Smart Content in 8.5 and Alpha Channel in 64bit

HeavyD

I have several questions I would be very grateful to receive help on:

CONTENT vs SMART CONTENT?
In Carrara 8.5 it seems that all of my content is in the Content tab and none is in the Smart Content tab on my new PC (this is not how it was on my old PC). I used DIM to install all of the programs and content onto my new PC. The black folder icon on the right display different options active or grayed depending on which tab is selected. Example: Add Folder is not available in the Smart Content tab. The categories and folders exist under Smart Content but there are no files there. I'm not sure what the difference is between regular Content and Smart Content so I feel like I can't be sure if my Smart Content items are showing in my Content tab or if I am missing them because they don't show in the Content tab.

CARRARA 8.5 VERSIONS?
I've lost track of and I am confused by the different versions of Carrara 8.5 and their features. There is regular 8.5 vs 8.5 Pro and there is 32bit vs 64bit.

My questions are:
Are regular 8.5 and 8.5 Pro both available in 32bit and 64bit?
64bit will not render with Alpha channel transparencies but 32bit will. Why is this and will it be "fixed"?
What features does Pro have that regular does not that we have to do without if we want to render a transparent background?
Do you see where I am going with this?

I am pretty sure I saw in a post a while back (when 8.5 was first released?) that the Pro features could be unlocked in the 32bit 8.5 version if the serial number for Pro was used to activate it. Am I remembering correctly? Does this work? I tried it but I think it just activated my 64bit version. Since I am confused about the versions, I am not what I did to get where I am right now.

Any help to shed light on this would be much appreciated. I hope I am not the only one experiencing this.

Thanks.

Dartanbeck

I never used Smart Content, so I'm not sure what you're seeing in there. Perhaps someone can come along and shed light on that part.

I'm a bit confused on the idea that Carrara Pro 64 bit won't render Alpha. I only use Pro 64 and render to alpha a lot. You do, however, have to select a file format that can use Alpha before the option becomes available, however. Like PNG format with activate the Render with Alpha boxes, so will TGA, and I believe BMP might, too. As will the sequenced versions of those for animation rendering.

I don't think this list is entirely complete... but it can give you an idea of the differences between Pro and Standard, by looking at the "Pro Only" tags: Carrara Technical Specs Page

Right, Pro is the only version that offers 64 bit. So when you buy Pro, you also get Standard 32 bit. But like you've said, the Pro S?N should unlock the Pro aspects of it. Not sure. I've never used the 32 bit version.

Not sure about that Smart Content thing - or even what's so Smart about it. The way I understood it when they first released it, is that when you select something of DAZ content that came with MetaData, Smart Content would show a list of things you have in your collection that can work with it. Seemed to work, but it gave me a headache. Yikes... I'm trying it now, and I shouldn't have... now it's busy thinking of what I have that will work on the Genesis 2 Female figure I have selected. When I opened some of those category things, and drilled down to People > Females > Real World, and selected Real World (light blue text) some stuff came up. So I went back and, while she was still selected, clicked on Files > Default, and it took a while to energize the list, but now I have a whole slew of stuff in there. Yeah... looks like everything I have for Genesis 2 Female is in there.

I don't like doing it that way. I just used Content > My DAZ 3D Library > People: and select the individual stuff from there.

One thing.
If you're already familiar with how Smart Content works, and it doesn't seem to be working, try this:
Go to your Program Files (x86) > DAZ 3D > DAZ3DIM1 > and open the 'cms' folder.
Launch the exe inside to initiate the Content Management Service.

If that still doesn't work, try opening DAZ Studio (I know, you're not supposed to need DS anymore... but it helped me and many others with some issues) load in a Genesis or Genesis 2 figure, load some clothing onto it, and exit the program. Now try Carrara's Smart content (after closing and re-opening since the DS thing)

Hope that some of that helps you get going. I know... it can be a bummer when this type of stuff occurs. But it happens when we load everything fresh onto (Yaaaay!!!) a new Computer! :ahhh:

3DAGE

HI :)

All versions of Carrara should render alpha, whether that's Alpha in a texture map, or in an final rendered image (given that you need to set the export to a format which supports alpha channel,. such as PNG (IMO the best available alpha format for file size)

When you buy carrara, you should get a 32bit version, and a 64 bit version.

All versions of Carrara, can be (the demo version) / (the Standard version) (the Pro Version)
It's all one program, and the serial number will make it Standard or Pro,. No serial number,. makes it the Demo / 30 day trial.

Smart content will only show up once you click on the "Files" section of the Smart content tab,. or expand and select one of the folders in the "Categories" or "Products" sections.

The "Files" section will show all smart content,. and ..depending on the amount of smart content you have,.. can take some time......

The Smart content relies on the Content database,. which (AFAIK) should now be installed along with Carrara 8.5
so, If there's no smart content showing up,. it's most likely that the Content database isn't running.

you can check that in Windows, using the Task manager, and looking at the running "Processes"

Hope it helps :)