Hey there,
I'm pretty new to the Carrara community and I have to admit that I didn't read yet through all the threads here (but at least I asked the search engine, before I started this thread).
So I hope I'm not going to be stoned for asking my question (if it is the 725th time this question is asked).
I'm working with Carrara since March this year, making funny pictures. And even though I'm far away from knowing even only 1% about making single frames I thought it could be fun trying out animations (well,..ONE animation as a start :) ).
Well,...my technical background knowledge regarding animations is literally zero. The only thing I know about it is how to watch them. So I really have to start from the very beginning.
This morning I made a ridiculous try by just clicking around in Carrara (it is 7 pro) with a figure loaded into a scene, but the only thing I managed to do was crashing the mesh of poor Vicky (without knowing how this happened and without being able to "undo" this).
I then consulted the manual which was delivered with the software (and which has "Carrara 6 Reference Guide" in its footnote...) and started reading (you might need to know that my native language isn't English but German)...and I gave up after the 20th expression that did tell me nothing (I think it was "IK - chain").
Yes, they explain everything in detail, but they don't give any example, like

1. Load  a cube into your scene.
2. Click this to move it
3. Click that to "record" this movement...
4. ....

And that's what I'm looking for (hey I finally come to the point :) ):
A written tutorial with easy to follow examples of "how to do animation in Carrara".
I know there are some great video-tutorials out there. And some of them about the common use of Carrara for instance I watched already - but that was pretty easy because I more or less knew about what the people in these videos did talk about.
Regarding animations, I just found one (having a ball bouncing) but I wasn't able to follow it due to my limited language skills (I sometimes just did not understand what the voice did say).
So,..

• Are there tutorials for animations in written somewhere?
• Does it makes sense at all to start an animation career with Carrara, or would it rather make sense to use a different software to learn the basics? (I still have DAZ Studio 3 on my drives)
  - Or should I better give up trying when I'm not understanding the language good enough, because it is just too complex?

It would be great if one of you could give me a hint regarding this.
Thank you very much in advance!
...and have a great Sunday : )

HI and welcome to Carrara world. I am working in a serie of tutorials for Carrara and I did a basic one about animation. There will be more about this subject in the future, but I will suggest that you take a look at this series from Jeff Lew:

http://www.jefflew.com/DVD_order.html

He dont use Carrara, but you can learn a lot about animation principles.

My basic tutorial you can see here:

EXERCISE 01
The Jumping ball Animation

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgVPBYvuvzs
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYSb1WDZUA

Download full lenght video:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U556QJP2

Exercise 01 file:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NR2C544T

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Thank you very much for your fast response GKDantas!
And thanks for the links!
I just had a look at your jumping ball and even though I didn't understand everything I got enough input to know how to start at least! 
And guess what: Carrara is just rendering my first animation!
Cool! 
:)
Thanks a lot!
...and you can be sure to find yourself in the credits of my first Hollywood - movie :)

Hehehe, I hope to se eyour name in a big movie too!

Follow me at euQfiz Digital

well,..."big" is a good point :)
my first animation (just a Vicky with nothing else moving a little) of 10 seconds (192 frames) has the sweet size of 135Mb in avi.-format
:)
I guess the next thing to learn is: "How to reduce file size"  :)

However: It is big fun already just playing around a little, and see your characters "alive" !
So again: Thanks a lot

Try this free software to converte video files:

http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/

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Any Video Converter is great.  I use it all the time to put videos on my Zune.  It's definitely worth the small amount they want for the pro version though.  It gives you a lot more options.

...and thank you again (that's a pretty grateful day, today :) )
I'll try that one out as soon I have something that is worth to be shrinked :)

that worked pretty good!
"Any Video Converter" made a compact 450kB - file out of a 135MB avi.
I'm not sure whether you'd like to watch,...but here it is :) 
It is really nothing special.
But: 
It is my first animation ever (the third try of it).

Edit:

it seems as if I cannot add flv-files here ...
So, I'll have to find another way

Create an account at Youtube or Vimeo and save as Xvid, its small and have a good quality.

Follow me at euQfiz Digital

okay,...I'm going to try that :) 
I loaded the file to my web-space, for those who might be interested: 

lmant.heimat.eu/Animation_3_19Sep2010.flv

hope that works

hm...I can't delete/edit the previews post,...
so I have to make a new one.

Animation One  @ YouTube

hope that works

Looking good for a start! One tip for you:

You can use Poser poses to create animations. Add a pose to Vic, move the timeslider and add another pose. Carrara will create the inbetween frames for you...sometimes this create a very strange animation, but can help a lot for facial animations!

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Quote - Regarding animations, I just found one (having a ball bouncing) but I wasn't able to follow it due to my limited language skills (I sometimes just did not understand what the voice did say).

It may be slightly off topic, but I know YouTube offers transcript and caption capabilities for its videos. Of course you have to find somebody who knows English and your language equally well and is willing to volunteer their time. The other part is getting in contact with the person who made the video. In my case, I'd be happy to upload non-English transcripts/captions for my vids. (The only thing is, I do more Wings3D stuff than Carrara in regards to video tutorials.)

Quote - well,..."big" is a good point :)
my first animation (just a Vicky with nothing else moving a little) of 10 seconds (192 frames) has the sweet size of 135Mb in avi.-format
:)
I guess the next thing to learn is: "How to reduce file size"  :)

I know there was an answer to this one. But I find that Xvid + VirtualDub works great. (Uses little space and doesn't cost a thing.) The problem is if you're on a Mac, then that option is ruled out. (At least Virtual Dub is.) The best way is to save an image sequence to a folder, and then pick the first in the sequence and let the software do its thing to string together a movie.

---

Barbequed Pixels?

Your friendly neighborhood Wings3D nut.
Also feel free to browse my freebies at ShareCG.
There might be something worth downloading.

 Hi LK,

Written tutorials are few and far between because they take about 4 times longer to do than recording one to video!

I know you'll continue to grow in your interest and abilities in 3D with Carrara.

Mark

thanks for the encouragement. Mark :) 
and it's probably the amount of work that has to be put into a written tutorial which is making them so rare...
I'm writing tutorials myself (for completely different stuff) and I know how much work it is.

But however, I got my initial kick by just 10 seconds of one video I watched (the first one of GKdantas) and which told me to

1. move the time slider
2. to your character movements
3. move the time slider to the next position...

that was exactly the level of most basic information I can handle up to now
and it was all I needed to know to be able to start at least something :)

And I guess everybody here knows that if a start is finally made, the rest is just,...well...work to do :) 

however,...
thanks again for all the input and info and links!
I really appreciate that.