New to Carrara
fictionalbookshelf
Posts: 837
I am very familiar with Bryce, Daz, Poser, and today I managed to snag Carrara 8.5 pro. It's been in my wishlist for a long time. I haven't installed it yet but will very soon. I just wanted to ask those who are familiar with Carrara any tips before I install it?
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Some help here, the version 7 manual is a good one, http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/artzone/pub/software/carrara/start
There are lots of tutorials on youtube, if you run into any problems ask questions here, it's pretty easy to figure out how Carrara works so it should not be any problem.
If it is 8.5 pro you can just install it as it is.
If it is the 8.5 pro beta you must upgrade the CMS to Postgres, otherwise it will crash.
Just install it and go for it.
Unless using the beta, tbe first step is uninstall postgre using DIM and reimport your metadata in DAZ using Valentina so Carrara smart content will see it.
Legacy content will load fine from runtime browser without doing so but for duf stuff inc Genesis, G2M & F you need to do this.
Probably a dumb question but how can I be sure I am running Valentina? I think I already am but want to double check
In DAZ Studio, go to Edit > Preferences. If there is a "CMS Settings" tab then you are using PostgreSQL CMS; if not then you are using Valentina CMS.
I'm glad I asked because I'm not using Valentina.
I unistalled postgre and opened DIM to find Valentina but don't see it at all in my DIM. The choices I have is PostSQL and PostSQL From Valentina CMS Conversion.
I think it is in CM already it just takes over if you remove postgre
Okay I have it installed and I see my Genesis 1& 2 content just fine.
I do have a few questions if someone will take pitty on me.
Can I install the content for Carrara on an external drive like I do my libraries for Daz? I prefer to do it this way if I can so that I can keep my computer space less cluttered. If not it is no big deal.
Also what are render nodes for? I installed that but I have a sneaky suspicion it's for when you want to use a render farm.
In reverse order :)
Yup, render nodes are what you install on other computers you have, so that you can do network rendering. The render node computer still has to have all the same content (runtimes, etc) installed. If you plan on doing all your rendering on just one machine, you don't need a render node. I have 2 laptops, actually now that I think about it I guess I have 3, and theoretically I could make the other 2 laptops rendernodes for my primary machine, in fact I set one of them up for that, but never think to use it, so I'm not the best to tell how to do that. Although when network rendering you have to do that through the batch queue process in the render room, I know that much
You can certainly have content on external hard drives, I've done it with my many poser runtimes. It's a matter of 'adding runtimes' to your content tab (which you can do by clicking the black circle icon on the top right of the content tab tray).
However if you are using Genesis1 or Genesis2, be aware that Carrara is finicky, and most stuff for that figure you'll probably want to leave in it's default place for Studio, and load from there to avoid errors. I'm mostly a V4/M4 user, so take that with a grain of salt, there are other forum members who can answer better than me (Diomede has a thread on best practices for using Genesis2 content here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/52366/#760634 )
Sorry Jon, but I shall have to correct an error.
Jon is correct that the Render Node(s) would be installed on another computer(s) in your local network. If you have installed one on your main computer, you should uninstall it or at least make sure it didn't over-write the Carrara application. You will know if it did, because the interface is stripped down and there is no file browser or way to open a new document.
The error that Jon made, is that you do not need to install all your content and runtimes on the node machines. That information will be transmitted to the node when you render. What does need to go on the node, as well as the host, are the data files and any plugins. I don't know your OS, but on a Mac, it would be anything in the Carrara application package.
So, as an example, if you were to install Howie's Snow scene (which I think still comes free with Carrara), the custom leaves would need to be installed on the nodes. Probably easier to move the installer file to the node and run it from there.
Whoops, got that wrong :) I guess it probably shows I don't use networking rendering much. Thanks for the correction Evil, actually that makes rendernodes way easier to use than I previously thought.
I use them all the time. It's pretty simple, and it can shave a ton of time off a render. Even if it is a still render. A simple render may not be worth it, but a render with GI or even a complex light rig to fake GI can really benefit from a Render node or two.
Thank you all for your help. I managed to render my first scene in Carrara, granted it was Howie's Snow Scene but I did tinker with it some