that the image files are referenced externally which will save on RAM and speed load times. You can also quit Carrara, edit the maps and the next time you launch Carrara the updated maps are referenced and the change is automatic. You can leave your scene open and edit the maps of course, but then you need to reload the maps manually to see the changes.


    This is an example of a file structure saved locally and then zipped for redistribution. I included separate .car objects so there's a folder for them. It's a terrain, so I made a folder for the distribution maps to keep the clutter down in my textures folder. The scene file is at the top level of the project folder. My example is a bit more complicated because of the extras I included. Really all you need is your scene file and a sub folder for your textures.

    Picture_1.png
    743 x 364 - 61K
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Yea Carrara has renamed them all and will want to save them out as these new file names I am sure

    Right, but if you Save As and then choose the External option, Carrara should be forced to save the textures externally. When it does so, rename the files to what you want the names to be. Then Save As again and choose the internal option if you wish. Clearly you will need to give each iteration of your file a different name such as F14 A, F14 B, etc. to avoid overwriting the original file. It's a bit of work, but as your title implied, you made a mistake, and sometimes fixing a mistake can be a PITA. What's worse though- the PITA of fixing the mistake or the PITA of not fixing it? We've all been there, and not just with Carrara I'm sure.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    edited December 1969

    why not save all your shaders to the browser for reuse?
    then Carrara usually saves any associated map too.
    that way you can also reapply to a hexagon version of your f1-11reimported too if you modify it.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited December 1969

    Yes. Here's how I create my own custom browser for doing just such a thing. Carrara rocks in how it helps you to organize all of your stuff with drag and drop ease.
    Nonetheless... I feel for ya that this happened. Love that model. At least you still have the thing.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311
    edited December 1969

    Rich

    So, you're saying that you don't have a version of your scene where the texture maps are not saved internally in the scene file ?

    Go to your shader room,. open one of the shaders,. select the texture map , and change it to saved externally,....
    Carrara will then ask you where you want to save the image.

    you should also be able to save the scene file,. and choose save externally,, then casrrara should be forcd to export out any shaders texture maps,.

    When you save internally,. Carrara converts your original image into a High resolution format,. so there's no loss of quality,. the drawback is that this actually makes your shader with texture maps saved internally , larger than the shader, plus an image.

    Hope it helps

  • edited December 1969

    What I ended up doing was copy and paste an older OBJECT with its maps! Yea I did think of EXPORTING/SAVING the texture then bringing it back in BUT YES 3DAGE I saved the alll every version INTERNALLY! What a SCHMUCK I am.


    But I didnt get and answer to one question.... Does having everything save INTERNALLY or EXTERNALLY! Effect render time?

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    What I ended up doing was copy and paste an older OBJECT with its maps! Yea I did think of EXPORTING/SAVING the texture then bringing it back in BUT YES 3DAGE I saved the alll every version INTERNALLY! What a SCHMUCK I am.


    But I didnt get and answer to one question.... Does having everything save INTERNALLY or EXTERNALLY! Effect render time?


    Perhaps you didn't read my response?


    Here's an idea: Try it for yourself.


    Set up a scene, save it in two versions. One is saved locally or externally and the other is saved internally. Try rendering each and see which takes longer.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311
    edited December 1969

    It shouldn't make any difference,. but,.. by saving internally, your image files will be bigger files, and take up more memory,. so there's the possibility of the render time being longer, since there's less available ram.

    Q: are you seeing a big difference in render times,. ?

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