Poser to implement "cycles like" render engine. Why not Carrara?

primeuser

I read with interest that Poser is going to basically use the open source code from Blender and adapt it to their software.  I think this is great!  Why reinvent the wheel.  So my question is (and has been for several years) why doesn't Carrara do the same!!  The code is out there all they have to do is adapt it.  Spoken like a true non-programmer I know.  But if Blender can find a bunch of college kids during the summer and do what they have done in the last 10 years why not?

I also wonder why, when DAZ bought Carrara, they didn't scrap Studio and turn their full attentions to Carrara.  It had so much going for it and could already use poser material.  How nice it would be now to have a fully functional Carrara with all the features of Studio plus all the features of Carrara and Bryce all in one package.  Plus, by now they could have added cloth, fluids, hair (that works), full soft bodies....and on and on.  I don't understand why they stopped supporting the Ferrari and kept supporting the Volkswagen.

 

 

 

JoeMamma2000

I'm guessing that DAZ made an intelligent, conscious decision to invest further development in DAZ Studio rather than Carrara. It probably had a lot to do with the ease of development in the two apps. My sense, from stuff I've heard here over the years, is that Carrara is relatively difficult for developers to work in, especially for new guys who aren't familiar with it. And I think it's pretty clear that DAZ's goal was/is to develop a free software that enhances its ability to sell and use a universal content. So down at a coding level, when you need to hire new developers who can sit down and start producing, you need to evaluate the state of the code and documentation (hugely important) and see which app is a better choice.

And the Cycles discussion is strangely similar to the Bullet physics discussion. Bullet is also an open source code that DAZ decided to integrate into Carrara (even after, BTW, blaming users for choosing Bullet, because it turned out there were some issues about Bullet's capabilities with Carrara's high poly meshes or something like that...). Anyway, after many years, Bullet is still in a crippled beta stage and useless for animation and other basic functions. 

So yeah, ideally DAZ could also integrate Cycles, but it takes desire and time and effort and developers who understand renderers and also understand Carrara's code. And right now, I'm guessing that DAZ probably has none of those. If they did, Bullet in Carrara wouldn't be in the sorry state it is today.

OTOH, I'm also guessing that D|S will probably have some cool new renderers in the not-to-distant future.

Philemo_Carrara

primeuser said:

I read with interest that Poser is going to basically use the open source code from Blender and adapt it to their software.  I think this is great!  Why reinvent the wheel.  So my question is (and has been for several years) why doesn't Carrara do the same!!  The code is out there all they have to do is adapt it.  Spoken like a true non-programmer I know.  But if Blender can find a bunch of college kids during the summer and do what they have done in the last 10 years why not?

 

Actually, Luxus with LuxCore does exactly that. Lux render is (at least) as developped as Cycle. So, I don't see the problem. It's not native to Carrara, but it's a cheap plugin (30$ for Luxus 1.0). If you're on Windows 64bits, you can try the beta, see http://carraracafe.com/plugins/luxuscore-for-carrara-plugin-unofficial-manual-2015-02-15/ or http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/50130/luxuscore-carrara/p1

 

Peter Wade

The phrase "The code is out there all they have to do is adapt it" makes it sound easy but I'm not so sure. I don't know what the Carrara  code is like, but I expect that adapting it to work with  a different rendering engine could be a major task. I don't know what the Blender render engine is like (I've never used Blender) but Carrara already has an excellent render engine so would it be worth the effort?

I think it is pretty clear that Daz make most of their money from selling content so an application that can't be used to create new content is probably a good idea for them, hence Daz Studio. I'd like a super enhanced version of Carrara as well but I doubt if Daz think it is worth the effort. Unless you are in the business of selling a small number of luxury cars you mainly stock the Volswagen, and maybe have a Ferrari or two for show.