MrMongo,

It is safe to assume, pretty much all we are waiting on to do a formal release is a retail build of Carrara and the final version of the SDK.

If you are a Gemini fan, I think you'll be really happy with the way Gemini works with C3. In C2 if you wanted to use subdivision surfaces and Gemini, you pretty much had to build the control cage using Gemini, use the Gemini command to convert it to a complete mesh and then apply the SDS. With C3's improved SDS, specifically the fixes to open polygons, you can turn on subdivision surfaces right away and it just works.

On the ivy, C3's renderer certainly helped. This is with the skylight on, but no indirect light. One other change is that instead of using a plane object as the tip, I use a grid mesh that I cupped slightly. It makes it so the leaves aren't perfectly flat.

Best regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
3D plug-ins for Carrara
http://digitalcarversguild.com

Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara and LightWave plug-ins