I've used a number of other 3D products and I haven't seen anything quite like Carrara's spline modeller. It takes a bit of getting used to (and you may find it best to create your curves in a product like XaraX or Illustrator) but it can make creating certain types of objects really easy. The vertex modeller is a bit primitive but still useful (and enhanced for v3) and Carrara does have subdivision surface support. One of the main problems I had with the v2 vertex modeller is that it often creates triangles instead of quads and most of the tutorials and books want you to use quads (supposedly better for subdivision?) You can also model in the assemble room using primitives with Modifiers (like bulge or bend&twist). Plus Carrara has a nifty text modeller that makes it easy to do bevelled text (or more if you use dingbat-type fonts). There's also a metaballs modeller which I haven't used much but maybe could be used to simulate blobby liquids? So I'd say that Carrara packs a lot of punch in the modelling department even though the vertex modeller is no match for the modellers in C4D or Lightwave (yet). Supposedly www.luxology.net is working on a cool new modeler called Modo. It would be handy if Carrara could import objects in Lightwave format since there are so many of them out there in the world.