Combining Three Objects

[email protected]

I'm at the beginning of learning Carrara. I have a small mission that will get me started in learning Carrara's 3D modeling tools. I'm looking for a tutorial that deals with manipulating objects, including combining objects.

Say I had two objects (horns). I would combine them so they would act as one. Then, say I wanted to join them to a third object (a head).

Any recommendations for tutorials?

Thanks.

DUDU

Converts your objects in vertex (if it is not done), you go in modeling room of a horn, you select all and you copy.
You go then in modeling room of the head and you paste the horn.
You make the same thing with the other horn and you adjust the selections if necessary.
Each time, create new a shader domain before un-selecting the horns.

evilproducer

Another way is to parent.

Since you mention horns, let's use you avatar as an example.

To add horns to a human head, you could take your horn model (simple to make in either the Spline Modeler or the Vertex Modeler) and position them so they appear to stick out of the head. When you are happy with the placement, open the human figure's hierarchy and drag and drop the horn model(s) to the head in the figure's hierarchy. The same principle would apply if you wanted your figure to hold a gun, sword, baseball bat, etc. The horns should follow the head's movement.

In the screen shots below, I used a V4. I wanted to replicate Cherry Darling from Grindhouse: Planet Terror. I hid the lower leg and parented to it model of a gauze wrap and a machine gun, which in turn had a muzzle flash billboard and a light bulb parented to the gun. They all follow along as I move the figure, as demonstrated by this video:
http://youtu.be/NY8nM1Uqsao

evilproducer

I can post a mini-tutorial on how to make horns in the Spline modeler in a few minutes. My net-connection is acting a bit weird. I suspect it's because I hit my data limit and am being throttled down. BTW, satellite sucks, but I live in a rural area without DSL, so it's my only option. :(

[email protected]

So that's how you do parenting in Carrara. They follow the head fine now. I had the horns parented to the head in Poser, but when they got into Carrara they ended up parented to a different body part, floating in front of the forehead. I am learning that certain things that look OK in Poser don't export very well. I had to throw the guy's hair away.

I like being able to select two objects at the same time in Carrara. I can't do that in Poser.

Thanks.

Dartanbeck

Ctrl + G = Group or Cmd + D on Mac

So if you select any number of things in your instances tray (far right, where all your stuff is) and type Ctrl G, you'll group them together. Now you may give that group a name and move, scale, etc., everything together. This is also very useful for keeping your instances tray cleaned up. For example, I've just place a bunch of light posts throughout the scene. I don't really need them attached to each other, but by grouping them, I have them all selectable from one clean drop down folder. Another example being things that you do need to keep joined together. As mentioned above, you might just drag one or more of the objects onto another, which is called parenting. So you move the one, and the rest follow. If that doesn't seem like the right thing you wish to do, however, simply select the whole bunch and Ctrl G them. Now each part can be manipulated individually from inside the group and you can just select the group to manipulate them all together at once.

[email protected]

evilproducer said:

I can post a mini-tutorial on how to make horns in the Spline modeler in a few minutes. My net-connection is acting a bit weird. I suspect it's because I hit my data limit and am being throttled down. BTW, satellite sucks, but I live in a rural area without DSL, so it's my only option. :(

Thanks for the offer, but not yet. In due time. I have import/export on the brain now, and I need to rebuild a character as well.

I get 15/5 here, sometimes 20/5. It's not fios, but it's decent enough.

Dartanbeck

Rottenham said:

I am learning that certain things that look OK in Poser don't export very well. I had to throw the guy's hair away.

I'm nearing completion on an article to help you optimize your shaders, so you won't need to throw stuff away if you don't want to. In many cases, that, which you are referring to, is caused by the hightlight channel of the object's shader being set too brightly. It may also need to have a color chip removed from being multiplied against the texture map. Perhaps the bump is set to high or not high enough.

Part of what you'll really learn to love in Carrara is how you can take things that look like junk when you bring them in, and make them look spectacular by the time you render your final scene. It does take practice, but with that practice come a very rewarding feeling. And there are quite a few fairly easy to grasp concepts that can make that path much easier... simply because it gives you a fairly regular method of tweaking. Kind of like always adding the milk to the bowl after you've already poured the cereal. :)

[email protected]

Dartanbeck said:

Ctrl + G = Group or Cmd + D on Mac

So if you select any number of things in your instances tray (far right, where all your stuff is) and type Ctrl G, you'll group them together. Now you may give that group a name and move, scale, etc., everything together.

That's a lot easier than grouping in Poser. How do you ungroup? Delete the group from the hierarchy?

Dartanbeck

Oh... This Article, "Working with DAZ 3D Content" might be some help on that, too.

evilproducer

Somethings can get messed up in the translation. Not sure why.

Anyway, here's the mine spline tutorials for anybody that wants to try and follow it. I'll also upload the file to Dropbox so that if anybody wants to check out the file, they can. I've also shaded them, but it's quickie job. Feel free to use them however you wish. They should be about where the default V4 loads into Carrara at forehead level.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7370483/Spline-horns.car

•Start by dragging the wine cup icon to the Instances tray. This will open the Spline modeler.

•Choose the add point tool. It's the icon with the curved lines coming from a square with a plus sign.

•Click to place the point somewhere in the center of the pink extrusion line on the bottom grid.

•Select the first drawing plane by clicking almost anywhere on the back grid plane. A new drawing plane will appear to coincide with the first point on the pink extrusion line.

Dartanbeck

Rottenham said:

Dartanbeck said:

Ctrl + G = Group or Cmd + D on Mac

So if you select any number of things in your instances tray (far right, where all your stuff is) and type Ctrl G, you'll group them together. Now you may give that group a name and move, scale, etc., everything together.

That's a lot easier than grouping in Poser. How do you ungroup? Delete the group from the hierarchy?You may either drag the stuff out of the group or select the group and go Edit > Ungroup. I believe that Cntrl + U might even be the shortcut - don't remember right now.

evilproducer

oops! Posted this before I saw you reply! Sorry!

Maybe I'll work it into a proper tutorial. Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

To un-group, there is an Edit menu comand, and the keyboard shortcut is Command-U on a Mac. The equivalent on a PC. Or as Dart said, drag stuff out of the group.

Dartanbeck

evilproducer said:

oops! Posted this before I saw you reply! Sorry!

Maybe I'll work it into a proper tutorial. Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

To un-group, there is an Edit menu comand, and the keyboard shortcut is Command-U on a Mac. The equivalent on a PC. Or as Dart said, drag stuff out of the group.

Awesome! I was right with the Ctrl U then! :)

There are many who use the spline modeler. Just not a popular choice by those whom frequent this forum... that's for sure. It's amazing how much power having that modeler gives us. I'm about to show of some great features on yet another really cool modeler tool that Carrara has. Carrara just rocks.

evilproducer

Dartanbeck said:

evilproducer said:

oops! Posted this before I saw you reply! Sorry!

Maybe I'll work it into a proper tutorial. Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

To un-group, there is an Edit menu comand, and the keyboard shortcut is Command-U on a Mac. The equivalent on a PC. Or as Dart said, drag stuff out of the group.

Awesome! I was right with the Ctrl U then! :)

There are many who use the spline modeler. Just not a popular choice by those whom frequent this forum... that's for sure. It's amazing how much power having that modeler gives us. I'm about to show of some great features on yet another really cool modeler tool that Carrara has. Carrara just rocks.

Have you been playing with your balls? Metaballs that is! Or are you talkin' terrains?

[email protected]

Dartanbeck, you said,

Many of us are initially drawn to Carrara for its built-in ability to load and work with content that is originally designed for Poser and now, with Daz Studio. This type of content works beautifully in those applications, but has proven to be a nightmare when trying to get the most out of it with modelers and other 3d software.

Ain't it the truth. Import/export is hard to learn about, partly because everybody thinks it's about somebody else's product. But I want to learn it. I don't want to live with "Our program can only use our figures." Clothing is an issue too. I need to learn about that. I'll read your blurb tomorrow. Today started early.

Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

Everything I've learned about Carrara so far, I like. Z for zoom, D for dolly. How can you beat that? I look forward to learning how to use the modeling tools. I want to learn to create props, especially hair.
..................

The more I learn, the less I know.

Thank you, gentlemen.

DUDU

evilproducer said:

Maybe I'll work it into a proper tutorial. Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

Evil, it is true that the spline modeler merit that one is interested in it more amply.
You gave us desire with your last challenge.
A small tutorial for beginners would be welcome to start!

evilproducer

DUDU_00001 said:

evilproducer said:

Maybe I'll work it into a proper tutorial. Like Carrara, the Spline modeler needs more love!

Evil, it is true that the spline modeler merit that one is interested in it more amply.
You gave us desire with your last challenge.
A small tutorial for beginners would be welcome to start!

I was asked to write a tutorial for the CarraraCafe, but I had not figured out what to write about. Maybe I will do one about the Spline modeler. Maybe one for a simple object, and one for a more complex model.

I have a video project I need to get done, then I will have some time to work on the tutorial.