Hi all, just wondering does Carrara 5.1 Pro have soft body dynamics or is that something we might see in the next version? I’m one frustrated animator at the moment; I bought Carrara when it first came out many years ago but I was new to 3D then, found things a little difficult to understand and the program didn’t have bones.

I’ve been animating with Poser for years, I’m starting to get pretty good using it. However Poser models have always had problems with their shoulders and lips (could never get a good oooo shape). And I was always stuck with the realistic models to animate – I really wanted a sophisticated cartoon character to work with (Poser built in cartoon characters weren’t articulate enough for me). I could never figure out how to make my own characters in Poser, it seems to be some dark secret – no useful information on the subject.

So when XSI dropped in price I jumped at the chance to build my own characters - this program was used in some big feature films – wow! Some of you might guess were this is going. Yip you’re right, I’ve had this program for about two years now and I’ve created nothing. I’ve got a very demanding full-time job and XSI is just far too complex. I feel that by now I should be fairly proficient with a 3D program and be producing my own characters and animations (when did Carrara first come out).

I’m thinking of buying Carrara 5 Pro but I’m concerned that I might be throwing away money again. I know more about 3D concepts now and Carrara’s new features and interface look great but I still don’t know how easy it is to create my own characters and animate them.

How often do new versions of Carrara come out?

Is this the program that I should stick with, and will it satisfy my future needs: soft body dynamics, non linear animation editor etc (the demands of the industry).

Cheers

Carrara 5 is a good choice it has a lot of features that you cant find in other 3D programs for this price, it has a fantasic render engine (very fast), physics engine, sky lab, tree lab, awesome 3D clouds, automation tools and more.

Every time I load up Carrara I find a new way of using it as far as cloth or hair you can intergrate your poser charaters via transposer 2 that comes with Carrara 5 pro not included in the Standard version (which I use) but avaliable as a plugin. I wish it had native cloth and hair dynamics but if you have the above mentioned plugin your not left in the dark.

I have other 3D modeling programs but use Carrara the most because it streamlines my workflow.

The modeling features are good but I use Hexagon instead because of workflow.

I could spend all day talking about Carrara and its features, Try out the demo what works for one may not work for another.

Attached Link: http://www.carrara3d.com/

Outstanding stuff here!

Well we all know programs don't make art. Try the program out and see if it clicks. While having some quirks, I don't think you will find a much easier 3d program. No soft body/fur/cloth. I expect this in C6. I think their dev cycle is pretty short, I believe 14 months instead of 18. Poser can be used for this. Even Blender has some cool dynamics which may be used. Haven't tried this yet myself. I play with Blender once in awhile (not user friendly), but have been spending time on carrara/hex. I have to say that as fast as D|S is evolving don't be surprised if it doesn't start having some plugins available to address this issue.

Eecir,

  Doing character modeling is probably one of the most difficult things to do in 3d , just keep plugging away at it.   Pick the modeler you are most comfortable with and start modeling , start with simple objects like Pens, pencils and when you are happy with the results move on to something more difficult.     This is how I learned Carrara's Vertex modeler, started with a pen , then to simple cars , planes and lastly modeling people.  

 You can check out 3dXtract for tutorials on stuff like this.