do with the broomstick what you please .. ;-)

Hi Dart :)

Yes, you can keep it,.  it's free to anyone who can download it and use it in Carrara. :)

Maybe it can be re-cycled and used it in another project,. the same applies to everything else,.... from me, at least (can't speak for other modelers)

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

I'm glad you like ,. :)

I am on board with that. Anything I contribute to these forum projects is free for any use to anyone who wants them. 

Fantastic, Mark! I'm loving all of the stuff you've been contributing already!!! Thanks!

FifthElement, diomede, wgdjohn, Stezza, Mike, others, do you all mind if we were to include your submissions to a depository for public download?

I've got English, Irish and Scottish blood and born and raised in Australia.....

Look Out!

Hi Dart :)

Yes, you can keep it,.  it's free to anyone who can download it and use it in Carrara. :)

Maybe it can be re-cycled and used it in another project,. the same applies to everything else,.... from me, at least (can't speak for other modelers)

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

I'm glad you like ,. :)

I am on board with that. Anything I contribute to these forum projects is free for any use to anyone who wants them. 

Fantastic, Mark! I'm loving all of the stuff you've been contributing already!!! Thanks!

FifthElement, diomede, wgdjohn, Stezza, Mike, others, do you all mind if we were to include your submissions to a depository for public download?

 Hey 3dage,   Having a central repository for Assets is a great idea.

  I know that with google docs you could have the links to all the models in one place and with different categories it could be very helpful.   Anyone can edit the main google docs page and add links to their models which are actually hosted on the site of their choice.  I set up a page like this for the "Bang" movie , it worked not bad but need a little more orginization on my part. .  The ShareCg may be an option but I don't know much about their website.

 Maybe for the next Animation club movie we can do something or have something ready.

 

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

 

I'm glad you like ,. :)

 

 

 

Fantastic idea, 3DAGE! and excellent support suggestion, Mike. I like the idea of a central depository thing - and also agree that having content like this (even though anyone would also have access) would be excellent incentive to join in... less worry about this or that.

Speaking of which, I am planning on including a bit of advertisement of the club at the end of the movie, if that's okay, which will include mention that the links to the fun are included in the description - so then I'll make a consolidation post for the <<< Carrara Information Manual >>> which leads to general club conversation and each of the completed, current, and known future project threads as they become available.

Of course that consolidation post will be editable by any of us - I'd just get it started and add the links around the place.

Hi Dart :)

Yes, you can keep it,.  it's free to anyone who can download it and use it in Carrara. :)

Maybe it can be re-cycled and used it in another project,. the same applies to everything else,.... from me, at least (can't speak for other modelers)

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

I'm glad you like ,. :)

I am on board with that. Anything I contribute to these forum projects is free for any use to anyone who wants them. 

 Hey 3dage,   Having a central repository for Assets is a great idea.

  I know that with google docs you could have the links to all the models in one place and with different categories it could be very helpful.   Anyone can edit the main google docs page and add links to their models which are actually hosted on the site of their choice.  I set up a page like this for the "Bang" movie , it worked not bad but need a little more orginization on my part. .  The ShareCg may be an option but I don't know much about their website.

 Maybe for the next Animation club movie we can do something or have something ready.

 

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

 

I'm glad you like ,. :)

 

 

Something that will probably be forgotten by most seasoned Carrara users is that there are features of the program that seem to be very seldom used by anyone but which sit alongside the other tools looking just as important.  An example is the Storyboard Room.

I know that Carrara has an interesting history of how it came to be.  There was a thread on the subject describing how several previous programs were developed and merged and how ownership of the program changed a few times.

Setting the real history aside for a moment, Carrara always seems to me to be like a program where the creators, at a moment in time some years back, decided to make a general all-round 3d package and put into it all the features such a package could wish for in those days.

So we have a Spline modeller, a Vertex modeller, Metaballs, Landscapes, Vertex animation, Bones-based animation and so on.

Since that moment (which exists in my imagination), the world of 3d has developed and fashions have come and gone.  Spline or Patch modelling seems to be largely a thing of the past.  Vertex Modelling (box modelling) is still very much alive but Metaballs seem to have had their day.  (Although they could merely be lacking a champion to show the rest of us what they can do.  I reckon that a metaball figure could be further sculpted and re-topologised and such a model might be done very quickly).

What I'm getting at is that a stranger to Carrara might think that everything in the package has equal weight and that all of it needs to be learned.  Whereas a long-term user will have forgotten that certain features even exist because they are simply never used any more.

I have gone just about as far as I want to with trying out new software - where does it end?  So Carrara is just fine for me as the central home of my endeavors.  I can get respectable results with Hexagon for modelling these days and can animate quickly in Iclone and I also like Poser.  The final software item for my needs is 3dCoat which I haven't yet used nearly enough.

If I wanted to start saying that Carrara needs to develop further then I think it would be along the lines of today's sculpting packages.  Dynamic tessalation, voxel sculpting, etc.  Others might prefer more particles, liquids and so on.  I don't know enough about game engines to even know whether these compete with software like Carrara except to say that the animations from games these days are breathtaking.

But to reiterate my main point: a newcomer to Carrara may not realize that some aspects are seldom needed by most users nowadays.  Such newcomers might feel a little overwhelmed by what they find on opening it up.

Spelling edit

Hi Dart :)

Yes, you can keep it,.  it's free to anyone who can download it and use it in Carrara. :)

Maybe it can be re-cycled and used it in another project,. the same applies to everything else,.... from me, at least (can't speak for other modelers)

I think that if we're going to have an animation club,. it needs to have some assets which can be dropped into scenes, tables, chairs, potion cupboards, jars, etc..

it's also an encouragement to participate ,.  join in ,get free stuff,. .. or maybe not,... maybe just get free stuf for carrara, which is fine too.

(just thinking out loud here)...

I dont know if it's possible to set up a  club "account" on something like Share CG where we could upload  and share stuff, ..rather than having links in different project threads

so we could have a central repository for scenes and assets.

To clarify,   I'm saying,.  let's create a central storage area, to keep all previous scenes and models available to any carrara users,

if that's possible, and everyone agree's.

if not,.  i'm ok with the way things are.  

I'm glad you like ,. :)

When Leonard Nimoy passed away, I felt motivated to complete a scene that had sat unfinished for quite some time.  My goal was to interpret the 1974 model kit (designed by Aurora (known for its various movie monster kits) and distributed by AMT in the US), expanding upon and enhancing the elements of the kit.  Yes, the original version of the assembly kit included a 3 headed space hyrda and Mallen Lane's mythological beastie proved the best choice.  Funny enough, Lane's Sea Dragon would also have worked as the head and its morphs are nearly identical to those of the Hydra.  Because the model kit depicted the monster's heads all springing from a central neck, I had to use three copies anyway, hiding all body parts except for the central neck and head.

Credits

Michael 2 P4...DAZ.com
Face morph...Porthos
Uniform tunic...XCalPro
Uniform pants...XCalPro
Uniform boots...XCalPro
Tricorder...XCalPro
Phaser...MechMaster
Communicator...MattyManx/Sgreco
Spock hair...Mylochka
Dragon's Keep...AntFarm
Twister sky-dome...AntFarm
RDNA XenoFlora...Traveler
Hydra...MallenLane
Enterprise...MattyManx/David Metlesits

*** *** ***

Sincerely,

Bill

I would also like to try my 1070 at last, and then, I loaded the DS beta, and when it's loaded, I just see a grey plane or whatever on the viewport sections.

I can't see the move/zoom/pane... etc of the camera, nor the selection of the cameras, or the type or render. And If I render I just see the same grey plane. I never get to see the grid or the icons to navigate.

Is the viewport actually open? It should ahve a tab with the name at the top of the space. If not, Window?>Panes(Tabs)>Viewport and drag the top of the frame (not the tab) to the top of the space to dock it as a new group in the central well, you should see a line in the highlight colour when you are in the rigyt place to drop it.

I thought that would come open, thank you Richard!!! now to dock and try my 1070!!

I would also like to try my 1070 at last, and then, I loaded the DS beta, and when it's loaded, I just see a grey plane or whatever on the viewport sections.

I can't see the move/zoom/pane... etc of the camera, nor the selection of the cameras, or the type or render. And If I render I just see the same grey plane. I never get to see the grid or the icons to navigate.

Is the viewport actually open? It should ahve a tab with the name at the top of the space. If not, Window?>Panes(Tabs)>Viewport and drag the top of the frame (not the tab) to the top of the space to dock it as a new group in the central well, you should see a line in the highlight colour when you are in the rigyt place to drop it.

Hansmar - thank you.

Stuart - thank you. Yes, you get that distortion towards the sides in real photography as well if you use a very wide angle rectlinear lens (10 mm DX, 16 mm FX). I tried to correct this a bit, but was obviously not successful.

The distorted sun/moon problem can be overcome with a bit of forward planning (as you know, I'm just writing this to try help others).

Set your scene up with the sun or moon central, then use Pan H to move it to the side and create your terrain where it looks best in your scene. The Sun or Moon will then remain perfectly circular. This will distort your terrain, but as distorted terrain is less noticable, it's a good soloution.

@Hansmar.

I agree, excellent landscapes of Horo's.

That's one thing that annoys me about Bryce. If you have the moon anywhere other than central in your image Bryce distorts it.

May be thats realism. If you were outside looking up, and the moon was on you left or right but you were looking straight ahead it would look like that, seeing it out of the corner of your eye.

No complaints tonight, just anticipations.  Tomorrow is my 2nd cataract operation (right eye).  I don't like being put under anesthesia.  Last week it took me a whole day and night to get over it.  I always worry about my wonky heart going wonkyer.  And because I have to stop taking my blood thinners before the operation I worry about blood clots and having a stroke.  Just what I don't need, going to sleep and waking up a semi-vegetable.  Would rather not wake up at all.

Although, I have to say that the left eye operation worked out quite well, I can see so much better despite my left eye viewing things properly and my right eye viewing things like I have a dirty yellow monocle over it by comparison.  That makes me see some things strangely.  Example:  when I fill the sink to do dishes, the stream of water from the faucet head is central to my view and is two toned.  Clear as crystal on the right side, but looks like piss on the left side.   Which is curious because my left eye is fixed and my right eye is not.  Must be the left/right eye/brain cross connections thing.

But if everything turns out OK, then by Thursday I should be seeing relatively normally again in both eyes and no longer have to deal with seeing my sink fill up with piss.

I hope everything goes better than well!   

Dana

No complaints tonight, just anticipations.  Tomorrow is my 2nd cataract operation (right eye).  I don't like being put under anesthesia.  Last week it took me a whole day and night to get over it.  I always worry about my wonky heart going wonkyer.  And because I have to stop taking my blood thinners before the operation I worry about blood clots and having a stroke.  Just what I don't need, going to sleep and waking up a semi-vegetable.  Would rather not wake up at all.

Although, I have to say that the left eye operation worked out quite well, I can see so much better despite my left eye viewing things properly and my right eye viewing things like I have a dirty yellow monocle over it by comparison.  That makes me see some things strangely.  Example:  when I fill the sink to do dishes, the stream of water from the faucet head is central to my view and is two toned.  Clear as crystal on the right side, but looks like piss on the left side.   Which is curious because my left eye is fixed and my right eye is not.  Must be the left/right eye/brain cross connections thing.

But if everything turns out OK, then by Thursday I should be seeing relatively normally again in both eyes and no longer have to deal with seeing my sink fill up with piss.

Having a good thought for you here :)

No complaints tonight, just anticipations.  Tomorrow is my 2nd cataract operation (right eye).  I don't like being put under anesthesia.  Last week it took me a whole day and night to get over it.  I always worry about my wonky heart going wonkyer.  And because I have to stop taking my blood thinners before the operation I worry about blood clots and having a stroke.  Just what I don't need, going to sleep and waking up a semi-vegetable.  Would rather not wake up at all.

Although, I have to say that the left eye operation worked out quite well, I can see so much better despite my left eye viewing things properly and my right eye viewing things like I have a dirty yellow monocle over it by comparison.  That makes me see some things strangely.  Example:  when I fill the sink to do dishes, the stream of water from the faucet head is central to my view and is two toned.  Clear as crystal on the right side, but looks like piss on the left side.   Which is curious because my left eye is fixed and my right eye is not.  Must be the left/right eye/brain cross connections thing.

But if everything turns out OK, then by Thursday I should be seeing relatively normally again in both eyes and no longer have to deal with seeing my sink fill up with piss.

good luck tomorrow!

No complaints tonight, just anticipations.  Tomorrow is my 2nd cataract operation (right eye).  I don't like being put under anesthesia.  Last week it took me a whole day and night to get over it.  I always worry about my wonky heart going wonkyer.  And because I have to stop taking my blood thinners before the operation I worry about blood clots and having a stroke.  Just what I don't need, going to sleep and waking up a semi-vegetable.  Would rather not wake up at all.

Although, I have to say that the left eye operation worked out quite well, I can see so much better despite my left eye viewing things properly and my right eye viewing things like I have a dirty yellow monocle over it by comparison.  That makes me see some things strangely.  Example:  when I fill the sink to do dishes, the stream of water from the faucet head is central to my view and is two toned.  Clear as crystal on the right side, but looks like piss on the left side.   Which is curious because my left eye is fixed and my right eye is not.  Must be the left/right eye/brain cross connections thing.

But if everything turns out OK, then by Thursday I should be seeing relatively normally again in both eyes and no longer have to deal with seeing my sink fill up with piss.

Another way to do an organic shape like this would be to start with say an octagon (for eight arms), add thickness, and then extrude the side faces a few times with scaling down for each one to give the tapered effect (effectively box modelling it).  Make sure in this case that the polygons are not linked so that they extrude separately - you can do all the arms at once like that (see attachment for a quick and dirty example with one level of smoothing applied. I also indented the middle rather than cutting right through).

See, I knew someone would provide a more elegant solution. Nice method Phil!

Well, my next solution builds on that idea, but still degraded back into brute force.

I created a box with about twenty segements, centered it, then went to Deform>Taper. Next, I selected about 8 segments and went to Deform>Bend and Twist and used a Bend Angle of 270 degrees to make that "hook".  Next, I selected the whole object and went ot Edit>Replicate, and selcted the Circle option, 8 copies and checked the Rotate box. Oh, and I  rotated the original object so it was aligned with the 'X' axis because of trial and error with the Replicate command. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I found this way made a nice circular array.

Next, went and created my central disc/hub. I inserted an Oval with 8 sides, extruded once to create the hole, then deleted it, and added thickness as per Phil's suggestion. I eyeballed the thickness to be about the same as the base of each arm. I then maneuvered each arm to line up with the eight sides of the central hub, leaving a bit of space inbetween, and then went around and selected the base polygon of an arm, its matching face of the hub and used the Bridge tool to connect. I repeated for all arms. See, I told you it was brute forced. 

You could also create a nice curvy polyline to your satisfaction and insert a flat plane and use the Path Sweep tool to create your initial arm. Tapering it could get cumbersome though. Just some more thoughts.

The aesthetic for my graphic novel is more classic Victorian with steampunk gadgets.  So even a classic Victorian style rail carriage would do, and Victorian / Western is a more popular genre.

I've looked at vontage railroad images and very often the engine is this shining brass and red paint machine, but the railcars are railcars ... long wood boxes with wheels.  The major differrence is the interiors, as Amtrak doesn't go in for the fancy lanterns and red velvet that the Victorians did :)

The closest I've seen are the older British style rail cars, and the Dining on the Orient sets.

As it is I think I'm going to make some textures and fixits for the Parkside sets, since I need enough passenger trains to fill out the concourse at Grand Central.  I'll probably post anything I make to my website. I'll also post the poser11 mats for the Spirit of Punk.  I'll keep you guys posted :)

LM

Bit of a Thursday morning update. It looks like Nicole is already on Bermuda, I hope everyone is hunkered down there. I'm already seeing sustained winds of 72km/h (about 50mph) at the airport (as of 12:08utc), so all the prep that was going to be done safely has been done at this point.

Keep your heads down, and Be safe y'all.

(EDIT, sustained winds 107km/h at about 13:40utc. About 66mph.)

EVGA Precision OCX is giving me a bit of grief. The fan curve is NOT being executed by the card at boot-up despite the power and temp levels running at there new settings.

And it is NOT starting up on windows boot despite the setting for it ticked. Grrrrr.   Also the program is slower then the creative volume control to fire up when I manually click on it (in excess of a minute), so the card is just baking away that entire time till the program gets its GUI out of it's back-end.

The Turbo-fan mod is progressing. I initially measured the diameter of the central vain structure before I trimmed the Easter egg height down to match the diameter of the Noctua motors, now it dose not fit, oops.

I may just find a spice bottle of the correct diameter to put there as a spacer, as the egg plastic is rather explosive when being cut any way. It's one of a few options I'm considering as the computer case has yet to arrive to start work on the bell-mouth intakes.  So that is where I am at this point, time for some morning coffee, and to look at some stuff.