Modeling Objects in Carrara - Q&A - Come One and All

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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    You can achieve something similar - and maybe easier - by inserting the grid object in the vertex editor and setting the "Object Definition" to 6 in your case, which gives 5 rows of polys in each direction (it probably helps to sketch out a plan of your wall so that you know the maximum number of polys to go for in each direction). If I understood your plan, you need 5 horizontally and 4 vertically.  Rotate the wall upright using shift-rotate to constrain the rotations to 45 degrees (or whatever you have set in your preferences). Delete the top row of polys and then select the vertical and horizonal lines by double clicking and move them to get the plan you want - as with your method, using grid can help. The resulting mesh is the same as the one you created, but I think my method is a little simpler.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125

    But then you wouldn't show how to use the ruled surfaces tool!  wink​  I'm not sure which is easier, duplicating and moving?  Selecting and moving?  It is pretty close.  I think the ruled surface tool gains in relative usefulness as the wall becomes more complicated. For example, if the wall was not straight.  But the main point is that there is more than one way to do something in Carrara. 

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Yes, good to have both methods and then you can choose which you feel comfortable with, or which suits your project better.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    I have a rigged Collada file that opens fine in Carrara but I can't figure out how to transfer it to Daz without it ending up all exploded.

    Any tips?

    Although it might be a loss, because the rigging is distorting the figure in Carrara, just not as bad -- it's all deformed until I remove the rigging and then it looks like it should. I might have to just suck it up and rig it myself, if I want to use it.

    I really should have started with inorganic stuff before jumping straight to critters. Heh.

     

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125

    Where does the rigging originate? 

    Is it a third party model in Collada format that you have tried bringing into both Studio and Carrara, but the Studio version explodes?

    Is it a custom model that you made and rigged in Carrara, converted to collada, and then tried to export to Studio?

    Is it a model rigged in Studio, exported in collada format, then imported to both Carrara and Studio?

    WendyCats probably has the most experience in transferring rigging between Carrara and other programs, but I know that MistyMist and some others have been experimentng with rigs since the G3 figures came out.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963
    edited January 2017

    Third party model in Collada format (specifically, an export from Spore), Studio version explodes.

    It opens as two objects: skin, and a separate rigged skeleton.

     

    Post edited by Oso3D on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125

    This is an example of how we need a better forum search function.  I'm pretty sure that there have been several threads discussing similar issues.  Not easy to find, though.  Hopefully one of the cross-platform experts will happen along soon.  Unfortunately, several are not on US time.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963
    edited January 2017

    Ok, a different one... is there a way to 'bake' a pose into a model so it can be exported as an obj that has that pose? When I export as obj, the model reverts to no-pose/unrigged format.

    (I figure that, at worst, I can pose in Carrara then export it to Daz, maybe)

     

    Post edited by Oso3D on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    diomede said:

    wgdjohn, I think we were writing at the same time.  Your link to the Maya tutorial for a hand did not appear.  Thanks for the shout out for Brash.

    The Maya hand modeling tutorial is Fast and efficient 3D modeling tutorial for the human hand.  I realized I'd neglected to add it... that will teach me to not shut down the computer when I'm falling asleep. blush

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 7,995

    Ok, a different one... is there a way to 'bake' a pose into a model so it can be exported as an obj that has that pose? When I export as obj, the model reverts to no-pose/unrigged format.

    (I figure that, at worst, I can pose in Carrara then export it to Daz, maybe)

     

    When you export objects make sure with morphs and skinning is selected.. yes

     

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  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235
    edited January 2017

    Here is my version of Dalek. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_rPGAzbM_bxQ0dCRVZ3SVlTRk0

    no restrictions

    Dalek.png
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    Post edited by Vyusur on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    I've seen more accurate models to be honest!! wink

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    smileyyes

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    The Snowman:  My first go at modeling a figure... made many mistakes and learned a lot with this.  A big mistake, IMO, is making the buttons for eyes etc, the arms and nose as separate polymeshes which cased problems when scaling... I had to reposition them.  I later had a problem with the hat since it was made from the path I drew to Lathe with... I should not have had an inner and outer of the sides/top which made it a bit hard, more work, for morphing.  The pics show how I went about this. Along with a test render and also the version that I entered in the "It's Raining Men" contest which I found that the Snowman needed 2 legs... which I did add without adding too many more polys.

    SnowmanMOF_wire.png
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    SnowmanMOF_2.png
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    SnowmanMOF_2smoo.png
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    SnowmanMOF_Arms.png
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    SnowmanMOF_NoseWire.png
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    SnowmanMOF_Nose.png
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    SnowmanMOF_HatWire.png
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    SnowmanMOF_Hat.png
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    HowiesSnowSceneWSnowman02e.png
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  • diomede said:

     

    You can use the Transfer Utility (Edit->Object) in Studio to update the geometry without losing the rigging. Doesn't always work, but 7 times out of 10 . . . Saved me an awful lot of re-rigging! No matter how much you think your mesh is finished, there's always SOMETHING you need to fix at the last minute!

    Thanks!  I hadn't event thought of that.

     

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235
    edited January 2017
    diomede said:

    I don't know that you have to, but I would recommend that you get your model the way you want it before bothering to rig it.  During uvmapping and texturing, you may discover that you might want to make a few changes to the mesh, including adding or eleting polygons.  If so, you don't want to lose any rigging information that you had worked on.

     

    I agree wholeheartedly.

    I ran across this when doing my shipping container in blender.  I finished rigging in Daz and realized I had missed something in the UV mapping.  Had to go back, remap, re-export, and re-rig.  Not the end of the world, but still a pain.

    You can use the Transfer Utility (Edit->Object) in Studio to update the geometry without losing the rigging. Doesn't always work, but 7 times out of 10 . . . Saved me an awful lot of re-rigging! No matter how much you think your mesh is finished, there's always SOMETHING you need to fix at the last minute!

     

    Thank you, @TangoAlpha, for brilliant advice. I had to update the geometry of my new geograft a couple of times. However, Carrara spoiled my UVs and all my efforts to repair them with texture painting were in vain. I know that I have to create a new layer for texture painting but don't know where.

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    Post edited by Vyusur on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125

    Vyusur, I love that render. Regarding the geograft, I would normally have said that it is a feature that does not work in Carrara at all.  For the minotaur's legs, I had experimented with remapping, covering with hair, and a few other ideas and had pretty much given up.  Fortunately, Misty is more perseverent than I am.  In her Thoughts thread, she discusses a method to edit the files and allow a geografted support asset to work in Carrara. I think she got geograft to work here.   http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1965801/#Comment_1965801

     

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    Thank you very much, Diomede! I glad that you like my render. And thank you for explanation and advices. I will explore Misty's thread.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited January 2017

    Experiment:  In Search of Looping a Square - I've tried so many ways I'm going a bit more loopy than normal.

    Note that in both examples I use Dynamic Extrusion.

    Square base object at left... The bottom square is not loop able while any extruded polyline is. Before starting I'd tried looping just an empty square poly as well as a square I drew with the polyline tool, No Luck,... so I Subdivided the empty 2d square poly giving me vertices in between each corner, Still Not Loop able.  I also tried this with a 4 pointed circle... No Luck there either.

    Here is where I decide to give Dynamic Extrude a try.  As you can see I extruded it a few times with good luck since all the extruded polylines are now able to loop.  Problem is that the bottom poly is filled and not able to loop... easy... just empty it's poly(s) and it will now be able to loop.  The same is true if the top is filled... it becomes unable to loop.

    Getting even Loopier myself I wander on to see how a circle of polylines will work. Having already tried a circle with 4 vertices I then tried one with 5 vertices... it acted the same whether filled or empty.  Next I tried 6 vertices... Aha! Finally success... all polyline circles are loop able even if either or both ends are filled once Dynamic Extrusion is used... shown at right side of pic below is an 8 sided polyline with extrusion and only the top filled.

    Looping.png
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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    Is there a way to take a detailed model and 'bake' displacement and/or normals for a less detailed model in Carrara?

     

  • DesertDudeDesertDude Posts: 1,235

    Is there a way to take a detailed model and 'bake' displacement and/or normals for a less detailed model in Carrara?

    you might like to take a look at inagoni's Baker plugin. I have it and have used to bake normals.
    http://www.inagoni.com/?page_id=431

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Will,  Baker also comes with Advance Pack by inagoni available here at DAZ.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    I tried playing around with Displacement map and 3D paint in Carrara and it wasn't as hard as I had feared. Opened up morphed version of figure, painted in the Color channel with black and white, and, once saved, blurred the result and used it in Displacement in Daz, and it came out pretty decent (considering I had painted for maybe only 15 mins, tops.)

    First image is the also quickie morph I made (most of the time was learning how to make the MF$(%&@ing morph loader work right), without the displacement, then the second has the displacement added.

     

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    Morphtest1b.png
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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    With UV Mapping, is there a way to SERIOUSLY even out the mesh automatically? I have it mostly unwrapped, but some parts of it have really concentrated bundles of polygons that 'relax UV' just can't spread nicely.

     

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    "Relax UV" is really the only tool that Carara provides to do that automatically, so you might have to try to do it manually - select the concentrated area and scale it up (while adjusting the areas around to avoid overlaps or creating issues in other areas).

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Is there a way to take a detailed model and 'bake' displacement and/or normals for a less detailed model in Carrara?

     

    Not that I know of.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    You need to define Seams for the different areas of your model./ or break those down into separate Shading domains,. (eg: Limbs,. Head,. Torso)

    Have you tried someting simple like Box mapping the body,. and cylindrical mapping the limbs ?

  • Is there a way to take a detailed model and 'bake' displacement and/or normals for a less detailed model in Carrara?

     

    I can't speak for Carrara, but Surface Painter will let you do that.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    If money situation improves I'll try Substance Painter (I assume that's what you meant), but it's going to be a while.

    3DAGE: I have it unwrapped pretty well, and I box mapped and extruded limbs. It's worked out well (despite some weird Carrara 'nah, we decided to make that seam vanish' stuff), it's just... the meshes are a bit uneven in the UV map.

    The tail, for example, has an incredibly dense bit where the tailtip is. I can possibly live with it, but... eh. The top bit, which is the top of the body, has lots of coverage for the back (to the left), but incredibly dense for the top front of the body (toward the right)

    Crawler1 UVMap.png
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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,963

    Although $20/month until you have enough to pay for a full license is a REALLY nice deal. Mmm.

     

     

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