Heartfelt Thanks!
Dartanbeck
Posts: 21,543
Hey, I know that my presence here is very 'come n' go' these days, and that a LOT has happened during my recent absence. It's going to take quite a while for me to dig through and catch up, all while checking in on everything else that's going on here. But I feel that I really need to express my gratitude to this entire Carrara Discussion Forum community. It's been an excellent ride so far, since 2010ish, maybe a bit earlier, but not much, as you folks inspire, teach, inquire, and otherwise entertain all things Carrara.
Like Selinita is constantly reminding us (I remember back when that was my job - the Carrara cheerleader! LOL): Don't you just LOVE Carrara?!!!
Well, yes I do. And as much as I can just lose myself in this amazing interface (yes, I love the interface, no matter what modern creations and simplification might be happening everywhere else) without any other inspiration, lessons, or whatever, I certainly wouldn't know nearly as much about all of the wonderful things that we can do in this immense architecture of 3d animation bliss without being an active member of this forum.
Active? Yeah... Active!
When I first started lurking here, I was amazed at how much I could learn just by paging through the forum as it was then, when superstars of this software were at their height of glory - writing amazing tutorial threads that grew and grew as folks joined into them, asking questions, adding other ingenious ways to commit nearly the same results, etc., Newbies asking the questions that I needed to here answers to, advice on ways to buy the software at screaming deals... it was truly a magnificent community with gobs and gobs of Carrara freebies, as we had our own special piece of the forum just for those.
As the forum software kept breaking, with Daz reps using up cases of Duct tape to keep it all working, even though it was still falling apart at the seems (it just grew so much beyond their expectations), decisions had to be made to get bigger, better, faster forum software. So it changed and kicked our old pages (literally tons of them - information galore) into a sort of repository in an attempt to save them. It didn't work so well - so for those of us who lived through it, we were lucky to at least have had the chance to experience what we could, when we did.
Feelings got hurt over the changes, stuff still wasn't working right in the newer software, and people got cranky until finally, our beloved Carrara part of the forum got very dark.
One day, someone sent me an e-mail saying that I should really check the forum. There was a thread, started by who used to go by the name of Wendy 
s Cats, asking if anybody has seen Dartanbeck around anywhere. Something like:
Have you seen this man?
- If you have, tell him that we need him to come and cheer this place up!
- We miss him!
- That sort of stuff
By the time I saw it, the thread had grown into kind of a Dartanbeck Appreciation thread. My absence was only because the forum was broke, and Daz3d asked if we could just be patient. So I was being patient, working away in Carrara without going to the internet much at all, except to occasionally check my e-mails and buy some Daz gear.
After seeing that thread, I just had to come back - but the forum was not what I was expecting. Horrible things were being said about my beloved Carrara - which was really the main reason I wanted a computer. Without Carrara, I think I'd rather go outside and chisel stone.
Some of the threads were slamming Carrara because this sucks, or that isn't as good as Maya, or....
So my first order of business was to get some threads going that didn't scare newcomers away - as it was, I couldn't imagine anyone coming in to see if they should buy Carrara, to actually then go out and buy Carrara. What a sad notion. And even more sad was the fact that Carrara was being slammed so hard, that it felt like the doors were closed to anyone asking for help. It really was kinda dark - at least it felt that way to me.
So I started writing about how Awesome Carrara is - and gave solid examples of how truly wonderful it is as an all round fully blown ILM for the home user. Cripeman came in with some really cool video shorts on how to do things in Carrara - and in doing so, exclaiming how cool Carrara is in the process. It was really neat.
After shining light of gleeful bliss on Carrara, people started getting rallied to the light side and the questions started rolling in. And the magic happened that, for each question there were many, many answers with so many various ways to solve the riddle... Carrara Discussion forums were back - and in full force over a very short period of time.
Contacting Cripeman, asking him if I could have his permission to create a Table of Contents for his videos, so we could look them up by subject from a single page, was a remarkable thing. He was honered that I wanted to do such a thing, and we became fast friends. He and I discussed how much fun it is to help the Carrara community, even though he was doing the videos for an entirely different reason than to make Carrara tutorials - a reason he never actually told me. 
But the discussions we had got my mind going on creating what had then become ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄, which actually worked a bit differently then. It was a bit of a PITA how threads always opened on the first post, but it worked great for the manual's Table of Contents.
But when the forum software changed again, my manual was almost entirely broken - none of the links worked, pictures were misplaced or worse... I was thinking that I'd had to delete it.
Chohole, that sweetheart, contacting me and urged me to keep it live, and got me in touch with a Daz forum code guy to help me fix the thread. It took a lot of work for all three of us, and Chohole was there for me every step of the way, offering emotional support that I really needed.
The Manual might have been my pet project to help folks find what they're looking for, and to inspire towards subjects that might not have been thought of, but it was this whole community that made it work - that made it Magical!
Over the years, I've had some really strong emotional ties with many of you, and I feel a deep friendship, a neighborly, family love toward this entire membership: The Carrara Discussion Forum. It's been a long ride for me so far, and I don't see it ever ending.
I came here as a total Newbie. In fact, I joined the forum and started reading about working in Carrara before I ever bought it. DAZ_DELL turned me onto a wonderful way to get it at the time: Buy a book, Figures Characters and Avatars, by Les Pardew, then sold at Daz3d for around $20, which came with Hexagon, Carrara, and Daz Studio 3.1 - then get an upgrade to Carrara 7 (again, a deal that was available way back then - the store used a different software too) which came with a free upgrade to Carrara 8.0 once it came out officially, and induction into the 8.0 Beta immediately - and since the book came with Carrara 6 Pro, all of the upgrades took me to Pro as well, which is exactly what I needed.
It didn't take long with this community to come to grips with turning Carrara Pro into my favorite anything for a computer software. As I learned, I found myself able (and very willing) to help others with their questions, as I was developing my own, unique methods of solving my needs that might have been different than how MacGuiver would do it, or 3DAGE, or Headwax, or Roygee....
In a lot of ways, I still feel a bit like a newbie. I don't use physics much - actually not at all except for Dyno Hair and Particle Emitters, maybe a few other things that might use forces of gravity. I rarely go for ultra high quality or global illumination, indirect lighting, caustics, blurry reflections... anything that might slow down my animated renders, even though the way I use Batch Queue, I certainly could go for longer render times.
There is SO MUCH to Carrara that I don't normally use.
Threads in this forum, on the other hand, often get me to at least take these various (virtually unused by me) functions and feature for a test spin. I love that! I can't even count how many times I've opened up something I've never done before, gazed hard at the manual over and over, took screen captures of the process - all simply to attempt to help somebody who's stuck and wondering how something works. I love that!
So once I stopped lurking and started getting Active in the community... that's when I really started learning more and more about Carrara - even the parts that I wasn't actively using, or even truly interested in.
Okay, so where am I going with all of this?
My point is that, as special as Carrara is to me, I wouldn't be anywhere near as comfortable with using it if it wasn't for this (THIS) amazing community, and I want to express my Heartfelt Gratitude to ALL oof YOU!
Rock On, Cheers, and Happy Carrarateering!!!
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Visit the Cafe! Download Issues of C3DE
A community Project webspace for Carrara Animators!!!
3DXTRACT E-Zine thread, here in the forums (with link to download the complete collection)
Includes tutorials, tips, articles from some of Carrara's Greats!!!
Playing around with particles - near the very beginning of my experimments with them.
I still love this 2008 Carrara Demo Reel
Old Inside Daz3d fun video - I miss these guys. Good friends we were
Post You Renders - #4: A New Hope - First 'Post Your Renders thread from the forum software before this one. You can see some of the software issues we were dealing with at the time in the text and image posting limitations of the time, as well as Chohole's awesome patience as ours diminished! ;)
Post Your Renders - #5: Yet More Hope - Back then, we had maximum number of posts allowed in any particular thread. How Chohole did it was, the last person to post in the 'Post Your Renders' thread would begin the next one, and hence got to name it, etc., This one was started by a good friend of mine who is now a LightWave user. He still visits evilproducer and myself fairly often. We are known as the Three Carrarateers, when such visits occur! :)
Post Your Renders - #6: Happy New Year! - This one was started by Bigh, who has always inspired me through amazing renders and fantastic animations. Here is just one of his amazing threads of material from the Art Studio (Daz) forum
Post Your Renders - Introduce the World to Carrara - I ended up getting this round of the fun! ;)
Heh... just ran across this old video I made for one of Mike Moir's 10 second animation challenges
FAST!
Fun Fact: Wendy, evilproducer, Garstor and I have been hanging out together via the internet for nearly as long as I've been a Carrara user - maybe a couple years in. It's rare that a day goes by without some sort of communication going on between us. Good pals. Poor Gar Man. Never quite caught on to Carrara. He sure is taking to his LW though! :) He's also quite the photographer. Looking forward to his visit this year.
Wonderful Dart!
Keep it up and I'll give you a hug - be careful.
:)
Splendiferous to see such a thread.
You know, I've always been meaning to take a trip to Oz... I'll take that hug! :)
No, THANK YOU, Dart.
I don't post as much as I should, but I always read the comments people leave on the boards. It's a good community. :)
I'm serious... Thank YOU!
That's cool. It really is an excellent source of Carrara goodness. I think we all love it when you do come in and share your experiences! You do some really fun stuff! :)
Great to see you back in the midst of us DAZ promoting Carrara
It's really great to see you posting more and more here again. Your effervescence has been missed. I don't do any social media - this community is my social media and I
you all! (Was that too mooshy...I don't care 
)
Same here
hey just checked out your site again http://www.giraffeskullstudio.com/ great stuff! wonderful oils
Thank you for the nice words Headwax, and thanks for looking!
I agree. Very nice paintings and I love that run through time video of your digital stuff too. You Rock!
Good news - I think. I've been busting my britches working to earn enough cash to buy or build a new machine, and it looks like one of the people I'm helping now might just get me an HP Omen laptop instead of paying my wage! Kind of excited here! Now I hope I didn't just jynx it - but I had to say something or I'd burst.
i7 Hex core, GTX1060, SSD + SATA, 16GB RAM (upgrade to 32 for a few more bucks) - looks like a sweet machine, and will certainly get my project going again!
This fellow has a LOT of work available too - so maybe if this deal works well, maybe I can talk him into letting me work off another new drum set! Who knows, eh?
Sounds great. Have my fingers crossed for you.
+1
late to the party, but...
hear! hear! dartanbeck!
a toast to the generous, witty, and amazingly talented crew here.
"thanks" is not enough, but will have to do for now.
--ms
Sorry but can only crawl on my virtual tummy and grovel whilst kissing the virtual feet of every forum member here who all take the generous and patient track that there are no daft questions and share all they can.
Am away on short holiday... but even so am p!anning and thinking of my next bits for my project. That's how much I love working with Carrara and all of you. The best 3D knowledge base in the !niverse!
So thank YOU Dart for the perfect post which was read whilst sitting on hotel balcony sipping some local firewater
Silene
Ooops...maybe too much fw. Can't work rotate on tablet!
That's a helluva nice render, Silene!
Gonna go drum some rock on a pier tonight... hope it's nice out!
I love the work you do in Carrara! We've been progressing for a while now!
was recently lookin at some of your yoo toobs
god rays
10 second animation challenge???!!!
Dart, you are a treasure to the community. It seems like I'm always saying it, but sorry I haven't been posting. I lurk once in awhile.
particles
I should have used some, eh? ;)
There was an animated render of a ship crashing, with fire particles. got lost somehow in the quote/reply. dohh
cant find it now double doh
particles (second try)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/35/ec1f0723fa0eb176429d706ba7de1d.gif