Jay_Nola reports that the Valle Alpina product has been updated to 1.1.
“Just go to your Itemized Order History and reset it. And download the new version.
I think a 1.2 version may be out at some point.”
More details here: http://www.daz3d.com/valle-alpinaand here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/16434/
Fenric has just updated three of his plugins for Carrara, details below:
Blending Mode Shader 1.1
This adds a “Fade” slider that allows you to adjust the strength of the effect, favoring either the top or bottom layer. It also enables non-color shaders to be used.
Enhanced Shaders 1.1
This corrects the issue where non-color shaders (value or black and white) did not have any effect.
Shader Doctor 1.2
This adds the ability to hold down ‘Shift’ while launching the Shader Doctor to display a dialog box that allows you to optionally specify the highlight, shininess, and bump amplitued. Check the box next to the value you wish to change. Any un-checked boxes are processed as usual.
More info in Fenrics store:
http://fenric.com/wordpress/store/products/
Dartanback is getting close to a release of a new Carrara product at Daz3D.com. Here is some more information and preview images, more details here:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/16465/
The first in a series of Carrara EnviroKit products: Woodlands
Designed with the idea of helping artists quickly generate an outdoors scene or enhance existing scenes.
For those starting with a clean slate, there are several presets that are ready to render the way they are, but are actually empty and mostly flat around the zero coordinates area, so that ruins, buildings or whatever is needed can be added and used easily.
The Kit also includes each piece separately to be brought into existing scenes as well as a “Base Scene” which is a simple base setup lake and stream with surrounding terrain, environmental setup of lighting, clouds, animated water, etc., without any plants or other parts.
More information to come soon.
The new DAZ Install Manager (DIM) has been announced in the Platinum Club newsletter and the Daz3D forums as well. While it seems to have no meaning or impact for Carrara users, other than smoother content installation, it actually shows the way forward for Carrara.
With the DIM, the new SmartContent tab in Carrara 8.5 becomes independent of Daz Studio 4.5, which currently is needed to initialize all newly installed content by first running Daz Studio and then Carrara.
When the DIM has been released, Daz Studio will only be needed to install the Content Management Service (CMS), then you can choose to un-install Daz Studio and never look back. The CMS stays behind since it has its own uninstaller.
Daz has confirmed that there are plans to fix the final issue of having to install Daz Studio to access the CMS, which can be interpreted as a confirmation of the plan to move forward to a future of a stand-alone Carrara 8.5 release.
A quote from Daz_Spooky in the Carrara forums at Daz3D.com:
A while back I stated 8.5 couldn’t really be considered ready until you didn’t need DAZ Studio to populate the database.
If you use Poser/DAZ Studio Content in Carrara, then Install manager will populate the database, and therefore your smart content tab, for new content installed without opening DAZ Studio.
You will still need to install DAZ Studio to install the Content Management Service but that is also on the list. Once you have and are using Install manager, if you don’t want DAZ Studio on your machine, you can install it, it will install the Content Management Service, then promptly uninstall DS, and it will leave the Content Management Service installed (by design, you have to specifically run the separate uninstaller for the Content Management Service to remove it).
More coming, that I can’t yet talk about.
Here is a video that shows the DIM in action:
DAZ Install Manager – New to 3D Content (for Windows users)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE5C5w4ha_M
DAZ Install Manager – Add to Current System (for Windows users)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E4ft-bsPL0
There are also videos for mac users posted on the channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WWWDAZ3DCOM
Some more info in this Forum thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/16099/
Also, DAZ has plans for an announcement about Carrara in February, stay tuned for more info…
UPDATE 2013-02-05: The DAZ Install Manager has just been released as a beta for Platinum Club members, got a newsletter with a 25% rebate coupon too.
Over 10 000 products are supported, but Carrara is not included in the first beta release 1.0.0.112.
Fenric has been extremely busy lately, recently released 3 new plugins and now there are 3 more:
Poser Shader Doctor
This is a one-click solution for automatically adjusting shaders after Poser content is loaded into Carrara. This is specifically intended for the Multi-Channel Shaders created by Poser imports and will not necessarily give desireable results with Carrara native content or Genesis.
Object Sequence Exporter
Exports a sequence of OBJ files corresponding to the pose, morph, and position of an animated vertex object in Carrara. Similar to the MDD file format, except this exports entire objects, not just a sequence of morphs.
Multi-Shader Editor
A shader edit panel, much like the “Master Light” in the main Carrara Edit menu: it will apply changes to all selected shaders.
As usual, there are free trials that you can install and try out, then you buy a key file that you just add to the Extensions folder to unlock the full version.
More details and trials in Fenrics store here: http://fenric.com/wordpress/store/products/
The extremely productive Carrara developer Fenric has posted a large forum post about the future of his Carrara plugins, here are the details about upcoming updates, some new plugins as well and a freebie:
So, what exactly am I planning to do?
Of the four promised new products, you’ve got three: Layer Blend, Enhanced Shaders, and Selection Changer.
The fourth one, which only needs a Mac build and the page made, is the long awaited Poser Shader Doctor. This command will go through the shaders of a figure or prop and correct common import problems:
– removes color multiply if there is a texture map
– fixes weird alpha-channel nonesene
– copies texture to bump if there is no bump
– runs “optimize” to get rid of unused or default channels (black reflection, and so on)
For something like “Streets of the Mediterranean”, this is a lifesaver!
****
Oh, and I lied. There’s a FIFTH plugin almost ready: WendyLovesCats’ request for a sequenced object exporter. I saw DCG made an IMPORTER, but there’s still no EXPORTER. So, coming soon: “Sequenced Object Exporter”.
****
I also saw Head Wax’s suggestion to be able to change a bunch of shaders all at once (ala the ‘Master Light’ edit menu). I could only make it work for normal multi-channel shaders (not terrain, or layer lists, or such). I don’t have anything like that ready, but it’s a good idea and I’ll put that in the list.
***
Of my DAZ products, I plan to split the packages up. I put so many unrelated things in each one because of the way they run their store.
– BVH/PZ2 exporter will remain as is, but is updated. It’s a little better with morphs, now, but the whole name/channel name/internal name screwup in Carrara is still pretty bad.
– Pose Helper will remain as is, but is updated and now has presets for common tasks.
– Pose and Shader Pack 2:
Color Balance, Color Merge, and Color Separator will be split out into their own package.
Toward/Away will be split out into its own package.
Pose Transfer will get it’s own package
Stack Tweener will get some friends added and be in a new package (anyone who bought Pose and Shader 2 from DAZ gets the new functions for free!)
– MDD Format will remain as is, and is significantly updated (thanks Faba!)
– ERC:
ERC Modifier and ERC Tweener will get a new package, and will be joined by ERC Shader. Still a free update for DAZ store customers!
(AddERCModifier, CreateERCChain, and the Property Explorer will all still be part of this package)
I plan to drop AddPinModifier altogether, because it just doesn’t work. If anyone really wants it, I can put it up as a freebie.
AddSliderModifier is going to be a freebie.
DeleteKeyframes, RemoveDuplicateKeyframes, and JitterKeyframes are joined by AddKeyframes from Pose Pack 3 – either ERC or PosePack3 will get you a key for this one.
– Pose Pack 3:
Tree Duplicate gets its own package
Unlock, Restore, Change Rotation, and Set Figure Visibility get a new package
AddKeyframes gets merged into the other keyframe commands from ERC. I will honor EITHER product as good enough to get the key for this.
Once again: if you own a product from the DAZ store, you automatically qualify for free license keys for the new/updated packages as they become ready for release. I will plainly mark which DAZ product qualifies, and I am going to make an automated system for generating keyfiles to make this as painless as possible for you.
Add your comments here: https://carraracafe.com/?page_id=2022/plugins/plugin-plans
Fenrics new store: http://fenric.com/wordpress/store/products/
Fenrics Daz3D store: http://www.daz3d.com/fenric
Screenshot of Pose and Shading Tools 2 in action:
The Daz3D.com forum post with the Carrara 8.5 beta key has been updated with a new beta key valid to 2013-02-21.
Get it from here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/4700/
