3D program free

[Doug.S]

I read this on another forum, so not positive but its worth a check.

If you are looking for a good 3D program to supplement FP....3D World magazine Feb issue apparently has a CD with "Carrara" free...to entice you to use and upgrade to the newest version.

I've used Carrara for many years and its a very good general purpose 3D program with many high end capabilities....so I'd highly recommend it.  You can easily export/import to/from FP and TFP

Carrara rendering puts TFP radiosity to shame (its that good) as well as full range of animation/motion.....but it is not specialized for architecture but does have good landscaping and excellent texture control and alpha channel etc.

Its what I use to render sunrise thru sunset movies to show shadows and sunlight at equinox and solstices on/in houses.

Go to DAZ3D.com to find out more about the program or see 3D World at your local bookstore for Feb issue.

I do not work for or have any connection to DAZ3D....just a happy program user.

Doug.S

[Mike1158]

Ive come across this program before, and had difficulty importing from fp etc.  What is the trick?

[Doug.S]

No trick...FP dxf export imports everything in indented named objects list (grouped) which remains intact in Carrara.  I've done 4MB files with thousands of objects OK...does get tedious to find stuff in such a long list but names can be changed.

The only real issue is that none of the textures come along....only distinguishing colors....as Carrara has an extensive shader tool....so you need to re-generate all your textures for detail.

Items in Carrara can be removed/replaced/changed/adjusted etc.

[Mike1158]

Thanks Doug.

[Doug.S]

I forgot to mention that the named objects list from FP is logically named ....like wall, door, window, roof etc. and each wall is numbered in some order....so finding objects are not too difficult in Carrara.

Items are not "exploded" into lines, they remain as 3D items (vertex objects or easily converted to vertex objects in Carrara) so everything is modifiable. And Carrara has a good set of vertex modeler tools.

[Nik]

Thanks for the 'heads-up', Doug !

Been hectic here, finally managed to do some 'non-essential' shopping, found a very last, misplaced copy of 3D World in retail park's WHSmith...

[Nik]

Okay, first I had to install an external DVD drive, plus Nero, so I can also back-up some of my 3D archive...

Just as well I found the 3DWorld mag & cover disk, as I'm now having problems with Anim8tor: A's object import / export is driving me nuts. It seems to be modifying my models' 'grouping', I cannot make it display multiple layers per TurboCAD...

In-turn, or copy & paste over, but...
And then the export mutates it...

Um, that was one of the joys of TC: I could segregate materials, components, jigs etc onto different layers, hide those I didn't need to see, lock those needed as guides, generally have a fair idea what I was doing...

Carrara is a BIG program, so I'm going to be busy with rudiments for a while...

[Doug.S]

Um, that was one of the joys of TC: I could segregate materials, components, jigs etc onto different layers, hide those I didn't need to see, lock those needed as guides, generally have a fair idea what I was doing...

Carrara is a BIG program, so I'm going to be busy with rudiments for a while...

Carrara does not have layers but you can group and easily control a long list of objects.....and its not a CAD program but accuracy is several decimal places tho it only shows 2.

You cab lock items, hide stuff, see things but not render etc.

There are 2 Carrara forums with friendly helpful users....those at DAZ3D forum tend to be more familiar with Poser but shorter term users. Yahoo Carrarafans group has long time users and many are professionals, but still a "family" flavor without flamers and helpful to newbees.

There are many tuts available for free....like maybe 750 MB of files from the now closed 3dXtract group that had monthly ezine on CD and is now free for downloading.  Most of the older info is still valid.

[Nik]

Sorry, Carrara is driving me to distraction. Though I can edit the internal primitives freely, I have only managed to edit one imported OBJ once, albeit to wondrous effect. Now I cannot even select the vertices I can see, as commands & options listed in manual DO NOT appear for my imported object...

Clearly, I am not using it as intended...

D'uh...

[Mike1158]

You are not the only one Nik, I end up tearing hair out with Carrara.  The interface does nothing for me and it looks (to my eye at elast) messy and unco-ordinated.

Clearly there are hurdles which can be overcome but, I find I do not have the time to get to grips without other areas suffering.  Perhaps I am just too old and inflexible.  What all programs of this kind need and should have are tutorials the like of those found in sketchup.  Simple folow along tutorials that you can learn 'in' the program rather than seperately.

[Nik]

Hi, Mike !

I think part of the problem with Carrara is related to TurboCAD's Solid vs Surface modelling issues. But, in TC, this was clearly stated, and a 'wrong' tool would return a meaningful error message.

Infuriating part is that I *can* edit Carrara's internal primitives. I've tried various combinations of OBJ import filter settings as specified in the PDF manual, have been unable to reproduce my 'Beginner's Luck'...

Didn't cost me more than hobby-time and a head-ache, so I can look for something friendlier without worrying about the waste of money...

Ah, well, fourth time lucky, perhaps...

### Added ###

I'm going to give Blender a try...

FWIW, see the high-end 3D program feature comparison at...
http://www.tdt3d.be/articles_viewer.php?art_id=99

[Shonner]

I've used Carrara for years for texturing and rendering 3D models.  I'm in the process now of learning to build models in TurboCAD and TurboFLOORPLAN for importing into Carrara.

[Allan Chesney]

There is a free copy of Carrara 5 Pro on the cover disk of 3D World (Feb) in Australia. Not sure if that's the same elsewhere.

Allan

[Doug.S]

Just a quick "heads up" that while FPxx exports .dxf nicely to Carrara, TFP12 does NOT.  Apparently .dxf exports from TFP12 do not work well at all ...its the export that is bad, not a Carrara problem.

But .3ds exports from TFP12 do work out well in Carrara.

[Doug.S]

Not to push Carrara too much but a demo video reel for Siggraph released...created by Carrara users

Imagine all that is done....just the techniques and capabilities....can be rendered as still as well as animation.

And it work well with TFP.... imports and exports to each other...

see the demo video here:

http://www.vimeo.com/1520960   (by Marcelo & others)(audio is music only, so also look at occasional text on screen to see what/by-who on display