I e-mailed the people at Eovia and they said they are working on offering their software as a download option. Hope they resolve that soon... : ) Somebody asked if the plug-in works on OS X, yes it does. I have Poser 5 (lastes release) and Carrara 3. Good luck

mmh.. one more thing I'm on a Mac.. Can I use this hair objects if they say they are PC files only..? They are just obj files with textures assigned right...? I just place the files in the folders that I'm told too? fjv

Wow, thanks for the links! This is what I was looking for... I guess I'll wait on buying from the Daz store... But the Victoria 2 CD looked like a good deal though... fjv

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear... But I didn't want to buy anything until I confirmed it... fjv

Since you mentioned other applications.. I agree with Amapi... IT IS very powerful but kind of difficult (for me) to learn. Maybe the new version is better. Amorphium is quite good for adding some damage and imperfections to objects (with the brush tools) but that's more or less what I use it for... I would Seriously recommend 2 budget applications for your 3d arsenal. 1) Wings 3D (http://www.wings3d.com A GREAT vertex modeling application ( Complements Carrara vertex modeler quite nicely) Much more powerful, intuitive and models import quite easily and its FREE! 2) 3D toolkit 2.5 http://www.electricimage.com/ GREAT rendering and modeling applications. The modeling is VERY different from what you do in Carrara. Its mostly NURBS, splines and curves (I think that;s the correct term) instead of polygons. Get a little getting used to, but once you do you can build something in minutes , compared to hours (if possible) in Carrara. Bevels (all edges) , booleans that work, etc, etc They also import quite good in Carrara (for stills). An the toolkit's Animator software is MUCH more better that Carrara's animations tools (they really suck, sorry) : ( It costs 100 bucks and comes with a lot for the price (tutorials, etc) They want you to upgrade to the full Universe product, but I'm sure you won;t need that for a long time. Each tool has its stenghts and weakneses, so it up to you to find each one and use them together to make your work easier This is more or less what I use. hope it helps... : )

Hello Grant. I also use Poser and an asortment of tools (including Carrara) for OS X. Poser is really very simple to learn and stable( But I've been using it since version 1) so I know where everything is, and with each new feature I check the manual. I really purchased it on a whim (poser) , I justified it with a very small project and I've used it in a couple since then :). (Bought the download version with electronic manual (couldn't be easier) I wish Eovia would implement this Purchase option too.. Anyway... Here's a sample of a project I'm working on. Rendered in Carrara, Modeled in Carrara + 3D toolkit, and figures (low resolution versions) from Poser. Composited in Photoshop They import quite well. There's some issue with the trasparency in the eyelashes and eyes, I believe, but this topic is been discussed before. There should be some tutorials or messages in the archive. Also (I think ) that either Curious Labs or Eovia is working on a plug-in to incorporate this two products futher. In my opinion, Poser is a good tool to complment your presentations. Some people over in the Universe community kind of made fun of me for using Poser models, but I really don't have the time to learn how to model convincing human figures : ) I'm kind of lazy anyway.. : ) Good luck with your projects fjv

Yes thank you very much, that was quick!... I knew it could be done... but putting it in the shirts's back....? Can I specify the exact postion in the back of my character's shirt.. I'm going to use the default poser model. thanks for your time!, I appreciate it

Sure, nothing really fancy , it just looks like it ; ) I think its more or less the lighting setup you were using for your Alamo project... GI (using one of the DVGarage's Reflection toolkit for environment) http://www.padd.com/market/product/product.php?prod=rtk + a Distant light (for the shadows) with soft shadows enabled thats it. Rendered 2 different options (one lighter and one darker) and composited them in Photoshop (50% each), just 'cause I'm a control freak : ) Any one of the two would have been fine. P.D. How's the Alamo image coming along? good luck

Carrara is great for doing stills/ posters/ etc. : ) Here's another example. A client just asked me to do a Christmas themed image for a promo. Downloaded a couple of images from a photo art site for reference and this what I came up. The client liked it a lot. Took like less than an hour to set it up. And I can do variations of angles and colors... (try THAT with stock images..) : )

Hey Robert: Great Work. The only critique I can make is that I see the textures a liiittle bit blurry. (Maybe you can sharpen the final image in photoshop) But other than that great work. How did you light t he scene? GI + a spotlight (for the shadow)? Good luck with the project. I would like to see the final image. Is this for a newspaper infographic? Good luck. fjv

If I may add my input. Being a former Carrara user (well I still use it for some stuff, mostly stills) I would recommend a better combination.. If you are interested in animation I would recommend you to get Carrara Basic which is $99.00 and you get all of the features of Carrara except the Vertex Modeler; which is really bad in in my opinion (you can use the free Wings3d instead), and the GI render (correct me if I'm wrong...) AND the 3D Toolkit (The cheap version of Electric Image Universe) which is $200 ( I bought it and I'm very happy with it) The Toolkit comes with a lot of tutorials that are realted to Universe but you can take the experience to other 3d packages. The Animator in the Toolkit is MUCH more professional than the one in Carrara. It has Motion blur (the one in Carrara is pretty bad), MUCH better antialiasing, light cones that work, the fastest renderer around (It is NOT a raytracer, but from what I've been experimenting you really never use a raytracer in production, you use reflection maps) and a whole lot of renderering options (Illumination sets, control of higlights per light ,etc, etc) Maybe a whole lot more than you will use but if you are planning on making it a career you will be thankful for them later... The Modeler (a separare aplication) is much more complicated than Carrara's (it is not polygon based, its curved based) so you have to think different there, but it IS a whole lot more POWERFUL. Boolean operations, that do work, bevels... for that alone its worth it. You can combine the two for 300 and get a killer 3d studio. I don't know if you also get the free Amapi 5 with Carrara Basics but if you do, you get another great (if somewhat weird polygon modeler). So if you want to make fast and professional animations you can use the renderer in the Toolkit and if you need to raytrace something you can use the one in Carrara. If you decide you like one better you can then upgrade to the full Carrara or to the full Universe, I think its a Win Win situation. Well that's my opinion :), take it from someone that has used both (and still do) and which is happy with both. A one more thing, so I have my conscience clean : ) The UV mapping implementation in the Toolkit its pretty bad, while the one in the Carrara is pretty good (provided you use a freeware UV mapping application like Ultimate Unwrap or UV mapper, which I think its included in the Carrara disk). Also the Toolkit won't accpect 3d party plug-ins, you need the full Universe for that, contrary to Carrara Basics which do takes plug-ins (and they are cheaper too) Good luck, sorry if it was too long : ) fjv

Thanks . Sounds good to me. I'll probably still model in Amapi and Carrara for a while but I'm going to start to import and make test renders i into EI. I'll still wait for Carrara 3 before buying the Universe 5 package.. but I guess I'm going to the Dark Side too.. A while back somebody from Renderosity asked if we wanted to add a EI forum... I guess we can start one now....

There are several ways to work around but the one that has worked for me is this: (I'm assuming your are trying to place a decal with a rectangular layer into an object) 1) make the Texturemap (save as TIFF)Don't use jpgs or gifs 2) Make an opacity mask (black and white) also save it as TIFF. 3) Apply the texture map as a rectangular layer. 4) In the Transparency channel add a Rectangular layer with the same dimensions as the texture map and place the opacity mask there. I don't remember ir white is invisible or black, but If make it wrong, just check the "invert" option. 5) I think that eliminates 100 to 99 percent of the halo. I hope this helps...

Great model. But since you asked for feedback... : ) The table top (I don't know the correct term...) the area where you write seems a little bit high , ergonolically speaking (but I could be mistaken) What I always do when I model Furniture is import a simpe poser model to keep things in scale. Maybe you could do that (put a sitting person) with a simple chair and see how the legs would fit under the desk. And also a standing man and compare the height to the actual desk. This always is useful to me. I would like to see the post with the final texture!

Attached Link: http://www.velarde.com

Now a question for me. chuckerii, bluetone: Have you used Carrara's Field rendering option: Even, Odd or do you just leave it untoched? Robert: (from reading bluetone's post got me thinking) I'm not sure if iMovie is smart as Final Cut and will automatically resize a 720x534 to 720x480.... Maybe you should do a test with this two sizes and see which one is the correct one for iMovie. _____ And another note: Bluetone: you say you prefer sequenced TIFF files, why not PSD files (just wondering) And now that's the patch is out you can render to Quicktime (million of color +)with no compression (to preserve quality) and use the alpha channel information. I tried it and it works. What do you think? You also use Carrara for professional video work like chuckerii?