Carrara 8.5.0.172 Beta Now Available for Download
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What is the current status of Carrara and Genesis? Is see reports here that some things work and some don't.
I don't use Daz Studio - am only interested in Carrara. Been considering buying a Genesis model, but don't see the point if it is going to create frustration over glitches and missing features.
What is the current consensus? Is the current beta + genesis ready for prime time? Or should I continue to wait?
C8.5 is still in beta form and has some issues with errors occurring - but as for the Carrara part itself, I think it's the best version out there.
Genesis in Carrara is still not quite there... but again - best it's been so far. I currently use Genesis in Carrara as Orcs and it works very well. Having the beta to mess with, it's getting me more accustomed to the new rigging that Genesis offers - which is really cool.
They have just extended the expiration date of the current beta's serial code on the first post of this thread. Prior to this release, Genesis and parts of Carrara were nowhere near what they are now.
The biggest error that drives me nuts right now is when I work out an entire scene without saving part way through - and then it says "An Error has Occurred" at the end of the save. Doesn't always happen, but it happens enough to occasionally make me quit for the night.
Seeing them push the SN date back tells me that they're crunching hard away at improvements. I am very confident that C8.5 production version is going to rock!
I believe that most Carrara users will prefer 8.5 over 8.1 (if they fix the "errors" issue) even if they have no interest in Genesis - simply because they've just made stuff better.
My two cents so far.
That comment sums up my history with Carrara (and its prior versions, going back to the Ray Dream days). There always seems to be some fatal flaw which becomes so frustrating that I quit. In my case, I quit for months instead of just the night. I was using v7 and hoped v8 would solve many of the stability issues I had. (Using a Mac, and v7 was never as stable for me as it seemed to be for some Windows users.) I was again hopeful that 8.5 would address those issues, and it did to a large degree (at least the earlier builds I used).
For the stability issues it fixed, 8.5 introduced other problems (for me) that have not been addressed. Yes, I did the bug tracker thing... issues reported over a year ago are still sitting there. I understand that they are busy working on other things, but that doesn't solve my problems.
It may sound "selfish" but between work, family and other responsibilities I can be stretched pretty thin. To work with a piece of software for 45 minutes or an hour, just to have it crash and lose all work - or even to fight with it for an hour to do something which should take a few minutes - I simply do not feel like that is a rewarding way to spend my time. Don't get me wrong - it's not like I expect to create some 3D masterpiece. But I would like something to show for my efforts.
I was actively using Carrara about a year ago to work on some things for a project. I was probably around March or April that I "quit for the night." I recently picked it up again to do a short animation for work. This animation didn't use any "content" - it was a simple animated logo created in C8.5. Carrara worked very well, with only a few glitches that were easy to work around. However, my experience with Carrara has always been the real problems start (for me) when "content" is added, especially posable figures.
My hope was that 8.5 is at the point where it might be "safe" to buy Genesis figures fir C8.5 use without hitting too many deal-breaking glitches. I really like Carrara and will probably always come back to it. For me it isn't a matter of which program to use. When Carrara becomes too frustrating for me, I stop playing with 3D altogether. (This makes it especially hard to come back, since there are so many "content" related things which are not intuitive at all. There is so much to re-learn).
Sorry for the ramble. Your response struck a chord. I would really like to jump back in and get my personal project going again. From your post I am get the impression it might make sense to wait a little longer? The question is "how long to wait?" I am sure they are busy on fixes and improvements, but this beta has been going on for how long now... 12months? 18 months? This isn't meant as a complaint, but an acknowledgement of the reality that there is no guessing how much longer it will be "beta" or when the serious bugs are finally fixed. (I am waiting over a year for the Mil Horse bug to be acknowledged!) If I am going to jump back in, I need to shoot for a minimum acceptable level of stability.
I can deal with saving every 5 minutes, knowing that 1 in 5 of those saves will result in a crash (talk about low expectations!). I don't think I can handle constant or random glitches where features don't work as they should or random crash/freezes on a regular basis.
When you "error" at the end of a save, it the whole file trashed? Or do you just lose work since the last save?
Also, is the "spot render not working" (on MacOS) a known issue that is being worked on?
Is NLA still buggy? Or have most of the glitches been addressed?
What do you mean by "Genesis in Carrara is still not quite there"? What exactly are the main issues? Would you recommend someone purchase a Genesis figure(s) for use in the current beta version, or will that simply be hair pulling experience?
" What do you mean by “Genesis in Carrara is still not quite there”? What exactly are the main issues? Would you recommend someone purchase a Genesis figure(s) for use in the current beta version, or will that simply be hair pulling experience? "
Genesis works great in Carrara 8.5 as do V4 and M4 etc .
I use a pc so can't say for mac users .
All in all - Carrara 8.5 beta build 172 is my favorite Carrara to date. It's just better.
My opinions, of course ;)
Auto Fit or Fit To
is an amazing piece of work. If you have the Gen 3 morph pack for Genesis and a collection of clothing and other items for M3, V3, D3, etc., you can actually use David 3 clothing on Victoria 5, if you like. But if you keep female clothes with females, and so on, you'll have great success with this feature. But even when you push it to it's extremes you'll amaze at how well Fit To works on Genesis!
Of course, once you've Fit clothes to Genesis, they follow the morphs as you change them. Genesis, Carrara and the Fit-To tool all know what morphs you have installed on Genesis and it accommodates you from there. With Genesis, you don't have to "Load" morphs to the figure, like previous Generation figures. Once you purchase and install them, they are available on any new instance of Genesis. But here's the cool part. Any installed morphs on Genesis may be there for you to use as you like, but they won't take up any resources within your file (aside from an allocation address) until you use them. That's why Genesis doesn't feel like a sluggish pile of overburdened morphs when using it. It's quick, responsive and easy to use.
Ok, so it sounds like this may be a good time to take the plunge. Fingers crossed, I took advantage of the current sale and picked up some genesis items.
Of course I forgot that each "bundle" consists of a dozen files and each of those files has multiple versions.
NOTE TO DAZ: PLEASE _PLEASE_ bring back the ability to filter available downloads. Bad enough there are three files for everything. I don't need to see an additional three files for the PC version! For three items purchased, I have over 19 pages of downloads to go through.
Ranting aside, I have a question. There are three files for each item:
1. Legacy
2. DSON core
3. Poser Companion
What are the differences? More importantly, which one (or more) do I need to download and install? I don't use Poser - only Carrara. I _may_ want to open a file in DAZ Studio, but that is even not likely.
edited to add...
Once installed, is there anything special needed to get content to show up in Carrara's "smart content" tab? (I know how to import folders in to the regular content browser, but cannot remember how to get items into the new smart tab).
Legacy.....................DS4 and under
DSON Core.......................DS 4.5 (also needed for Poser 9+)
Poser Companion file.................Poser 9+
But which install for Carrara? I don't use Poser or DS
But which install for Carrara? I don't use Poser or DS
I don't use Poser, so I just install the Daz Studio files into their Default location in the My Library folder - or however that works for Mac
In order to use Genesis in Carrara, to my knowledge at this date in time (may change soon?) you need to have the latest version of Daz Studio installed. This is where your version of Genesis comes from - that's why you want to have the latest Daz Studio always.
Once you then open Carrara 8.5 beta, you'll find Genesis and everything you've installed for Genesis in the "Content" tab of your Carrara browser. "My Library" is the content heading, People is where you'll find Genesis and all of its clothes, hair and stuff.
I really wish that Daz could make a better way of distinguishing which files to download and install. Legacy, to me, has "Older System or Software written all over it. I'm still sorting through that lingo every time I make a purchase. And I hate it.
Looks to me, according to chohole, that "Legacy" is what you want - which may be what I need to? I better get this all straight. Damn!
But which install for Carrara? I don't use Poser or DS
you will need to download and install DS 4.5 - one time for sure - so you get all the files you need for Carrara 8.5
Color me confused.
I ended up installing the DSON files. They are labeled "DSON" on the download page, but the actual filename doesn't have that qualifier (as opposed to legacy and poser, both of which have that name as part of the downloaded file). Since it seemed to be labeled as the "standard" file, I figured that's what I needed.
I also installed the latest DS version. I seemed to remember that was needed for the "smart content" to work. Launching DS caused "new content" to be recognized and seemed to update the smart content database.
Note that I keep all my content on a separate hard drive. My "old" runtime content is in there, with different items loaded into different folder (V4, M4, Props, Scenery, etc.). I also have a DS "Content" folder there, which DS seems to recognize. For the Genesis installs, I created a "genesis figures" folder and a "Horse 2" folder, with respective content installed there.
Going to Carrara, things were not as simple. I am having trouble with the "Smart Content" tab.
Starting off, there are inconsistencies.
At the top of the directory tree I have:
>Files
>Default
>Accessories
> etc...
>Categories
>Default
>Accessories
>Anatomy
>Internal
>External
> etc...
>Products
>A
>Aikanaro
>Alchemy Chasm
>Aldora Hair for Genesis
>etc...
There are many more entries, but the above is only meant to give an idea.
When I click on "Files" the browser window shows me everything in the sub-directories. When I click on "Accessories" it shows me everything in Accessories and its sub-directories. So far so good.
When I click on "Categories" I see nothing. Same for Accessories in the "categories" section. I have to drill down to the specific sub-folder to see any content which may exist. Same for the "Products" listing. You can only see content for the specific selection, not any items in a sub-directory of that selection.
In all the listings, some items are highlighted and some are plain black text. That would seem to indicate that the highlighted item has content. However, this is not the case. While none of the "plain text" entries show content, only some of the highlighted entries show content. This, however, may be related to the next problems...
In the above example, the "Aldora Hair for Genesis" is installed. It can be seen and selected from the browser when viewed from the "Files" selection. However, if viewed from the "Products->A->Aldora Hair for Genesis" tree, nothing shows up in the browser window (and the item obviously cannot be selected). This is the case for many products... they are available in one section (i.e. files) but not in another (Products).
Is there a "how to" guide for this?
If you wish to hunt down items in their categories, like you would for the Poser content folders you have, You'll want the "Content" tab, not the "Smart Content" tab.
The way I understand the "Smart Content" tab in the browser, you don't touch the side panel to the left.
Instead, you select a figure or part of a figure, and "Smart Content" tab will show you what you have that's compatible, from your DS directory. Personally, I just can't get used to that plan.
Instead of Smart Content, some of us have proven to be too woven into the way we've always done it.
Please keep in mind that many of these folders (or headings in the browser) may mean something to DS, but have nothing selectable for Carrara - those are the blank ones.
For me, I install all Genesis stuff to the default, rather than putting them in my Poser Runtime Drive.
We Carrara 8.5 beta users currently need Daz Studio for Genesis - not just the smart content database. To get the latest and greatest Genesis version, you update DS. Since Genesis seems so "All on its own" compared to everything else I buy from Daz, I just drop the headache and install where it suggests - but I know that many do similar to your method and it works fine - personal preference.
Yes. In the shop, look under the "Free" part and there's a "Getting Started with DAZ Studio 4 and Genesis" download.
Edit: Guess it's not free anymore :(
Here's the link:
http://www.daz3d.com/shop/getting-started-with-daz-studio-4-and-genesis
Arrrrgh!
Okay, a V4 based character - dressed, with long hair - rendered and saved a million times over (exaggeration, of course),
Two NLA clips applied creating a walk down the street, turn left into the alley and continue walking - all using aniBlocks,
Simple Urban Sprawl scene with three moving vehicles,
Simple Fake GI Lighting,
Nothing fancy or special and a couple hours work.
Error occurred while performing "Save As"
I try saving with different options - no avail.
This error happens rather constantly now in an otherwise stable Carrara - it's KILLING ME!!!
I can still render it, but not in the Batch render because there's absolutely no sign of a saved file.
Auto-convert shader texturing to "Fast Mip Map" makes opening the file again in a previous Carrara Pro an enormous PITA - especially with Urban Sprawl-type stuff with lots of texture maps.
PLEASE fix this and get us a new update... PLEASE?
Okay, I'd like to apologize for losing my cool there. Error frustration got the best of me after losing some really cool animations.
Using pretty much the same sort of objects and techniques, I've been having great success with what I'm working on now - by saving after each fairly major change. Like; After I got the scene set up I saved under its temporary scene name. Added, tweaked, and animated the fog and lights and saved. Added my main character (.car file) saved under the new animation scene name. Imported an aniBlock walk cycle and saved. Deleted various hip keyframes, all of the arms keyframes and tweaked the whole thing to become a 'hurry down the stairs' loop - saved... all of which saved successfully. Now I'll turn the loop into an NLA clip and try saving again.
The reason I felt the urge to come back here and apologize, however, is that I don't want to accidentally mislead anyone into thinking that this build is any less than exceptional. C8.5 beta is truly amazing at build 172. I just love it and most people that I know are reporting it as running very stable on Windows. As I can't ever see spending more for a Mac than it costs me to build a super-computer that runs something else for an OS, I tend to skip the Mac OS-related comments - no disrespect meant towards Mac. I just enjoy having the ability to build and configure my machines myself, and that doesn't fit with Mac OS philosophy.
Damn... got too deep on that whole thing.
Point is, I love my Carrara and I love what those super awesome devs are getting it to do - so,
Thanks!
Sometime after creating all of the rest of my NLA clips, the error came back losing everything I made since the time of my last post
I'll go back to my last save - sometime tomorrow as I'm tired - and try to narrow it down further.
If I can find ways to reproduce it, I'll file a detailed Bug Report - or add to an existing report of the same nature - whichever seems best.
Edit:
Just opened the last save, and the first of my NLA clips, Walking down the stairs, was saved with it.
I imported the next three sequences I needed converting them to NLA clips as I went.
Upon finishing the clips, but before applying them to the track, I was able to pull off an error-free save! :)
Now I can sleep and pick this up again tomorrow.
BTW, looks really cool having the Heroine scoot down the steps and arching around to gaze down the final flight, where she knows that one helluva fight is just waiting for her down there. She sure is a brave little thing! And thanks to GoFigure hiring a top-notch martial artist, she'll likely win - or at the very least leave some good bruises on the opposition! lol
Tried reproducing the error many times.
It's not that the error hasn't been occurring, but it doesn't seem to be consistent.
It appeared to be that, as I would add NLA clips and match them to their previous Hip position, the error would prevent the save.
I opened a blank scene, added the same character and added all of the NLA clips that I'm trying to use. Saved fine.
I saved the scene I'm trying to use without any characters in it (previously) and so I opened that and added the character, saved
added NLA clips, but not to the track - saved
Added clips to the track and matched positions - error on save
tried the same thing again - saved fine
I really wish I could better isolate this error problem - because it's a real pain.
Anyone hear from Spooky or Bfurner lately?
They usually have something to say about what they're doing.
I have been so busy keeping up with DS and Poser stuff for work that I neglected Carrara for while. This last weekend I took some fun time to play with Carrara 8.5. Wow! Lots of improvements! The soft body physics are leaps and bounds better than in 8.1. I'm really looking forward to doing more in Carrara soon.
be nice if they told us how much they intend to shaft us (cost us) for this point release
how about $20 to $30 sound :roll:
Hmmm...at least spooky looks to be around, but not very vocal lately. Bfurner...that does not look good :(
Are these the Carrara guys?
DAZ_bfurner:
Last Visit -- November 06, 2012 11:07 AM
Most Recent Forum Post -- November 06, 2012 10:46 AM
DAZ_spooky
Last Visit -- December 31, 2012 11:06 AM
Most Recent Forum Post -- November 30, 2012 02:36 PM
It appears Blaine may have moved on, per his Linked In page...?
Uh...given the apparent lack of communication here, should I risk 8.5, since the serial number ends in less than 2 weeks? ...or just stick with 8.1? Will 8.5 just die after that date?
I'd go ahead and get it. They've been updating the serial number for months now.
I thought Blaine was part of marketing at one time and involved with announcing sales, coupons, new content and such. Always saw him posting in The Commons and DAZ Studio. I don't think he was a Carrara developer. I think Spooky is a dev. This has been a vacation period for many so maybe Spooky was on vacation. With Genesis issues getting wrapped up, and Kodiak noticing German language being assigned to Carrara in the tracker, we might be seeing 8.5 released early this year.
Wasn't Blaine the Carrara Product Manager or something? I thought I saw that in an interview. Maybe not....
Here's his resume stuff from LinkedIn. Sounds like he was Product Manger and "Evangelist", responsible for 4 software brands. Maybe all of D|S, Carrara, Hex and Bryce? And maybe the "November 2012" ending date just means it hasn't been updated since then, or maybe he really did leave a couple of months ago.
Product Manager / Product Evangelest
DAZ 3D, Inc.
Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Animation industry
October 2007 – November 2012 (5 years 2 months) Salt Lake City, UT
• Develop customer use case stories to be used for marketing and PR Coordinate PR efforts to help publish artist images and tutorials Evangelize the companies achievements internally and to our customers
• Leader of cross functional teams to manage 4 software brands working directly with customers, coordinated 3 development teams and the QA groups to assure revenue success.
• Experience using Agile development techniques.
• Determine product direction based on new technology, customer input and schedule.
• Generate strategy and execution of product road-maps, communicate plans to executive team for the DAZ 3D software product lines.
• Responsible for coordination directly with executives, marketing, operations and engineering.
• Assemble customer user groups and steering committees establishing expert users for input on product direction while managing conflicting priorities.
Hey all,
BFurner is no longer with DAZ3D. Carrara 8.5 serial code is updated each month. You will get an updated serial number each month. We do not have a time frame for a new release of the software at this time. But are still supporting what is available at this time.