I have a beginner question

DollyGirl

I know you all have answered this question but bear with me.

I want to use the import vector option on my cross path spline face. I currently have Elements 7 and Paint Shop Pro 2X. Neither of these two programs will provide a format that Carrara 8.0 accepts. My questions are the following

Is there a free piece of software that can take my jpg image and help me convert it to a format esp or ai?
Are these the correct format for importing into Carrara 8.0?

Thanks for any support.

mmoir

I am not sure what you are asking but I will try.

Try using a program like Adobe Illustrator,corel Draw or any vector drawing program. Open your jpeg into your drawing program and trace the path/image you want and then export as an .ai file . Also , try using the legacy ai formats when exporting (.ai 3.0) , this should import into carraras spline modeler

Hope this helps.

SileneUK

I am not familiar with importing ai or eps to Carrara although I have Illustrator, just not done that....yet. But I have Photoshop CS3 and it has a save option for three kinds of eps files. I don't know if you must convert it to a Smart Object first as I've not done this myself. You get the eps options whether you are in Smart Object or Raster layer mode. There is an Export to Illustrator Paths for an ai file, but I don't know if that is directly importable to Carrara. Or if you even have these options in your Photoshop version.

There's also a free vector utility online called Inkscape http://inkscape.org

Any good?

:) Silene

dot_bat

you cant make a raster image [pixels] into a vector file unless you trace it out with paths to create the vectors

SileneUK

dot_bat said:

you cant make a raster image [pixels] into a vector file unless you trace it out with paths to create the vectors

Yeah...that's true. Just tried it, thanks. Even though PS let's me exports as ai or eps, I still have to do trace/live paint in Illustrator. Wonder if Inkscape works?

:) Silene

dot_bat

if you can save it as ai file, illustrator 3 or 8 or equivalent. no matter what... you just cant take a raster file and make it vector without creating the paths. there is no conversion without you creating the paths. and eps contains both raster and vector info so ai file best

SileneUK

dot_bat said:

if you can save it as ai file, illustrator 3 or 8 or equivalent. no matter what... you just cant take a raster file and make it vector without creating the paths. there is no conversion without you creating the paths. and eps contains both raster and vector info so ai file best

Errr... that's what I corrected myself by saying. That once in Illustrator, even if it's a psd, jpg,ai, eps, any readable extension in Illustrator CS3, it will be as you said a raster image. Then you can convert it to vector by choosing Live Trace, Tracing Options, Convert to Live Paint. Been doing it for over 6 years that way. Helpful when customers want to keep their logos but don't have the original artwork. You have to mind your Tracing Option levels, eg grayscale, B/W, colour etc. Need to keep levels low or it takes forever to trace.

Was wondering if Inkscape might do the same thing?

https://creative.adobe.com/products/illustrator Not sure what restrictions are on the trial download, am not familiar with their Cloud service.

SileneUK

DollyGirl

laurenwbr said:

Was wondering if Inkscape might do the same thing?

https://creative.adobe.com/products/illustrator Not sure what restrictions are on the trial download, am not familiar with their Cloud service.

SileneUK

Me too. On the Inkscape website they talk about SVG's but don't say what format. From what I have read in the old daz archived forums Carrara was particular about the type of vector image it would upload.

DollyGirl

Hi everybody. I want to thank you all for your help and support. With the help of SileneUK I was able to create the object that I wanted. SileneUK took my line drawing pulled it into Illustrator and created the vector file, in this case an Illustrator 8 legacy file in ai format. I am pleased to say that did the trick. I now am the proud owner of a lovely Victorian tea pot. She's not UV mapped but because I am using the drawing that I created the object with and because Carrara defaults the material zones top, bottom, sides, front and back, it was really easy to just apply my original image to the appropriate zones. The render below done, in DAZ Studio 4.6 shows a front, back and side view of what I was trying to accomplish.

Again I want to thank you all for your support and especially to SileneUK for giving me a hand up on my journey in creating 3D Models. Now where did I put that tea cup?

SileneUK

Glad to help Dollygirl!

Oh I love how that came out, so you used the one with the surface not just the outline and it mapped just fine. Cool! You have given me an idea to create one of my background images.

Adobe introduced Trace and Live Paint in Illustrator in Creative Suite 2. I have CS3. Carrara only seems to accept up to Illustrator 8 so once sorted, I just saved to that legacy format..

You'd think Carrara would upgrade their ai import utility. CS2 came out about 8 years ago. There must be many who have a version which has Trace and Live Paint surely. It's OK to save to Illy 8, but what a chore for people who have older versions to have to point/click to trace all paths in an image. Ugh.

Cheers :) Silene

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DollyGirl

This is an update to tell anyone interested that I did figure out a way for free how to create models using the spline model function in Carrara.
The steps are:
1. In your paint software create a 2 color jpg. The black area should be the silhouette of the object you want to create. Use white to indicate the outside line of the model and any holes within the model you want to create.
2. Import the image into Inkscape.
3. Select Trace Bitmap under Path
4. On the Mode path select Color Quantization and Colors 2. Select the Update button to ensure that you are getting the silhouette you wanted.
5. Select the Ok button.
6. Save the file as an Inscape svg file.
7. Open Uniconverter
8. Select the Inkscape file you just saved. Select the AI option in the Convert to: box. Select the Convert button. Uniconverter saves the ai file in the same directory as the svg file with the same full name with .ai tacked onto it.
9. Open a new scene in Carrara
10. Insert a spline object. Carrara opens the modeling window. If you are unfamiliar with how to use the spline modeling tool, Chapter 13 of the online help manual can help you.
11. Import the ai file that Uniconverter created.
12. Save out the spline object to an obj format.

I pulled the obj into DAZ Studio and then used the image file that I created the silhouette from in the Diffuse channel. I had to reduce the horizontal and vertical tiling to less than one and then move the offset sliders to move the image onto the surface of the object. So I did not need to UV map. I should but it is something I have to learn. So here are the results of this little project.

SileneUK

That's a great option for those without Ilustrator... well done for taking the time to share! Now you can roll along with your project.

:) SileneUK