I posted this in the Poser forum and The Daz Cararra forum and so far I can't see any major benefits of CararraPro. Am I correct?

I have read all the comparisons at the Eovia website but i would like to know from an actual user: 

I would like to know if CararraPro renders faster or better or different  than Cararra5.

The extra modeling tools. If I purchased Hex2 are the extra CararraPro tools a real benefit?

cheerio   lululee

 

Hello Lululee, If you've read the comparisons, then you'll notice that the primary difference is a more robust and efficient animation and pro level workflow. If you're not creating many animation or rigging characters or importing animations from Poser, then Carrara 5 Standard is probably ok for you. Speed enhancements by saving irradience maps won't be missed if you're not animating. Additionally, the export import/functions of FBX, Transposer, Matchmoving and AE or the finessing capability of the Graph editor will not be needed if you don't Animate. The only thing that may be significat to a Pro that is a non-animator is the Network rendering. While I do animate, most of my work is for large/high resolution images that end up in print; network rendering is indespensible for that. If you have extra machines sitting around, is a very nice way to reduce render times by turning overnight renders into something that is completed over a lunch break. C5P also imports geometry/models from other 3D and CAD programs. You won't miss that if you create all your own. Carrara is a good modeler, Hex is a great modeler. So, if modeling and hobby/low res (non-deadline) imagery is your main interest, Carrara Standard plus Hex is a good fit. Mark

well if you intend to use a network to render faster, thats pro only
so potentially it can render faster, as long as you put the money into
computers and stuff too :)

if you're using it for small time hobby pics, then standard is the way to go

speed/better/different, is same as far as i know

buying hex2 from daz, you pay for club+hex2=$32
owning hex2 gets you a companion discount on C5 $200, C5P $400
club discount gives 30% off, C5 $140+$32=$172, C5P $280+$32=$312
incase you didnt know :)

oh and you probably read it, but dynamic cloth and hair from P6 need transposer2
while cloth has the workaround of exporting an OBJ, which C5 will take in, i haven't
seen any other ways for hair, altho hair does drag down render times

Transposer2 is another $99 and no discounts available, so your cost goes to $271 for C5 vs. $312 for pro. That narrows it up a bit.

transposer 2/cadstyle/vectorstyle2 should be eligible for 30% off to pc members. They are eovia products. So TP2 would add about $70. 140+70 = $210

You're right, you do get the platinum club discount on TP2. That will save another 30 bucks.

 

I have a major web project that will feature lots of quicktime video and animated storytelling. i have filmed a group of First Nations artists for the last 4 years. They put on festivals, pow wow's and are amazing painter and sculpters. They just finished an 80 foot mural of the First Nations story of creation. It will open at the Royal Ontario Museum next year.

  I want to animate the story and make it interactive for the web. I never considered animating it in Cararra. Prior to Daz purchasing Cararra as i was only using Poser and never really looked at Cararra.

   I was going to purchase Cararra5 hoping to get faster renders than Poser and I like the look of their cel shading and the vector graphics plugins. If it would make a difference to do a project like this in CararraPro I could come up with the budget. If there are no benefits for this project to go with Pro i can stick with Cararra5 and the Transposer2 plugin.

    i value everyone's input. It is one thing to read specs and totally another to listen to  people who use the product and make recomendations.

   I also work with VueInfinite but I have found the render times for animations way too long and the artifacts the animation render creates make it unsuable for this kind of project.

I should also state that I do have 2 other computers that I could use to render with  for this project provied setting up network rendering in Cararra is not a nightmare.

Thanks so much for your valuable info.

 cheerio  lululee

Attached Link: DCG's Toon plug-in.

In that case, C5Pro is a good match. As a fellow user of vue5i and Poser, Carrara is simply a better fit for what you describe, especially since you won't be engaging the major atmospheric functions that Vue does so well. For a very nominal fee, take a look at ToonPro (the link at the top of the message) from Digital Carvers Guild for better control over your cell-looking animations. You can control opacity of the cell fills and better control the outlining with ToonPro. The native Carrara Toon is an earlier edition of this plug-in. It has matured since then. ;-) Carrara's render engine is very fast but you can still bring it to it's knees by engaging some render options uneccessarily. Once you get familiar with the programs, just post back for some rendering tips. That said, no render engine is fast enough. :D Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for the great info. I really appreciate it.

Do you feel the DGG Toon Plug In is preferable to the one Daz is selling in their ShaderStyle for Carrara?

cheerio  lululee

Isn't it the same, jsut packaged with three other plugins? Someone else will know better.

Quote - Hi Makr,

Thanks so much for the great info. I really appreciate it.

Do you feel the DGG Toon Plug In is preferable to the one Daz is selling?

cheerio  lululee

Pauldg is correct. It's the same one, just part of a package deal. The other plugs in the package are GREAT plugs but you can buy them as singles if you don't want to drop the cash for the whole set. Mark

Thanks so much for such great info.

I appreciate it. I finally feel like I can make an educated investment.

cheerio  lululee

Carrara is pretty fast, but rendering is always a challenge, as stated. I would try the demo and do some test renders to see if what you have in mind will work. The good thing is the learning curve is not bad. You also have the option with pro to do some match moving, if needed.