Ten Years After - The Making of Dartanbeck.com

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026

    When I use a Daz3D human in Carrara to make projects for the Challenges or similar, I tend to use either the genesis 2 figures or one of 3DUniverse's toons (like Gramps) for adults.  I tend to use VYusur's custom figures Leon and Teena for children.  I still use my custom Brash and Moxie figures for that project.  I'm still not doing animations in any serious way, I have had no need to import motion files.  Animation is just one of many topics that I should explore.  

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Mindsong sent me this video a few days ago. Freaking Mind-Blowing!!!

    (I'm not striving for anything even close to this uncanny!)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Tests with Rosie 5.5 continue, and I'm having a real ball with her!

    It's a lot easier to 'break' the hair compared to Rosie 5's Carrara hair, which has enormous control over everything except consistency - whereas this new dForce hair is Very consistent as long as I don't break it! LOL

    Mindsong continues to teach me all manner of techniques with VWD, which is a real blast! 

    Bust animating, simulating and rendering. Will show results when I get enough of these test renders completed to put something together.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    i still using gn1

    trying to find a roughness procedural to add to my gn1 charaters.  the noise pattern doesnt really give the look 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Mystiarra said:

    i still using gn1

    trying to find a roughness procedural to add to my gn1 charaters.  the noise pattern doesnt really give the look 

    I'm really enjoying the flexibility I get using Genesis 1, and keep finding more and more ways to love using this amazing figure.

    As for procedural shaders, maybe have a look at the ones eveilproducer made for V4, V3 and A3. The V4 ones would certainly work on Genesis 1 I'd imagine. I'm not one to use procedurals on animated figures, so I haven't even tried them yet. That's embarrasing! One day here, for sure! I love evilproducer's work!

    Evilproducer's downloads at ShareCG

    Also check out Indigone's V4 Skin Shader Kit and Lights - not only are the shaders excellent (and work on any figure), but the included manual is an excellent tutorial! She also has Endless Eye Kit for V4

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited February 2021

    The madness/goodness continues!

    Rosie gave me the gift of Daz 3D for my birthday (today) and I got some fun stuff to play with!

    Sickle Yield's Genesis 8 Clone for Genesis 3 - this let's me use the transfer utility to convert clothes from Genesis 8 to Genesis 3, which I save and can then use the transfer utility on those to convert them to Genesis 1 via the Genesis 3 for Genesis 1 clone I bought from her before.

    Tip: When I use that transfer utility or auto-fit to Genesis 1, I choose the Bodysuit > Loose option, which adds a General Volume slider to the clothing. Although I don't always need to use it, it's very handy to have added to the clothing, and it's amazing how many clothing items don't already have that built in.

    Stonemason's Sci Fi Kit 2016 - Finally! Yikes, I'm amazed that I didn't already own this thing!

    Another pile of aniBlock products

    Character Convertor from Genesis 8 Females to Genesis 3 Females - doesn't exactly (in my current experience) work for my original intention, but it's an incredible tool!

    Content Package Assist - so that when I make more products (freebies), I can package them up to work using DIM. Very excited to have this thing.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026

    Dartanbeck said:

    The madness/goodness continues!

    Rosie gave me the gift of Daz 3D for my birthday (today) and I got some fun stuff to play with!

    Sickle Yield's Genesis 8 Clone for Genesis 3 - this let's me use the transfer utility to convert clothes from Genesis 8 to Genesis 3, which I save and can then use the transfer utility on those to convert them to Genesis 1 via the Genesis 3 for Genesis 1 clone I bought from her before.

    Tip: When I use that transfer utility or auto-fit to Genesis 1, I choose the Bodysuit > Loose option, which adds a General Volume slider to the clothing. Although I don't always need to use it, it's very handy to have added to the clothing, and it's amazing how many clothing items don't already have that built in.

    Stonemason's Sci Fi Kit 2016 - Finally! Yikes, I'm amazed that I didn't already own this thing!

    Another pile of aniBlock products

    Character Convertor from Genesis 8 Females to Genesis 3 Females - doesn't exactly (in my current experience) work for my original intention, but it's an incredible tool!

    Content Package Assist - so that when I make more products (freebies), I can package them up to work using DIM. Very excited to have this thing.

    Happy birthday!  Hope it is great.

    Congrats on the goodies.  Hope you make excellent use of them all.  You might consider making some of your Rosie-Adventure goodies (props, etc) compatible with Daz Studio and use content package assist to become a PA again.  Just something to think about.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Almost like you've read my mind! :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Although I really like the results I've been getting from Daz Studio with that dForce Classic Long and Curly Hair, my current thoughts are to get back to the way I wanted to do things, and just get back into my Carrara workflow, and using Daz Studio as my assistant rather than the render tool.

     

    I also really like my Carrara dynamic hair, even though with its length and fullness it's really hard to control - I might just go with it anyway as part of what makes Rosie Rosie, or I may opt for something altogether different. 

     

    So my next workflow will begin with trying different methods of making hair for Rosie, along with some other non-Rosie animations/renders that are dying to be completed and wiped off my to-do list. But a big part of me just wants to keep using that crazy dynamic hair that I started for Rosie 5.

     

    I really like how I can custom edit my data folder to contain only the morphs that I want a final character to have when working with Carrara. After my character is complete, I can simply put all of the data back and have full access to all morphs, while the Carrara saved character will only keep what I've given them. This is not something that I can do in DS.

     

    I realize that my Daz Studio journey has been very short compared to my years in Carrara, but it still feels to me that Carrara is more stable, can do a Lot more stuff, is a vastly superior animation studio, has a much more user-friendly shader and render system and is just all around a Lot more Fun to be in.

     

    I recently got a comment on one of my YouTube videos (can't seem to find it) stating that Carrara is clunky and old or something like that. That's fine for those who really feel that way - to each their own, I say. I'm just saying that "I" like Carrara better than any other workflow I've tried so far.

     

    I'm discovering Blender right now, and I like it - I do. But for what I Really want to do, Carrara is still the perfect thing - I just love it.

     

    Please, Daz 3D... Please keep Carrara Alive! I'd be happy if all you did was to keep it updated to work as modern operating systems change without even adding anything else - but I know you folks better than that! But I truly would be happy just knowing that Carrara will keep on working!

     

    It makes me want to buy up hardware to keep in storage so that I can Always have a machine build that works with my current OS - one that I know works with Carrara!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    i luving the character building tutts.

    sometimes, i think i procrastinate too much on details.  

    building distinct personalities.  like making character specific expression sets.
    or like, give one character a little llimp from an old injury.  a pet peeve.
    a fashion style.  thinkin ahead to what to the cosplayers could imitate in real life.angel

    and then keeping track of em all.  nothing worse than coming back to a character a year later and have no memory of what asset used to hake him/her

    pdf? spreadsheets?  thinkin mebbe a personal private wiki
    the last couple weeks, i been trying to think like a casting director.  leading men, ladies, supporting cast.
    thinkin on some of the categories they give oscar awards and golden globes

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited April 2021

    What I find helpful is a simple thing - a set of named folders.

    I'll have the main folder for the character, then within I'll have various other folders that relate to different versions of the character, like different costume setups but it's more than that.

     

    Instead of a separate folder for each costume, it's more like a different folder for the type of location or portion of the story. Then within that main folder is where I'll store the various costumes for that aspect that have already been optimised for how I want it for that character path. I'll also include props, hair, etc., as well as the main Character Light Rig that I use for this path.

     

    Within each such folder, I also have a folder called "Anim", which is where I store animated versions of the character for that path. This is so that I can use the Batch Queue and always know where to find what I'm looking for. My sequenced image folder for each animation carries the same name as the file saved in that Anim folder. Another benefit of this is that I can also use that saved animation using a different costume/scene setup for another path, and then save that within it's own path structure.

     

    This can build up some data, but it's worth it to me. Some time after I'm all done with them, I catalog them into a different storage drive to free space and reduce clutter.

     

    An example of why this works so well:

    Let's say that I am woring on a specific animation for a cyber-city adventure scene. The lighting will be in motion and more colorful than something made for a dungeon setting, so I set up the whole Anim file appropriately and save it in the path folder that I made for the Cyber-city adventure. Now I decide that I also wanted that animation (with hair simulation, etc.,) for another path - like an underworld scene set in a cave. I delete the colorful lights and the cyber-style costume. Go to the underworld path folder and load in the right costume and light rig, set the cameras, FX and background image to the right one and save this new version under the Anim folder within the Underworld folder.

    Now keep in mind that these are so far only talking about the actual characters, not the scenes. I store the scenes separately much in the same style of folder structures. 

     

    Here's how that works: 

    I open the character Anim scene first and make sure it's good to go for what I want to render. Then I go to the scene that I made the animation for and drag that into the same scene. Then I insert a Target Helper Object and place it in the scenery where I want to center that character at the first frame or frame zero and drag the whole scenery scene into that target helper object. Insert a fresh target helper and center it at floor level on the character - this is often at 0,0,0 since that's how I like to set things up, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way - no big deal as the workflow is the same. Now I align the target helper with the scene in it to the one centered on the character and rotate it to my liking until it works with my intended vision.

    Since I build lighting for my scenes and save that with my scene files, I'm almost always ready to render at this point but it's also not uncommon for me to want to add a bit of this and a touch of that.

     

    Anyway, working like this has a tendancy to build in those character dynamics you were talking about, because we really get to know these characters and how they behave - all of their mannerisms. Making custom mimic DMC or NLA clips can really take this to higher levels of individuality.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I'm currently devoting all of my free time to animating and lighting, and then simulating and rendering while I'm away from the computer - which is most of the time.

     

    It's amazing how much I'm actually getting done this way!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921

    nice work Dart, holding the flag high , you do brilliant work - yes sad that not many contribute to the forum any more - 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Thanks Headwax! I truly wish I could stop by more often - and I will when I can. I do get spurts when I can visit every day for several hours, but then I get times like now when my internet time becomes vastly more limited.

    In my eyes, it's you die-hards here that are holding that flag high! Bravo to all of you!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Just to check in:

    I've been busy rendering and recording assets to begin a more personal approach to blending Daz Studio and Carrara workflows into a powerful, combined suite - again, mostly geared toward making CG animated films as a one-person studio.

    I know it might seem like I've disappeared again... but I assure you that's not the thing. Just not on the internet when I'm this deep into pushing my computer this hard to get everything together.

     

    In digging deeper into Studio, this whole thing looks like it will likely be equally valuable to Studio users wanting Carrara as an assistant as well as our other way around.

    In fact, in the end, who realy cares which is used most, etc., just that both have strengths that the other lacks, and using both for different things (and we truly are Very different in what we like/need to do) is a powerful combination. My Carrara endeavors are So much better now that I'm using DS a lot more.

     

    So this is a real game-changer when it comes to the topic of "Compatibility". 

    Things that are made to be used in Studio might just as well stay there. There are, of course, many times when we'd far rather bring everything into Carrara and work with it there - I know I certainly would. 

    As a deep thought on this, HeadWax has a thread going regarding the use of multipass render layers. With that sort of workflow, we could use Daz Studio renders as such a thing. Environment behind what's going on, a forefront element or even the main point of interest... either can be rendered in either software. This is a very basic description of how I've been working - and it's a lot of fun!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Having powerful tools like Fluidos II and VWD available to both makes these lines even more blurred - more flexible, efficient and fun!

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,693

    hey there!

    great to see you and to know you're cranking things out, if not more stealthily than usual. Some good chatter over at rendo, so stick your head in there if you want to see some old friends,

    I'm DITW  on 3D for a bit, and hardly engaged in this site anymore, so keep the back-channels open and your renders burning!

    I peek at your website when I can - quite the beast these days - solid work and brilliant resource/archive - bravo. You need to add a 'what's new' link so we can find your new goodies as you post them!

    best,

    --ms

  • DesertDudeDesertDude Posts: 1,234

    I have to echo the  yes comments here.
    Sorry I haven't been around much to comment lately, work has been a PITA but that job is coming to a close very soon for the summer so hope have more time to devote to Carrara.
     

    Keep up the awesomeness!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Thanks guys :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I've just published a new tutorial article, Content Generations Conversion, which is a set of step-by-step set of instructions and links on how I convert clothing from one Genesis generation to another, stored to the library - a workflow that works much better for library storage than the Auto Fit method.

    Tutorial - Content Generations Conversion is a new entry in the Freebies forum

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    mindsong said:

    hey there!

    great to see you and to know you're cranking things out, if not more stealthily than usual. Some good chatter over at rendo, so stick your head in there if you want to see some old friends,

    I'm DITW  on 3D for a bit, and hardly engaged in this site anymore, so keep the back-channels open and your renders burning!

    I peek at your website when I can - quite the beast these days - solid work and brilliant resource/archive - bravo. You need to add a 'what's new' link so we can find your new goodies as you post them!

    best,

    --ms

    DesertDude said:

    I have to echo the  yes comments here.
    Sorry I haven't been around much to comment lately, work has been a PITA but that job is coming to a close very soon for the summer so hope have more time to devote to Carrara.
     

    Keep up the awesomeness!

    Thank you both for the kind comments!

     

    Let's see... New, eh? That's kinda what this thread is for, but I've been... well here goes - a listing of some of my newest entries - I think:

    Carrara Zone

    • Physics and Particles - a branch off of the Forum Help!!! Links, along with videos specifically regarding Physics and Particles

    Daz Zone

     

    and a new

    Blender Zone

    Blender Zone

    ============================================== 

    Along with those I'm often making little adjustments and tweaks along with additions to the works that I've already started, since this whole thing is a growing, living thing.

    I've been animating, simulating and rendering like mad to get my next video finished. Then I'll take a short breather to do up some tutorials, demonstrations, behind the scenes stuff about all kinds of stuff I've been dying to get videos up for.

    Thanks again for standing behind me and giving me an inspirational nudge from time to time! 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Here's the whole thing so far, in case I missed something

     

    DARTANBECK.COM

    Part 1 (too much for one post otherwise)

    Dartanbeck.com Home - Landing page with a bunch of links to various parts of the site along with other info

     

     

    CARRARA ZONE

    Carrara Zone - Currently mostly a landing page to hold all of the Carrara oriented pages, but will eventually also serve as a more Carrara-centric blog

     

     

    Carrara Info

    Carrara Info - A new Index for Carrara Information - features, guides, video links... this is meant to become a more cleanly placed and organized ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ sort of thing. It now houses a new Forum Help!!! Links index, but this time with Carrara Training videos from Cripeman and GKDantas, and will include my own as well.

     

     

    Carrara CG Workshop

    Carrara CG Workshop - In addition to being a landing page for all of the pages within, this page also explains the goal for this section

    • Story - It all begins with one of these, right?

    • Pacing and Rendering - A discussion regarding common film practices as well as render outputs for animations

     

     

    Pre-Production Phase

    Pre-Production Phase - The things we do to prepare for Production

    Scene (stage) Setup - Currently only has one offering: Volumetric Lighting, which is an early hybrid video/written article. It doesn't have much of a written version yet - but does include a Base Scene Download

    Character Setup - This seems to be my main interest lately, as it has quite a few articles. Don't worry, I'll be getting on to other stuff soon!

    • Introducing Rosie 5 - I needed to get something started to find a focus toward developing this web site. This was it

    • Making Rosie 5 - Developmental information on creating my main protagonist - to be developed further

    • Using Genesis in Carrara - A work in progress that will explore many ways to use various Genesis generations within Carrara

    • Genesis Morph Reduction - My method of not only reducing the weight of a Genesis figure, but also the number of available sliders in the Parameters tab

    • Dynamic Hair - One of the parts of the Hybrid Video/Written article for Introducing Rosie 5

    • EYEdeas 3+ - A look at using Arki's amazing 3D eyeballs! Another part of Introducing Rosie 5

    • Millennium Teeth - Using third-party teeth to get what my character (Rosie 5) needed to complete her ultimate look. Another part of Introducing Rosie 5

    • Character Transfer using NLA - I often like to update/upgrade my character to a fresh base figure with a different set of morphs (often when I buy new ones) - here's how I transfer the shape over

    • Character Design - With its Character Template Scene download, this video/article demonstrates how I build each of my characters, monsters, animals, etc., It also covers the basics of creating shaders for Genesis (or any other figure, for that matter)

    • Modeling for Genesis - A fresh look, rejuvenating an article I wrote here quite some time ago. The video I made then is still helpful in how to send models from Carrara into Daz Studio, rig them to conform to the intended figure, and save back into the library.

    • Character Shader Basics - Explore the absolute quickest and simplest way to get a Daz Figure's materials up and running in Carrara! A very basic approach with no frills for speedy renders

     

     

    Production Phase

    Animating - This is where my animation articles will continue. I placed some useful info in here to get it started

    • Hybrid aniMation - another hybrid article I'm working on now. Currently contains much of the info from aniMating in Carrara

    • aniMate 2 - Daz Studio comes with a free version, but when we buy the full version we get some really great bonus features!

    The Scene - This is where we'll explore using the scenes we've stored with our actors and/or vehicles, etc., to create our animated sequences

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    DARTANBECK.COM

    Part 2

     

    DAZ ZONE

    DAZ ZONE - This is an exciting page full of my love for Daz 3D with a stroll back in time to when Genesis came out and then even further down is this wonderful video I posted years ago - Daz 3D as it was when I was an aspiring young PA here! (the face you see there (video's thumbnail) is Kevin, who was my boss! :) )

     

     

     

    Daz Content

    Daz 3D Content - Mainly just a container/landing page, but will eventually be really cool!

     

     

    Daz Studio

    Daz Studio - I've started this page to help gather information towards learning this amazing suite called Daz Studio. As I learn I'll be expanding this whole section, but I like this page now already. I update it when I can - several times so far.

     

     

    Daz Studio Page Quick Map

     

     

    PC + Experience

    Platinum Club + Experience - It's amazing how much value we can get from this service if we check in often! Even with little internet time I've been able to really fill up my library over the years - and the yearly membership cost is tiny comparatively

    • PC+ Cloth Frenzy - I've only just started this page. Since I started using VWD and removing rigging from figures so that I can add/delete polygons, change domains, etc., stuff in the low-price range in the PC+ catalog looks great and is fun to model with! I am working on a tutorial on how I make the clothing into static prop objects and then model them to fit the morphed figure, then run them through VWD as if using them as conforming clothes. It's really neat!

    Bridging Technology - A new leap in workflow design and implementation

     

    Blender Zone

    Blender Zone

     

     

    DO IT IN POST

    VFX Zone > Fusion - Movie Magic at its Finest! Hollywood-grade compositing software

    Editing Zone > DaVinci Resolve - This page contains the Resolve Training materials I'm using to learn this Hollywood-grade Non-Linear Editor - and the free version also includes Fusion, built right in! (along with Fairlight Audio and Resolve's high-end color corrector)

    • A Quick Look - This is my short demonstration of some of the techniques I used to create the "Introducing Rosie 5" video

     

     

    GALLERY

    Gallery - This landing page also has a carousel of some of my images you've all seen before. The Still Images and Video pages are very much incomplete still

     

     

    Inspiration

     

     

    ​Downloads

    Base Scenes

     

     

    THE SOFTWARE

    The Software - I've included most of what I'm currently using and more. I still have plenty of stuff to add though. HitFilm will be coming to this page, and getting its own but I haven't used in yet in my current workflow - but its coming! Some software is just linked to from this page, others have their own as well:

    • Cyberlink Software - Great setups for video production and a lot more. Philip Staiger (PD Howler) uses this to make his awesome videos

    • Autodesk - With as little time as I have to use software, this high-end stuff isn't the practical choice. But when you want to go pro....

    • PD Howler - Oh yeah!!! My favorite image editor to date!

    • Particle Illusion - amazing particle effects simulator/recorder, now from Boris

    Whew! So that's the current list of pages. While a few of them are rather bare, currently just containers or landing pages, they have a lot of content in the works for them and the other pages are looking pretty cool, I think.

    ...and some of my Carrara forum friends have asked my to put up a "Donate" button of some sort, so I reluctantly made a Donate page. I don't really have a method for taking donations, as such, so I offer some examples there ;)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited May 2021

    The ideas I've investigated (so far) for "Bridging Technologies" have born fruit which will launch a whole new set of tutorials, demonstrations and articles.

     

    I'm still feeling as if I'm heading in the wrong direction for what I intend to do every time I try to include Blender, even though I've learned enough about Blender to truly admire this incredible software. The only hangup for me is that, what I wish to achieve can already be done in Carrara, which I know and enjoy using already, and it's what I do in Carrara that I would be accomplishing in Blender - so I find myself not actually needing it - but highly recommend it to anyone wanting to start fresh in learning a new 3D modeling/animation/rendering software choice. But I would also, just as easily, perhaps even moreso, recommend Carrara.

     

    It was dForce Classic Long and Curly Hair, by Linday that was pushing me toward Blender, because there really isn't a way to use it in Carrara without a whole new engagement in experiments and hair-pulling (pardon the pun). Not experimentation of settings, but just trying to get it to work at all - even with something like VWD.

     

    It might be possible to render characters and scenes within Daz Studio using 3Delight, but Iray and Octane cannot seem to handle even close to the amount of scenery and characters as I've grown familiar with using in Carrara. Iray will revert to CPU (EDIT: which takes a really long time to render, even though the results are spectacular, I think) if I add anything more than Rosie 5 and Octane will error out, refusing to render - and these examples are a Lot smaller in scope than many of my simple Carrara scenes, and they're only using one (human, animal or similar) figure where, in Carrara I can add pretty much as many as I need.

     

    After spending quite some time experimenting in Daz Studio, I've finally got myself comfotable with animating even though it's nowhere near as elegant and sensible as animating in Carrara. Getting back into Carrara was like entering a dream - a very pleasant, warm and comfy dream!

     

    In earnest, I dedicated a large pile of time tweaking the Carrara dynamic hair to work more to my liking again. When I went back into Daz Studio to compare with Lindays Long and Curly Hair, I really wanted to do whatever I could to still use this hair, along with Octane's (since Rosie's animations in Iray simply are not economical for me yet) SubSurface Scattering (SSS) and absolute ease of use regarding materials (in thanks to Valzeimer's Octane Render Kit) for Rosie and perhaps other characters, but still do most of my work in Carrara for everything else. 

     

    During much of my forum silence I had my head down into all of this, making new presets for everything Rosie in Daz Studio, and conforming my love for animating and rendering full scenes in Carrara.

     

    Nowadays, my forum silence is simply because I'm animating, simulating, simulating again, lighting and finally rendering what I need from Rosie in Daz Studio and setting everything else up in Carrara. 

     

    It was only a day ago as of this writing when I sprung up from what would have been a four hour slumber to try an idea that popped into my head, bringing Rosie 5 and her new hair into my Carrara scenes and rendering it all out of Carrara instead of having to do so in post. Every single test that I tried was an absolute success!

     

    I am So looking forward to showing this all off! It's totally awesome!

     

    So while I barely used Daz Studio in the past - using it only as an asset helper, for the most part, I've learned to make it a great asset to my Carrara work and we'll be able to see the results very soon, I think. It's the Daz Studio work that takes forever. Once I get into Carrara it all goes right along quickly with (what I feel are) excellent results! 

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited May 2021

    Part of these experiments also included using Carrara to render spherical scenes for use in Iray or Octane within Daz Studio (I simply cannot afford Octane for Carrara, but I am perfectly happy with Carrara's ray trace render engine anyway), but I have problems working in this way. The largest example is that a camera following a moving object shows no change in distance from the spherical background - it just remains the same even when the camera moves a substantial distance.

     

    I also just prefer the organic workflow of using actual geometrical scenery.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,693

    Dartanbeck said:

    Part of these experiments also included using Carrara to render spherical scenes for use in Iray or Octane within Daz Studio (I simply cannot afford Octane for Carrara, but I am perfectly happy with Carrara's ray trace render engine anyway), but I have problems working in this way. The largest example is that a camera following a moving object shows no change in distance from the spherical background - it just remains the same even when the camera moves a substantial distance.

     

    I also just prefer the organic workflow of using actual geometrical scenery.

    interesting problem. would almost expect it to be the opposite - the sphere not being at effective infinity.

    could you insert a few scene items near the camera that match the backdrop light/style and create the desired sense of motion you're looking for and still keep most of the the efficiency of the sphere approach?

    --ms

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    mindsong said:

    Dartanbeck said:

    Part of these experiments also included using Carrara to render spherical scenes for use in Iray or Octane within Daz Studio (I simply cannot afford Octane for Carrara, but I am perfectly happy with Carrara's ray trace render engine anyway), but I have problems working in this way. The largest example is that a camera following a moving object shows no change in distance from the spherical background - it just remains the same even when the camera moves a substantial distance.

     

    I also just prefer the organic workflow of using actual geometrical scenery.

    interesting problem. would almost expect it to be the opposite - the sphere not being at effective infinity.

    could you insert a few scene items near the camera that match the backdrop light/style and create the desired sense of motion you're looking for and still keep most of the the efficiency of the sphere approach?

    --ms

    Yes, and I've done that. But I can only add very little when I'm working with Rosie in Daz Studio or I blow a fuse when rendering somehow - metaphorically speaking.

    I'm sure that I could find a method that works in DS, but I don't need to and, after trying my experiments in Carrara, I don't even want to. I absolutely enjoy working in Carrara much more than Studio, so my new workflow allows me to only use DS when I absolutely have to, and then just do everything else in Carrara.

     

    You'll see. It works Great!!!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    Dartanbeck said:

    mindsong said:

    Dartanbeck said:

    Part of these experiments also included using Carrara to render spherical scenes for use in Iray or Octane within Daz Studio (I simply cannot afford Octane for Carrara, but I am perfectly happy with Carrara's ray trace render engine anyway), but I have problems working in this way. The largest example is that a camera following a moving object shows no change in distance from the spherical background - it just remains the same even when the camera moves a substantial distance.

     

    I also just prefer the organic workflow of using actual geometrical scenery.

    interesting problem. would almost expect it to be the opposite - the sphere not being at effective infinity.

    could you insert a few scene items near the camera that match the backdrop light/style and create the desired sense of motion you're looking for and still keep most of the the efficiency of the sphere approach?

    --ms

    Yes, and I've done that. But I can only add very little when I'm working with Rosie in Daz Studio or I blow a fuse when rendering somehow - metaphorically speaking.

    I'm sure that I could find a method that works in DS, but I don't need to and, after trying my experiments in Carrara, I don't even want to. I absolutely enjoy working in Carrara much more than Studio, so my new workflow allows me to only use DS when I absolutely have to, and then just do everything else in Carrara.

     

    You'll see. It works Great!!!

     

    with a spherical background you can only rotate the camera.

    If you limit it to only rotations in all directions it works.

    You can texture a sphere too and use object layer in Octane to ignore shadows on it giving some leeway for translation for a distant background on a very big sphere.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Yep. That's what I was trying to say, but... you know... me and words! LOL!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Oh man!!! I have a scene that requires the Rosie bursts into laughter. Last night I was in tears working with the expressions after animating her body movements. She is So expressive! 

     

    I don't know how I missed having Genesis Muscularity before. Must have just slipped through somehow. I though that I had All of the Evolution morphs way back when. 

     

    When I grabbed those, I also picked up Genesis Alive, which really has some useful morphs and aniBlocks. It's cool to have blink and blink twice aniBlocks again, even though I keep forgetting that I have them and animating the blinks by hand. 

     

    I've been having a ball with the expressions I got for Josie 6, which I've added to Rosie via GenX2, along with another pair of SimonWM products, Expressions aniBlocks and More Expressions aniBlocks. Combined with Evolution expressions they make it really fun to create a limitless number of expressions. I'll also use her visemes to express with as well.

     

    Also using GenX2, I've added a whole bunch of V4 expressions, which show up under Actor instead of the Genesis group, so I use those for the actual shaping of her face, without the fear of losing those settings during a zeroing of the figure's pose. Very handy, since I always used many expression dials for Rosie's facial shape.

     

    I can still go in and use those as expressions too, but haven't been needing to yet.

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