Unfortunately, I am not a daily Carrara user. It is a hobby for me and I usually get frustrated with the bugs and crashes, then walk away for a few months hoping that some problems are solved. Of course, if you don't use Carrara on a regular basis, you forget all the tricks and workarounds that are needed to use the software.

I was excited to see that 8.5 was finally released and hoped it would fix problems and improve the situation. Maybe it does, but something(s) have gone very wrong with my install and I have no idea where everything is.

C8.5 is installed and launches properly, but "content" is completely screwed up. Maybe it's me, but I have no idea what went wrong or how to fix it.

I used the install manager to install all software and content. Software was installed to the default location and content installed to another drive. According to Install Manager, 250 items were installed. I can see the files on my drive.

I am working on a Mac and have installed mac versions of everything.

1. "Native" content does not appear. "Scenes" "Shaders" "Misc" are all empty. "Objects" only has "Leaves." I see others have had this problem. I have also installed the Carrara 8 Native Content 186MB file. I can see the files in the Carrara folder, but they do not show up in the browser.

2. Content and smart content does not work. It is VERY frustrating and I am not happy with this "upgrade." I am considering asking for a refund and walking away from Carrara and 3D altogether. The "Content" tab only shows some of the installed items. Michael 4 and Victoria 4 both show up but I didn't install them. M5 and V5 are missing, but they were installed.

3. Smart Content isn't smart at all. At first, some items would show up and other wouldn't. Some of the items in smart content would be highlighted, but no matter how far I drill down, the listing would be empty. Unlike the wiki page for "smart" content tab, the top level does NOT show a listing for its sub-listings. You must drill down to see anything in a child directory.

Looking at the "documentation" posted here for the content manager, I installed DAZ Studio 4.6 and opened the content manager through there. Studio seemed to recognize more of my content and displayed it easier than the multiple nested hierarchy mess of Carrara. After running DB maintenance, not even Studio would show any content. So I erased all directories from the content database and brought them back in. I select DB maintenance to re-import the metadata. I see a long list of products, all checked. The first few times I tried this, it crashed Studio. Now it just quickly runs a status bar then completes. Still NO content showing in Studio or Carrara.

Any ideas on how to get the "native" content to appear?

Any idea on a strategy to get installed content to appear? I never though i would say this, but I almost miss the absurd and convoluted "runtime" setup. As must as I disliked that patchwork of insanity, at least I could get it to work (most of the time).

Sorry to rant, but I really expected this release to be a little more user friendly.

Okay, nevermind, I found it: Daz Studio Formats - My Library - People - Michael 4 - Clothing - Evilson - Dragon Master

See, this is why I categorize things. So I can find them later. I wonder why nothing came up when I did a search for Evilson in my Readme folder? This is how I get info on many products I buy and it usually works.

Leana said:

Not always, Aiko 4 was released before Michael 4 for example (february 2008 for A4, october 2008 for M4).

Let us hope we don't have to wait 8 months from G2F's or any of her characters releases lol It was a long wait for M4 :-S

BorgyB said:

Leana said:

KickAir 8P said:

I've no doubt that having the opposite gender figure immediately available will boost the sales of both Aiko6 and Hiro6Except that people would have to shell out money for 2 figures at the same time, which might be difficult for a lot of people. With separated releases at least the wallet can recover a bit between the two...

Didn't seem to hurt Sadie and Sam, Jasmin and Jason, or the Young Teens bundles any. Oh, wait, forgot. That was when there was only one figure that could handle both male and female morphs. :cheese:

Jasmin and Jason were not released together, the bundle with both has been added after Jason's release. And yes, as you mentioned, those were shapes for the same figure and not two separate figures.
Victoria has always been before Michael, granted. But Michael ALWAYS was the next in line behind her, not another female.

Title - Homage to St Michael Wounds the Devil - this is my final entry

- 3 original or modified items with notes on creation/modification process,
1) Clouds
2) armor for M3, helmets and weapons for M3 and M4, and shield for M4. Modeled and uvmapped in vertex modeling room (devil's pitchfork is a spline). Shaders are procedural.
3) used vertex grids to construct the terrain foreground and the ocean. Procedural textures.
(also made a custom brush used in the some of the renders)
- Content credits

DAZ Michael 3, Daz Michael 4, and a brush from the carrara brush set from GKDantas and deviney - available in the Daz store.
Wings are the winter queen wings from Poser 6.

- General process description

Found a classic painting related to Paradise Lost. Edited the mesh of M3 in vertex modeling room to make his arms and legs more muscular and face more aquiline. Modeled and fit armor to morphed M3, and attached to hip in animation tab. Posed M3 similar to image, and used the weightmap brush in the vertex modeling room to fix minor poke through. Posed M4 similar to devil in image (modeled helmet, robe, discarded shield). Modeled clouds from vertex sphere, reshaped using magnet tool, then smaller distorted vertex spheres were replicated on surface of larger sphere. Once grouped, those objects were then replicated on a long arched cloud dome to try to give some depth. Used spot lights in the far corner to try to get a yellow tinge to far middle clouds and purple/bluish tinge further out to the sides. Used combination of glow channel, bump channel, and difuse to try to make look cloudlike.

Rendered several images in non-photorealistic render room. Chose a few images that had some elements that I liked (these included one that used a scratch brush available in the DAZ store and one custom brush that I made per Antara's instructions). Brought the chosen images in Photoshop and copied them over each other. Sequentially used the erase tool to choose the elements that I liked from each image. Did some minor touch ups with the pen tool. Ran out of time because I am leaving town tonight.

I will post the the pre-photoshop renders next.

Just want to say what a great job Antara did running this month's challenge. Thank you. And also thanks to everyone who gave me helpful suggestions. If one of the goals of these contests is for people to have fun and learn about features of Carrara that they might not otherwise use, then that goal was exceeded greatly in my case.

BorgyB said:

Haslor said:

Again, there was an almost two year delay between Victoria 4 (released 2006-12-08) and Michael 4 (released 2008-10-20), between the two DAZ released Aiko 4 (released 2008-02-19), there was also a set of Male Morphs released before Michael. As for the release dates for the rest of the Generation 4 Actors: Hiro 4 (2009-01-29), Girl 4 (2009-03-26) The Freak 4 (2009-08-18), and Stephanie 4 (2010-06-24). (Dates are from the DAZ Product Page Wiki.)

It does not surprise me that a character for the G2F figure would be released before the G2M Figure, because it basically a set of morphs for the G2F Figure, where the G2M figure would will have a completely different base and rigging.

I don't think we are going to be waiting as long for G2M as we did for Michael 4.Haslor

That's Gen 4. Also, note that you mentioned that male morphs were released for V4. I doubt we will see the same for G2F (officially, anyway, as there are freebie morphs by fans already out there).

On that note, Gen 5 did not follow the same release schedule or pattern as Gen 4. Genesis had both the female and male basic morphs out at the same time. No lines, no waiting. V5 was released not long after. While there was a period of lull between V5 and M5, no other general Female morphs were released in between (other than what characters PAs had produced). S5, H5, F5, A5, and finally D5 (though I guess you can count YT as well) were much later.

Does it preclude that because that separating into 2 gender specific models instead of the unified one mean the female morphs will be released first before the male model is released? IMHO, there's no logic to that. Granted, we may see the male figure sooner than Gen4 did, but that was not the point nor does it rationalize the choice of releases.

Maybe it's just a different guy - or gal or team - working on new figures than the one working on new shapes. So that the release of new shapes does not actually slow down the creation of Genesis 2 Male.

Haslor said:

Again, there was an almost two year delay between Victoria 4 (released 2006-12-08) and Michael 4 (released 2008-10-20), between the two DAZ released Aiko 4 (released 2008-02-19), there was also a set of Male Morphs released before Michael. As for the release dates for the rest of the Generation 4 Actors: Hiro 4 (2009-01-29), Girl 4 (2009-03-26) The Freak 4 (2009-08-18), and Stephanie 4 (2010-06-24). (Dates are from the DAZ Product Page Wiki.)

It does not surprise me that a character for the G2F figure would be released before the G2M Figure, because it basically a set of morphs for the G2F Figure, where the G2M figure would will have a completely different base and rigging.

I don't think we are going to be waiting as long for G2M as we did for Michael 4.Haslor

That's Gen 4. Also, note that you mentioned that male morphs were released for V4. I doubt we will see the same for G2F (officially, anyway, as there are freebie morphs by fans already out there).

On that note, Gen 5 did not follow the same release schedule or pattern as Gen 4. Genesis had both the female and male basic morphs out at the same time. No lines, no waiting. V5 was released not long after. While there was a period of lull between V5 and M5, no other general Female morphs were released in between (other than what characters PAs had produced). S5, H5, F5, A5, and finally D5 (though I guess you can count YT as well) were much later.

Does it preclude that because that separating into 2 gender specific models instead of the unified one mean the female morphs will be released first before the male model is released? IMHO, there's no logic to that. Granted, we may see the male figure sooner than Gen4 did, but that was not the point nor does it rationalize the choice of releases.

It is quite possible that PAs, again, are influencing these choices. As these are scheduled way ahead of time in order for PAs to create items specifically catered to these morphs (as part of bundles), and by DAZ's own admission, that PAs largely influenced the Genesis gender split, one can rightly assume that this is the case.

BorgyB said:

Knight22179 said:

My theory is this: DAZ has changed their policy regarding figure releases. No longer is it going to be a Female then a Male release but a female only release until all of them come out. Then they will release M6 and all the males one right after another.

That's plausible. Not that I'm in a hurry, though. I'm perfectly content with Genesis/M5/F5/etc. (Heck, I barely had them for more than half a year!). %-P

Looking over G6 and the samples so far, I still see no vast improvement. I have the G4 morph for Genesis, and minimal use of it combined with other basic shapes could produce similar results. Even the clothes made specifically for G2F/Girl 6 don't appear to have vast improvements over the Genesis ones (especially the ones released recently). *sigh* I'm still waiting on delivering the promise of notable improvements that made it essential to create separate male/female figures.:coolmad:

Again, there was an almost two year delay between Victoria 4 (released 2006-12-08) and Michael 4 (released 2008-10-20), between the two DAZ released Aiko 4 (released 2008-02-19), there was also a set of Male Morphs released before Michael. As for the release dates for the rest of the Generation 4 Actors: Hiro 4 (2009-01-29), Girl 4 (2009-03-26) The Freak 4 (2009-08-18), and Stephanie 4 (2010-06-24). (Dates are from the DAZ Product Page Wiki.)

It does not surprise me that a character for the G2F figure would be released before the G2M Figure, because it basically a set of morphs for the G2F Figure, where the G2M figure would will have a completely different base and rigging.

I don't think we are going to be waiting as long for G2M as we did for Michael 4.
Haslor

poser said:

Hi,

i'm not a lawyer or anything like it, so i have a few questions concerning some of the content of the license agreement. Especially concerning one topic:

If i create a character with content i bought from DAZ3D or similar sites for a customer and use it in videos and animation, i have all the rights to the rendered 2d images of this character, right? So i could make movies or pictures with it and sell those pictures, right?

Of course i don't have the right to sell any source textures or geometries to someone else. But the created character itself as images and animation, i can sell?

Can i also trademark the character i created (as long as it is not simply a character like Michael 4 in his unchanged form)?

For example: I create a character for an online plattform that guides people through the site and call him Mr. Guideman or something like that. Can i make a trademark of Mr. Guideman or does the license prohibit such use?

I am only asking those questions because i'm trying to find out, if i can use DAZ content for creating things for customers. Not selling any 3D data, but just images and videos and the look of characters for example.

Of my limited understanding with regard to this, any derivative results you produce using licensed DAZ/Poser/etc. stuff that you bought, you have copyrights to. You don't have the copyrights to the materials you used, but you do have the copyrights to what you produced using them. However, copyrights are more broad in scope. You could produce a scene and someone else could produce a similar scene at the exact same time without ever seeing yours and you'd have both copyright claim on it, so it would be a matter of proving who gets the claim (which is really messy).

As far as trademarks, you can't trademark something as simple as a "look". You need distinguishing elements that make it unique. A guy in a cape, leotards, boots, and trunks with black hair with a two-tone color scheme cannot be trademarked. But slap a distinctively designed symbol on the chest and it's now trademarkable.

But again, this is from someone with a limited experience and understanding (i.e. not a legal expert) with these. :)

Hi,

i'm not a lawyer or anything like it, so i have a few questions concerning some of the content of the license agreement. Especially concerning one topic:

If i create a character with content i bought from DAZ3D or similar sites for a customer and use it in videos and animation, i have all the rights to the rendered 2d images of this character, right? So i could make movies or pictures with it and sell those pictures, right?

Of course i don't have the right to sell any source textures or geometries to someone else. But the created character itself as images and animation, i can sell?

Can i also trademark the character i created (as long as it is not simply a character like Michael 4 in his unchanged form)?

For example: I create a character for an online plattform that guides people through the site and call him Mr. Guideman or something like that. Can i make a trademark of Mr. Guideman or does the license prohibit such use?

I am only asking those questions because i'm trying to find out, if i can use DAZ content for creating things for customers. Not selling any 3D data, but just images and videos and the look of characters for example.

Inside the ZIP from Optitex, there is an EXE installer file, which is all you need. There is usually a UV Template as well, for making your own textures, but you don't have to have that for the item to work.
When you run the installer, make sure that it is pointing to the content library that you want to install it to. The Default is My Library if you install DAZ 3D content yourself, or My DAZ 3D Library if you use the DIM. Give the correct address to the installer, making sure that it ends in whatever library you use (My Library or My DAZ 3D Library)
I just tried this with the doctor coat for M4, and it went into Content Library > DAZ Studio Formats > My DAZ 3D Library > People > Michael 4 > Dynamic Clothing. The Material folder is one level down (although it loads with that one material anyway.
See if that helps.

EDIT:
XPost Jaderail.

Dorseyland said:

NATURAL CHOICE FOR THE COSTUME PARTY

M4

George (mat) by Shaaelia at ShareCG (registration required)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/60141/browse/11/Poser/George-for-M4

Neo (morph) by akibabe2010 at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/48180/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Neo-for-M4-base

Bucklin Gear (pegleg, moustache) by Traveler at RuntimeDNA (near the bottom on the right)
http://www.runtimedna.com/newsletter/2011_09_23/index.html

V4

Colleen by stacy_19201325 at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/25534/gallery/11/Poser/Colleen-for-A4-V4

Monrou Hair by 3574 (3rd item down, note password "mukasino", adult content warning)
http://poserfreebie.blog.fc2.com/blog-category-1.html

Cosplay Costume 14 by Terrymcg at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/71191/browse/11/Poser/Cosplay-Costume-14-for-V4
Also at Renderosity (reg req)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=72045

kompl. Schlafzimmer (bedroom) by Mausel at ShareCG
http://www.sharecg.com/v/70742/gallery/11/Poser/kompl.-Schlafzimmer

Wardrobe 2 by vcernicek at Renderosity (reg req)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=69055

Dead Bunny by Styxx at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/36600

Cat 2 by Adam Thwaites at Most Digital Creations
http://www.most-digital-creations.com/cat_2.htm

Journal (Vogue) by Ralf Sesseler at Dimension3D
http://d3d.sesseler.de/index.php?content=props&product=journal

PURCHASED or whatever

Michael 4 from DAZ
Victoria 4.2 from DAZ
M4 Pirate by Ravenhair from DAZ

Yup...I'd say it worked out great for him. The cat doesn't look to happy though...lol.

ENTRY ACCEPTED.

:-)

the leather pants and shirt in the second pick look like: http://www.daz3d.com/post-apocalyptic-for-cyberpunk

The duster overcoat and red sweater in the third pic looks like http://www.daz3d.com/midnight-hunter-for-michael-4

Mongo

Overal Scale, [ 102% ]
head Scale, [ 88% ]
Michael4, [ 1 ]
M3 Stocky, [ 0.42 ]
M4CC Faerie, [ 0.51 ]
Freak5, [ 0.7 ]
Abominable, [ 0.12 ]
M4F4 FootWidth, [ 0.41 ]
LegsLength, [ 0.25 ]
BodyBuilderDetails, [ 1 ]
WaistWidth, [ -0.35 ]
HandsThick, [ 1 ]
FeetThick, [ 1 ]
BodyVolume, [ 0.7 ]
Bodybuilder, [ 0.5 ]

M4CC - Michael 4 Creature Creator Mo

NATURAL CHOICE FOR THE COSTUME PARTY

M4

George (mat) by Shaaelia at ShareCG (registration required)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/60141/browse/11/Poser/George-for-M4

Neo (morph) by akibabe2010 at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/48180/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Neo-for-M4-base

Bucklin Gear (pegleg, moustache) by Traveler at RuntimeDNA (near the bottom on the right)
http://www.runtimedna.com/newsletter/2011_09_23/index.html

V4

Colleen by stacy_19201325 at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/25534/gallery/11/Poser/Colleen-for-A4-V4

Monrou Hair by 3574 (3rd item down, note password "mukasino", adult content warning)
http://poserfreebie.blog.fc2.com/blog-category-1.html

Cosplay Costume 14 by Terrymcg at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/71191/browse/11/Poser/Cosplay-Costume-14-for-V4
Also at Renderosity (reg req)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=72045

kompl. Schlafzimmer (bedroom) by Mausel at ShareCG
http://www.sharecg.com/v/70742/gallery/11/Poser/kompl.-Schlafzimmer

Wardrobe 2 by vcernicek at Renderosity (reg req)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=69055

Dead Bunny by Styxx at ShareCG (reg req)
http://www.sharecg.com/v/36600

Cat 2 by Adam Thwaites at Most Digital Creations
http://www.most-digital-creations.com/cat_2.htm

Journal (Vogue) by Ralf Sesseler at Dimension3D
http://d3d.sesseler.de/index.php?content=props&product=journal

PURCHASED or whatever

Michael 4 from DAZ
Victoria 4.2 from DAZ
M4 Pirate by Ravenhair from DAZ

Anyway, regardless of your major figure, there are "iconic" morph sets strongly recommended for each figure:
1) Genesis:
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-evolution-morph-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/ethnicity-for-genesis-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-generation-x
2) Gen2:
http://www.daz3d.com/daz-bundles/genesis-2-female-morphs-bundle
3) V4:
http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-morphs
http://www.daz3d.com/aiko-4-base
http://www.daz3d.com/stephanie-4-elite-base
http://www.daz3d.com/the-girl-4-base
4) M4:
http://www.daz3d.com/michael-4-morphs
http://www.daz3d.com/hiro-4-base
http://www.daz3d.com/the-freak-4-base

Also, if you decide to focus on Genesis, this bundle should get you covered for most characters. Having morph sets, especially resource kits, allows you to create your own characters to suit your needs or even supplement the community.

Hello
I have problems with Victoria 4.2 and Michael 4 I can not move down, it lacks the right and left foot x y z translate the legs. For Poser own figures it all works.
PoserProperty already uninstalled and reinstalled but everything stays the same.

Thank you for Help

Sorry for my english

belovedalia said:

...So I tried to install Daz 3A. In a separate location from DS4.6

I pointed the DS3A to the same content runtime directory that DS4.6 uses. (the content is on a different drive- programs are on C drive, content on D drive)

However, when I try to load M4 or V4 in DS3, I get this error:

PowerLoader - critical Error
X - this script is not intended to be run standalone. It is intended to be run as a result of loading an ExP enabled "Michael 4" based figure from the Content tab. Rename this file to match the name of the intended cr2 to continue.

Most of the figures won't even SHOW UP in Ds3A...

What did I do wrong?? T_T

(like you, I also installed DS4.6 first... then went and installed DS3A to do some testing... but I'm using separate runtimes and have reinstalled the base figures into that second (DS3) runtime (then run the "Update V4 Base" / "Update M4 Base" batch files etc with no problems). Plus reinstalled shaders also - which write magic stuff into the local DS3 "support/" directory. Consequently, I can't really help with a setup which uses a _shared_ runtime - sorry <(^_^)).</p>

The error message sounds like you should probably reinstall M4, selecting the DS3 option (if you didn't do that already). Safest would be to start a second runtime for the base characters, purely for DS3... you should be able to load clothing/props etc from the 4.6 one though. ymmv of course v(^_^)v.

mat files from DS3 to DS4 are dsa format right?

4.5 has no way to make dsa files.

So I tried to install Daz 3A. In a separate location from DS4.6

I pointed the DS3A to the same content runtime directory that DS4.6 uses. (the content is on a different drive- programs are on C drive, content on D drive)

However, when I try to load M4 or V4 in DS3, I get this error:

PowerLoader - critical Error
X - this script is not intended to be run standalone. It is intended to be run as a result of loading an ExP enabled "Michael 4" based figure from the Content tab. Rename this file to match the name of the intended cr2 to continue.

Most of the figures won't even SHOW UP in Ds3A...

What did I do wrong?? T_T

help!

ANother possibility is

http://www.daz3d.com/moroccan-dreams-for-michael-4

http://www.daz3d.com/moroccan-dreams-for-victoria-4