Carrara 3 is a great upgrade all the way around. If you are using Carrara 2 and like it version three is a definite upgrade. Carrara is not the world's greatest modeler, however, dollar for dollar it may be the best renderer around. For simple modeling it is very handy too. As you already know from using version 2 the shading and texturing are world class and have only became better. Don't save your money waiting for version 4 when Carrara Studio 3 has so much to offer over version 2. You can really crank out 3d scenes very FAST especially when compared with some other 3d packages. The workflow in Carrara 3 is excellent.