Reason to be here?
ManStan
Posts: 0
Ya I have about given up on DAZ. Carrara 8.5 is dead in the water, DAZ would have a hard time convincing me they haven't abandoned it. DAZ has little to nothing in the store I am interested in; well stonemason and Jack's sets. Not anything I need for genesis, I mean I have massive wardrobes and autofit, not interested in any character morphs, and DAZ is offering little else. And apparently DAZ has dropped the weekly freebie, but then it's been a while since DAZ offered one I had any need of.
I've also read about and had issues with the store, so yet another reason not to shop. More over a few months ago our local bank was bought out by a bigger bank and we had to be issued new cards and such. Was a bit aggravated at the time but from what I read about the PC memberships just auto renewing, I'm glade now.
So I guess I'll see you all around. There is just no reason for me to be here anymore.
Later
Stan.
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Comments
the long kiss goodnight ManStan?
Wow! I'm just getting into DAZ and Carrara. I hope Carrara isn't dead in the water as I've just bought it. I'm new at this so maybe I'm not experienced enough to assess the quality of different content providers but I like the DAZ/Genesis content because compared to other 3D content providers it's cheaper and looks better than equivalently priced models/content.
It is alive and kicking for me.
The beta has some updated features I find essential, involving FBX import amd animation
just wish I could get a permenant serial for it. (the beta)
If you are new to it, it is still a great place to start imo. People who have been working with these packages for a long time sometimes hit walls which haven't been addressed and they get (somewhat reasonably) discouraged that they will be in the near future. For the most part, these 'walls' aren't anything a new person really has to worry about, rather the environment is still one of the best for getting up and running in 3D.
I'm hanging around for The Millennium Cow!!
It's got to be here sooner or later...
I shouldn't worry too much about Stan, he has been leaving for the longest time, but does keep coming back and telling us about it, just in case we forget him.
actually Sockratease, this last week I have learnt some valuable morph target skills and think I might get the Daz cow talking with Mimic soon.
Can already get NLA clips to work on created phonemes, just need to figure out how to marry it with Mimic phonemes.
Can the environments and scenes for DAZ Studio and Poser be loaded into Carrara? I'm thinking of getting some of the Stonemason ones.
I'm fairly new to Carrara, in relative terms, but have been here for a few years and have seen these walls in other posts.
I spend most to all of my computer time in Carrara and I've not discovered any walls. I never ask them to update or make a new Carrara - but when they do... Oooooieeee is that fun! Like Wendy said, this latest beta is super nice - but the official version release is still fairly new and shiny and I really enjoy that too.
As for the store, well... to each his/her own, but I can't stop buying this stuff, nor do I have a lack of interest towards any of the latest free offerings for PC members. Talk about exciting... Freak 5! Yeah!!!! 3D Universe is actively making great new figures, Flipmode with those really neat Easy Environments, Mec 4d, Blondie, 3djoi, RawArt, Petipet, Howie Farkes, Valandar, FeralFey, Anna Benjamin, Emperor Ken Gilliland, Predatron, The Ant Farm, 3D Lust, and the list goes on without end... damn I think they all have been making such beautiful things, I just can't stop buying the stuff! It makes me wish I was rich!
OMG, Speaking of Freak 5, though... he looks so much like my Boss, Johnny G, it's incredible! I've been procrastinating making a 3d version of him. Now all I have to do is tweak a bit of the face the the figure and shape is just right! Now I want to make some concrete blocks with mortar morphs, and a trowel with mortar morphs, so I can animate him building a concrete block wall in time lapse for a nice little promo add for when we get our website up and running. Simple project - I just need to get off my tushy!
I really hope that the Man Stan (I still think of him as Manley Stanley, a cool, experienced Carrara guru - a bit of a biker-lookin' guy - I like him a lot) isn't truly serious. I know that he's been impatiently waiting for some sort of Daz3d rep to come in and give some news about Carrara's future. Personally, I'm too busy having fun in Carrara to worry about such things. I am looking forward to a great Carrara future, but I'm not looking to get an end result today. If Daz were to stop development on 8.5 and sell a permanent code for cheap, I'd buy it. I'm on version build 132, as advised by Wendy and Holly. I was having a lot of fun in 172, but it didn't like to save my work that often. But I'm really not having any issues with 132. I find it blissfully awesome!
Damn Stan... please don't leave us. :grrr:
yes
need some tweaking with lighting for most Stonemason ones, they have skydomes which can block lighting I usually delete the skydomes and use their texture in the background instead or a Carrara sky.
Carrara has its own cool environmental features using terrains and replicators, buying a Howie Farkes scene and examining it will give you a valuable insight into the workings.
Ya know... it's more than that.
This Carrara forum has been my internet homepage for over a year now.
I love all you guys.
I hate it when any of you are feeling blue.
We all get along so great and will probably make history for what we've achieved over the years. We can do anything for WE ARE DAZ!!!
Just wanted you ALL to know that I truly value our family relationship. Daz, that goes for your absent arse as well - 'cause when you are here, you're truly one of us! We have to let them be for now. They're obviously still around - just quiet.
Together we've crossed boundaries and learned a lot. We share our frustrations and our joy. We commit to helping each other solve stuff that teaches us all how to achieve a new thing (for us, anyways) and we share our art... our lives... for
We Are DAZ!!!
Damit Dart, I wish I had a shot of whatever it is you are on!
Any Distant lights, or lights outside the dome are simply set to ignore it.
I made a special folder within my browser called Lighting within my objects. I have one file that has a collection of my most used sky domes all in one group, each with their glow channels set just right. Set the distant light to ignore them and none of them cast or receive shadows. Set up a slew of useful cameras, two film cameras, a light dome camera (for watching the effect of my replication shuffles and shader changes), and a more distant scene camera for backing way off without penetrating the domes. I set only one dome visible (the one you see in nearly all of my Rosie Renders), and set the way I want my default render settings and save that file!
It's amazing how handy such a thing is!
Stonemason makes great domes. The one for Enchanted Forest has the perfect distance blur, which looks outstanding behind my Carrara trees!
I'm a bit broke right now, but I'm dying to try Flipmode's Easy Environments Sky boxes
I shouldn't worry too much about Stan, he has been leaving for the longest time, but does keep coming back and telling us about it, just in case we forget him.
Hahaha, well, yeah we all get fed up and announce we are leaving from time to time... :cheese:
Carrara is and always will be super awesome and in a unique niche of doing a LOT that software many times its cost does, and doing it quite well.... But no program is THE final and ultimate software.... Yeah I've hit a few "walls" in Carrara but there's no saying I wouldn't hit similar walls in other programs. Sometimes when you get stuck you need a creative solution rather than another program...
I think Stan is saying he's done with the store... I admit I haven't bought anything Genesis and that has made my spending plummet as there is not much new that I need. I also quit the PC when I felt I wasn't getting my money's worth after the confusing coupon thing....
It's ok, I'm still in Carrara everyday. My 3D needs are well handled with Carrara..., and there's still a ton of stuff I don't really know how to do yet that could take me to the next level (rigging, physics, proxies...).... Plus Carrara is getting better at sharing animation data with other 3D software and I haven't even scratched the surface with all the possibilities of working in Carrara AND a second program (like Marvelous Designer, 3D Coat, iClone, Unity3D, Blender....) Ugh! there is not enough time....
Getting it talking with mimic might be fun, but it already talks to me all by itself :coolsmile:
Yeah! :coolsmile:
Any Distant lights, or lights outside the dome are simply set to ignore it.
I made a special folder within my browser called Lighting within my objects. I have one file that has a collection of my most used sky domes all in one group, each with their glow channels set just right. Set the distant light to ignore them and none of them cast or receive shadows. Set up a slew of useful cameras, two film cameras, a light dome camera (for watching the effect of my replication shuffles and shader changes), and a more distant scene camera for backing way off without penetrating the domes. I set only one dome visible (the one you see in nearly all of my Rosie Renders), and set the way I want my default render settings and save that file!
It's amazing how handy such a thing is!
Stonemason makes great domes. The one for Enchanted Forest has the perfect distance blur, which looks outstanding behind my Carrara trees!
I'm a bit broke right now, but I'm dying to try Flipmode's Easy Environments Sky boxes
What about using DAZ buildings and interiors in Carrara? Will they work ok in Cararra and what kind of tweaking would they need if any? I've bought quite a few environments, buildings and interiors for DAZ Studio which I hope to use in Carrara without too much tweaking. If I create a set with figures in DS will it transfer to Carrara ok or is it better to start from scratch in Carrara and not try to swop between them?
best loaded from the content browser in Carrara.
drag to the scene tree for zero position or top view in the scene for x,y positioning z(up) will be zero
yes Carrara axis are x,y (a more commonly used orientation in other apps I have) for the ground plane unlike studio or Poser which use x,z
the only thing lacking in Carrara's content browser that studio has is a search function, I just use Windows explorer on my runtime folder myself to get the address for imports or aid in browsing my library.
But Poser7 gives me the same issue with more annoying rescrolling added.
you need the C8.5 beta for Genesis stuff which can be iffy which is why it is a beta.
for what it is worth, I still scarcely use studio, never for rendering
could not really use it at all on my old laptop, had to use Carrara or Poser, no choice.
only started using it again a year ago when I got my desktop.
I would never be able to render my animations in studio, it would take too long.
I want a Carrara native version of the Unflatable Pony! :smirk: :smirk:
Not to downplay your feelings Stan, as I do understand where they are coming from. It's just interesting to me that it's been a couple of years since I was active on the DAZ forums, and I come back to see another thread about how Carrara is dead.
For those who are new to Carrara, my first verion was 5.0 (I think, I'd have to go back and check for sure). As each new release of Carrara came out, there would be those predicting the death of the product.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, "The news of Carrara's demise has been greatly exaggerated."
Again, Stan, I don't intend to dismiss how you feel at all. I know that many of the long term Cararra users would like to see DAZ making bug fixes / enhancements more quickly.
Well, supposedly we're going to hear something int he month of February, which jas only just arrived. Let the countdown begin.
I shouldn't worry too much about Stan, he has been leaving for the longest time, but does keep coming back and telling us about it, just in case we forget him.
I notice irony out of place and even offensive tone in your words unless you're a close friend of manstan
Stan and I are indeed old friends, he ribs me almost as much as I rib him. :coolsmirk:
I actually enjoy opening Daz Studio now and again. I hit the launch icon and walk away to fix some coffee, keeping an eye on the screen to hit the appropriate response on some database popup, or whatever. After the long wait, I really find that I like the interface. I think it's really nice how they made customization of the workspace open for the user to entirely design according to your work style. I really like that. I like how this works and the way that looks... it's a sweet piece of softy!
I hit render... OMG! Get me outta here and back into Carrara!
I go to create a simple animation... OMG! Get me otta here and back into Carrara!
Admittedly, I've not tried the new plugins by GoFigure that seem to turn the DS timeline into a Carrara sequencer. It really looks (in the promos) like that's what it (they - I think you need to buy two plugins for the complete setup) does.
DS 4.5 Pro has some really powerful functionality. I have the free version because I'm not a DS user... I live in Carrara. But I love the really ingenious passage that Daz Devs made using bridges between DS and Hex and Bryce. That really makes for a sweet setup that I intend to keep along my path of 3d endeavors. I've not figured out Bryce's strange way of doing things yet, but I think, by reading portions of the manual, it's really easy to use - and while being easy to use, it can allow the user to perform some incredibly sophisticated actions with the user being aware of how truly awesome the software is - to let you do what you just did! Whoa... Dartan!
Sorry.
Fact is, Don't worry too much about what you can't do in Carrara. Let your imagination soar. Just be aware when you purchase products - that it's not something that truly "requires" Daz Studio. Like I said above... it's mainly just the common sense items - but first you need to know what that common sense is:
Daz Studio has its own materials
Carrara has its own Shaders
Daz Studio and Carrara can both use shaders made for Poser
Carrara is the only application that uses Carrara Shaders, and Daz Studio is the only application that uses Daz Studio Materials (Shaders).
The same goes for camera and lights, except that each application wants to use their own. Carrara and Daz Studio don't want Poser lights or cameras - nor does Poser want any of that from either DS or Carrara.
When using the beta Carrara 8.5, keep in mind that if you're browsing through folders that are empty, that's mainly only true because the folders don't contain anything that Carrara wants to open. Please don't see this as a bad thing. It's simply part of the beta - in their endless desire to get Daz Studio stuff to merge nicely into Carrara. This is where "Smart Content" came in - Daz3d (those sweethearts) wanted to make it so that their users don't ever have to search for stuff. How it works is that you select something. When you have something selected, Smart Content will show you what you have in your library of content that will load with whatever you have selected. Cool, huh. Select the Genesis model and you'll see all of your hair and clothing, weapons and textures, etc., show up in your Smart Content browser window. For things that are not Genesis, this only works as far back in time as when they started to include metadata information with the product. This metadata file is what helps the Smart Content database work.
Not using Smart Content is much easier on me - and it's this simple:
Go into content > My Library > People > Genesis
From there, you have characters, clothing, hair, etc., folders from which to chose. Just like the days of the runtime folder. This whole runtime structure might be considered a thorn in the side for some, but I am totally used to its structure and would prefer if I didn't have to deviate from it. Wow... I'm outta control and have to stop typing now :blank:
I notice irony out of place and even offensive tone in your words unless you're a close friend of manstan
Nope, most of us have already heard Stan say goodbye many, many times (but he never leaves).
I agree 100% that DAZ's tools and their environment is still one of the best for getting up and running in 3D! After only a month I have rendered some photo realistic scenes of Victoria 5 that my friends thought was a real person! It is all about the lighting! ;-)
I learned DAZ 3D using this tutorial http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-daz-3d-video-tutorials/
I am also learning Carrara 8.5 using this tutorial http://www.infiniteskills.com/training/carrara-8-training-bundle.html ( Both only 9.99 a month using their iPad App )
And also learning Hexagon 2.5 using this tutorial http://www.geekatplay.com/dh.php
DAZ's tools are just blowing my mind!
From what I have learned I even understand and now know how to use Blender 2.65a using this tutorial http://cgcookie.com/blender/get-started-with-blender/ ( Although it does not seem to be as elegant as DAZ's tools. )
Marcus
Curved Design, LLC
Dartanbeck, "buy" the pro version of Daz studio right now
it is free but will not remain so, it is just a new serial for the one you have if it is only standard.
Looks like just another normal post to me...... "Hex is dead"..... "Bryce is dead"....... "Carrara is dead"...... "Daz cant handle the programming"....
etc....etc.....yada...yada.....
He's textured to be abrasive.