Hi Folks!
For those of you who aren't following the thread over at DAZ; "Reality" creator Paolo is looking to see if there's enough interest in the Carrara community to justify making his LuxRender plug-in for Carrara.
Things aren't looking too positive at the moment, so please cast your vote here!
There's definitely an industry-wide paradigm shift towards physically-based unbiased rendering engines and Lux is Carrara's best bet right now.(Without massive workarounds)
Carrara needs this to stay competitive in the years to come, so please help us out here!
JT

I posted the poll at CarraraCafe and I think that a lot of people are saying yes to the idea. And we know that a lot will pay, but never will go to the poll or forums...

I voted yes.

I voted!

People may not bother to vote because then they'll feel obligated to buy later.

Not to discredit the plugin, but I'm just under the impression that the quality of renders that it gives to programs like Poser and Studio just isn't necessary for Carrara, so sorry, not trying to be a buzzkill...

This is my fav Carrara artists: Populus

He can do renders in Carrara w/o the plug-in, I'd be more interested in learning how to do things natively than w/ the use of such plugs...

I can go further and say his renders look even better than the Lux renders I've seen from Studio or Poser =/

Carrara users are different from Poser and Studio users, we do not have 1 click solutions (not that there is anything wrong w/ that). The Carrara market is a small one because it's more of a do-it-yourself type of thing.

I don't speak for anyone but myself...

HOWEVER.................

If the price is right, I'd prolly buy just out of curiosity =/

Like Nike, just do it, and best of luck =)

MatCreator,

Populus does nice renders....the better ones are in Octane, IMHO.....it's subjective

in the final analysis......to each his or her own. =)

I built an NVIDIA box just so I could use Octane.....just haven't had time yet to do much with it. But I like what I see. 

Shawn,

re: Not voting because they may feel obligated to buy.....it's totally anonymous, so that shouldn't be an issue. 

Are you using any other renderers besides Carrara's?

I've seen some very amazing (if not realistic) renders in Bryce as well, e.g. by Spektyr although that type of render may not be comparable to Lux, Octane, Maxwell, etc. 

But I really hope Paolo will get sufficient positive votes to make it worth his time to create Carrara Reality/LuxRender. 

Just to say, I'm all for anything that helps Carrara or the community. Being honest and not saving face =P my "real" issue is the belief that the one click instant awesome art feature can be done in Carrara. It took me quite some time learning and understanding the features of lighting for Carrara, and now this "super solution" comes out of left field, I'm -hurt- and skeptical, throw in a bit of envy and you got me...

In all fairness, 3D Studio Max has several renderers for it's system, and if I'm not mistaken they cost more than Carrara, so bring it anyway, and let's see what ya got...

My apologies to the community and to the efforts of the utility for coming off as a c*ckblocker =P

I see what you guys are saying, but keep in mind that Lux is in no way, shape, or form a "make art" button :)
Essentially it's a physically-based rendering engine; meaning that it treats lights as wavelengths and all kinds of other crazy stuff. Shaders are also based on real-world physics as well.
I'll definitely use it for some architectural work, but that's about it for now.
Some of the big studios are transitioning to these unbiased engines as we speak, but keep in mind they have the hardware to make them practical.
Interestingly, films like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 2012, and the fourth Shrek are (mostly) rendered with physically-based engines.
Avatar on the other hand was done the old-fashioned way and it looks a million times better...
Still, having this option is essential for Carrara's future. If it happens, the plug-in will export everything including hair and particles over to Lux; cool beans!
This is looking more and more like a moot point though; the survey isn't going anywhere...

Quote - ... having this option is essential for Carrara's future. If it happens, the plug-in will export everything including hair and particles over to Lux; cool beans!
This is looking more and more like a moot point though; the survey isn't going anywhere...

I agree...Carrara needs to have the option of using a renderer like Lux. 

But even though the survey hasn't reached the 2000 mark that Paolo set, I still believe the 500+ votes = at least 2000 in potential users. 

It would be a shame for Carrara & Carrara users for this to fail, and for DAZ, too, though they don't seem to care whether it succeeds or not, even though they only stand to gain if Carrara Reality is developed. 

Keep the faith. ;)

As far as your poll, maybe your approach is off?!? I surely don't want to be the voice for the community, but I think it goes back to the belief that "we think" it does one click art. Carrara is pretty tough to handle, and most are set in their ways, this would be a "new thing", going to take some getting used to and opening people up to it...

I'm for whatever will put Carrara on the map, I'm still stressing w/ Second Life, as I truly believe Carrara would be the best choice for SL content and development, especially when Mesh goes live...

Do your thang and shake what ya mamma gave ya...

How many people bought Carrara thinking that it had a mark art button and then gave up on it?  Now add the cost of Lux rendering that does not have a make art button either.  How many hardcore Carrara users are left that visit this site and DAZ that want to buy the plugin?  And how many are there that don't even visit DAZ or Renderosity to even know about the plugin?

Finding out these numbers will help in the decision to make the plugin or not.

DS Reality is doing well, and Carrara Reality should do at least as well.

As Paolo says, it's just another rendering option....if someone is totally happy with
Carrara renders they probably won't go for it, but most seem to think that Lux does a better job at realistic rendering, and Reality/Lux is easier to use than Lux. 

According to Paolo at the DAZ forum  Carrara Reality will have even more support for Carrara shaders than those in DS. 

For ~$100 sounds like a winner. 

But are there as many Carrara customers as there are DAZ Studio customers?

Reality is just another option that will produce it's own results. There are many presets that come with C which could probably get you close to a reality level render. There can be no doubt that any render using reality will require heavy duty texturing to get heavy duty value out of the renderer. Avatar used a different engine for it's own look. More physical engines might produce more realized renders but I think C can hit pretty hard already if you pound in the details to make it happen. That same poundage would be required when using reality too. It will just give a different result. That result might be what some people want or it might be too real or too restrictive for some people's creative needs. In all cases, I think that more options is a good thing so that artists can make the images they are trying to realize with the tool. If reality becomes available for C, it will be a good thing. People who want to use it can, and people who want a different result will use other things. Personally, I think C needs more stuff coded into the base physics of the whole package before an engine like reality can truly be used to fulfill it's potential (like true volumetrics and more physical atmospheres).

Quote - Personally, I think C needs more stuff coded into the base physics of the whole package before an engine like reality can truly be used to fulfill it's potential (like true volumetrics and more physical atmospheres).

I'm not sure those would translate to Lux. So far it seems to be geometry, texture maps and conversions of shaders. But maybe Paolo can work some magic.

Phil Wilkes said he's sold around a thousand tutorial packages so that's a pretty good indicator that there are more Carrara users than we generally suspect. Possibly Mark can fill us in on what success he has had.

I'm always for more plug-ins. Carrara can do a lot, but why not a lot more! :)

Well it sounds like the plug-in has been given the green light :)
It probably won't be available until Fall, from the sound of it. Awesome news!

That is indeed great news!!

Kevin