Carrara Import Export format Issues and possible feature request
More2burn
Posts: 0
Hi, having some frustration getting any animated mesh from a few dif programs. Does anyone know how to make Carrara work well with others? There are so many formats that Carrara is said to support but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.
Using Carrara 8 Pro
Have tried to export from Blender, Fragmotion, Truespace, Open asset import library.
Formats that I've tried from each app that supported it.
bvh dae 3ds fbx and .x (Also DFX in latest post)
Played around for a few hours with dif settings with no good results. Anyone have any advice? I haven't got to the exporting part yet and it's not looking good. Are all the imports just old or ?
Thanks in advance.
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Hi More to burn :)
BVH only transfers animation , no model.
DAE is an open source format, therefore it has many different flavours, I believe Carrara supported Daz's Collada version, but that has been superseded by DUF
3DS is max's old model format (tri's) not many max users use it now, but it's model only, Max's figures (BIPED) (PHYSIQUE) won't work in anything but max (afaik)
FBX Was an attempt to create a "universal" format, but has had many updates/ changes, and different flavours.
There is an FBX version converter available at Autodesk which can convert your FBX to an FBX version which carrara should be able to load,.
I'm not sure which version that would be though. sorry.
The best way (IMO) is to export the mesh (as OBJ) into the program you want to animate in, and rig it in that program.
hope it helps a bit :)
@3DAGE I'll try the FBX converter. Tried it in the past but I'll try to find the correct version and will post back the results. I guess all the formats change over time. Thought .x would work though. .3ds holds animation so I think your saying the max users don't use it anymore because of the new .max format. Carrara only uses .3ds for static mesh?
Does anyone know the programs that the .x or some other animated format did work with? They had to work at one time with something right?
Posted this to avoid me having to learn another program. Would like to join a few friend on a project and trying to find a solution here. If I had to I'd look at modo but trying to avoid the move and cant afford it anyway ATM. Will just have to tell them to find someone who uses a different app.
Used FBX Converter for every possible file type with the model that comes with it so others can give it a go if they would. (zombie)
I tried Binary and ASCII for each FBX, Along with DAE and DFX
Carrara imported none of them with animations. Any help would be kind.
EDIT: Made sure it wasn't just the Zombie File that I may have overwritten. Tried the xray and bird leg files that have animations for sure and to the same effect. Carrara Imported NO animations.
8.5 isn't working either. Will try another forum I guess.
I make practically only animation and to carry them out, I import .bvh or many .pz2 from Poser.
Poser has an excellent “Walk Designer” and functions perfectly in Carrara…
@DUDU Thx for responding. One of the main features in Carrara that got me to buy was how fast you can skin. It's sad how much time I'm gonna lose but maybe I can make some up with the "Walk Designer."
If I ever see an old version of poser I might pick it up for just that feature. Do you know what version that became a feature by chance? Do all versions of Poser export in .BVH? .DAE from poser is only in the pro version and I would have to test it before I buy. I was kinda a noob to think when you see an export type in a program that's the end all on the matter. I know someone who wrote a plugin for Carrara before and may see what he would charge for a new .DAE, or X. If I go the other route I'll need to skin in another program like Fragmotion.
Hi More2Burn
You could try importing the OBJ mesh, then Import the BVH and choose to create new skeleton from the BVH file.
or,.
If your BVH has a Zero (T_Pose) Start frame, you could use that frame to rebuild the bones in carrara,. then import the model, and attach the skeleton to the mesh. (Animation / Attach skeleton)
You'll need to make sure that all the Bone names you create are the same as the original, since this is the "Key" to adding a BVH animation.
At that point you should be able to import the BVH animation using the option to "add to existing skeleton"
Poser's walk designer is a handy tool to have, but so is Animate for DS,
Q: is the figure a Custom figure, EG: hand built mesh and rigged.
..or is it based around a pre-made figure, like Victoria / Michael or another poser type figure,..etc.
The reason i ask is because you may not need to export / import. ...depending on what it is.
UltimateUnwrap 3D. The solution to nearly all the woes you experienced... been there and done them all. Its at unwrap3d.com. Best $100 spent in 3d for me. It may not look purty nor sophisticated, but this dang app is the only one I can count on in making a animated mesh compatible with most any 3d app. Every time. Its the GLUE that seals my Pipeline. You can fix missing root bones, pivots, UV merges,bulk keyframe edits to split & normalize animations, remap, multi-map, multi-UV, poly reduction, re-grouping, UV transfer. material zones, scale and orientation, holes, tris to quads, smoothing, and of course a zillion conversions. I use it more than daily.
An example is this webgl game I made last night where I integrated 3d figures from a number of sources and formats including my own. The DAZ Bee (game pub license) was animated in DS, decimated & exported as DAE + translations/keyframes and converted to .x for the game. The Plant is a Vue/TPF that I modeled and retopoed in ZB and the plants snapper arm modleled in ZB and rigged in Poser, The Venus plant rigged in Carrara and converted to FBX then .x The hive was made with MOI (Love that app!) and UV'd in SImLab Composer My pipeline is interesting mix of "Antidesk" 3d apps.
My first version of Poser was the 8, and it contained already Walkdesigner.
I have just passed to the 2014, and Walkdesigner still evolved.
It is very simple to use and you export your animation as a pose (.pz2).
In Carrara, you load your model (the same one as you had loaded in Poser), you select it and in the right part of the screen, you have the option “Import as Pose (material…), it is from memory and I have a French version…
If you save your .pz2 since Poser in it's library, you have access to this one in Carrara if you add it's “Runtime" folder to it (little black icon in the right side of the sequencer / add/runtime).
You can also import all the Poser scene, character and animation included in .pz3 (File/Import).
I tested all the formats of export since of other programs, much of them have an option of export in .bvh.
Like you, I never had success with the .dae, .fbx… thus .bvh and .pz2/3 are the solutions that I found and that functions well!
Thank you all for the good advice.
@Dream Cutter Impressive workflow :) I didn't know about all the features of UU3D and have downloaded the demo for a try. Autodesk just killed XSI and I'm with you on the "Antidesk" front. Was interested in XSI years ago before they bought it and jacked the price up. Everyone knew they didn't buy it to keep it. It's kool you made your game so fast too. Did you use an engine or code it?
Ok, good to know. I'll look out and save up for additional software.
Animated figure DS and Carrrara import success depends highly on the nature of the rig, and how its bones are associated to the poly groups. A couple of other apps that help rigging in this area are FragMosoft (.x, b3d, dae) and DeepMesh3d (fbx, .x) MilkShape3d is also great but only for figures less than 8600 Triangles.
I used IRRLICHT JS engine via the CopperCube 3d game API. You can publish 3d in flash, webgl, .exe, mac & droid.
I can fully endorse this - always recommend it for UV mapping, but I had no idea it could do some of the rest you mention, but then I've never needed it for all the extras. I paid $30 for it and get regular free updates - see it's now $59.95 for the pro version.
Anyone who is seriously into modelling should have a dedicated UV mapper - saves me hours of messing about with the limited UV mapping options offered by modelling apps:)