The very basics of getting started. More advanced must wait for a future post.

Some problems may be the result of installation issues which are beyond my competency. I am going to assume that readers have a standard default installation of both Carrara and Daz Studio, even if Studio is never opened. I am on Windows so cannot address any Mac issues. First, make sure that you have installed Carrara and installed Daz Studio (even if you never use Studio). Personally, I created custom folders and then told DIM to install there. Everything else was default install by DIM. Second, make sure that you have installed "Genesis Starters Essential", "Genesis Starters Kit", and if you have it, "Genesis 2 Starters Essential".
Third, Carrara 8.5 comes with Michael 5 and Victoria 5, so I assume that you have them, and they are installed to default locations.

Some people use Smart Content and it works very well for them. I don't. So what follows is based on using the "content" tab in the content browser.

The most important concept is that the traditional Poser-style content of figure CR2s, prop pp2s, etc. is found in the content tab folder with "Runtime" in the name. By default, I believe that it is "My Daz3D Library Runtime." You will find the cr2 versions of The Freak, Victoria 4, and these older figures here. DO NOT LOAD GENESIS FROM RUNTIME EVEN IF YOU FIND IT THERE!

By default, there is a second (and even third) content tab folder for the Genesis Studio format stuff, typically in dsf and duf type files. It is called "My Daz3D Library" but does not have "runtime" in the name. This where to find and use genesis and genesis related content.

Open the content tab folder My Daz3D Library People Genesis. You should see the icon for Genesis and several subfolders (such as characters, clothing, hair, etc.). Left click and drag the genesis icon from the content tab to the Assemble room or the Instances tab to load the default genesis. You should see the default Genesis mesh with a bland grey material load in the Assemble room. In the instances tab, the figure's hierarchy is interesting because it has 2 levels that are both named Genesis. I will call the top level the supergroup genesis and the second level the figure group genesis. The supergroup level is a great place to load content like hair and clothes without "fitting to" yet. This is convenient for moving and resizing a clothed figure. If you select and highlight the figure-level genesis, the parameters tab will have joint control morphs and that sort of thing, but not most of the shaping morphs. If you select and highlight the "actor" level, you will find most of the character shaping morphs in the parameters tab. With the "actor" level selected, use the search box at the top of the parameters tab to confirm that the Michael 5 morph and Victoria 5 morph are there. In turn, set each to 1 and confirm that the morphs change the shape of the figure, and then back to zero. If the genesis figure does not change shape, I suspect there has been an installation problem which is beyond me.

Delete Genesis to start with a fresh scene.

In the browser tab, open the character subfolder of the People Genesis folder. You should find icons for Basic Female, Basic Male, Michael 5, and Victoria 5 and other genesis characters that have, if any. Click and drag Michael 5 from the character subfolder to the assemble room or the instances tab to load Michael 5. Notice that the supergroup level is now called Michael 5 and the figure level group is still called genesis. The joint control morphs should still be in the genesis level parameters tab and the shaping morphs should still be in the actor level.

Adding content 1 - hair - I believe that the PH Classic hair comes with Carrara 8.5. Open the "Hair" subfolder of the People Genesis folder. Find the subfolder named PH Classic. Click and drag the icon for PH Classic to the supergroup level of the figure (now named Michael 5) without using fit to. After it loads, go to the second level of the PH Classic Hair (the "figure level" as I call it). Under the general tab in the properties tray animation group will be an option to "fit to." Use fit to and select Genesis fro the drop down menu. Carrara will appear to stall as it begins calculating the morphs, but if you are patient, the hair will automatically morph to fit Michael 5. Next will be to change the color of the hair. This can be confusing. Select the figure level of the hair (the second level named PH Classic). With it highlighted yellow, go to the "materials" subfolder of the people genesis hair ph classic and double-click a hair color that you like. If you have the correct figure level selected and double click, then the materials of the hair figure will change. Takes some getting used to because manual changes of shaders are still done through the "actor" level.

Adding content 2 - clothes - The same basic steps still apply. Load the clothing figures from the duf files content tab subfolders to the Michael 5 supergroup without fitting to. After it loads, use "fit to" and choose genesis. Repeat for each item. To change materials using presets that come with the content, choose the item's figure level and double click the material icon. To change manually, select the "actor" level and enter the shader room or open the shader tab. I loaded a simple jeans and golf shirt by 3D Universe for the Jason character and used "fit to" to apply it to Michael 5..

Applying a preset pose - Of course, you can still open the bone skeleton of the Michael 5 figure by selecting "hip" under the Genesis figure level. You can pose by using the rotate tools for various bones. However, you can also apply pose presets. Select the "genesis" figure level. In the content browser, navigate to People Genesis Poses and double click the icon of the pose that you want to apply. I applied a standing pose from the "Basic Male" pose folder.