Oh wow, Danas. This is great news!
But now we also want your own website back online :-)
Just joking, thanks so much fo solving the problem and still loving Carrara.

Hello, 

Sorry it took so long, but Carrara Cafe is back! 

Steve from DAZ3D was really helpfull and we arranged a new entrance for me so i could log in to the hosting and with the help from custumer support we were able to eliminate the cause of the issue. 
I know there were some new things made for Carrara so the authors can contact me to upload the news and plug-ins to Cafe, so that they would also be seen there. 

Hope all is well! 

By the way, any recoomendation what could replace wordpress as cms? I am thinking to part ways with wordpress and redo Carrara Cafe to something less problematic. 
Maybe we have someone familiar with Jekyll or somethng I could consult with? 

Headwax said:

Lovely work all , here is my daz ai , no carrara needed, I was impressed that daz owns rights to images of tr ump, love the workflow with the Dino dio mede , last promo is t Rump eats sausage dog

and also b i d e n 

Headwax said:

Lovely work all , here is my daz ai , no carrara needed, I was impressed that daz owns rights to images of tr ump, love the workflow with the Dino dio mede , last promo is t Rump eats sausage dog

AI is a bit silly at times - takes things a bit too literally !!! https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8682876/#Comment_8682876

how wacky is that... of course an AI response is needed 

"Wow, this artwork is truly stunning! The level of detail and realism achieved with Carrara 3D software is impressive. The textures, lighting, and composition all come together to create a visually striking piece that draws the viewer in. The AI algorithm has done an amazing job of generating a unique and captivating image. The colors are vibrant and rich, and the overall atmosphere is immersive. The artist's skillful use of Carrara's tools has resulted in a work of art that showcases the software's capabilities. Bravo!"

Lovely work all , here is my daz ai , no carrara needed, I was impressed that daz owns rights to images of tr ump, love the workflow with the Dino dio mede , last promo is t Rump eats sausage dog

What is the softest thing you've ever touched? What was your favourite plushie when you were a child? Who's hiding underneath the down duvet? What are those fluffy little rabbits up to now? Which is your favourite oversized sweater? Who whispers softly, yet speaks with power? Have you ever eaten a souffle so fluffy and soft, it melts in your mouth? Why does everything look more romantic when you use a soft focus lens? If clouds are so airy and fluffy, how can they bring so much destruction? And just how does Rapunzel keep her hair so soft and silky? Wrap yourself in your softest knit blanket, the theme of the month is Soft as Plush, Smooth as Silk!

New rule: The use of image generating AI technology (midjourney, stable diffusion, DAZ AI Studio, etc.) is not allowed. The use of items (freebies or paid) that have been created with such technology is also not allowed. We realise it's not always easy to tell; let's all use our best judgement, and you can always ask the person hosting the contest if you're not sure.

The Rules For This Months Freebie Challenge are:

1. A minimum of  (5) Freebies must be included in your image along with Links to the freebies you have used. For an item to be considered free it must be offered as a freebie for the whole month. The exception to this rule is all Daz Bi-Weekly Freebies will be allowed throughout the entire month in which they are free as well as the month following their release as a freebie (For a total of 2 months). Also, if a freebie is broken down into multiple downloads/links/parts (IE like if the freebie is broken down into 3 zips etc...)it only counts as 1 freebie, not 3.

2. There will be a Maximum of 5 purchased items.
3. Base figures (All Gen 2,3,4, and Genesis 1,2,3,8 and 9) as well as their general morphs packs (Morphs++ and similar) do not count as a purchased item or a freebie and may be used as needed
4.Your Rendered Picture must be a new render and postwork is allowed but you MUST include a before and after Postwork versions of your entry in the Entry Thread.
5. All DAZ 3D Programs are allowed (IE Bryce, Carrara, Daz Studio and Hexagon) plus Poser for the contest.
6. All entries are subject to the Daz3D TOS Found Here: Terms Of Service
7. You may enter a Maximum of 4 Entries per month.

8. You may edit your entry as much as you like in the main thread but once it is posted to the "Entries Thread" it may not be further modified. Also, if you edit or add things, be sure you update any links or freebie changes you make.
9. The use of image generating AI technology (midjourney, stable diffusion, etc.) is not allowed. The use of items (freebies or paid) that have been created with such technology is also not allowed. We realise it's not always easy to tell; let's all use our best judgement, and you can always ask the person hosting the contest if you're not sure.

This Freebie Challenge will end May 31st, 2024 @ 23:59 Daz time.

*Please Note: Please allow 7 days from the Announcement of the Winners to receive your prize*
If you have not recived your prize, or have any questions, please contact Linwelly, Saphirewild, or Hylas in a PM here on the forums 

Post your images and freebie links here for link verification. Once the links are verified, you can post your image and links in Entries Thread for judging.

First Place: $15 store credit from KindredArts
Second Place: $10 store credit from KindredArts
Third Place: $5 store credit from KindredArts

Past Freebie Contests (the links to previous years can still be found in last years challenges):

January 2022 - Around and around and around...

February 2022 - Mysteries of the heart

March 2022- Luck Of The Draw

April 2022 - New Beginnings

May 2022 - Cozy Corner

June/July 2022 - The Secret Life Of...

August 2022- Sniff, sniff... what's that smell?

September 2022-Cars Cars and More Cars

October 2022 - Horror Movies

November 2022 - Thieves, Robbers, and Fraudsters all around!

December 2022 - The Night is Darkest...

January 2023 Speed Demons and Slowpokes

February 2023- I See Red

March / April 2023 Magical

May 2023 - Sweet Music

June/July 2023  Holes, Gaps, Caves, Tunnels

August 2023 Fabulous Pink

September 2023 Gardening

October 2023 Hallowed Night

November 2023 Wobble, jiggle, sway, and shake

December 2023 / January 2024 Driving Home For...

February 2024 The Glow Up

March 2024 Power Source

What is the softest thing you've ever touched? What was your favourite plushie when you were a child? Who's hiding underneath the down duvet? What are those fluffy little rabbits up to now? Which is your favourite oversized sweater? Who whispers softly, yet speaks with power? Have you ever eaten a souffle so fluffy and soft, it melts in your mouth? Why does everything look more romantic when you use a soft focus lens? If clouds are so airy and fluffy, how can they bring so much destruction? And just how does Rapunzel keep her hair so soft and silky? Wrap yourself in your softest knit blanket, the theme of the month is Soft as Plush, Smooth as Silk!

New rule: The use of image generating AI technology (midjourney, stable diffusion, DAZ AI Studio, etc.) is not allowed. The use of items (freebies or paid) that have been created with such technology is also not allowed. We realise it's not always easy to tell; let's all use our best judgement, and you can always ask the person hosting the contest if you're not sure.

The Rules For This Months Freebie Challenge are:

1. A minimum of  (5) Freebies must be included in your image along with Links to the freebies you have used. For an item to be considered free it must be offered as a freebie for the whole month. The exception to this rule is all Daz Bi-Weekly Freebies will be allowed throughout the entire month in which they are free as well as the month following their release as a freebie (For a total of 2 months). Also, if a freebie is broken down into multiple downloads/links/parts (IE like if the freebie is broken down into 3 zips etc...)it only counts as 1 freebie, not 3.
2. There will be a Maximum of 5 purchased items.
3. Base figures (All Gen 2,3,4, and Genesis 1,2,3) as well as their general morphs packs (Morphs++ and similar) do not count as a purchased item or a freebie and may be used as needed
4.Your Rendered Picture must be a new render and postwork is allowed but you MUST include a before and after Postwork versions of your entry in the Entry Thread.
5. All DAZ 3D Programs are allowed (IE Bryce, Carrara, Daz Studio and Hexagon) plus Poser for the contest.
6. All entries are subject to the Daz3D TOS Found Here: Terms Of Service
7. You may enter a Maximum of 4 Entries per month.
8. You may edit your entry as much as you like in the main thread but once it is posted to the "Entries Thread" it may not be further modified. Also, if you edit or add things, be sure you update any links or freebie changes you make.

9. The use of image generating AI technology (midjourney, stable diffusion, etc.) is not allowed. The use of items (freebies or paid) that have been created with such technology is also not allowed. We realise it's not always easy to tell; let's all use our best judgement, and you can always ask the person hosting the contest if you're not sure.

This Freebie Challenge will end May 31st, 2024 @ 23:59 Daz time.

*Please Note: Please allow 7 days from the Announcement of the Winners to recive your prize*
If you have not recived your prize, or have any questions, please contact Linwelly, Saphirewild, or Hylas in a PM here on the forums 

Post your images and freebie links here for judging after verification. For the verification you can post your image and links in Main Thread.

First Place: $15 store credit from KindredArts
Second Place: $10 store credit from KindredArts
Third Place: $5 store credit from KindredArts

Any other donations for prizes will be gratefully accepted.  Please send a PM to Saphirewild

Dartanbeck said:

Carrara certainly is a Gem!

Especially regarding the title of the thread! Carrara ROCKS for home or office CG!

The smooth workings between it and anything Genesis 2 and earlier as far as off-the-shelf compatibility - for the most part, but far beyond figure compatibility, 8.5's new Shader and Sequencer tools make this puppy really sing - not to mentiontion everything else it has going for it.

As far as PBR, I think it would be cool if OTOY would come up with a free version for Carrara like they do Studio... that would be Killer! And would solve the PBR thing. If you've never tried Octane, try it in DS following these simple videos (All Free) - but if one can afford the OctaneRender subscription... hey!

 

When I'm in Carrara, I really enjoy using it's powerhouse render engine - the thing is so fun to set up in different ways to get the visuals I want. 

 

As far as VFX goes, Carrara can render Beautiful FX shots already produced with a nice Alpha channel along with a plethors of other, easy to set up multipass options that make post work a Lot of fun and flexibility!

 

Man, I've seen some of the onboard FX primitives get ridiculed, but are they ever cool for making things like this! I mean... the fog primitive animates in So Many Ways, with just the flick of some dials and picks from the color picker... Bam! The Fire can be all kinds of things and - if we were with this all long enough where we got our hands on Inagoni's plugins... Yikes!!! PrimiVol still makes the best CG Sci-Fi Star Ship engine flames!!! 

 

I also love how easy it is to just quickly build a 3D object - however we decide to cerate it. Heck... it could be a circle, for all that matters, add some rigging to it, perhaps a modifier or three... we can make such cool things that can be animated into special FX! 

 

Just using Carrara to create VFX as 3D animation elements should be a big draw right there - and we're not even close to one one-quadra-bazillionth of what we can do in this thing! :)

 

I'm surprised that it's not popular enough to warrant development. Maybe that's not it at all and something else (like Genesis 3+ compatibility) is throwing a Monkey Wrench into the works.... ?

 

With GenX2, I can reliably get Genesis 3, 2 and Generation 4 and 3 morphs onto Genesis 1 - which is a great figure to work with, I think. Genesis 2, even, if you like that generation better. I still use all of the generations except for Genesis 9, which crashes my machine as does Genesis 8.1 Female, and it's really rare for me to go back to 1 and 2 since Genesis came out. 

 

The volumetric cone lighting alone makes for excellent CG alpha shots for VFX, and we can render to alpha lens flares accurate to the placement of the camera. That's Sweet!

 

Speaking of plugins, we have PyCloid and our particles emitters! Haven't tried PyCloid, but it looks cool! I did try FractalDimensia's Flocking, which was a Lot of Fun!!!

 

All of the flexibility that with have with file handling and shader creation - especially if we add the overflowing wealth of plugins we can add for that! Sheeesh!

Did you know that we can load in an avi and render it to sequenced images and vice versa? Even render to (but not open) animated GIF!!! Just open the thing in the Render Room and Save As... whatever!

 

Built-in entirely flexible shadow catching capabilities are great for creating masks for VFX Elements that cast shadows. Get the dimensions of the room and what's in it and recreate that with primitives with shadow catcher shader... Bam!!! Even animated!

 

I absolutely LOVE how we can drag a selection around ANY (even All) key frames in the sequencer, and it's now (8.5) got a little ghost box around it. Drag the top of the box up or down to increase or decrease the values controlled by those frames. Side-to-side for stretching of constricting... very handy!!!

 

I could never use the linear lights until 8.5's enhanced light avatars. Now I use them All the Time!!! I mean... they mimic tube lighting pretty well! 

 

I got absolutely addicted to making simple models and painting them in 3D Paint and/or shaping them in a very similar way using the paint deform in vertex modeling - so cool!!! 

 

With the addition of just a few, simple bones, I made a sci-fi computer console that we could make into endless shapes with simply because I didn't enforce a single limit on any of the rigging bones! So any bone could be scaled, moved, and rotated with ease - making sci-fi decorations a breeze! The controls and buttons, etc., were all just simple models, also made in Carrara, that were parented to the face of the console, so they would follow the vertices as I's shape the rig - without deforming the actual controls or buttons. etc.,, which have Very Nice shaders! Translucent, and some transparent buttons that could illuminate or dim with the simple dial of the Glow channel which, like pretty much Everything in Carrara, can be animated. We can even control shader aspects with videos or sequenced images! So Cool!!!

 

FluidOs for Carrara is Killer... and it's Free!!! What? Yeah... I know!

 

Well, I could keep going but it's time for this one to get some shut-eye! ;)

 

Looking for Carrara Plugins? Look No Further!

To see what I have for free Carrara stuff, check navgation bar at the top of my website and go through Gallery > Downloads. That opens up to a few different places.

That navigation bar also makes it a lot easier to find your way around the many Carrara sections. If you can't seem to find what you're looking for, maybe try looking into the various CG Workshop categories, which is where a bunch of my Character Development, Animation and other articles are - it's just the flow that works best for me is all. 

Let me know if you need any help with something.

Thank you for sharing valuable information. Carrara allows me to do everything in one place and is also an excellent previz tool that increases productivity.

Fettbemme said:

Samuel S. said:

Carrara can empower 3D hobbyists way way faster than any other 3D software that I am aware of. This is where its power and marketing value lies Like VFX, SKY, Terrain, Ocean, 3D modeling, Animation etc. etc. I think it does need new PBR based rendering and character animation tool like rig controls. Add a bit of AI and then based on its attractive price and perpetual license; it could be a dominating force along side DAZ Studio.

 

I think what is needed is a working download for the Carrara SDK.

What else is needed visual realtime updates for Modifiers

The Vertexmodeler needs improving (Display preferences what you want to see to reduce consumption of systemresources — display Edges, Vertices or Faces and if you really want to crawl your system to a halt leave it as it is right now and just display everything. Vertices, Edges and Faces all at the same time!!!)

Itegrate a better working version of LuxCore!

Make a production-stable Industrystandard Python Plugin Pipeline like in Blender.

UPDATE THE MANUAL

UPDATE THE MANUAL

UPDATE THE MANUAL

AND:

Committ yourself to your customers and don't leave them in the corner with silly popup ads.

Committ yourself!!! Seriously!!!

Answer all support requests!!!

Committment is half the dose needed to be a trustworthy player in the game!

— kind regards —

Thank you for your feedback. Hopefully, DAZ's development will take a look at the requested items.

The RRRR is back for another round!

This time the theme is "Picture, or it didn't happen". It's a theme with endless possibilities, just render something that the render proves it really happened.

RRRR stands for Random Runtime Roulette Renders, and it's a contest that has been running for over seven years until it needed a well deserved break. We invite anyone to enter, specially all those new users who have shown up the past years. This is not the usual make a very nice render contest but more like tell a really great story, often fun, with your render!

How does it work?
Make your pull of 4 items, and if your any Lucky Bastards, you pull one extra item per LB.

Who can play?

Anyone can play!

How do you prepare yourself for play?

The rules are very simple, but first you need to have all your items in some kind of order in a text file, dumped from the itemized history into a text file or a spread sheet. Remove things like software, gift certs, and special plugins from the list and items that wil not work with the software you work with.
 For example if you have items for Poser, Bryce or Carrara, and want to use DAZ Studio, remove those other items from your list. If you have loads of older figures, M3, M4, a ton of non Iray stuff and you only want to use Studio with Iray, remove all the junk from you list. 

Then you use a randomizer to randomly pick items from your list (your Runtime/My Library) for your start pull . You can use items from any store. Now build a scene with those 4 items plus any other items you want to add to make a fun scene. For newcomers I heartly recommend looking at the previous contests below to get ideas how you can do this. 

Working randomizer:: https://www.random.org/integers

There are some situations where you allowed to redraw, these are:


- You pulled something that doesn’t work, broken thing, only works in a version / software not used etc etc, or you forgot to remove that item from you list even though you knew it wont work, or figure that out later.
- You pulled a software or add-on to a software or anything you should have filtered out from the list.
- You pulled only huge environment props and will not be able to render a scene without crashing.
- You pulled an item you already have been using in two RRRR renders in this content and that was picked randomly. Three is a curse - rule!

Lucky Bastard Rule!
I say this again: If you have Lucky Bastards, you pull one extra item for each LB you have, simple as that. 
Explaination of Lucky Bastards. 
Lucky Bastards, or LBs, are a form of handicap system which makes the contest a little more difficult for those who have won. No lucky bastards are in play now, but will be for the next run.

Current Lucky Bastards Standings:

How to play?
You pull, you compose and you Render. You post your images and pulls in this thread (Don't miss that, entries without pulls and posts in this thread will be disqualified!!).
Then the entry should also be posted in the Entries only thread

Bundles
If you pull a bundle, use two or three complete items from it, or more if you like, but you do not need to use all, but only picking a hairpin from Victoria 8 Pro Bundle is “too little”. Clarification: A bundle still counts as only one pulled item.

Poses, Expressions and textures/colors
If you pull a pose pack, an expression pack or a texture/color pack, you only need to use one of them, not all. For example if you pull 500 expressions for Genesis 8 Female, use one, if you pull 128 colors for Frappe Hair, use one.
Accidenty breaking the TOS
If your entry is removed by the forum mods because it accidentally, not deliberate, broke the TOS, you do not have to redo that entry but can move on and make a new pull. 

The rules of madness! 
Now you have successfully and randomly picked your items, make a scene, you can add other items as well but the one you picked should be prominent or cleverly used. Render it, post it and make us all laugh! Remember though that the renders must follow the TOS of the forum. As we have a theme on the contest, the render should in some way touch that theme. 

The contest categories! 
There are two categories Best and Funniest. Every image will compete in both categories.

Contest duration!
It starts now at  Friday April 19, 2024, and will go on all over the holidays until Sunday June 23, 2024 at 23:59:59 local DAZ time.

This months sponsors so far:
Totte (Code 66) is sponsoring with two items from his store
Elliandra is sponsoring with two items from her store
acb has sponsored with a $20 DAZ GC.
Luci45 has sponsored with a $25 DAZ GC.

We want more sponsors!

Do you want to sponsor the RRRR?
Please chip in a gift card sponsorship, sponsors can play, they should play, they are even extra encouraged to play, as sponsors always plays for keeps.

Maximum number of entries? 
For this round it will be a maximum of 12 entries per player.

So, good luck and start your render engines!

therixx said:

Dartanbeck said:

To include some animation examples with the upcoming Starry Sky Iray, I built a little star ship quickly using primitives and shaders (DS).

 

After watching it back, I'm thinking... Oh no. The last thing I want is to have an Editorial License slapped on it just for a simple demo!

So on Wednesday, I slapped a Saturday Sphere into Carrara's vertex room and made me a nice little ship, I think! LOL

 

Dart, you went from Enterprise to Batwing, in my opinion :-) 

Yeah - when I went into Carrara to make the second one, I was simply trying to make something that didn't look very recognizeable - and I did it all very quickly! LOL

It's horrible! LOL   But when I threw it into space, it just started cruisin' along. So....

Dartanbeck said:

To include some animation examples with the upcoming Starry Sky Iray, I built a little star ship quickly using primitives and shaders (DS).

After watching it back, I'm thinking... Oh no. The last thing I want is to have an Editorial License slapped on it just for a simple demo!

So on Wednesday, I slapped a Saturday Sphere into Carrara's vertex room and made me a nice little ship, I think! LOL

Dart, you went from Enterprise to Batwing, in my opinion :-) 

Diomede said:

Stezza said:

some weird and wacky craft I have modelled in Carrara 8.5 during it's 10 year mission 

Impressive.  Most impressive!  (Cue the Darth Vader voice from Empire Strikes Back).  

+1

Stezza said:

some weird and wacky craft I have modelled in Carrara 8.5 during it's 10 year mission 

Impressive.  Most impressive!  (Cue the Darth Vader voice from Empire Strikes Back).  

rk66 said:

He has already written plug-ins for Carrara, hence my link to him here.

( https://sharecg.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name=nolineal )

Thanks.

He has already written plug-ins for Carrara, hence my link to him here.

( https://sharecg.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name=nolineal )

@Dartanbeck - The german manual yes.

See screenshot here for more info.

You find here:

> The german manual for Carrara 8.x

> The german language pack for Carrara 8.x

> The official german manual for Cararra Studio 3.x

> Carrara Shortcuts Reference - 1x the version in English, 1x the version in German

A few pics here.

Dartanbeck said:

To counter this, there are several options - Carrrara's modeling tools by the first that I would suggest. Just load the whole thing in the default pose and work the mesh to fit and still look nice.

Philemo was working on a fantastic plugin that I no longer know where to find - NoPoke, which ended up being abandoned for the VDW <> Carrara Bridge, which is Amazing for making clothing fit.

Fit Control Absolutely ROCKS!!! The morphs won't work directly in Carrara, but I believe that, if you turn off Mesh Smoothing in DS, then loaded Fit Control and adjusted the clothing to fit and nudged a few dials that you might like to be able to use in Carrara, then use Fit Control to remove unused morphs, then save to the library for Carrara use, you'll have some really nice adjustment morphs to use during your Carrara experience. Just pick the correct Fit Control for the correct figure and go to town!

For my DAZ Studio experience, I bought Mesh Grabber Bundle (Win) (MacOS) to be my Carrara modeling tweak for within DAZ Studio. The really fun side effect of using that is that we can use it no matter how the character (figure) is posed and still be able to save the changes as a morph - also no matter what shapes are dialed up on the figure. It's a really nice mesh tweaker. Again, that's something you'd do in Studio first, then save for Carrara use.

Thanks Dart. I'll try those.

As some of you may know, DAZ refuses to answer my support request getting access to the Carrara SDK. That is now over two weeks ago. Therefore I am unable to develop a Plugin for Carrara 8.5.1 Pro Win64bit. If anyone is interested in developinfg a Plugin for me, please state sum of reimbursement via PM. Objective: a greeble Plugin similar to Tom Klanky's 3ds max greeble Plugin freely available at his website. An alternative could be developed with the OpenSource provided in ZIP format to download here in this forum (download provided). Originally, the plugin was developed with a different SDK, other than Carrara, but OpenSource for another commercial program.

If you are interested developing this Plugin for me, let me know. I pay you a reasonable but not over the top reimbursement within my limits. Your ideas either here or via PM. Payment discussions please only via PM and not here openly in the forum.

Thanks