I don't do a whole lot of 3D work, but when I do, it's a real pleasure. Right now, I use Carrara Studio 1.1. I never upgraded to v.2 because, well, like I said, I don't use it everyday. But Carrara 3 looks like it sports a lot of advanced features that would make a big impact on the quality of my 3D work. One of the problems I have with 1.1 is with the animation procedures. Specifically, it is a real pain to create and use motion paths in 1.1; I have never been able to achieve much success with motion paths in v1.1. Is this feature improved in C3? Briefly, here is what happens when I try to use motion paths: I set the path up just fine, but inevitably when I preview the overall movement (and I have no idea why this occurs) the motion path begins to move with the moving object. It's as thought the object is locked to the motion path at the beginning, and both objects begin to move along a THIRD motion path (one that appears to be a clone of the frozen path). Does this make any sense? Anyway, the short version is that I hope animation controls are smoother in Carrara 3. Along with all the great new features, plus the fact that it works natively in OSX, this could be the time to step up and get the newest version.

sigmadog, You won't go wrong with Version 3. I don't believe there are any major changes to motion paths however. I use the motion paths quite regularly. As long as you do all of your editing on the first frame of the animation, everything will work out all right. But manipulate the motion path on any other frame and you'll end up with a mess. The only exception to that rule is moving the timline along the animation and then specifying how far you want the object to be at that point in time using the distance slider in the motion path control. You probably already know that. I thought I'd just bring it up if you didn't. Mark

Yes, You will notice a huge difference in features and usability between 1.1 and 3. Global Illumination, caustics, bones, these are all great features that were also in 2 that you are sure to love. -Paul

Thanks, Mark and Paul; Yes, that makes sense. I probably fiddled with the motion path on another frame and that screwed me up. Sounds like I'll be ordering the new version soon.

I want to upgrade my Carrara 1.2 to 3 but I find the upgrade price prohibitive. I think it's ironic that the Carrara upgrade is more costly than a Photoshop upgrade! I am however watching closely because Curious Labs announced that they are working on a Poser to Carrara import module. The new pre-made scenes and rooms would be just the sort of thing that work help my Poser work shine--Ray Dream used to offer these pre-sets, but alas earlier versions of Carrara did not. To be honest I'm more interested in Carrara for environments for my Poser Characters and it's large library of 3-D props and accessories to easily set up rooms for them. In the new tree generator just a variation of the Tree Druid plug-in, or is it something new?

I just put my order in for Version 3 (from Carrara 1.1) and I hope they have improved and replaced the 3-D props from Ray Dream Studio/Carrara 1 to Version 3. I never had Version 2 so I don't know if they made any additions or improvements in the props. Carrara Version 1 had the same props as Ray Dream Studio 5.5 and even Ray Dream 3D and most of them were useless (blame that on MetaCreations where they originated from). Those of us who find it difficult to create from scratch like to have a base to work from. I hope this version is more user friendly than previous versions.