Hi all,

I was wondering if I can get some suggestions as to what is the best workflow if I wish to render a scene in Carrara containing one or more Poser characters ?

For example, is it better to set up the scene in Poser, save the scene as a *.PZ3 file, import the scene into Carrara, make any last-minute changes and then render ... or ... alternatively, prepare the entire scene in Carrara and then render.

Look forward to your feedback, with thanks.

regards,
Andrew

It's easiest to just do the scene in Carrara.  You can load in Poser figures, poses, etc right through the content browser from the runtime folder.  Carrara is much more powerful and gives you a lot more options to create a scene.

Attached Link: Gallery

Ever since the I got C6, I've used Carrara to set up everything, other than the occasional miss behaving items, or importing dynamic clothing. I just find it is easier to use a single application to set up and render in. If I plan to render in Carrara, then I use Carrara to set everything up. The same is true for Poser or DS.   If you really like using the sliders to pose, then Carrara will take some getting used to. But it is so much easier to use a single application when possible, I think it's well worth working through the learning curve to do everything in Carrara. Just remember when you come accross those few items that just don't seem to come into Carrara the way they should (sometimes clothes that don't quite fit right, or prop scenes that come in all messed up) you can "set them up" in Poser, save as a pz3, and 90% of the time they will come into Carrara without any issues.

I also prefer using Daz Studio materials when possible, or if available the "plain" mat pose materials, not the Poser Shader materials, as the first 2 usually work much better without a lot af adjusting. I've only used Poser imports for 3 of the images in my gallery. The first 2 were before you could pose poser figures in Carrara, and the third one (Waiting for ......) was one of those cases where the clothing for Tanya didn't fit properly when the character was morphed in Carrara, but fit perfectly in Poser. I set up the character, clothing and morphs and pose in Poser, then imported with Transposer and completed/rendered the scene in Carrara.

Hope this helps - Happy rendering!!

Quote - Ever since the I got C6, I've used Carrara to set up everything, other than the occasional miss behaving items, or importing dynamic clothing. I just find it is easier to use a single application to set up and render in. If I plan to render in Carrara, then I use Carrara to set everything up.

I do agree!

Is it possible to utilize the transparency maps from Poser, too?

I once tried importing a Poser scene (featuring a griffyn) into the middle of a pre-built Carrara scene. However, the griffyn's feathers weren't transparent where they were supposed to be (along the edges of the feathers).

Other than that, I was pretty please at how the render came out. The render engine certainly seems more robust than Poser's. And it would beat tearing my hair out from being frustrated that I can't export Carrara scenes into Poser.

If I could get the Poser maps & effects to work in Carrara, I think I'd start using it more--a LOT more :biggrin:

Yes, the transparency maps can be used in Carrara. :D

Carrara has a different shader/texture scheme than Poser so it's just a matter of making a couple of adjustments in Carrara.

Oh, I'd like to get more info on how to do that!

I'm very comfortable with Poser and have primarily used Carrara just as a modeler for creating and modifying figures.

I KNOW there's so much more that I could do with Carrara & would certainly like to get more involved with using it.

 There are a handful of characters that seem to have issues when importing them from Poser into Carrara that can be corrected easily. However, when the same characters are inserted directly from the Runtime into Carrara, there are no problems. 

If you run into an issue just post and we'll find the fix for you!

Mark

i usually make my figures with wings 3d sometimes i use amorphium 3 and hexagon to help out. then i rig everything in poser 8 and then do some animation there and rendering there. i find poser is much easier for rigging stuff than carrara 6 pro. i like naming all my materials in wings 3d it makes it easier for the rigging in poser. carrara 6 pro has more gimmicks i just can't seem to get them to work as well as poser. i can't get the modeling stuff to work as well in carrara as i can in wings 3d. then sometimes i will do some texturing and scenes and animation in carrara. i really like the work flo in the story board in carrara but still i find poser and daz do nice things too. i often bring my figures into daz and bryce too and find that thay have little things that work nice too. here's a youtube where i used some of my own characters mostley without carrara http://www.youtube.com/charliexxxmc#p/u this one the animation and rigging was mostly carrara. and this one it was a mix of a lot of things but a lot was carrara. http://www.youtube.com/charliexxxmc#p/u/6/_0V1sXgNTBg.