My guess is that you probably installed the wrong version of the PyCarrara plugins. PyCarrara-WIn-1.0 contains 4 separate versions (C6, C7, C8-32bit and C8-64bit). Each for a different version of Carrara. Make sure you use the correct one.

Also Python 2.6 needs be installed.

It works okay on my PC  (win 11 +  C8.5 Pro) 

Ivy has a cool learning session available here too. It would be cool if both of us could get together one day at Digital Art Live and do a show together, sharing our workflows together - since no two artists work alike - these differences are what make learning fun - no matter how long we may have been doing this stuff. I love seeing my progress grow - sometimes just over night!

My "Rosie 8" page (latest news toward the top of the page) has some cool ideas that I've been introducing to my Rosie character - the tools of which will of course then work on all of my Genesis 8 and 8.1 Females.

The latest being micro-musculature animations of the face - FACS. 

I've been observing the facial behaviors of real people my whole life. Even when I was very young I loved to draw interesting people - so I eventually learned that All people are very interesting. Everybody has their own, very specific muscle movements - even when they're not doing anything. So I'm working these custom control dials directly into my figure Pose Control hierarchy - it's a Lot of fun and I have a lot of Rosie renders done that show what it can do.

Rosie's hair averages 1 to 2 hours for each 4 to 7 second clip of animation, so it takes me a little while to get them all going - but hopefully soon I'll have my Rosie 8.24 demo video together. A little higher render quality (thinks to tips from Ivy and Jay Versluis) and I'll spend more time working on the Postwork. 

I'm also constantly fighting for computer time to make more fresh music for my videos.. Having only one computer... oh well! LOL

When I first started trying DAZ Studio as my animation/rendering software (I've been into Carrara forever) just a few years ago, the forum was Filled with negativity about 'Animating in DAZ Studio', so I rebelled. I knew I could make things a Lot easier for animators in Studio - so I did.

I used what I know about DAZ Studio's Content Creation Tools that I learned to use for my Carrara endeavors, and used that to leverage an easier way to animate - since, although they've improved since all of this, DAZ Studio timeline can be pretty... unfriendly? and crude-feeling when we first start playing around with it.

It turned out that my method can almost entirely remove the need for a graph editor. I still use the graph editor - and I certainly wasn't 'looking to replace' the graph editor by any means. I'm accustomed to working in graph editors. But the solution just had that side-effect to it - using dials right on the figure instead of using the graph editor.

There was still a Lot of dis-belief. So I decided to make a mock-up animation video to demonstrate some animation and prove that the negativity doesn't hold the weight that the authors (of said negativity) say it has.

This was the resulting little short - just a fun exploration of my new method and learning to really enjoy rendering in Iray!

Which all started building and growing and... well... then came Paul Bussey at Digital Art Live, offering me the chance to tell my story to the world, and we came up with Dynamic Character Animation in DAZ Studio!

Which, in turn, led to The Power of aniMate 2 - which covers a Lot more than just aniMate. I'm having a lot of fun with these!

Interesting, I asked following question while talking to copilot on bing and here is the answer:

What are the benefits of using Carrara 3D SDK?

Certainly! The Carrara 3D SDK offers several benefits for developers and creators who want to extend the capabilities of the Carrara 3D software:

1. Custom Plugin Development:

   • With the Carrara 3D SDK, you can create custom plugins tailored to your specific needs.
   • These plugins can enhance existing features, automate tasks, or introduce entirely new functionality to Carrara.
   • Whether you’re building tools for modeling, animation, rendering, or other aspects of 3D content creation, the SDK provides the framework to do so.

2. Integration with Carrara Workflow:

   • By using the SDK, you can seamlessly integrate your custom tools and extensions into the Carrara workflow.
   • This means that your plugins become part of the user interface, allowing artists and designers to access them directly within the software.
   • Integration ensures a cohesive experience for users who rely on Carrara for their 3D projects.

3. Extendable Features:

   • Carrara’s core features are powerful, but the SDK allows you to take them further.
   • You can extend existing tools, modify behavior, or create entirely new panels and dialogs.
   • Whether you’re adding import/export options, enhancing the rendering engine, or creating specialized shaders, the SDK gives you the flexibility to innovate.

4. Community Contributions:

   • The Carrara community benefits from the creativity of developers who contribute to the ecosystem.
   • By building and sharing plugins, you enrich the software for everyone.
   • Collaborating with other Carrara enthusiasts fosters a supportive environment where ideas flow freely.

5. Personalized Workflows:

   • The SDK empowers you to tailor Carrara to your unique workflow.
   • If you have specific requirements or repetitive tasks, custom plugins can streamline your processes.
   • Whether you’re an animator, game developer, or architect, personalized tools enhance productivity.

6. Learning and Skill Development:

   • Working with the Carrara 3D SDK provides an opportunity to learn about software development, APIs, and 3D graphics.
   • It’s a chance to hone your programming skills and gain practical experience.
   • As you create and refine plugins, you’ll deepen your understanding of both Carrara and software architecture.

Remember that while the Carrara 3D SDK opens up exciting possibilities, it’s essential to adhere to licensing terms and respect intellectual property rights. Happy coding and 3D modeling! 

I just grabbed the SubDragon Textures pack and discovered that it also comes with Carrara Shaders for each of the texture styles! Sweet!!!

Something cool I've also discovered working with the mighty, legacy SubDragon is that, in Base Resolution (no SubD applied), it is Incredibly easy on the system! Wow! 

In Studio, even if I have the Iray viewport option enabled, I can actually Play an animation! That's Crazy!!!

But it also means that Carrara will have a Blast with this thing!

Just to be clear, the Millennium SubDragon was Daz 3D's first SubD figure using their then new SubD technology which became the foundation for the entire Genesis line afterwards. However, the timing for Carrara users is Perfect! It's using some of Daz 3D's Best Work of the day and, get this, before their figures went from Poser CR2 figures to DUF or DSB or whatever they started changing into - so Millennium SubDragon is Poser CR2!!!

Why is that cool? Because those Poser CR2's have Awesome compatibility with Carrara!!! 

The Textures Pack has Carrara shaders included, but if any of you need help making Carrara shaders for the awesome textures it comes with, just hit me up and I'll work you through it! Serious!

Plus, it's the Only Dragon that I know of that has a Complete aniBlock pack available for it - and the animations are pretty darned cool!!!

I have some of them rendered in this promo video I made (Creative Cart promo below), if you want to check them out - and I have a bunch of links to the dragon and texture pack in my Pestryakov and the Dragon page.

Love you All forever, 

Dartanbeck

In the Webinar that the promo is about, I rendered out examples of each of MysticShard/SimonWM's aniBlock Collection. They looked really cool rendered out with optimized materials like that - and I slowed them down to 50% so we could 'see' the movements better in a single play through. It was awesome!!!

Richard Haseltine said:

Samuel S. said:

Normally (Software Development Kit) SDKs are open to public for application development? Here we are talking about Software development; why is this not the case with Carrara SDK?

It is still up to Daz to provide the tools, or not - it isn't something enduers can decide for themselves without prior permission.

Thank you. Are not all Carrara users eligible to get a free download of Carrara SDK from DAZ? 

Dartanbeck said:

A fun little "Appreciation" story

DAZ Studio : The Creative Cart may be all about the cool stuff we get at Daz 3d - and endeavors to help all of us dust off what we have in our libraries and put them to creative, artistic use, but since it gives me the opportunity to promote it, it also opens up the ability to call out Thanks to the people involved it making it all happen.

Of course, we can't get that all done in a single video - heavens no! So I guess I'll have to keep making more and more videos! :)

 

This one shouts out appreciation to several people who actively helped this whole thing along. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I appreciate All of YOU!!!

Okay, first of all I'd like to thank All who came to the show!

Your interaction with questions, ideas, experiences, etc., and the wonderful artwork you share is Amazing to me! I Love this!!! It's cool to see fellow Carrara users attending as well! So Cool!!!

I think its truly wonderful how we can all hang out and share like this, and I feel that Paul Bussey is perfect at running the show, don't you? He tracks the questions and makes sure that I get them, he calls on anyone and everyone to share their screen so we can see what you're working on... it's all so very organic and artistically healthy! I love it!!!

I put a Lot into these things - recording myself work in Studio and, instead of cutting, I speed up lengthy processes and procedures to keep the flow and allow for So Many products and tips and tricks to be explored, and you folks make it all worth it - Big Time!!! I've even been creating all new special music just for the promos! So while this show is fun and organic, it's also forcing me to become better at all of this, which is a real Rush! I really have to start training myself to Go To Sleep once in a while! Sheeesh!!! LOL

I'd also like to express how honored I am that the video in the above quote has gained over 1.9K views in only 2 weeks!

For some YouTubers, that might not seem like much. For me... it's Golden!!! 

Thank You Thank You Thank You, to All of You!!! 

If anyone wants to know what was going on in "Pestryakov and the Dragon", the support page on my website explains a lot with pictures and links and will likely grow with more info, tips and tricks, etc., as time moves on!

There's a Lot of cool stuff on the horizon! I have a rather massive library of really cool stuff that's calling out to me because it wants to be demonstrated in interesting ways on:

The Creative Cart!!! 

Carrara Bend & Twist Modifier

Samuel S. said:

Normally (Software Development Kit) SDKs are open to public for application development? Here we are talking about Software development; why is this not the case with Carrara SDK?

It is still up to Daz to provide the tools, or not - it isn't something enduers can decide for themselves without prior permission.

This is more for daz3d to answer than us, the users. But Daz involvement is encouraged.

Daz has come a long way. The main focus of daz3d is Daz Studio and its vast high quality content, for the generalist, the entertainment industry and the hobbyist alike.The Aqcuisition of Bryce, Hexagon and Carrara have rescued these three programs that were believed dead. We thank you, Daz, for that. It is only in that interest and spirit of Daz, to not only keep these programs alive in a hospital bed on dripfeed, but to make them walk again on their own. To make this happen, please pin this posting for an open community discourse to see where this could lead. There are surely developers who have the ambition and time to get these programs back out of the wheelchairs.

1. What involvement, if any,  does TGS and formerely eovia still have in regard with Daz-Carrara today?

2. Would you allow the community to file for Carrara to be given/purchased to make it OpenSource?

3. Is Carrara still under a TGS license? If, for how long or perpetual?

4. Would you consider to allow Carrara to be developed further under an (open) DAZ Community License?

5. Would you grant the developer community at daz3d.com access to further Carrara development, if they can prove that they have legally purchased Carrara (Carrara development under an extented eovia SDK License)?

— Thank You! —

therixx said:

Thank you Samuel. very interesting. What did you do in Carrara and what in DS?

I got the Genesis 2 Creature ready in DAZ with animation clips. And opened that scene file inside Carrara.

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.

Normally (Software Development Kit) SDKs are open to public for application development? Here we are talking about Software development; why is this not the case with Carrara SDK?

Thank you Samuel. very interesting. What did you do in Carrara and what in DS?

I'll remember the fonts tip, Dart. I think wine would be nice as I have heard Carrara works properly in it.
About the rest, I completely agree with you.
And I hope your being positive will work for our beloved programs, too.
By the way, it is very nice to see you also on Digital Arts Live. I often attend their webinars and surely like to also be in yours.

Just make sure you have the default Carrara fonts in Linux. When I tried running it using Wine, it seemed to run great, but even though I know may way around Carrara, I was lost with all of the text being little rectangles! Yikes!!!

The hard part is that, when you're under-the-gun to get product out, having to fight just to get software to work turns into a nightmare. I truly hope that some of the new folks at Daz 3d decide that putting Bryce, Hex and Carrara back into perpetual development is as good an idea as it truly is. 

In this day and age, folks are wanting to make and animate art. Carrara, Bryce and Hex are Great tools! It would be (I think) in their best interest to shine them up and present their new versions to the world of 3D artists - not as a subscription-based rent-a-ware, but a nice, perpetual licensed set of apps that people can create art with - without breaking the bank!

I must admit - I have been a DAZ Studio nay-sayer for many years. 

Since I started down the path (strictly because of that Hair!!!) of usind DAZ Studio for animating and rendering, learning more and more about it, the more I love it! Especially the wonderful interface that we can set up Any Way We Want - and even have several layouts that we can swap between if we want to. I don't. But I also don't think that I have mine set up like anyone else either - simply because all I ever do is animate. So I have this on that side, that thing over here....

It did take a little investment to add plugins that bring it closer to what I do, but Daz being Daz, as I find that I need stuff - boom... there it is on sale! LOL

Thank you as always Dart, for being such a Carrara supporter (and other things, too).

If I understood right, TangoAlpha had to stop using Carrara because his updated Mac OS do not work with it anymore.

Workarounds in cases like that could be:

1) Running Carrara under virtualization of an OS that supports Carrara inside our main OS (like Virtualbox or similar).
2) Running Carrara under Wine in Linux

Richard Haseltine said:

rk66 said:

I have the SDK here. I would like to upload it here. But I'm not sure with the max size for the attachmenmts. The SDK ist about 50 MB.

The EULA does not allow you to share it with others in any event.

oh, sure thing, but you (DAZ) are not willing to provide the SDK here, other than just saying no, no, you can't this and that, eventhough YOU (Daz) are able to give a link here to all as long as your site is down. I try to think: someone from daz3d is reaching out here, knowing the issue but is unwilling to give green light to resolve the matter. hm …

Well, thank you for your kindness, but unfortunately the case is still not resolved for some Carrara users.

I found a free Python Plugin. Not sure how far one can go with this, but's a start, maybe (PyCarrara-Win-1.0)

Here the Keyboard Shortcuts for Cararra 8.x (PDF format) - english version - for people who are interested. (It's the "lost" file from the CarraraCafe)

WendyLuvsCatz said:

Fettbemme said:

WendyLuvsCatz said:

if they don't have a copy anymore there are plenty of us that do including me that can supply them with one to put on GitHub or somewhere if they don't want to host it

a PM would do for me right now …

 

will try and do this legally, I am hesitant to act otherwise, cannot speak for others  

I too want to do this legally. Hence the support ticket.

I find the Carrara SDK License Agreement is too strict regarding distribution. Most SDKs are more freely distributable.

RuudL said:

Well, I could upload the SDK to my webpage on SourceForge, but I'm not sure whether that is allowed, considering the LA (license Agreement)

You may not reverse engineer, de-compile, disassemble, translate, alter, adapt, transfer, assign, rent, resell or in any way distribute the Product or the Software that is supplied to you under this License. You may not use the Software to create applications that would compete with the Product or eliminate the use of the Product. You may not modify the Software.

so, no, you can't. unfortunately

but submit a ticket to DAZ, they will answer your question!

this means, if DAZ does not give us a Link to download, we are screwed unless it says somwhere in the Carrara Software or SDK License that we are granted free access somewhat to the SDK via means of DAZ or other develoers. Maybe. And then, is this the last EULA of the 8.1.1.12  version? If so we could file a ticket to DAZ.