Creating, Editing, and Rendering Still Scenes

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"A picture is worth a 1000 words."
Similar to writing a story, creating a scene in Carrara is a creative composition. However, instead of working with words, in Carrara, you work with objects, cameras, and light sources to create 3 dimensional scenes, which then can be rendered as an image.

A Carrara document is called a scene, which is a collection of objects, light sources, and cameras you will need to build and render images and animations. In most scenes you create, you need to have at least one of each of these.

Note: There are exceptions to this rule. For example, you can insert glowing objects into a scene that work as a light source.

The Scene Creation Workflow
Creating a scene in Carrara, like nearly all 3D modeling applications, involve a number of activities. While there are no specific rules about the order of doing these activities, in general, the following steps provide basic guidance in scene creation. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, you will be performing these activities! Workflow is highly iterative. In creating your scenes, you will likely perform these activities many times, switching from setting up your scene to adding objects, to shading, to adjusting lighting, and back to set-up, slowly refining and adjusting your scene until it is perfected.
 * Scene Set-Up, which involves setting the scene background and environment.
 * Adding Objects, which involves modeling, importing, posing, and positioning "things" that appear in your scene.
 * Shading Your Objects, which defines how each object appears - attributes such as color, texture, transparency, shininess, and roughness.
 * Adjusting Lighting and Effects, to show off your objects properly (and to set the scene's mood).
 * Rendering Your Scene, which converts your scene into a 2 dimensional image or "snapshot."
 * Post-Rendering Editing, which involves using photo editing applications (like PhotoShop) to enhance your image further.
 * Publishing, which allows you to share your creative works with others!

NOTE: The focus of this workflow is to render images. Animation is covered in a separate section of this wiki. However, keep in mind that creating animations (videos) involves all of the activities listed above, plus more!

Tips and Techniques for Creating Scenes
