Seriously... Does Carrara 8.5 not support Mac OSX Yosemite?
crashworship
Posts: 218
Because I've yet to successfully load any of my Daz3D figures or any content for that matter without issues. Crashes. Error messages. Blah blah blah. I bought this product (ok admittedly at a serious discount but nonetheless with real money, not 3D content money) because it's too hard to make large area scenes in Poser or Studio with the limitation of skydomes and I wanted something that would support all the V and M et al characters I've spent huge amounts of money to buy.
Have I wasted my money on this thing? If it worked as it's supposed to it would be great but it just ain't effin working at all on my iMac...my 3 grand top of the line iMac. Not once. I can load a primitive. I can load a sky. I can load a terrain. But I can't put any figure or prop with them without a catastrophic/fatal problem. Death. A "we're sending this info along to the developers" crash report. That doesn't help me at all use this software.
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I know you are frustrated. Please take the time to tell us how you are trying to load your figures and maybe what figures.
Also, is DAZ Studio in your pipeline if you use Genesis?
Many Mac users successfully use Carrara everyday. There may be some other issue that is causing the crashing that is un-related to the OS.
I don't have C8.5 myself, so I can't give specific advice or trouble shooting suggestions, however, here are some potentially helpful links:
This one is about the public beta and the database issue it is supposed to fix:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48629/
The above thread might be the most relevant for your issues.
Here is a link to the Carrara Information manual, which is a thread by Dartanbeck where he posts tips, gathers links to helpful threads here, and to tutorials here and at the Carrara Cafe.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15970/
Here's a thread by diomede64 that discusses Genesis related content issues and best practices.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45361/
Works fine for me. Actually, Yosemite fixes a serious problem that Mavericks created for Carrara, the render node capability.
Your installation must have gone wrong. My first installation a couple of years back didn't go right but it got fixed easily. Did you uninstall and try reinstalling?
Way back when there were all sorts of reports of Mac not working right on Carrara, but that's years in the past, I thought it was all sorted.
I'm a windows user, and probably of relatively little help.
I will say this, since you specifically mention V4/M4 (which is my preferred choice of figure as well), and since I don't know how you've got them set up currently, but everything seems to work better/load better/faster when it's loaded from Poser runtime structure rather than through Daz Studio's 'my library'. You might not even have to put anything into a different place, just click on 'add runtime' and navigate to the runtime structure where the V4/M4 stuff is located.
Again, I'm a Windows user, so I'm likely to be of limited help on this, but I can report that the only times I get errors when loading content have always been when I was loading some .duf file from the 'my library' Studio content section (Genesis and Genesis2 are very finicky about how I load the stuff).
There are lots of other Mac users, and I could swear I saw someone mention Yosemite not long ago (Tim maybe?) so hopefully it won't take long for someone to wander by and give better help on this than I can. While I recognize you're in the stage of frustration (understandably) on this, I do think it's resolvable since there so many other Mac users that are using it.
You may also get more help if you divorce the topic from the OS, and change it to something, like Carrara crashes when loading DAZ figures or something more related to the actual problem.
I just realized I misread your post, you didn't say V4/M4 at all, you just mentioned V and M, which could be any generation. Reading comprehension fail on my part, sorry! :)
Do other, non character items load?
It probably has more to do with how the figure is being loaded as opposed to the OS. And when I say that, I don't mean that the OP is doing anything wrong. It could be database and Smart content related for all I know.
Edit: Found the thread where I saw someone talking about this, it was Tim_A (memory win for me! Although it was only yesterday, so...)
I knew I saw someone mentioning this, it's in the Beta thread stickied at the top of the forum: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48629/P195/#786778
Just to touch on Jon's point. If the figures are generation 4 or earlier, such as V4, M4 or even V3 or M3, then the best way to load one of them is through the Content Browser. This is where Carrara loads Poser style runtimes. If you have some that aren't listed, you can manually add them by clicking the little black icon on the top right of the Browser window.
To load a figure, create a new scene (I recommend a medium scaled scene) then either double click the figure's icon, or drag it from the browser and drop it in either the Assembly room window, or in the instances palette. To load conforming clothes, select the top level of the figure in the Instances palette and double click the icon for the clothing item. The item should load conformed to the figure.
If the figures are Genesis 1 or later, then there may be other preferred ways to load a figure that I am unaware of as I can't use them with my version of Carrara.
Because Carrara uses a different renderer than Poser or Studio (just like Studio is different from Poser) shading tweaks usually need to be made. Many times Carrara interprets a shader by sticking a bluish/greenish multiplier in the color channel where the color image map is used. Other times it will add a bright highlight and shininess to the skin, giving it a plastic look. These are easily corrected and changes can easily be saved for future use.
Yes Studio is in my pipeline and yes it works fine. I can load and manipulate figures and props in DS without issues. For the record I use mostly Poser Pro 2014 not because it's better... blah blah blah... but because I'm more familiar and comfortable with it. It's a buggy program but I've learned some work-a-rounds so I make it work.
Here's the deal... I've got this idea for an image. That image is a bit sweeping in scope... large vistas, big skies, gloom and doom atmosphere. I've got the figures I need. I've got the props I need. I've tried making this in Poser Pro and in DS. Skydomes are too limiting. Not enough range. So I bought Carrara because it's (supposedly) compatible with my Daz3D figure and prop library (in theory at least) so I could work in a much larger environment, manipulate terrains and skies, all while using and managing the various props and figures that I use routinely; V-M3 and 4, Genesis and Genesis2. Whenever I try to load any content, prop or figure, that wasn't included with Carrara's installation, I crash. I die. I'm sending a crash report to who knows where and who. I find these props and figures in my content folder. I can seamlessly load and use these items in DS and Poser. But when I try to use them in Carrara.... DEATH!. Yet another crash report sent out to the ether.
That's referring to smart content under Postgre in the beta, specifically.
I have never had a problem loading and using V4/M4, Genesis, Genesis 2 in Carrara 8.5 under Yosemite, and my iMac is nowhere near top of the line. Admittedly it's sometimes easier to clothe and pose them in Studio, then bring them across after, but that's more an "ease of use" issue.
Just one thought: are you using the 32-bit version by mistake?
Here's a "Stephanie 6 in 4 acres of mixed woodland" render done on my iMac, I posted a few weeks ago: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/43528/P675/#769319
But how are you loading them?
The reason I asked about DAZ Studio is that from what I understand the smart content database is Valentina and Studio's latest is Postgre (or something) unless you have the latest public beta. Then you can use the Postgre thingy for both, hopefully eliminating any conflict.
I also have read some folks somehow use Studio to set up their Genesis figures and export them to use in Carrara. I don't know the workflow for that unfortunately.
If you have M4 or V4 (or earlier) in your scene, the best way to load them is as I described above, through the Content Browser (not Smart Content).
Once we help you get your very understandably frustrating problem solved, I think you will find that Carrara can handle most things you throw at it. Carrara excels at large, sweeping scenes.
As Evil referenced, if you could add some screenshots of your process of how you are creating a scene and adding the content, that might help us to steer you. Even though I don't have a Mac, as there are other who do who are able to load content and use it ok, it seems possible this isn't a problem with the OS and something else going on.
Yes Studio is in my pipeline and yes it works fine. I can load and manipulate figures and props in DS without issues. For the record I use mostly Poser Pro 2014 not because it's better... blah blah blah... but because I'm more familiar and comfortable with it. It's a buggy program but I've learned some work-a-rounds so I make it work.
Here's the deal... I've got this idea for an image. That image is a bit sweeping in scope... large vistas, big skies, gloom and doom atmosphere. I've got the figures I need. I've got the props I need. I've tried making this in Poser Pro and in DS. Skydomes are too limiting. Not enough range. So I bought Carrara because it's (supposedly) compatible with my Daz3D figure and prop library (in theory at least) so I could work in a much larger environment, manipulate terrains and skies, all while using and managing the various props and figures that I use routinely; V-M3 and 4, Genesis and Genesis2. Whenever I try to load any content, prop or figure, that wasn't included with Carrara's installation, I crash. I die. I'm sending a crash report to who knows where and who. I find these props and figures in my content folder. I can seamlessly load and use these items in DS and Poser. But when I try to use them in Carrara.... DEATH!. Yet another crash report sent out to the ether.
crashworship, I had to install Yosemite on my 2007 iMac (8Gb / Core2Duo) this weekend due to a hard drive failure. So far everything seems fine (besides all the work I lost). I don't think what you are experiencing is Yosemite related.
I'd do that if I had a chance to make a screen shot but I crash and get the crash report screen before I have a chance to make a screen shot. I will describe the process instead:
I open Carrara and because I'm new to it and trying to learn it, I open a simple blank medium scene and start a new document and get the three sided grid/camera/light environment. I find a Daz3D figure in my library that is located in the runtime that DIM created for me when I first installed it. I simply let the DIM create this runtime where it wanted to, didn't specify a different location and it's in the same place where my Poser Pro runtime is located which is the users/shared area of my hard drive. I'm able to access all of this content without issues from either Poser or Studio, everything from V/M3 to Gen2. So after I've started Carrara and created a new scene, I try and load any of this content - props or figures - into my scene in Carrara, I get a message asking me to specify a runtime. I specify this runtime which is the "My DAZ3D Library" folder DIM created and installs all the content obtained from DAZ3D. Carrara then instantly crashes and I'm shown the crash report screen that OSX generates. I can load props, primitives, terrain and skies native to Carrara without issues. It's the external DAZ3D content that always crashes Carrara after the message asking to specify a runtime appears and is answered.
I suspect this probably has something to do with what I've now learned is the infamously unstable Valentina CMS. It's late and I've gotta leave for work in a couple of hours but I will try and do a clean reinstall of Carrara tomorrow afternoon.
I realize it's not entirely helpful to have a bunch of people saying "Works fine for me", but perhaps it will give you hope that Carrara can be made to work on Yosemite, and it's worth sticking with it.
So ... 'works fine for me'.
That is, it crashes occasionally, but I'm not seeing anything like the chaos you describe.
You say that you get prompted to choose a runtime when you try to load a figure. I've never seen that (and, for the record, I have no special problems loading and using either 4th-generation, Genesis or Genesis 2 figures in Carrara 8.5). When I load a figure, it simply loads the figure, without asking for further instructions.
One thing that occurs to me is that maybe Carrara doesn't know where to find any of your runtimes, thus forcing it to prompt you -- and then running into some incompletely-debugged code that causes the blow-ups. Perhaps if Carrara already knows where your runtimes are, then you can avoid this issue.
If I remember correctly, when Carrara installs, it will prompt you to ask if it should look for your runtimes and content folders. Doing a clean install (which might not be a bad idea) should give you the chance to do runtime discovery. You could also tell it to skip that, and add them manually: just start Carrara, switch to the Content tab in the browser, and use the 'Add Folder' option to select your content folders and runtimes.
If you try all that and it doesn't help, check that your runtimes don't have strange paths. I'm not sure what would constitute a strange path in this case -- my pathnames contain spaces, something that sometimes trips up poorly written programs, but which Carrara seems to cope with without problems. However, if there are any strange accented characters in your pathnames, that might do it ("Hørd Dîsk:¥sers:Cárråra!" etc). I'm speculating wildly here -- I don't know if this is a likely problem, but I do know that when trying to resolve inexplicable crashes, simpler is better.
Carrara definitely can be made to work on Yosemite, so don't give up.
It would be helpful if you could screenshot the crash dump too - there might be someone here who can glean something useful from the stack trace.
Actually, wasn't there an issue someone had with trying to load from the My DAZ3D Library? I seem to recall that you didn't want to load from that? Does anybody remember the discussion? I seem to think it wasn't that long ago. Did it have to do with the My DAZ3D Library not being an actual runtime, r some kind of virtual folder?
Since it doesn't crash until you load a figure, can you post a screen cap of the Browser tab where you are trying to load your character from (before you actually try to load it)? Maybe seeing what else is contained in the tab could offer us some clues.
I think that 99% of the quirkiness and persnickety behavior I encounter when loading Genesis/Genesis2 and their clothing is because I have to load from the My DAZ3D Library. I also never use DIM because it always seems to put stuff in the wrong place, I prefer to manually install everything
To the OP, you are probably right that it's Valentina CMS related and a clean install might resolve, but try this first, as it is quick and easy to try.
Start a new scene in carrara, go down to the 'Content' tab and on the far right is a black circle icon with a pic of a paper folded over, if you hover your mouse over it, it will say 'File/Folder Menu'. Click on that, then select 'Add Runtime'. Then navigate to wherever your Poser runtime is for this content and add it as a whole new runtime.
Once added, try loading your V3/M3/V4/M4 whatever from the Poser runtime and see if it loads ok. This may not work, but I can't think of any reason why not to try since it will only take a few seconds to give it a shot.
Following Jon's suggestion should help for loading the mil 4 figures and earlier. I believe you do not want to load Genesis from the Content Browser. I think that needs to get loaded from the Smart Content Browser, but I may be wrong.
I have tried that. Several times in fact. I know you said earlier that you’re not a Mac user so it might be different in a Windows environment. When I do that all the storage options attached my my computer are available except my Mac hard drive. It’s grayed out. Not selectable. I think Cararra does that because it thinks it has already scoured that hard drive and found all the available runtimes on it. Many of the responders to my post have said that Cararra may be looking for content in the wrong place. But here’s what’s interesting - everything, and I mean everything that is in the “My DAZ Library” folder shows up in the corresponding place in my content tab in Cararra. All the props, figures, hair, poses, materials… all of it matches the locations that Studio and Poser show for these items. So it would seem that Cararra has traced these items to their proper runtime paths. Yet it keeps asking me to select a runtime whenever I attempt to load an item be it a prop or a figure. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s V4 or Gen2 or any prop. I get this query. And I point it to the proper runtime, hit confrim and instantly crash.
I have tried that. Several times in fact. I know you said earlier that you’re not a Mac user so it might be different in a Windows environment. When I do that all the storage options attached my my computer are available except my Mac hard drive. It’s grayed out. Not selectable. I think Cararra does that because it thinks it has already scoured that hard drive and found all the available runtimes on it. Many of the responders to my post have said that Cararra may be looking for content in the wrong place. But here’s what’s interesting - everything, and I mean everything that is in the “My DAZ Library” folder shows up in the corresponding place in my content tab in Cararra. All the props, figures, hair, poses, materials… all of it matches the locations that Studio and Poser show for these items. So it would seem that Cararra has traced these items to their proper runtime paths. Yet it keeps asking me to select a runtime whenever I attempt to load an item be it a prop or a figure. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s V4 or Gen2 or any prop. I get this query. And I point it to the proper runtime, hit confrim and instantly crash.
Where is the default location? Could it be a file permissions issue? Have you tried rebuilding them using Disk Utility? They weren't installed using a different user account? And by user account, I mean Mac OS user account and not DAZ.
When you open Carrara and before you try loading a figure, can get a screen shot of the browser window with the list of runtimes?
Have you tried saving out a Genesis figure from Studio as .duf? Have you tried importing a .duf file?
I have the feeling we're missing something here, and I'm not sure what it is.
Ok... Home from work and did a clean re installation of Cararra. The problem persists when attempting to load Gen2 figures but I have been able to load V4. That a little bit of progress at least. But the bigger problem is that I bought Cararra specifically because I've imagined and planed a scene and then acquired characters and corresponding props and hair that are only compatible with Gen2. My computer, Gen2 and Cararra don't like each other and I need for all three to like each other in order to render the scene I've planned. Gen2 are the premium, flagship, top o tha line characters developed by DAZ and yet, for me at least, they do not function in Cararra, DAZ;s premium 3D modeling and posing platform. I can't use Studio for what I'm envisioning. I can't use Poser. Neither has the scope or the vistas or the ability to edit said scope and vista. Cararra does. Yet Cararra won't allow me to load the figures I've purchased and equipped to attempt to realize my vision. Flagship software + flagship characters + flagship props don't equal any kind of dollar store work space or discount pharmacy render.
Bupkis. And massive frustration.
Where is the default location? Could it be a file permissions issue? Have you tried rebuilding them using Disk Utility? They weren't installed using a different user account? And by user account, I mean Mac OS user account and not DAZ.
As I've said the default location is "My DAZ Library" following the "users/shared" path. Within the "My DAZ Library" is the "Runtime" folder. This is where DIM has placed all of the content acquired from DAZ3D. I've allowed DIM to put these files where it wanted to and this is where DIM wanted to put them. Poser and Studio have no trouble finding this content there. Figures, props, hair, materials, poses...all of it are found and successfully loaded into either Studio or Poser from this folder. Cararra, which is also pointed directly at this folder, crashes when i attempt to load a prop or character from this very same location.
Where is the default location? Could it be a file permissions issue? Have you tried rebuilding them using Disk Utility? They weren't installed using a different user account? And by user account, I mean Mac OS user account and not DAZ.
As I've said the default location is "My DAZ Library" following the "users/shared" path. Within the "My DAZ Library" is the "Runtime" folder. This is where DIM has placed all of the content acquired from DAZ3D. I've allowed DIM to put these files where it wanted to and this is where DIM wanted to put them. Poser and Studio have no trouble finding this content there. Figures, props, hair, materials, poses...all of it are found and successfully loaded into either Studio or Poser from this folder. Cararra, which is also pointed directly at this folder, crashes when i attempt to load a prop or character from this very same location.
I know this is frustrating for you, but there are others here that use Macs with your OS and can use Genesis. Something is not pointing to the right place, or is causing a conflict. It may be Carrara, it may be the database or it may be the OS. The questions I'm asking are about trying to figure this out, not imply you are doing something wrong.
Supposedly there is a way to check DIM to see what database you're using. have you done so? Is it Valentina? Is Studio using the other one? Perhaps there's a conflict?
have you tried repairing the disk permissions? Sometimes it is a good idea to run them after an install.
You were able to get a mil-4 figure to load- how? Was it through the Content Browser? Are you trying to load the Genesis figures from the same Browser? Can you please, please, please post a screen cap of where you are trying to load your figures from? Apple key+shift+4 will allow you to drag around the the area of your screen that you want to capture if you're worried about privacy issues.
Have you tried using Studio to export a Genesis character (or is it scene?) and import the .duf file into Carrara? Maybe through the Import command under the File menu? Perhaps someone more familiar with .duf imports can explain the process.
Ah it's Genesis2, I'm sorry for some reason I thought we were talking about earlier content, V3 - V4 etc. I steered you wrong adding runtimes, because that works great for Poser content, but as far as I know Genesis2 has to be loaded from the My Library runtime, and it's finicky even for me on a Windows machine, meaning if I load something the wrong way it doesn't crash my Carrara, but it can 'crash' my genesis2 that I've loaded, resetting it back to base Genesis shape and immovable and I have to delete it out of my scene and start again. Which is why whenever I assemble a Genesis2 figure with the character shape and clothes I want, I save him/her into my objects tab as a premade carrara object for future use and get a lot less nasty surprises using them that way.
I know the point is that you aren't even able to get Genesis2 to load at all, so the issues I describe above don't really apply, but still just wanted to mention that Genesis2 (for me on a windows machine) is loaded from Content tab, under My Library/People/Genesis2Female (or below that, Genesis2male). That's likely how you're loading them already, but thought I would mention just to be sure. Not sure if it matters or not, but I drag and drop the Genesis2Female Icon right into the instances tray to the right, onto the 'Scene'.
If any Carrara Mac users out there using Genesis2female have to load it differently, please chime in and give guidance :)
Just one additional thought re. Genesis 2: are your characters "HD"? Because if so, Carrara does not currently support G2 HD meshes.
I duplicated the steps you described when you encountered your errors and did not run into any problems (attached screen capture). Does this problem occur when Gen2 is loaded by itself? Also, are you running the 64bit version of Carrara?
I'm unable to load any Gen2 character regardless of whether it's HD or standard. I can't even load the Gen2 base figure. I'm gonna try and screen shoot the process this afternoon. There must be an answer somewhere because others have said they're using Gen2 with Cararra.