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To change units, you need to go out to the Assemble room, select Scene at the top of the instances tab, and then go to the interface tab at the top. There's no way to change units from inside the vertex modeller (sometimes I wonder whether the original designers of the program ever actually used it in anger . . . some of their UI choices are extremely inefficient!)
Thanks Tim,.. I knew you mentioned it before but I was in too big of a hurry to find out were. I mentioned improving options in User Prefs in my Carrara Needs and Wants thread.
Just found out that once a Small scene is selected... Carrara opens a Small scene when loading empty scene on startup is set.
My Veggi Crate - The Uprights: Ran into problems trying to make from a cube yesterday. After thinking of a few different was to approach my next try I decided on drawing a triangular template... first turning Snap to grid on I used a default Polyline tool drawing the 2 out facing lines then and connected back to start. To make it a quad I Subdivided the inside of it's side, the long one. Next was simply extruding it. I used Extract Along for all the side polys. The hardest part was positioning the first upright... all others I duplicated, rotated on Zed axis...they only needed careful positioning on one side each. Ohh I also added 4 more shading domains for the uprights.
Now to add the nails.
I use fillet or quick fillet to chamfer the edges, but otherwise the crates I've made are pretty much the same. UV map the first one before you duplicate it. then all you need to do is adjust the proportions on the others. Pay attention to the orientation of the maps - wood grain goes along the long side, and you may want to add lettering or a logo, so make sure the outside faces are the "right" way up.
"UV Map before Duplicate" - good advice, I've fallen foul of that one more than once!
Aaak! I've let it gotten away from me without UV Mapping first one.
I was thinking that naming the domains ahead of time would let me specify which direction wood grain goes on each domain. I'm planning on using procedurals for all textures... but might render out a texture map for one end and place it on a plane for a label... might also create two additional ones for a side... for a burnt in look for Genessco and Farms... could do on a white backdrop or background so could make transparent for alpha... maybe a bump version also... depends on how fast and quickly I can get all done.
Currently duplicating/placing the nails, nearly done... which all have same domain shader... sorta blackish or mix of dark/lite metal. -- Now have they are finished... had to shorten most of them since some were poking through the uprights. An important thing which I skipped is dividing the nails up into named groups, poly meshes or polygons... would have saved a lot of time when rotating and positioning.
Thanks Tim and Phil. I understand that in a UV Map the top should be up... what I don't understand is how a top or bottom face should point in UV view... since the entire face is facing up or down. If I need to start over there are only 4 objects which are repeated... it shouldn't take too long to duplicate again after UV Mapping... which is what I would spend most time on.
When UV mapping, go with the grain. Simple as that. If you use a horizontal wood texture, then all your long edges should be horizontal and all your short edges should be vertical. Then where you can, make things face the same way - right side on the right etc. Not only does this help with continuity over the texture, but if you're using normal maps for height info, they can be direction sensitive, and you don't want one face where your ins are out & vice versa.
Ultimately it doesn't matter that much -- you can orient the map to fit the texture, or orient the texture to fit the map. So long as you're consistent.
Procedurals in Carrara often ignore the UV map (which is no excuse not to have one), and in so doing produce results which, personally, I don't like.
Explained perfectly... Thanks Tim. I'm picturing, in a map to have the top long narrow edge first... then outside long edge below it... followed by narrow bottom edge... finally the inside long edge all horizontal and all ends facing same way. Glad you mentioned the sides... would have one next to right side and other at left side... hmm... that would make most sense to me to show which end they are associated with.
I'd meant to ask how you treat a bevel... I suspect that it could be positioned either direction depending on if it is a side or top bevel... AFAIK it should have a separate shading domain also since it will differ slightly from both a side or an end. Hmm... expect that the same applies to corners since they are slightly different than either direction bevel.
Yes... consistently is the key. Might be good to orient textures but as you say it don't matter... just as long as UV and Textures are the same for each file... no time to play mix-em up, from one model to the next,... keep doing one or the other the same for each model or model part.
I've been a fan of procedurals since the '90s... But I understand perfectly you're using texture maps since DS products use them. I used both in Imagine 3D which was very good for it's time, Carrara and newer modeling programs are a lot better of course. I am a poor excuse for a modeler since I've put off UV mapping for so long... only playing with the methods and not starting to use UV Mapping all the time nor saving any permanently.
One thing I could do is look at some of your Carrara models to check out your method of UV Mapping... perhaps even some other PA items I have for comparison... even some DS items.
UV mapping is as much an art as a science and there are many possible ways to map even a relatively simple shape, so looking at a few examples is good. It can also be a bit of a pain, but a necessary evil! I'm sure that you will find your way of doing it.
Posting a simple model. Here is a book/Magazine figure. It is a rather hi poly mesh for a book because I want to have the covers to be capable of posing similar to a magazine and I want the pages bending in the middle or near the spine or both at the same time, but in opposite directions. I rigged it in Poser just because I hadn't rigged anything there in a while and the result still works in Carrara. The pages and covers overlap 100% on the uvmap, but can load different images on each.
As always, suggestions welcome.
Nice job.
Crazy John's Objects - The Veggie Crate - continued: After a quick and easy fix to the upright object... I blundered on yesterday wanting to get it added to my Entry in Carrara Challenge 33. After trying with a few shader settings it was taking me too long... so I opened up Filter Forge to check out it's wood grain settings... what you see in the pic is what I came up with. I'm somewhat happy with how it turned out for the sides, inner/outer,... not the bottom sides which are acting strange as are the edges, tops, bottoms. Working under a crunch they were good enough since the bottom is not not seen 'cept for the ends... and the thin edges with be viewed at an angle and not too noticeable... but I can see all the mistakes I made. Oh all the ends are not a tmap but a procedural mixing and blending multiple color settings... should have added a bit of highlight colors to look like newer or less darkness. Aaak can't worry about that now the clock is ticking. The nails also use 2 colors blended.
Now that the crate is okay looking, well so-so, time to load it into my earlier entry... put some tomatoes in it and add some text to 1 side of crate. Oh NOooooo... forgot to install the tomatoes from ShareCG... first I shut down Carrara while doing so... they are Poser format files which is fine... Done.... now crank up the scene again, takes awhile to load, biting my lip I check the clock... still time but gotsa rush. OK... first the text is added to the side... added a simple single color... don't' look that great but must press on. I load up a tomato, thankfully I installed the files for it correctly, and move it into crate... then duplicate it a few times for the side that will show... next a top row, also need to rotate the top ones a bit to look random... gosh really should resize these to fit in crate better but must press on... also add light to shine on them so they don't look blahhh. Quickly I rush to the render room and crank out a new render... I glance at the clock while waiting for upload requester then the file goes up to replace the previous version.
Cool... got it done. Might not be my best overall work but it's entered... now I can sit an look at what to change to make it better... answer is nearly everything that I worked on yesterday when in such a rush... I'd been meaning to downsize the crate's upright diameter a bit, been bothering me from the start. Then hopefully take a bit of time to adequately learn UV Mapping.
Looking good. RE: the shaders that you are dealing with. Couple of thoughts. First, do you have different shader domains for the bottom and sides? If so, you may be able to adjust the wood grain scales for the x, y, and z axis to adapt to the difference in the shape of the bottom compared to the sides. Alternatively, you can edit your uvmap so that the dimensions of the sides better match the dimensions of the bottom. Others may have simpler suggestions, but that is what came to my mind.
I've been testing my book/magazine model in other software. Recall, I modeled in Carrara then rigged it as a Poser CR2 saved to a runtime\character folder. It loads natively in Carrara from the browser tray. It also loads natively from the content library in Studio as a Poser format file. Here are a couple of Studio renders. The first shows how the magazine can have all of its covers and pages bend in opposite directions (wavy). The second shows the book closed.
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And here is a Bryce render of the book/magazine closed. The Bryce render is of high enough quality that you can see the uvmap template peeking around the edges of the pic of the Carrara 5 Pro Handbook image that I threw on there. Good for Bryce.
My book/magazine model is rigged so that it can be open/closed or pages bent in an animation. I saw that Maclean (whose products I love) recently released a product of a book collection. Does anyone know if the list of books on the product page as DUFs are only separate static objects? Or, can they be posed to open/close? Morphs of a single object? Pose files? A problem with using morphs can be getting a rotation for a page rather than a squishing. I checked the first couple pages of the commercial product forum but did not see a thread.
https://www.daz3d.com/everyday-books
I don't have it but looked at the product promos and read everything. Nowhere does it say anything about pages turning... most morphs seem to be for positioning etc. books look to have only open or closed option... no page turning mentioned. Looks like a nice set for bookshelves or tables. Don't get your hopes up. :)
I looked at those as well.... a good looking handy set... but passing at the moment with our $ being the way it is.
@Diomede your book is coming along nicely..
Curious as to how to get a better looking page morph... I started with the default 2d grid in a Small scene. I've not actually morped it yet but was playing with soft select... the outer part, left side in pic, uses rotation. I then selected all polylines on both sides in the center. This only produced a sharp corner bend even with soft select on... so instead I looped all vertical polys and simply use the move tool to get the bend shown. Oh... the page is 14mm thick... the other page is there only to show a different view. The high poly count is because I used Tessalate-MidEdgeToMidEdge. I'd instead started with Extract Around which keeps the polycount down around half of that when just wanting virtical bends... getting lazy I then wanted more so just used Tessalate to give me more to work with.
It just occured to me that for the inside actual bend of the page, like when folding to another, that the bound part of page might need to be stable in it's position. I've not yet found the correct poly loop to choose any settings to get a nice curved look for the page like an open book has... I suspect that both move and rotate might need to be used... probably a few diff settings for soft select to get the page to lay properly onto the one beneath.
Thanks for bringing this up... I've thought about it from time to time but done nothing.
Thanks for the comments, wgdjohn. I have started a new version of the animatable book in my "no asked me" thread. This next version will be rigged in Studio and saved to DUF. Two things in this version should help make it more smooth. The new version has a more dense mesh so there can be more bones per page (now up to 10), and I will remember to enable subD during the figure setup mode. The pages turn through rigging, not through morphs. But, morhs can be added to make the pages seem less rigid. When I finish and get it cleaned up, I will post the mesh with a few notes here.
Bones is defeinitely the way to go for page turns, morphs would look very odd - a morph will simply define a start and end point for each point in the mesh, so if you had a morph that turns a page from flat on the right to flat on the left, when you used the morph the page would shrink to the middle and then expand on the other side, rather than performing a semi circle arc that you actually want! Bones will do it properly. I would use 2-3 bones per page so that the page can bend as it turns.
Agree 100%, Phil. The Poser CR2 version that is pictured above has 5 bones per page. The Studio DUF version that I am working on right now has 10 bones per page. I think it is sort of like modeling a garden hose or string in that ideally it should be able to bend at any point, and in different directions in different places.
You both have convinced me that bones is the way to go... especially after I think about it more. I was thinking of 2 morphs per page... an open to right side and vice versa. Bones should allow this to be done all in one motion and likely with a lot less work than adding morphs only. [<-- edited to correct spelling and make sense]
Gotta run... must see what Diomede was so busy uploading last night. :)
OK, so here is where the poseable book project stands. I did a new model with square covers and pages. I was able to load and rig it in Studio and save to a custom project folder as a duf (figure/prop asset saved from Studio). I then loaded the duf in Carrara natively from the Studio project folder. I posed and rendered.
Question - how do I check to see if the project folder that I created has everything for distribution as a freebie?
Another minor hiccup. While playing around in Carrara, I noticed that the rigged book has a "root" bone with origin 0, 0 0. While the book can still be animated, etc., the root feature changes the centerpoint of the figure as a whole for things like rotation and scaling. I must have missed a step or done an extra step in the Studio rigging process.
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test of concept : can we share our own rigged "content" in a car file.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q3ad9gv3hn9l2du/Sci-Fi_Suit for G2.zip?dl=0
Could someone please try loading these onto Genesis 2 in Carrara
They're basically modelled and rigged conforming clothes (made in Carrara,. rigged in DS (transfer utility) ,. then saved as Carrara objects
I just want to see if there's any errors,. or missing things,. hopefully not.
there's no texture maps,. just simple shaders,. although most of it should be UV mapped enough for texturing.
thanks :)
3DAGE - no problem - the files downloaded, installed, and worked in Carrara.
Here is a quick test render with a background that I found on the web and have no rights to. No errors. I assume no missing things, but of course I don't know everything that should be there. Excellent content, as always.
Thank you Diomede :)
good to know we can create conforming content using the transfer utility in DS ,. then load into carrara and save as .car files
now i just need to make better outfits :)
I had some time to return to my armoured car project in the last day or so.
The full chassis is now finished at last. Some of the linkages will be attached to levers by the drivers side.
Although I started a fully detailed interior, there is so much to put in there and in the turret that I can't see that part of the model being taken much further - it will all be inside and out of view. For the sake of learning, which is what this is all about, I should make an effort, though. The number of parts runs into hundreds already.
Marcus,... Looking Good! As long as the interior will never be seen I'd only model it for experience like you said... I'd concentrate on thing(s) not familiar with or how to approach the modeling of them first. IMO, the only interior parts needing modeling might be anything which is on both the interior/exterior... even then you only need to model the exterior part. Think of the interior as an Optional/Add-On for the model.