I am reposting this because as much as I can't stand posts that read as if they were rushed, I feel even worse when those posts are mine.

In any case, I was wondering if anyone is working with Carrara with Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements, or as I like to call it, APE.

I want to design some insignia (not the right word, but I can't find the correct one) for some spaceships that I have designed, and was wondering if I could use APE to do that type of thing, as well as applying the name of an object, for example, the name of a ship on the prow, or bow, or wherever, as well as other identifier type markings.

Hi Deux, Check out these two links: http://home.online.no/~nnerland/decal.htm http://www.chez.com/litst/eng/tut-label/tut-label.htm Hope this help. :) Good luck in your design! Song

Thanks for the assist. When I get it together (which should be in a few days?hopefully:) I'll send you a link. Though if you interested in what I have up to this point, I could send you something as well.

I have "APE" (pretty funny) on a laptop at work, and find that it has much of the functionality of the full-on version of Photoshop. It's missing some of the higher-end features, but I'd say it's definitely up to the task of building t-maps.

Thanks for the help, which leads into my next question: Song sent me the addresses of two great tutorials, but they both assume that the user has a label or insignia to apply. My intent is to design one from scratch, since what I am looking for doesn't exist yet. Does anyone know, with the software that I currently have, that I could design a label or insignia, and apply it in Carrara? As always, thank you all for the help. B

I do a lot of logo work in Photoshop -- it's pretty powerful. If I can visualize what the logo or insignia will look like, I can most likely make it happen in Photoshop. Some folks find drawing tools like Illustrator (or the free Mayura Draw -- look for it with Google or some such) to be more "drawing friendly," and I'd agree, but the tools in PS (and APE) are definitely up to the job. As for applying the label in Carrara, I haven't gotten that far with it, but RDS had "paint shapes" that allowed you to put insignias on other textures. I'm sure there's something akin to that in Carrara. - Dex

Thanks, Dex, and everyone that contributed to the thread. As foreign (and as powerful) as APE is to me at the moment, it's good to know that the functionality that I am looking for is there; it's just a matter of me finding it.

Hello deux ex: I too am a spaceship fan and yes Photoshop would be a good choice to make your insignia for your starship and you can apply it to your model in Carrara. In my entry for the Amapi contest that's what I used and it worked well. Slappy P.S. what software do you have?

I have Carrara (V1; haven't upgraded yet) and just purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements (or APE). APE has some of the functionality of Photoshop, at a much more sensible price?at least as far as I am concerned. They are the main programs that I intend to use for computer aided work. By the way, what did you do? I am sure there isn't a direct translation from APE to Photoshop, but they share more in common than they differ (differences, based upon what I have heard, are more in the realm of options and advanced capabilites-I cannot for myself say what those 'capabilities' are because my experience with Photoshop is virtually nil, while my experience with APE is slightly more?but growing.

Attached Link: http://www.digitalcarversguild.com/products/agr/galleryframe.htm

At the bottom of the attached link is an example of a logo done using DCG's most excellent Anything Grooves. The spline modeller has vector drawing tools so in theory you could do a logo entirely inside Carrara if you wanted (assuming you stuck to procedural textures, that is). DCG's noir filter lets you do some interesting post work right in Carrara. Also check out www.dvgarage.com for lots of great tips on making things look realistically distressed which can help when trying to composite elements (such as an insignia on a ship).

Thanks for the hints. I've been playing with APE and learned that I can apply an object, such as the name of a ship or something when working in the Vertex modeler of Carrara (V.1) by disassembling it and using it as a texture map. Now that I have learned the format, I've been playing with getting it where I want it to be on the object.