Moho_ Carrara

[lageva]

Does anyone use Carrara?
If so, can models made in Carrara be used in Moho for animation?
Carrara is the only program I can find that has the features I'm looking for at a affordable price

[hayasidist]

is Poser no good for your needs? (I've never used Carrara)

Carrara (don't know about integration with Moho) at $285 vs Poser (well established integration) at $350 ??

[dueyftw]

I have use it. It a fine 3d animation tool. It has the tools for making 3D animation in including modeling. The only problem is that everyone uses Maya. Maya is more complex than Carrara.

Dale

[Greenlaw]

I use 3D with Moho from time to time but I don't actually bring the 3D models into Moho. Instead, I prefer to composite the Moho footage with the 3D footage in a program like Fusion or After Effects. Both of these compositing programs have a 3D environment, and if you look around, there are some third party scripts that can help you move the Moho camera into other programs*. However, it's more common for me to animate the camera in the 3D program, and import that camera motion to the compositing program.

Sometimes I'll bring the Moho footage into the 3D program and map the sequence onto 'cards' or polygons. For me, this is usually much easier than bringing 3D into Moho. At work, the team I'm with typically uses LightWave for 3D but you should be able to do that with Carrara, or any 3D program really.

Alternatively, you can render your 3D animation as an image sequence, and animate on top of the sequence in Moho (essentially compositing in Moho.) Tip: If you convert the 3D sequence to JPEG, it will stream faster in Moho. But of course, you'll want to switch to the original uncompressed sequence for the final render output.

If you absolutely need to bring 3D models into Moho, I believe the objects will need to be saved as .obj. Carrara should support that, it's kind of a 'lowest common denominator' format. Note that Moho does not support 3D point caching or 3D bone rigging, so if you want to animate the 3D objects, you really should be bringing the Moho renders into your 3D program or compositing program.

*For example, I know there's a Moho to AE script at AnimeStudioScripts.com, and Mike Green (http://www.mikegreen.name/) wrote a Moho to LightWave importer.

[lageva]

Great information, thank you! I'm new at this and just that (valuable) little bit of information really helped me figure things out.
I don't have Carrara, but I was thinking of buying it, I can buy it for about $60 and that includes a subscription to Platinum Club Plus 3 month Membership at Daz.
I'm just wondering if it would be worth the price. I would love to buy Poser, and I will sometime in the not so near future, but as I understand it, Poser, is not a Character creator or model builder/sculptor. Beyond that, my next purchase will probably be Hitfilm, and that should work great for compositing Moho?
Ha! I might sound a little flighty here, but, My initial focus was to put together 30 and 60 second spots with characters and scenes that I built, with the intention of selling them to small business and or marketers, affiliate, and so on. Now that I know a little more about the whole process, that is a little bit daunting, and although, I wont give up on that, I think for now I want to more focus on motion graphics to get started.
Please chime in again and push me in the right direction.
I'm tired so please forgive me if

[DK]

With Posers modelling and morphing tools you can create some pretty cool characters. I've made my own 3D models in Lightwave and imported them into Poser for rigging but unfortunately Posers animation toolset is a real let down. I tried to create a large 3D animated project in it a couple years back for use in a Laser display and it was a freaking nightmare.
The main reason I've stayed with 2D and Moho all these years.

Cheers
D.K

[Greenlaw]

If you're on a tight budget, you might consider trying Blender. I don't use it myself but it's a very capable 3D animation program and it's free. (Donations suggested.) As described in my previous post, you should be able to use it with Moho.