I've been perusing the forums and I keep hearing about compatibility issues between Carrara 5 Pro and Poser 7. Is there really a problem and if so, what is it?
Right now I'm using Poser 6 to pose and clothe my characters, then doing everything else in C5. I like the idea of animation layers in Poser 7, but I don't to buy it if it doesn't play nice with Carrara.
I know I'm not the only one with this question, so I'd like to keep this thread going until everybody understands what's going on and if needed, a fix is released.
Thanks guys!

Hi jt411, P7 works as long as you don't use the layered animation functions. Additionally, Carrara does not "read" P7 magnet morphs. Transposer works sort-of if you point it to the P6 exe/app instead of the P7. Mark

Transposer does NOT work with P7 ... when you say it works you say we found a work around..

Some people DONT have P6 ... yes there realy are people that dont have P6 ..
So transposer does not work ! and the native import crashes 4 out of 10 time's ...

Im bizzy all day today to find a way to make it all work becuase of the Pro upgrade im thinking of..
But before 2 Feb i dont think we'll see a message from DAZ that there will be a P7 - C5  update ..

Chris

from the DAZ forums...
Unfortunately, e-frontier is no longer willing to allow the Carrara product to use their Poser SDK, so there will not be any new version of Transposer for Carrara that will work with Poser 7.

Then its a "unFair" but smart trick to put Car 5 up for sale ...

It will never be fully working again with poser and that was a good package together ... such a shame...

Well im not buying the pro package anymore ..thats not worth the extra money for me..

Chris

Ps do yah have  the Url for that message ?

its in the 'Does Transposer 2 Work With Poser 7?' thread in the Carrera Discussion forum    
http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=52192&highlight=

I'd be suprised if DAZ didn't have something planned for the near future. E-frontier and DAZ are rapidily becoming arch rivals so it is in DAZ's best interest to meet Poser feature for feature. Each company has been doing some major software title purchasing. At any rate, here is the response from the DAZ staff: --------- Unfortunately, e-frontier is no longer willing to allow the Carrara product to use their Poser SDK, so there will not be any new version of Transposer for Carrara that will work with Poser 7. The good news is that right now you can jump on board Carrara for a great price Get Into Carrara for $9! topic, AND version 6.0 of Carrara will have much improved native import of Poser content, though it will not be able to support dynamic hair and cloth from Poser 7. We will continue to support Transposer 2, and as many of you know, we're in the process of bringing to market an alternative to Poser dynamics starting with a line of dynamic clothing that will be released this year. Hope that helps answers more questions than it raises.

I don't want to start a flame war - but it appears to me it's going to be D|S - Bryce - Carrara.

EON(Vue) & E-Frontier(Poser)

Why I say this, is now Vue can actually import the Poser shader tree & their tightness has been growing ever stronger as the years have progressed,  there are differences but to tedious to get into.

I own both Carrara & Vue - so I'm not biased either way, but I am partial to Poser and have no plans to move to D|S.

Vue isn't actually a competitor since you can't really use their software to create Poser content or directly control Poser animation. On the other hand, with the Native Importer, Carrara allows you direct animation control of Poser content. And of course DAZ and e-frontier both have the whole store thing going on. It should be interesting. :D

Seeing as how the animation layer feature is the only thing that interests me about P7, I guess I'll stick with P6 for now.
Looking ahead to the future I have to say that I've always preferred DAZ over EF in terms of products, support and customer service. So my next question is, has anybody heard anything about improved compatibility between DAZ Studio and C5...or even C6?

Tha's true Mark - Vue can't model :)  There is still aproblem with the native importer though.  I can't remember the type of "geometry" it's called - Charles told me at 1 point back when EOVIA had C - but there are certain types that can't be copied & pasted.  It's typically stuff that imports with liitle white triangle things with long white lines(no it's not bones).  Grr wish I could remember - feel like an idiot now. Anyway Cahrles said there was no intent on supporting this kind of mesh, which is sad cause a lot of my favorite vendors have this.  The downside to all this is you end up importing quite a bit(rather than copy/paste) which up the poly count significantly. And no, not enough to replicate/scatter ;)

I'll post a screen grab if you are confused as to what I'm talking about.  Then again you probably already know.

Both apps have there pluses & minuses, so I'll continue to use both as the need fits.  That said I won't be upgrading Carrara if the only new feature set that is offered is D|S compatibility, so far my hands are full with just C5P LOL.

I'm really looking foward to the Vue 6. Let me know when you find the perfect 3D app.! I'll have to run right out and get it. :D

hmmm - my post didn't post.

Nothing is perfect - thats why we have so many choices & why we are all broke :lol: We keep buying apps to cover what others can't do. The cycle will continue to end of days.  A full tool box is a good one :)

The most important part of Steve Kondris post is what I am quoting here.

Quote - AND version 6.0 of Carrara will have much improved native import of Poser content,

That says much about the use of not only DAZ content but also about using any poser content .

Quote - Seeing as how the animation layer feature is the only thing that interests me about P7, I guess I'll stick with P6 for now.
Looking ahead to the future I have to say that I've always preferred DAZ over EF in terms of products, support and customer service. So my next question is, has anybody heard anything about improved compatibility between DAZ Studio and C5...or even C6?

Well I'm rather ticked that they will not allow Carrara access to the Poser SDK.  I spent a lot of money on Poser 7 for my Intel mac pro because I understood that you could import dynamic hair and cloth in Carrara 5 Pro.

I'm just starting to learn Poser 7 and and still very much a novice  with Carrara.  

Is Carrara the only program that E-Frontier is not allowing to have access to the SDk, or are other 3d programs having the same problems?

Very disheartening news.

David

It's the only one I'm aware of that is being disallowed. :-( Have to love corporate strategy.

I can't say that I'm surprised by  this since it took a loooong time for Eovia to get the sdk for P6.  Add to that the addition of direct import of Poser figures to C5, and DAZ purchasing Cararra from Eovia, it makes it very easy for eF to see Carrara as a competitive product.

Too bad, because I've always enjoyed using Poser, but it simply doesn't have all the tools you need for 3D.  I held off geting P7 until it was supported by CS5, so now it looks like I may not be getting P7 anytime soon, if ever :-(.  If forced to choose between the two, since I already have P6, sticking with Carrara seems to be my best choice for now.  Carrara has so many things that P7, or P7 + Vue just doesn't offer.  To replace the functionality I currently have with my CS5/Poser6/Hex1 combination with P7, I would need to get P7,  Vue Infinite, and Shade8 Pro (and maybe more??). The $$$$ cost of this option just isn't realistic right now, plus Shade and I just don't play together well.

I'm sure that this will hurt sales for both products for now, since so many people have purchased Cararra as a companion product to Poser (or visa-versa). If DAZ can implement Dynamic Hair/Cloth in DS and C6, improve the performance and handling of native import of Poser figures into CS, then DAZ will stand a chance to get a good portion of the Poser market share, and continue to expand the Carrara user base. If not, then I (like many others I'm sure) will have to look for other options to replace the CS5/P6 combination.

Personally, even though I expected this since before DAZ bought CS, I think this was a very short sighted move by EF.  Poser7 is obviously a better product than P6, especially the rendering imporvements.  But if they think that keeping P7 import out of CS will secure their market share and squash any competition, they obviously haven't taken a good look at the current role of Cararra and Poser, and the capabilities that CS gives Poser users, at a reasonable price.  I would guess there is a very small portion of the Cararra user base that use poser figures in CS, and don't own Poser. Carrara only enhances the capabilities of Poser, at a reasonable price, but doesn't replace it.  I'm not aware of anything currently on the market that can repalce the capabilities of the CS/Poser combination at a comparable price ( I may be wrong here, if I am, I hope someone will correct me).

Ok, enough ranting for one day!

DR

I emailed E-Frontier and asked what was going on and the reply I recieved back simply stated that they had no information on this topic, but if I had other problems that they would be happy to help. David

Well, it's not only about features, but it's about majority.

• How many people use Poser and how many use D|S.
• Will the upgrade to Poser 7 stall because of incompatibility to Transposer/Carrara?
• Will people leave the Carrara line, because the combination Poser/Carrara will have it's deficits?

Daz is aware that a lot of Poser content is made that is not optimized for D|S. I'm sure more people use Poser than D|S. There are a lot of important Phyton scripts that only work with Poser (. So the combination D|S and Carrara will not work for some people.

Carrara is can handle plugins. So analyze dynamic hair and clothing in Poser files and translate them into appropriate new Carrara features. That's the way to go. I know it will take some effort, but Daz wants to add dynamic cloth anyway and at least a fur plugin for Carrara exists already.

Newbie here...haven't used Carrera yet.

What I'd like to know right now is will C5pro import content from Poser 5?

I don't have Poser 6, only 4, 5, and 7. I've ordered C5pro and if it'll work with Poser 5 then I'm happy.

It's a pity I couldn't load P7 into C5pro, I only want to import P7 static figures, NOT animations, dynamic hair or cloth, and ONLY shaders containing the most basic root figure textures! Or better still, ONLY import the blank posed P7 figures then add my own textures in C5. Would that be possible with P7?

Or is my only option to use P5 or P4 with the C5pro importer?

Works with P5 great! You can import from any of the Poser apps you have. You'll just have to tell Carrara which one you want on import. You can import P7 content with the Native importer in C5P. It just doesn't handle magnet morphs if you make any or dynamic cloth.

Quote - Works with P5 great! You can import from any of the Poser apps you have. You'll just have to tell Carrara which one you want on import. You can import P7 content with the Native importer in C5P. It just doesn't handle magnet morphs if you make any or dynamic cloth.

OK. Would that also mean I couldn't add a custom magnet or other custom morph to a P7 figure character  before importing it into C5pro? For example, adding extra morphs to disfigure a head or body.

Thanks VERY MUCH for the help. lol...don't feel like shooting myself now! I'm begining to feel less of an ass for falling for the cheap Daz software offer:)

I am seriously wanting to change to new modeling software as I can no longer afford to keep up with the enormous cost of CinemaXL...Carrera looks a VERY attractive option. I'm not looking for animation bells and whistles, just a good sound modelling base with nice options for lighting and static scene rendering. Looks to me like Carrera's got some exciting landscape and environment possibilites too.

Now, if you export an .obj file or .3ds file, you can import with the magnet morphs from P7. Since it sounds like you don't want to re-pose P7 content in Carrara, that is the other option.

No, I've no plans to repose in C5

Yes, of course one would expect C5 to be able to import obj files. My understanding is that  an obj export accepts ALL morphs as just part of the geometry.

What would be nice would be if C5 importer could simply import static characters and props from P7 along with all their textures.

At the moment I'm having to use Textract and Grouper as supplements to locate then import the jpg texture and bump maps from Runtime into Cinema 6, then I have to manually re-assign them all to their respective Cinema UV maps. Byrce5 can directly import P5 characters plus textures, but can C5 do that from P5 or P7?

Would make life a whole lot easier not having to use Textract and Grouper any more!

Zippy

Yes, if you have P5, you can use the native importer or Transposer to import Poser figures into C5. All texture material will remain "intact".  The imported figure may need some texture tweaking, and occasionally you'll need to point Carrara to the proper location (multiple runtimes aren't 100% supported, but no real big issues).

I have C4D XL, I went to Carrara because the upgrades were just too much to justify. there are many things that I prefer in Carrara. Compared to C4D 6, I like render engine in C5 a lot more. HDRI is great, and lighting is very easy to set up!

Now that I've had time to think about the news that EF decided to withhold the P7 SDK from Carrara, I'm pretty certain that P6 will be my last version of Poser, unless I start making Poser content and I need to get P7 for compatibility testing. Carrara is simply a much better value than Poser (I have Poser 2-6), and I feel confident that DAZ will improve it's native handling of "Poser" figures enough that I won't need P7. I can get dynamic cloth/hair from P5/6 with Transposer until Carrara as it's own cloth and hair.

Except for posing figures with dynamic clothing, I seldom use Poser any more. Carrara is so much more powerful, stable, and versatile than Poser, there really is very little need for the new version.

As for C4D, you may still use it for modeling, as there are some things that are much easier to do in C4D than in C5,. I think you will be so happy with the capabilities and render quality of C5 that C4D will only be used for those instances where you need specific modeling tools in C4D.

Happy Rendering!
DR

Thanks for the reply

Ha ha!...yes, i've now got the full carerra software and finding out that almost everything you've said is exactly what I'm thinking. It hadn't occured to me though to use carerra instead of Poser. I'm just so happy I've at last got a render/modeller that can import Poser scenes and textures.

Yes, I think c5 has lots of benefits over cinema, but it falls woefully behind in it's ability to create models. Funnily enough the c5 model methods are much easier to learn than cinema's, but there's lots of things one can't do. I was quite shocked to find that c5 can break up a spline but cannot join it together again. I also don't like the instant 3d effect from spline shapes. I want a shape I can edit BEFORE I extrude it...and there's no cog shape or all the other useful prefabricated shapes.

The c5 package comes with a demo version of Hexagon, which promises the facility to make more sophisticated models. That might be so, but I've got the demo on two discs and neither came with a key to unlock the demos. Someone's slipped up there.

Other things I love about c5 are the 'oh so much easier' shaders, also the fact that the program has quite a bit of Vue thrown in with it's landscaping and plants. Heck, it's even got a much more interesting plant generator than Bryce 5.

My one moan about c5 is that when I import a Poser figure or scene, the program freezes when I try to do anything until it's transferred all the textures.  I think, like Textract used to do, it is having to search through the runtime and extract all the texture files. Then I find it best to immediately save the scene content 'internally' within c5. The trouble then seems to be that the c5 file gets progressively bigger and takes much longer to load.

Anyway, I'm just finding things out at present. I think I'll stick with cinema for making sophisticated models and use Poser for posing but c5 for scene composing and final render.

Does anyone know if c5 can create cr2 or rsr format characters and props that are compatible with Poser?   And if so, is it also possible for c5 to create 'easy pose' figures?

OOOOPS!

Sorry, I've only just noticed that Mark has included a link to an excellent site full of tutorials.

jeez! bummer about p7 and c5 IMVHO. they really shot themselves in the foot this time :lol:

Carrara was my step up from the Bryce line.......it is an excellent feature to be able to port over P6 scenes. As much as I would like to play with Poser7, I will be doing my rendering in Carrara and am not interested at this point in taking extra time to accomodate p7. I have always thought that the big important point was the consumer......I guess those days are over. It seems that more and more these companies are greedy for their piece of the pie and it ends up that we have a tougher time or need to buy extra things..........:(