Carrara 5 user

ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Hi from France,

I bought v3 and v5 of Carrara standard.

I continue to use v5 because it is light and quite useful. But two options lacks
in editing mode:

- allow frame skipping
- play soundtrack and animation both

If these are fixed in v5 pro or v6, please where can I find these old versions ?

Thanks for attention !

Comments

  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,024
    edited December 1969

    You can subscribe to the Carrara Sale Email Message Alert thread and get an email when there is a sale on Carrara 8.5 Pro (cheaper than Standard usually):
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/55201/

    This book includes Carrara 6, but not sure if it works:
    http://www.amazon.com/Figures-Characters-Avatars-Official-Beautiful/dp/1435461207/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431863892&sr=1-2&keywords=daz+studio

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Merci pour les informations !
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    I use Windows XP and prefer a lighter version of Carrara at this time (v6 ... or v7 ?)
    The book sounds useless for me, and if software link is broken I'll lose everything.

    Since v6, do you confirm that we are able to play soundtracks while animation is running (in editor mode) ?
    I remember that v6 included skip frame to maintain true speed, isn't it ?

    Thanks.

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited December 1969

    Looli said:
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Merci pour les informations !
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    I use Windows XP and prefer a lighter version of Carrara at this time (v6 ... or v7 ?)
    The book sounds useless for me, and if software link is broken I'll lose everything.

    Since v6, do you confirm that we are able to play soundtracks while animation is running (in editor mode) ?
    I remember that v6 included skip frame to maintain true speed, isn't it ?

    Thanks.

    Salut Looli !
    I used Carrara since V1 to V8 on XP and never seen a difference.
    For the sound, you don't loose your sountrack if you use a newer version, the link is in the .car file and must be loaded with the scene.
    If not, it's easy to reload it.
    "skip frame" yes but all depend of your computer (graphic card) and the complexity of the scene.
    Bon dimanche !

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ok, je peux donc garder XP, c'est une bonne nouvelle. Merci.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For soundtrack in editor mode, I mean that in Carrara 5, it's not possible to listen any sound during animation, for lip sync for example.
    Sorry for mistake.
    Then I just need to know if it's possible since version 6 ... or with version 5 pro ?

    Thanks.

  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,024
    edited December 1969

    Only have C8.5 installed...

    There are both new features and speed-ups of the old rendering functions, so Carrara 8 may be even faster on your XP system than your C5.
    Free trial here: http://download.cnet.com/Carrara-8-Pro/3000-6677_4-10782148.html

  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,024
    edited December 1969

    The price of Carrara 8.5 Pro is only 65$ if you buy the 24$ PC membership first:

    C85.PNG
    942 x 828 - 69K
  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Trial version installed from link. It's possible to play sound and animation both in editor view. Good news.

    I'm not saying Carrara 8 is uninteresting, but even in version 5, I leave special editors (metaball, spline, etc.) and features (tree generator, physics, etc.).

    In the past, I tried to buy magazine where Carrara 6 pro was inclued but I was unable to do from France.

    I already spend money for softwares who was not «stable and finished» enough (I mean Carrara versions before 5). Now, if anybody can confirm that option A (on screenshot) is present in version 6, I'll try to get it for few euros.

    Many thanks for attention !

    Ralph Le Gall

    carrara8.jpg
    840 x 440 - 69K
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Looli said:
    Trial version installed from link. It's possible to play sound and animation both in editor view. Good news.

    I'm not saying Carrara 8 is uninteresting, but even in version 5, I leave special editors (metaball, spline, etc.) and features (tree generator, physics, etc.).

    In the past, I tried to buy magazine where Carrara 6 pro was inclued but I was unable to do from France.

    I already spend money for softwares who was not «stable and finished» enough (I mean Carrara versions before 5). Now, if anybody can confirm that option A (on screenshot) is present in version 6, I'll try to get it for few euros.

    Many thanks for attention !

    Ralph Le Gall

    I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Do you mean you have no interest in the meta-ball modeler, spline modeler or plant editor?

    There are many improvements in Carrara 7, Carrara 8 and 8.5 over Carrara 5. When I say that, I'm completely ignoring the use of DAZ figures. There are improvements to physics, there are improvements to lighting, plants, the vertex modeler, animation capabilities, etc.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Screen cap from Carrara 7.2 Pro sequencer showing the same things you pointed out in your screen cap.

    Picture_1.png
    1098 x 309 - 48K
  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for screenshot.

    Yes, Carrara 8 seems very improved since version 5.

    But I focused only on this feature [A] for forget the laborious work ( with version 5 it's impossible to listen sound and animation together in editor view !! ).

    Sorry if it still incomprehensive :-/

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    I'm a bit confused because version 6 seems to not have "frame skipping" :
    https://youtu.be/YTx_y7KZ8_Y

    - - - -

    In previous message, I wrote that metaball editor, tree generator, physics engine etc. are not useful for me (these seems unchanged in version 8).

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    It may help to explain what you do in Carrara. Are you lip-synching stuff?

    I know it doesn't matter to what you do, but to clarify for others that come across this thread, Carrara 8 added another physics engine to Carrara with version 8. So, you have the physics engine like you have in version 5, and you also have the Bullet physics engine which can do rigid and soft body physics. The plant editor was changed to allow more than one leaf type.

    In addition, volumetric lights that use IES light profiles (real world) were added, as were negative lights. There were also updates to the graph editor in version 8.5. plus many other improvements between C5 and C8.5.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,180
    edited December 1969

    How well it plays back depends on your computer really, hiding everything in 3D view but the figure helps a lot, I group stuff and do this to work with large scenes anyway.
    If hidden in 3D view but visible still ticked it will render, just not show in assembly room.

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for answers !

    Yes, I already hide complex objects and render them in boxed mode. I can do without the skipping frame tool (sorry for insistance about it).

    The useful tool I really regret to not have is the "play sound until animation" in editor room. I don't understand why version 5 propose sounds without this simple option.

    I use poylgonal tool and never import Daz studio character.

    By importing sound for introduction, I note it's not easy juggle between sound line, animation line, sound line, animation line. My wish is to use Carrara without this laborious task. Then synchronise animations and sounds in timeline with this helpful switch button !

    I exchange to Eovia metaball editor + physics engine + tree editor + terrain editor etc. ... instead of this button.

    My present work:

    gibus.jpg
    224 x 224 - 9K
  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited December 1969

    This button annoy me !
    It is by default in position “ON” at each opening of a project (ON= skip the images when a scene is complex), if DAZ could reverse the position by default, it would be much more useful and pleasant.
    It would be better to replace it by an automatic back to the beginning after reading the timeline.
    For the synchro, you can slip the cursor with your mouse, it's more precise.

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    For the synchro, you can slip the cursor with your mouse, it's more precise.

    About sound sample ? ... yes, I already do it, but if nothing move in view, it's quite useless.

    Fortunately Eovia did not design cars and spacecrafts...

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited December 1969

    Looli said:
    For the synchro, you can slip the cursor with your mouse, it's more precise.

    About sound sample ? ... yes, I already do it, but if nothing move in view, it's quite useless.

    Fortunately Eovia did not design cars and spacecrafts...

    For synchro lipsync, I used the standAlone version of Mimic, but now, I make my animations manually in the timeline.
    For us, not English speakers,I think it's the best way and I play with the sliders of mimics (morph++ !) with the sound when I scroll the timeline.

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Mimic is only useful for lip sync, or any synchronisation ?
    For my introduction sequence, the moves needs to match with rythm of music. If yes, is Mimic compatible with Carrara 5 ?

    Thanks for answers and attention !

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited December 1969

    Usually, a song has a tempo.
    If you put your timeline in "Time" rather than in "FPS", you would have easier to place your keyframes more regularly.
    It exist plugins to transform the tempo into movements (others will say you which plugin), and also the Pycarrara script which can vary morphes with the music but I never used it with a character.
    Mimic with C5 ? Sorry, I don't know.

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Ok. For Mimic, I think I spent enough money from Ray Dream Studio until Carrara 5. So, since there is no solution, I will continue to work laboriously.

    Thanks again,

    Ralph

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    So, you spent money in the nineties and '00s, but not the current decade, and you think you've spent too much? I thought I was cheap. ;-)
    Just joking! :lol:

    Seriously though, I bought Raydream myself, and when it finally quit working for me due to hardware and operating system upgrades, I eventually bought Carrara 5. I skipped Carrara 6, but bought Carrara 7 Pro, and it was far superior to Carrara 5. I felt it was almost the best money I ever spent on software. I still use it today, as well as Carrara 8.5, which I was able to get at a very reasonable price- much, much cheaper than Raydream. I recall spending about $400.00 for Raydream 5 around 1998, and less than $100.00 on Carrara 8.5 a few weeks ago, and quite honestly, it does far more than Raydream and Carrara 5, and is orders of magnitude more stable than Raydream ever was.

  • ralph_lgralph_lg Posts: 24
    edited December 1969

    Yes, and with 3Dartist or 3DWorld magazines, Carrara was included.
    And Daz Studio is free.

    I use Carrara for the render quality and efficient polygonal room. The textures gestion is fine too.

    ... but why not include the little button "play sound" when animation is playing in scene room ?
    If this button is present in further versions, it prove that this is very useful. Eovia was so hurry to sell this version 5 ?

    Ray Dream was stable and "Windows friendly". For me, it crash only when resize mode was grid constrained and resize object to zero size.

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