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Exporting emitter/metaball as an obj?

retrodevilretrodevil Posts: 75
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

I was wondering if you can export a metaball emitter simulation as an obj.

I have tried exporting the emitter but the particles just appear as squares when imported into Poser. Is the metaball "material" only visible through carrara rendering or can I convert that into a solid 3d mesh so it would look like liquid?

Thanks

Comments

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Just so you know, that the particle emitter isn't a fluid simulation. You may get some very simple fluid like effects, such as a fountain, but it will be pretty limited.


    I don't think you can export a particle emitter directly, and I don't know if Poser can handle metaballs in their raw form. You could use the metaball modeler and create something that can be converted to a vertex modeler, but that's different than what the particle emitter does. I've never heard of anybody trying to "bake" a particle effect to use in another program, so I'm initially thinking it can't be done.


    Is there a reason you can't make your scene in Carrara and animate it? At the very least, can you render an animation of the emitter under similar lighting conditions and use that to make an animated billboard for use in Poser?

  • retrodevilretrodevil Posts: 75
    edited December 1969

    I only really need one frame of the simulation as it is for a still poser render.

    I was basically thinking it would be a quick way to get some modelled fluid into a poser scene, rather than modelling it from scratch. for example a water fall or shower etc.

    I didn't realise you could model with metaballs too, (I am very new to Carrara) I guess that would give me the result I am after. Is there a specific way to export that when I am done or will just exporting it as normal work fine?

    Thanks for your help

  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited August 2012

    Blender is free. Blender has a fluid sim that far exceeds anything you can do in Poser or Carrara. You could just model the water itself in a Blender scene, then take the image and composite it into your Carrara or Poser render. Or just export the generated fluid as OBJ and import to Carrara

    Or you could go the other route that I usually suggest, but it doesn't involve software so I won't mention it.

    FWIW, here's a link to a nice tutorial that includes a fluid sim, and a nice image showing how Blender's fluids, in combination with its new renderer, make anything you can do in Carrara look silly.

    http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/create-a-realistic-water-simulation

    Post edited by JoeMamma2000 on
  • retrodevilretrodevil Posts: 75
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for the advice Joe. The tutorial was great. I followed it but at the point when he says bake it I get a loading bar and nothing happens. No water/fluid starts flowing. Do you have any idea what I may be doing wrong?

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    What Joe is implying when he says there's something you could try but it doesn't involve software, is that you should look for reference images of waterfalls or splashes, because then you may be able to use them in the image, or as a reference so that you can make your own somehow. This could be a way to go. Only you know what your scene is and what would work.


    Can't help with Blender, but here's an example metaball object used for a water splash. Note: It's purposefully cartoonish. To get something like that into poser, you'd need to convert it to a vertex model and export as an object (.obj) file.

    Sorcer-Whores-Apprentice02.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 2M
  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited August 2012

    Evil, just between you and me...

    The bonfire you generated in Carrara...you could have drawn a nicer one in Photoshop by hand, don't you think? Or a far nicer one by photographing or downloading an image of a real bonfire.

    Someday, we'll get you to turn that corner and start thinking outside the Carrara box :) .....some day...

    In any case I can't quite figure out what the rest of the image is all about. Though the expression on her face is very nice. And there's water in there somewhere?

    Post edited by JoeMamma2000 on
  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited December 1969

    AACCHH !!! I just figured it out !!! Those are the magic brooms from Fantasia !!! And that's a bucket of metaball water. Took me a while to figure out what all those sticks were.

    Okay, now I get it.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    JoeMamma2000 said:
    AACCHH !!! I just figured it out !!! Those are the magic brooms from Fantasia !!! And that's a bucket of metaball water. Took me a while to figure out what all those sticks were.

    Okay, now I get it.


    Back before Carrara 8 came out, I started a joke challenge thread looking for the next Carrara Bimbo that should grace the Carrara splash screen and/or box. It was in response to D/S 2 or D/S 3's scantily clad fantasy inspired model that DAZ was using all over the place, to pimp- er- promote their latest and greatest.


    There were quite a few hilarious entries. This was one of mine, called Sorcer-whore's Apprentice. I had a better one, but the new TOS prevents me from posting it.

  • JoeMamma2000JoeMamma2000 Posts: 2,615
    edited December 1969

    Dude, you must have been one of the top contenders when it comes to concept. And title. That's hilarious.

    Now THAT'S the kind of contests we should have in this forum.

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