Our own Carrara R&D and Science Division!
Very special thnks to all of the wonderful folks whom have put outstanding effort into adding to this wonderful software to make it better and better - and more formidable for us Carrara users and all of our vastly varied reasons for using it.
In no particular order, here are some immediate highlight that come to mind in the limited time I have right now:
Plugin Developers
Thanks to our friend, Jay Nola, we have this wonderful compendium of available plugins for Carrara - each of which make a really big difference to what we can do directly within the software!
► Carrara Plugins FAQ & Information - By Jay_NOLA
Jay compilled and organized a great measure of info regarding Plugins specific to our
beloved Carrara. FAQ, Information and Links to help you determine which are right for you. Thank You Jay_NOLA!
Brand new to Carrara is an amazing set of app + plugin for creating dynamics for either animations or natural drapes or other effects for still images. Brand new and developed by a pair of true Die Hard Wonderful people with a passion to see this set grow and get better - even though it's already running some amazing power! Here's the thread:
Dynamic cloth + related Carrara plugins - Best Practices, Tips and Renders
Thanks to the awesome developers as well as the passionate users - constantly pushing the bar on using it!
HeadWax even made a structure and draped a plane over it and added a Terrain Shader to the plane to create this crazy experiment!
Within Jay's FAQ, above,
Frederick Ribble has toiled away and brought to us the wonderful PyCarrara and PyCloid. With his permission, I've compiled a playlist of his brief and wonderful demo videos. Enjoy!
Here's the first video in the list, just as a teaser
With all respect, f1oat3d, I love you man!
Well then our friend Fractal Dimensia developed his own PySwarm for PyCarrara a really interesting (and fun!!!) Flocking behavioral plugin using PyCarrara and some clever scripting. It's really quite the thing!
Too much to explain in short, this cool little video is an early test, basically set objects can follow something and we can include the camera as a follower as well. There's a lot more to it and it's really quite simple, yet flexible to set up the way he has it built for us!
He gives an excellent tutorial two-part series as well. Fantastic work!
An excerpt from the Learning Carrara thread
...in the meantime, let's talk for a moment about modeling.
When I first started thinking about buying Carrara, the 'word' was that Carrara's Vertex Modeler wasn't quite up-to-snuff - so I didn't take it all that seriously. The fact that Carrara did have modeling and model editing capabilities along with its uncanny ability to load in Poser-format figures, is what drew me toward it in the first place. The other great stuff that Carrara can do was just a bunch of cool bonus features to me.
I always used the vertex modeler to reshape conforming clothing and hair, etc., to work with the custom shaped characters I've been making. And it does that very, Very well! I even made special morphs for adding wind and other movements to my clothes and hair - and then even special shaping morphs to add dynamic realism to my characters themselves!
Once I actually started putting my modeling skills to work in Carrara, I was completely amazed that the 'word' was that Carrara's Vertex Modeler wasn't quite up-to-snuff!!! Everything just works as expected - at least for the most part. For something as vast and versatile as what Carrara is, I think that its modeling tools are nothing short of spectacular! Sure, there are requests open that haven't been implemented... granted. There are things that other modeling software does that it doesn't... agreed. But any time I need to make a model, I have absolutely NO problems building one!
As a matter of fact, these other modelers cannot work with Daz 3d figures as we would expect to use them in Poser or Daz Studio. Being able to do that in Carrara gives us a LOT more power towards making models that support other figures - especially when combined with either Daz Studio's Content Creation Tools or Poser's (I think... haven't tried Poser in quite some time) Content utilities. For example, we don't need to export (from DS or Poser) special OBJs to create special morphs. We can simply load the correct figure, apply the expected morphs, and model accordingly - then export our modeling job as an OBJ for use with the Content Creation Tools or other utilities! It's very dynamic and comfortable!
So anyways, in my adventures within these Carrara Discussion Forums, I've discovered that I am certainly not alone in really enjoying my modeling experiences in Carrara. So I'm going to add some links here to some really cool modeling threads that currently exist - just so that you, too, can see how much fun and success others are having:
* Polygon Modeling, Post your creations! Learn and share experiences - many pages long!
* Modeling Objects in Carrara - Q&A - Come One and All - Adventures of modeling of all sorts and types!
* Using Formulas in Carrara - Fun with Formulae!!! Wendy's GIF on right >>>>
with a cool caveat HERE
* weight painting and rigging issues excellent notes from the mind of diomede64!
* Sculpting alternatives in Carrara 8 Pro
* Low Poly Modelling for Game Mods another GIF by Wendy >>>
* WIP - English Town Hall / Square - an adventure in modeling by our very own
Tango Alpha before he became published by Daz3d!
* How to create a Triangle Primitive in Carrara? - FUN!
* 5 ways to fix poke through without using conforming clothes! An informative tutorial by diomede64
* Does anyone use Carrara for Modeling?
* Export and paint UVmap - workflow - how to do it…
* Separate Materials on Polygon selections
- For professional courses to purchase:
* Modeling in Carrara with the help of Phil Wilkes
...and mmoir has a good one as well below
Another excerpt from that thread:
wgdjohn just reminded me (in his modeling thread, which I'll get to in a second) about the fine tutorials by Dimension Theory, whom used to be VERY active among the Carrara user group.
Dimension Theory Video Tutorials on YouTube <<<< Click here to go to his Tutorials Playlist
For your entertainment, however, have a look at some of the non-tutorial eye candy he's done for us: (these are all very short, and very worth watching!!! So Cool!)
Comments
Eventually I'd really like to do article-style write-ups for the plugins I know from other sources, like Sparrowhawke and DCG, kinda like this. Anyone who has some great info to share above any of these (or other) incredible tools, feel free to do a write-up!
Here's one I did for Fenric's Tools that I own:
Fenric's Tools
I am putting some of these tools to Constant use, while others I still need to explore more - as with many things in Carrara, both things that are included in Carrara Pro as well as after-market supplements. All in all, however, when I was going from laptop to desktop to my home-built workstation I ended up reinstalling Carrara a few times and, each time, if I tried messing around in Carrara before installing my Fenric tools, Carrara just didn't feel right. Fenric has certainly played a huge role in helping me to achieve my goals.
Shader Power Tools - is a combination of many of the tools he sold via his site at prices too low to be sold here at Daz 3d. Bundling them together makes for a beautiful pile of very useful Carrara utilities! It includes the following tools previously sold in his (now closed) store:
I use the Advanced Shader Tweaker quite often, but really have to spend some time to get to know and use the others in this pack. They're all very helpful, useful utilities - it just takes me breaking away from old habits and looking at new/different ways of looking at shaders.
BVH/PZ2 Exporter for Carrara - If this didn't exist, neither would my Swordworks for M4 or AnimationKit for Mil Dragon 2, since I made the animations in Carrara and used this tool to get them into PZ2 files, and then bringing those into DS to create the aniBlocks - which is a fine workflow. Very useful tool, it doesn't work for Triax rigging. But for recording any animations for any Poser-format models, this thing is incredibly powerful!
Pose Helper for Carrara - Again, unfortunately this doesn't work on Genesis or other Triax figures - but I LOVE this tool! So nice to be able to swap pose directions > send left to right, right to left, along with everything else that it does. Being that I still enjoy using Generation 4 and other Poser Format figures (also works with native figures, primitives, etc.,) I find myself using this handy device quite a lot.
Carrara Enhanced Remote Control - Here we go! This bad boy is truly amazing! Faba (fabaone at ShareCG) has some very helpful tutorials and helper (controler) objects at ShareCG, and PhilW teaches us how to use this to let one aileron of an Biplane model control all the other ailerons and the wires that connect them! Really cool! That's in his Advanced Carrara Techniques course via Infinite Skills.
This tool is best explained by the creator himself:
This is one of those that I really need to practice using more! This thing is awesome!
Pose and Shading Tools 2 - Again... I need to sit down and play with these. I bought this because I know that I will love using these systems, I just have to take the time to dig in and try them!
MDD File Format for Carrara - This is the one Fenric Tool that I do not (yet) own.
Posing Pack 3 - Here it is! There was a discussion going on just the other day about changing the visibility of an entire hierarchy chain being a pain in the butt! This plugin (I totally forgot about that function) has that capability and a whole lot more! I use this thing CONSTANTLY!
This thing adds Tree Duplicate to the list of "Edit > Fenric" commands, which allows us to essentially duplicate things which cannot be duplicated! Instead of actual duplication, these Tree Duplicates are their own instances or separate figures, not the memory-saving instances we get from duplicated props and simple objects. But it makes it so we can get exact copies of - yes - Figures!!! So useful for vehicles, rigged building figures, even character figures. It basically (and quickly) pretends to add whatever is selected into the browser (without adding it to the browser) and drags it back into the scene - really fast! But wait... there's a lot more!
This also adds the aforementioned Unlock Figure and Restore Figure! Wanna add a custom morph zone into a locked figure? Unlock it - change it - Restore it! Yup!
We also get the Set Figure Visibility command which, as I've started this tool's description with, allows us to hide entire chains of hierarchy within a figure with a single click! I gotta tell John and Misty!!!
It also adds Change Rotation, which is a command which will go through the whole figure and change ALL of the joint rotations from Carrara's default Quaternion to Angles! So if you've ever loaded in a figure that ends up looking like it's tied in a knot as soon as you start working with it, you now know how to fix it! :)
If you're wondering about any of these, please ask! I may know what you need to know - if not, I might be able to find out ;)
love it, thanks Dart!
My pleasure ;)
Of course, we can go on and on with such a subject.
Let's take a look at the R&D side from our forum members. There's a LOT of examples everywhere we look. One of many that has really changed the way I do things is Phil Wilkes thread about his research into Gamma Correction = 2.2 being a magic switch built into Carrara for a linear workflow - something that's immensely popular now and being used in every single new PBR engine I know of - and it's been in Carrara for ages!
Linear Workflow - Gamma Coorection = 2.2 - a long thread lead by Mr. Phil Wilkes
He then took his heavy studies further and Infinite Skills published his results, also through our own Daz3d store!
Realism Rendering - is a journey through Phil's extensive research on getting realistic results with Carrara's native render engine. He does a wonderful comparison between images rendered via LuxRender's PBR via Luxor and those rendered in Carrara's native Photo-Realistic engine using knowledge gained from his research into "Linear Workflow" practices.
My rendering habits have forever changed after taking this course.
Like all of his courses, this one doesn't skimp on education or entertainment. Phil is perfect at delivering a good solid foundation of skills needed to really understand Carrara, which gives each of us something special according to how we use it.
He covers the intricacies of indoor lighting and rendering, along with a bonus tip of a very ingenious method of making quick models to fill the scene - even if you don't model! I don't want to ruin the surprise, so I can't tell you what it is... It's cool, though and it works great!
Building shaders for realism, setting good default rendering and scene settings, exterior scenes, human portrait rendering, and a wealth of information about all of the various light types available to us. He takes us through shading a model of a car to stunning results, he takes a simple scene from Carrara's native browser and, by creating all new shaders, lighting and environment elements, turns the thing into a masterpiece - with added post work examples in PhotoShop! A real treat, this course is!
Yes... everybody runs Carrara in different ways. We have our favored methods, we have our own agendas and workloads and workflows...
Phil's lessons aren't so much: "This is what you do", but more "Do this and this will happen", which adds to our overall knowledge, which makes us all better at whatever we do when we sit behind Carrara.
So I'd like to take this time to very respectfully thank my instructor for immensely increasing the rush that I feel when I do what I do in Carrara...
Thank you, Phil Wilkes
You Totally ROCK!!!
Love ya, my friend and mentor!
Here is a very complete video tutorial series that explains a full workflow, explaining the whys and how-tos along the way, making it very easy to understand, follow, and remember for future projects. Thank you Jonstark for this awesome series:
►►► Creating realistic Carrara hair for animations and still renders - By Jonstark
Want a free proxy shroud for V4?
Low Poly Conforming Dynamic Hair Collider for V4 (with morphs) - by stringtheory9
jonstark has also stepped off into working up building a render farm "on the cheap" as a hobby and, as a good reporter, posted his endeavors for us all to discuss with him
Building my own little render farm on the cheap
which lead to his creating this thread
Carrara not using all of my render nodes! Solved!
Along those lines, in a way, I've written these articles a while back - some folks might find them useful. Keep in mind that they were written before Octane and Luxrender, etc., and are written according to using my favorite render engine ever: Carrara's Native Render Engine
► Carrara & Computers
► How to Build Your Own Carrara Workstation
Perhaps someone would enjoy adding some links to their own favorite engines with links to their threads and, perhaps, a few words about whay they like about it?
...and check out this study!
Bump and Normal Map Comparison Examples in Carrara
Misty has been experimenting with all manner of things in her thread - and lately she's been unlocking a outside-the-box method for getting Genesis 3 into Carrara 8.5! Crazy Stuff that!
virtual penny 4 yor carrara thoughts ?
and all the Cripeman video tutts on u tubes.
unlocked the mystery of motion paths and putting fountains in particle emitters, wacky wild stuff that.
Agreed! Here are some, just for a teaser!
Cripeman Tutorials Index
The Cripeman has been soaring Carrara skies for years now, and has been faithfully saving humanity through his imaginative advice on how we can get Carrara to do what we need it to do. If you're new to using Carrara, the Cripeman's tutorial collection can direct you through many aspects of the software. Personally, I enjoy each and every one and have watched most of them more than once - and I hope that the Cripeman keeps this up... forever!
It can be a little daunting trying to find what you're looking for by simply navigating YouTube. Also, I feel that his advice and pleasant teaching techniques would be the perfect addition to a Living Carrara User's Manual.
Because of this, and with his permission, I have compiled a fully linked list of all of his tutorials to date. I'll try to keep my eyes open for new ones and add them accordingly. If you notice that one is missing, or if you feel that one (or more) link should belong in a different category in the list, please let me know. But this is a rather large endeavor, so please be patient.
Enjoy!
Carrara Features
Thoughts on Genesis in Carrara 8.5
Preferences
Global Illumination
Glare, Blur, and 3d Aura
Backdrop and Background
The Ocean Primitive
Carrara Terrains
Volumetric Clouds
Metaballs
Tree Tour
Playing with Fire
3D Paint
Displacement Mapping
Dynamic Hair
Making a Skullcap in Poser
Guide Hair Styling
Shader Hair Styling
Razor Stubble / Hair Domains
Plant Primitive
Trees on Terrain
Tree Rustling
Making a Christmas Tree Using the Plant Modeler
Lighting and Rendering
Basic Lighting
Light Gels
Rendering with Alpha Channels
Creating Lights From Textures Using Anything Glows
Interactive Renderer
How to Make a Blueprint Style Render
3 Point Lighting
Fingers of God Effect
Neon Using Anything Glows
Generate HDR Images for Carrara
Particles and Physics
Intro to Physics in Carrara
Let it Snow
Making Your Own Particles
Particle Creation Menu
Particle Shaders
Particle Creation with Particle Shaders
Sequential Particles
Fountain Tricks
Setting up Particle Emitter for Forces
Shapes as Emitters
Writing with the Particle Emitter
Force Control
Forces Tour
Modeling a Chain (Physics Chain 1)
Physics Chain 2
Making Steam
Shaders
Natural Shaders
Making Windows Shader for a Distant Skyline
SSS vs Glow
Seeing Through Transparency
Toon Shading
How to Make a Fake Planet
Rust
Terrain Shading
Animation
Special Presentation: Eadweard Muybridge - Grandfather of Animation
Creating Motion Paths
Creating a Wing Flap Animation
Intro to Bones
Bones Influence
Making a Logo Flying Around the World
Animating Wavy Text
Making a Muzzle Flash
Compositing Tips
Exporting Animated Poses from Poser to Carrara
Making and Animating Gears
Modeling
Bevels in the Spline Modeler
Soft Selection
Cool Carrara Tricks - Building Better Bricks
Cool Carrara Tricks - Building a Cityscape Pt 1
Cool Carrara Tricks - Building a Cityscape Pt 2
Cool Carrara Tricks - Modeling a Mailbox
Modeling a Barrel using the Lathe Tool
How to Make a Steam Punk Arch
How to Model a Cityscape Pt 1
How to Model a Cityscape Pt 2
How to Model a Cityscape Pt 3
How to Model a Cityscape Pt 4
How to Make a Mushroom Cloud Pt 1
How to Make a Mushroom Cloud Pt 2
Make a Display Case
Modeling a Rope
Making a Simple Flower
Making Keyboard Shortcuts for the Spline Modeler
Modeling a Human Head Part 1
Modeling a Human Head Part 2
Modeling a Human Head Part 3
Model a Figurine in 10 Minutes
Model a Facade
Modeling Pipes
Modeling Ruled Surfaces
Making Morph Targets on Your Figures
Replicator
Precision Replication
SciFi Elements
How to Make Your Own Starfield
Distributing Objects with Shaders
************************************************************************
More Excellent Cripeman Tutorials That have yet to be catagorized
************************************************************************
Make a Mountain of Skulls
Shows a quick example of creating a custom Terrain Shape, Using Poser to export only the Skull from a complete skeleton, Replicating the Skulls onto the custom terrain shape, and using the light brightness to Stylize the end image.
Making a 3d Object out of a 2d image
The 3DUniverse Toon Generation Figure
Make a Hologram
Textured Fire
Bryce Textures in Carrara
String Lights on a Christmas Tree
Birds in Trees
Electricity
Making Graffiti
Making a Romantic Moon
Frosted Glass
Sweat
Particle Fire
Merry Christmas
Depth of Field
Precision Alignment in Carrara
Spline Modeler Animation Trick
Volumetrics and FX
Creating a "Planet Hanging in the Sky" Effect
Bryce Terrains to Carrara Terrains
awesome list. Thank yooo!
that list must've taken ages to put together
I was a determined little guy! ;)
Creating that list was the original intention, which eventually lead into what has become ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄
I started writing as I awaited Cripeman's reply to my asking permission to create such a list. Next thing I knew... I was addicted to information sharing.
Dartanbeck - Both here and at other sites I see the question, "Is Carrara dead?" I'm thinking your answer is "No."
Nice job, BTW.
Thank You!
Necrophilia is a thing
Bummer!
FOOD for THOUGHT
Our very own 3DAGE has created a wonderful introduction to Bullet Physics in Carrara
* Bullet Physics - First Steps by 3dage
Mark Bremmer has a fun and wonderful 40 minute tutorial on Lighting
* Carrara Lighting Tutorial High Quality Video Tutorial by Mark Bremmer - includes scene download -
Are you into Geometry? We have a fun thread on using Fomulae in Carrara
* Using Formulas in Carrara
Are you into sculpting?
* Sculpting alternatives in Carrara
Fixing Poke-through
* 5 ways to fix poke through without using conforming clothes! An informative tutorial by Diomede64
Fun with Replicators!
* thread for replicator introductory methods, tricks, and advanced tips
DS <> Carrara workflow for rigging
* Rigging in DS 4.6.2.120 for use in Carrara
evilproducer's discussion on the
* Tasty Occlusion Sammich - a study in using Ambient Occlusion
another eveilproducer thread, this thing really has taken off!
* Tips & Tricks For Space Scenes
Have you ever wanted to know...
* How does one learn to be a Carrara programmer?
Making Games?
* Carrara and Unity Game engine
scifi funk has a few nice ones on NLA
and imoorting animates
Wow, what a terrific thread, thanks Dart!