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Carrara for game modeling - worth the investment?

hypermeister_c2bf5965c0hypermeister_c2bf5965c0 Posts: 0
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Hi all,

I am an old member of this community. I was already a member when Daz acquired the Carrara platform from Eovia. My last Carrara version was 5.0. I upgraded to 6.0 ,then 7.0, but on both occassions I asked for my money back. Why? Because I am centered on game development, and up to those versions, Carrara's focus was more on pre-rendered images. The exporters for game formats were buggy, to the point of being useless.

So when I heard of the new stuff that's been happening at DAZ, I thought I'd check it out myself. But before I invest in a new version of Carrara, I'd like to know the community's opinion. Is there better support for game formats (namely FBX and Collada) in Carrara 8.5? I mean, sure, the product page says there is, but I don't believe product pages any more, and would like to know from the community's experience.

Also, is Daz content able to be used in games? Last I'd heard, the poly counts were too high, and besides, licensing did not allow for using them in games (since it would be redistributing copyrighted content). Has this changed?

Comments

  • MarkBremmerMarkBremmer Posts: 190
    edited December 1969

    I use multiple 3d Software for game development needs, including Carrara. The environment that I export into is usually Unity.

    Carrara works fine for that. I haven't done any character motion FBX export with it but may try that just to see how it works (I usually only provide hard edge assets and any character motion I've done has been either through C4D or Poser)

    The one thing with Carrara is the world space. In every other program, the rotation is X,Y,Z. In Carrara it's X,Z,Y. What that means is that everything that is going to be exported needs to be in a larger group that you must first rotate 90 degrees on the X axis prior to export so it comes into the host application - Unity or Unreal - with the correct coordinates.

  • MythmakerMythmaker Posts: 606
    edited May 2015

    My background ZBrush and Sketchup and game modding... IMO for modeling game props (both organic and hard surface) as well as low poly game characters, Carrara is more than sufficient. Quad/tri/subD will help game asset pipeline.

    User interface can also be more robust and made more customizable. Other than that it's a pretty solid and versatile modeling app.

    I was surprised to find that I could work directly on a vertex object that is still in FBX/ Collada/ OBJ format in the Assembly room. Can be a plus for frequent import export users.

    Carrara's UV mapping/ unwrap is good enough for blocky models, but certainly needs updating for organic models.

    Displacement/ normal map baking could be an issue. So will probably need a mapping companion tool. That said, Carrara's ability to 3Dpaint diffuse, opacity and specular map will definitely come in handy for game textures.

    Daz content for games, size wise, Genesis is almost 20K, can be reduced to 6K but its selling point, TriAx weighted skeleton, cannot be used outside of Daz Studio or Carrara. Daz3D store sells other toon resolution characters. Carrara skeleton/weight is apparently quite flexible/ portable to popular apps/ game engines.

    Daz content's bigger issue is texture map numbers and size. But DS comes with Texture Atlas, free, a gem of a tool and a must-have for game devs.

    Post edited by Mythmaker on
  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,024
    edited December 1969

    Here is a free 30 day trial of Carrara 8.1, not the latest version but close enough:
    http://download.cnet.com/Carrara-8-Pro/3000-6677_4-10782148.html

    Grab this freebie to test some example models:
    http://www.daz3d.com/m4-hero-pro-pack
    The full 8.5 version includes M5 and V5 Pro that include even more ready-made models:

    There are some licensing options:
    http://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=game+license

    Carrara has several functions to decrease the poly count, you can try yourself with the free trial and freebie above.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    If Normal Maps need to be exported, there is a plugin for Carrara called Baker (I think), but I don't recall the developer.

  • DondecDondec Posts: 243
    edited December 1969

    evilproducer said:
    If Normal Maps need to be exported, there is a plugin for Carrara called Baker (I think), but I don't recall the developer.

    Think this is the one: http://www.inagoni.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.3

    - Don

  • DondecDondec Posts: 243
    edited December 1969

    MarkBremmer said:
    In every other program, the rotation is X,Y,Z. In Carrara it's X,Z,Y. What that means is that everything that is going to be exported needs to be in a larger group that you must first rotate 90 degrees on the X axis prior to export so it comes into the host application - Unity or Unreal - with the correct coordinates.

    Daz content's bigger issue is texture map numbers and size. But DS comes with Texture Atlas, free, a gem of a tool and a must-have for game devs.

    Great tips... Thanks much!

    - Don

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Don.deCourcelle said:
    evilproducer said:
    If Normal Maps need to be exported, there is a plugin for Carrara called Baker (I think), but I don't recall the developer.

    Think this is the one: http://www.inagoni.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.3

    - Don

    That's the one! Thanks! I don't know why I blanked on the developer's name...

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