Still Finding Carrara Features

Steve K

I've always "learned" software by doing a project that I really want to finish.  Just dive in, using experience from previous similar applications.  E.g. Excel based on a LOT of work with Lotus 1-2-3.  So having used Bryce, Poser, and similar, I just plowed ahead in Carrara, looking up tutorials when I got stuck.  Needless to say, I have some (!) holes in my experience.  So I'm reading Tim Payne's PDF on how to use his Light Domes, and he says if I want to adjust the properties of all the many lights, just use Carrara's "Edit/Master Light".  I'm thinking "Huh, look at that.  Why wasn't I told about this before now?"  Maybe I should have finished those PhilW tuts ... or any comprehensive tuts ... 

Dartanbeck

Yeah, I know what you mean... ad then some!

evilproducer and Holly Wetcircuit (and perhaps others? Wendy? 3dage?) turned me on to that a long time ago, but I didn't acquire a taste for it. Funny enough, with a lot more experience now than I had then, I was just thinking of that very feature only days ago. Are we... Carraranected?

Actually, back when I first joined the Carrara forum - in the original Daz 3D forum format, Tim Payne, Dimension Theory, Sub7th and many others has some amazing threads going in regards to experimenting features and showcasing results - inviting others to join in with downloads of current setups, etc., and I was so green at that time that I didn't get a whole lot out of it except for exceptional reading.

Want more fun to check out? Maybe some of these topics will trigger inspiration!

► GK Dantas' Video Manual Index
Carrara Cafe's Die-Hard Instructor - now with an easy-to-use index of links

Dartanbeck

A personal favorite that I've stumbled across on my own, while using my EnvironKit Base scenes (modified - no 3d mesh at all) as a scene starting point.

Realistic Sky "Fog" works even on interior scenes. Try it in any scene - especial (as an experiment) scenes with no sky, or even using a skydome as the sky. Keep "Show Ground" disabled, don't worry about any other settings.

x miles = x miles - use this to accentuate the effect of the fog

Sun Rays/ Fog settings - I haven't tried God Rays, but the Fog will work in any scene. It passes through geometry and causes a volumetric fog which dissipates closer to the camera. Setting this stronger in amplitude can fill the scene, however. I think "Altitude" works best for scenes of really large scale, like an exterior scene.

Many of my Volumetric Lighting scenes include at least some Realistic Sky fog as well - especially my latest work. I know... my latest work is rarely seen.

Dartanbeck

I still have yet to mess around with physic simulations. I've looked into it a bit, and understand how to set it up and run it (basics), but have yet to actually try it. Other things have been driving my attention.

Mistara

i hazy on how to promote something to master

WendyLuvsCatz

Mystiarra you just open that tab and select which types of lights you want to change just all your bulbs for example or tick every light

does the intensity etc

I wish it could change more parameters like the effects

I end up saving one then applying it to the others

cross screens, stars, glow etc

 

Dartanbeck

WendyLuvsCatz said:

Mystiarra you just open that tab and select which types of lights you want to change just all your bulbs for example or tick every light

does the intensity etc

I wish it could change more parameters like the effects

I end up saving one then applying it to the others

cross screens, stars, glow etc

Cool idea! I have always been setting up one light that uses effects, then duplicate that light and place them around the scene.

The Master Light portion of the manual is on page 495

Carrara 7 User Guide Revision G - 11 December 2008

I still don't care for using it. I prefer to select all of the lights I want to change, and change them. Or duplicate my FX lights and just place them where they need to go, then alter them from there.

Dartanbeck

Another point:

When I first joined the Carrara forum, there were many features of Carrara that were really looked down upon by the (forum) community, which really helps to get a newbie like (then) me to avoid them altogether.

Since I've started stretching out and trying things on my own, I couldn't help but notice that some of those negativities would still hamper what I would try - causing me to accidentally ignore things I was told that I simply should never use. Hogwash, I say!

I still get advised to keep away from primitive fog and some of the other FX parts of Carrara. I'm glad that I ignore that instead of the tools.

When it comes to making movies, we can use as much help as we can get when it comes to visuals. Carrara has built-in animation adjutments for pretty much every effect it has to offer! Try them out! Render them on their own with alpha and make your own Stock Footage style of renders!

When we're talking about Stock Footage, we're always talking about 2D images or videos - never 3D, even if it came from a 3D source. 

Stock Footage is a term used for video (or still) elements that we can layer onto or into our movies to add something to the visual aspects. It is common to think that Stock Footage comes from someone else, and we either buy it or obtain it for free and add it to our collection, but many Hollywood (and other) film studios actively create their own Stock Footage and make catologs of it for use in their films. It often starts from a need on a particular shot (short sequence within the film), and then gets saved for future needs.

An example might be how ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) uses salt being poured in front of a black backdrop to be used to create waterfalls. It is still up to artists to tweak the result when composited over the movie frames, but the bulk of the effect is handled through this "element" or Stock Footage.

That all said, Carrara has many features that have been hidden from us simply because we were warned not to use them. Try as hard as you can to look past what others say and give these hidden treasures a try. Things like the Old Sky (to get a rainbow element, for example), Old Volumetric Clouds or just Clouds, Fog, Fire, etc., etc., etc., can add a lot of interest to a scene and, since they're Carrara features, they're very easy to work with.

The same can be said about lights. Try not to feel stuck to what others tell you you must do - do what works best for what you envision the overall outcome to be. There's an unmentioned example of this in my Volumetric Lighting - Basic Interior tutorial. When I set up my Shape light, I start to switch the distance falloff to Distance Squared, but decide to keep it at Linear. Distance Squared is the falloff setting to use for more realism. But try not to feel like that's your only option. Linear will give you a gradual falloff in a linear fashion from the light source to the distance setting applied. This can make it easier (for me at least) to set up exactly where the darkness begins - I find it easier to see where I'm placing my shadows. But when I use a shape light to enhance an area outdoors I almost always choose Distance Squared for the higher realism. it really depends on what I'm going for.

When I look back at my older tutorials on setting up shaders, I see that I was still following the advice I was given to turn off highlight/shininess by making the highlight color pure black. I never really do that anymore - exception being my invisible shader, where I turn everything off except for Alpha, which gets a value of 0 (zero). Now I always put something into Highlight and tweak between it and shininess to get the material I'm looking for. 

Dartanbeck

I got into all of this to animate stuff, which is what drew me into finding, buying and using Carrara. I've been animating stuff this whole time - it's mostly all I do. That said, buying and watching PhilW's Animation in Carrara course has, of course taught me stuff that I never really knew, and just overlooked for all this time! Like the little buttons along the top of the timeline, and what we can do with them in the graph editor and such. I love the graph editor and the new features that came in Carrara 8.5 Pro. It's amazing how many possibilities the incredible Sequencer gives us!

WendyLuvsCatz

highlight certainly has its uses just not the over the top plastic settings Poser objects load in at 

I certainly crank it up for things that need it

likewise ambient light

toony stuff 100% is good

Mistara

Dartanbeck said:

Another point:

When I first joined the Carrara forum, there were many features of Carrara that were really looked down upon by the (forum) community, which really helps to get a newbie like (then) me to avoid them altogether.

Since I've started stretching out and trying things on my own, I couldn't help but notice that some of those negativities would still hamper what I would try - causing me to accidentally ignore things I was told that I simply should never use. Hogwash, I say!

I still get advised to keep away from primitive fog and some of the other FX parts of Carrara. I'm glad that I ignore that instead of the tools.

When it comes to making movies, we can use as much help as we can get when it comes to visuals. Carrara has built-in animation adjutments for pretty much every effect it has to offer! Try them out! Render them on their own with alpha and make your own Stock Footage style of renders!

When we're talking about Stock Footage, we're always talking about 2D images or videos - never 3D, even if it came from a 3D source. 

Stock Footage is a term used for video (or still) elements that we can layer onto or into our movies to add something to the visual aspects. It is common to think that Stock Footage comes from someone else, and we either buy it or obtain it for free and add it to our collection, but many Hollywood (and other) film studios actively create their own Stock Footage and make catologs of it for use in their films. It often starts from a need on a particular shot (short sequence within the film), and then gets saved for future needs.

An example might be how ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) uses salt being poured in front of a black backdrop to be used to create waterfalls. It is still up to artists to tweak the result when composited over the movie frames, but the bulk of the effect is handled through this "element" or Stock Footage.

That all said, Carrara has many features that have been hidden from us simply because we were warned not to use them. Try as hard as you can to look past what others say and give these hidden treasures a try. Things like the Old Sky (to get a rainbow element, for example), Old Volumetric Clouds or just Clouds, Fog, Fire, etc., etc., etc., can add a lot of interest to a scene and, since they're Carrara features, they're very easy to work with.

The same can be said about lights. Try not to feel stuck to what others tell you you must do - do what works best for what you envision the overall outcome to be. There's an unmentioned example of this in my Volumetric Lighting - Basic Interior tutorial. When I set up my Shape light, I start to switch the distance falloff to Distance Squared, but decide to keep it at Linear. Distance Squared is the falloff setting to use for more realism. But try not to feel like that's your only option. Linear will give you a gradual falloff in a linear fashion from the light source to the distance setting applied. This can make it easier (for me at least) to set up exactly where the darkness begins - I find it easier to see where I'm placing my shadows. But when I use a shape light to enhance an area outdoors I almost always choose Distance Squared for the higher realism. it really depends on what I'm going for.

When I look back at my older tutorials on setting up shaders, I see that I was still following the advice I was given to turn off highlight/shininess by making the highlight color pure black. I never really do that anymore - exception being my invisible shader, where I turn everything off except for Alpha, which gets a value of 0 (zero). Now I always put something into Highlight and tweak between it and shininess to get the material I'm looking for. 

we has lots more rams and cores these days.  these days can use caustics and blurred reflections and sss.  is a bit heavy for 30fps
prolly a breeze for the xeons

Dartanbeck

WendyLuvsCatz said:

highlight certainly has its uses just not the over the top plastic settings Poser objects load in at 

I certainly crank it up for things that need it

likewise ambient light

toony stuff 100% is good

Right, but even really low highlight values or colors with an appropriate shininess looks So Much Better than no highlight at all - even though no highlight is much better than a botched highlight! LOL

Dartanbeck

Mystiarra said:

Dartanbeck said:

Another point:

When I first joined the Carrara forum, there were many features of Carrara that were really looked down upon by the (forum) community, which really helps to get a newbie like (then) me to avoid them altogether.

Since I've started stretching out and trying things on my own, I couldn't help but notice that some of those negativities would still hamper what I would try - causing me to accidentally ignore things I was told that I simply should never use. Hogwash, I say!

I still get advised to keep away from primitive fog and some of the other FX parts of Carrara. I'm glad that I ignore that instead of the tools.

When it comes to making movies, we can use as much help as we can get when it comes to visuals. Carrara has built-in animation adjutments for pretty much every effect it has to offer! Try them out! Render them on their own with alpha and make your own Stock Footage style of renders!

When we're talking about Stock Footage, we're always talking about 2D images or videos - never 3D, even if it came from a 3D source. 

Stock Footage is a term used for video (or still) elements that we can layer onto or into our movies to add something to the visual aspects. It is common to think that Stock Footage comes from someone else, and we either buy it or obtain it for free and add it to our collection, but many Hollywood (and other) film studios actively create their own Stock Footage and make catologs of it for use in their films. It often starts from a need on a particular shot (short sequence within the film), and then gets saved for future needs.

An example might be how ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) uses salt being poured in front of a black backdrop to be used to create waterfalls. It is still up to artists to tweak the result when composited over the movie frames, but the bulk of the effect is handled through this "element" or Stock Footage.

That all said, Carrara has many features that have been hidden from us simply because we were warned not to use them. Try as hard as you can to look past what others say and give these hidden treasures a try. Things like the Old Sky (to get a rainbow element, for example), Old Volumetric Clouds or just Clouds, Fog, Fire, etc., etc., etc., can add a lot of interest to a scene and, since they're Carrara features, they're very easy to work with.

The same can be said about lights. Try not to feel stuck to what others tell you you must do - do what works best for what you envision the overall outcome to be. There's an unmentioned example of this in my Volumetric Lighting - Basic Interior tutorial. When I set up my Shape light, I start to switch the distance falloff to Distance Squared, but decide to keep it at Linear. Distance Squared is the falloff setting to use for more realism. But try not to feel like that's your only option. Linear will give you a gradual falloff in a linear fashion from the light source to the distance setting applied. This can make it easier (for me at least) to set up exactly where the darkness begins - I find it easier to see where I'm placing my shadows. But when I use a shape light to enhance an area outdoors I almost always choose Distance Squared for the higher realism. it really depends on what I'm going for.

When I look back at my older tutorials on setting up shaders, I see that I was still following the advice I was given to turn off highlight/shininess by making the highlight color pure black. I never really do that anymore - exception being my invisible shader, where I turn everything off except for Alpha, which gets a value of 0 (zero). Now I always put something into Highlight and tweak between it and shininess to get the material I'm looking for. 

we has lots more rams and cores these days.  these days can use caustics and blurred reflections and sss.  is a bit heavy for 30fps
prolly a breeze for the xeons

Mine is a meager build compared to some, but it still renders these things pretty well. Still, I only activate these things if the shot truly calls for it - and then only as long as needed, then get back out of it.

Mistara

sss looks nice on snow

is there a way to export a procedural skin as a texture map png?

Mistara

how to make terrains look like a d&D map?

WendyLuvsCatz

Mystiarra said:

sss looks nice on snow

is there a way to export a procedural skin as a texture map png?

there was Inagoni baker which I use but DAZ pulled their store

otherwise you need to render it

use an isometic camera and a square plane positioned to fit the outer production frame precisely 

and of course a matching square render size,

no shadows and a matching rectangular shape light above or no light 100% ambient depending on the type of diffuse you want, the latter best for albedo

you can render a normal pass too if the shader has displacement 

Mistara

WendyLuvsCatz said:

Mystiarra said:

sss looks nice on snow

is there a way to export a procedural skin as a texture map png?

there was Inagoni baker which I use but DAZ pulled their store

otherwise you need to render it

use an isometic camera and a square plane positioned to fit the outer production frame precisely 

and of course a matching square render size,

no shadows and a matching rectangular shape light above or no light 100% ambient depending on the type of diffuse you want, the latter best for albedo

you can render a normal pass too if the shader has displacement 

thanks will give it a try

DesertDude

Mystiarra said:

how to make terrains look like a d&D map?

Do you mean the graph paper style dungeon maps? Or large squares or hex shapes overlaid onto the terrain?

 

WendyLuvsCatz

Mystiarra said:

how to make terrains look like a d&D map?

Gmic plugin or DCG parchment 

3drendero

Baker can still be downloaded from the web archive, link here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/267531/inagoni-site-down

Headwax

3drendero said:

Baker can still be downloaded from the web archive, link here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/267531/inagoni-site-down

3drendero said:

 

 thanks for the headsup on that

 

WendyLuvsCatz

yeah you can get the demo but buying a key not so straightforward