That works nicely if you need a rigid object to move according to joint rotation - but without having to make a bazillion different JCM (joint-controlled morphs)
You could try using Carrara's point at modifier if you really are attached to the model, otherwise I'd do like what Stezza suggested. PoserWorld, Vanishing Point and Rendo have some pretty similar, cool things that will likely work a lot better for you.
Bought the Daz Dog/Rabbit morph today.. which includes fur as well
Start off with changing rabbit and fur to blended weight.
Rabbit loads ok and poses fine.. the textures need adjusting with normal maps and eye adjustments.. the fur also needs adjusting with alpha maps needed to be applied and the usual untick uvwrap.
The fur loads quick enough but then applying to the dog take s a long time and rendering takes a while
Here is a render using the supplied fur and then one using Carrara hair.. I prefer the Carrara hair
I also grabbed the Forsaken Keep and Construction Kit, which won't load correctly in Carrara as a full scene, like the Forsaken Village.
It's an easy fix. The scene for Daz Studio is built (as it should be) using instances. To me, this is awesome.
I begin by optimizing all of the shaders, which includes dousing all of the flames with my "Invisible" shader. When everything from the full scene preset is optimized, I save the scene as a "Base Scene" for that product in my Carrara browser.
At this point it's an incomplete scene by appearance, but it at least contains all of the needed elements - including optimized shaders, so this is our Construction Set save.
I have a PrimiVol torch flame with two spinning and flickering (opposed flicker) lights parented to a target helper in my browser. I load that in and place it at one of the torches and repeat for any more torches that I want flamed up and save as a new base scene. Then I adjust the sky and lighting for night and save over itself.
Now I use my night scene and duplicate things, replicate things and build up the village or keep or whatever until I have a nice, full scene and save as a new scene, then adjust the sky and lighting for day, remove all of the PrimiVol flame setups I added and save again as the Day version of the same scene.
For replicating the leaves (in the above process), I use the vertex modeler to create a flat oval and replicate all of the various leaves onto that and place it where I need it, duplicate it as many times as I need. For that we either have to fix the duplicated replicators (which will still place their leaves on the original plane) or create 'real' instances before duplication. For something like a bazillion leaves, I simply choose to fix the replicators. It's not hard. Just open the replicator, select the new proper plane, then add in the leaves that got duplicated along with that plane. Do this for each replicator. It takes a little time and patience, but it's plenty efficient.
For the PrimiVol flames, I begin with the PrimiVol flame effect itself, then add a target helper to the middle of it. I add a bulb light and scale it way down as to not be too obtrusive and give it a red-orange hue and a brightness of 35, distance of 10 or so, and move it off center from the flame/helper and parent it to the helper. I name the helper Lightspin because now is where I put a spin modifier on the helper. Next I duplicate the bulb and change it to yellowish and lower the brightness to 6 and the distance to 6 as well, then move it to the opposite side of the helper from the first bulb.
Go to the 10 second mark in the timeline (or whatever - I use 10) and slightly change the hue of the red-orange bulb and lower its brightness to 6, then make the yellow bulb a little more white and bring it up to brightness of 35.
Scroll down the sequencer to find those two new keyframes for the bulbs. I never begin my renders before the 1 second mark, so I copy the first key for each bulb a few spaces forward. This is so that for different copies, I can move these keys a bit along the timeline for differentiation.
Select the four keys for the bulbs - two for each, and change the tweener to noise or oscillate and set to your liking.
I take the whole works and parent them to a second target helper that I name "PrimiVol Torch Flames"
I've already done all of this for my preset that I store in my browser.
When I'm using more than one of these flames in my scene (there's quite a few flames needed for these scenes here) I drag in the first one and place it where it needs to go (I used the Align function all the time!) and then bring another fresh PrimiVol Torch Flame in from the browser and scroll down to the bulb keys, select them all and move them a bit in time. Then I go about placing that flame preset where it needs to go.
In a situation where we need to duplicate the sconce or torch or brazier or... we can use copy/paste on the flames preset to get more variants as we go - but more, we can make a bunch of them 'before' we duplicate the torch. Just put all of them on the same torch and give them each a letter or number so we can easily see different versions in the instances tray.
After duplicating the torches around the scene, select all of the flames but one and delete them. Perhaps even leave a few with more than one flame - just for kicks. This way, if we have a bunch of torches along the same side of town, all visible from the camera, we can make sure that those next to one another are different variants of flame. Just remember that, with a bit of a z-axis twist we can make the same flame set look entirely different in camera.
It should also be known that, sometimes I also select the keys of bulbs that I want to change a bit and, instead of (or in addition to) moving them along the timeline, I'll use the little switch in the upper left of the sequencer to reverse the keys or simply make changes to the tweener or both. Also, before saving my preset to the browser, I've made both tweeners different from one another. So they have an irregular flicker to work with their constant, regular spin. We can change the spin over time too if we want, but I just set the tweeners instead - and I like the effect.
Don't have PrimiVol?
Before using PrimiVol, I used the same technique with the bulbs on a bent plane showing a repeating stock footage video of flames in the glow channel. I used Howler to also make a good transparency map for the video and it made them look much better. If you can't make an alpha map, just copy the glow channel video to the alpha channel. Or maybe you can find stock footage of a flame that already has an alpha channel.
Just for the record, the reason I use a second target helper for the whole works (for my flames) is because I don't add the PrimiVol flames to the helper with Spin on it. So this way I have a full setup within a target helper object names PrimiVol Torch Flames, and as I duplicate (or copy/paste) I can give each new version a twist on the z axis, which makes it appear as an entirely different flame.
Changing the tweeners on the bulbs simply helps to sell the difference by making an entirely different effect on its immediate surroundings.
i used the model room to separate the basin and pedestal to 2 separate entities.
detached the skeleton from the lion leg. duplicated the leg twice. parented the 2 legs to the basin
spun the basin 120 degrees. reparented a leg to the pedestal. Spun the basin to 240 degrees. reparented leg 3 to the pdestal.
changed the jpg textures to carrara native metals.
I don't have Streets of Venice, but I do have a LOT of Stonemason products and they're all quite wonderful to work with in Carrara.
The main thing, like most, is that we have to alter the shaders.
Many of the older ones just had a strange gloss to them and possibly too much bump. So just lowering or removing the highlight and turning down the bump would completely fix it for most purposes. Like everything else, the pickier we are the more we need to mess with shaders.
One thing I've always Loved about all of Stonemason's work is that it's always highly efficient.
.. but thought if anyone had the same issue with not being able to export direct-x models out of carrara 8.5 on Windows 10 pro then downloading and installing GTK2 from https://gtk-win.sourceforge.io/home/index.php/Main/Downloads seems to have fixed the error?
Don't ask me how or why, I don't know, but I can now export direct-x .x models to my heart's delight ! I haven't tried importing them, but I'll leave that to you ...
Just popped in to share that with you if anyone's interested ?
.. but thought if anyone had the same issue with not being able to export direct-x models out of carrara 8.5 on Windows 10 pro then downloading and installing GTK2 from https://gtk-win.sourceforge.io/home/index.php/Main/Downloads seems to have fixed the error?
Don't ask me how or why, I don't know, but I can now export direct-x .x models to my heart's delight ! I haven't tried importing them, but I'll leave that to you ...
Just popped in to share that with you if anyone's interested ?
I know the presets won't work, since they're Iray-specific - they set the environment, sky and render settings and such, but might be cool if I can get them in and use Carrara's sky to light them.
I know the presets won't work, since they're Iray-specific - they set the environment, sky and render settings and such, but might be cool if I can get them in and use Carrara's sky to light them.
Wow. I clicked one of the preset scenes and it opened in an instant... Bam!
For the SkyBox:
Use only Color and Glow channels.
In Color, navigate Texture Map to Textures > Magix101 > Iray Worlds
Pick one of the base maps from the Skies folder
Use the Color channel drop-down > Operators > Multiply
Cntrl/Drag the color map from Source 1 into Source 2 to copy it over (if you don't use Gamma Correction, you can likely skip the multiply steps)
Now simply Cntrl/Drag (copy) the Color channel into the Glow channel.
Ctrl/Drag the Color Channel into each of the Sources of the Glow channel, so you have four maps in total in the Glow
In one of the divisions of the Glow channel, change the map to the same one, but ends in LUM (Grayscale)
In the second source from that one, change Texture Map to Value = 1 - 1,000
Make that value anything over 100 - this turns the shader into an emitting light
Tweak to your liking. That's how I work out any skymap that I want to use as a light source. Normally I don't do that and just artistically create the appearance that I have.
I was rendering the final result of a really nice GI/IL image when I accidentally slipped on my keyboard... did some crazy key command that shut Carrara down dead :(
Here's the 10,000+ ft. diameter SkyDome in Carrara
the Star original figure for poser doesn't bend in carrara. i try to bend her shin, the whole leg like rotates and does the goo thing at the hip and foot
Comments
That works nicely if you need a rigid object to move according to joint rotation - but without having to make a bazillion different JCM (joint-controlled morphs)
You could try using Carrara's point at modifier if you really are attached to the model, otherwise I'd do like what Stezza suggested. PoserWorld, Vanishing Point and Rendo have some pretty similar, cool things that will likely work a lot better for you.
point at joints. it really is a dystopian world
thanks.
I'm a sucker for rabbits!
Bought the Daz Dog/Rabbit morph today.. which includes fur as well
Start off with changing rabbit and fur to blended weight.
Rabbit loads ok and poses fine.. the textures need adjusting with normal maps and eye adjustments.. the fur also needs adjusting with alpha maps needed to be applied and the usual untick uvwrap.
The fur loads quick enough but then applying to the dog take s a long time and rendering takes a while
Here is a render using the supplied fur and then one using Carrara hair.. I prefer the Carrara hair
The render was quick using Carrara hair.
Wow, he's Awesome!!! I like both furs. Great job on All of it!!!
Instead of the wabbit, I got the space suit for my Dire Wolf. Too much rendering going on to try it just now though.
I also grabbed the Forsaken Keep and Construction Kit, which won't load correctly in Carrara as a full scene, like the Forsaken Village.
It's an easy fix. The scene for Daz Studio is built (as it should be) using instances. To me, this is awesome.
I begin by optimizing all of the shaders, which includes dousing all of the flames with my "Invisible" shader. When everything from the full scene preset is optimized, I save the scene as a "Base Scene" for that product in my Carrara browser.
At this point it's an incomplete scene by appearance, but it at least contains all of the needed elements - including optimized shaders, so this is our Construction Set save.
I have a PrimiVol torch flame with two spinning and flickering (opposed flicker) lights parented to a target helper in my browser. I load that in and place it at one of the torches and repeat for any more torches that I want flamed up and save as a new base scene. Then I adjust the sky and lighting for night and save over itself.
Now I use my night scene and duplicate things, replicate things and build up the village or keep or whatever until I have a nice, full scene and save as a new scene, then adjust the sky and lighting for day, remove all of the PrimiVol flame setups I added and save again as the Day version of the same scene.
For replicating the leaves (in the above process), I use the vertex modeler to create a flat oval and replicate all of the various leaves onto that and place it where I need it, duplicate it as many times as I need. For that we either have to fix the duplicated replicators (which will still place their leaves on the original plane) or create 'real' instances before duplication. For something like a bazillion leaves, I simply choose to fix the replicators. It's not hard. Just open the replicator, select the new proper plane, then add in the leaves that got duplicated along with that plane. Do this for each replicator. It takes a little time and patience, but it's plenty efficient.
For the PrimiVol flames, I begin with the PrimiVol flame effect itself, then add a target helper to the middle of it. I add a bulb light and scale it way down as to not be too obtrusive and give it a red-orange hue and a brightness of 35, distance of 10 or so, and move it off center from the flame/helper and parent it to the helper. I name the helper Lightspin because now is where I put a spin modifier on the helper. Next I duplicate the bulb and change it to yellowish and lower the brightness to 6 and the distance to 6 as well, then move it to the opposite side of the helper from the first bulb.
Go to the 10 second mark in the timeline (or whatever - I use 10) and slightly change the hue of the red-orange bulb and lower its brightness to 6, then make the yellow bulb a little more white and bring it up to brightness of 35.
Scroll down the sequencer to find those two new keyframes for the bulbs. I never begin my renders before the 1 second mark, so I copy the first key for each bulb a few spaces forward. This is so that for different copies, I can move these keys a bit along the timeline for differentiation.
Select the four keys for the bulbs - two for each, and change the tweener to noise or oscillate and set to your liking.
I take the whole works and parent them to a second target helper that I name "PrimiVol Torch Flames"
I've already done all of this for my preset that I store in my browser.
When I'm using more than one of these flames in my scene (there's quite a few flames needed for these scenes here) I drag in the first one and place it where it needs to go (I used the Align function all the time!) and then bring another fresh PrimiVol Torch Flame in from the browser and scroll down to the bulb keys, select them all and move them a bit in time. Then I go about placing that flame preset where it needs to go.
In a situation where we need to duplicate the sconce or torch or brazier or... we can use copy/paste on the flames preset to get more variants as we go - but more, we can make a bunch of them 'before' we duplicate the torch. Just put all of them on the same torch and give them each a letter or number so we can easily see different versions in the instances tray.
After duplicating the torches around the scene, select all of the flames but one and delete them. Perhaps even leave a few with more than one flame - just for kicks. This way, if we have a bunch of torches along the same side of town, all visible from the camera, we can make sure that those next to one another are different variants of flame. Just remember that, with a bit of a z-axis twist we can make the same flame set look entirely different in camera.
It should also be known that, sometimes I also select the keys of bulbs that I want to change a bit and, instead of (or in addition to) moving them along the timeline, I'll use the little switch in the upper left of the sequencer to reverse the keys or simply make changes to the tweener or both. Also, before saving my preset to the browser, I've made both tweeners different from one another. So they have an irregular flicker to work with their constant, regular spin. We can change the spin over time too if we want, but I just set the tweeners instead - and I like the effect.
Don't have PrimiVol?
Before using PrimiVol, I used the same technique with the bulbs on a bent plane showing a repeating stock footage video of flames in the glow channel. I used Howler to also make a good transparency map for the video and it made them look much better. If you can't make an alpha map, just copy the glow channel video to the alpha channel. Or maybe you can find stock footage of a flame that already has an alpha channel.
Have fun.
Just for the record, the reason I use a second target helper for the whole works (for my flames) is because I don't add the PrimiVol flames to the helper with Spin on it. So this way I have a full setup within a target helper object names PrimiVol Torch Flames, and as I duplicate (or copy/paste) I can give each new version a twist on the z axis, which makes it appear as an entirely different flame.
Changing the tweeners on the bulbs simply helps to sell the difference by making an entirely different effect on its immediate surroundings.
dont forget to test everything within the 30 days. cuz they won't care. 3 months too long for a store credit.
some of those hdri sets are mucho dark, don't work well.
you can lighten them up with the intensity slider if that helps ... I crank it up to 400+ on some of them
and also the use gamma correction in render settings can help out
thanks. i'll give the 400 a go.
it was this one https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-iray-hdri-environments--lost-grotto
looking again at the promos, it does show its dark. its my fault
you'll be able to crank that up no probs
anyone tried this?
seems like a lot can go wrong. but the door opens, lol
https://www.daz3d.com/pw-nirvana-space-station
i caved and got it, so i guess i'll find out the hard way. wary cuz of the rotor v experience. still dont have that set up. doh.
danger will robinson
loaded at the zoo ready to render. gave one of those nil pointer rrrors.
error box wouldnt close had to do a task manager out. lost whole scene
loading the 3du toon cow cowbell shuts down carrara like its loading a genesis 3 or 8
looked at the bell duf with dson editor.
it has a node called neckghost and the bell is parented to the neckghost.
i deleted the node for ghostneck and set the bell parent to #neck.
it loaded. and on the bright side, didnt need rigging conversion. cow doesnt seem to be weightmapped.
break into song, a tiiime for uuuss
https://www.daz3d.com/roman-cauldron-and-tripods instances
i used the model room to separate the basin and pedestal to 2 separate entities.
detached the skeleton from the lion leg. duplicated the leg twice. parented the 2 legs to the basin
spun the basin 120 degrees. reparented a leg to the pedestal. Spun the basin to 240 degrees. reparented leg 3 to the pdestal.
changed the jpg textures to carrara native metals.
Looks very nice!
Thanks.
there prolly a bunch more of these things in the DM's sets
you wouldn't even be able to instance the prop in DAZ studio because unlike Carrara replicators
YOU CANNOT INSTANCE PROPS ETC WITH NESTED INSTANCES!!!!
what a useless prop
hesitating on a SM set
hows https://www.daz3d.com/the-streets-of-venice in ca?
thanks.
need canals for the gondola
I don't have Streets of Venice, but I do have a LOT of Stonemason products and they're all quite wonderful to work with in Carrara.
The main thing, like most, is that we have to alter the shaders.
Many of the older ones just had a strange gloss to them and possibly too much bump. So just lowering or removing the highlight and turning down the bump would completely fix it for most purposes. Like everything else, the pickier we are the more we need to mess with shaders.
One thing I've always Loved about all of Stonemason's work is that it's always highly efficient.
BTW, did you get your Sacred Barge?
If not, it's in the BYOB right now, along with some others from that era.
I'm not stopping (it's a flying visit ...)
.. but thought if anyone had the same issue with not being able to export direct-x models out of carrara 8.5 on Windows 10 pro then downloading and installing GTK2 from https://gtk-win.sourceforge.io/home/index.php/Main/Downloads seems to have fixed the error?
Don't ask me how or why, I don't know, but I can now export direct-x .x models to my heart's delight ! I haven't tried importing them, but I'll leave that to you ...
Just popped in to share that with you if anyone's interested ?
Very cool info to know! Thanks for this!
thanks.
decided to take advantage of the sale on nightshift sets i've missed.
I have to play my drums until the fireworks start - then I'll try and see if Iray Worlds SkyDome and the expansion, Iray SkyDome Super PAK work in Carrara
I know the presets won't work, since they're Iray-specific - they set the environment, sky and render settings and such, but might be cool if I can get them in and use Carrara's sky to light them.
Wow. I clicked one of the preset scenes and it opened in an instant... Bam!
For the SkyBox:
Use only Color and Glow channels.
In Color, navigate Texture Map to Textures > Magix101 > Iray Worlds
Tweak to your liking. That's how I work out any skymap that I want to use as a light source. Normally I don't do that and just artistically create the appearance that I have.
I was rendering the final result of a really nice GI/IL image when I accidentally slipped on my keyboard... did some crazy key command that shut Carrara down dead :(
Here's the 10,000+ ft. diameter SkyDome in Carrara
the Star original figure for poser doesn't bend in carrara. i try to bend her shin, the whole leg like rotates and does the goo thing at the hip and foot
the models created for later versions of Poser don't work in Carrara.. from V12 or something like that cause trouble
This is a long thread, you need to read back
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/8916/buy-something-that-doesn-t-work-in-carrara-post-your-questions-and-workarounds-here-please/p20
like some other figures saving as a duf in the plugin DAZ studio works
guess that means i need duf versions of the clothes too.