Phil Wilkes:
“A demo of Sparrowhawke3D’s wonderful new plugin for Carrara called Instance Randomizer, which allows each instance of a duplicated object to have different shader values. Download here:
http://www.sparrowhawke3d.com/Instanc…
This is a powerful new tool to use with Carrara so that each instance can be different colors – or any other attribute.”
Sparrowhawke3D has announced a new plugin for Carrara, the Instance Randomizer a shader which generates a random value between 0 and 100. With many instances of the shader in a scene, the results for each will be different. The shader can be used to drive a color gradient as shown in the documentation. With Boolean enabled the shader returns 0 or 100 – making either/or decisions possible.
The plugin will not drive instances in Carrara’s Replicator, only real instances.
Instance Randomizer is free at Sparrowhawke’s website, and is for Carrara 5 to 8.5 on Windows, and Carrara 8 to 8.5 on Mac.
http://www.sparrowhawke3d.com/InstanceRandomizerPage.html
Fake subsurface scattering with a falloff shader.
Carrara user Joe Pingleton combined a looping NLA walkcycle with Fractal Dimensia’s PySwarm script, the PyCarrara plugin, and Sparrowhawke3D’s Follow Terrain plugin to create this animation test of multiple figures finding their way across a varied terrain.
He explains the process:
This is another experiment with the PySwarm plug in for Carrara 8.5 Pro and NLA Clips. This time the figures follow the terrain object using Sparrowhawke3d’s Follow Terrain Plug In for Carrara.
I created a “Boid” group that was a figure with a looping walk cycle NLA clip with a duration of 2 minutes. Then I replicated that “Boid” 10 times and numbered the “Boid” groups. Then I used PySwarm to generate a movement script with 10 boids and 1 attractor object. Then I imported the PySwarm script into Carrara. Then I applied Sparrowhawke3d’s Follow Terrain Plug In to make each “boid” drop to the surface of the terrain object. One walk NLA clip and the Pyswarm script control all movement, no key frame editing.
http://pyswarm.wikia.com/wiki/Download_and_installing_PySwarm#Latest_Version_of_the_PySwarm_Package
This tutorial covers the basic function of the Sparrowhawke3D Cloth Deformer plugin for Carrara.
This tutorial shows how to use my Cloth Deformer to drape a bed sheet over a figure in Carrara.
Sparrowhawke3D plugins have been updated for Carrara 8 on the Mac in 32bit and 64bit flavors, including recent versions of Jiggle and Cloth. The “experimental” Laboratory plugins have also been updated and are offered as a separate download.
Cloth Deformer feature: “Grab Zones”
Follow the progress of these plugins at http://www.sparrowhawke3d.com/blog/
What if I told you there is a single effect that can deliver more visual impact from your renders, allowing you to redefine reflection, highlight, and shadow with the contours of your scene objects. Create photoreal fabric and glass shaders, and enhance skin with subtle, flattering effects that render in a fraction of the time of subsurface scattering. Well it’s all true. It’s called Falloff, and it’s not included with Carrara but probably should be.
Falloff is a value based on viewing angle
As of Carrara8.5 there is no falloff shader included with Carrara. Fortunately we have several choices with plugins. Digital Carver’s Guild offers a simple Fake Fresnel shader with SHADER OPS. SHOESTRING SHADERS adds the more sophisticated Fresnel and Angle shaders. Sparrowhawke3D recently updated the Laboratory plugins for Carrara8.5, including a free Edge Falloff Shader.
Fake Fresnel in Shader Ops will always “point at” the rendering camera, but the Shoestring Shaders are more versatile allowing any scene object to be the “point at” object. All the examples in this article use the simpler Fake Fresnel shader. Links to the plugins are at the end of the article.
Let’s start with a simple falloff in the glow channel. See how the cherries “pop” from the dark background? They almost seem to float in space in front of the screen. This is because the extra contrast separates the layer from the background. If we were seeing this in real life, there would need to be empty space behind the cherries to create this kind of “light wrap” effect. Our eyes perceive the fall off as depth, as well as adding a kind of glossy highlight all around the curved surfaces. Use this trick anytime you want to make an object jump out and grab attention.
Falloff edges “pop” from a dark background
Instead of “popping out” of the screen, falloff in the Reflection Channel can help embed an object into your environment, especially when using an hdr background to wrap your scene. Hard surfaces made of metal or glossy enamel coatings start to reflect at oblique angles, even if they don’t have a highly mirrored surface. Airplane wings, automobile hoods, chrome bumpers, stainless steel tools, and ceramic-tile countertops are objects that will show more reflection when viewed edge-on. Adding falloff in the Reflection Channel also creates a better light wrap on hard surfaces when using hdr backgrounds and image-based lighting.
HDR courtesy http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html
Glass can be one of the most challenging surfaces to render in 3D. Even with extra lights and heavy refraction the edges of glass objects can easily disappear. A thin, bright, edge falloff glow gives glass more “presence”. As above, falloff in the reflection channel can also be added for additional photorealism.
Glass shader uses falloff in Glow and Reflection
Saving...