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Camera dots in Carrara, easy, ->Puppeteer. :)
Setup;
-Select Camera 1 in the Instance list.
-Then at the top, Animation->Create Animation Group. This will put the camera in a hierarchy under the Animation Group.
-Camera 1 will now have a Controller tab at the top of the properties panel. Click on it to enter Puppeteer Mode.
You can create pose dots for the camera(or other) and switch between and render from them etc. 'Edit' lets you add the dots, 'Preview' lets you see the animation between the dots. 'Record' creates the sequencer keys.
Edits:Puppeteer is in versions C8 Standard or higher. I also adjusted steps more specific to the camera.
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@Design Acrobat. There might be something like that for the camera. Its in the Cameras General tab->Camera:small box icon. Clicking on it give similar wires and projections.
Wow! Thanks tbwoq! I learned something new myself. I don't have C8 or later, so the Puppeteer thing doesn't really pertain to me, but the wireframe of the camera view does, It also makes it easy to zoom, pan, etc.
I'll post some screen caps with explanations of what happens when various areas of the wireframe are manipulated.
Made it into a bit more of a production than I probably needed to, but if a new user comes across this, it should help.
Edited to add that this mini tutorial may not represent all the functionality available.
P.S. Thanks again, tbwoq!
Hi EP.
Thanks for info about the Carrara version for Puppeteer(C8 Standard or higher). I've edited my last reply to include that. You would really enjoy puppeteers pose dots preview. It lets you preview animate before actually adding key frames etc. Powerful feature I keep forgetting about.
Edit: Very detailed info above for the cameras Direct Manipulation button(wires) feature, thanks. :)
What I would really enjoy would be the filthy lucre to buy a machine capable of C8.5 Pro with enough left over to buy C8.5 Pro. ;-)
Hello tbwoq & EP
Thanks also from me as well, I was scratching my head about this during last months Challenge !!!!!
EP, got the Carrara 8.5 but when I got my new computer I got a lower price Quad 64 bit machine, wish I had invested a couple of hundred dollars extra now.
Regards, Bunyip
tbwoq I've been looking for an easy and visual way to set up the camera to easily switch camera Y-axis positions right and left between renders in order to render out stereopairs for 3D viewing. Am I understanding your puppeteer example correctly? Can it do this for me? I'm trying to follow your example, but I need to learn how to use puppeteer.
Evilproducer: Thanks for posting the camera mini tutorial. Me, the camera, and the production frame get in fights once in a while, so that might help tame it. I've got the camera and wireframe icon selected, but I can't get the production frame rectangle to show. I've selected show production frame in the Animation menu, but it still doesnt show like in your example.
This is growing into such an informative thread. I've already had a couple irksome things solved.
Speaking of irksome, periodically the manipulator tool becomes detached from objects in the assembly room. I pull on the arrows, expecting the object to move, but it stays put while I go off with just the arrows. I can't figure out if there is something I'm accidentally selecting or just a glitch. Can anyone help with this?
Thanks!
Wow, very cool information in this thread, very useful stuff to know!
Sometimes I feel like Carrara is a piece of advanced alien technology we discovered and are trying to decipher, I mean there's literally *so* much it can do, so many hidden features that no-one knows about and that we learn along the way. Whatever happened to the really old-timers who invented this and put all this stuff in there, where do these 'great old ones' lurk, and why don't they share all these wonderful tool tips with the rest of us mere mortals? :)
Hi sukyL.
The keyboard 'Caps Lock' turns On/Off->move hot point only.
Puppeteer is mainly a kind of mouse control animation feature. It can record key frames in relation to how you move the mouse on the puppeteer control grid. The pose dots you make on the grid represent the current pose translations of the object(s).
Since a camera can also have a pose(s), you can use puppeteer to quickly switch between several positions by clicking on various dots you make. If you are just wanting to switch between two positions, it would be simpler to make two key frames and use a 'Discrete' tweener in between them(as EP pointed out in an earlier reply here). Then 'Repeat' those in the sequencer timeline. I'm not sure if this will work for a stereo viewing animation though.
THANK YOU!!! I knew it was something stupid like that.
Also, thanks for the reply about the puppeteer question. Maybe not what I wanted then. I just wanted to switch back and forth between stationary camera positions, no animation involved. Cool idea nonetheless!
Yes. Then you can use puppeteer, with some limitations.
Setup the camera to use puppeteer by making an Animation Group(from the steps in my first reply),...then in the puppeteer grid make a pose dot for the first camera position. Move that camera to the second position and make a second pose dot. In the 'Preview' mode of puppeteer you can then click on each dot to move the camera.The limitations are how you are clicking and moving the mouse within the control grid. Very small mouse movements within a dot can move the camera. Hope this helps.
I experimented with doing some stereoscopic images. What I did was place two cameras in the scene side by side using a V4 or M4 to set the spacing by lining each camera up with an eye. I named the cameras right eye cam, left eye cam. I then grouped the cameras so that when I moved them they moved together. To render, I used the Batch Queue and loaded the scene into the queue twice- One source was set to right eye cam and the other to left eye cam. I also used the Save File As option with a similar naming convention.
Joeping has been posting to the LUXUS Carrara thread here, and his signature has a link to stereoscopic versions of his pictures that he posts, so I think he will be the real expert on how to set up a scene and cameras.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/42282/
EP - Thanks for pointing out that Carrara has a feature that all these years I've been wishing it had - fantastic!
Hi Roy, if you mean the wireframe camera view/controls, that was tbwoq that pointed them out, so a big thanks from me. I didn't even know they existed before Friday night. I just played around with them a bit to find out what could be done, then posted the graphic.
My apologies, tbwoq -I missed that :)
Np Roygee. I use that icon all the time with lights and rarely for the camera. Thanks to EP for the screen caps tutorial. :)
tbwoq Thanks! That is helpful. I'm glad puppeteer can work.
evilproducer The stereo camera setup using a model for reference and batch render idea is brilliant. Thanks!
I would just get rid of the model when I was done, unless I wanted it in the picture.
I love the way evilproducer often uses pictures to explain the situation. It makes it so much clearer to grasp.I wish more people would do the same.
One other thing I would do, and I don't have a lot of practice with this, but I would have the cameras point at a target helper object, and if the subject I was viewing was in the mid-ground, I would move the target helper to the subject. If the subject was a long way away, then I would move the target that distance away.
My theory and the reason I did this is because when you focus on a subject, both eyes aim towards it. An extreme example would be when you try and make yourself cross-eyed, you would focus on a pencil when it was at arm's length and then move it closer while still maintaining focus on the pencil with both eyes, keeping a single image of the pencil.
I love the way evilproducer often uses pictures to explain the situation. It makes it so much clearer to grasp.I wish more people would do the same.
Thanks Argus. I have 3dage (Andy) to thank for getting me into the habit of trying to do that. He always illustrates his posts with so much useful information, and the screen caps he posts as examples are an important part of it. Thanks Andy!
A new question.
I"m having problems with the Surface Replicator tool. I build the scene and everything looks fine. I save the scene and then re-open it only to find that the objects I've replicated have moved. Plants that were sitting on top of the ground plane are now buried inside of it. This is only a problem when I reopen the scene. What am I doing wrong?
Rashad, is the surface a terrain? Does it render that way, or does it only appear that way in the Assembly room? The reason I ask, is that in the terrain editor there is a preview resolution option and the rendered resolution option. If the preview option is set lower than the rendered resolution, it will look as if things aren't contacting the surface or sunk into it. They should render fine if it's replicated objects.
If the resolution is different and you manually and visually place objects on the terrain, such as house, cars, etc. then you could run into problems. The solution is to simply make the previewed resolution the same as the rendered resolution when manually placing things onto the terrain. If the viewport becomes slow, you can go back and lower the preview resolution. The objects will look off, but they should render fine.
Another possibility is that maybe you advanced along the timeline and moved the replicated object's hotpoint to better place the objects and generated a keyframe without realizing it.
I should note that the terrain preview and render resolution look grayed out (at least in C7.2Pro), but the slider does still work.
Rashad, is the surface a terrain? Does it render that way, or does it only appear that way in the Assembly room? The reason I ask, is that in the terrain editor there is a preview resolution option and the rendered resolution option. If the preview option is set lower than the rendered resolution, it will look as if things aren't contacting the surface or sunk into it. They should render fine if it's replicated objects.
If the resolution is different and you manually and visually place objects on the terrain, such as house, cars, etc. then you could run into problems. The solution is to simply make the previewed resolution the same as the rendered resolution when manually placing things onto the terrain. If the viewport becomes slow, you can go back and lower the preview resolution. The objects will look off, but they should render fine.
Another possibility is that maybe you advanced along the timeline and moved the replicated object's hotpoint to better place the objects and generated a keyframe without realizing it.
I should note that the terrain preview and render resolution look grayed out (at least in C7.2Pro), but the slider does still work.
I am working with a plane. I set up everything as expected. Everything is in the proper place. I save exit and reopen and suddenly my plants are stuck half way into the ground plane. Ive tried saving with constraints and all of that. I guess it is possible that I hit a keyframe but how would I go about fixing that?
I guess first it would help to know if it is an animation or if you had scrubbed down the timeline.
My community theater group and I, have another performance at 8:00 and I have to get going, so I can't be very detailed at the moment, but look at the replicated object and see if there are any errant keyframes.
There was a discussion in the current Post You Renders thread awhile ago where somebody was having issues with the surface replicator and purchased content. I'll look to see if I can find it tomorrow if you haven't found a solution yet.
Sorry I can't be of more help tonight.
I am working with a plane. I set up everything as expected. Everything is in the proper place. I save exit and reopen and suddenly my plants are stuck half way into the ground plane. Ive tried saving with constraints and all of that. I guess it is possible that I hit a keyframe but how would I go about fixing that?
I think that it is quite simply the hot point which is centered instead of being at the base of the plant.
You have perhaps more keyframes in the timeline for the hotpoint, Carrara open on the first image.
I am working with a plane. I set up everything as expected. Everything is in the proper place. I save exit and reopen and suddenly my plants are stuck half way into the ground plane. Ive tried saving with constraints and all of that. I guess it is possible that I hit a keyframe but how would I go about fixing that?
I think that it is quite simply the hot point which is centered instead of being at the base of the plant.
You have perhaps more keyframes in the timeline for the hotpoint, Carrara open on the first image.
Yep, it was the hotpoint. I think I've made sense of that part now, thanks a ton!
Now a new question; How do I save a custom shader to the Carrara library?
Easy, in the texture room grab the top shader (multicolored ball) and drag and drop down into your shader library wherever you want to put it. It'll ask you to name it and then it will appear in your shader library. :)
Easy, in the texture room grab the top shader (multicolored ball) and drag and drop down into your shader library wherever you want to put it. It'll ask you to name it and then it will appear in your shader library. :)
Actually, the multi-colored ball is for multiple-domain shaders. As Jon suggests, this is a great way to save multiple domain shaders in one fell swoop, but you don't have to be in the Texture room to do it. While in the Assembly room, you can select the model in the instances palette. If it's a rigged figure such as a V4, M4 or earlier you'll need to expand the hierarchy and select Model. If it's Genesis, then I believe it is Actor, then select the shading tab at the top of the screen to reveal the shading domain list. At the top of the list is the multi-colored ball Jon was describing. Drag and drop it into whatever shading directory you have chosen in your Shader Browser.
For single domain shaders, you'll just have a single shader ball thumbnail with a representation of the shader, and no multi-colored ball. Just drag the thumbnail to your shader browser. If it's already named click Okay, if you want to rename it, you can do that as well.
Alternatively, if you create your own shader, you can choose the Shader palette (in the same area as the Instances palette) to display thumbnails of all the scene's shaders. You can drag and drop your shader to the Shader browser from here as well. you will be asked to name it. You can re-name your shader at any time by selecting the shader thumbnail, and at the top of the screen in the General tab, just type a new name into the text field.
To use a multi-domain shader, make sure you are using a model with the same domains and UVs, then select the model (or Actor) and the Shading tab, then drag and drop the shader thumbnail from the Shader Browser onto the multi-colored ball at the top of the domain list, and the shaders will be automatically applied to the appropriate domains.
Actually, the multi-colored ball is for multiple-domain shaders. As Jon suggests, this is a great way to save multiple domain shaders in one fell swoop, but you don't have to be in the Texture room to do it. While in the Assembly room, you can select the model in the instances palette. If it's a rigged figure such as a V4, M4 or earlier you'll need to expand the hierarchy and select Model. If it's Genesis, then I believe it is Actor, then select the shading tab at the top of the screen to reveal the shading domain list. At the top of the list is the multi-colored ball Jon was describing. Drag and drop it into whatever shading directory you have chosen in your Shader Browser.
For single domain shaders, you'll just have a single shader ball thumbnail with a representation of the shader, and no multi-colored ball. Just drag the thumbnail to your shader browser. If it's already named click Okay, if you want to rename it, you can do that as well.
Alternatively, if you create your own shader, you can choose the Shader palette (in the same area as the Instances palette) to display thumbnails of all the scene's shaders. You can drag and drop your shader to the Shader browser from here as well. you will be asked to name it. You can re-name your shader at any time by selecting the shader thumbnail, and at the top of the screen in the General tab, just type a new name into the text field.
To use a multi-domain shader, make sure you are using a model with the same domains and UVs, then select the model (or Actor) and the Shading tab, then drag and drop the shader thumbnail from the Shader Browser onto the multi-colored ball at the top of the domain list, and the shaders will be automatically applied to the appropriate domains.
Excellent. I had more or less discovered this part. I think I should have stated my initial question better. What I want to do is to save materials to a preset folder. I do not see any option to add folders to the presets, and I do not see any means for saving to the presets folder. I know it must be possible, just don't yet know how.