Need help rendering characters in Carrara?
Dartanbeck
Posts: 22,124
Let's face it, Carrara is truly magical in how it allows us to load Poser/Daz3D products directly through the same sort of methodology, and then they behave very much the same way - if not even a bit easier to manage within Carrara since it's tools are so efficient and handy.
The biggest thing in the opinion of most, I believe, is that all of the materials - shaders - need to be enhanced or even completely redone.
I have put together this simple process for myself that works well for speedy-fast animation renders, so you may not agree with some of my techniques. Use what works for you!!!
Either way, this video should hold the clues needed to help get your character's shaders sorted out quickly and easily!
See the description of the video for a link to the support page for the article on my website, where you may also download the free "Base Scene" file that I use.


Comments
If you try that idea and like it, you might also enjoy my "think like a filmmaker" sort of technique for rendering cool interiors with volumetric lighting

...and this is a fun little workflow walkthrough. It's a long Dartanbeck babble-a-thon, but hey... some of us don't mind kicking back once in a while, right?!!!
Sorry about the powerline hum. I didn't know how to diminish it back then
Alright Then + will watch these + Thanx
Old, fun videos :)
Indeed. Many years ago, I was a Poser user (and Bryce) who learned that Carrara could load Poser format items directly from its browser. And Carrara was much more capable at creating large scenes and animating them. And I'm still there.
My biggest thing was that it could load and work with that type of content AND it was a modeler.
Back when I first saw it at Daz 3D they still had the Eovia promotional pages for it. Something like six pages of "What's Included"
I really only cared about having Vertex modeling. But seeing that it had terrains, metaballs, spline, text, etc., etc., really got me over-the-top excited about it.
When I saw that the Pro version came with an animated Ocean primitive, I knew that was my target.
Once I actually got Carrara 8 Pro beta installed I was blown away by a whole lot more!
It felt so much faster than Poser. The render room was the coolest thing I ever saw. The Texture room... Wow! But when I opened the browser to load in a figure, I could believe how quickly it loaded. Poser's (I can't remember what they called their browser) would sit and spin for days! Go make something to eat, come back... still waiting. Make some coffee, make and eat some desert... ah... at last!
Carrara Pro is still the most complete 3D arsenal on the market - even though it's outdated development-wise. It's truly mind-boggling how much can be achieved without ever leaving it. And like you said, we can really put a lot of content into it and it still pulls through just fine and renders like nobody's business!
Oh... and I love how they gave it a Poser-esque interface, but with the tools nice and tiny in the side bar rather than being the most Huge things to occupy the window! LOL
Love Carrara's "Everything In Your Face" interface!!!
Honestly, I keep forgetting how much I had to add to Daz Studio to get done what I want to get done. It's very ala carte, where Carrara comes fully loaded.
DS is rather formidable once I got situated though.
Quite a while ago ThePhilosopher came out with his iReal Ocean Water System. I kept it in my wish list for quite a while before actually buying it, but after I did I was blown away with how cool it is - and started collecting all of his iReal series. They're products of animated props using aniBlocks.
Fairly recently, my good friend Josh Darling produced an Animated VDB shader system, and it came with a bunch of animated VDB by DimensionTheory. DT then put out a few more packs and I bought them all.
The first thing that drew me to try working in Daz Studio in the first place was Linday's Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce. I Loved it then and never stopped using it - though I'm using a combo of two of their hair products now. Mindsong and I worked for months trying to get the hair working in VWD so that I could use it in Carrara, but that never came close to happening. But by then, I was already starting to love how I never had to touch the shaders for everything I use. Not that I mind, but Iray was really starting to steal my heart - especially when using that hair!
Anyways... So now I animate all the time. Addicted. Can't stop if I tried. But I'm not going to try. Rosie says Go For It... I go for it!
So just inside Studio, this hair is simulated, the flames look real when played back, and the water is alive. Carrara does have all of this stuff, but not the hair :(
Last year I entered Clint's Challenge, where he invites 3D artists to create an animation according to specific guidelines so that they all fit together in the end. I didn't place but me and Tugpsx were both in the final montage.
This is my entry looped a few times since they could only be 120 frames

yeah , and still cool to watch (:
Thanks! :)
Nicely done.
Thanks :)
With thousands of skilled artists accepting those challenges, it become more about the journey than the winning. Of course, we all would love to win... but all of the new skills learned along the way is more beneficial to me than any of the prizes offered!
.. you''re welcome , (: