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Oh yeah. I almost forgot! I wanted to agree with DT about how good an idea it would be for DAZ to focus on Carrara (and Carraraists) as a way to get Content developed for Studio (and Poser) in DAZ owned software. I think DAZ would need to update some of Carrara's features to do this effectively. For instance, if there are functions in Hexagon that are missing in Carrara's vertex modeler, it would be a good idea to add them.
My only concern is that if Carrara is positioned in this way, that DAZ remember that Carrara is a full featured program with some really cool features outside of rigging and the vertex modeler. I wouldn't want to see them neglected.
Congrats on the new addition, Dart! That is awesome news :)
I don't have any reason to believe that the things I mentioned would pull users away from DS, because as PhilW said people make their content elsewhere as it is and always have. Nothing in the store is modeled in DS because it has no modeling capabilities, everything to do with modeling - UV mapping - texturing is done in different programs. Up until the release of Genesis even rigging could be done in Poser and I think more people went that route than using Figure Setup Tools. Having all this stuff setup in Carrara would mean everything could be done in a DAZ app, one that you have to pay them for. You'd still have to do the material side of things in DS since that's not interchangeable with Carrara's shaders. Even so if DAZ could get every DS user to stop using that program and move to Carrara while maintaining the same content adoption rates they would, because they would sell copies of paid software in the process.
People already have the ability to make all their own content through the use of a variety of software so that wouldn't be a concern of theirs either. The reason people buy content is because they don't have the skills required to make something so high quality, or they don't have the time to invest in it. I've never known it to be a case of not having the tools, because the tools are there for users just the same as PAs already.
I'm also pretty sure that DAZ would want a bunch of people making content to sell, they're a content marketplace and anyone making content would be a potential partner for them. Of course these people have the ability to sell at a different store which wouldn't be in DAZ's best interest but they have just as much ability to do so as things are currently. Other sites like Rendo and RDNA are just as available to users as the tools to create content I mentioned above, the only thing keeping anyone making a Genesis alternative and selling it over there right now is skill and time.
Yeah I wouldn't either. When talking with Head Wax I mentioned the idea that it would actually help these things though. Were PAs to be making their content in Carrara they would be more inclined to support it directly, after modeling and texturing all their stuff why would they not take that small extra step to include Carrara materials for it? Along with all of these tools you'd be working in a capable rendering app which would allow you to test things in a "final step" setup, you'd have full ability to get an idea of how your bump and specular maps are behaving. There would be differences in the render as opposed to it's final state in DS but it would still be very useful for trouble shooting, at that point they may as well just ship the Carrara mats along with it. Having all these products popping up with Carrara support would be a very good thing for the program I think, people would be less worried to adopt a new toolset if they know the content they use is supported. These are the people they would be marketing it's other features to, the people who actually use the program for rendering.
Much of this stuff also serves as viable content creation tools too though. People who do large scale environments like Stonemason could make use of Carrara's environments to produce skydome textures, building their set within a dynamic and easily adjustable atmosphere before baking it when they're happy with how it fits together. Terrain generation would serve as a base for them to build this environment on while the ocean is there to incorporate shorelines and rivers, through the use of plugins like Terrain Tools they could make the bake the shader interaction between land and water more accurately and easier than they could paint the stuff by hand. Dynamic cloth would be there for anyone needing to cover their table props or drape portions of Genesis dress, particles would be there for anyone building a rocket ship figure to include smoke trail props for (which they could render textures using Carrara's clouds to produce). I'd be surprised if there was no way to link Carrara's dynamic hair to the type of stuff LAMH and Garibaldi is doing, far as I know they both rely on spline curves with the same sort of start-end-smooth information. Bullet physics could be baked as morphs for building props to make them destructible, or just to throw that random rubble around in an easy way. Replicators are there for people to fill in dense grasses and the plant editor is there for those wanting their environment to contain trees (Carrara's plants actually export to OBJ cleaner than Vue's in my opinion). Global illumination and AO are there to bake with to include these sorts of effects in a texture eliminating the need to calculate for the end user.
True! DAZ invites ALL to become a PA and will help all they can to help you become one, which is how I became one.
Thank you all! I am still a young fellow, but yes, Phil... I still beat you, eh?
Oh... she is SOOOO beautiful!!! I'm floating right now :)
Wendy, I have always felt as you do - but through these same instructions as I've linked to above, they tell you exactly how to do it, no matter which software you use. It's just a matter of exporting obj format properly. You have to know which way you export, so that you can import correctly - as to keep scale appropriate for what you've done, and what you're going to do. Many PA's use Modo already - which looks fantastic. But I've actually heard a few reports that they like Carrara better(?)!!! Pretty cool - but I can understand that - truly. Being able to create content the way I've outlined above, is very comfortable in Carrara. I used SubD within Carrara - and when converting to SubD in DS, it turned out just right. Now, granted - I am not claiming expertise in the field in any way - and I'm not new to modeling, so it did go really smooth for me. So I'm not saying that it's easy for everyone - but I don't see why not. It does take a little practice, getting used to techniques of making 3d models - and marinating decent topology (keeping polygons mostly uniform in size and having a nice, clean model) will certainly help when it comes to having DS perform it's magic. I am always happy to share what I might know to help anyone who might get stuck.
Also, Creating content is not for everyone. Some people just don't want to make content. And that doesn't mean never. I didn't want to have to make anything. I wasn't afraid to add morphs and fix poke through and such. But I did not have any urge to actually build anything. Not sure why, either. I had just learned how to build good models - maybe I wanted a break from it? Hard to say how our species brains deal with the wattage that courses through them. I even think that a good many wires in mine got crossed somewhere along the way :)
But now, suddenly, I feel like trying. Well - doing.
Not sure how involved I'll be - but I think I might just start making some of the things that I've been begging others to build - and I never see them. Always a great place to start, since others are likely looking for the same thing. We are, after all, similar amongst each other in a good many ways! :)
Okay... I think I need a nap. I'm talking funny.
Hey, thanks again for your congrats! She really is a little doll. I am a very happy man!
wonderful Dart!!! :) good work :)
ya know I have heard this some place before, let me think about it, hmmmmmm
hmmmm
hmmmm
Could I have said the same thing 5 years ago? ;-)
What? Telling Dart good work for being a grandpa? I don't think so. It just happened today. Or do you mean you need a nap? ;-)
No, the actual topic, of sorts. Basically making carrara the engine and studio the car it pulls ;-)
Actually it wasn't that long ago. I believe it was when Studio first got the figure set up tools and I said something like "it would be nice to have them in carrara so I didn't have to jump through apps to make something".
I made a present shirt and trousers for M3 once. When I finished I said I'd never do it again. Then Studio wasn't in the picture for the work. I'm sure it was Poser, Hex, Carrara, photofilter, and several rounds. I'm wound a little tight for that stuff.
Of coarse if I had kept at it I'd be reasonably good at it by now lol
Well, if you said it five years ago (or less), I doubt that many would have disagreed with it. I've always considered D/S as more of a plugin for Carrara. I actually open it once or twice a year, hate the interface, remember why I never open it, and close it again until the next time I forget why I can't stand it.
I respect anybody that can get a good looking render out of D/S (and there are a lot of nice renders). I just don't have the patience.
I agree. And I think that Carrara is quite possibly the greatest Content Delivery System (hey, did I just make that up??) on the planet.
AWESOMENESS ITSELF stands up and takes notice of Carrara and says "Wow, that's awesome !!!" :)
(okay, maybe that's a little bit overboard...) :)
Where else can you find content and skies and trees and stuff all together in one master application? Pretty cool !!
Can you imagine what's in store with Carrara 9 ???
"Can you imagine what’s in store with Carrara 9 ???"
No. I have yet to read the slightest hint of a clue what may, or may not be in C9. Right now I have my doubts DAZ still develops apps. I don't need actual updates, but a dev diary would be nice. Giving us an idea what is being worked on and how it's going would be excellent. Ya, I know that ship sailed years ago.
Well, compared to smaller companies, whom mainly deliver an elite selection of software, and to larger application developers that charge accordingly for the constant customer service, sure. DAZ is extremely and even discomfortingly quiet. Quiet enough to really make one wonder.
We just have what they've said to go by. And what they've said is that Carrara is to be upgraded to 8.5 and then to 9. And that pleases me. So far they've not disappointed me with anything they've done with Carrara. They had that one release of the beta that killed people's preferences. I'm glad I didn't install that one. But they came back quickly with a new version that used its own preferences file. That's when I started working with the beta, and I am impressed with how they've progressed. I keep every version. So It might be interesting to go back and check the differences one day, or week... just to write up a comparison.
What DAZ3D has done with their own, Daz Studio is nothing short of amazing and proves to me that they don't truly deserve to be bashed too heavily. I mean, DAZ even claims openly that they're a Content Store. The development of apps is a special service that they provide to keep their content alive, and to help to push further envelopes in the theater - like Genesis.
DAZ3D has my every confidence - and they (and all of you) know that. Trust me. They thank me for the ambitious loyalty. I have read some conspiracy theories lately that just make me wonder how people create such thoughts - and then begin to actually believe them! The lines of them being 'out to get us' or somehow 'screw us all over' "us" being the paying customer. I'm here to tell you, that DAZ isn't in the business of making attempts to screw over and lose customers. No. They want to overly please people - keep them coming back - telling their friends - getting more and more people interested in the hobby or profession. It helps keep the whole circle stay beneficial to everyone involved. It's simply the sensible way to make it work - and they've made their struggle through hard economic times with many bruises, sure... but never once did they 'screw over' their clientele to heal.
For a long time I had express this same opinion to the founders of DAZ3D Dan Farr and Chris Creek and others at DAZ that Carrara should be tool to be the main application to create content and to put it in the hands of PAs for that purpose. But now founders of DAZ 3D are gone and there is an entire new management and development team. Maybe it is time to tell this new management team of this idea. Have them really take a look at what Carrara can do.
I would first recommend to put all the hexagon tools and features including layering in the Carrara modeler. Add all the rigging tools from DAZ Studio plus the import and export features and this will open the doors to more Carrara sales and content sales.
Sure, I agree. If the rest of the Carrara users want more Hex features, I'd be happy to vote with the rest of you. Personally, I am more hyped about a more pure DAZ3D Content Creation bridge or export/import functionality that more modeling features - but that's me. Both would be amazingly cool. I am not greedy, however. As long as DAZ decides to 'keep Carrara somewhat up-to-date' and in good health with the 'today's (at the time) computers and Operating Systems', I'll be a happy little Carraraist.
Something new that's really grabbing my attention, is this new DAZ_Jared fellow. His new Carrara tutorial has page numbers revealing a much larger project that he's developing - and has been amazingly productive towards helping our whole online experience become a better place for us all - although much likely went, perhaps, unnoticed. Well, I am asking for people to take note of DAZ3D's ambition to improve our lives, over our own personal wants and wishes. DAZ3D has grown out of the web service that They've created themselves back in the day, and has decided to upgrade. It's been a huge struggle, and yet DAZ employees have stood vigilant against the crappy odds and truly impatient, immature, and unreasonable treatment. Look at how vast the changes have been in such short periods of time from what we all believe to be a relatively tiny staff, and try and tell me that their leaving this - what has been, since the new forum came online - an insulting experience for any DAZ employee, developer or Published Artist, except for me. Everyone seems to be really nice to me, for some reason - aside from believing me to be totally and utterly insane. And who would I be to disagree, for if I truly am, I doubt, highly, that I would really recognize that fact. I do know that th doctors are saying that the profession which I am trying hard to get out of has been causing so much bodily pain, that my brain is attempting to alleviate me from having to live with it. Amazing = the human body. So chemicals are being released, and it can make me behave differently at times. Overly grumpy for no real apparent reason, possibly forgetful at other times. And sometimes all I can do is to sleep. Oh no... babbling again...
Carrara and Content:
The thing that gets me all fired up to the point of making threads like this is the fact that I'll buy some really cool pile of beautiful and fun to work with content from the store. I'll go into Carrara and just load it into a scene from the browser with the greatest of ease. A library that remains to be an enormously faster experience than Poser, although Poser 7 is the last version I've ever used. But my point is that I just load it in. I don't need to use special plugins or preform a bunch of fancy schmancy preparation before hand, unless, of course, I'm tryig to do something like importing dynamic simulations - but even having the ability to do that is truly amazing!
I love the Artists here at DAZ3D. I love the treatment that I get as a customer. I must admit that I only know how it feels to be a customer who is a Platinum Club Member - so I can only speak from that perspective. How it worked, is that, when I bought Carrara, I bought my membership. I did that at my wife's wonderful advice, at a time that we can always count on having our tax returns back - so I can always afford the yearly dues. We have looked at the membership several times in comparison to the savings and each time we've decided that it's such an uneven advantage that it would be utterly silly not to renew - and so we just plan to pay for it for the rest of our lives. The savings aren't really savings... it's more like we get more back from DAZ than what we give them. And since I truly enjoy all of the new and legacy items that I buy, it's a great deal. Jack and Petipet, Serrge, Blondie9999, Forbidden Whispers, Thorne, the list is immense! And These artists talk to us in the members forum! Great art, great investment, happy days for an overwhelmingly happy customer. I've said it too many times to count.
Even if you don't fall into a happy, happy classification, which I still just don't get... but, whatever, and are just an occasional shopper here and there, maybe upgrade to the latest software, maybe wait... no matter how often you might frequent DAZ3D, I simply cannot quite wrap my head round the idea that they should be treated negatively. Especially the staff of helpers and developers, moderators and artists, but even the helpful forum members. This is a Content place, and Carrara can handle content with ease! Again, it will be my aim throughout this thread to illustrate some of the great times I've had using Content in Carrara. We will be hosting many other threads for the many other ways that you can use content - but this one is truly going to end up (hopefully without having to start a new one)being a place where new Carrara users can come to learn new and creative ways to use content that they've purchased within the beautiful 3d world realization software that is Carrara!
Wow, Dartanbeck, thanks for all of that !!! And I agree 100%....maybe even 200% !!! :)
No need to be a Gloomy Gus when there's all of that content out there !!!
When I first bought Carrara, I was still fresh from Poser. Scenes in Poser (usually) are much smaller and ore focused than what can be achieved in Carrara. So I was still in the mentality of making small, focused scenes - which can be a very beneficial way to create animations. One thing that I really liked the idea of was the Millennium Environment and all of the cool supplements made for it. Hmmm... I'm not longed in on my other tab, so this is the first time I've seen it for $9.99, which is an excellent deal! PC Members get it for $1.99 though. Still - it pays for itself tenfold if you like it and use it to surround your scenes with. The strange part about using it in Carrara is that, when you load it, it looks so small in the vastness of Carrara's workspace. Just drop the camera down into the middle of things and you'll see what an amazing product this thing can be. With a PC membership, most, if not all of the supplements are at the club discount of $1.99, which will place your heroes in the plains of the west, southern desert dry lands, outer space, under water, and many other cool locales.
Okay, Dartanbeck. I bought it and loaded it in and...
Here are my tips and tricks for this and other such like products, like the Multiplane Cyclorama, etc.,
First off... lets understand that these surrounds are the distant background of your scene, and really don't need to be lit by lights. Consider it a TV screen playing in the background. So Find the Shaders that are applied to the surrounding background meshes and copy the image map from the color channel to the glow channel and set the brightness of the image map according to taste.
Furthermore, you'll want to select those pieces in the Instances tray of the scene tab, and remove the checks from both Cast and Receive shadows. You'll now have the background working for you, not against. Now simply use your own favorite methods of lighting to illuminate the rest of the scene. Remember that you can always exclude those outer background arcing walls from the affects of the lights, should you need to.
Know that Carrara is an excellent tool for making your own, much more vast environments that can render just as fast if not, faster that using these sorts of products. But sometimes these products appear exactly as we want our specific scenes to look - so, why not... right? I do - and I love using the stuff. Flipmode's Easy Environment Series uses Sky Boxes that must be treated as mentioned above. But when you do that stuff, and although you can see it in the assembly room, it doesn't show in the render, simply select the sky box (the instance with a suffix "_SB") and set the slider on the morph to anything but "0.00". Not sure why - but it works.