I've had Carrara for some time now and still figuring out how bestto use it.I mostly use Ray dream studio 5.5, If your careful, you shouldn't have many problems with it. I find Carrara to be very much like 3d studio max. I really can't make an informed judgement on it yet, the render engine is fast,texture good lighting is good,modellers are jumpy, but I've yet to use one that wasn't. I really do wish you can get support for this program, and plug ins and extensions that work. I just bought TRUE SPACE 4.2,(looks something like but acts almost exactly like light wave. I'm still learning to use it but so far it works pisser! It even has a good bones program in it stock, out of the box. But just like light wave its plug in city and each will run ya about $150 to $600. ouch! Poser 4 (three words love it, love it love!) just wish I could inport from more formats.