Carrara newbie with newbie questions
lorraineopua
Posts: 635
Hi folks
I used the $50 voucher to (finally!) get Carrara Pro 8.5. It's a program I've wanted for a long time but just could not justify the cost with the exchange rate we've also had for a long time. So here I am, downloading and soon to install, and full of questions.
#1 Can I keep its data, presets and scenes on an external drive like I do with Studio? I use a laptop and a desktop, depending on the weather for which one I turn on (off grid on a boat using solar power) and they share the same external. It will be a pain in the patootie if they can't for Carrara.
Edit: I've made a Carrara folder on my external drive, Carrara can see the .car files, objects, shaders, misc. Does the data folder live there or in the program folder?
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Comments
#2 whwn is a .car not a .car? There seems to be .car files in different places. Can I move them all into the scene folder?
it depends what the .car file is
like DAZ studio some stuff needs set pathways referenced by other stuff to load
otherwise a car file can be entirely self contained depending how it was saved
folder sets etc can be installed wherever you like but it does tend to look for content wizards in the default places, this can be manually altered in the browser but in the dialogue loading a scene at start up you cannot choose a wizard scene, you would need to load it from the browser instead if elsewhere.
this is the sticky thread for full on information in one place!
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15970/carrara-information-manual/p1
Hi Wendy, thanks for answering
I did have a look in that forum post but was kinda overwhelmed by information and my brain hurt. I'll persevere tonight and read some more. I'm still not sure where the data file must live, program file or external but I'll put it in program file for now and see what happens. And I'll leave the presets that installed with the program there too, they look like the wizard files you mentioned. I'm going to try organising scenes and objects like I do in Studio and hopefully I don't break anything 
Lorraine
I have default on this machine but on another drive on my Win7 one
but I did a few mklink tricks there in command prompt
You can use the Auto Detect Runtimes to add any Runtimes that you have installed as well.
Click on the folder icon on the top right of your browser tab, then click on Auto Detect Runtimes.
Yep, I've already done that! Also put DS content folder in it as well though don't know yet how much of it I can use.
So much to learn. So little brain power. And I'm really bad at just taking things slow, I want to know it all NOW, and I know there's lots of frustration ahead of me.
Carrara can open DAZ Studio dsf & duf files with the exception of some files that use adavanced DAZ Studio type builds for the models, in some cases converting to blended weight works.
Genesis 3 & 8 need Misty's presets to work.
Wow! So many import options, I had no idea.
Hi. welcome to the Carrara forums. It can be difficult to learn the interface of any new program, especially if it is close to, but not quite the same as, something you are already familar with. I put together a run-through for a first project. The goal is to use an actual project to teach someone new to Carrara where commonly used tools and functions are. If you follow this tute, you will be introduced how to load a Daz3D human figure, apply a Carrara texture preset for that figure, get some Carrara hair on the figure, load and conform some Daz3D clothing, create a Carrara landscape and a Carrara tree, use a realistic Carrara sky for lighting, set some render settings, and finally render a full scene. It is not designed for a great first render. It is just to shorten the time it takes to learn where some common stuff is. The rest of the very long thread is my own musings on anything Carrara, so just stick to the first project or two.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/119181/no-one-asked-me-diomede-posts-screenshots-on-whatever/p1
welcome to carrara
one way to fast track the learning curve, check out the native content scenes and poke aound in em.
there's a helpful lot of carrara tutorials by Cripeman on utube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/cripeman
or here > carraracafe.com
Thanks for the kind welcome and links, folks, I'm all excited and trepidatious about learning Carrara, it's been a while since I really got stuck in to learning a new program.
Ask questions if you get stuck, most times someone will have an answer !