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Carrara Monthly Challenge: Fabulous Prizes! VOTING NOW OPEN!

HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
edited June 2013 in Carrara Discussion

Well, it’s been a great month for our first ever Carrara Challenge “WELCOME TO MY GARDEN”.

An enormous thanks to everyone who entered, or participated in this WIP thread.
An an equally enormous thanks to our kind and generous sponsors DAZ and DARTANBECK.

And now it’s time for voting! Please feel free to vote IN THE VOTING THREAD:

LINK HERE: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23635/


ORIGINAL POST BELOW


Good-day.

In another thread Holly suggested we have a monthly challenge to stir things up in a kindly manner and create a sense of community spirit. And in another thread Kevin Saunderson suggested that Carrara's plant modeller is pretty hot. The general feeling seemed to be is that people just don't know how to use it properly.

So.... I'd like to suggest we start with a plant based challenge. The title of the challenge is

"WELCOME TO MY GARDEN".

AIM: to produce a great render of a garden made of plants either modelled in Carrara (mesh room, metaball room, spline room, hair room :) ), or produced in Carrara's plant room.

The second aim is to foster a feeling of community spirit where we help each other to become better Carrara users.

RULES - plants and rendering must be made in Carrara. If you use any premade objects etc for the non plant based parts of the scene please say what they were. Up to TWO entries can be made by each participant.

CRITIQUE: Feel free to post WIP's, give constructive critique or to ask for advice.

If you don't want critique please say in your image post.

Showing images before postwork and after postwork is encouraged but not necessary.

DATES: the challenge will end 17th JUNE. 2013


"WINNER" : as judged by open voting there will be First, Second and Third Place. An Honourable Mention will be chosen by Dartanbeck - one of our sponsors.

PRIZES As well as a $50 coupon (good on DAZ3D items only) the overall winner will win the Carrara EnviroKit - Woodlands

kindly donated by Dartanbeck! Thank you so much :) :)

You can read all about this new kit here : http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16465/

2nd Place will win a $30 coupon (good on DAZ3D items only )
3rd Place wins a $15 coupon (good on DAZ3D items only)

In addition the Honorable Mentioned will receive a $5 coupon code (good on DAZ3D items only)

These coupons were kindly donated by Daz and will be part of the prizes for each monthly challenge!

So thank you very much DAZ !

Also the 'winner' as judged by voting, also has the honour of hosting the next challenge. ;)

this is WIP THREAD,

the ENTRIES THREAD is UP :)

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23635/


Edited 18TH mAY to include hair room at Evil's suggestion
Edit 24th May to include Dartanbeck's Prize and to change rules to two entries.
Editt 24th May to include Daz's kind Prizes.

Post edited by Headwax on
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Comments

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,040
    edited December 1969

    You left out hair! ;-)

    Not a garden, but the trees are all Carrara plants. The cattails are a combination of the Spline Modeler and the Vertex Modeler. The velvet on the seed pods is hair.


    No post. No GI. Hand rolled light dome and realistic sky.

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited December 1969

    Ha ha Evil :) Left out hair :) Thanks for pointing that out!

    Great idea using hair for the cat tails.


    The other thing I like very much in this render is how you captured the water flow coming off the weir.
    And the atmosphere in the distance gives a sense of, well, atmosphere :)

  • ManStanManStan Posts: 0
    edited May 2013

    I don't know what was on my mind when I read it, but you know what I thought when I read Holly's monthly challenge lol

    The plant generator is quite robust. I've worked with it a bit, and have a general understanding of it. But it is pretty complex jut to try to set down and figure it out.

    Are you sure about Studio 2.9?


    Actually the only thing on my wish list at DAZ is animate 2 and the dynamic clothing control. :-)

    Post edited by ManStan on
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    ManStan said:
    I don't know what was on my mind when I read it, but you know what I thought when I read Holly's monthly challenge lol

    The plant generator is quite robust. I've worked with it a bit, and have a general understanding of it. But it is pretty complex jut to try to set down and figure it out.

    Are you sure about Studio 2.9?


    Actually the only thing on my wish list at DAZ is animate 2 and the dynamic clothing control. :-)

    it was a great version 2.9 !

    aniMate and DY cloth are so much fun to use in Carrara 8.5 ;-)

  • ManStanManStan Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    bigh said:
    ManStan said:
    I don't know what was on my mind when I read it, but you know what I thought when I read Holly's monthly challenge lol

    The plant generator is quite robust. I've worked with it a bit, and have a general understanding of it. But it is pretty complex jut to try to set down and figure it out.

    Are you sure about Studio 2.9?


    Actually the only thing on my wish list at DAZ is animate 2 and the dynamic clothing control. :-)

    it was a great version 2.9 !

    aniMate and DY cloth are so much fun to use in Carrara 8.5 ;-)

    How often have I said Studio is just a tool :cheese:

  • Design AcrobatDesign Acrobat Posts: 459
    edited December 1969

    Doubt the "modeling" contest will work out because the entries will inundated with Daz dolls and purchased props from Daz.

    just saying...

  • ManStanManStan Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I think this might be helpful ;)

    http://carraracafe.com/carrara-plant-generator-overview/

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited December 1969

    well so far my attempt at a rose looks more like a lettuce!

    Doc3.png
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  • ManStanManStan Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    wendy♥catz said:
    well so far my attempt at a rose looks more like a lettuce!

    So make salad ;)

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited December 1969

    getting there

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  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    wendy♥catz said:
    getting there

    maybe if you light it just right ;-)

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited May 2013

    new issue
    leaves and hotpoints
    unlike replicators there seems no logic but to set it in the middle of the x,y axis on the grid and about half as much below in modelling room
    very iffy hit and miss
    HELP ANDY!
    https://www.box.com/s/z7u2963watv6h6kekoxb
    or anyone else (you can keep and reuse the rose, unrestricted)

    edited to add, sorry EP C8.5 only

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    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited December 1969

    not an entry
    Roses and termite mounds

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  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,040
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    Ha ha Evil :) Left out hair :) Thanks for pointing that out!

    Great idea using hair for the cat tails.


    The other thing I like very much in this render is how you captured the water flow coming off the weir.
    And the atmosphere in the distance gives a sense of, well, atmosphere :)


    Thanks Headwax! Just one question: Where's the weir? Oh! You mean the damned dam! ;-)

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    1 tree

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  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited December 1969

    The potting shed.
    self-made carrara plant ,JT conservatory, Faveral Le village benches and planters

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited December 1969

    amazing stuff Wendy. I thought they were Herbal plants at first. ;)

    just a start from me, vertex room. textures for leaves from wiki.

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  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,792
    edited December 1969

    nice Banksias Andrew

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,040
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    amazing stuff Wendy. I thought they were Herbal plants at first. ;)

    just a start from me, vertex room. textures for leaves from wiki.

    ------


    Nice! Are you using hair for the fibers?

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited December 1969

    thanks Wendy and Evil :)

    Ahh, the fibre things are just a cylindrical mesh bent out of shape and expanded on the ends like a little bulb.
    Should have a go at hair though, eh?
    I went and took some pics of Banksia leaves today. Nothing like field research :)

  • 0oseven0oseven Posts: 626
    edited December 1969

    My first attempt at using the tree/plant editor which i found to be great fun. Just wanted to try something for the challenge.

    All trees and plants made by me. Clouds are a photo image taken from my back garden and castle from the "Castle Creator "
    I'm not real happy with the lighting but spent a lot of time on it until I got tired of " Spot Rendering " :sick:

    The only thing - wouldn't it be good to have these challenges hosted in the "cafe" ?

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited December 1969

    nice work 0oseven! Reminds me of a Scottish castle up in the mountains.
    Oh, if you'd like to make a monthly clannge on Carrara Cafe it's just a matter of picking up the ball and running with it.
    I started this to try and get a few more people posting and helping each other and get a bit of the sense of community we once had before the forums were changed.

    Now, I tried to get a simple banksia leaf onto the tree today, and got a nil point error.
    In the end I copied an existing leaf file and erased that and changed the info.txt file so Carrar would recognise it in the leaf menu.
    Still got a nil point error.
    So I put the original vertex object back in the car file, deleted mine, applied my texture to the old mesh, then delted a few verticie - now no more nil pointer error.
    I only did it this way because the banksi flower didn't show up on the tree when I tried to use it as a leaf.

    Any ideas? I guess I better read the manual :)

  • ncampncamp Posts: 345
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    nice work 0oseven! Reminds me of a Scottish castle up in the mountains.
    Oh, if you'd like to make a monthly clannge on Carrara Cafe it's just a matter of picking up the ball and running with it.
    I started this to try and get a few more people posting and helping each other and get a bit of the sense of community we once had before the forums were changed.

    Now, I tried to get a simple banksia leaf onto the tree today, and got a nil point error.
    In the end I copied an existing leaf file and erased that and changed the info.txt file so Carrar would recognise it in the leaf menu.
    Still got a nil point error.
    So I put the original vertex object back in the car file, deleted mine, applied my texture to the old mesh, then delted a few verticie - now no more nil pointer error.
    I only did it this way because the banksi flower didn't show up on the tree when I tried to use it as a leaf.

    Any ideas? I guess I better read the manual :)

    I was playing with making my own leaves today. All the manual says is the X axis is the length of the leaf, Y is the width, and Z indicates the top of the leaf. It automatically finds the origin point of the leaf.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited May 2013

    thanks ncamp :) I have no idea why it didn't work, should be simple as!

    this is just a wip

    yesterday I modeled some grass and decided to replicate it massively and use it to render a texture and a normal map.
    well didn't work until I made real instances of it!

    used both to make tileable textures for the grass.

    the normal map did a reasonable job on the lawn (there are scattered mesh grasses in the foreground but probably not necessary)

    everything here are carrara made meshes,

    except the fence is content - havn't got around to that yet :)

    sky is a holding place pic, the texture under the grass texture (bottom pic) is a lisab ground texture.

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    Post edited by Headwax on
  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Waah!!! Amazing thread! I have to go make a plant now...

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,193
    edited December 1969

    Wow, Head Wax... this is a great thread! Must have started just as I was leaving.... very cool!
    Too may words to absorb in my confused mind today. I will soak some in until I eventually get caught up, though. Wendy and Bond, James Bond have put forth some cool pictures, as have you, and there must be at least another page. Will be checking through the whole thing when I can.

    I think that Carrara is amazing on how its plant editor allows us to form art. Daz3d has been adding some great new features, too. Don't forget, all, that Carrara's plant shaders are also a great source of learning and tweaking and have the ability to really finish off your plant to make it your own.

    Wow... cool thread!

  • 0oseven0oseven Posts: 626
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    nice work 0oseven! Reminds me of a Scottish castle up in the mountains.

    there are mauve / purple bushes in the picture meant to be heather - they are not showing up well on my notebook viewing this thread.
    but at least you guessed Scotland :-)

    Oh, if you'd like to make a monthly clannge on Carrara Cafe it's just a matter of picking up the ball and running with it.
    I started this to try and get a few more people posting and helping each other and get a bit of the sense of community we once had before the forums were changed.

    And thanks for that ! The challenges are a terrific way of encouraging people to try out things. I really learn a lot when the details of how/what/and why are given with the image. Knowing how it was done is important even if I dont understand evrything - eg your leaf problem and solution !!

    I just felt that Cafe needs some more support especially as some people have been putting in effort to improve it.So maybe there is a monthly challenge there with a post in this forum to get people to link to it.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,922
    edited December 1969

    Hey Holly, Dart and Ooseven! Thanks so much for getting behind this. it could be the start of better things if people pick up the ball.
    !

    Ooseeven, a challenge on Carra cafe sounds grande. Count me in. Just let us know when and what!

    This is something from the Garden of Abdul Gazisa

    :) Just replicators on a mesh with a plant in the middle for flavour

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  • wetcircuitwetcircuit Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I haven't had a play in the "new" plant room (was that C7? :red: ) I don't know if it runs faster now or if my computer is much faster, but this is awesome! Very nearly live updates in the preview...

  • VarselVarsel Posts: 574
    edited December 1969

    This is a fun challenge.
    So I've started some experimenting with a crocked tree...

    Yet more to add....

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