I Bought Infinite Skills: Learning Carrara 8.5 and here's what I think

DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
edited January 2015 in Carrara Discussion

Learning Carrara 8.5!

Okay, I've been progressing in Carrara since just before the release of Carrara 8 in 2010 and have really come a long way. Between aggressively experimenting in the functions that I need to facilitate my movies and watching, interacting, asking and answering here, in the Carrara Discussion Forum - which helps a person grow in many more ways than one might expect, I really didn't feel as if a 'basic' training would be necessary. So I bought the 'advanced' course and loved it, still love it, and still watch it. I love the style and thoroughness of the courses and the seemingly infinite expertise of the professor, Phil Wilkes. Boy oh boy was I wrong to think that "Learning Carrara 8" meant "Basic". I wonder if it used to be called Basic Training? But now there's the newer "Learning Carrara 8.5" as well as just the 8.5 part for those whom already own the "Learning Carrara 8" course, which I think is super cool!

That said, don't think of "Learning Carrara (8 or 8.5)" as "Basic". Okay? Just don't.
Yes, it covers basic principles and yes, the Advance Carrara Techniques is certainly geared for those whom have already conquered a strong grasp of the software, and wish to acquire some more advanced training, as it's title implies.

Maybe this is all Basic stuff? Perhaps. But it's so dog-gone complete! Like Jon Stark pointed out in his thread, I've learned things I never knew about right from the very beginning of the program. Enthralled, I watched on and... Oh... really? Hey, that's totally cool! I never even imagined that I could do that! Yikes!

Now, I'd like to let you know, just in case you haven't seen any of Phil's Infinite Skills educational courses, that Phil doesn't like to leave stones unturned. He doesn't carry on and on (like I do) over the same point. He is not boring, nor does he jump straight into what he feels might be the most exciting thing. No. He patiently covers everything with equal importance, which makes for amazingly well-executed training courses. Within a few lessons, you'll feel more confident in your work in Carrara because you'll have a much greater understanding of how all of the tools work, where to find them, and all of the different ways to accomplish the same thing.

Eighteen chapters? Really? That is so cool! I've gone through one and two, and now it's time for bed, so I thought I'd quickly check out the beginning of chapter eighteen to check out the 8.5 stuff. Wow! I never knew we had new layers in shaders! I think I might have heard about it, now that I think of it, but never thought it was like this! here are plenty of other new 8.5 features that make it even more perfect for me than I had already been enjoying! Now knowing that I still have fifteen more chapters of wonder awaiting... how will I ever sleep tonight? Yaaaay!!!

Phil Wilkes, my friend, you are the best! I've said some really nice things about an older Carrara training course that I have from somewhere else, and I have to say that I like this a lot better already! Oh man!

I'm so glad to finally have this, and I also have the new Realism Rendering course as well. So this is going to completely invigorate the fact that I own Advanced Training as well, because it will all work so perfectly together. Carrara TV - It's the best thing out there!

Training Resource Link: Infinite Skills Inc. Carrara Training Courses - Instructor: Phil Wilkes

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Post edited by Dartanbeck on
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Comments

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,585
    edited December 1969

    When I first started watching Phil's tutorials I ended up doing a few small quick projects similar (but slightly different) to what Phil was teaching.
    That greatly helped my understanding of how Carrara works.

    I am now going back and watching the series in regards to the last 2 challenges I have entered and will be applying Phil's teachings to those as well. I also want to redo my first challenge at some stage as well.

    I don't know if the same approach will work for other Noobies but give it a try.

    Advanced users like Dart will be able to sit back and enjoy !!!!!

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    o for crying out load another thread about the same training
    give it a break guys .
    what is there 10 now .

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    I kind of agree with bigh on this. I'm sure Phil's training is great, and I'm all for giving out props, but after awhile, it gets to be a bit repetitive.

    I know you're enthusiastic about Phil's course and Carrara, but there are currently other active threads talking about it.

  • rampart_1576840087rampart_1576840087 Posts: 504
    edited December 1969

    I bought three of the tutorials above, but I did not buy the Carrara 8 version lower right corner.

    Did I miss something?

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    rampart1 said:
    I bought three of the tutorials above, but I did not buy the Carrara 8 version lower right corner.

    Did I miss something?


    No, the 8.5 Learning is the same one, but with the extra 8.5 additions included.
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited January 2015

    That's valuable info Dart, thanks,

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    That's valuable info Dart, thanks,
    My pleasure and... thank you for thanking me! ;)
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited January 2015

    bigh said:
    o for crying out load another thread about the same training
    give it a break guys .
    what is there 10 now .

    I kind of agree with bigh on this. I'm sure Phil's training is great, and I'm all for giving out props, but after awhile, it gets to be a bit repetitive.

    I know you're enthusiastic about Phil's course and Carrara, but there are currently other active threads talking about it.


    Just ignore this thread line in the forum and you'll be fine. The other threads were asking specific questions, whereas this thread is meant to be more of a statement, or group of statements, meant to help those people who, like me (the day before yesterday and earlier), may not know if this course would do any good. My comments come from one whom has been fairly aggressive toward learning Carrara for five years, and I've found the course to be worthwhile already after seeing only three of the eighteen chapters.

    I also intend this thread to be a linked thread to the Carrara Information Manual to provide a useful discussion for anyone looking into buying this course. It came out at a time when two other members had questions, one about a collection of tutorials, and the other about a certain aspect of the Carrara wizard that he gleaned from viewing a chapter in this course... hardly duplicate threads or subjects.

    Finally, I've already been informed in a plethora of other threads about certain disliking of my enthusiasm towards DAZ 3D and Carrara. Thanks for reminding me, but I am still me.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • rampart_1576840087rampart_1576840087 Posts: 504
    edited December 1969

    Funny...

    A forums is an organized way to share informal discussion.

    Redundancy occurs frequently.

    I often misspell words. I hope readers will think about what Mark Twain said before they verbally chastise me.

    “Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”

    ― Mark Twain

  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited December 1969

    Dartanbeck, don't sweat it... :)

    I know how you feel. A lot of folks here get so testy and upset when I'm constantly hammering my enthusiasm about looking outside the world of Carrara for training opportunities. :)

    Just roll with the punches, and hope that maybe your enthusiasm helped someone, even if others complain. :)

  • DustRiderDustRider Posts: 2,739
    edited December 1969

    bigh said:
    o for crying out load another thread about the same training
    give it a break guys .
    what is there 10 now .

    I kind of agree with bigh on this. I'm sure Phil's training is great, and I'm all for giving out props, but after awhile, it gets to be a bit repetitive.

    I know you're enthusiastic about Phil's course and Carrara, but there are currently other active threads talking about it.


    Just ignore this thread line in the forum and you'll be fine. The other threads were asking specific questions, whereas this thread is meant to be more of a statement, or group of statements, meant to help those people who, like me (the day before yesterday and earlier), may not know if this course would do any good. My comments come from one whom has been fairly aggressive toward learning Carrara for five years, and I've found the course to be worthwhile already after seeing only three of the eighteen chapters.

    I also intend this thread to be a linked thread to the Carrara Information Manual to provide a useful discussion for anyone looking into buying this course. It came out at a time when two other members had questions, one about a collection of tutorials, and the other about a certain aspect of the Carrara wizard that he gleaned from viewing a chapter in this course... hardly duplicate threads or subjects.

    Finally, I've already been informed in a plethora of other threads about certain disliking of my enthusiasm towards DAZ 3D and Carrara. Thanks for reminding me, but I am still me.
    Hey Dart, it's good to know that you're finding the tutorials useful. Should help point others to a valuable source for learning Carrara.

  • Design AcrobatDesign Acrobat Posts: 459
    edited December 1969

    I got em and got'em cheap - sometimes respective posts are a good thing.

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited December 1969

    It's partially my fault, because I really only meant to ask a question about the landscape wizard, but I was stoked about how much I was learning from the tuts and gave a shout-out to Philw in my title line, which makes it look like there's more than one thread with the sole purpose of praising the courses. I'll edit my title and hopefully that'll cut down on the appearance of random clutter.

    I've just started course 10. Yeah, seriously, I've been losing myself in this course, it's swallowed me whole for the past 24 hours, I stayed up late for it.

    I don't consider myself a master by any stretch, but I also haven't considered myself a raw newbie to Carrara for some time. But I can't believe how much basic stuff I didn't know. I just didn't know all that I didn't know, so to speak :) I have watched every single chapter, not skipping anything, even if I think 'oh yeah I already know all about that feature, don't need to watch this...' because 99% of the time there is at least 1 or 2 or 10 new tips/tricks/features/methods that I had no idea about that will be discussed. I always thought $99 is just too much to pay for a tutorial series, no matter how good it is, and figured I would pick stuff up by asking questions in the forums when I was trying something new or running into problems. And that method has worked for me for years pretty fine because the forum community here is pretty much completely awesome (with the exception of Daz folks who overly moderate the forums to a ridiculous extent, imo). But there are so many questions I never thought to ask, so many things I didn't know that I didn't know. I'm seriously impressed, and there's a part of me that wants to jump back in time to the younger me and say 'hey, you really probably should shell out what seems like a lot of money for this course' just because I think it actually is worth it to shave years off the learning curve (I'm ripping off someone else's line there, but I think it's apropos). Just as well that I was able to get it on extreme sale, because $29 is a lot less than $99 :)

    Plunging onward into course 10...

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Well, no offense was intended. bigh could certainly have been more diplomatic about it. I thought I had been. Dart is very enthusiastic about the material, which says many good things about it, but all enthusiasm aside, it is a commercial thread for a paid product, and I think it should be labeled that way. A new person coming into the forum can see the title of the thread (yes, I know it is the name of the product) and think they're going to get some insight into learning Carrara, which they will, if they pay...

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited January 2015

    My two cents.

    In context, there was a temporary sale going on for a lot of tutorials sold through the Daz store so the general topic was of a more immediate interest than under usual circumstances. So in that context, it is neither surprising to me nor a breach of community good-manners to have multiple threads discussing which tutorials people like.

    For example, here are a couple "what do you think about these tutroials?" threads from the commons forum near the same time as Dart's post in the Carrara forum.
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/12007/
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/51075

    Having said that, I get that Bigh might start saying "enough already!" and Evilproducer raises a valid concern regarding commercial threads being properly labeled. But I note that PhilW limited himself to making one announcement (properly labeled), and then appropriately honored in other threads. The slippery slope might be that commercial PA's might start having tacit agreements to start threads praising each other's products (Dart is also a PA) but not labeled as commercial. In this case, I think we are all confident that Dart was merely expressing his own boundless enthusiasm, not trying to initiate a quid pro quo with PhilW.

    In summary, I see no breach of the peace in this case, but we should be ever vigilant. :coolmad:

    That is my 2 cents, which I'm sure you will agree is worth closer to three cents. :cheese:

    edit: to fix a typo - my keyboard is constantly dropping letters - aaargh.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452
    edited December 1969

    Dartenbeck,
    Both sides have a point here. However, I believe that there is another side to this. If we want Carrara to succeed and not go the way of so many 3D programs it is essential that those that have bought or are thinking of buying the program have an easy way to get up to speed. If the numbers of practitioners are not there the program will not be there for long. Most people give up on a 3D program because they are overwhelmed by the "fog of war", as I have and have given up on Carrara in the past, this is not good for the company that makes the product - no matter how brilliant the 3D program is. If you can't understand it, you can't use it. If you can't use it, you put it in the back of your hard drive until it becomes out of date. I think of learning a 3D program as if watching a movie of young gooney birds trying to fly for the first time. They run along the ground flapping their wings trying to get airborne. They almost make it, then crash in a tumble of feathers and dust.. But once they get airborne they are flyers for life. The problem with 3D programs like Carrara is getting somebody airborne. Once they can handle the basics they will be flapping for higher altitudes, learning more..and they will be using the 3D program for a long time. But if they give up..you have probably lost them. Whether you like Phill's tutorials or not, he is certainly increasing the number of people who use Carrara and that is good for all of us that want to use this program for years to come.

    Phil's tutorials have got so much praise on this website, by me and others because they have made Carrara comprehensible. Why is this? There are many tutorials out there, even on Carrara.. So what does he do that makes them so good. First a little story.
    Some years ago I visited Perpetual Motion studio in LA, which were making documentaries for the History channel. They were using a number of my images for a documentary. When I was out visiting my family in LA they invited me to see their facilities. Two things happened when visiting their studio. One I became fascinated with the making of documentaries and how the computer was making it possible for a hobbyist to get into the act, and second how sound is absolute king. I was shown a script from which they were working. The sound, "narration" came first the visuals a distant second. When you read the script the words flowed almost by themselves. Since then I have learned that an audience will forgive poor visuals, but never forgive poor script and sound.
    I don't know if Phil uses a script..I suspect he does. Either way, the sound is clear and the words pertinent. There are no aaahhhs or hmmms, or other fillers which happens if you try to speak off the cuff when running a project on screen. The narration is in complete sentences. And, there is NO BACKGROUND MUSIC. Just good sound. Of course there is a lot of planning that goes into his series..a lot of planning.. But I just wanted to comment on the sound....You could turn off the visuals and still follow the lesson.


    Starboardtack

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    Jonstark said:
    It's partially my fault, because I really only meant to ask a question about the landscape wizard, but I was stoked about how much I was learning from the tuts and gave a shout-out to Philw in my title line, which makes it look like there's more than one thread with the sole purpose of praising the courses. I'll edit my title and hopefully that'll cut down on the appearance of random clutter.Heh, you don't have to change the title! LOL
    It's a "call-out" :ahhh:

    Jonstark said:
    I've just started course 10. Yeah, seriously, I've been losing myself in this course, it's swallowed me whole for the past 24 hours, I stayed up late for it.

    I don't consider myself a master by any stretch, but I also haven't considered myself a raw newbie to Carrara for some time. But I can't believe how much basic stuff I didn't know. I just didn't know all that I didn't know, so to speak :) I have watched every single chapter, not skipping anything, even if I think 'oh yeah I already know all about that feature, don't need to watch this...' because 99% of the time there is at least 1 or 2 or 10 new tips/tricks/features/methods that I had no idea about that will be discussed.


    Same here. I admittedly haven't yet explored all that Carrara has to offer because I've been working with blinders on for the first three years, and then slowly started seeping my way into some of the rest of what it has to offer. Very enthusiastic, yes! Master... not even close.

    Like you, I had thoughts, at first, to perhaps skip ahead through some of the chapters. But that was before I actually downloaded it. As I was downloading it, I was thinking about how I was treated to new tips and adventures in the Advanced Training course... so decided in earnest to start at the beginning and enjoy the whole series.

    I always thought $99 is just too much to pay for a tutorial series, no matter how good it is, and figured I would pick stuff up by asking questions in the forums when I was trying something new or running into problems.
    When I first got into all of this, many other courses of this type were right around that, or even more, and could see why... it takes a lot of time and planning to get a good, complete educational series together, organized, recorded, edited, and produced in a way that can be accessed by the masses - not a small or simple task.
    But when I got the Advanced Carrara Training course, I was amazed at the value vs expense! At first just the course, itself. Very complete and, more importantly, exceptionally easy to follow along with and completely understand - the lessons really sink in quickly and stay there. But later, when I started opening and messing around with the Working Files included with the course... Wow! That bi-plane, alone, must be worth at least $30 by itself, but with the included Fenric ERC setup(doesn't include the plugin, but use of the plugin - to help clarify), it's a wonderful resource for 'seeing in action' the modifiers added and put to use... very nice to have! Just to complete the render, he creates a nice scene with grass, horizon, and sky elements... and that's just that one (of very many) file! I can't count how many times I've used his rocket ship particles emitter just to save myself some setup time. Complete city scene filled with parks, cars, and people, along with the streets, sidewalks, grass yards, and buildings, complete with shaders - that, too, is only one of many fantastic files that come with the set. The rural scene with custom tree and cottage, with a stream, driveway, fence, custom modeled field grass, stones... the whole nine yards that goes into creating a fine, rural scene. Again... only one of the files. Just those four working files I've mentioned already exceed the $99

    Those files are fantastic on their own. But when accompanied by the in-process instruction of Phil Wilkes, by the end of the lesson, the student can confidently create the same scene and build upon it to make it into something much, much more.

    Okay... I'm babbling. It was hard for me to cough up the $99 myself. So I got mine while it was on sale. But now I feel like buying it again, when it's not on sale - just because I'd love to support this incredible series.

    My time is still very limited, so I'm only about to start chapter six when I get home from work. And, like you, I am learning at least 1 or 2, or even 10 new things from each lesson. Man, I love this! Makes me excited to fire up my course, put on my headphones, crank up the volume, and start soaking it all in!

    "Splat"! LOL
    I want to use this cool feature to impose sequenced PNG files of people running and/or walking straight toward the camera, and have the camera snake backwards through a city scene, and have a mass (PySwarm anyone?) of these Splats parented to the camera getting closer and closer throughout the clip! Something strange that just popped into mind as soon as he explained what that cool thing does! ;)

    So excited to get home now

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    msteaka,
    Heh, point made and taken! LOL
    I know exactly what you're saying - not at first, but towards the end... okay... ah yes... I know what you're talking about... "My Tutorials"! LOL
    Right. Mine are more Babble sessions, and... yeah... my inexperience wanted explore... and I added music and sound effects that didn't fit, etc.,
    At first, I wasn't really aware of the issues - and chose to ignore people that didn't like the music. Heck, they're free YouTube tips and tricks! But after not seeing them for a while (I don't often watch my own tutorials) I decided to watch them to judge them, and I was appalled! How could I have done that!
    Eventually, I will record all of my tutorials over again in a more defined and (hopefully) professional way, and pull all of those icky ones I've made down! Yikes, that music! Argh! :ahhh:

    ...and yes, Infinite Skills does a wonderful job of editing and producing a truly professional end product. Absolutely worth more than their cost - even at full price. Phil does a fantastic job of being very thorough and clear. His tactics (watching his mouse as he speaks) are smooth and confident... he truly is a Carrara Master, in my opinion. I will always buy and support his courses and then I watch them over and over again, even after I no longer need to learn them. :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    Well, no offense was intended. bigh could certainly have been more diplomatic about it. I thought I had been. Dart is very enthusiastic about the material, which says many good things about it, but all enthusiasm aside, it is a commercial thread for a paid product, and I think it should be labeled that way. A new person coming into the forum can see the title of the thread (yes, I know it is the name of the product) and think they're going to get some insight into learning Carrara, which they will, if they pay...
    Ahhh... point well made!
    I'll fix that! Thanks for pointing that out! It's not actually a commercial, because I'm not PhilW, Infinite Skills, or DAZ 3D, but rather, it's a "I'm a really happy customer" thread.
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,200
    edited December 1969

    what can I say?
    Dart is a man in love with his Carrara and all things concerning Carrara :lol:
    Bigh if you are bored count the threads on asking where the background image has gone in DAZ studio!!!

  • rampart_1576840087rampart_1576840087 Posts: 504
    edited December 1969

    I think there is a time a place for things.

    3rd party developers on Reallusion forums have threads where they constantly promote their products. They just pile posts about their content into "their thread" and promote their stuff. These developers put big colorful sales brochures, and many graphics in their threads as well with links to where to buy.

    http://forum.reallusion.com/Topic215451-347-1.aspx

    It is just spam, clear and simple. Reallusion doesn't seem to mind, because their forums are about promotion and support. These developers will just create new threads when they are minded to do so. Since i recognize their promotional threads I just never open them.

    The forums at Reallusion are multi-purpose. There is alot of good information from users, like there is here. You get alot of links to 3rd party content as well from members.

    Threads discussing relevant content to the topic and forums have purpose. Like myself, there are plenty of new people passing through all the time. Some stick, and some go away. One sure way to run the away is for their questions to go unanswered. 3D animation is not an easy go for most people. The more you learn it seems the more complex it becomes.

    This thread alone should make that clear. Dartanbeck is very prominent on these forums with many informative postings. Yet, he bought Carrara learning tutorials mentioned in this thread. I bought the Phillw Carrara tutorials as well, resulting from recent responses to my posts.

  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452
    edited December 1969

    Dartenbeck,
    I was talking about almost all the tutorials that are available online whether it is on Hexagon, Poser, etc Not just Carrara and certainly not alluding to yours. I think it is incredibly difficult to operate a demonstration on a 3D program and provide a flowing narration of what you are doing. I know I could not do this - I would be much worse than what is out there. I would be hmm and aching all over. I think I would have to separate the two; create the visuals and then record the narration. Then put them together in a video editing program like FCP or Adobe Premier. As far as the music..again it is in almost all the tutorials online and it was the trend that I was talking about. It works in documentaries, aka Ken Burns, where music is used to set an emotional tone, but I don't think it works very well in tutorials - where above all else you want to know what the person said.. But this is my opinion, others may like the background music.

    I fully appreciate all the video tutorials that are out there. I watch them and know that somebody went to a lot of trouble to make them and offer them for free. Like the old saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth". What I was talking about was what was so good about Phill's tutorials. I think there are lessons not just on the content but also how they were made.

    Starboardtack

  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited December 1969

    On the lighter side....

    This thread reminds me a bit of the Will Ferrell skit on Saturday Night Live, where he impersonates James Lipton on "Inside the Actor's Studio". He's interviewing Charles Nelson Reilly (played by Alec Baldwin I recall), who, for you old timers, was a comedian (?) long ago.

    Anyway, he was describing Reilly's acting as so magnificent that words to describe it don't exist. So he had to make up a new word, "scrumtrulescent". Which means "so great that any other word employed would be woefully insufficient, and would serve only to limit the sheer magnitude of the greatness intended." :)

    I'm wondering if perhaps Dartanbeck needs to invent some new words to describe PhilW's training tapes. :)

    Just joking, BTW, a bit to lighten things up.... :) :)

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited December 1969

    My siblings and I still use 'scrumtulescent' all the time when joking with each other about over exaggerated praise. :)

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145
    edited December 1969

    Just to say a huge "Thank You" for the various kind comments in this thread. And to give due recognition to Infinite Skills, without whose sound editing and other production, you would be listening to a lot more "Ums and Errs" than are in the final product, they did a great job in making the whole thing more professional. By the way, I occasionally use a script but most often plan out what I am going to cover, but not the exact words as I think just reading something out can sometimes come across a bit stilted. But yes, these is a lot of planning that goes into each chapter. I needed to set up resources and run through the whole process at least once before recording. I would say that it takes around ten times as long to put together than the final video, so an hour's worth of final tutorial will have taken ten hours to prepare and record, and that was just my part, it does not include the sound editing etc.

  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452
    edited December 1969

    Phil,
    Nice to hear from you..I feel like we have been talking about you behind your back...And you caught us. We have been commenting on how much enjoyment and information we get from your tutorials.... and all you get is the money......hardly seems fair, I feel like were cheating you. Kidding aside, great job.
    Thanks for explaining your work method. It takes talent to make the hard look easy. Infinite Skills obviously did a fine job in post but still your enthusiasm for Carrara shines throughout these tutorials. In short they are fun to watch... and listen to.

    I have recently bought you tutorials on Realism and Rendering. They are on the back top shelf of my hard drive..waiting for when I finally master the basics and the advanced techniques. In the meantime I am making it my personal responsibility to trip over, fall into and blunder against every gotcha or pitfall that Carrara has to offer. Some people just have the talent. As long as the members of this forum continue to help me..I just might make it to Realism and Rendering....

    Thanks again for some great work
    Starboardtack

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited December 1969

    Msteaka, my advice is do the Realism Rendering first, it is comparatively very short and the tips and approach presented are different than anything else in either course but can be used right away to dramatically improve the realism quality you get from renders (if that's what you're after) and are actually as 'basic' as anything else, so knowing this stuff at the outset won't detract from the rest of the courses at all.

    I've just finished the 'Learning Carrara 8.5' course and started in on the 'Advanced' course now (the only lessons I skipped from the Learning 8.5 course were the postwork lessons, because I don't have photoshop, and also because I don't do much postwork, nevertheless I will watch them at some point as I know from the postwork stuff mentioned in passing in the Realism course that the techniques and methods have universal application, but I was impatient to get on to the advanced course and get back into learning some more of the mysteries and secrets of Carrara).

    I've said it before, but bears repeating - I am completely bowled over by how much cool stuff I didn't know. I never really understood what 3dpaint was before, turns out it's exactly what the name suggests, but for some reason I never thought of it as a 'paint' program like photoshop or gimp but that could be applied directly to the 3d object/person without having to try to do multiple attempts at guessing on where to do the painting on the texture map which is all flattened and read by the uv mapping in who-knows what way... this is a minor thing amongst the course, but just one example of how I now know many many features of Carrara that I didn't know were there or how to use them and which will make my workflow much much faster and easier (and more precise, to boot).

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    On the lighter side....

    I'm wondering if perhaps Dartanbeck needs to invent some new words to describe PhilW's training tapes. :)


    Extramulicious!
    Phil's insightful and complete coverage of Carrara in this thing is filled with extramuliciousness from beginning to end!

    I'm sorry to go off like this, but oh my good graciousness is this ever an extramulicous course! I'm learning things about Carrara 8 - that I've never known - about just about everything about Carrara - which really feels kinda weird! Phil was giving me some crap, jokingly, last year when I mentioned that I started with the Advanced Carrara Techniques - he was saying that I was supposed to start here, with this one - and he laughingly claimed to be just kidding around. After all, Phil has one amazing, wonderful sense of humor that blends beautifully with his knowledge and experience, so it was a very fun conversation. Imagine how embarrassed I am now to find that, in reality, it was no joke at all, even if he thought that it was! You'll notice in these forums that he enjoys sharing and participating, and has a very flexible attitude with a full understanding that we all have different tastes and favored methods towards achieving the results we're looking for. Well he has a very natural way of applying this flexibility in his teaching - including methods and features that he might not find that useful, but that others might... very nice.

    Yeah, I feel very capable in Carrara. Anyone frequenting these forums over the past few years would recognize this. My enormous enthusiasm and defensive demeanor towards Carrara comes from an understanding that I can perform all of my 3D needs using Carrara, and often without the use of any other software - but even if other software is required, that would be no different than using any other 3D modeling/rendering software package except, perhaps, that it may be true that I could do much more in Carrara before calling upon something else, compared to another application.

    That being said, I am finding it really fun to now pick up on so much extra knowledge... and all of this is so "as a matter of fact" common knowledge to Phil, whom fluently uses all of it so naturally. Extramulicious!

    Here's the thing: taking these courses just once will inject many "how to" common Carrara techniques into our workflow because we can't help but to absorb information that directly pertains to tactics that we already employ. But run through them again and we'll find ourselves picking up more and more useful techniques and habits that might not have stuck the first time - possibly because Carrara is such a vast suite that there are many functions that we just don't use in our everyday sessions. So whether we're consciously expanding our skills set and taking a course again to revisit these situations to learn more about it, or that we're simply watching the videos for casual entertainment and then incidentally broadening the scope of what we use and enjoy, the fact remains that these courses are packed with so much valuable information and so many workflow tips and alternate ways to perform tasks that there's almost no way to not learn more and more about using Carrara more efficiently with subsequent visits to the courses. We just cannot help it. And that's a big reason for my being so pumped up about now owning the whole collection.

    Just a small example here is the modeling room. What does the modeling room do - and what do we do inside the modeling room? The easiest way to answer that question, perhaps, is that we build and/or edit Carrara assets. But Carrara's modeling room has so many faces that are each so incredibly different from one another. This is only a small example of how Carrara differs (in a great way, in my honest opinion - but do remember that I'm a totally hyped Carrara evangelist) from all other software out there. A very small example - and it's huge! The Carrara manual does a great job of exploring all of this. It really does. But it is actually fairly vague compared to actually being taught by Mr. Phil Wilkes.

    Along the way, Phil being the Carrara artist/enthusiast that he is, we also get real examples of situations on how he might use each thing that he teaches us. Sure, the promotional product age says that this particular course lasts what, 11.5 hours (on the Infinite Skills site)? Well that time is not wasted anywhere in the entire timeline of the training. Seriously. It's all directly leading you to gaining a higher understanding of the software. I'm certainly not saying that this course doesn't include information about Carrara that I didn't already know... it is set up so that, if you've never opened Carrara before, this video set can take you up-to-speed on how to set up whatever sort of scene you're imagining that you might want to create, set up a professional light solution - depending on your own tastes and time costraints and scene elements used, shaders and whatnot, how to set up the shaders, atmosphere, special effects, test render settings, final render settings, modeling and modifier techniques, scene resource efficiency... but it's not at all a course that is not completely beneficial to those of us whom might already have a good understanding of using Carrara already.

    Caveat: I am incredibly hyped towards picking up any new tips and techniques that I can about Carrara - so I find this entire course to be an invaluable resource. Some of you with a lot of Carrara experience may not want or need to have such a thing... I'm not trying to tell everyone that, to use Carrara you absolutely must buy this course. Not at all. But what I am saying is that, if you do buy this course, it's highly likely that you'll find it to be very much worth every penny of the normal price of ninety-nine U.S. dollars.

    I also wish that I didn't buy this while it was on sale, simply because I know that by doing so, Phil and IS took a hit on the well-deserved profit that the market deems them worthy of collecting. So I hope to purchase it again at a later date at full price - just to help give credit whee credit is due. Not to be some sort of heroic thingamajiggy idiot, but to help support such vital talents to continue doing what they do. I'm far from rich, as Garstor and evilproducer can verify, but I do appreciate the good things in life, like art, artists, food, cooks, music, musicians, films, film makers, etc.,

    * picture added simply to add some color to the thread - Genesis 2 Female with a bit of V6, Girl 6, Josie 6, Belly Control for G2F, and a few other cool Genesis 2 Female stuff - Carrara 8.5 Pro

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  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,200
    edited December 1969

    and Rosie finally makes an appearance ♥

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    edited December 1969

    msteaka said:
    Dartanbeck, (corrected my name to Dartanbeck, from Dartenbeck, LOL)
    What I was talking about was what was so good about Phill's tutorials. I think there are lessons not just on the content but also how they were made.

    Starboardtack

    Agreed!
    The production of this course is super tight, very well cut, with excellent sound production to make everything perfectly clear and well timed, as well as being very well organized for training pace and subject matter coverage. Very good job - Kudos to both Phil Wilkes and the Infinite Skills staff!

    You may not have been talking about my tutorials directly... but you certainly could have been! LOL
    I was very new to recording myself while I perform on the computer. First timer, actually. I am a huge fan of Philip Staiger's Project Dogwaffle video tutorials (pdhowler at YouTube), whom uses music made by a good friend of his in the background of his videos - but he knows well enough to subdue the music during his lectures - where I was trying to use music to drown out the annoying hum in the background of my voice recording - a product of a ground issue from living in an ancient house with the old, braided wires... whatever... I've tried expensive rack mount power converting sound performance hardware, and I just can't seem to lose the hum on my Carrara workstation while set up in this house. I've since discovered that I can get a nice crisp recording from my Carrara laptop, and was planning to make replacement tutorial videos, starting from my worst, and just keep going, but I just lost that machine... argh! I got plenty of use out of it though. Poor thing spent many nights with both of its cpu cores blazing as fast as they could from the time I went to bed, until the time I got home from work the next day. I just knew that, one day that poor, but wonderful device, was going to seize up :( So now I'm looking to get that baby replaced... one day....

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