What's the story On Carrara?

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  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452

    Can someone clue me in here.  I feel like I am reading tea leaves and have no idea who is pouring the tea.  Chohole I take it is the manager or censor of the forum ?  Spooky an appropriate name for a forum apparition, is the DAZ representive...perhaps informally ?  Is there some other players that I don't know about ?

    Are we allowed to ask Spooky what is going on with respect to DAZ and Carrara or do we have to use a ouija board or guess at the cryptic, delphi like clues - such as, " I reccommend against such assumptions".  I think all would feel relieved if we knew that something..anything was in the pipelline. Would it be possible for Spooky to visit  our fourm..after all the Pope came to NYC.

     

    Starboardtack

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,180

    DAZ_Spooky is a Dev

    Developer angel not Devil devil

    he has worked on Carrara before but seems to be mostly involved with the DAZ goldenchild Studio these days, we can only hope, maybe rendering offerings may help ...........

  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452

    Thanks JaguaElla. 

    I take it that Chohole runs the site with her club...owch.  It would be nice if the adults would visit us children before we get out of hand.

    Starboardtack

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited October 2015

    Chohole is merely one member of the Daz Forum Team.  Mostly seen waving the flag for Bryce  when not terrorising forum members   and trying her best to help people

     

    Growing Old is inevitable, Growing Up is Optional

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147

    DAZ_Spooky is a Dev

    Developer angel not Devil devil

    he has worked on Carrara before but seems to be mostly involved with the DAZ goldenchild Studio these days, we can only hope, maybe rendering offerings may help ...........

    spooky does NOT program - he tested and runs quality control

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,158

    Am I correct that forum mods such as Chohole and Fixmypcmike are volunteers?

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    diomede said:

    Am I correct that forum mods such as Chohole and Fixmypcmike are volunteers?

    you don't think Daz would pay them do U devil

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,158

    Just offering an explanation of why Chohole and the other mods are generally so patient and respectful, and why they don't necessarily know any more about Daz than frequent posters.  But if I were Daz, I would pay them a LOT.  No, I am not just sucking up.  Or am I? angel

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    diomede said:

    Just offering an explanation of why Chohole and the other mods are generally so patient and respectful, and why they don't necessarily know any more about Daz than frequent posters.  But if I were Daz, I would pay them a LOT.  No, I am not just sucking up.  Or am I? angel

    no Comment cheeky

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147

    WOW - I got a gift certificate for my video from some one kiss

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    diomede said:

    Am I correct that forum mods such as Chohole and Fixmypcmike are volunteers?

    Yes we are volunteers.  We used to be Community Volunteers and then somehow got sucke... umm persuaded to volunteer yet again to be..umm.. "promoted" to Moderator.

  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452

    Chohole has been very helpful to me as I stumble up my learning curve. I just did not know that her club had such a wicked swing till she closed down ' "Does " Connect" spell the end of Carrara compatibility'.  And, I think Diomede is correct, as the moderators are in a tough spote, not knowing anymore than we do and walking the line  between a free discussion and abuse.  So where do we go from here...back to reading tea leaves....pass the cream, please.

     

    Starboardtack

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    The problem there was that we had umpteen threads popping up all over the place, and with the DAZ_Guys popping in to help we were asked to contain the discussion to one or two threads, in order to make it easier for them to keep up with the flow.  As basically, at this point in time we are dealing with a beta release of an uograde to DS, the threads were left in the DS forum (release thread) and one in the Commons, to be more accessible to all. Even the thread in the members only forum was closed.

  • LotharenLotharen Posts: 282

    I'm glad to see some what of a positive post that Carrara has not been dumped.

    I agree with what PhilW said, if the Dev's/ Daz don't want customers to think things have been abandoned they need to pop in everyone and a while and give an update. My thinking goes like this - if potential customers want a product and research first they would see a forum of people thinking they product is doomed. I believe that would end there purchasing momentum. Perhaps I just like honesty and think a business should be honest. I'm the same way with my car, if I feel a mechanic is cheating me with unnecessary repairs to milk me for my money Ill move on. In fact I have had the same mechanic for almost 10 years now because I was up front with him. I told him straight up - if I feel that you are cheating me or screwing me in any way you will loose my business. We havn't had issues because of that and I've never thought he was forcing a repair on me.

    I'll most likely purchase Carrara again, its a good buy with everything you get. The only down side is - I purchased Keymate and Graphmate again to start animations in Studio - Doh!

     

     

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    I've also had customer services say to me "when QA is testing Carrara..." which implies at some point they will have something to test.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,180

    yes the DAZ_guys are all paid employees of DAZ unlike the poor mods and wave  a much bigger weapon than Chohole can lift devil

    I have tried to stay off the forum mostly but when I see danger to my favourite program it is hard not to comment.

    I expect this week has not been easy for the mods and my sympathies are with them, it is the DAZ folk I have been addressing in my comments.

  • starboardstarboard Posts: 452

    Thanks Chohole,

    I can see the  "why". They were dealing specifically with the upgrade problems.  It is just a shame that the apparitions from DAZ do not materialize in our forum and give us just a little time.  

    Starboardtack    

  • FenricFenric Posts: 351

    Truly.

     

    I have to say: for the last year, Mr. Spooky has posted more on Runtime DNA than he has here. As a Software Architect, I have to say that is it vastly unlikely that the head of Software QA at DAZ is unaware of plans for development of Carrara. If he feels that he lacks the authority to make a statement, it is high time he pokes someone from whatever shambles of Product Management they have left to get over here and say something.

     

    Because frankly, the fact that they would be unwilling to make any statement at all is a very worrying sign. "Carrara development is ongoing" - bah. I don't buy it: all they managed in five years was to change from Valentine to Postgress. If my team needed longer than a week to do that from initial design to final QA, I'd be looking for a new team. Genesis (1 or 2, take your pick) still has major flat-out bugs that have not been addressed. They're still using a version of LibZ that the authors have urged everyone to upgrade from. They still leave the file handle open when closing the program, corrupting the file if you use compression. Poser compatibility has regressed between 7.2 and 8.5 (try loading the "Aiko Martial Arts" outfit in 8.5), the shader list box still scrolls back to the top every time you make a selection. Poser weightmap loading would be so nice to have and don't talk to me about difficulty: I wrote that ​myself in about three days, then wrote it a second time because Carrara's "Load Weightmap" has a fun undocumented restriction. If you would just fix the "other actor" issue so it is compatible with Poser 8 - anathema, I know - instead of stubbornly holding to Poser 4 compatibility which is a pain. It would be nice if you fixed the actor search to look through the name as well as the channel like Poser and Studio both do. Do a "search and replace" on the renderer and change the output channels to use the full 128-bit RGBA structure instead of the compacted 32-bit version so I can export HDRS and 16-bit TIFFs. Updating the SDK so it hides less of the functionality - there's nothing worth hiding anymore: open it up and give me full access to the browser, CR2Importer, menus in rooms other than "A​ssembly"...

     

    But no. The best we'll get is a vague and apologetic "I can't say" from Spooky, and maybe another one of "We don't want to reveal our plans just yet, but big things are on the way!" from some random talking head... 'cause we've never gone through this exercise before, have we?

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,232

     ... Carrara just runs rings around studio in what it can do and then some yet it is unloved.

    I fight with studio to do stuff that is so easy in Carrara and invarably give up and use something else ...

    That was also my experience when I (briefly) tried DAZ Studio.  Of course, I've used Carrara for a long time and so am familiar (and biased).  Still, I feel DAZ has let down many long term customers (in my case going well back into the early Poser days).  And with very little communication to or input requested from the customers.  But DAZ knows its business, I guess.  

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,180

    an emotional plea from V7 in Carrara via iClone

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    That video was a bit spooky...

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    bigh said:
    diomede said:

    Am I correct that forum mods such as Chohole and Fixmypcmike are volunteers?

    you don't think Daz would pay them do U devil

    I don't think they could afford to pay someone enough.

  • rampart_1576840087rampart_1576840087 Posts: 504
    edited November 2015

    Negative discussions don't work out well for companies.

    Saying nothing, is a sure sign of neglect.

    So, I am not looking for any response from Daz3d.

    IMO, the Carrara terrain builder is worth the price at around $65.

    Bryce, is good too and it is even cheaper...harder to learn.

    I suggest, if anyone is on the fence look about features of Carrara.

    You should focus on those tools of Carrara you are interested.

    Then come to the forums, if you cannot find satisfactory infomration on those items and ask questions.

    I suggest to buy Carrara for what you need to do now, and leave off thinking of the long-term prospects for it.

    Daz has had plenty of opportunity to respond to Carrara users, and they have chosen NOT to respond.

    What do they have to do to wake us up?

    Slap us in the face and tell us to move on stupid, there ain't nuttin here or coming here.  LOL

    Maybe, abit of an exaggeration, but speculating among ourselves is not helping.

    I am happy with what I have along with a recent update to Carrara, which was unexpected and I appreciate.

    .

    Post edited by rampart_1576840087 on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,049

    Daz_rawb
    DIM will likely be around for years to come, it does require server resources to keep running so if it's usage levels drop to infinitesimal levels we may take those servers offline.To let you know how soon that may be, we would need to update Bryce, Carrara and Hexagon before we can take DIM offline.

    So, reading this one must get the feeling that Carrara is not going to be updated for years to come.. along with Bryce & Hexagon.
     

  • Roughly 4 years ago I left the Carrara community a while ago in a shroud of a lot of frustration with the lack of support Daz gave to the application. Since then, I have invested all my 3D ventures into Autodesk. It just made more sense as far as longevity and professional pipeline. However, thanks to Carrara, my eventual shift to Maya was eased a bit. There are some similarities. I was able to grasp Maya in a week. Using it professionally in 2 weeks.

    Out of sheer curiousity I came here today to see how far Carrara has come in all this time. Unfortunately, I see the same kind of topics and discussions today that plagued Carrara 4 years ago. I think that's indicative of Daz not supporting the software as some of you have hoped and still hope. 

    What Autodesk, or any other 3D package doesn't have is a believable character generator. The professional 3D industry seems to be genuinely impressed with the Genesis technology. But they pull their hair out at tools like DazStudio. Carrara is almost always never even on the map in the mind of the professional.

    Daz has a unique opportunity here. Their general Genesis technology is brilliant. Knowing now what I couldn't have seen 4 years ago, is that if Daz were smart they would focus on getting their Genesis figures into more professional pipelines like Autodesk and even more so into pipelines like Unity. The VR/AR space is on it's way to exploding. Daz needs to align itself in this regard. Maya does support Daz content (COLLADA) to a certain extent. It's not at the level of DazStudio obviously, but it's not overly deficient either. You then get access to superior hair, particle, rendering and dynamics systems of Autodesk and others.

    I think it's clear from my now outside perspective that Carrara was axed a long time ago. It's a bit sad. The software did have great potential in its prime and I truly enjoyed using it in the day. A lot of it's UI interactions just make a lot of intuitive sense. However, it's technology now sorely outdated or just a PITA to get a more professional level out of it. Other tools are more reliable and actually easier to use.
    (No offense to fans) But that's how it goes sometimes. Nothing lasts forever. In the case of Carrara, maybe it shouldn't. Maybe it should die a respectful death.

     

     

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited November 2015

    I will say that DAZ not talking about their Carrara plans doesn't mean they aren't working on an update. They were pretty tight lipped about the last update, with only vague and cryptic comments like the one at the end of the post that Wendy linked to above.

    Right now Carrara works just fine. The only real exception is the latest figure, which does have some nice features, such as the facial rigging, but aside from that, I haven't really seen any reason that Genesis and Genesis 2 (or even mil4 figures) are suddenly CG crap, waiting to be buried in the virtual landfill. Yes, DAZ's new delivery system could suck for Carrara (assuming DAZ isn't working on an update), but:

    #1 it isn't live yet.

    #2 DAZ could be working on an update.

    #3 There are other stores. Tell DAZ what you think by using them instead.

    #4 Even if DAZ decides not to update Carrara, there is no magic switch they'll throw to suddenly make it stop working- there will be time to migrate, perhaps even into years to migrate before Carrara quits working. I know that if that time ever comes, I will migrate to something other than DAZ software to send a message.

    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Evil, I feel much the same way about continuing to use Carrara, with the addition that with the (admitedly cryptic) comments made by Daz, I believe that they are indeed working on at least G3 compatibility.

  • My opinion is that this thread is a bunch of useless hand wringing. Before this DAZ beta and encryption business came up, there were threads in the Commons with subject lines wondering where the next version of Studio was, or even if there would be another version. I never read them, as I personally don't like Studio and don't really care about it, so I have no idea if the thread trajectory followed this one, or the endless other threads with useless hand-wringing, and mind numbingly dull and repetitious speculation and "theories" about Carrara's fate, and how DAZ sucks.

    In the meantime, this thread gets more attention than many threads where someone asks for help, or the Challenges or render thread.

    Maybe I'm in touch with my inner curmudgeon today, but come on people! Quit crying and freaking out long enough to open Carrara, and use it! Remember why you bought it. Have fun with it. Render something!

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