Hi all!
I just recently bought Carrara 5 Pro. I've modeled in Truespace 3, 5, and 6, so I'm not a 3d 
newbie. At least, not entirely. :) I have NEVER used any other modeler, so this will take some
adjustment. I do use Poser and Bryce and was told Carrara was FAR superior to Truespace
for building content for these two programs. Can you recommend any tutorials for learning
this modeler? How about plugins? I intend to use Carrara primarily to model for Poser and/or
Bryce. Any help on getting this Carrara virgin started is appreciated.

Eric

Attached Link: Carrara Tutorials

Hi Eric, You can check out mine and see if they work for you: http://www.markbremmer.com/pages/TutMain.html Also, Jack Whitney has some at lynda.com Post back with any questions! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Mark

http://www.markbremmer.com/pages/TutMain.html

Bookmarked! I checked out the first 3 before I go to bed. Sigh. Gotta work first thing in the 
morning. This is VERY interesting. I'll check out the others when I get back. So far, it seems
pretty simple. I like the fact that it uses graphical icons like trueSpace. I think that will make
the transition a bit easier. trueSpace's boolean functions were a real PITA. I hope Carrara is
better in that regard. I REALLY like the replication function you described in one of your Tour
vids. That is a VERY useful tool, especially for outside scenes. How does Carrara handle 
UV mapping, or does it? I'm currently trying to learn UVmapper Pro, but there is not really 
much written on it. Thanks for the links, now it's off to bed! :)

Eric

Eric the Help for Carrara Pro is excellent and includes many tutes. Using the help search function-if not using the index!--should, allways, be your first port of call.

Yup, going to check that out. I also ordered the Carrara Pro 5 Handbook from Amazon. It has
several step by step tuts on modeling complex objects. It's what I need. I stopped modeling my
subs in trueSpace because it's UVmapping was so awful and it's OBJ export was even worse.
Carrara should handle both MUCH better, and it's shaders look far more complex. However,
it seems to handle modeling quite a bit differently from trueSpace, so the book should help me
get Carrara's tools down so I can continue working on my Sea Siren submarine. :)

Oh, BTW, here's a shot of both Sea Siren and War Siren, the two futuristic submarines I was  working on. I have a question, and you all have more experience then I do. [GRIN} Should I continue the subs in Carrara since it can import COB files, or should I start from scratch. I'm inclined to think starting from scratch might be better, but I could be wrong.

Greywolf

Fun stuff. :D I'd start from scratch to make sure everything "plays" well together. Those are some fairly easy shapes to create in Carrara. Mark

Yes, I thought that would likely be the best path. trueSpace's booleans tend to leave 'scars' on
the mesh that show up in the renders. I did manage to get rid of most, but not all. I truly hope
Carrara is better in that regard. tS is a good modeler, as long as everything you do is in tS, 
it just doesn't do that well with other programs. And as you likely know, converting from one
format to another, the mesh sometimes loses something in the translation. I was also working
on a Space 1999 eagle for Poser people, but the OBJ export in tS kept screwing up the mesh,
so I had to stick that on the backburner for the time being. Now all I need is time, and you sure
can't buy THAT. :)

Greywolf

Oooh, I remember this project! Can I make a Fat Man suit?

Heh. You remember what one looks like? I increased the size of Tom's old jetmarine and
tried to make it as realistic as possible. I wonder if there is any way to get a Fat Man to look
realistic. They looked utterly ridiculous in the old illustrations. If I can manage to finish these,
I think I'd like to try the 'Sea Hound' next! Remember what that is? :)

Greywolf

Betcha! Airmo and Subpro, here we come! (Me, I always had a soft spot for what I consider the goofiest machine Tom ever built...the Graphicopter!) http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/skyway.html Take some time to check out the new tools in c5 pro. There are one or two surface functions that will create a shape from a pair of polylines. Plus of course the usual lath, path extrude, and lofting options. And of course carrara lets you put an image into the vertex modeler to use for reference. I've done a sword or two that way...just drew out a cross-section and used the dynamic extrusion tool to match the shape of the photograph I was working from.

There are also tutorials in the back room here on the forum.

Thanks, Kixum. I found and grabbed them all. I find that the best way to learn a program is to
follow a few tutorial projects to their conclusion, and then go to it. I've never used a spline
modeler before, though tS did have one. Your lightsaber tut looks like a good one for my first
crack at splines. :)

nomuse, heh, I still have that book too, as well as the diving seacopter and jetmarine books.
They were fun stories, despite the unlikely invention designs. :) Remember the heliplane?
Rather impractical, but the modern real life jetcopter is a lot like it.  Hey! I know a good ship
to do! Remember the Challenger, Tom's repelatron powered starship? Now there would be
a fun model to do. Heh.

Greywolf