OBJs best format to import for Carrara?
WsCG
Posts: 391
Hello!
So, wanted to share what I did in Carrara!
Kidding!
No way am I anywhere near doing anything like that, yet, in Carrara. Those models were done as part of an exercise in a training course I began recently for Blender. The exercise was basically to test me on understanding of the basic editing tools, by taking 3 basic primitives (cube, sphere and cone) and do something interesting with them. Each of the objects took me about 30-40 minutes to do. Just kinda zoned out while listening to some Twitch.tv in the background, and had fun with them. Can see my full submission here, if anyone's interested....
I wanted to do a quick test to see how cleanly an OBJ from Blender would import to Carrara, and it looks like it works perfectly! I've seen other programs mangle OBJs pretty badly, so it's always an iffy thing.
Anyway! I think - at least for the foreseeable future - I'm going to continue modeling in Blender, and then bring the objects into Carrara for the rest of the process. I really dig Carrara's workflow and want to work with it. I just feel a lot more "at home" with modeling in Blender, and can crank out things relatively quickly.
Just felt like sharing :p
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Comments
Very cool! I have Blender on my Carrara machine, but have barely opened it. I get too carried away in Carrara! LOL
I may just have to give it a play one of these years. There are several among us whom model in Blender. I know it's one helluva tool... I just have to get around to playing with it - getting to know how to 'feel at home' within it ;)
Rock On!!!
One thing about using obj -- it has no concept of global size. You'll need to know how big an "obj unit" is in the modelling program and then apply a scaling factor when you import. In Carrara 1 unit = 1 inch. DS & Hexagon has 1 unit = 1 cm, Modo has 1 unit = 1 metre, Blender 1 unit = 50cm, and so on.
OBJ is usually a safe bet, with the scaling proviso that Tango mentioned.
Cool! Yeah, there's an option to resize on export, so I can just make sure everything is correct in there. Or I can scale it once it's in Carrara. Either or would be fine.
Thanks!
It is a great program, without even considering its price. Were it not open-source, I could imagine it easily going for $1k or more, given what it can do. I remember a long time ago, well.. not *that* long ago, I used to get flack all the time for using it. "Why would you use that? Why don't you use a real program, like Max or Maya?" Now some of those same people are using Blender as well. Go figure :p. It seemed to turn a corner when they implemented ngons support.
If it had a work-flow along the lines of Carrara, it'd be the perfect tool for me and I'd probably never leave it lol. Alas. That work-flow, and the way other things work (like materials - can't wait to dig into that) are very appealing to me in Carrara. Working with materials in Blender, either the "traditional" way of using their menus/drop-downs, or even the node-based approach (though powerful) are just not very intuitive or fun to use for me.
But for modeling, it feels like "home". It has a lot of tools that really make things super fast/easy to model. Non-destructive modeling with modifiers is extremely powerful and can yield results with a minimum of hands-on modeling, and a ton of control over the results.
Hexagon has some nice modeling tools, as well, from what I've seen/used with it.
Actually, been thinking. I think I'm going to maybe stick to Blender for things that are really complicated for me to do yet in Carrara, but steadily work on improving my abilities in Carrara, so I can eventually move over. I'd really rather try to keep everything in a single environment. I'm not a fan of having to export/import stuff, unless it's like a direct "Bridge", such as DAZ has between its products.
So.. I think I have a simple-ish project for me to work on that will help me get more used to working with DAZ.
So, the OBJ export will still be useful, but only 'til I can get familiar enough to Carrara where I don't need to use that process.
It can be a good approach to use each program for its own strengths. I use a number of programs to generate assets for use in Carrara, so if you are familiar with modelling in Blender and can produce something there easily, then go with that. Sometimes one of the benefits of having a built-in modeller in Carrara is not necessarily to model something from scratch in that (although you can), but to adjust something that doesn't quite fit your scene without having to go back and forth too much.
Very true!
I think with me, another reason for me wanting to become adept with modeling in Carrara, is that it's a challenge. It took me a long time to get where I am with Blender. I couldn't do anything with it for a while lol. Then little by little, I picked up different tools and techniques, and one thing built on another, and after a time, I was able to create a decent amount of things I want to. Still have a very very very long way to go before I would say I have any 'mastery' of Blender.
But for sure, if there's something I need in a scene quickly, and I know I can crank it out fast in Blender, I'd definitely go that route.
I find modeling in Carrara to be really easy and fun... but that's just me ;)
The basics I've learned so far have been very easy. There are things I'm used to being able to do with a couple keystrokes in Blender, though, and I haven't been able to find an analog to those in Carrara, yet. They're probably there, I just haven't come across them.
I think if I was coming to Carrara fresh, or having been away from Blender long enough to have lost the muscle memory I have for a lot of commands, it'd be a lot easier. I'm in a position where my brain wants to "think in Blender", but I'm trying to work in Carrara. If that makes any sense lol.
I just need to work with it more, and I'm sure I'll find either a substitute for the tools I"m used to, or an equivalent method in Carrara.
Yes, a lot of it is what you are used to. I feel comfortable using Carrara and most things I do are modelled there. If you let us know the specific things you haven't found, we can try to point you in the right direction (or tell you it doesn't exist!).