I will be releasing all the DCG plug-ins I have rights to as open source. I am still working through the open source license and hosting decision, but as a first step, there is a beta for the no purchase or serial number required version of the plug-ins.”
Philemo: “A cutout is a plane on which an image is mapped and the transparent parts removed. Why would you say ? Just because because the renderer doesn’t like transparency. So trading polygons for transparency is usually a good bargain. For instance, a tree where leaves have no transparency renders 10 times faster than a tree where leaves are a rectangle with transparency.
A blimp is an inflated cutout, similar to the “organic” operator in the vertex room. It’s useful when you want to use cutouts to populate background (a common practice) and you want a better response to light. You can see the difference in this post I made in back in February.
You can also use it as a starting point for modeling from a drawing, given that UV mapping will be Box front and back. You can also use it for titling with round, cartoon like fonts.”
UPDATED 2018-06-12 New versions for Windows and OSX online now.
Now supports DAZ Studio shaders importing, see the following video for more info:
UPDATED 20180409 Philemo is hard at work with the third beta version of the PBR plugin for Carrara: “Starting to experiment how to convert Studio shaders to PBR…”
UPDATED 20180408
A new beta is available. It adds the metallic workflow and an importer. New version is available here
More info here in the DAZ3D forums.
Updated PDF manual: PBRmanual02
Original article 20180328
Philemo has just released an early beta version of a new plugin for Carrara, PBR Lighting Model.
“I’ve started a new plugin that allows import “as-is” of PBR textures (albedo, roughness/glossiness, Ambient occlusion and metallic) such as the ones produced by Substance.
So far, it’s done for non-metallic materials (dielectric in PBR jargon).
To do that, I have implemented the Disney Principle BSDR as a lighting model. I’ve choosen it because it (or a modified version of it) is widely implemented (Blender/cycle, Appleseed, Renderman and many other included countless game engines). So, it was just time Carrara got itsown version :-). You can see here the Renderman documentation on this model (it’s the best one I’ve found so far). On top of PBR, Disney Principle add (a not convincing) subsurface, anisotropy, sheen for cloth, glossy clearcoat.”
The updated manual is available as a PDF is here (Does not include info about the latest version DS import yet): PBRmanual02
Release note 20180328: Beta version is out here (Windows 64 only, sorry for Mac user, I’ll try to provide an OSX version later this week). You can find a basic documentation in this post This is only the specular workflow. Metallic map are ignored for now. Next version will have it.
Release note 20180408 A new beta is available. It adds the metallic workflow and an importer. New version is available here.
More info here in the DAZ3D forums.
Release note 20180612
The idea behind this new feature is to exploit as much data as possible from Studio material, including Iray or other shaders type. The result may be better, equivalent or worst, depending on the quality of the material itself, the lighting in the scene and lighting model used is Studio. In the other hand, as all data will be in the shader (specular map, reflection map, normal map…), it will be easier to tweak if need be.
the DUF file is to be applied to the imported par containing vertex data (usually the “model part”).
In the effect tab of primitives, the is a new widget allowing drag & drop of DUF files. All shaders included in the Duf file will be imported, even if not used on this particular model (it’s particularly true for scene Preset shading many primitives). It’s still in Beta Stage. Please be sure to report any issue.
Example Carrara render from the new version with metallic support, using an HDRI background:
This is Part 2 of the Carrara-izing Blender article series. This time we will look into different possibilities for moving from Carrara to Blender and also common work methods between them, to make it easier to use them both. The first part was originally written by JoeMamma2000 in the DAZ3D forum and can be found here.
Common Render engines – Octane
One major common aspect of both Carrara and Blender, is the Octane plug-in by Otoy for both rendering and shaders (materials).
Octane is available in both a stand-alone version, but also has integrated plug-ins for both Blender and Carrara, making it easier to work in both apps.
While the integrated plug-in has a different user interface due to its heavy integration in Blender or Carrara, there are several common areas like materials, lighting, cameras and so on, that can be used the same way since the render engine is the same.
Octane comes with a high price tag and a big feature set, but you can start with the free demo version to check if you meet the hardware requirements.
Currently it needs an NVIDIA GPU, get a demo version here.
Common Render engines – Luxrender and LuxCore
Another common render engine and material database, is the free Luxrender application that includes a free Blender plugin, but need a low cost commercial plugin for Carrara, Luxus for Carrara at DAZ3D.com.
An advantage with Luxrender is that it has full support for CPU rendering (no specific GPU limits or limited VRAM) at the cost of longer render times, but it also is possible to render via GPU.
The upcoming Luxrender 2.0 has been delayed, but a project re-boot is started and work is ongoing to improve.
There is a beta version of the Carrara plugin LuxusCore, with the Luxrender 2.0 engine integrated, more info here.
The Blender manual for LuxCore is here.
Export from Carrara to Blender Cycles, script by mCasual
Started in 2015 october and last updated in 2017 November, the mcjBlendBotForCarrara script has been around for a long time.
The scripts speeds up the export from Carrara to Blender and the Cycles render engine (now supports both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs).
Get the download from here and also save the PDF files of the web site, since it includes several must-have tips to get it to work: https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts2/mcjblendbotspecial
Bforartists vs Blender
A complete stand-alone version of Blender with a more user-friendly interface, called Bforartists is available from here: https://www.bforartists.de/
Have not tried it myself yet, but it is a free download like Blender, so go ahead and try it yourself.
Some info from the Bforartists FAQ: Q: Why should i use Bforartists and not Blender? You should use Bforartists when you are not comfortable with Blender, but are with Bforartists. I have seen generations of new 3D artists fail at the Blender UI, but being fine with other 3D packages then. Q: What is the difference between Blender and Bforartists? First let me point out where it is equal. There is no difference in the features. The main difference lies in the UI and usability.
Blender’s usability philosophy is centered around hotkeys and speed.
Bforartists usability philosophy is centered around the graphical menu. With an intuitive and easy to learn workflow. Made from an artist for artists.
The fluid simulation plugin for Carrara, FLUIDOS 1.4, is released now for both Windows 32&64bit and Mac since v1.4.
A free christmas present by Alvin Bémar at ShareCG: https://www.sharecg.com/v/90155/view/9/Plug-in/Fluidos.
Includes a detailed and updated manual, several test scenes and support for some AMD or NVIDIA graphics cards for acceleration.
Version 1.00 was released 2017-12-24.
Version 1.01 was released 2017-12-26, update if you got FLUIDOS early due to a bug.
Version 1.1 was released 2018-01-24 with the following change log: -Now, the depth in hierarchy is unlimited. Anything can be parented inside the Fluid Domain at any level. -Fluid Domain can be scaled using Overall (or its equivalent in Scale tool). -FluidS now can resize the diffuse particles (the default is 1.0) -A Range force slider allows to “thicken” the extent of the surface forces to one or two cells away the solid (default is one). -The user could now turn off OpenCL. -It was implemented three more GridFluidSim3d diffuse particles features: maximum lifetime, wavecrest emission rate, turbulence emission rate. The default values are the current ones in Fluidos 1.01 -The manual is updated. -Some bugs fixed.
Version 1.2 was released 2018-04-27 with the following change log: -Viscous fluids simulation available.
-Some advanced features are now available.
-FluidS modifier is faster.
-The triangle diffuse particles geometry is fixed.
-Triangle particles can be oriented to camera now.
-A memory leak in FluidS was fixed.
-And some other bugs was fixed.
-The updated manual explain details. I add two scenes in the files. In addition, there is a template for texture maps in shaders for the diffuse particles triangles.
-The version is for Windows 64 and 32 bits too.
Version 1.3 was released 2018-07-21 with the following change log:
-Faster and less memory needed for objects only partially inside the Fluid Domain
-Added an adjust factor for high precision viscosity simulations.
-The smoothing is better in the interfaces liquid-solid when there are curved obstacles (smooth the “stairs”).
-Expanded the limits of particle emission rates sliders and Smoothing iterations.
-Reduced the limits of Particle jitter factor to avoid crashes,
-Reorganized the Fluid Domain parameters tab.
-Added functionality for animated solids (they can push fluid now).
-Added functionality for spatially variable viscosity Bugs fixed:
-Flow force didn’t work in many scenes.
-Point force didn’t work properly as square inverse (this was a subtle bug).
-If an obstacle with a surface force was initially outside the domain, the plugin stops with an error when the obstacle reaches the domain.
-Every second frame, the body forces (gravity) were applied two times.
-If the chosen preferred device was CPU and the simulation was stopped and resumed, the device automatically was changed to GPU.
-Diffuse particles simulation sometimes could crash the plugin.
-CFL condition number didn’t work properly
Version 1.4 was released 2019-01-08 with the following change log:
New Features:
Anything is source: any object can be a source (or a sink).
Cuboid source and Anything is source can be spatially discontinous.
The OpenCL simulations are around 30 % faster.
The simulations can use presets.
Line forces.
Spatially variable viscosity now with viscosity controls.
New options for objects parented to Fluidos Domain (viscosity control and ignored).
Support also for MacOS 64 bits.
Fixed these bugs:
Some graphics cards were incompatible with the plugin.
Diffuse particles quantity sometimes decreases during simulation and, then, suddenly increases to limit in one frame.
Positive surface forces were insensible to intensity.
Simulations with moving obstacles enabled, sometimes are unstable (disproportionate turbulence, explosions, etc.)
Alberto: “I created an extension than comunicates with the Guy’s fluidsim software. So we can use Carrara objects and forces and the plugin translate this to fluidsim. The results are saved in bakefiles that the plugin reads for Carrara.
The Guy’s simulator has many features. I only retouched it something to use Carrara forces.”
