Make Carrara like daz stduio make it simpler and call it DAZ STUDIO ELITE
Jake_35533
Posts: 242
I wish Carrara was as simple to use as DAZ studio. I would go over to carrara fully if it worked seamlessly with daz content. I was blown away by the ability to add plants and other advanced features. (I had Carrara for a year and never used it until recently when they updated it to 8.5, allowing genisis to work). But I am struggling just to figure out how to move a character around since it doesnt even have parameter adjustments for morphs and other stuff. ( or at least the are buried somewhere). When will they make Carrara a daz studio on steroids?
Comments
I find using a 4 camera view to be easier when moving objects in a scene in Carrara...just like Vue's standard layout. Main Render view, Top , Right or Left and Front View. Plus Carrara has in-scene collison detection which works nicely for placing objects on the ground etc. The only thing I wish it had was the ability to look through Cameras and Lights like Daz Studio has. Apart from that I don't find it that hard to work with.
I've been using daz studio since 2.0 and I bought Carrara 7 a couple of years ago (in fact I own all the daz programs) when I opened carrara I didn't see any of the handholding I see in daz. No tabs for surfaces, perameters, dynamics, etc. I am lost. I can wiz through daz like nothing. Is there any documentation out there. And can you daz content in Carrara like you can with daz (genesis with morph selection and clothing options?) if not Carrara is useless to me.
oh God no!!
(edit to clarify, my answer to Carrara being more like Daz studio not the last post)
I have only gone up to carrara 8 pro so I have no idea how Genesis works and how well in Carrara 8.5 beta,
Don't take my post as trying to persuade you it wasn't. I have no desire to defend any piece of software. I just find that with the amount of Carrara related tutorials that can be found via Google or http://carraracafe.com/ a great helps to grasp the basics. There are PhilC's Carrara related tutorials in the store that many swear by.
Given what Carrara is capable of I would have thought the question should be "Can't they make DS more like Carrara" than the other way round.
TO make Carrara more like DS is so many umpteen steps backwards.
Have you seen what you CAN do in Carrara.
And this is from someone who is not a Carrara person, but does know what it is capable of.
jakeRussel
you move a character around in either the Parameters tab or with the translate tool
adjustments and morphs are also under parameters. some under actor or a body part in the heirarchy
whole ROOM for surfaces (textures)
maybe know what you are talking about mate before you start sounding off
you move a character around in either the Parameters tab or with the translate tool
adjustments and morphs are also under parameters. some under actor or a body part in the heirarchy
whole ROOM for surfaces (textures)
maybe know what you are talking about mate before you start sounding off
There is no parameters tab in Carrara. There is a translate tool but no translate dial for exact movement like in daz. (Unless its hidden).
There is a texture tab at the top of Carrara but it works nothing like Daz. I imported a Genesis character into Carrara and it put a heavy bump on the entire character. I had to go one by one, each body part and turn down bump just to get it smooth. Now adding shaders and other effects I have to learn from scratch because its not as easy or organized as Daz is.
When I get Genesis in Carrara 8.5, the first thing that messes up is the bones. I never mess with the bones of the Character and I couldn't get it to go back inside the Character. I tried deleting the Character but it just separated the bones from the Character. It goes downhill from there when I try to do other stuff with it (thinking it would work similar to Daz studio).
There are no lights tab, shaping tab, camera tab, or even merge (to merge a scene saved with the current scene).
When I click on model tab, all I get is a blank screen with nothing in it. (Still can't figure out what to do next)
I tried to add a tree to a scene but there is no "close" button or "apply" button. The tree window takes over the screen and you are stuck there.
It seems limited to me in that you can do more (like model and render with better settings), but you loose the ease of use and all the tabs at your fingertips like in Daz.
I want to use Carrara but it takes away half of what I am used to using, and is not organized at all. (I own every major modeling program Maya, ZBrush, Lightwave 3D, 3DS Max, Mudbox, Cinema 4D, e-on Vue, Poser, Bryce, Hexagon, and the entire Adobe production suite, and Carrara is very unorganized compared to these programs.) I may be a beginner in modeling but I was hoping Carrara would be a beginners dream for ease of use with Daz content and its not, at least from a first impression. The only reason why I went back to Carrara is because of HowieFarkes forest sets. I needed this forest for a project and hoped to integrate Daz Characters in it for a camping scene.
something must be wrong with your set up, ask on the Carrara forum
There is no parameters tab in Carrara. There is a translate tool but no translate dial for exact movement like in daz. (Unless its hidden).
There is a texture tab at the top of Carrara but it works nothing like Daz. I imported a Genesis character into Carrara and it put a heavy bump on the entire character. I had to go one by one, each body part and turn down bump just to get it smooth. Now adding shaders and other effects I have to learn from scratch because its not as easy or organized as Daz is.
When I get Genesis in Carrara 8.5, the first thing that messes up is the bones. I never mess with the bones of the Character and I couldn't get it to go back inside the Character. I tried deleting the Character but it just separated the bones from the Character. It goes downhill from there when I try to do other stuff with it (thinking it would work similar to Daz studio).
There are no lights tab, shaping tab, camera tab, or even merge (to merge a scene saved with the current scene).
When I click on model tab, all I get is a blank screen with nothing in it. (Still can't figure out what to do next)
I tried to add a tree to a scene but there is no "close" button or "apply" button. The tree window takes over the screen and you are stuck there.
It seems limited to me in that you can do more (like model and render with better settings), but you loose the ease of use and all the tabs at your fingertips like in Daz.
I want to use Carrara but it takes away half of what I am used to using, and is not organized at all. (I own every major modeling program Maya, ZBrush, Lightwave 3D, 3DS Max, Mudbox, Cinema 4D, e-on Vue, Poser, Bryce, Hexagon, and the entire Adobe production suite, and Carrara is very unorganized compared to these programs.) I may be a beginner in modeling but I was hoping Carrara would be a beginners dream for ease of use with Daz content and its not, at least from a first impression. The only reason why I went back to Carrara is because of HowieFarkes forest sets. I needed this forest for a project and hoped to integrate Daz Characters in it for a camping scene.
lets start with new blank scene
then goto smart content
load Genesis from there - double click or drag and drop
click the second Genesis just above actor on the right side
then up on the upper righthand side what do you see - should be lots of controls to change Genesis ( parameter adjustments for morphs and other stuff. )
To move Genesis - the controls are on the lefthand side - up , down , size , etc .
Jake_Russel
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Jake. I get it. I really do. Carrara seems confusing as hell at first. I have owned a version of Carrara going all he way back to its Ray Dreams days, but had never really used it. When I found out a version of Carrara could use Daz/Poser people and props, I picked up that version. I couldn't get it to work right for Damn. Posing things was complicated as was everything else. I missed my "Perspective View" from D|S (in Carrara it's the Director's Camera, which I had trouble finding).
I found that I could build an entire scene in Daz, then move it over to Carrara. It was great. My renders looked awesome and I was happy. One day, after I "updated" DS, I could no longer move whole scenes from Daz. This bothered me because I loved the way Carrara renders. The renders in Carrara blew away anything I made over in DS.
I tried to make my scenes over in Carrara, but it was such a struggle, I gave up and went back to DS. I stayed over there for a couple of months, but was just not happy with my renders.
I finally went back to Carrara. I asked questions over in the Carrara forum and started to understand it. It wasn't long before I was up to a higher level of skill than I had with DS.
I haven't looked back since.
Now, I only use DS to scan items into the browser and to set up my aniBlocks.
Carrara is very powerful. It can do many more things than D|S. It will take a little work, but we really would be harmed if Carrara was more like D|S.
Wendy.
You're usually one of the coolest people on the boards.
(okay, silly as hell, always making us laugh, too)
but cool.
Let's get this guy educated on Carrara because we NEED more users.
Don't beat him down.
Okay.
I know the basics of starting a new scene, rendering and moving the camera and changing the texture properties a little but everything else seems hidden.
Where is smart content? (See picture below of my Carrara 8.5 blank scene)
Also where is the "dumb content" or content library tab (since smart content is not always "smart")
Where are the parameters controls for using NUMBERS instead of handles?
Where would the morphs/shaping controls be when I select a genesis character?
Where would the Powerpose or equivalent controls be if there are any?
Do they appear on the side of the scene or are then in some kind of window?
Sorry for the questions. Post a picture of what these look like. I am a visual person and learn faster with pictures.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Merging a Daz studio scene over to Carrara sounds like a good start to learning Carrara but since you said it doesn't do that anymore, how do you get a scene set up? Does Carrara accept all content like DS? Morphs? Clothing? Props?
I have reached the peak of DS and I am ready to move to more advanced stuff but without moving to the high end programs yet like Maya, ZBrush and Lightwave 3d. (Its a shame I bought all these programs but never got around to learning them. I kind of gave up and went back to DS since it sort of works right out of the box for my needs.) But I'm wanting to have more control over the render quality and have more complex scenes using plants and landscapes (I have moved on from Bryce so I don't really use that anymore).
All I really need to know is how to add a Character (Genesis) add clothing, change the morphs of Genesis (face, body, etc), adjust parameters using NUMBERS rather than handles, and group objects together like in DS and save parts of sets to merge into another scene. If Carrara can do these things I use daily in DS, I will move over to Carrara almost permanently.
I was referring to the ability to have all tabs up front rather than buried in menus like so many programs do.
I agree that DS is limited and the training wheels on DS comes off when you use Carrara, but Carrara is like getting off a bike with training wheels onto a Harley Davidson motorcycle (for beginners). I just learned how to render, make scenes and change/make textures but I still don't know how to model or do advanced stuff like subsurface scattering, planet generation and advanced collision detection.
Oh, and before the administrator says that this is not the place for tutorials, I will give a product suggestion.
Daz should make a tutorial system like they have in Daz Studio for Carrara.
Someone make an interactive or video tutorial for Carrara that walks you step by step just on going from DS to Carrara. (Not a detailed one)
In fact, they should have two interfaces for Carrara, a DS style interface and then the current one (advanced) for those who are familiar with the program. I think Carrara can blow Poser Pro out the water if they only used this program as their flagship for Daz content.
Daz is a dream come true for new users for 3D content. If it weren't for Bryce and Daz Studio, I would have never been able to do anything in 3D.
sorry tsarist, he rubbed me the wrong way, instead of how do I do this in Carrara it was
jakeRussel
again, not how do I do this?
I will help those who ask for help,
and do so eagerly
Carrara is an incredible 3D application
but
this guy is saying the app should be re-coded to suit HIS needs instead of bothering to ask and learn how to use it
again, not how do I do this?
I will help those who ask for help,
and do so eagerly
Carrara is an incredible 3D application
but
this guy is saying the app should be re-coded to suit HIS needs instead of bothering to ask and learn how to use it
This thread is for product suggestions. So I thought I would give one. I noticed that those who already are advanced in something tend to not have sympathy when a new person asks why something is so hard. Its like the phrase, "If I can do it, you can too." which is useless, because I am not you.
I never asked to re-code the app for me, just to make it more approachable to people coming form DS. I hope you know Carrara is a budget app for people who can't afford ZBrush, Maya, Lightwave 3D or REAL production level programs. For me, Carrara is just training wheels for me to learn the real professional 3D programs (since I plan to go to college for special effects).
I am coming from DS to Carrara. How am I supposed to approach a new program? By what I already know, right? Remember, there are far more people like me coming from DS to Carrara thinking "wow, this program is cool but its totally different from DS, I'm going back to DS because nothing is where I thought it would be".
If a tool is hidden, how will I find it? Where are the parameters, morphs, cameras, etc? Thats all I'm asking. Where is the tools I use in DS in Carrara? I'm pretty smart and a fast learner so all I need are simple directions. I have only used Carrara for a week (inspired by HowieFarkes sets for Carrara). I am ready to slowly move my projects over once I learn the ropes.
Okay.
I know the basics of starting a new scene, rendering and moving the camera and changing the texture properties a little but everything else seems hidden.
Where is smart content? (See picture below of my Carrara 8.5 blank scene)
Also where is the "dumb content" or content library tab (since smart content is not always "smart")
Where are the parameters controls for using NUMBERS instead of handles?
Where would the morphs/shaping controls be when I select a genesis character?
Where would the Powerpose or equivalent controls be if there are any?
Do they appear on the side of the scene or are then in some kind of window?
Sorry for the questions. Post a picture of what these look like. I am a visual person and learn faster with pictures.
you have to switch to Browser at the bottom - lefthand side
Hi Jake,
I don't want to discourage you from this thread, it's obviously becoming quite controversial, I just want to say that if you DO need any help with Carrara, there is a New Users Forum which is extremely helpful, and a dedicated Carrara Forum which also has some pretty hot brains willing to help out. I'm sure you've seen the forums, I'm just wondering if you have thought about posting there.
I do like Szark's idea for Carrara to be able to look through lights and cameras though. That would be helpful.
Hi Jake,
I don't want to discourage you from this thread, it's obviously becoming quite controversial, I just want to say that if you DO need any help with Carrara, there is a New Users Forum which is extremely helpful, and a dedicated Carrara Forum which also has some pretty hot brains willing to help out. I'm sure you've seen the forums, I'm just wondering if you have thought about posting there.
I do like Szark's idea for Carrara to be able to look through lights and cameras though. That would be helpful.
you can do that all ready
I'm gonna agree with Wendy... There's like a manual, and tons of tutorial videos going back years.... Saying it's not what I expected and then running away... that's no way to approach life. I mean how far did you get with Maya and all the other programs you namedropped? You expect me to believe they are just like D|S?
I didn't mean to offend or anger anyone. I was just saying that Carrara looks like it has a potential to be just as easy to use as DS but more useful than DS since it has more options and more features. The only thing holding it back is the interface. But I am starting to find the things I was looking for like the content tab and there other stuff I mentioned.
I never said I ran away from Carrara, I meant to say I didn't have time to re-learn a new program all over again just for a handful of features. I am well versed in DS and wanted to move to the next level, which is Carrara. But Carrara is like a new program instead of a "DAZ STUDIO ELITE" upgrade. I was disappointed and had the wrong expectations.
The other high end programs I bought for a college course I plan on taking soon. I know the basics in those programs but since I am not at a level to actually model my own objects (especially not as complex as Michael 5 or some of the other objects in the store) I need a program like DS or Carrara to get straight into using pre-made objects and go from there. Its time I move on to doing more and Carrara seems the way to go.
I will go to the Carrara forum (I didn't think to look for one) and get more info there. My main goal on this thread was to just make a suggestion about maybe making Carrara a little more beginner friendly without taking away any features. I didn't know this discussion would get personal with some people. But I appreciate those who did give me tips and honest advice on using Carrara.
Jake
I'm running Carrara7Pro and I don't use Genesis, but I'm sure it's similar.
Give this a try...
.
Goto the bottom of the screen and open up the Content tab for DazStudio.
Goto Figures
Goto DAZ People
Choose V4 by double clicking (this is just an example)
She should pop up in the assembly room
For clothes...
Goto Figures
Look under here for whatever clothes you may own. Double click to select.
Clothes should appear in the assembly room and attached to V4
To add morphs...
Goto Poses
Goto DAZ Victoria 4
Double Click Morphs ++
Now morphs should be available
To Change morphs...
Select V4 in the tab on the right of the screen
The top group of tabs will contain ways for you to change morphs with handles OR numbers
.
This should get you started. I'm NOT looking at my computer right now, so I'm doing all this from memory.
Go over to the Carrara forum with your specific requests and questions.
Someone over there will help.
I promise you, everything I have seen you ask about CAN be done in Carrara right now.
Invest some time, you won't regret it.
Best of luck!
you can do that all ready
I know you can look through Cameras in Carrara.
You can look through lights too?
How do you do that?
I know you can look through Cameras in Carrara.
You can look through lights too?
How do you do that?
by dragging a conical camera to a light in the scene tab and selecting multiple views and viewing through that camera in one while translating the light, I do not see the point really but it can be done.
.
Oh okay. Thanks
Yeah, the point is in DS, you can select a light and look through it as if it were a camera.
The way we can set up lights is different, but I think a little more accurate than the DS setup.
.
Still, thanks
I learned something new.