Attached Link: http://www.freewebs.com/thepixelmines/LP4_Explain_m.wmv

Hi, This link was posted over at Eovia3d.net http://www.freewebs.com/thepixelmines/LP4_Explain_m.wmv Here is the post from Eovia3d.net "Television campaign built in Carrara This is a campaign promoting the 5pm to 8pm block of programming on the tv station I work for. We call it the Laugh Pack. View the images here and open/download the spot here. Or go to: http://www.freewebs.com/thepixelmines/LP4_Explain_m.wmv It's nice to finally find other Carrara users. Nice to meet you all."

Hi Ringo-

Off Thread Topic, but-

--You seem to have very good knowledge about what's going on at Eovia, Carrara, etc- so, QUESTION: Why does Carrara appear to NOT have Python support? I can't find any mention of it on their website or product info. I am really surprised its not at least part of a "PRO" offering.

BTW- I find the specs on Carrara 5 Pro really interesting.
I hope it also spurs E-ON to add a lot of great features to Vue 6 Infinite. Since Bryce seems kind of dead (at least for now) its great that Eovia is doing some very innovative stuff in the same market "ballpark" that E-on is in.

The Poser support is especially impressive. I tried to get E-ON to do this for Vue 5, but they seemed afraid to "upset" e-frontier. Maybe now that the "cat is out of the bag-, Horse out of the barn," etc- this will really create some real excitement. I've never purchased P6, and hated P5, and as a diehard Pro-Pack user- the Poser Import in Carrara confirms my longtime belief that in the future- Poser may not even be needed at all.

One more off thread topic remark- since Eovia appears very DAZ friendly (which is a pretty good strategy for both companies) I would think that down the road DAZ would offer Eovia the DAZ Studio binary file formats as well... (NOTE- when I said "do this for Vue 5" - I meant the complete support of PP2's, CR2's- and even making them fully posable within Vue- adding poses, importing Poser's lights, etc.- as Carrara does.)

Message edited on: 11/17/2005 23:02

Not Ringo, but Eovia stated this was planned for future...probably python. As to why...guess someone from Eovia would have to answer that. Seems like pretty much everyone does have this, but Carrara. I can't think of any real commercial 3D package w/o it.

Well, I can't totally understand this facination with python from the consumer/pro-sumer software developers...surely something such as Perl would be better; more programmers, better documentation etc, etc, and not yet another scripting language to learn. Cheers

Well for my part, I'd like something based on JavaScript. I'll bet it's the best known scripting language of them all, and there have been a number of non-Web products out there that have successfully used JS as their scripting model (like Yahoo's Konfabulator). On the other hand, I know nothing about Python.

Hi, Scripting was planned for C5 but it just didn't make it do to time issues. But it will make it for C6. The vast improvements that Eovia has done and continues to do for C5 are just amazing. They aren't just the replications cause there are 2 replicators type plus the replicate via particle system in that you can use any object as a particle you can also use any object surface as a particle emitter. You can use the "physics forces" of carrara to affect the particles. Much better workflow in the redesign shader room and addition of Microdisplacement mapping, Sub-Surface Scattering, anisotrophic lighting, Fresnel. Redesign Vertex Modeler that uses Hexagon engine technology. You can quicktly do modeling in the VM now. It has soft selection, paint select and tons of other stuff. Weight painting for bone influences. Lets jump back to the assemble room and we find...graph-editor ala F-curves in the sequencer gives you better control of your animation editing. Many changes to the UI with custom keyboard shortcuts an some similar use of the mouse as Maya for zoom in out via the mouse. New OpenGL support including reflection maps etc. Matchmoving and After Effects support. The new Poser Native support The render engine use of Ambient Oclussion and radience mapping that speeds up GI rendering of animations. etc, etc. I would say this is a major upgrade. Ringo

Absolutely. An awesome upgrade. The lack of scripting may disappoint some people, but that's the nature of the software industry. Each new version pushes the product into a more professional category, and people begin to clamor for features offered by other products in that category. This also applies to integration with other software: as soon as Eovia created Transposer, people wanted it to support MORE Poser features, and they'll want MORE than that and MORE than that. Which is great, because that's what keeps Eovia in business. So as the product inches (or leaps) forward, users cheer and users complain and Eovia learns what the next step should be. - Joe

When you include Scripting, please make it Python (or Ruby), but not Perl or (even worst) Javascript. Since both Poser and Vue already have Python support and a lot of users of these also use Carrara (I presume?), you would already have a base of users ready to dig into Carrara Scripting. Cheers: where did you get the impression that there are more Perl users and better docs? I don't want to start another skirmish in the neverending language wars, but I also don't want to let that stand as it is ;)

I think the work that Eovia did on Carrara 5 is incredible, it takes my renders to a new level.

Ringo do you know it there are any plans for soft body dynamics this would really help place Carrara as a pro product.

Also why Python when nodes seem to be the way creative software is headed, I know that scripting is very powerful but nodes do the same thing and is easier for non programers.

All in all I am using C5 every day and am very happy with the results.

Great work Eovia

Message edited on: 11/18/2005 12:41

Back to the movie, I get an error that "An error has occurred." E

Well Carrara does have plugins... for extensibility. I think choosing a language also has to consider what capabilities it has in relation to it's purpose. Languages can have some limitations where you have to go about things in an odd way. Personally, there are other things I think carrara needs more, since it has plugins. Reusability of motion or just macros or yes maybe a simple scripting language where the interpretor does more or the work. Perl is a bit awkward tho (imo). Altho, ruby is very interesting.

The heck with Javascript and Python... I vote for MEL scripting instead! (just kidding) If you know Perl, or Java, you pretty much know Python. It's not all that hard to pick up. Since Poser and Vue do Python it seems the logical choice. But I really don't mind if they use something else. C5 is #1 on my wishlist! @ren_mem - Perl a bit akward? In what way? I know this is getting way off topic, but as to the movie I am also getting the same "An error has occurred" with WMP (I am on a Mac tho). I will try it later with QT using my Flip4Mac WMF plug-in.

Only complaint at all is maybe timing balances - in particular it felt getting a bit cramped for time towards the end, and the flash-up of programs seemed a bit quick. But overall, a great result showing what Carrara can do. Very thoughtful use of 'hands-only' to add life to the cans without too much weight. Anyway, really appreciated. My vote for Python - not any distance from the other languages as far as simple 'wording' for simple things, but great power available when you want to do more. There's a reason George Lucas chose it... ;) C.

p.s. meant to say I viewed it in Quicktime on Windows - no problems at all in Switzerland. And, as far as appreciations, meant to say that you can do this kind of thing for television. Nice feeling in that, where I had to do once or twice in past, and lots of possibilities open. C.

I think the reason many people like to see python is because of the vast amount of available prebuilt scripts available covering everything from dynamic simulation, etc. I'd like a python script intergration, with lots of access to the core so we can build plugins with interfaces using python. Along with the python scripting I'm hoping for a simpler macroscripting capability to record actions we repeat often.

Quick update: Was able to view the video okay from my home computer (Mac, QT w/Flip 4Mac plugin). Very nice and really shows off Carrara's potential for video work. Really appreciate the new stuff and hard work going into C5 and can certainly wait until v6 for scriptiing to be added.