Documentation Center artzone:pub:tutorials:carrara

artzone:pub:tutorials:carrara:3dmypage_carrara_001

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Thank You Kraig Hausmann of DAZ Support for requesting this tutorial.

Please follow this link: 3D Human Art Tutorials

Glad to help,
3DHumanArt.com

3D Modeling and Mapping Textures in easy steps for Beginners

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

3D Modeling and Mapping Textures in easy steps for Beginners

Thank You, DAZ 3D, for bringing 3D to everyone!

Please follow this link: 3D Human Art Tutorials

Glad to help,
3DHumanArt.com

A Beginners Assembly Room Guide

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

A Beginners Assembly Room Guide

Author: Smags

Tools Needed

Carrara 5

Introduction

This tutorial covers some essential features found in the Carrara Assembly room. This guide can be a starting point for anyone that is new to Carrara or 3D Modeling.

Step 1: Create a new scene and positioning a primitive.

Step 2: Setting up the viewports

Step 3: Resize and zoom in on our object.

Step 4: A quick look at Using the Camera tools.

Step 5: Add a Sphere to the scene.

Step 6: Moving and Duplicating objects.

Step 7: Adding sides to our object.

Step 8: Setting up the Hot Point.

Step 9: Grouping our Object

Step 10: Adding textures to our object.

Step 11: Saving and rendering our object.

Carrara: Working with real-world dimensions

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara: Working with real-world dimensions

Author: myvirtuallady

Tools Needed

DAZ|Studio
Carrara 5

Step 1 - Setup the working box in Carrara

Open Carrara Pro 5.

Create a new project to transform and scale your figure.

Select a new empty document for the moment.

The Working box appears. Choose View menu > Grid, or press Ctrl+J to open the Grid Window. These default values must be changed in order to represent real-world dimensions for your DAZ character.

Change these values as following to resize the Working box, then press Ok.You can now import your DAZ character

Step 2 - Import the DAZ character and cloth

Choose File menu > Import, to import your DAZ character. This is a .cr2 file in your runtime / librairies folder (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ People).

Select Victoria 3 SAE.cr2 file and press Ok to import your DAZ character.

Before resizing the character, import with the same way V3 Wild & Messy.cr2 (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ Hair) and V3 Bikini Full sr1.cr2 (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\V3 Morphing Clothes).

V3 Bikini Full sr1.cr2 and V3 Wild & Messy.cr2 must be conformed to figure 1 of Victoria 3 SAE.cr2. To do this :

Select Figure 1 of V3 Bikini Full sr1.cr2 in the lower part of the Porperties tray : Instances panel.
Select Conform to in the middle part of the Properties tray : Figure 2 : General panel.
Select Figure 1 into the drop down menu of the Conform to window.

Then press Ok.

Do the same way for V3 Wild & Messy.cr2 in order to conform to Victoria 3 SAE character.

Step 3 - Scale and pose the figure

Select DAZ character Victoria 3 SAE.cr2 into the lower part of the Properties tray. Open the Motion panel : Transformation folder and enter the scaling axis z for the height of Victoria 3 in real-world dimensions (for example, choose 1700mm).

Once DAZ character resized, adjust the figure inside the Working box.

Uncheck the Lock Hot Point in the Properties tray : Motion panel : Transformation folder.
Place the Hot Point at the lower part of Victoria 3 SAE (this is more easy for further manipulation of the figure).

Place and adjust correctly the DAZ figure inside the Working box.

Check the Lock Hot Point in the Properties tray : Motion panel : Transformation folder.
Move up the Hot Point to the value 0 of the axis z.

Select Victoria 3 SAE.cr2 : Figure 1 in the lower part of the Properties tray, and import pose (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\pose\!DAZ's Victoria 3\V3 Legs Crossed.pz2).

Fix the V3 Bikini to fit correctly Victoria 3 SAE as following :

Select V3 Bikini Full sr1.cr2 : Figure 1 in the lower part of the Properties tray.
Open the Morphing panel in the middle part of the Property tray and adjust pvoluptuous dial to 0,1 for rCollar, and pvoluptuous dial to 0,1 for lCollar.

Now the DAZ figure Victoria 3 SAE has real-world dimensions easy to use, and is ready to work with architectural scene.

Step 4 - Export and save the figure

Group the figure and save the scene as Carrara file : Choose File menu > Export, to export your DAZ character (with the name you like).

Step 5 - Import the figure in architectural scene

Load now your architectural scene with real-world units and import the DAZ character Victoria 3 SAE which you export with cloth and pose as described above. For example I used the Scene Wizard of Carrara Pro 5 to load an interior scene in this tutorial, resize it in real-world units in order to simulate an Architectural scene (in milimeter units).

Move your DAZ character inside the interior scene. You can see that the figure fit well in the Working box and it is not necessary to convert any sizes. Only place the models.

Here is a render of Victoria 3 SAE in Architectural scene. So you are able now to create your own libraries of DAZ figures in Carrara 5, ready to use for Architectural & Design projects.

Et Voila !

franckgenot - My Virtual Lady

Distribution Mapping and Surface Replication in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Distribution Mapping and Surface Replication in Carrara

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

* Carrara 5

* Carrara 5 Pro

* 2D Graphics Program

Support Files

* **Distribution.zip**

Introduction

Using the surface replicator can save you hundreds of hours of work, however sometimes it may be tricky to replicate objects in the right locations. Here is a trick called distribution mapping to give you more control over where the surface replicator places your object instances.

Step 1 - Setting up your scene basics

To construct a simple tutorial illustrating distribution mapping we will create a smiley face distribution of palm trees on a simple flat terrain. To set up a simple scene I created a terrain and “cleared” it to being flat. I also inserted one instance of a preset palm tree. These are the basic elements that you will need in your scene. These two images show you how to level out your terrain:

Step 2 - Creating a distribution map

Using a 2D photo or paint program such as Photoshop or equivalent create a 2D distribution map by painting white one black. The higher the resolution your map is, the more detail you will be able to contain. For this project I used a 1024 x 1024 map. Any white will be where the replicated object will be placed, the more grey the less so, and at black none at all. If you use a brush with a lot of feathering you will get a tapered distribution along the edges of your mapping. Save this simply as a image file of your preference.

Step 3 - Creating a surface replicator

Return to Carrara and to your scene and create a “surface replicator” into your scene. This can be done as shown:

You will need to configure your surface replicator, and this can be done by double clicking its instance name which will show you the window as seen below. You will want to set your “Source Object” as your Terrain, the “Replicated Object” as your Palm Tree, and then click on the “Edit Shader” button to the right under “Object distribution”

Step 4 - Configuring the distribution shader

After clicking “edit shader” you will be launched into the distribution shader window. Change the shading to “Flat Mapping” and set the orientation to the top face. Add a Texture map to the flat mapping and load your 2D distribution map that you created and saved.

When you are finished switch back to your scene and double click back on the surface replicator instance. You will now have loaded your distribution map and are ready to distribute your instances. Ramp up the number of instances (in this tutorial file I set it at 3000). Click the “Distribute” button and watch the real-time preview to ensure the accuracy of your mapping.

Step 5 - Rendering and conclusion

Carrara surprising does an amazing job on rendering speeds even for dense distributions which is a friendly feature. Remember to scale your objects (in this case the palm trees) to a relatively small size since your distribution map won't contain that much detail. You can experiment by assigning multiple layers to multiple domains, or creating cloud distributions to transparent terrains. Good luck, hope this helps you understand using the surface replicator better, and happy rendering!

Position, Resizing, and Rotation with Target Helpers

2011-11-01T17:42:12+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Position, Resizing, and Rotation with Target Helpers

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

* Carrara 5

Support Files

*resizetargethelp.zip

Introduction

You have a massive scene and you have grouped everything together per the Organization Tutorial I wrote. You've already learned how target helpers can make the Instance Box look neat and organized. Sure, you can move things individually since Target Helper isn't rendered, and you can make sure the things are rendered are looking nice without the fuss caused by parenting say a Cube to Cone object. However, what if you need to reposition or resize groups of objects? For example, say you have a scene where you have the sun pointing where you want it to, but the house is on the wrong side, and the house is composed of MANY parts. No problem, Target Helpers will save the day once again. As with the previous tutorial, this assumes you know how to create objects.

Step 1: Make the Scene

What I would like you to do is create ten cubes at different point of the scene, or you could use the provided Car file.:) If you use the car file, you shall see this.

Step 2: Target Help!

What I want you to do now is create a target helper, and place it in the scene. Technically, you can place it anywhere but I would like you to place it in the center like so:

The reason is for simplicity. Position will go wherever the Target goes, but Resize and Rotate are based on Centers, which anything else but center may not get the result you are expecting.

The second part of this step is to place all the cubes into the Target Helper Object in the Instance Tab. Once this is done, we are ready to endure this nasty scene. :)

Step 3: Take Me Higher!

Your boss or muse (depending which applies to you) likes your scene, but thinks it should be higher, or maybe they notice that it was sunk too deep into the ground. You will want to scream, but you noticed that you created a target helper your objects are parented to.

What I would like you to do is to highlight the target helper, and then click on the Positioner (note: This isn't the official title of the tool, but it sounds cool.;))

The Object Rises! You have raised them in about 1/10th of the time it would have taken you to do each of them individually, and more importantly, accurately. This isn't so important for the scene at hand, but if you have walls, buildings, and such, it is helpful.

Step 4: Fatter

You showed your superior, and they like the work, but they think the objects could be a little wider on both the X and Y. You got ten cubes to do, and you thinking how to do it correctly, and think of the motion panel. However, there is always Target Helpers.:)

What I would like you to do here is stretch along the X and Y or you could use the motion tab.

Now you should see something along the lines of this:

The key thing I should mention is that Target helpers have once again allowed you to get things done in 1/10th of the time it would of taken you to resize each one accurately. Sounds pretty nice, eh? :)

Step 5: 45 Degrees

Your superior likes the work so far, but wants it in a 45 Degree angle. You go “Sure, No Problem” because you got Target Helpers. This one is equally important for target helpers because to rotate objects, you sometimes have to reposition them along the X-Y. So this step will save a whole lot of time. This is especially crucial that Target Helper is as centered as I mentioned in Step 2.

What I would like you to do is select the Target Helper, and click on rotate, or you can use the Motion panel if it is easier for you, and I want you to twist it on the Z Axis 45 degrees, and you should see it like below.

Now imagine doing all those individually? I know, Target helpers are a savior of your 3D Sanity.:)

Step 6: Overview

As you can see, Target Helpers can very useful when doing simple operations such as position, rotate, and resize with multiple objects that could be walls or a platform, or something you'really don't want separated.:) The best part of all.

Target Helpers don't render at all..:)

Using Target Helpers to Organize Your Objects

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Target Helpers to Organize Your Objects

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

* Carrara 5

Support Files

*organizationcarfile.zip

Introduction

Target Helper Objects are probably the least documented functions of Carrara 5 that I have seen, and what it's been documented for is the least of it true potential. According to the Manual, you can use them as guides for your IK movements, and the manual stopped there. Well, I am going to go a bit beyond what the Manual says they are, and show you what else they can be used for. One term that can be related to this function will be Null Objects. Essentially a Null Object is an object that is not rendered in your image cause it has no facet, no vertex, nothing like any of your models, yet it exists in your 3D space.;) In my mind, that what Target Helper Objects remind me of, and anybody who used them in programs like Lightwave will understand how useful they can be. Anybody who thinks they never used null objects really can't say so if they used Victoria 3 or Michael 3 from DAZ. If you don't know what I am referring to, or think I am referring to IK hands and feet when you turn IK on, you are right, but not what I was truly thinking. Body. Yes, Body is a Null Object. It is something that is not an actual mesh so it is not rendered, yet it exists and controls Victoria and Michael all the same. Simple, yet powerful, eh?:) To clarify, I am not going to discuss how to set up IK because that is a tutorial for someone who knows what they are doing in regards to that. What I am going to show you is how to use Target Helper Objects as Nulls for different purposes, and this tutorial, I am going to show you how you can organize your scene with the help of these unsung heroes.:) This tutorial also assumes you know the basics of getting objects into Scenes.:)

Step 1: Setting up your Scene

For exercise purpose, I want you to create a scene of 10 objects with a variety (spheres, cones, etc), and 6 lights (with variety as well), or you can use the one I made in Support Files. For myself, I shall create three spheres, three boxes, three cones and one cylinder for objects, and 3 bulbs and 3 spots for lights. At this point, you probably are wondering what I am trying to do in 3D Space, but it isn't so much 3D space I am worried about.

Take a look at the Instance Tab, and you can see how cluttering it can be. For note, there is a filter built in, which can be helpful. However, imagine the scene with more objects. For example, say you created a scene that includes a desk with different objects populating it. Wouldn't you like a way to make it so you can easily identify them in the future? Let me show you how.

Step 2: Creating a Target Helper

Here is where the real fun starts. What I would like you to do is to create a target helper by either click on the Target object, and click on the scene, or Insert > Target Helper

What you will see is this thing:

A close look at this, and you begin to wonder what the heck it is supposed to be after creating those other objects. You see a point with arrows all around it, and probably going 'Huh?' That is OK, I can understand the confusion. What you are seeing right now is object that exists in 3D but doesn't 2D, which your final render will be. You can make 100 Target Helper Objects, and have a blank screen when you click on the render button.

As for how they are useful, it allows for things to be done without making them appear in your beautiful works of art. You will see one advantage to them in a moment.

Step 3: Grouping Part 1

This step is more informational then instructional to give you a heads up what we will be doing. Anybody who used Vue probably remembers a function known as Grouping. You select a bunch of Objects, right-click, select group. Pretty awesome feature, yet not available in Carrara in the same fashion. What is available natively is to dragging objects into another as children making them parents, like so in the picture (You can try it if you like)

However, there is a disadvantage to doing it this way. Any changes made to the Parent will affect the children (which is good) but the Parent object is not free to move itself. Say for instance you were working on a room, and you grouped them as mention above, and notice in your rendering that one was slightly off by mistake. Even worse, it is the Parent Object. NOOOOOO! Yes, I literally done that a time or two.:) That means you have to unparent it, make adjustments, and think about reparenting, and to make it explicitly clear, that is just a pretty nasty workflow if you ask me.

But what if there was a way to keep them parented but free from the terror mention about? You know that Target Helper I had you make? That is going to be your new friend in Organizing more effectively. What I would like you to is drag one of your objects into the Target Helper Object making the Target Helper a Parent and your object the child. I know the result will make you go, “So?” Let go to the next step to make these Target Helpers even more functional.

Step 4: Grouping Part 2

To illustrate the functional purpose, I like you to highlight the Target Helper, and in the name field, change the name to something useful for you. For myself, and those using this Car file, I shall name this Target Helper 'Spheres'.

What I would like you to do is create more Target Helpers for each type of object, using either the insert menu, or the Target Button, and repeat the renaming portion of this step. For the Car file, I have Target Helpers name Sphere, Cube, Cone, Spotlights, and Bulbs. Great..more clutter, you are going right now. Yea..it is a little cluttered, but not for long.;)

Take the objects of similarity and place it into the target helper you named it for, or for the Car file example, drag all the Spheres, and placed drag them to Spheres the Target Helper, and let them become children to that Parent. Repeat for the other Objects and Lights.

Now take a look at your instance panel. Looks nice and organized.

Step 5: Why Groups and Not Filters for Lights?

Yes, I do realize there are Filters built into the Properties tab, and while it is good for showing me only lights, I sometimes found it to be quite limiting. For starters, sure it can show just the lights, but filters can't resize nor reposition them in groups with just one click. With Groups, you can click on one, and adjust the position of them all, and with filters, you need to still select each individual one.. Plus what if you only wanted to work on the bulbs and not the spotlights at any particular time? With groups, you will see the Bulbs, while the Spotlights are tucked away. This is why I prefer the usage of Target Helpers over the Filters.

Step 6: Overview

Here is a render of the scene. It is not the prettiest, I am sure, but look at it. I am not looking at what you see, but rather what you don't. Notice the only thing showing up is the lights and the objects, but nothing where the Target Helpers should be. Like I mention before, this is the coolest aspect of it all. It is so helpful in removing clutter from your scene, yet will not show up in your picture, even if it right in the camera.:)

Camera Switching in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Camera Switching in Carrara

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

* Carrara

Introduction

Anybody who used Vue 5 Infinite might be aware of the camera switch, a feature that at a point in the time line, it changes from one camera to another, and it is rendered this way. This was one of Carrara shortcomings since it only allows you to render from one camera. However, there is a trick to simulate this that involves one camera, and fair knowledge of keyframing that camera.

Step 1: Set-up your animation

Due to the scope of the Tutorial, I am going to assume you have knowledge of how to animate in Carrara 5, or at least have the manual for reference to how. What I would like you to do is set up an animation so we have a good idea what you want to capture, and what angle. However, at this time, I would like you to leave the camera alone as we will cover that in the next step.

Step 2: Into the Sequence.:)

Now that we have the animation, and you have a base to decide what angle you want the shot to be, we can get started.:) Now, there is a tutorial to cover how to do this in Poser, but it is much simpler in to achieve in Carrara.

What I would like you to do is get into the Sequencer at the bottom tab of the screen. . If all you are seeing is content, click on the tab on the far left as noted in the picture.

At this moment, the Camera Object Time Line should be blank except for Frame 0, and if it isn't, I want you to click them all, and delete them. It will save your sanity for later.:)

Step 3: Pre-planning your shots.

One thing that said in the movie making process is that Preplanning saves time in Production, and this couldn't be truer. Also, you got an advantage over Poser and Vue by having a storyboard view (the little pencil highlighted).

You see every moment of the animation and can get a basic idea of where you want your camera to be. Take a moment to visualize this, and we will be ready for the next step.

Step 4: The Initial Shot

Another distinct advantage of the Storyboard Room, change of one frame will show you want happens in the next in regards to animation. So we will use this for this purpose. Once you find the frame that you want to change, revert back to Assembly.

Now you may be wondering why? After a few trials, Storyboard for camera motion is funky at best, and not as reliable for saving the camera's position. It is useful, for example, you know a point where your figure will be when the camera changes, but other than that, I wouldn't recommend changing camera in Storyboard. It is also much easier then sliding the timeline bar, or guessing with the time.:)

Also you might be wondering 'Shouldn't frame 0 be the initial shot?' Not always. Take for instance, a Poser import with Dynamic Clothes. Now, my personal preference is to have fifteen frames for calculations. So maybe I don't need the camera to start at frame 0, but rather at frame 14. It is up to you, however.

Once you are in assembly, point the camera to where you want the Initial Shot to be. Once you have that, we are ready to move on to the next step.:)

Step 5: Creating the End shot

Now that we have the initial shot, and from Step 3, you know roughly what point this perspective ends, select that frame. You have one of two choices:

* Move the camera a bit a camera movement. This will set a keyframe.

* You can go to the Sequencer, and click on Camera, then click on the Key.

Either one of these methods will give you what you want, a keyframe that will be the last frame before it changes to a 'new camera'.

Step 6: Set-Up 'Switcher'

With the Camera Object Still selected (normally no reason why it shouldn't), I want you to press the fast forward button. What this will do is progress one frame ahead.

After doing so, I want you to use the camera controls to move the camera around to a different point of view. This will setup a keyframe that will be the Switcher.

Now go to the last frame of this shot you had in mind, and repeat Step 5.

Step 7: Test

Now I want you to rewind to the beginning, and play. When it got to Switcher frame, did it change angles? It did? WOOHOO!! What happened was the keyframe was right after another, and it was it changed positions. Very handy.

From this point on, all you need to do is follow those basic steps to get this type of effect over and over again.:)

Step 8: For Editors

Sometimes, this switch can be a little rough, and you may have to separate it again to get it going. You may wonder 'Why bother?' It would be one rendered file to editor from instead of multiple, which can lead to some clutter with multiple files of the same scene, and some disk space usage. In most Video Editing programs, you can create multiple events out of one video file, so which sounds better?

Also, sometimes you know what frame it is, but not the time that the rendering left off at, or even when you are editing it in Vegas or Premiere. This prevents that sync problem.:)

Camera Tracking - Lights and Objects in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Camera Tracking - Lights and Objects in Carrara

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara 5

Carrara 4

Carrara 3

Step 1 - Scene Setup

In this tutorial we will build a simple animation with a lens flare pan that moves behind some text (“Hello!”). Create a simple text object using the “T” text tool in the toolbar along the top of your working window. We will modify this text object to also track the camera so that we can manipulate it quickly without losing orientation.

Step 2 - Setting the "Point At" modifier to track the camera

Select the text object and click the “Modifiers” tab and the “+” button to select “Behaviors”→“Point At” this will bring up the next window for you to orient your pointing and also the selection of which object to track.

In this case we wish the text to constantly track the camera. Experiment with tracking orientations as they update instantly in your working window. For this text to track the camera correctly I selected “Y+” for the direction.

Move your text object around and notice how your object now dynamically updates its orientation to face the camera in the specified direction.

Step 3 - Light Tracking Setup

Using the same technique, create a light to be pointed at the camera. Repeat the same steps as outlined for the text object you just placed to enable the light object to also track the camera. For this demonstration I also enabled a lens flare.

Manipulate your timeline so that a keyframe for the light's movement is create past time zero. In this setup I established a new light position at time 2 seconds. Carrara automatically updates your keyframes.

Step 4 - Final Render and Tips

Here is the final render from my animation frame - as you can see the lens flare tracks the camera throughout the whole animation and enables you to have a consistent effect throughout your animation.

Tips: You can have lights track certain objects and then set the objects in motion of neat effects. Also try establishing cameras in your scene to track different elements. This will enable you to really take the director's seat in your animation and allow you to change perspectives quickly for different shots of the same scene.

Good luck and enjoy!

Dan

Understanding Carrara 5 Cameras

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Understanding Carrara 5 Cameras

Author: anxcon

Tools Needed

Carrara 5 Standard or Pro

Step 1 - Starting a new scene

When Carrara starts, you will see the following window, unless you chose to skip it. In which case an empty scene starts automatically, and you can skip this step.

Click “New empty doc”, a new scene will appear, empty.

Step 2 - The Default Camera and its properties

Along the right side, you see the above panel. Below is the default starter camera, you are currently viewing your scene through it.

If you select this item, you will see your cameras properties appear on the panel above it.

1. The name of the camera appears here, you can change it to something else if you like. Useful for scenes that have multiple cameras, allowing you to keep track of what/where the cameras is for.

2. This is the camera type, you can change it to another type if you wish, and the next step will explain how the different types work.

3. Focal Length, controls how much of your scene that the camera will see. High focal lengths will “zoom in”, the area of view will be narrow, think of a telescope. Low focal lengths will “zoom out”, and capture a wider area of view. The human eye is a setting of about 50.

Step 3 - Creating a new camera, knowing the types

Above the current scene there are many icons, one of which allows you to place a new camera when selected. The small white arrow next it to, opens a dropdown menu, with the available camera types.

1. Conical, this camera acts the same way as the human eye. The view is made from the point in 3D space that the camera is at, and views everything within a cone (which depends on the focal length) from that point. Objects farther from the camera will appear smaller than closer objects.

2. Isometric, this type of camera has a flat view, the distance of the object is taken away, so objects close and far will appear as their actual size.

3. Spherical, the 3rd type, acts much the same way as a conical camera does, but has a full 360 degrees of view. This will render an entire sphere of your scene, from the point of the camera, which can be used in ways such as a webpage offering a view of the inside of a house, allowing a user to move the pre-rendered view around, to see any direction from that spot. Much like your head would look around, without moving your body.

Step 4 - Moving the camera around your scene

Along the left of your scene are more icons, used for moving your camera around. Click an icon and hold down, then move the mouse to move your camera in the selected direction.

1. Track YZ, this one will move your camera forwards, backwards (Z direction), as well as up and down (Y direction).

2. Track XY this moves the camera up and down (Y direction), as well as left and right (X direction).

3. Track XZ, moves forwards and backwards (Z direction), as well as left and right (X direction).

The 4th icon down is for rotating the camera. You can see the small white arrow next to it, indicating there is a droplist with more selections. Whichever type is chosen, will be the one used moving the camera, when you click and drag the icon.

4. Dolly rotates the camera in an orbit type path. If you have an object selected, the orbit will be around that object, moving the camera around 3D space, while keeping the angle of view in relation to that object, as well as keeping the same distance from that object.

5. Pan will rotate the camera as well, but this time the camera itself is the center, staying at that point, and just changing the direction it is looking.

6. Bank is the 3rd type, tilting the camera onto its side, while still looking in the same direction. Just imagine a cup of tea tipping over.

7. Lastly this doesn't have much to do with the camera itself. This has 3 parts to it, which by selecting one, will highly the scene grid (if showing), making it stand out more.

Step 5 - Selecting the camera to look from

Last, the upper left of the scene window, has the camera being used for your current view. By right clicking it, you can choose which camera to view from, whether it be the defaults, or the new ones you have placed.

Views from the Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, or Back, are isometric cameras, not showing any depth when used.

“Set Position To” allows you to take the current viewing camera, and set it to another location, whether a default spot, or at the spot of another camera you put in the scene.

Beyond that, the best way to know how a camera works, is to use it, and get familiar with it. Once your scene is finished, including the camera used for the view of your render, you can select the camera to render from in the render room (“Render” icon in the top right). From the render menu, choose output tab, and there is an option below to choose which camera to render from.

Good Luck!

Carrara : Victoria 3 ready to use for realistic scenes

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara : Victoria 3 ready to use for realistic scenes

Author: myvirtuallady

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio

Carrara 5

Step 1: Setup the working box in Carrara

Open Carrara Pro 5 and create a new project to transform and scale your figure.

Select a new empty document for the moment.

Choose File menu > Import, to import your DAZ character. This is a .CR2 in your runtime / libraries folder (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ People).

Select Victoria 3 SAE.CR2 file and press Ok to import your DAZ character.

Your DAZ character appears inside the working box. It does not have high resolution texture maps yet.

Import with the same way V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ Hair) and V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\V3 Morphing Clothes).

Step 2: Apply the height resolution maps to Victoria

Apply now a height resolution map to your figure, here Victoria 3.0 Universal Texture Maps (High Res) of DAZ Production.

Select your figure first
Open the Shader panel in the upper part of the Property tray. The shader domains menu contains the textures of Victoria 3 SAE (SkinHip, SkinTorso, PubicHair, SkinNeck, SkinHead, SkinScalp…).

To begin edit the SkinHip, double click on SkinHip texture (this is the pink sphere) in the Shader domains menu. The Texture Room opens with the Shader Tree Editor of the SkinHip texture.

Select Texture Map in the drop menu of the Color Channel in the Shader Tree Editor, in order to use Victoria 3.0 Universal Texture Maps (High Res). Browse for V3BodyMHiJPG file (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) to map the SkinHip part of the body.

Load the bump texture V3BodyBHiJPG file (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) in the Bump Channel of the Shader Tree Editor (it you want to use the bump map, do not forget to adjust the Bump Level to 2% or 3%). Edit with the same way the following textures of Victoria 3 SAE in the Shader domains Tab : SkinTorso, SkinNeck, Nipples, SkinForearm, SkinArm, SkinHand, Fingernails, SkinLeg, SkinFeet, Toenails.

Browse for V3HeadMHiJPG file (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) to map the SkinHead.

Load the bump texture V3HeadBHiJPG file (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) in the Bump Channel of the Shader Tree Editor (it you want to use the bump map, do not forget to adjust the Bump Level to 2% or 3%). Edit with the same way the following textures of Victoria 3 SAE in the Shader domains Tab : SkinScalp, Lips, EyeSocket, InnerMouth, Nostrils, Lacrimal, Gums, and Tongue.

Browse for V3EyeMBlueHiJPG file (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) to map the LEyewhite.

Load the bump texture V3EyeBHiJPG file (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) in the Bump Channel of the Shader Tree Editor (it you want to use the bump map, do not forget to adjust the Bump Level to 2% or 3%). Edit with the same way the following textures of Victoria 3 SAE in the Shader domains Tab : Lpupil, LIris, REyewhite, Rpupil, and RIris.

Select Texture Map in the drop menu of the both Alfa and the Transparency Channel in the Shader Tree Editor. Browse for V3TrHiJPG file (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V3Maps) to map the Eyelashes.

Edit with the same way the EyeBows textures of Victoria 3 SAE in the Shader domains Tab. Now Victoria 3 is ready to pose.

Step 3: Pose and fix the V3 Bikini to fit correctly Victoria 3 SAE

V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 and V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 must be conformed to figure 1 of Victoria 3 SAE.CR2. To do this :

Select Figure 1 of V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 in the lower part of the Properties tray : Instances panel.
Select Conform to in the middle part of the Properties tray : Figure 2 : General panel.
Select Figure 1 into the drop down menu of the Conform to window.

Then press Ok.

Do the same way for V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 in order to conform to Victoria 3 SAE character.

Select Wild and Messy of V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 in the lower part of the Properties tray : Instances panel.
Select Conform to in the middle part of the Properties tray : Figure 2 : General panel.
Select Figure 1 into the drop down menu of the Conform to window.

Select Victoria 3 SAE.CR2 : Figure 1 in the lower part of the Properties tray, and import pose (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\pose\!DAZ's Victoria 3\V3 Fashion 02.pz2).

Adjust the morphing dials of V3 Bikini to fit correctly Victoria 3 SAE as following :

Select V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 : Figure 1 in the lower part of the Properties tray.
Open the Morphing panel in the middle part of the Property tray.
Adjust pvoluptuous dial to 0, 1 for rCollar, and pvoluptuous dial to 0, 1 for lCollar.
See the result (the left part of the bikini top on the picture below is correctly fixed).

Step 4: Export your ready-to-use Victoria 3 SAE

At this step, Victoria 3 SAE has textures mapped and is ready to export. Group the figure and rename it with the name you like.

Export and save the scene as Carrara file : Choose File menu > Export, to export your DAZ character (with the name you like).

Step 5: Import the figure in realistic scene

Open now your realistic scene and import the Victoria 3 SAE file which you saved in the step before. For example I used the Scene Wizard of Carrara Pro 5 to load a landscape scene in this tutorial.

Here is a render of Victoria 3 SAE in realistic scene. So you are able now to create your own libraries of DAZ figures with high resolution maps in Carrara 5, ready to use for photorealistic projects.

Et Voila !

franckgenot - My Virtual Lady

Carrara Native Importer : Advanced Part I

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara Native Importer : Advanced Part I

Author: Smags

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio

Crimson Editor

Introduction

In my previous tutorial, I covered the basics of using the Carrara Native Importer. The Carrara Native Importer currently zeros morphs and poses when importing more than one PZ2 file for a figure. This tutorial offers a work around to that issue, until a bug fix becomes available. The solution is to create a custom CR2. After you create a custom CR2 you can import your CR2 into Carrara and apply a MAT and PZ2 and no parameters will be reset. This is an advanced topic. You should have an understanding of Poser file types and how these files are organized in the runtime folders. You should also be familiar with the basics of using DAZ Studio. If you find this tutorial too difficult to follow, try the “Carrara Native Importer : Basics” tutorial first. In the next tutorial I will show you how to create custom fitted clothing for our CR2.

Step 1: Create Folders

Step 2: Copy the source CR2 and add it to the scene.

Step 3: Prepare the CR2 for export.

Step 4: Be sure to zero all parameters.

Step 5: Export an obj file.

Step 6: Open the CR2 file with the Crimson Editor

Step 7: Edit the "figureResFile" Information

Step 8: Locate and edit the second "figureResFile"

Step 9: Open DAZ Studio and test the CR2

Step 10: Conclusion

Our custom CR2 file is ready to be imported into Carrara. In the next tutorial, I will show you how to create custom fitted clothes for our CR2.

Carrara Native Importer : Advanced Part II

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara Native Importer : Advanced Part II

Author: Smags

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio

The Tailor (optional– > highly recommended)

Carrara 5.1

Crimson Editor

Introduction

This is the last tutorial covering a work around to import customized rigged characters with Mat files into Carrara.

Step 1: Why do I need to do all this?

Step 2: The problem and an overview of the solution.

Step 3: Organize your files before we get started.

Step 4: Open The Tailor and Import your base CR2

Step 5: Import the clothes to The Tailor

Step 6: Create the Morphs in the Clothes.

Step 7: Save the new CR2

Step 8: Use DAZ Studio to create OBJ files.

Step 9: Edit the CR2 File with the Crimson Editor

Step 10: Locate the second figureResFile line and edit it.

Step 11: Save the new CR2 file and finish the other garments.

Step 12: Test everything in DAZ Studio.

Step 13: Open Carrara and Import the Cr2 File.

Step 14: Import the Clothes and Hair.

Step 15: Import Poses and Render.

After you import the hair, you can apply your MAT file first, and then a pose. You can modify your clothes, and fix any minor problems by using the sliders in the CR2 option panel. Here is a render of my figure.

Using Poser items in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Poser items in Carrara

Author: anxcon

Tools Needed

Poser character/prop/etc files to be used
Carrara

Step 1 - Starting Carrara

Click the icon on your desktop, or go through start menu, whichever way you have it to start Carrara.

Your icon may differ from the above picture, depending on your version of Carrara.

Step 2 - Starting a new scene

Unless you have changed the default preferences, this window will come up. Click on “New empty Doc” to create an empty scene.

Step 3 - Finding the "import" option

Next click on the import option in the File menu.

Step 4 - Finding your Poser runtime folder

Next, depending on your operating system, the image will differ, but the way it works is about the same, the above is Windows XP.

Click at the top to bring down a dropbox of the drives on your computer. and select the one containing your poser files you wish to use. If you are unsure where it is, the default location for poser is C:\Program Files\CuriousLabs\Poser. Your items are most likely there.

Step 5 - Selecting an item

Again, assuming you have Poser installed, for ease of finding the items, go to the folder with your item, and select it.

In the example we use DAZ Victoria 3, currently free. Default location in your poser runtime would be in libraries\characters\DAZPeople, you most likely have a different item in mind though.

Select “Victoria 3 SEA.CR2” and click OK to continue.

Note: You can use (in windows xp) the dropbox at the lower part of the window, to select a file type, and filter out other files, for simplicity in finding things.

Step 6 - Options

Next comes the option menu, depending on the item you choose, some of the options may not appear.

1. Import morph targets, know those morph dials in poser? this chooses to load them or not, and most likely, the answer is yes, so check this box.

2. Import IK chains, for a figure, this will load its bones, and allow you to pose it. DAZ figures come ready to use, so you don't need to create your own, unless you don't check this box :)

3. Genitalia, if you selected a figure that was created with Genitals, then check this box if you want to be able to use them.

4. Crease angle, chooses how “sharp” a mesh's edge must be, for Carrara to think of it as an edge, any angle in the mesh below this, will look smooth. Since this is an “organic” object, this should be set to max. For a building, or desk, that is supposed to have sharp edges, it should be lower.

Click OK to load the item.

have fun :)

The Carrara Native Importer : Basics

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

The Carrara Native Importer : Basics

Author: Smags

Tools Needed

* DAZ Studio

* Carrara

Introduction

The Carrara Native Importer allows you to import Poser figures into Carrara. There are several reasons why you may need to use the native importer as opposed to the Carrara Transposer plug-in. Here are a few: You don't own the Pro version of Carrara. The Transposer plug-in is only available as an add-on for Carrara 5 (Standard) or included in Carrara Pro. You do not own or want to use Poser software. The Transposer plug-in requires Poser software, the Native Importer does not. You want a rigged character. Transposer imports cannot be edited or animated in Carrara. The native importer imports fully rigged models that are ready to be animated.

Step 1: Create An Empty Project in Carrara

Step 2: Importing the CR2 File

Step 3: Importing Clothing

Step 4: Importing Hair

Step 5: Fixing the Hair

Step 6: Parent the Hair

Step 7: Importing a Pose

Step 8: A Quick Render of the Scene

Explosions: Blowing up your digital toys in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Explosions: Blowing up your digital toys in Carrara

Author: WarMachineX0

Tools Needed

Carrara 3D Express

Carrara 6

Carrara 6 Pro

Introduction

This tutorial will explain how to use the advanced “modifier” tool in Carrara on your models to add an explosion special effect to your renders. The modifier tool in Carrara is very powerful, and can do many amazing things. We will be using the “explode” option for this tutorial. A basic knowledge of Carrara’s user interface is required. Do note, this increases the model’s resource needs, this is not intended for models that require extreme amounts of resources.

Step 1 - Setting up the scene

First you want to set your scene up. Place your models and then pose them. Set up any background or scene setting. For this tutorial, I am using Daz3D’s StarFire because of its minimal resource needs. For the Back ground/scene I am using one of Carrara’s space scenes from the Scenes>Space tab. For this tutorial, I am using Daz3D’s StarFire because of its minimal resource needs. For the Back ground/scene I am using one of Carrara’s space scenes from the Scenes>Space tab.

At this point you will want to save, especially if you went to a lot of work to set up your scene or if you are using a resource intensive model. After saving you may wish to go to “Flat” or “Wire” posing window viewing mode to reserve extra resources. I will be using “Gouraud” mode for better viewing of this tutorial.

Step 2 - Adding your modifier

Now, in your “Instance” tab, expand the tree for the item your planning to blow up. Select the branch named the “model”.

Now, in your properties window select the tab called “Modifier”. You one have two options, “+” and “-“. The “+” will add a modifier to your model, and if you highlight a modifier and select the “-“, it will remove the modifier. Select the “+”, go down to “Explode” and select it.

At this point, any transparency becomes a solid color, don’t worry, this won’t affect the final render. Your model has been loaded now with the “Explode” modifier. You will now see many sliders and three check boxes.

Step 3 - Explaining the modifier

Now, I will explain the sliders and check boxes. Please refer to the last image for reference if needed. You will notice that some sliders have dual sliders; this is a min/max (minimal to maximum) setting. You will want to set the lower slider to the lowest setting you will accept, and the upper slider to the highest you will accept.

Completion: This it done in %, and indicates how far into the explosion you would like the model to go. High % does not work well with the box “Pieces Stop at Bottom” checked, as it will flatten the model’s pieces on the ground plane.

Size of Pieces: This is a dual slider, and the setting determines how small to how big of pieces you want Carrara to rip the model into.

Speed: This is a dual slider, and the setting determines random speeds of the pieces of the model. Adjusting this setting gives the explosion a random and more realistic appearance.

Gravity: This setting determines the ambient gravity. The higher the gravity, the further into competition the model’s pieces fall downward.

Slow Down at End: This setting figures in air friction of moving pieces. Used more in the process of animation, it will add a random appearance and realism to the explosion if you use a high competition %.

Rotational Speed: This is a dual slider, and functions just like Speed; with the exception it calculates the rotation of the pieces.

Large Pieces Move Slower: This will place the larger pieces closer to your lower setting on your speed slider.

Pieces Stop At Bottom: This will only allow your pieces for fall to the level of the ground plane, and no further. If you attempt to push the pieces further with this selected, they will start to flatten on the ground plane.

Explode From Top: This setting starts the explosion from the top, instead of all over.

Step 4 - Setting up your modifier

I will be setting this up for a space scene, but you will need to do a little planning and imagine a little on how you would like to have your explosion. Think of the size of the pieces, and determine your scene. Is it a space ship exploding, a car blowing up, or even possibly a building being demolished?

Go though and set all of your sliders with out setting the Completion slider, we will be saving this one for last as after you move it, it may take a few seconds for the image to change. Now, move the Completion slider to 1%, and see if it works out for your scene. Now from this point, it’s faster to just jump to the other settings, and adjust as needed until you have what you want, but you will need to move the completion slider to see the majority of the changes (Move to 0% and back if you currently like your Completion setting).

This is the setting for my scene, and what my model looks like at these settings.

Step 5 - Adding fire

Time to add fire to your explosion. On the top menu bar on Carrara select “Insert” and click on “Fire”. This will drop a wire box in the center of your scene. Select that box either from the preview window, or from your instances tab. Now go to your properties window and select “General”, you will have many options for sliders, colors and other things. Most of these will have to be tested out to find what works with your scene, but the one feature that will need to be specifically set for an explosion is the “Container” options. Set this to “Sphere”. Now with your universal manipulator tool, scale and move the box until it wraps around the majority of your model parts. At this point you may have to do test renders at low settings to ensure proper placement and settings. Make sure under in your properties window, you have “Casts Shadows” and “Receives Shadows turned off for the Fire, as it is needed for proper lighting.

Here is my scene with the Fire selected and wrapped around the StarFire, and my test render. (This is at default Fire setting with container set at Sphere)

Step 6 - Simple Lighting

Now to set up simple lighting for your explosion. First you are going to want to place a bulb in your scene, go to the menu bar at the top, and select “Insert” and then “Bulb”. You will want to set the color to an orange to yellowish color, and the intensity to 100 to 350 (This is determined by your scene, sometimes by setting the distance to 10ft will aid in stopping to cast too much light). Go back to the menu bar, and with the bulb selected, Edit, and then Copy your bulb. You will want to place four to six of these bulbs around the explosion; you can just Paste the bulbs into the scene and place them. Make sure they are spaced around the explosion evenly and close enough to cast light on the inside surfaces of the model’s parts.

Here is the preview and a test render of the image.

Step 7 - Finale

Now you are set, finish up with any other special effects, and adjust any lighting needed to be fixed. Finally, fire up your final render.

Here is the tutorial final render.

For more special effects, namely the jets and laser in my final image, look over my other tutorial “Jets and Muzzle Flashes: Playing with Fire in Carrara 6” under the Carrara tutorials.

A few things to remember:

Save often, you don’t want to have to start over again.

Close background programs if this becomes to resource intensive. Changing your veiw mode will aid in this. Avoid veiwing in “Textured” mode in large scenes.

Try other Modifiers, that is a really powerful tool.

Jets and Muzzle Flashes: Playing with Fire in Carrara 6

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Jets and Muzzle Flashes: Playing with Fire in Carrara 6

Author: WarMachineX0

Tools Needed

Carrara 6 Pro

Carrara 6

Carrara 3D express

Step 1 - Setting up the scene

Load your figures, and set up the scene. This is the easy part of this tutorial. I have used a figure with a big gun and a jetpack to cover both.

Now, when you set up your scene, wait for the lighting, as we’ll be going over the lighting from the muzzle flash and jets.

Step 2 - FIRE

Now, we need to make fire. Click on the fire tab at the top bar.

Select the “Fire” icon and the mouse icon will turn to a “+” when over the viewing window. Click in the view window, next to the figure we plan to add the effects to. You will get a large lined box with nothing in it. Don’t worry, your doing it right. Now, go to your properties window and you will see the options for your fire. Deselect “Cast shadows” and “Receives Shadow”, do this everytime a Fire is placed or pasted. Fire doesn’t receive or cast shadows, but don’t worry, we will be setting up simple lights to cast the shadows from the light of the flame. Now select the “universal manipulator” from the bar, and scale the fire to a workable size for you. We will be using the same Fire for all the flames.

Here is a quick test render of the Fire next to our figure.

Step 3 - Setting up a jet flame

Now, move the Fire close to where your jet is. Remember what side is up, and what side is down. This is important, or else you may set it up upside down. Now scale and rotate the Fire to the jet on the figure. Using the “universal manipulator” is the easiest way to do this.

Now in the properties window you will see options for the Fire. If your jet is round, change the “container” to “cylinder”. The jet I am using is square, so I’ll leave it be for now. Change the colors to fit your scene, for instance, blue flame for a spaceship using some new sci-fi fuel, or similar to the default flame for an oxygen and fuel based burn.

Now, after you find the settings you would like to use for your jet, drop down the “Edit” tab at the top, and “Copy” and “Paste” the fire. Move the new fire to the next jet, and repeat this process until you have all your jets are lit up. Here is a quick test render.

Step 4 - Muzzle flash

Now, we are moving on to the barrel of the gun. For the ease of writing this, I’m going to just “Paste” a copy of the last Fire used. If you have just come here for the muzzle flash, please read FIRE! For setting up the Fire for the muzzle flash. Now, make the flame a thin tube, and align it with the barrel of the gun. Once you have it lined up, thin it once more to the size of the barrel. The length of the Fire will be determined by how high powered the gun it, this become a personal setting, checked though trial and test renders.

Now, on to your settings. I will list the important settings for muzzle flash and what I have it set at for my test renders.

Setting………….Render

Container: Cylinder

Tip: Brown

Base: White

Quantity: 0.040

Pointiness: Maxxed

Outward Speed: Maxxed

The rest are at default.

Play around with them until you find what you really like and looks good. Here is the test render. Finally, adjust as needed.

Step 5 - Flash Suppressor

Now, for your machine guns and military grade rifles you have flash suppressors. The flash suppressor is the vents at the end of a gun barrel, and when a gun fires, flame juts from these vents. I will now discuss setting these flames up. First, count how many vents in the gun’s flash suppressor. In my figure I have six. Now select the muzzle flash, drop down the “Edit” tab at the top, and “Copy” and “Paste”. With the new fire, move it in position of the first vent. Reduce in size to about 25% of the muzzle flash. You may need to zoom in, as these can be small.

Once you have flames coming from all the vents, go in and adjust the properties for each one to make them slightly different from the others. It is fine to leave the colors the same as the muzzle flash. Here is a quick test render.

Step 6 - Light

Now, its time to set up simple lighting for these flames. Now go to your light button on the top bar. We are going to be using bulbs. Now, a thing to remember, muzzle flashes are extremely bright at night and dim in day light, so take this into consideration on your light settings. Now place the bulb directly in front of the muzzle flash, drop the light level to that of the muzzle flash Fire box, and then set the colors to the visual rendered color of you muzzle flash. Now slide the light intensity some where high if the ambient light is dark, and around 100 to 200 if it is in day light.

Test render, then advance the setting to a proper level, and tweak the lighting as needed. Here is a test render with lighting intensity at 350.

The same method works for the jets. And if the fire is pointed down or up, drop the light level to the middle of the Fire. Test render, adjust and tweak as needed. Set up your finished lighting, then final render. The light intedsity should be between 100 and 250 for the jets, but adjust as needed for the sceen.

Step 7 - Finale

Here is the final set up, and final render.

A couple of examples of what cane be done with this method. The first has two different types of jets. This was done by changing color and quantity.

In this one, the muzzle flash has been replaced with a laser and laser flash. Made the same way as a muzzle flash, but the color has been changed, quantity set to 0. Two of these have been over lapped, one short and wide, the other long and narrow to create the image of a laser and laser flash.

A few things to remember:

Before final render, check and make sure all Fires have “Cast shadows” and “Receives Shadow “ deselected.
Save often, you don’t want to have to start over again.

Tests render settings used:

Fast preset with these selected
Shadows
Transparency
Light though Transparency

2D Composite Realistic Skies in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

2D Composite Realistic Skies in Carrara

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara 5
Carrara 4
Carrara 3

Step 1 - Scene Setup

In this tutorial I illustrate how to spice up the “Tropical Island” preset (with its drab blue sky) with a more photorealistic 2D sky photo (which you can usually find on the internet or in stock photos).

Step 2 - Sky Creation

Create a 2D “plane” and align it perpendicular to the ground. You will need to manipulate this plane to eventually fill up the entire production frame of the camera. Be sure to position the plane behind 3D objects that will render in front of it (i.e. the island in this case).

Step 3 - Texturing and Positioning

Use the advanced Multi Channel shader settings on the plane and change only the “Color” setting to a “Texture Map” in which I loaded the cloud image that I had. Continue to do the same thing with the “Glow” setting and turn up the glow on the texture according to your preferences. This will cause the backdrop to become independent of other light sources. You may want to eliminate any highlight, reflection, and transparency if you have them enabled.

To map the image correctly I used parametric mapping and used the rotate arrow by the texture preview to ensure that my sky image appeared right side up. When the image is oriented correctly, switch back to your workspace and resize the plane until you fill the production frame of your camera. Note that your cloud/sky image should be at least greater in resolution than what you are rendering at, otherwise you will lose detail in your 2D sky, making the scene look less realistic.

Step 4 - Final Render and Tips

Render away and notice that the reflections of the water interact with your 2D sky composite. Not only that but your mundane blue sky has been replaced by a realistic backdrop that you can now position accurately and fully modify with any 3D deformers. Try effects such as changing the alpha to allow backlight to bleed through. Warping and shattering the sky can work as a surprise element in animations as well. If you have a high resolution video clip you can also utilize that in the same process shown here to establish a video sky composite.

Be creative and enjoy!

Dan

Terrains: G2H vs. Object between Bryce and Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Terrains: G2H vs. Object between Bryce and Carrara

Author: evinrude

Tools Needed

Bryce

Carrara (or any program that uses G2H maps)

Introduction

Many people weaned on Bryce and who have switched to Carrara, or vice versa, have probably discovered that each program has distinct advantages in the creation of terrains, yet there may be certain features that you like or have grown accustomed to in one program that may be sorely lacking in the other. Say, for instance, you've created a perfectly shaped terrain in Bryce that can't be duplicated in Carrara. The simplest solution is to export the Bryce terrain as a 3D object and then import it into Carrara. However, it remains an object and cannot be influenced by Carrara's nifty terrain filters. You could spend time with the various object modifiers in Carrara's Assembly Room and try to produce approximate effects, but this can be hit or miss, time consuming, or flat out disappointing. As well, these objects, even if smoothed to the maximum extent, can appear ungainly and faceted in close-up shots (see the picture below). A better solution would be to generate a grayscale to height (G2H) map of the terrain in Bryce for use in Carrara's terrain editor. However, unlike Carrara, Bryce has no export function in its terrain editor for G2H maps. There's a work-around solution though.

Step 1: Create your terrain in Bryce

Load a terrain from the Terrain Generator, or you can select one from the Objects Presets menu.

For this, I'm going to use Another Good Clean Spiral, one of the terrains that come with Bryce and which can be found in Object Presets, in the category Mountains.

Once you have the shape of the terrain you want, select the mesh in the window (it will be highlighted in red).

Use the arrow button to snap it to ground if it's not snug on the ground plane already.

Step 2: Setting up the Document Window

Position the cursor near the very top of the interface so that the hidden menu bar appears. Go into file and choose Document Setup (or just hit Ctrl + Alt + N).

In the window that opens, select Square, and in the Document Resolution boxes, type in a custom area of 512 x 512. Click the checkmark.

Now hit the '2' key (the one not on the numbers pad of your keyboard) or choose From Top in the view selector.

Step 3: Adjusting the Top View and Terrain

We want the terrain to fill as much as the square as possible without going beyond the borders. On your keyboard hit the '+' key on the number pad or 'Shift' + '+' on the main keys four times in succession. This action will incrementally move the isometric Top View camera closer. Do a render. This has brought us near to where we want to be, but it's a little too close: The borders will be clipped out when we render the G2H map.

Go into the Edit Room.

Make sure your terrain is selected (the wire mesh will be red), then position your cursor dead smack in the middle of the scaling tool (see above). While the cursor is there, you'll see a white cube flashing small and large. The center of the scaling tool will allow you to scale the terrain evenly along all axes.

Click on the scaling tool and hold the mouse button; tweak left (scale down) or right (scale up) until the terrain fills as much of the window as possible without clipping the borders. Don't worry if the ground plane is somewhat visible: the plane is only 2-dimensional; it has no height, so it will appear as flatland in the G2H map (more on this below).

Step 4: Create the G2H map

In essence, grayscale to height means that black and white values in a grayscale image correspond to altitude in a resultant terrain: full black is zero altitude, whereas full white is the highest altitude; shades of gray correspond to points in between. Bryce offers a function that allows you to take a 2D picture from above, giving you grayscale values for the altitude of objects. We've already set up the area of the picture; now all we have to do is render it.

Go into the Rendering Options menu and choose Altitude Mask.

Hit the Render button. This is a pretty simple image and small at that, so it should be fairly quick. You have a G2H map.

Step 5: Exporting and Importing

Go up into File in the hidden menu at the top of the interface and choose Export Image. Save it under a name you can remember and put it in a place where you can find it. Exit Bryce and open Carrara (or Vue or any other program that can use G2H maps).

In Carrara, open a file and choose to insert a terrain.

You're automatically catapulted into the Modeling Room under the auspices of the Terrain Editor. You should have a basic mountain filter showing. Select Clear, and then Map Import. Load your map. It will appear as an Editable Terrain, and now can be manipulated by any of Carrara's terrain filters.

Compare this rendered version to the imported-object version above. It uses the same texture, but the difference is quite noticeable.

Step 6: Reverse Procedure: Carrara to Bryce

G2H maps from Carrara to Bryce are even easier. In the Carrara Terrain Editor, choose Map Export instead of Map Import. In Bryce, insert a terrain via the Terrain Generator, then hit Ctrl + E to enter the Bryce Terrain Editor.

In the Terrain Editor, on the right side, about mid-screen, is a floating menu called Editing Tools. Under the Elevation Tab, hit New. Choose the Pictures tab.

Click Load over the first picture window, find your G2H map, and load it. Copy and Paste into the next window or load an entirely different G2H image for a mixed effect. Hit Apply.

Go back to the Elevation tab. Now all of Bryce's functions will work on this terrain. Add spikes or cross ridges or blobs - whatever you desire. Back in the main interface, you can treat it as a terrain and an object, instead of just the latter were you to merely export it as a 3D object.

Scale, smash, twist, and texture to your heart's content.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

ledept@maik.ru

Tree with Fruits

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Tree with Fruits

Author: GKDantas

Tools Needed

Carrara 5 and content fruit pear

Introduction

This is a simple tutorial of how to build a tree and use different kind of leaves. You will use the pear object from Carrara content.

Step 1 - Add the tree

The overall idea is how to do a simple fruit tree using only DAZ Carrara this time. I did this example using the version 5 (not Pro) and you can do that if your version support to load leaves (I never tried other version then 5).

The first step is create a new empty document: File / New

When the window is loaded it is time to add a PLANT (that's your tree now): Insert / Plant

For this example I will use a preset to get a better result, just click in the Preset: Load button in the plant editor (Model Room)

I like to use the Willow preset, so choose and then click OK

Now that you choose Carrara will ask you to import this shader, answer YES and close the Model Room to not use as much memory. Every Room that is opened is better to be closed before continuing, this way you can have more memory free to work in the Assembly Room.

Step 2 - Setup for the fruit

Back to the Assemble Room it is time to do two things: first we need to choose a fruit to use on our tree, and it needs to be in the right orientation in the 3D space to work as a leaf…YES the fruit will be a kind of leaf to create the tree.

Go to your Content Browser and in the Objects tab find the Misc folder and click twice on the Pear object:

The Pear will open in another window, not in the window where your tree is. The default orientation isn't good for doing what we want to do, so we need to orient it along the X axis, with the stem pointing to the positive side. Here is how it looks when loaded:

Select the rotation tool in the Tool Bar. Look at that to orientate the pear along the X axis; we need to rotate it in the Y axis (pure geometry), the green circle:

You can rotate by hand or enter the value in the tool options window in the Motion tab:

And now this is how the pear NEEDS to look after changing the orientation. It doesn't need to be parallel to the ground.

Step 3 - Saving the fruit

Time to save our pear. Open up the Content Browser again and find YOUR objects folder:

Find your pear in the object list in the right side of the main window and just click and drag it to the browser:

Carrara will ask you for a name and a comment. You can put what you want to better find it latter.

Now you can close the pear window and go back to the tree… Answer “don't save” to the question about saving or not the file changes (you already saved it after dragging to the browser!)

Step 4 - Duplicate the tree

Now that you have a tree with leaves ready, it's time to DUPLICATE it, we will use a copy of the original tree to put the fruits on. Select the tree and go to the menu Edit / Duplicate (or Ctrl + D in PC) and now you will have two identical trees superposed!

With the second tree selected click in the Model Room icon to edit the leaves, or click twice in it. Carrara will ask what you want to do now: Create a new master? Or Edit the Master? The right answer is “Create a New Master”. If you use the second choice Carrara will apply the changes to both trees and we will get only fruits. The idea is let one tree with leaves and the other with fruits, but as both are duplicated in the same place we will be the illusion that only one tree is there!

Click OK and go to the Leaf tab

Step 5 - Load the "leaf" fruit

In the Leaf tab choose the button Load From File:

Now is the hard part… where is your saved pear? If you don't know, just click in the icon for the Assemble room, click on your pear in the content browser and in the menu icon (look at the screen below) choose File Info:

The file location will be shown between the name and the comment of the file!

Back to the model room we now can load the pear as a leaf.

Click OK when Carrara ask to import the shader. And now you have a tree with many and many pears! This is ugly…

Step 6 - Adjust the fruit

And here are some tricks that need to be done to get a better result:

1- Reduce leaf quantity to about 0, 3.

2 - Set leaf twist to zero, so they can be more natural.

3 - Set the Leafless Margins to a higher value so the fruits will be more faraway one from another, here is the basis of this trick, try some setting to see what best works. For the image that I generated I used a low value of 0, 22 and a high of 0, 4

4 - Increase the size of the pear in the Leaf Size to about 1, 78

5 - Adjust the angle that the pear has from the branches in the Leaf Orientation I used 151.

Always look to the preview to see what has happened to the “leaf” so you can better understand the parameters that are being changed.

Step 7 - Add a realistic sky

Now back to your Assemble Room and put the camera in a better position and do a render to see what your plant looks like

For my render I'm loading a Realistic Sky, the Californian Sky. Click in the SCENE in the Instance list:

Go to the top of the screen and in the Effects tab and add a Realistic Sky to the Atmosphere:

Now select the presets button:

In the window that you open choose the realistic sky presets in the side and choose the Californian Sky or other that you like and click OK.

Step 8 - Render the tree

Go to the Render Room and turn on the Sky Light and set the intensity to 200%, but this will take a long time to render. Without the Sky Light you can render more quickly…

… and this what you will get in the end:

Now it's time to try something different: use a flower or a xmas ball and create your tree. Try different variations to see what you can devise.

Using Inverted Light Shadows in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Inverted Light Shadows in Carrara

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara 5

Step 1 - Scene Setup

For this tutorial I used a simple text logo and one spotlight that are both set up to point at and track the camera using the “Point At” modifier. (Refer to my “Camera Tracking Lights and Objects in Carrara” tutorial for details on how to do this)

Step 2 - Configuring Text Shader

To create a light independent glowing object use the Glow setting of the text shader and assign it a value (100% as shown). This allow us to focus on the backlighting rather than worry about lighting the object itself.

Step 3 - Configuring Light Effects

Select the spotlight object and click the “Effects” tab to modify the “Light Cone” effects by first clicking the “Enable” checkbox and then clicking the blue “Edit” button to bring up the window as shown above.

Select the “Enable Light Cone” option and adjust the intensity according to your preferences. You can preview how your settings will look using the “Render” option in the Light Cone window. Under the 3D Shadows portion of the window, click “Enable”, “Invert” and adjust the Shadow Buffer Size noting that higher numbers = more accurate shadows. With these effect enabled you are ready to animate your logo.

Step 4 - Final Render

Use keyframing to create an animation that tracks the camera with the light cone directed towards the camera. The 'shadows' of the scene have now become the light rays which emanate from the logo just as if the light source was coming from the text itself!

Enjoy!

Dan

Adding text on shader domains in Carrara 5

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Adding text on shader domains in Carrara 5

Author: GKDantas

Tools Needed

Carrara 5 and a paint program

Support Files

**rings.zip**

Step 1 - Loading the ring

First you need to load the ring_01.car file. We will work in a ring modeled in Vertex Modeler (you can use it for free after).

Now click in the ring and call the Model Room with one of these ways:

1 - click twice in the ring

2 - click in the ring click in the Model Room icon

Now in Modeling Room we will create the shader domains to apply the textures. Here the idea is to create two surfaces, so we can see where we will put the text image.

Begin clicking twice in any face of the ring so we can get it all selected. When selected the ring will go red.

Step 2 - Creating the shader domain

Time to create a ring shade domain. In the properties menu click in the Model tab and you will see an option named Shading Domain, and under it the value Texture 1. Click in this dropdown menu and choose New shading domain:

A new window will open to you write the name, let's call it Ring and click OK:

Now the entire ring have a shade domain named Ring… always use a name that you can identify better latter.

We need the surface that the text will be applied, so click outside the ring to deselect it. Hold the shift key and select 5 polygons from the most front of the ring. Again go to the Shade Domain and select New Shading Domain to create a new surface with the polygons selected like we did in steps above. Call it Label.

Step 3 - Testing the shader domain

Close the Model Room and get back to Assembler Room clicking in the hand top icon.

To test if our shader domain is working just drag two shader over the ring and do a quick test render (Ctrl + R). you can use the rin02.car file from this point. It have the two shader domains ready.

Here is the test, don't worry about the colors. We can see that the shader domains are working right.

Now the fun. Let's take this ring to a better shade: open up the browser and choose the shaders tab, then in the Metal category drag Yellow Gold shader to both shade domains in the ring, so we get a beautiful gold ring. You can use the file ring_02.car in this step.

Step 4 - Time for some UV-mapping!

Before apply the text we need to do a thing that everybody want to get away: UV Map! Don't worry it is pretty simple and you will learn a little about UV Mapping in Carrara 5.

Click twice on the ring and go to the Model Room. We need to select only the label shade domain, to do that go to the upper menu Selection / Select By / Shade Domain and a new window will be showed where you will choose the Label shade domain and click OK:

With the shade domain Label selected the ring will look like that:

Time to UV Map. In the properties window there's a tab called UV Map, click on it and choose the UV Editor button.

A new window will show up with many options…don't be afraid it's friendly!

Here you can see some good things:

Shading Domain List = is where all shade domains are listed, so we need to select only the Label domain, only it will be UV mapped.

In the grey area you can see the UV map and the polygons for the shade domain selected. UV map is something like to flatten an object, so we can put a 2D image in it.

Click in the Projection tab. Choose from the dropdown menu the option Planar. Set to No Split. In the axes click in the X axis (not in the letter).

Step 5 - Exporting the UV map

Hit the Apply button to tell the Carrara UV Map editor that you want that it project an image aligned in the X axis to that shader domain. It what you see when you click in that option in the Projection tab. Planar is the way your image are, like a rigid paper. Aligned to the X axe like a landscape orientation.

That's the image that you will have at the end of this process. Time to define a space where the text will be written. Choose the scale button (in red ) and click in a red point in the grey are and drag until get the space for the text.

Now the image looks a little more like the shader domain that you selected to be the text part of the ring.

Time to export that image so we can write our text. Click in the Display tab and choose the Export button, a new window will show up asking the size of the base image that you want. This is the size of the UV map that will be exported to be painted.

Here I have chosen the 512 option (512 X 512 pixels). Save the image where you want to and open your paint program.

Step 6 - Creating the label

Here I will use the Artweaver paint software that looks like the Photoshop interface and it's free (http://www.artweaver.de/).

So load the image and add a text to the image in a new layer. Now scale it to the size of the shader domain. Don't worry about text color.

Now is time to create an alpha channel or a mask that make Carrara 5 only see the text. Go to the layers panel and make the background invisible. Click in the eye icon to do that. Save the image as a PNG with transparency and back to Carrara.

Step 7 - New shaders

Now in Carrara close the UV Editor with the OK button (in close button you will lose all work!). Back to the Assembler Room to see that no changes are visible…yet.

In the properties window choose the Shaders tab:

Let's rename the Yellow Gold shader. Click on it and in the top of the Property window replace the text with the name “ring”

Back to the shaders right click in the new “ring” shader and choose duplicate. Now rename the new shader to “text”. Why do we do that? Simple if you map only one shader all the ring will get written upon! This is something that we don't want now.

Double click in the “text” shader so we can edit it. You will be sent to the Texture Room.

In the image you can see that the Top Shader is a Multi Channel, this way you can configure many attributes for a surface. but for our text surface we need some more options. What will we do is to create two “layers” of texture where the most top will define the text attributes and the most down will be our background to the text. So to do that we need to first change the Top Shader. Click in the blue dropdown menu and choose Complex Shaders > > Multi Channel Mixer. Don't worry it's not so complex.

Take a look only at what I have painted in red. You can see the 3 channels: source 1, source 2 and Blender. The text surface, the background surface and where the image goes. Let's see if that's right: in the blender channel in the dropdown menu (where you'read None) choose Texture Map and apply the image that you have created. Look that the option Color And Alpha are checked, so it can work as a mask.

Step 8 - Final render

Now just two more step to get it done. If you want you can do a test render to see how they look and understand what has happened until now.

Look that the text has the attributes from Source 1 ( I said to you!). But We don't want that the text should have the same color, so we could see it when render the final image. back to the Texture Room. Drag a new shader from the browser to the Source 1 so we can replace it. After that drag the Ring shader from the properties window to the Source 2, so the background will look like the rest of the ring. Do a new render.

Now is time to adjust your scene, add a Realistic Sky or just save it to use in others scenes and renders. You can also copy the Blender channel (right click and choose Copy from menu) to the bump channel from Source 1 to get a little bump (just right click the bump channel and choose Paste from menu).

Good luck to everyone and you can see the ring in the ring04.car file. If you find that the text image are a little low, create one with more resolution. Even a square one, doesn't matter that you have exported a 512 pixel image, it's only a base for create the UV Map. The only thing is that you will have to close Carrara 5 to clean the cache so you can see the changes if using an image with the same name. You can use the file ring_04.car for this step.

A special thanks go to Ringo Monfort that are a great hand when I have a doubt, it's my Guru in the Carrara world.

Carrara 6 Intermediate Skin Shaders

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara 6 Intermediate Skin Shaders

Author: BTLProductions

Tools Needed

Carrara 6

A figure with skin

The Gimp

IRFanView

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to let you get more out of your figures and introduce you to more advanced skin settings. It will also teach you some ways to reduce the overhead of your Carrara scenes when using DAZ Content. IRFanView is free and available from http:///www.irfanview.com/ The Gimp is also free and available from http://www.gimp.org/

Step 1 - Bump creation-Create a Map.

Unfortunately not all texture sets come with bump maps. Mostly this is older characters but not always. For example the G-2 series of figures uses a Poser Procedural shader for bump. In the event that you don't have a bump map you can follow these steps or those in Step 2.

A. Open The Gimp and load your texture.

B. Desaturate your texture.

C. Use the Bump-Map option.

D. Add the new bump map to your shader tree.

Step 2 - Bump creation-Don

A. Use the texture map.

A. 1. Load the texture map into the bump channel and adjust the settings.

A. 2. These will generally have to be set higher than the same settings for a Bump Map. (Roughly twice as high.)

B. Create a Procedural Shader.

B. 1. On the bump part of the shader, choose natural function, cellular.

B. 2. Pick an appropriate type.

B. 3. Set the Intensity (generally 5-8%) and Scale (generally 2-5%).

B. 4. Make sure the bump amplitude to 100%.

Step 3 - Sub-Surface Scattering

Subsurface scattering generally has the most use when you are dealing with Global Illumination. Subsurface Scattering is greatly influenced by scene lighting so will have to be specifically set with your lighting in mind. These are general rules and settings, but they will need to be modified for your specific scene.

A. Choose SSS from your shader tree.

B. Check the box.

C. Set your color.

This should generally be darker and a little bluer in shade than your skin shade.

D. Set intensity.

In general this should be set at less than 35%.

Step 4 - Highlight and Shine

Like Subsurface Scattering Highlight is very dependent on scene lighting. One point the higher the shininess setting the less actual shine.

A. For something that is, in general, supposed to be shiny set the highlight to color and a light gray. Then set shininess to the desired level.

B. For things that are supposed to have some highlights, like general skin, create a highlight map. this is accomplished by the following steps.

B. 1. Load the bump map into Gimp. (If you don't have one create one according to step 1.)

B. 2. Choose Contrast Brightness.

B. 3. Set Brightness and contrast, the settings here are a good guideline, but experiment for your own best results.

B. 4. Save the picture and then like a bump map or texture map load it into the highlight channel.

B. 5. Set the shininess to your desired level.

Step 5 - Reduce overhead

The amount of resources used by each Poser/DAZ Character is determined by several factors. A major contributor is texture map size. So here are a few tips to help reduce the overhead of your figures. These steps will help you put more figures into your scene.

A. Replace the bump map with a Procedural Shader. (Step B.)

B. Reduce a highlight map (if any) in size as accuracy is not as essential, so the long side is in the neighborhood of 1024 or even 512.

C. Use IRFanView to reduce all of your texture maps, especially for figures that are not in the foreground of the picture.

C. 1. Create a folder for your reduced resolution images.

C. 2. Open IRFanView and go to File-Batch Conversion.

C. 3. Navigate to the correct folder for your texture maps.

Also set your output folder.

C. 4. Select the images you are going to use.

and push the Add button.

C. 5. Make sure the use advanced options box is checked and push the use advanced options button.

C. 6. Set the change size with the long size to something like 2048, larger or smaller depending on your actual needs. Make sure you have the do not enlarge smaller images box checked. Hit OK.

C. 7. Make sure you are set for jpeg output with the proper settings, (I usually recommend 85 to 95% compression.)

C 8. Push Start.

D. You can now swap these textures out for the full size ones in your shader trees.

Step 6 - Conclusions

You can use each of these techniques alone or together to give you more options and more realistic skin and/or lower overhead for your renders. You should use these techniques after consolidating the shaders per texture map as you are able making the changes easier to accomplish.

Remember that much of the techniques for skin and other materials is highly dependent on lighting in the scene. test rendering is required to get the best effects.

Enjoy Carrara.

More color options for Carrara 5

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

More color options for Carrara 5

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

Carrara 5

Image Editing Software

A picture (provided for this Tutorial)

Support Files

colorpicker.zip

Introduction

You are building a room, and you decided to use a Procedural method rather than Texture when you are making your shader. Only that..well..you are stuck for a color. Maybe you saw a photo on the internet that you like the color for it, but not sure how to replicate it. Well, my friend, all you need is a picture, Image program like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, and some math ability (OK, OK, you can use calculator). As with all my tutorials, I am going to disclaim that you are familiar with Carrara User Interface, the Texture Room, and this merely a new technique to help you further your creation.:)

Step 1: Picking a Picture

For exercise, I am going to use the picture supplied in the support files, and open it up in Paint Shop Pro. Open it up in your image editor, and we shall be off.

Step 2: Capturing a Color

Click on the eyedropper, and use that to click on a color you would like to see the scheme. Double click on the foreground, and you will see a lot of colors as well as numbers. The numbers are what important.

The first one we will go through is Hue/Light/Saturation, then Red/Green/Blue, and we will also do HTML Code.

Step 3: Applying Color, HLS

In Carrara, I would like you to create an object, any object, and head into the Texture room. As you can see, once you made the object, it created a Shader for you. That is perfect.

What I would like you to do now is select the Color channel, and by default it should be on Color already, but if it doesn't in the future, just select color. Next thing I would like you to do is to select the Color, and you will get an option to come up.

By default, you should see HLS wheel come up. I will show you how to work this first. A bit of a note, it is easier for me to PaintShop Pro information then Photoshop 5 LE, but if you know how to adapt the information to Photoshop, cool.

Let go back to PaintShop. Remember those numbers? What we will be doing is apply the Hue/Light/Saturation values. However, you will notice that this one are done in numbers while Carrara uses percentages. Not to worry. Merely take the number you see in there, and divide it by 255, and you will get the percentage to place in the HLS wheel, like below.

Step 4: Applying Color, RGB

This is actually a way that applies to a lot of paint programs, but involves one more set of clicking. What I would like you to do is click on the down arrow like below, and select RGB Sliders.

WHOA! It actually uses numbers. No division needed ;) Just enter the numbers between your paint program and Carrara, and you are home free.:)

Step 5: Applying Color, Web Colors

There is one more option you can use. There may be some out there who have design websites, and are familiar with hexadecimal values for colors. This one for you.

As above with the last two steps, click on the arrow and select Web Colors.

Type in the HTML code to the Field Carrara Provides.

Done.:)

Step 6: Side Note

This is a little trick I did while working on a picture, and using material that is actually paint. It is useful if you have a picture of a painted house, and you wanted to simulate that. Now you can.

To those new to the world of Shaders, and wondering why go through this rather then Texture maps? While realism value can be found in texture maps for certain objects, however, for others, you can simulate it by using various in-program effect which saves you memory. For every texture map you load into Carrara, it takes a bit of memory from you whereas Colors are not as bad.

Procedural shader for watered silk in Carrara 6.1

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Procedural shader for watered silk in Carrara 6.1

Author: Indigone

Tools Needed

Carrara 6.1

Introduction

If you haven't used the shader room in Carrara yet to really dig into the strength of the shader trees, this is your chance to learn. Procedural shaders are easy to create and make rich, realistic shading quick and easy. The picture you see here is a render of Victoria 4 wearing the Vandra skirt and V4 Ranger top with the watered silk shader. Next to her is a picture from Wikipedia's page on watered silk which I used as the model for the shader.

Step 1 - Create the basic shader

In Carrara, click Edit –> New master shader
Use an Anisotropic model for the top later. This disperses light nicely over the silk.
In the shader branch, select multi channel, and set the channels of the shader.
Color will be covered in step 2
The highlight color is a gray. This makes the silk not glare in your eyes with shininess, but is shiny enough.
Shininess will be covered in step 3
Bump is covered in step 4, but with the top shader selected, set the bump amplitude to 15%.
Transparency is covered in step 5
The rest of the channels I left at the default.

Step 2 - Set the color

Using multiple color layers give the silk a realistic depth. In this case, I used an overlay of the basic color overtop of a mixer of two colors mixed with noise.

Step 3 - Set the shininess

From Wikipedia: Watered silk is a type of silk fabric which has been passed through a set of rollers as a fabric finishing process, to give the surface a moiré pattern which looks like a water surface.

To give it that moiré pattern in Carrara, I used a pattern in shininess channels. The lumberyard pattern in Carrara, with the right dial settings, is very close to an actual moiré pattern.

The persistence and perturbation settings give the lumberyard a nice swirl. The grain edge, threshhold and blend settings soften the look.

To be able to set the shininess with a value, use a multiply operator in the shininess channel.

Step 4 - Set the bump

I wasn't happy with how smooth the cloth was rendering so I set a noise bump to rough it up a bit. The bump amplitude that was set in the first step of 15% is barely enough to notice, but took the hard sheen off the fabric.

Step 5 - Set the transparency

The picture from Wikipedia appeared as though the silk was thin and slightly transparent. Using a transparency of 15% softened the fabric in the render and made it look more realistic.

Step 6 - Set the displacement

The picture from Wikipedia made the silk look as though it had natural wrinkles running through it. Especially where the fabric was loose from the body. In order to achieve this in Carrara, I used the displacement channel.

Set the scale to 1.00 in the top channel, smoothing angle of 35% and enable the subdivision, with extra adaptive steps set at 1.

Use a fractal noise pattern in the displacement channel. I turned the dials so that it looked like cracked mud and then softenend it a bit.

The settings are: Select the fifth fractal noise pattern (the one on the right), brightness at 0.06, contrast at 16%, pattern at 1.90, density at 93.95, and selected invert (so that the tiny wrinkles would go in, not out)

A note about displacement and transparency:

If you are using watered silk on something that has it stretched tight across, such as tight clothes or upholstery, you may want to turn these off to mimic the stretch.

Step 7 - Enjoy and play with the colors!

Watered silk looks pretty in nearly any shade, from subtle to bold.

I hope that you have learned something nice from this tutorial.

Happy rendering!

Texturing a $20 Bill Using Shading Domains

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Texturing a $20 Bill Using Shading Domains

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara 3 or higher

Support Files

**Money.zip**

Introduction

Have you ever tried to apply separate textures to an object only to be frustrated back the inability to find a mapping mode to get your texture where you want it? Shader Domains can help you demarcate exactly where you wish to place a texture on your object. By modeling and texturing a $20 Bill this tutorial will illustrate the basic concepts of using shader domains.

Step 1 - Modeling the $20 Bill as a Vertex Object

For this simple tutorial we wish to create a simple model that we can establish shading domains for. A $20 bill is a great candidate as it has unique front and back faces that can be textured using two separate texture maps one for each face respectively. This tutorial will: 1. Help you model the $20 bill as a vertex object, 2. Establish shading domains for the front and back of the $20 bill, 3. Apply textures using UV Mapping so that textures can be morphed and manipulated correctly.

To begin modeling the $20 bill, start by inserting a vertex object into your blank scene by selecting “Insert > Vertex Object”

Switch to the modeling room by selecting the “Wrench” icon towards the top right of the screen.

Now within the modeling room Select a cube vertex primitive and create one in the center of the screen by left clicking dragging your mouse anywhere on the screen.

Switch your selection tool to “scale” by right clicking the cube.

This will change the right sidebar's display so that new X, Y, Z scale values will appear. Set the X value to 6.25“, the Y value to 2.5” and the Z value to 1“ initially. Setting the Z value (thickness) to 1” will help for manipulation - we will change this value eventually to 0.1“ for the final version of the bill. These dimensions as given are the actual dimensions of a US $20 bill.

Step 2 - Creating the Shading Domains

We will use two shading domains on our $20 bill. Shading domains help determine over what faces on our object's geometry textures will be placed. Without shading domains you could try to texture map an object in various mapping modes, however, you are limited to using a single texture to try to map precisely to your object. This is often difficult and frustrating to do. As we will see shortly using shading domains is a simple solution to texture mapping problems.

To create our shading domain for the top face of our $20 bill. Switch to the “four views” mode within the Modeling Room which you should be already in.

Using the “Front” view pane of our four views (the bottom right of the four) Select only the vertices of our $20 dollar bill. By selecting those vertices in the front view you will actually be selecting the entire top face of $20 dollar bill. You can easily confirm that the correct faces are selected by viewing your selection from the Director's Camera view (immediately above the Front view pane).

Once you have selected the top face, under the “Model” tab in the side bar, and under “Shading Domain” select “New Shading Domain.” You will be prompted for a name for the shading domain. I used the label: “Front” You have now established a shading domain for your $20 bill! The top face of your $20 bill will now have a shading domain “Front” associated with it.

Repeat the same series of procedures as outlined in this step back face - selecting the bottom vertices/faces of the $20 bill. For this domain I used the label: “Back”

After you have created both “Front” and “Back” shading domains, this is a good point to rescale the Z scale of the $20 bill down from 1” to 0.1“ You can do this by selecting all the vertices and right clicking the “Scale” option as covered in Step 1 of this tutorial. This will make you $20 bill appear “paper-thin”

Step 3 - Applying the Shaders

We are now ready to apply the textures to our “Front” and “Back” shading domains.

Switch windows to the texturing room by clicking on the pencil icon at the top right of Carrara's user interface.

Notice now that under the “Vertex Object” in the sidebar and under its “Shading” tab there are now 3 shading domains. “Texture 0” is the default domain to all created object, but the “Front” and “Back” domains are two which you just created.

We will first create new master shaders for the “Front” and “Back” domains. This is simply done by clicking on the drop down blue arrow button within both the “Front” and “Back” shading domains in the sidebar. Select the bottom option in the drop down menu: “New Master Shader”

Once this is done, edit each shader to apply a texture map to the color channel of the shader. Do this first by double clicking on the shader from the sidebar to bring up its respective properties. For example, for the “Front” shading domain's shader properties, double click on “Shader 1” under “Front.” A property window will appear along with a preview of your object.

Edit the “Color” property of your shader by selecting “Texture Map.” You will then have the option of loading your texture from a file on your computer. For this tutorial textures have been saved internally in the example Carrara Scene file, but you are free to use any texture you like at your disposal. For this tutorial all other properties of the shaders are left untouched.

Repeat this same series of steps for applying the shaders for “Shader 2”, under the “Back” shading domain.

Step 4 - Texture UV Mapping

Sometimes deformers to the vertex object will mess up the texture mapping unless you have a UV Map applied to your shading domain. This is especially important in animation. A UV map “welds” your texture to your object so that even if the object is deformed or changes, the texture will change correspondingly. If you are only producing the $20 bill without the intent to deform your $20 bill object you may wish to skip this step, otherwise to UV map your textures for animation, simply go back into the Modeling Room and select the “UV Map” tab on the side bar. Click the “UV Editor” and the UV Editor window will appear.

Within the UV Editor under the “Edit” tab you can easily select your “Front” and “Back” shading domains. By clicking either one of these, the faces for those domains will appear in the UV Editor. Each vertex that appears in the UV Editor (in red) will serve as a weld point to the texture that has been assigned to its domain. As such we need to position our UV vertices as accurately as possible over our texture. To do so we will need to make some preliminary changes on the “Projection” tab of the UV Editor. With the “Projection” tab selected, change the projection to “Planar” oriented along the Z axis. Click “Apply” to set the changes.

Click apply and a UV grid will appear with the texture that is currently mapped to the shading domain. For this tutorial I started with the “Back” shading domain, and hence the back texture to the $20 bill has appeared. As we will need to do this for both “Front” and “Back” shading domains, these steps for the “Back” will be equally applicable to the “Front” as well. Align the red vertices using the transform and scale tools.

Note that the UV Editor wraps the vertices both laterally and vertically. You will need to carefully manipulate the red vertices to align to your texture map as shown in this image:

Again, repeat this series of steps for both the “Front” and “Back” shading domains.

Step 5 - Render and Conclusion

Finally you are ready to render, animate, and use your textured $20 Bill. Use shading domains do add textures to virtually any object, anywhere. I hope this tutorial was helpful to you in learning how to use shader domains - happy rendering!

Using Rotoscoping / Video Textures in Carrara

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Rotoscoping / Video Textures in Carrara

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara 5
Carrara 4
Carrara 3

Step 1 - Billboard Setup

Establish your scene and utilize a billboard (2D flat surface) to be used as your object if you choose to portray the video as you would normally see it. Otherwise be creative and try mapping the video texture to any sort of object - don't worry, Carrara is versatile enough to handle it! In this scene, I have created a TV with the screen in red the portion that I will map the video texture to.

Step 2 - Texture Settings

After selecting your billboard, enter the texture options by clicking on the paint brush icon at the top right of Carrara's menu bar. First you will need to change the mapping to “Flat Mapping” and select the object face as seen in the cube selections for the highlighted face that you want your video displayed on.

Next, load the video texture by setting the “Color” setting to “Texture” and simply opening up any supported movie file on your computer. That's it! Your video is now the texture of the object and will play according to your scene's global time.

Step 3 - Realtime Preview

You can establish a realtime preview in Carrara of your movie and even it's realtime texture display by setting your display mode to “textured” (shaded sphere option furthest right, above the working window), and by dragging the animation time cursor to any position in your animation. Although Carrara doesn't give a perfect picture of your textures, you can still get an accurate idea of which part your video has played up to the time marker.

Step 4 - Render Final & Tips

Render your animation to preview it in action and you're ready to start using video textures to your scene!

Tips: Use 2D billboards with “white as invisible” and “invert” to mask out portions of videos such as fire to create more realistic looking fire in your scenes. Use 2D video billboards as animated trees with the multireplicator to reduce polygon counts. Use any of the texture filters such as “Glow” to dynamically filter your video through Carrara!

Good luck and enjoy Carrara's powerful video texture feature!

Dan

Using Subsurface Scatter on DAZ Figures

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Subsurface Scatter on DAZ Figures

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

Carrara 5

Introduction

Recently, we been seeing a slew of artworks showing up that been closing in on the realism, and we been wondering how they did it. One method that has come to light is known as Subsurface Scatter. According to the manual for Subsurface Scatter, it is a phenomenon that occurs by light scattering inside an object, and filtering through a diffuse material. This effect causes the skin to look nice and fleshy rather than dry as Raytrace tends to lead it to. How I get it done for a Victoria 3, you wonder. Just follow me.:) This tutorial is meant to show you an enhancement to your DAZ/Poser figures, and it assumes you understand the basics of Importing these figures.:)

Step 1: Import Figure

Really any character will do. For this demonstration, we have Kayla offering her services.

As you can see, the Raytracer Engine leaves her a little to be desired. Her skin just feels very obviously computer generated. Let see if we can fix that.

Step 2: Preparing For Subsurface Scatter

What I would like you to do go to Texture room, and click on instances. Note: In this example, I am using Native Import, however you can do the same thing in Transposer objects, just requires a little more work.:)

The first thing we are going to do is make things easier for you who used Native Importer. Victoria (which Kayla based on) is made up of 11 Body Shaders, and 7 Head Shaders (not including Eye, Eyelash, etc..Leave those alone;)) I want you to select a Body Shader, in my example, the Nipple for the Global Shader. What this will do is put a texture into a Domain (an area that needs a shader for color/etc) from the Global if it is blank. After you done that, delete the other Body Shaders from their domains by selecting the Trashcan. It will help you a lot.

Now For the Head Shaders, change anything in the domains for the Head Shaders as shown below to SkinHead (or whatever Shader depicts the head)

This simplifies the process for later. Once you done that, you might as well use the Remove Unused Shaders in the edit menu. It makes your Shader box looks neat.:) Doesn't always work in some cases, but it is a good practice to get into.

Step 3: Setup For Subsurface: Body

Now I want you to double click on the Global Shader, and it will open up the tab. After you done so, select Subsurface Scatter, and Enable it.

You might find her turning a little gross color like above. Don't worry, we are not leaving her body color like that. What we need to do is make some adjustments to her settings to get her a decent Subsurface Scatter.:)

Above are the settings for what normally works out OK. For those who can't make out the picture, it is as follows:

Color: HLS Wheel: H: 99.68%, 56.57%, 51.52%

Intensity: 25%

Actually the settings were extracted from Ringo Monfort's tutorial at Creative Cow on Subsurface Scatter as a reference. My tutorial, however, make the process a little easier for those who use Native Importer though (We will only use modify two shaders total instead of modifying everything in Ringo's tutorial, also Ringo's is based on Importing with Transposer.. However, Ringo Montfort did write a nice tutorial for Creative Cows, and this in no way meant to defame his work.:) It is merely a different way to achieve the same effect. However, these settings are absolutely perfect for the effect.:)

The reason for 25% rather than 100% is like the tutorial mentioned is that I used as a source for some information, it is way too intense. Now that we set it up, let take a look at her now.

Wow Much Better! Now what about the head?

Step 4: Magic Head

I am going to employ a very magic technique to getting subsurface to setup on the head WITHOUT re-entering the values by hand. With the Body shader you are still open, open the SkinHead shader.

On the body Subsurface Scatter, right click and select copy, then right click on the head Subsurface Scatter, and click on Paste..And all that information is good.:) Like I said, Magic.:) Let take a look.

Before:

After:

What a difference right?:) Now I have given you the ability to add this to your own humans to give them a little more lifelike look that is sometimes deprived from Raytracing.:)

V4 got you seeing Blue?

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

V4 got you seeing Blue?

Author: BTLProductions

Tools Needed

Carrara

Image processing software (like Gimp)

Poser 6+

Transposer (Optional but recommended.)

Introduction

When bringing V4 into Carrara, the Carrara import is only partially successful at reading the Poser shaders. This gives you a blue tinted skin. This tutorial shows you how to get rid of the blue color. Further when importing people into Carrara, Carrara tends to leave the bump maps out on import. This tutorial can be used with all skin textures as a way to fix that situation. Carrara has some other neat features in the Shaders and this tutorial helps explore some of those to help you better understand how to create your own skin shaders in Carrara. This Tutorial takes you from the left side of the picture to the right side. :)

Step 1 - Preparation

OK We are going to start in your 2D application. I use Gimp, but this should work in Photoshop or any other image manipulation software.

Step 1a. Open your Image manipulation software.

Step 1b. Import the V4 Bump Map. (Found in Runtime\textures\DAZ\Characters\MilWom\V4)

Step 1c. Adjust the brightness down about 50% and the contrast up about 25% Save the new files under a different name in the same directory so you can find it.

Step 1d. Repeat for each of the three V4 bump maps.

Step 2 - Poser

Since V4 doesn't have JCM but instead uses internal deformers (Magnets) which Carrara doesn't, at this time, support, you should bring V4 into Carrara using Transposer. If you are going to bring her in using the native importer, the following steps are similar except that the shaders for V4 are broken up over various shaders, 1 per body part. IMHO, while this still works it takes a little more care and time.

To bring V4 in with Transposer, simply open V4 in Poser 6 (Poser 7 will work provided that you still have Transposer pointed at Poser 6 and still have Poser 6 installed on your system. Poser 5 will also work but doesn't properly support the deformers.) Apply her texture as normal. and save the scene as a pz3. (Don't bother with putting anything else into the scene it will just confuse the issue.)

Close Poser.

Step 3 - Import V4 and open her shader

3a. Import V4 from her pz3 using Transposer.

You will notice she comes in as Blue-Green.(This applies to the Standard and High-Res textures, for other characters, so far, they come in normally as they don't have a Poser 6 shader attached to them.)

3b. Select the Texture room.

(Top right of your screen.)

3c. Select the Instances tab.

(Bottom Right.)

3D. Select V4 and her shader.

Your screen should now look something like this.

Step 4 - Adjust V4

Now we are going to adjust her shaders. There are basically 3 skin shaders. One is half skin tone and half blue, one is skin tone with a couple blue dots in the skin tone and half blue, and the third is Skin tone with a blue cross on it.

4a. Open the first blue and skin tone shader. (It should be lips.) Open the multi channel shader. The first should be color (Which will be a mixer.) Below the mixer will be a color with a texture map and a blue shader. Grab the color (The one with the skin tone and white.) And just drop it on the mixer. This will eliminate the blue shader and the mixer and just replace that whole mess with the color being the texture map.

(For character texture maps without the blue tinge 4a can be skipped.)

4b. Go down to highlight. Change it from color to texture map.

4c. Load the highlight texture map for the head you previously created. Set the brightness to about 5%.

4d. Go down to Bump. Eliminate the mixer again, using the same method. set your texture map as the bump map. and set brightness to about 7%.

4e. Go down to Subsurface scattering and turn it on. Pick a color that is a little darker and just a touch bluer, than skin tone. (I am using 181, 149 and 141 for RGB sliders.) Check the box that says subsurface scattering. Set the intensity to about 25%, leave the rest of the settings at default.

Note that this will slow things down, especially if you have automatic update checked in the render preview. That is normal.

Step 5 - Copy shaders

Step 5a. Go up to where it says multi-channel, right below where it says parametric mapping for this node of the shader. Click on it and look at the various nodes within the shader, specifically make sure your bump setting is set to the setting you previously chose, around 7%. (For some reason it tends to say 100% here and needs to be adjusted.)

Step 5b. Now right clock on the Multi-channel Mapping for the node and hit copy.

Step 5c. For each additional head shader (there are three of them) open them and right click on multi channel and hit paste.

Step 5d. Open the first Body node. Go up to one of the head nodes and right click on the subsurface scattering node and copy, then on the first body node go to subsurface scattering and click paste.

Step 5e. Repeat what you did for the lips and the rest of the head nodes only this time for the body nodes.

Step 5f. Repeat for the limb nodes. (Including the copy of the subsurface scattering.)

Step 5g. Those are the only nodes you should have to mess with.

Step 6 - Finishing up.

Step 6a. Your finished shader tree should look something like this.

Step 6b. Render and make sure she looks right.

(Lighting will make a difference.)

Step 6c. Make any adjustments you feel you need to make.

Step 6d. In the Assembly Room or the Texture Room, go to the bottom panel where it says Sequencer and Browser and choose Browser along the side then Shaders along the top.

Step 6e. Scroll down through your choices until you come to My Shaders. (If not there add it.)

Step 6f. On the bottom right choose the shaders tab.

Step 6g. Drag and drop your new V4 Shader to the browser then name it so you will recognize it.

From now on when you bring in V4 you can just select her and hit preset, then choose your V4 shader.

Step 7 - Importing V4 with Props attached.

In the future, if you bring her in with Props attached. (Hr2 hair, dynamic clothes, jewelry, guns, etc.) you will need to follow these additional steps to change the shader in your scene.

7a. Open the imported V4 shader with the props on it. (And the horrible blue tone.)

7b. Open your V4 shader from your browser. (You can just drag it over to the shader tab.)

7c. On your V4 shader you can create a number of additional nodes which correspond to the additional nodes that the imported shader has (The props).

7d. Copy the prop nodes on the imported shader to the new nodes on your shader.

7e. Assign V4 to your shader and on the assembly tab you should then remove unused master shaders. :)

It takes much less time to do this than it took to write this.

Step 8 - Final thoughts

This works with most of the V4 characters and I find it easier to just take the characters that I intend to use later (Emma for example, wet skin, etc.) and set them up. Then later when I am ready to build a scene I am all set and can simply apply the shader after loading or setting the scene. (Instead of going through a long list of shaders to find the correct ones to modify.

V4 got you seeing Blue? (C6 version)

2011-11-01T17:42:13+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

V4 got you seeing Blue? (C6 version)

Author: BTLProductions

Tools Needed

Carrara 6

A figure that you are importing with Skin (I used V4.1).

Introduction

When I hear about the Carrara 5 tutorial on skin I did for Carrara 5, I hear that it is complicated. This is a simple tutorial to improve the look of a DAZ/Poser figure when importing them into Carrara. Shaders are render engine specific so Poser Shaders don't translate well into Carrara. However Carrara has its own very powerful shader tree and this tutorial will introduce you to setting them.

Step 1 - Getting started

A. Start off by adding your figure to your scene by choosing your figure in the Content Tab of your Browser.

B. Then also in your content tab select the texture you wish to use and apply it to your figure.

C. Now go to EDIT > Remove Unused Masters > Shaders.

This is a good habit to get into, it helps keep it easy to find specific shaders and helps reduce overhead.

D. Select your figure on the “Model” Line and go to the shader room by selecting the Shader room Paintbrush at the top of the page.

Step 2 - The Shader Room

A. Now that you are in the shader room your window should look something like this.

B. Choose the Torso Skin Shader by double clicking it. and you should get the shader to open.

C. If there is a color with your texture map, which will show up if your chosen texture comes with a Poser shader you should eliminate it by dragging the skin texture onto the multiply node above it.

D. Turn your Highlight Shader to “None”

E. Adjust your bump settings by setting it to between 3 and 12 percent from the Top Shader level.

F. You can do this with each body shader or you can choose the little button next to each shader that uses this same texture map and assign it to the torso shader, or you can simply drag your new Torso shader onto the other shaders with this texture map.

Note: There are times when you will wish to do these shaders separately, for example some make up options, will have only the lips on the texture map.

G. Repeat the steps with the skin from the face, and in the case of Mil4 figures, like V4, the limbs.

Step 3 - Back to the Assembly room.

A. Go back to the Assembly room and to show you what I am talking about reducing confusion and overhead, open the shader tab, which is next to the instance tab.

See all the shaders?

B. Go to Edit > Remove Unused Masters > Shaders again.

I know this could have been skipped in Step 1, but it makes it easier to see just the active shaders if you want to make other adjustments or are going to use the pull down to assign your shaders.

C. The difference between the number of shaders before after removing the unused ones.

Step 4 - Set up the rest of your scene, and render.

A. Set up the rest of your scene, set your lights, add clothing, poses, etc. to suit your desired scene then go to the render room.

B. Adjust your render settings and render.

C. To show you the difference this is the same scene with the same settings, the same lights, the same camera position and the shader that the scene started with.

D. You can go back to the shader room and make any needed adjustments, back to the assembly room and adjust lights, poses, until your scene is exactly to your liking.

E. Have fun.

artzone:pub:tutorials:carrara:carrara-materials10

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

1 Select the ‘hip’ of the figure.

2 Go to the Shaders tab of the browser.

3 Go to the Texture Room.

4 Click on ‘Multiple Shading Domains’ icon.

5 Drag and drop it into the Shaders window in the browser (or whatever subfolder you’ve created for it)

6 Provide a name and comment as needed for the Shader. Press ‘OK.’

You now have a Shader Preset.

Propeller model in Carrara5

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Propeller model in Carrara5

Author: GKDantas

Tools Needed

Carrara5

Introduction

This tutorial was made after some posts about how to model a propeller on forum.

Step 1: The basic structure

Open Carrara and start a new project

Insert a Vertex Object - you can drag the vertex object to the workspace too.

You will be redirected to the Vertex Modeler room. Choose the cone primitive.

Clique in the workspace to create the primitive and set the Object Definition to 4.

Move and rotate your view to a side view (or change the camera to a side view), and select the edges like in the picture below

Step 2: Adjusting the basic structure

Rotate again your view point (not the object!) and select the scale tool. This way we can see the yellow cube in the middle of the selection, it's the proportional scale.

Drag the yellow cube until you get the same scale that the edges below the selection. We do this to get the polygons parallel to the ground, so when we use the extrusion all new polygons will be parallel with the ground too. When using extrusion the new faces are created in a 90 degree angle with the selected polygon, or what is called “polygon normal”

Now select the edges above and scale to get a bullet like shape.

Step 3: Growing the blades - extrude

Select the four polygons around the object like the figure below. Is from where the propellers will grow.

Change your view to almost top and with the four polygons yet selected click in the Dynamic Extrusion tool

Create a first extrusion. Do not create others yet. A tip here is to click in a selected polygon to extrude the object, if you click out you will lost the selection.

Turn to an almost side view and use the stretch tool in the Z axis to define the blade height

Now back to a better view and use the Dynamic Extrusion tool to construct the others blades parts, I used 3 more extrusion. Remember: in 3D the less is more!

Step 4: Subdivision and rotate

Why less is more? Because we will use the subdivision to get the rounded look that the propellers need. Note that I used a subdivision level of 2 in the modeling option, this way I can work very quickly without get problems when moving or rotating the object. In the subdivision render option I used a level 4, so in the final render image I will get a more smoothed object. Don't use height values because the render can be very slow.

Now get a top view like and select a blade. Active the soft selection option, this way we can turn the blade smoothly. The default settings works great for me here.

I turned to a side view again here and selected the rotation tool. I set the Rotation Constraint to 30 degrees, so I can rotate all blades with the same angle only using the shift key when rotating. You can set the constrain angle to the value that you want here.

Do the same for all others blades and look like soft selection not only turn the blades but the center of the propeller too… it can save a lot of time in modeling.

Step 5: Shading

Now it's time to give it a surface or a shade domain. Select all objects and select New shading domain and give it a name. Always use a name that you can quickly associate with the part of the object.

Find a good shader and drag to the propeller. Set the Camera to a good looking angle.

Don't forget to use the Production Frame to better adjust your camera subject

Step 6: Rendering

You can use the corner handles from the Production Frame to adjust your camera size image, just click and drag one of these black points in the frame corners.

If you are not familiar with the render settings just load a preset (the little red box) and choose one that is best for you. Now hit render and enjoy your propeller.

I hope this help with understanding some procedures to model, shading and render in Carrara.

Carrara: Working with real-world dimensions

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara: Working with real-world dimensions

Author: myvirtuallady

Tools Needed

* DAZ Studio

* Carrara 5

Step 1: Setup the working box in Carrara

Open Carrara Pro 5.

Create a new project to transform and scale your figure.

Select a new empty document for the moment.

The Working box appears. Choose View menu > Grid, or press Ctrl+J to open the Grid Window. These default values must be changed in order to represent real-world dimensions for your DAZ character.

Change these values as following to resize the Working box, then press Ok. You can now import your DAZ character

Step 2: Import the DAZ character and cloth

Choose File menu > Import, to import your DAZ character. This is a .CR2 file in your runtime / libraries folder (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ People).

Select Victoria 3 SAE.CR2 file and press Ok to import your DAZ character.

Before resizing the character, import with the same way V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 (for example : C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\DAZ Hair) and V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 (C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\Runtime\libraries\character\V3 Morphing Clothes).

V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 and V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 must be conformed to figure 1 of Victoria 3 SAE.CR2. To do this :

Select Figure 1 of V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 in the lower part of the Properties tray : Instances panel.
Select Conform to in the middle part of the Properties tray : Figure 2 : General panel.
Select Figure 1 into the drop down menu of the Conform to window.

Then press Ok.

Do the same way for V3 Wild and Messy.CR2 in order to conform to Victoria 3 SAE character.

Step 3: Scale and pose the figure

Select DAZ character Victoria 3 SAE.CR2 into the lower part of the Properties tray. Open the Motion panel : Transformation folder and enter the scaling axis z for the height of Victoria 3 in real-world dimensions (for example, choose 1700mm).

Once DAZ character resized, adjust the figure inside the Working box.

Uncheck the Lock Hot Point in the Properties tray : Motion panel : Transformation folder.
Place the Hot Point at the lower part of Victoria 3 SAE (this is more easy for further manipulation of the figure).

Place and adjust correctly the DAZ figure inside the Working box.

Check the Lock Hot Point in the Properties tray : Motion panel : Transformation folder.
Move up the Hot Point to the value 0 of the axis z.

Fix the V3 Bikini to fit correctly Victoria 3 SAE as following :

Select V3 Bikini Full sr1.CR2 : Figure 1 in the lower part of the Properties tray.
Open the Morphing panel in the middle part of the Property tray and adjust pvoluptuous dial to 0, 1 for rCollar, and pvoluptuous dial to 0, 1 for lCollar.

Now the DAZ figure Victoria 3 SAE has real-world dimensions easy to use, and is ready to work with architectural scene.

Step 4: Export and save the figure

Group the figure and save the scene as Carrara file : Choose File menu > Export, to export your DAZ character (with the name you like).

Step 5: Import the figure in architectural scene

Move your DAZ character inside the interior scene. You can see that the figure fit well in the Working box and it is not necessary to convert any sizes. Only place the models.

Here is a render of Victoria 3 SAE in Architectural scene. So you are able now to create your own libraries of DAZ figures in Carrara 5, ready to use for Architectural and Design projects.

Et Voila !

franckgenot - My Virtual Lady

Model a Diamond

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Model a Diamond

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Carrara Studio / Any Vertex Modeler

Introduction

We will model a round diamond from scratch and all you need is some sort of vertex modeler - my personal favorite workspace is Carrara Studio, but the concepts of this tutorial are not application dependent.

Step 1 - Layout your diamond

After researching some diamond cuts I found that the round diamond is by far the easiest cut of diamond to model - simply because the diamond layout consists basically of the geometry of a circle and two squares.

So first, in your vertex modeler - use a predefined oval or circle object to create a circle with 16 sides and a scale setting of 10“ in Carrara or 1.00 in another modeler. This circle should be centered around the origin [x=0, y=0, z=0] to make orienting the next step easier.

Create a square lying on the circle with sides at 50% of the circle - here they are set to 5” in Carrara or .50 in another modeler. This square should also be centered on the origin

We will now rotate this square 45 degrees by reassigning the coordinates to the vertices (or you can do this using a rotation tool - but I found it easier just to use the coordinates) and will set the points on the square to:

Top vertex: [x=-3.5, y=0, z=0]

Right vertex: [x=0, y=3.5, z=0]

Bottom vertex: [x=3.5, y=0, z=0]

Left vertex: [x=0, y=-3.5, z=0]

Step 2 - laying out your diamond continued

Having rotated our original square we will insert a second square exactly as we did in the last step, centered on the origin.

We will need to weld these two square together and to do so we will need to add vertices on the intersection points of these two squares. Use your add vertices tool to place new vertices on your second square at the points where they intersect your first square.

Select your first square (the rotated one) and do the same on its edges. Note that these vertices that you place on your rotated square will be exactly on top of the vertices of intersection you just placed in the last step.

Step 3 - Welding and Linking

We will now weld the intersecting vertices of the two square together by selecting each PAIR of intersecting vertices (one from the rotated square, one from the second square - note that they will visually look like one vertex) and using a weld tool, combine these two vertices. (In Carrara the weld tool is in Selection > Weld or Control+Shift+W)

Repeat this step for all eight intersecting vertex pairs on the squares.

Next we will link the 16 points on our combined square to the 16 corresponding points on our circle. To do so select the vertex on the square and the corresponding vertex on the circle and as per the above image, link the vertices two at a time using your link tool. (In Carrara the link tool is in Selection > Link or Control+Shift+L)

Step 4 - Going 3D

After you have completed welding the 8 vertices on the squares and have linked the 16 vertices on the circle to the squares you are now ready to move from 2D to 3D. Select your squares as shown in the image above, and switching to a better perspective move your selection vertically on the Z axis. If you have linked and welded correctly your lines to your circle should stretch down as shown above. Adjust the height of the squares above your circle according to the shape of the diamond you wish to achieve.

Next insert a vertex at a point somewhere on the negative z axis as centered on the origin (ex. [x=0, y=0, z=-7]. This will serve as the bottom point of your diamond.

At this point, select your circle vertices and empty the polygon as we will need to fill in its sides later. (In Carrara this is located in Selection > Empty Polygon or Control+Shift+F)

Step 5 - Filling out your diamond

Using the same technique as you did when linking your squares to the circle, link the bottom vertex that you have created with the 16 vertices of your circle as shown in the image above.

After you have created your diamond wireframe, first fill the middle section of your diamond by selecting the quadrilateral sections four vertices at a time and using the fill tool to fill thier plane in. (In Carrara, make your selection and then select Selection > Fill Polygon or Control+F)

Finally repeat the fill step and select your bottom vertex and the 16 vertices on your circle to complete the diamond.

Step 6 - Rendering Notes

This should be your completed wireframe model of your diamond! You can now texture, export, and render your flawless creation!

Some notes on rendering:

After you have textured your diamond place many spot lights in multiple angles around the diamond for maximal lighting, reflection, and refraction effects.

The above image was rendered in Carrara Studio 1.1 which does not support caustics (which account for the internal reflection of light within the object) so you don't get the cool effect of the diamond shimmering with light. However if you render this in Carrara Studio 3 or Bryce or some other program that does support caustics your results should be more like this sample image at Eovia:

Diamond-Render.jpg

(Note that the model you just made is identical to their diamond models!)

Modelling Pseudo-3D Trees

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Modelling Pseudo-3D Trees

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Any basic 3D program with texturing capabilities
(This tutorial is shown using Carrara Studio 3.0)

Introduction

If you've ever tried to render a forest of trees in actual polygons whether it be in Bryce, DAZ Studio, Carrara or any other program, you're bound to have noticed that with each tree added, rendering time increases exponentially. Here's a quick and easy trick to sidestep all those polygons, without losing that visual feel of density that you're probably looking for in your scene.

Step 1 - Creating a sprite

Using a 3D rectangle smushed flat, or if the option is available, using a 3D plane, insert this object into your scene.

Step 2 - Texture the sprite

Using the texture options in your program, texture the plane with any picture of a tree - preferably one that has been masked against a solid background as shown.

Step 3 - Sprite Transparency

Using an inverted grayscale of the same image you used to texture the sprite, set this as the new map for the transparency of the sprite.

Step 4 - Preview Render

Give your sprite a preview render to see how it looks and make sure that you have all the transparency settings on your texture adjusted correctly - if successful it should look something like this.

Step 5 - Sprite Depth

To give your sprite more of a 3D feel, copy the rectangle / plane and rotate the copied sprite 90 degrees for a bi-planar sprite, rotate two 60 degrees for a tri-planar sprite, three 45 degrees, and so on.

Step 6 - Rendering

When rendering, be sure to select “Render through transparencies” or some similar feature to ensure that shadows will be casted through the transparency map that you applied. Saturate your forests now with these sprites in the background, add a few high-poly 3D trees towards the front, and voila: render efficient forests!

Freeing memory requirements while using Transposer

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Freeing memory requirements while using Transposer

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

Poser

Carrara

Step 1 - The Setup

This step will ask you to do a few basic things so we can proceed to actual teaching in step 2.

The first thing I would like you to do is animate a poser scene. For the purpose of demonstration, I have a file on hand that is used for an animation I am currently undergoing that demonstrates the usefulness of this. One you done this and saved, I like you to import it into Carrara.

What I like you to look at once you have it loaded is in the Render Room on the Tab of Progress/Statistics. Notice how big the total texture size is. In my instance, it is 3.95 Gig! However, now we will show how to take care of that.

Also, don't save as a new file till the very end especially if you are going to store them internally. Once we do what we do, it will make things smaller and easier to load (and render with more memory available)

Step 2 - Examine Shader

We have all seen this if you used Transposer and wanted to tweak the texture:

Imagine each of those being one instance of a texture map, which is more than likely what is happening in this case. This can use up an incredible amount of unnecessary resources.

The beauty of shaders is they can be reused. For instance, I could take this Layer List shader, and apply it to a similar figure with success. However, this Layer List is far too massive for people wanting to do animation, in this animator's opinion. However, there is also:

Notice those empty spots. These will override the global shader, but Transposer doesn't utilize them like Native Importer does. Let's change that.

Step 3 - Creating a Single Shader

What we are going to do here is taken one of the channels in the Layer List, and make it into an individual shaders. One thing to keep in mind, we are not going to do every single texture as you will only see a benefit with shaders that apply to more than 2 parts. A good example is combining Victoria 3's head parts.

Open the part of the Layer that you wish to create the shader so you can get the multi-channel. If you drag the Layer, you will not get the shader working properly at all. Once you select the multiple channel, drag and drop. You will get a dialog box asking you to name it and such. Woo-hoo, you created a shader.:)

Step 4 - Using the Shader

In that Shader Domain area, select the material group you made the shader from step 3. Now, click on the Add Shader Button (not sure of the official title, but that sounds good), and go to the folder that you put the shader you made in Step 3 to select and hit OK.

Now what we will do here is a little different. For me, I am going with V3 head first. So I am going to select scalp, and use the drop down. The reason for this is I want to use the same shader instead a whole new one. Repeat with each head part.

Repeat 3 and 4 till a majority of the body parts (avoid Eyelash, Eyebrow, or anything with special transparency settings, unless you are experienced with those).

Step 5 - Cleaning up the Layer List

We are not out of the water yet as you can see from the picture above. I know I told you adding to the shader domain will decrease it, but as you can see, it increases. This is because there is one more step to do: Remove the Layers from the List.

Select the Top Shader and it will give you the entire list of layers. What I like you to do is click on the trash can. This will delete it, and I want you to do so until anything you put in Shader Domains is not in this list.

See, that is an improvement. And we started at 3.95. Also keep in mind in this scene, I have another Vicky and one Michael, so imagine once I do to them what I did to this one?

Now you may save this file and the proper shaders will be put in, and will help with loading it.

Step 6 - Conclusion

You are probably wondering right now what the method of madness was by creating more shaders? Doesn't that increase things? Yes..and no.

Think of this as one huge project, and someone had given you all the duties of performing all aspects of it. You could do it all yourself, or you can assign specific tasks to a smaller group. Think of the Layer List as you doing all the work of the shaders. It is a tremendous usage of your resources, and you would get tired quickly. Think of Shader Domains as groups of people you use Carrara to hand out the tasks of the Body, Head, Hair, etc. By having one instance of Victoria Headmap shared with those groups instead of several instances for each group decreases the amount of ram needed for the scene.

Thank you, and good rendering.:)

Manipulating Transposer easier via Groups

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Manipulating Transposer easier via Groups

Author: DanaC78

Tools Needed

Carrara 5 with Transposer

Poser

Introduction

I am sure there was a time or two that you felt Transposer is a headache, and nothing good can come of it unless you used Poser Dynamics. I will tell you the truth, I thought the same thing. However, I developed these little tricks which came in handy while trying to produce a feature length animation. It was either develop a way to do it better, or pull my hair out. Since most people enjoy my brown hair, I was forced to go with the former. One thing you will notice unless you plan the scene specifically, and plot it in Poser and transform it in Carrara beforehand (yes, I still do that sometimes), Getting figures where you want them is tricky. For starters, Transposer creates an individual object for each and every figure. Ever wonder how to get those things moving? In a previous tutorial (Position, Resizing, and Rotation with Target Helpers), I mention something along the lines of using Target Helpers, but I discovered something even easier: Groups. Instead of expanding this part, let me just show you how easy it is.

Step 1 - Creating Pose in Poser

For the sake of the tutorial, Kayla has kindly volunteered from her busy work schedule, and decided to pose in a dynamic skirt and a few conforming clothing. Please, give her a round of applause. Also, her hair is a figure as well, not a prop.

Step 2 - Creating the Set in Carrara

Every master piece starts with a scene, even if it is a black background. For the purpose of demonstration, I am going to use Carrara Pre-Loaded Fake GI Living Room. If you want to your own scene, then let your creative mind go wild. However, in this scene, keep an eye on where props are for a moment.

Also, for sake of viewing, I have made the lights invisible.

Step 3 - Importing Poser

With this set all ready to go, I think it is time to bring Kayla in, and bring her in with Transposer.

Whether it be animation or stills, sometimes you may not scale things perfectly compared to what they are in Poser.

And unlike Poser, if you move a Transposer imported by just one figure along, it will not move all of them. Now, if you used the Native Import, this would be true, but you would not be able to get the dynamic skirt without a lot of morphing work.

However, never fear, because…

Step 4 - Grouping is here.

This feature allows you to take a group of objects, and make a logical container for them. If you'read my Target Helpers tutorial, I will use the analogy of Body in Poser. It is a basic container to hold many of the body parts, and the same hold true for groups for what we are about to do.

Using the right mouse button (or left if you are left handed), highlight all the figures for your figure. I am going to highlight Kayla and all her clothes. And since I generally hate scrolling the menu, I hit Ctrl+G on my keyboard. They are now grouped.

Step 5 - Ok, so they make the object list look neater...

Not so fast. :) you'remember how she was too big right?

By selecting the group, and adjusting Overall Scaling in Motion, I have manage to make not just Kayla about the right size, but everything I had attached to her. Remember in Poser when you have to adjust the scale of her clothing if you change one bit? Not here.:)

Step 6 - Moving the figure

As you saw previously, she was floating in the corner, and as you saw previously, she would come out of her clothes. But now that we have grouped, moving her is so much easier as we just select the group and..

One of the banes of 3D art is things going through the floor, or floating above the floors. Well, fret no more as Carrara has a collision included in their package.

What I like you to do is select your group, and click on the collision switch on the top of your Carrara screen.

Bring your figure down to the floor. This isn't always 100% perfect, but it gives you enough to make tiny adjustments.

Step 7 - Conclusion

Although I did this to a Still image, the same principles can be applied to an animation. In fact, this actually gives you more control over your animation. Happy Rendering. :)

Intermediate Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

The following list of links to existing Carrara tutorials was compiled by Koraya as he went through all of the posts in the DAZ Carrara forum.

NOTE: All the links below are to tutorials and forum posts that are OUTSIDE the DAZ Wiki. Because external links are subject to change, we suggest adding new tutorials directly into the Wiki if you know how to!

Intermediate Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

Text/Picture Tutorials

Making of 3D Virtual Beer

Flame Tutorial

Underwater Lighting

Creating a Poseable Gingerbread Man (web archive file, can be slow to load)

Flames

AW Bensen Tut's

Polyloop Tutorials

Video Tutorials

Ringo's Hair Tutorials Part 1

Ringo's Hair Tutorials Part 2

Using Content Folder After it Loads

Make It Rain

Mark Bremmer's Fab Tuts

Helpful DAZ Forum Posts

Weekly Workshop Forum Posts

The Workshop request post is here

All things Terrain

All things Water

The Secrets of the Texture Room and Shaders

Skies, Backgrounds, Stars, etc.

Lighting

Particles and Metaballs

Carrara Tutorials

2011-11-01T17:42:14+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Carrara Tutorials

DAZ 3D encourages you to upload your tutorials here to the ArtZone Wiki so that they have a permanent home and are hosted on our servers. If you do upload your tutorials, please add them to the appropriate software category and create sub-pages/categories as needed. If, for some reason, you do not want to host your tutorials here, please add links to external tutorials in the appropriate categories as well.