Does anyone use Carrara for Modeling?
scottidog2
Posts: 319
Do you use Carrara Vertex Modeling facility to model objects?
Is the Modeling workflow efficient or is it too limited in its features and tools?
What are the frustrations you've had with Modeling in Carrara?
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Used to use it a lot. I'm learning modo now, so I don't use it as much.
I think it is a pretty good modeler. There are some tools that hex had that I missed, but there are work arounds for those. Hex crashed a lot with me, but Carrara has been reliable.
ncamp
Modo is very good for Modeling and has many tools that are efficient. I started learning Cinema 4D as it plays very nicely with after effects and Photoshop. I like cinema a lot and Bodypaint is there for texturing. I am using Carrara for the Poser/Daz models, posing and rendering features.
Hi Scottidog 2
You can make anything you want to,. how you make it, and whether that's perceived as "efficient" depends on your work-flow and modelling experience,. ...and possibly,. what other modelling programs you're comparing it with.
it's certainly more efficient to model in carrara, than jumping between different applications importing and exporting, plus finding and fixing any issues caused by that work-flow
None,. I had already learned how to build models using box modelling, before I found carrara.
Initially there's a perception that you can only make one model at a time,.
You can only work on one vertex model at a time, but that "Vertex model" can include multiple unconnected meshes.
your single "Vertex model" can be "Split" into it's separate meshes, and each mesh becomes a unique Vertex model,.
What problems (if any) are you having ?
I do box/extrude style modeling for most of my modeling needs with exception to domes and simple object better created right off the bat with a more specific shape - otherwise - I'm starting with a six faced cube and extruding from there. I like Carrara. I was always told (via this forum) that Carrara's vertex modeler is 'lacking' but when I finally got caught up to a point where I wanted to start creating my own meshes, I really like it! The ability to model in the assembly room is amazing for me - as I can shape clothing or hair or prop mesh to fit the figure in question. I'm not one who knows all of the fancy schmancy bells and whistles available to all - so I can't really compare. But I was really under the impression that Carrara's modeler was on the edge of being not useable. So I have a brand new version of Blender installed that hasn't had the experience of creating a single mesh. It look beautiful in that shiny new interface. But Carrara is where all of my work is so I found it best to try that first. No need for another modeler for me. Carrara has a lot of great features and has been very reliable and easy to use. Many 3d modelers have a quirk here and there with UV Mapping. Most of the people I know who use Max use plugins or external software for UV Unwrapping and mapping. I'll admit that it's taking some getting used to - but I'm even having great results with UV Unwrapping and Mapping in Carrara! I'm not sure where it's getting its bad rep from... perhaps it lacks some handy time-saving tools that are common elsewhere? I know Head Wax wants them to add a knife. The method that I'm used to, most of which I've learned from the 3d Animation Bible and from being tutored by friends, works really well. I like how well I can adjust the effects of soft selection, I really like the sub D tools, manipulator control functions, blah....
I really like it. No complaints.
So for me, it feels efficient and has plenty of features and functions. One frustration that I've had is my own inexperience - and I'll solve that... when I duplicate with symmetry, I haven't yet found out how to set which axis controls the symmetry. But that's just me being in a state where I'm just getting back into modeling after years of just tweaking content and making new morphs as my full extent of the Carrara modeling room.
I am very much looking forward to learning the spline modeler and the metaball modeler. The 3d Animation Bible has instructions for making a human figure in both the extrusion and spline methods - so I'd like to get some experience with that. Metaballs may scare the tar out of me now... but with a bit of patience and practice... maybe I'll learn how they work.
Also - inside the modeler is another entire useable replicator and duplication system and plenty more great features and tricks! You can add modifiers in there, too.
I use Carrara for modeling. It is quite handy to use its feature of putting new additions to a model or a scene of models. I like the ability to select by name or shading domain.
Since I use Zbrush, I can go back and forth if I require something more complicated or more intricate that would be near impossible to do in Carrara or any other standard 3D program.
The guy who did this models in Carrara...
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/bourbon-at-stlouis/99257
For some weird reason, he doesn't model FOR Carrara.
I asked him about this, but didn't really understand his reply.
Talented guy though.
I use carrara for simple modelling, its big game loser for me is the lack of a knife tool
without a knife tool it means it's better if you know where you are going before you start
rather than just winging it.
I prefer to wing it.
I can't believe carrara hasn't got a ^%$%$# knife tool,
not that I don't like clicking on individual edges just to add one verticie
but it d0es get boring after a while
http://gamequiz.altervista.org/img/an8_img/manuale/cut_tool.gif
I do because in-spite of all praises sung, Hexagon freezes a lot on me (it has gotten better but.....)
it is a superior modeler if you can get the damned thing to work
sometimes even select will not work and requires several restarts
(and yes I have tried all the suggestions in Hex forum about preferences and openGL settings etc, is better than it was but I never have these issues in Carrara)
Hex can be finicky but works fine for me. I'm far more proficient with it then carrara. Carrara's modeling and I have never gotten along. I'd love to see DAZ give Hex some TLC, but it is quite apparent Hex is no longer in development. It doesn't sell content there for isn't worth the dev time. Although it would be nice if DAZ would just stabilize it. Hex is a great entry level modeling app.
The only thing I use carrara modeling for is tweakage in scene.
I use Carrara for all my modelling needs - well, most of them. If I want a complex organic model, I'd maybe pull out Sculptris which is free (or Zbrush if you have it!). But for most everyday modelling needs, Carrara does the job and I am more used to it these days than any other modeller, although I have used other ones in the past, including Lightwave. You can make very efficient models. And having everything under the same roof rather than having to switch apps is a big bonus for me.
I have many other examples. But not rendered. This is a conforming top I started just a little while ago to try out Phil's lesson on using Daz Studio to convert Carrara models into conforming cloth. Since the lesson, Daz Studio has become much better and even easier - and if you get the Pro version while it's free, you get all those great tools for free too!
Most of my modeling is done in Carrara. But one thing I can't accomplish is, importing an obj and merge it with an existing Carrara model. So it becomes one object and not two. If it is possible, I really would like to know. But I don't think it is possible.
You'll kick yourself how easy it is - open your imported model in the vertex modeller, select all (Ctrl-A), copy it (Ctrl-C), now go back to the assemble room, open your existing model and Paste (Ctrl-V). Make sure that before you paste you deselect everything on your existing model so that your newly pasted object is the only thing selected so that you can move, scale and rotate that to fit you existing model.
You'll kick yourself how easy it is - open your imported model in the vertex modeller, select all (Ctrl-A), copy it (Ctrl-C), now go back to the assemble room, open your existing model and Paste (Ctrl-V). Make sure that before you paste you deselect everything on your existing model so that your newly pasted object is the only thing selected so that you can move, scale and rotate that to fit you existing model.
THANK YOU...THANK YOU....THANK YOU, Phil. I do wish I knew how I could carry on working with the items separately even though I layer or integrate them. Like I put knotted lacings on a a dress and pushed each into it so it looks sewn in, but now it's not a separate item that I can then move around as I can't get to all the vertices. What am I doing wrong?
I also am very enamoured of your lovely voice on the Infinite Skills tuts! They are very well done and have leant a lot. I also like your Sidlelong Hair as it taught me a lot along with your tut about how to work with hair properly. *happy dance*
I have been attempting to use Carrara for extra modelling of either V4 or Genesis figures by selecting animation mode (thanks to a helpful forum member) as you just see the default unmorphed figure in regular vertex modelling mode. I then faff, hit or miss, with creating new morph areas after selecting the general area which pops up in bright green on the character, like for the foreheads and brow ridges, on my Neanderthal people. Doing this in Beta, and it's not consistent for me. I get an executing error sometimes and it hangs and sometimes it works anyways. The tweaks are not always smooth, but if there's a better way, please let me know as I am just starting out with Carrara!
Cheers from Boiling Bristol,
SileneUK
THANK YOU...THANK YOU....THANK YOU, Phil. I do wish I knew how I could carry on working with the items separately even though I layer or integrate them. Like I put knotted lacings on a a dress and pushed each into it so it looks sewn in, but now it's not a separate item that I can then move around as I can't get to all the vertices. What am I doing wrong?
I also am very enamoured of your lovely voice on the Infinite Skills tuts! They are very well done and have leant a lot. I also like your Sidlelong Hair as it taught me a lot along with your tut about how to work with hair properly. *happy dance*
I have been attempting to use Carrara for extra modelling of either V4 or Genesis figures by selecting animation mode (thanks to a helpful forum member) as you just see the default unmorphed figure in regular vertex modelling mode. I then faff, hit or miss, with creating new morph areas after selecting the general area which pops up in bright green on the character, like for the foreheads and brow ridges, on my Neanderthal people. Doing this in Beta, and it's not consistent for me. I get an executing error sometimes and it hangs and sometimes it works anyways. The tweaks are not always smooth, but if there's a better way, please let me know as I am just starting out with Carrara!
Cheers from Boiling Bristol,
SileneUK
Thank you for your kind comments - just as hot up here in Yorkshire! You may want to look at modelling in the assemble room, there's a spanner icon upper left of the screen. This enables you to model something while seeing the other objects in your scene, so you could work on the lacings while seeing the dress, but keep the objects separate.
If you double click on a part of a model, it will select all connected polygons, on just that polymesh, so even if you have multiple meshes in the same object, you can work on them separately, or you can temporarily hide your selection so that you don't accidentally change something you don't want.
I hope this helps!
Yes it does and I must get the "doh" award of the day for not realising that tool's usefulness!
Cheers, SileneUK
You'll kick yourself how easy it is - open your imported model in the vertex modeller, select all (Ctrl-A), copy it (Ctrl-C), now go back to the assemble room, open your existing model and Paste (Ctrl-V). Make sure that before you paste you deselect everything on your existing model so that your newly pasted object is the only thing selected so that you can move, scale and rotate that to fit you existing model.
Yes, that was a lot easier as I thought. Thanks very much! This will save me a lot of time.
Yes, that was a lot easier as I thought. Thanks very much! This will save me a lot of time.
Glad you found it useful!
Each separate "polymesh" can be Named,. then you can use, Select by / Name,. to select an part of a complex multi-mesh vertex model.
you can also Select by shading domain,. but all meshes should be named as a matter of "good work-flow",. since it make it easier to identify and select individual items, in a multi-mesh model.
You can also use the "Select inverse" (to select everything except the item you want to work on) ... then use, View / Hide selected
which will hide everything except the unselected item, which you want to work on.
when you're done,. select View / Reveal hidden.
When creating laces or ropes,. you can work with a polyline, or curve, to create the path for the lace / string / rope, etc.
then create a small circle,. and use the path sweep tool to create the model, by selecting the Polyline path shape.
Doing that, allows you to position the shape (poly-line, or curve) where it's needed,. before you create the mesh.
Having both Hex and Carrara and still haven't gotten into doing any serious modeling yet. I was hunting up a step by step to create a char tutorial and found tons for like Silo which I understand is also a fairly dead product. Though steam has it on sale for a few more days for 29. But my gut and brain are saying don't buy it even if you have a copy of the silo book and tutorials for character modeling for Silo. There are also a bunch for blender. Silo and Blender do have 3d-coat applinks at least. Most of those tutorials should be adaptable I would imagine.
I haven't really done any modeling in the vertex room. Some. Nothing really intricate.The thing about the vertex modeling tutorials is that most of the principles are the same. The placement of the tools and some of the names will differ by program, but if you can box model in Hex or Silo, you should be able to box model in Carrara. Again, the tool placement will vary as will the names on some of those tools.
There will also probably be some whiz-bang proprietary feature Silo may have that Hex, Blender or Carrara doesn't and vice-versa.
Yes, but Carrara has we. And we have Carrara.
...and that makes us special...
...'cause Carrara R O C K S ! ! !
Hello!
Very outdated since I did't manage to update my portfolio for like 2 years... but via this link you will see images containing simple 3D renders and all of the objects in the images are created entirely in Carrara,
except for the two images on the bottom if I remember correctly.
http://danas-anis.com/3d art.htm
in this page you can see other images that are also contains objects created entirely in Carrara
http://danas-anis.com/3d art fantasy.htm
here as well:
http://danas-anis.com/3d art other.htm
except for the castles image and trees in the same image, they are simple planes with shadeless texture map.
my main lacking in Carrara's model room is the lack of the knife tool like in Hexagon or Blender. other than that it is very capable modeling app, just for some task the one needs to combine a couple of techniques to achieve desired result.
Nowdays I do all of my modeling in Carraras vertex modeler.
Hi Jetbird, you have not been HERE much lately, McGuiver too
I do not drop into CarraraCafe very often admittedly though
You both do beautiful modeling! :coolsmile::coolgrin::coolhmm::coolmad::coolcheese: :coolsmile:
jetbird wrote :
ahh couldn't agree more, what an oversight aye? are you working on another magazine by the way? love the work you do
yes agreed!
yes agreed!I third that!
I miss you guys! But I peruse your art online when I can. Love your stuff, both of you!
I do all my modeling in Carrara. No organic forms though ( no people animals or trees )
Most of my objects are machines, or tools.
I used to model in sketchup, or alibre and convert but I like to tweek too much, so staying in one program is huge for me.
and avoiding file conversions removes a big PITA.
I believe I can model pretty much anything I need at this point using both the vertex or spline modeler.
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