Offline tutorial options?
hrpschrd
Posts: 179
I want to learn how to model animals now, probably with the vertex modeler followed by animation. I am going on vacation where there is no internet. What tutorials, CDs, or other downloadable help can I take with me? I have the help PDF of course, but I didn't find that very useful in the past.
Post edited by hrpschrd on
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You could try a video downloader, here one exemple for YT: http://download.cnet.com/Free-YouTube-Downloader/3000-2071_4-75219434.html
Personally, I use the downloader from Xilisoft, but it's not free.
You could also make a screen capture with CamStudio-Recorder for exemple.
try this as a starter.
Modelling a fish in Carrara (PDF)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7907045/Fish_Modelling.pdf
Thanks, I'll try the fish example.
It mentions a next tutorial on shading and animating. Is that available?
3DAGE:
I was not able to follow your tutorial (or another one on youtube) because there is a detail I am missing. When I create a vertex model I cannot find the menu item or command that changes the number of vertices (and edges) created. You started with only 8 vertices and others start with many more. I have seen a menu panel on the right that lists the statistics of the model but they can't be changed. I understand that this is a very capable program but the menu layers seem to be hidden. Another example is that to load the clown fish image I had to select the panel that shows the Edit Mode and then select Animation Mode. I was just lucky to find that. I also found that the Infinite Skills tutorials have the same omitted details in tutorials.
I really want to learn but it is frustrating. Any suggestions?
Hi Hrpschrd, when you first create a primitive in the Vertex Modeller, you will see a panel on the right which allows you to enter the number of segments for that shape, and you will see the mouse pointer looks like this "+/-". So you can also press the plus and minus keys to change the number of vertices on the primitive before pressing return to accept that. For box modelling, you generally want to start off with the simplest box, so press and hold the minus key until you have the simple 8 vertex cube. As the author of the Infinite Skills videos, if I missed that out, I am profoundly sorry!
Hi Hrpschrd, welcome to Carrara! When you first ceate a primitive in the Vertex Modeller, you have the option to define how many sections or vertices it contains. You will see that the mouse pointer changes to this "+/-". You can use the plus and minus keys to step up or down to more or less complexity, or you can enter a value in the panel on the right. For a simple box usually used for box modelling, simply press and hold the minus key until the cube has only 8 vertices. And as the author of the Infinite Skills videos, if I missed that out, I am profoundly sorry!
P.S. Sorry for the double post, when I first posted, it looked like what I had written had just disappeared, so I wrote it again!
I just checked - if you have the Learning Carrara set (either 8 or 8.5) then it is covered in 1502 Vertex Modeller. You had me worried there!
HI Hrpschrd
As Phil said,. there are options on the right hand panel to adjust the resolution of the primitive, or line shape you create (when you create it)
After it's created,. you can add more geometry to that model by extruding faces, or extracting edges,.
I normally start out with the simplest of shapes,. EG: a rectangle, or a circle,. then extrude that line into a solid shape and begin to move edges or vertices to adjust the shape.
Switch on "Smooth" to see the sub-divided and smoothed shape,. then refine that shape more, switching back to unsmoothed to check the base model and add edges or extrude to create more geometry. then shape that.
Also,. in the vertex modeller,. on the right hand panel,. there's a "Global" tab,. where you can Load and enable your reference images.
I can't locate the tutorial on shading and animating the fish,. but i'll try and throw something together for you in the next few days.
As I already had the fish image (used for the modelling reference),. then the easiest way to apply a texture to the fish model is to apply that image. (planar mapping)
Once you've added the bones, and made the model and bones into an animation group,.. the animation should be relatively simple,. since the model has only a few bones.
Make a couple of keyframes in the timeline by creating different poses,. try adjusting the "tweener" type to oscillate, or keep it at linear or bezier.
make a small animation,. something like one second,. just to get the swimming tail motion,. then you can either select those keyframes, and ALT+ drag to copy those further along the timeline,. or create an NLA clip from your keyframes,. which can be placed in the timeline and Looped.
I almost never stop watching these
(click image to go to the store page - currently on sale as of this writing)
I might sound like a broken record here, but this course is so packed full of advice and techniques that there's always something to go back and digest a bit better when we're finally ready to absorb that lesson. I've eventually bought the entire series.
This Advanced Techniques course, however, covers many topics related to modeling: UV Mapping, Vertex Modeling, Setting up Fenric's ERC for Carrara plugin, 3D Paint, rigging, using image templates in the Vertex Modeler Room, and much, much more.
I've downloaded the course as well as the working files years ago, and still use them today. I put the working files folder directly in my "My Objects" browser under PhilW Lessons, which already come sorted by chapter, so I can quickly browse through those working files for example scenes as well as to use most of it as content ;)
But the real magic for me is having hours of offline video tutorials to pour over. I keep telling myself that, one day I'm going to rename the chapters (video files) to resemble their subject matter. But untill then, I just load all of them into my player and Skip Forward to the subject I want to learn. After a while I got pretty familiar with where various lessons are located, simply from watching the whole course all the way through so many times.
Saying that might make me sound like I'm thick in the head! LOL
But here's the thing: I wasn't doing physics or particle emitters or ERC or... at the time I first started watching this so, even though I did watch the whole thing, a revisit was often required as those topics entered my flow. But even those subjects which I was 'in the middle of', Professor Phil goes deep into many aspects making revisits inviting and never dull! :)
Anyways, I'll never stop recommending this to anyone wanting to know more about Carrara. And that also goes for:
...of course, if you have Carrara 8 instead of 8.5:
* At the time I wrote this, they were ALL on sale at 40% off... but I'm a Platinum Club + member, so I'm not sure if that applies accross the board
After having the Advanced course, I must admit that I was a little slow to add the initial "Learning Carrara 8.5" to my cart. What a mistake! Carrara is one of those tools where everyone uses it a little differently than the next person. This first course is packed full of excellent advice, tips, tricks and workflows welcome to anyone's toolkit!
And Realism Rendering is also just plain fricken cool stuff! Very happy customer = me! ;)
You're doing a great job Dart - keep it up!!
I believe the tutorials are part of today's catch up sale.
That's why they're so darned inexpensive, eh? Wow! They're giving My Stuff away as well!!! Awesome!
Thanks Professor!
It all sounds so easy. I have decided to try the month long trial of IS.
Except that I still cannot find what you are talking about in the Model room.There is no panel on the right to change the segments. Also, I mentioned that the Global tab to find the clownfish file was not visible until I changed the Edit mode to Animation Mode. That is not very obvious, which is why I am concerned that all the panels are not visible to me because of some settings that are not mentioned in tutorials. (Carrara 8.5Pro) I have the feeling that for experts, Carrara is a fabulous program but you have left the newbies way behind. OR, there is a glitch in my version.
First off, try not to get impatient. I know it can be frustrating, but please remember, no one is here make it harder for you. We're trying to help.
I think the pane you are referring to is right there in your screen shot, near the lower portion of the top pane on the right side of the screen. There is an entry field that is labeled Object Definition. I think the number eight is entered in there currently.
The other method of increasing or decreasing the object definition is when you create the cube by dragging it to the size you want and let go of the mouse button, you should see your mouse cursor change to look like this: +/-
When the cursor looks like +/- you can press the plus key to increase the definition, or the minus key to reduce it. When you hit enter or return, then the mouse cursor returns to normal.
I haven't looked 3dage's file, so I'm not sure what is going on. He may have moved the polymesh in the VM outside of the working grid accidentally. When the Animation tab is selected in the VM, it displays the posed and morphed model, which, depending on what he did, could recenter it in the working grid, and when the animation tab is deselected it reverts to the previous un-posed native postion.
I've had something similar happen to me in the past when I switched from working in the dedicated VM, and then switched to modeling in the Assembly room, then back in the dedicated VM...
You're right! I looked at the image and the cursor was -/+ and I could change it! Then I clicked on the object and the cursor went to the three axes and the Object Definition dissapeared and I can't get it back. Instead I have Move and Manipulator options. Where did it go? Is it only a one time change?
Yes, the Object Definition just sets the starting resolution of your primitive. You can add extra resolution where you need it using the Edge Tools such as the Extract Along tool that 3Dage uses in his tutorial. The general principle of box modelling is to start with a simple shape - usually a simple box - and extrude and add detail as required to get your final model.
Hi :)
The "Global tab" can be seen as soon as you enter the vertex modeller,. it's in the middle of the right hand panel,.(see pic)
even before you start to model or add anything,
Hrpschrd,. have a close look at your screen capture,. the tabs in the right hand panel ,. "Global" tab is on the far right.
I also checked my fish modelling tutorial,. since setting up the scene and the reference images is an important part of that process, and I was sure I had covered how to set the background images up.
It's the very first page, first image. highlighted in orange on the right hand side,. so, it's there. maybe it'a not as well indicated as I imagined and needs a pointer or perhaps a repositioning of the text to highlight that area. however,. the text on that page,. explains how to add the background images and the image shows the Global tab, with the options to add reference images, and enable those, and also explains that the reference images will only show up in specific views,. front left right etc..
there's no need to be in Animation mode,
In animation mode,. you're seeing the "animated model" this is a mode to allow you to view and edit Morphs you're making, or to adjust models for pokethrough on clothing etc,
The Global panel tab is available in edit and animation modes as you may need to see a reference image in both of those views.
The menu layout also changes in Animation mode, since the model is no longer in "Edit" mode,. the options for motion rotation scale etc are no longer visible.
In UV mode,.you're editing the layout of the flattened wireframe to fit the textures or shaders you're using.
Hope that makes sense.
edited for typo's
PhilW:
I bought Learning Carrara 8.5 and downloaded it. I have six zip files. ONly the first worked to produce a video. The others say the path is too long and produced a black screen. When I right click on the zip files it says they are all empty. This may not be the right place to ask for help but your offices are closed all weekend. The help file is WinXP and doesn't represent Win8.1 at all. Help from anyone? I think I have to download all over.
Sorry, I authored the videos but I know nothing about Infinite Skills distribution. I think you may have to wait for them to be around on Monday - thanks for buying though!
Hrpschrd,.
Just guessing here,. is it possible that the Zips are part of the same archive,. but split into packets,. so that when you unzip the main one,.. it unpacks the rest.
this could also explain the apparently empty zips, after extraction, but it's more likely to be a protection to prevent redistribution.
Have a look at the file sizes and names,. normally different zips have different names,. if they all have a common name then they could be an archive,. split into separate and more easily downloaded.
any info for Win 98,. WinXP, Win7 should be applicable in Win 8, after all these are media files, rather than an application
you ned to exract them all to the same directory.
I used 7 zip to do that then use the videoplayerPC.exe to play them.
Problem solved. I extracted them to the Desktop and all are working.
thanks all.
Great - glad you got everything working. I hope you find them useful.
I remember the feeling... kind of. That was a while back. But it goes away quickly in many respects, but the thing about Carrara is that it's so vast in capabilities that there'll always be something more to learn about it. I was very much a newbie in 2010, but haven't felt that way for many years now... if that's any indication. I just kept coming to these forums and looking for answers, asking if I couldn't find what I was looking for. Those same people (as well as many more), PhilW, evilproducer, 3DAGE, came to my aid time and time again and very patiently stepped me into understanding the program - at least the stuff I wanted to use it for.
Awesome! Now make a new "Carrara Infinite Skills" folder in your Videos directory and put them in there! :)
Don't forget (or neglect) to download the Working files! Extract the folder to your My Documents > DAZ 3D > Carrara 8.5 > My Presets > My Objects folder so you can see them in your browser. It's amazing how a good first-hand look in Carrara can help with these concepts.
Hail PhilW! You're a great teacher, my friend!
Another thing I'd like to add:
One of the first things we do (I think) with our new software is to turn off the "Tips" on start up of the program. When I ran Carrara on this new laptop I've decided to leave them on, just for kicks... see what they say.
Yeah, they have some pretty basic stuff in there. But there's also some pretty useful tips in that thing! If you want to check it out, open Carrara and go to Help > Show Tips and the little window will open. Scroll through a bunch of them for a while. It's pretty cool. If you decide to have them pop up when you open Carrara, just go to the preferences and, in the first page, uncheck "Skip Tips atStart Up" and save ;)