Hi, we are working on Carrara 5 right now at Eovia and I was wondering what you guys like most about our product. So if you could tell us what you like most about Carrara (why you use it over other product) that would help us figure out what is most important for the next version. You are welcome to say also what you would like to see improved most but please do not make a long list: Just one or two items that are most important to you. thanks Charles

Likes: Well, I LIKE the interface, it may just be from hadit but I find it easier to use than other programs. Ease of import of Poser models, both for final work and for modeling with, this is one of the main reason I started with Carrara 1 since it worked with Poser models at their native scale. It is still a plus but see dislikes... Fast rendering. The new morphing tools. The UV mapping tools. The texture tree format and operations. Dislikes: The "distortion" when working with poser scaled models in the vertex room, the edges and vertices don't line up and this can be a real pain. Unless I've missed it, there is no way to export a model in the morphed shape(with morphs set to 1+ when you save the model as an object it saves to the default shape, morph at 0) Improve the manual to cover the new features in depth. A tutorial or two on uv mapping, morphing, rigging etc. would go a long way. THe manual seems to have been the same since ver. 1 witha couple of paragraphs about the new feaures edited in... That's about it for me, mike

Charles: I like Carrara because of the high-end 3D software features you get at an affordable price (although this philosophy seems to have been changing with the whole standard/pro product differentiation). What I would like to see in Carrara 5: 1. Cut/Copy/Paste commands like in any other part of the program for the shader room (with hot key combinations, of course also). The alt-click-drag method is very cumbersome and does not follow the flow of the rest of the program. The Undo function in the UV-map room should also be Ctrl-Z, for the same reason. 2. Allow Global coordinate shaders to work in the bump channel. Thanks, vini

1.I like the fact that it is quite straight to the point instead of being quite quirky with its own 'special' method of doing things. I found the transition from Strata to Carrara easy and painless. 2.Most of the important things seem to work really well which is handy cause often mid end programs are riddled with bugs that halve the important new feature list. 3.Very Good render engine, has its flaws and limitations but overall very fast and professional. Fast even on a slow PC. 4.Reasonably good documentation. Not praised by many but it is better then some of the other manuals I have seen around. 5.Most of the important features are part of the core package. I took great interest in C4D until i realised it was all split up into several bits that costed more and more.. Would you like to know the minor stuff I would like to see changed?

Best feature: price. Hate to admit it, but that is the "real" reason I went with Carrara. Of course I got a side/upgrade from RayDream, but it was still the price first of all.... I stayed with Carrara because the interface is easy to learn, and also because each generation has seen steady advances in renderspeed, stability, and features. I always thought I'd move on to a "bigger" program, but now that there are several developers making plug-ins (4 is better than 2), and some really "pro" features have been added (render nodes, pro importer, real skies), It's a challenge for to keep up.

like.. 1. price-to-proformance 2. interface (may people complain about it, but you'll find 90% of them grew up on other, shall i say "boring" interfaced, programs) 3. Dual monitor support this is BIG!1 people shuold really be aware of the big benifit of this, one screen for the subject, one for palettes Dislikes... 1. Manual.. ya there are worse out there, but not many. Way to much "now goto another page", read a line or 2 only to get the goto again. Write a new one from scratch! :) 2.Metaballs sucks... are they even still there? fix them so they are really usable or just get rid of them and save resources 3. hmmm well.... ummm... errr well folks i got nothing... :)

Hey there, I've been using Carrara since it was Ray Dream Studio 5.0, so you could say that I'm a rather dedicated customer. Let's see here. Things I like are as follows: I like the interface. I've been using it for a few years, so I find it comfortable. I like the shader function. I think that it is built with a lot of options, and functionality. I like the render engine. I get clean, well rendered images at competitive resolution. I like the tree/plant editor. I've made good use of it. I like the fact that the source code is available to third party developers. This frees Eovia to focus on a select few issues at a time, while allowing others to pursue more specific goals. This make the application robust and builds a sustainable community that can tailor adjust its applications based on their needs. This is a winning combination. Things that could use improvements: Particles. This needs some work. I have been requesting improvements since Carrara version 1, under Metacreations. Metaballs. The interface is still awkward, and could be better integrated. I'm sure that this function could be pushed further. Bones. I will grant that you have improved the basic IK architecture. I would still suggest that the bones function could benefit from further attention. These are the three functions that I would like attention given to in version 5. Thank you for your time. Keep up the good coding. Krzysztof Mathews www.firstgearterritories.com

Hey Charles, My likes. 1. I like the VM modeler and spline modelers. 2. I really like the landscape capabilities(Sky,Terrain,trees.etc) 3. The Render engine, fast and nice features. 4.The texturing abilities,shader tree. 5.The price/performance is what got me to buy Raydream 5.0 and that still stands today with the standard or pro versions. Mind you some of the above I would like to be enhanced to make them even better. Mike

hey Mike... can you write the manual for them? please? :) or maybe write a carrara 4 handbook :)

Things I like: 1. Bang for the buck. Good feature list at a competitive price. If this changes it would have a big impact. 2. The interface. Simple and good looking. The "rooms" metaphor works well and keeps things from getting cluttered. 3. Good render engine. Speed is its most valuable asset. There are many improvements that could be made, displacement mapping, replicating functions, anisotropic shading etc. but I would be happy if the price simply remained affordable. Ed

1. The interface, love the projection on the walls 2. The renderer is great and pretty fast 3. Nice improvements on the vertex modeler 4. The new handles in the Assemble room 5. The spline modeler is a very efficient way to model things that take a lot longer in other 3D programs Things I would like to see: 1. The ability to model in layers like in Lightwave 2. The lathe tool in Strata is really handy, steal it 3. How about taking all the modeling features from Amapi and rolling them into Carrara? 4. .max import

1. the interface, i've tried all the software on the market and is the best, really the best 2. the fast rendering 3. the shader editor, wow!! 4. the vertex modeler 5. the great flexibility Things to be improved: 1. rendering quality because it's not one of the best on the market, especially on the glasses, refractions and trasparency 2. UV editor 3. Layered psd rendering 4. more serious modeling tools in the vertex modeler (see wings 3d, especially the selection tool, aaargh) 5. better quality on the next cover art;-) -TOXE

Likes: 1.Good value for money but watch out, prices of high-end software are tumbling. 2. Interface is clear and easy to use. 3. Shaders easy to understand and use. 4. Rendering, fast and versitile. 5. Spline modeller is great for modelling certain objects that would take ages using other methods. Dislikes: 1.Lack of render time displacement mapping. Look at the stuff that's being done with ZBrush and Messiah Studio. 2. Metaballs. What are they there for? 3.Vertex Modeller could do with improving. Lousy selection, loathe the unintuitive 'active plane' method. Hopeless UV editor.

1. Rendering speed 2. Price 3. updates and bug fixes 4. 3rd party developers (plugins!) 5. Mac and PC versions Room for improvement: 1. VectorStyle needs RavixIII a big speed improvement with models with 100,000+ polys 2. Improved UV editor 3. Improved Particles I would be willing to pay a little more for better features or new features. However, as has been mentioned previously, the price of high end applications has dropped dramatically. The 3rd party products for Carrara are also quite reasonable in price, and I would pay a little more there as well. I believe in supporting the continued development of good products at a reasonable prices Chris

What I like: Vertex modeler Terrain editor Skies Trees (Need wind and pruning) What I think it Needs: At least one, if not more, professional quality rig with professional quality constraints (Like Animation Master's Anzovin Rig) the ability to save and re-use animations for full and partial figures. The ability to conform a full or partial figure to another with an identical skeleton. Dynamic Hair. Dynamic Cloth. Liquid Dynamics. Basically, a full set of character animation tools so that one doesn't really have to rely on poser to do everything.

What I definitely like to see: Scripting (preferably in Python)!

"So if you could tell us what you like most about Carrara (why you use it over other product) that would help us figure out what is most important for the next version." ...at the risk of sounding over critical I think you're looking through the wrong end of the telescope. C4 is a nice product and I give you guys kudos for that, but to "figure out what is most important for the next version" I'm sure most users hope you will fix/polish things they are not happy with. Of course, if you're a programmer for Eovia you'd rather sip coffee and read about what people like about your old work ;)) I've run a successful company for 20 some years and if I asked my customers 'what they were most happy with' to help with future orders they'd think I was being lazy about addressing those points they may not be happy with. Nice job on C4 Pro, though. Is there anything reasonably improvable in interoperablility with Poser? i.e. speed of importing scenes, fixing objects/textures that don't successfully complete the import routine, etc.

I have to admit not having much experience with the alternatives (a little Wings, a little c4d, and stuff that don't count like Amorphium). That said, I find the overall interface and GUI very comfortable. My major plaint, in fact, is that some areas of Carrara (cut-and-paste in the texture room, MOST of the controls and hotkeys in the UV mapper, and of course everything about that inane stuck-on metaballs modeller) do not match up with the rest of the GUI. Oh, yeah, and those little trays look cool but take up screen space even when not deployed: and I know they can be undocked but it simply isn't as smooth as proper "floating" pallets. Similar pros and cons on the render engine -- lovely, fast renders with lots of control and options. And those options poorly documented and scattered across various menus and various depths of menu without any apparent rhyme or reason. So I'd really hope for organizing and documenting and streamlining -- trying to extend the dominent metaphors through a process, not changing gears half-way through setting up render options. I don't expect that, however. Programs have a habit of collecting their history around them like a shroud. So instead I'd settle for more tools in the vertex room. A bevel tool would be nice. So would a proper knife.

i like: 1.rendering speed 2.plants and realistic sky 3.terrain tools 4.the interface 5.the handles cool would be: 1.a graph editor for animation stuff 2.dynamic cloth,dynamic hair,soft body dynamics,rigid body dynamics 3.improved particle system 4.SUB SURFACE SCATTERING 5.good ik fk blending 6.improved uv editor

As for trying to come up with the five things that I like the most, I would compile this list by trying to determine what I would miss the most if I no longer had it. In trying to do that, I came up with a lot more than five items.

As for the things I would like to see, I offer the following.

The Realistic Sky option was certainly a step forward; however it was only a step. There is certainly a lot more that can be done here. I would like to be able to generate sun rays steaming across the sky. The clouds were improved in 4.03, but it would be even better if they would also interact with other lights in the scene.

The cloud objects also could be improved. Carrara still has a ways to go to match Terragen skys.

The plants could be improved by providing an option to allow the branches to bend. Currently you can adjust the curvature and elasticity, but branches can also have localized radical bends in them. An option to provide this would be nice.

I would also like to see additional modeling tools in the vertex modeler. Providing an easy method for selecting vertices on only the face of an object which is showing would be really nice. Also, the motion vectors that were added in the assembly room for moving objects would be nice to have for moving a single point or poly in the vertex modeler.

But most of all, I would like to see a distance option that would fade the color of objects based on their distance from the camera.

Gavotte has made an excellent point in that there are a TON of things I like about the package. First I'll list the likes that I DON'T want changed. Please don't change the following. 1.) Having the whole mess in one single interface with a great render preview tool! Futzing around with multiple apps to generate one single final image BITES! Carrara is superior in that regard. 2.) The price! Nuf said. 3.) My experience has been great customer support. Fixing bugs and such. 4.) Forging ahead and carrying the flag by adding new cooler and bigger stuff. We forget, but things like bones haven't been around all that long and the new sound stuff in the code is going to springboard Carrara into a whole new world of competition kick ass animation stuff! We're still just learning it. How cool can it get when we get a new version with a whole bunch of cool stuff to learn on an annual basis! I LOVE IT! 5.) The Spline modeler. I do 95% of all my modeling in it and I can get it to do a lot of magic tricks. 6.) The SDK. Plug-ins are one of the best things a program could ever hope to have if it was to stay fresh and competitive. Eovia should NEVER EVER let this go and should ALWAYS provide it for free. The package has benefited in HUGE ways using this avenue. LONG LIVE PLUG-INS! Things I like but could like even MORE! 1.) The shader engine in the code is really fantastic but it's obvious that there are a lot of people out there who are writing bigger and badder plug-ins all the time. That's an indicator to me that the shader engine could be even more powerful. It's getting to a point where there are a lot of options which need to be folded into the code proper and more organized. Eovia did a great job recasting a lot of the stuff that was in C3 into organized managed structure in C4 (great job!). I don't think we're done. Eovia should seriously consider taking a serious look at the competitor packages and a serious look at the plug-ins and start forging new tools in those directions. I'm ALL for plug-ins. I'm also for keeping things organized and for growing the package. Some plug-ins are clumsy because they just need to be stitched in proper. 2.) Render nodes. I want more than 4. I don't want to pay for more (obvious and blunt but I want more for free, I'm greedy!). I think other packages are looser with this aspect. 3.) The animation stuff is really coming along and I'm really glad Eovia has been brave enough to move into it. I think there are more things that can be done. Studying the competition is the place to do that if Eovia wants to swing users into the C camp. 4.) The GI/Realistic Lighting engine. First, I love it and I'm getting results from it which are great and I'm getting to where I use it pretty much 100% for final renders. I still think it can get better. Could we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put some controls on how glowing objects emit light intensity when using the GI stuff (PLEASE!)! I want other controls too! The scene scale changes the results. How about a control nob to manage that? I could also stand having a control nob which manages how much the light scatters at each bounce. More control means more power which means more amazing results. GI really is fantastic. It can get even better! 5.) Particles. The particle engine isn't bad. It also isn't powerful. If I someday learn how to figure out how those three frickin color boxes in the particle dialogue box work, I'd love particles even more (this is a SERIOUS pet peeve! I want to use those color boxes from life to death!!!). I want particles to interact with other objects. This is something that lots of people want. Particles in other packages can do A LOT of magic tricks that C can't do yet and I think it would be a BIG improvement if C were to push forward a harder hitting particle engine. We need better ways to generate water and smoke (etc.). Things that I would like seriously improved (not casually but seriously). WARNING, RANTING IS NOW FULLY ENGAGED! 1.) Can we PLEASE put XYZ and scaling coordinate dialogue boxes into the metaball modeler?! Duh! How can we possibly make something in the metaball modeler when we can't even put a ball at 0,0,0 using the mouse! I've seen some really impressive models built in other codes using metaballs and C could casually do the same if we could just have control. 2.) Memory leaks. The code reaks of them. Get rid of them! Also, stop futzing with the video drivers. At a minimum, test them better before going to press. So far, the patches have helped LOTS so I know you guys can do it ( you sneaky little devils)! 3.) 50% of the time when I change the grid properties in the spline modeler I get an error message (specifically, when I'm interfacing with the dialogue box that appears). It happens sometimes when I change a number. It happens sometimes when I press a button. I'd like it to stop happening altogether. Ok, that's the extremely short list of the most (loved, hated, and want to improve) I could come up with. I actually could write many pages on the subject with objective and constructive explanations. If you would like to hear that, let me know. -Kix

One more thing, the realistic sky thingamathing. 1.) The new skies are great! 2.) Getting rid of/turning off the ground plane is a significant improvement but it's not done. I would like more controls over the horizon. The bi-gradient function in the background tab works GREAT! Could we pleas propogate that into the sky engine? 3.) The haze function in the code is ok but could be better. This is a re-emphasis of gavottes comment. Terragen ROCKS in this sense. Carrara does not. 4.) Users want to do LOTS of different things when setting up the outdoor environment. The current atmosphere tools are not nearly flexible nor powerful enough. A reasonable amount of improvement could be made here. I'm thinking very bold in this sense and would consider recasting the entire atmosphere/background/backdrop component of the scene tools. In summary, there needs to be a better way to set up outdoor environments. When C can casually crank out Terragen results, the code user base will probably double. I must also say that the latest version made significant leaps in the forward direction! The new skies are a fantastic improvement, easy to use, great results! Please continue leaping!

1. It runs on the Mac. 2. Price. I'm a hobbyist, so more than a couple of hundred dollars would be out of the question (although I've since spent a bit more on upgrades and plug-ins :-) ) 3. Render quality and effects. Amazingly beautiful renderings - again, particularly in light of the price. 4. Fit and finish. In a world of antagonistic interfaces like Blender's and Lightwave's I appreciate the effort that goes into Carrara's. 5. Something else. Can't think of it.

I like the interface, the fast rendering, the vertex modeler, the shader editor, and bones A feature that I would like is a customizeable menu for the right mouse button.

I got Carrara because it had a modeler or two built in. I mainly use the spline modeler. I like the ability to make trees. Being able to make other vegitation would be nice. Most of the interfaces are fine except for the metaball one. This I hate so I tend not to use it. Price is a concern but only because of our exchange rate.

Great to see you interacting here Charles. Here is what I like and that I think needs improvement: 1.I love the interface in Carrara, while its looked down on by many, I think it is a great interface for beginners, and even for advanced users, once they use it for an extended period of time. The interface does need improvements though. The top panel of buttons should be able to be hidden (via a checkbox) and the other controls as well. And as said above, improve the floating ability of the panels. 2.Shading is incredible but two major complaints I have are the lack of real smooth controls with the uveditor, it is simple, but lacks the necessary power for uvmapping objects. Also, a good wow feature which I think Carrara needs is subsurface shading, and volumetric shading, I believe they go hand in hand and its a powerful ability that would expand Carrara's abilities. 3.Rendering, what can I say, its one of the few rendering engines out there that you can just click and render and get a good output. Major improvments I'd like to see with it would include calculation baking, where it will precalculate the GI and then if we change the scene, use what data it has to decrease the render time. Also I'd like to see Ambient Occlusion included as a rendering option, it helps to get that realistic look. 4.Particles, well I like the current implementation for simple particles, but they really need to be redone. Particles need to collide with each other as well as collide with scene objects. Give us metaball particles, objects as particles, and animated objects as particles. Carrara really needs the power of an advanced particle system. 5.Modeling, while I think Amapi Designer 7 is a GREAT piece of software it deters from the all in one package that Carrara is. The vertex modeler needs more power. Add the rotation/movement tools in the vm that are in assembly, allow them to work on the edge, vertice, and polygon level. Give us a bevel/chamfer function in the VM. Edge loop cut tool, where we can automatically create an edge loop. Give us crease tension control so we can adjust the hardness of creases. And move the select by tool from the selection menu into the properties tray so we have a simple layer system. Thanks for allowing us to give feedback and for listening. If you have any questions on my suggestions, or would like some resources on any of the items I've suggested, I have some good examples on how the tools are implemented. Please contact me at brian "at" vizualds.com Brian http://www.vizualds.com

Likes: 1) The render engine - fast and realistic, what more could you want? 2) The shader tree structure - I at least find it intuitive and easy to make complex shaders 3) The interface - I can't believe this still attracts review comments like "Awkward rooms metaphor" - if you even think of changing it, then how about offering a simple preference for "Carrara Classic" or "Normal confusing 3D program"? 4) The new animation tools 5) General stability and reliable patches Would-likes: 1) Improved particle system (interacting with other scene elements, "intelligent" particle behaviours, built-in "point at" modifier, perhaps even some particleIllusion-style sprite setups. 2) Subpoly displacement in the shader tree/render engine. It's the only place where the high-end renderers (and - ulp! - even Poser 5) have an edge over the Carrara engine. 3) Volumetric shaders (granted we have Primivol now, but I have lots of occasions where I'd like to put a volumetric effect onto a normal object...) 4) Don't want Julien to lose out (and I have already bought Replica), but the functionality of Replica is one plug-in that really should be built-in (ideally as a modifier). 5) Some kind of scripting/formula system to open up custom behaviours, deformations, and shaders to the masses. Again not to do any plug-in makers out of work, but there are as many custom requirements as there are Carrara users, and there will never be a plug-in for everything... (For instance, I've never seen anyone offer extra deformations as a plug-in...)

I put my "likes" above, so now I've earned two feature requests: 1. Better (or total) integration between the modelers and the assembly room. It's unnecessarily painful to make two objects that fit together when you can't adjust the modeling right in the assembly environment. Would anyone disagree with this? 2. Now that Amapi is part of Carrara, so to speak, I'd say that Carrara's other weakness is the slowness of Amapi. The menus are so sluggish I just can't use it. My computer is farily old so I can understand slow modeling and slow rednering, but not a slow interface. So for me this is 500 great tools out the window.

Rendereer, Good point about speed of Amapi interface. I'm using Carrara on an 800mhz G4 and it zips along nicely. Amapi, on the same computer is unuseable.

Things I like: 1. Price. 2. Render quality and speed. 3. Shading philosphy, very powerful. 4. The SDK, having spent time in trueSpace, Lightwave, and now XSI, Carrara's SDK is more open and easier to use than anything else I've seen. I can tell that the SDK is part of the plan in Carrara where other apps it's an afterthought. 5. Rooms, I like everything else falling away so I can do a single task. The UI in general is very comfortable to me. Things I'd like to see: 1. 64bit support. I know a few of my customers who are hitting the limits of what Carrara can do. Not everyone is there yet, but I've seen scenes that need 2 1/2 gig of RAM to render (the 1/2 gig for the OS) so there are people pushing those limits now and it will only get worse. 2. The Shading Room. I love the power, but often it's a pain to navigate especially when copying channels across shaders. You almost need two monitors to do heavy lifting in there and if you're stuck on a 1024x768 machine you might as well shoot yourself in the head. I don't know what the answer is, but I believe it can be better. 3. Translucency. There are tips and tricks for faking it, but it really needs to be supported natively in the renderer. 4. UVW coordinate support. Regards, Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild 3D plug-ins for Carrara http://digitalcarversguild.com

What I really like:

1. Price! The price and feature set of Carrara (including affordable upgrade pricing) is what keeps me comming back for more.

2. Transposer Plugin. A little better import support would be good (i.e. bones, dynamic hair, better shader matching). But overall, a fantastice addition to Carrara, and no complaints.

3. Plant Generator, Sky's, and Terrains. I think Carrara has some serious work to do here to match some advanced features of Vue Esprit, Terragen, WCS, but the new improvements are a very welcome addition!

4. The Render Engine! I love it. Simple to use, great results, and the addition of render nodes makes animations and complex renders something to look forward to.

5. Wide range of import/export options! Many of the "pro" applications pale in comparison!

6. The modelers! True, as many have already stated, they need more work in specific areas, But having all the different modelers available within the application is a big plus. The spline modeler stands out as Carrara's most powerful modeling tool. Just need to get the others up to the same standard.

7. Open GL support! Keep improving!

Things to fix/improve/add

1. Dynamic cloth
2. FBX export
3. Improved Terrain data import (more format support), and
   terrain functions in general
4. Model Room:
   a) Ability to see other objects in the modeling
   window(s)and toggle them on and off
   b) Ability to select only visible vertexs, lines, or
   planes (toggle on and off)
   c) Ability to control smoothing amount/level on
   individual edges in the vertex modeler
   d) Real time symetric modeling
5. SSS (You can thank Lord of the Rings for this one) Not really a high priority for me, but you can be sure that the addition of Sub Surface Scattering would be a big marketing plus.
6. Improved memory management!!!

Sorry for the long wish list, but I just had to put it down while it was on my mind. Overall, C4Pro is a fantastic software package. The list of "likes" could have been much longer, but I just put my favorites down. In price vs features, I feel that Carrara is still the market leader (the first time purhase price of C4Pro is narrowing the margin quite a bit, but it still includes a lot of tools and value for the money). I think in general, users will always have a long wish list, regardless of value for the money, or the available tool set. With a few additions and enhancements, Carrara will really narrow the gap with the "Big Boys". Just keep up the good work!!

1. Improved Terrain data import (more format support), and terrain functions in general DustRider, Have you looked at our Ground Control plug-in? It adds USGS DEM, VistaPro DEM, Terragen TER, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission HGT, and BIL files, integrated right in with the terrain modeler. It also adds a tool that lets you use master shaders to perform a bunch of operations in the terrain editor. Regards, Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild 3D plug-ins for Carrara http://digitalcarversguild.com

Eric, Yes, and I drool a lot!

Two things that worry me. 1. Coming from a Photoshop Bryce Poser learning experience I find getting to grips with the Vertex modeler a learning problem. It's just not "intuitive"! 2.The tree maker seems to crash the system every time I try something creative. Firstly, it should NOT crash the system, secondly, real, in depth, tutorials are urgently required. I'me in my 70's and only found the computer ON switch 2 years ago---I'me having the fun of my life as an ex photojournalist doing 3D of imaginary pictures. Only those two gripes to make life perfect!

Thinks I like: 1. Interface. 2. The new Animation tools. 3. Import/export options. 4. GI and HDRI Things I'd like to see: 1. Improved particle system with collision and behaviour control. 2. No limitation on morph targets. 3. Nurbs. Thinks I'd LOVE to see: 1. Cloth Simulation 2. Soft Body Dynamics 3. Translucency 4. 64bit support 5. Sub Surface Scattering 6. Dynamic hair (Fur)

Here's my take, having recently upgraded to C4 Pro from C3: 1] Having used other proggies, the interface on C4P is excellent, easy to learn and use after learning. 1a] The shader tree, the best of all other programs I've used. 2] Rendering. So many options, it's like christmas every time I render :D 3] New/Improved Animation tools. The morph shape addition and ablility to edit vertex models after putting bones into it is very welcome. Main reason why I upgraded. 3a] The attraction/magnet tool now has its own options in the properties tray, just like a real tool! 4] Stability. For me, I can use C4 for hours ( max time was for about 11 hrs) and no crashing or erratic behavior (except for Morph shapes, which as a new feature may require some time to iron out). 5] Parity in features/plug-ins between mac and windows. I cannot express how pleased it makes me to be able get "that neat plug-in" or "use that neat feature" on my chosen platform of choice. Things that chafe my hide: 1] When is the metaball modeling going to become actually useful? Basically it's still the RayDream plug-in "blobbies" (or whatever it was called) and is just as hard to use now as it was then in RD. 2] Not having a convient way to select shading domains other than going to the menu yadda yadda yadda. Now with morph target/shapes, being able to 'call up' previously saved selections would be a big ol' timesaver! 3] Having to 'recreate the wheel' every time I create a new character. this would include walk cycles, facial morphs and such. Morph targets I can understand, but why can't one just create a skeleton and put it in the object browser? It would be oh-so good to be able to save skeletions with all the constraints, IK chains, and motions intact (e.g. a walk cycle, hand wave and such) and apply it to a "virgin" vertex model like another program that claims to have Mastered Animation :> 4] Some easier way to make bones invisible/hidden. Currently if I want to work on placement of a hand's fingers, I have to manually hide all the other bones one-by-one. It would be really, really nice to be able to hide a parent bone and have the children of that bone also become hidden. 5] In the vertex modeler, not being able to lock verexes/polys. So if I'm modeling some tricky thing around another polymesh, I can lock one and then move vertexes around in the other. Like making an eyelid wrap around an eye. Instead of relying on the smallish preview in the property tray. The top things I would like to see in upcoming version(s): Like others, would like to see some softbody dynamics/cloth. IIRC, isn't there some kinda opensource 3D thingie that will do that? That would be so cool to have as a plug-in! Hair would be a fair addition to the Carrara tool set also. Translucency and Irridence would be just peachy to have as options in the shaders. Some kind of Constraint that would 'automagically' help with Follow through in animaiton. Something that would lag behind another bone/object by a user-defined amount. And a way to vary the "strength" of a constraint. This could allow for things like making jello shake or a spring spring.

Iridescence and Translucency can be somewhat simulated using shoestring shaders. . (plug plug ;-) http://www.des-web.net/shoestring_graphics.html markd

Things I like: 1. Interface & Ease of Use 2. Spline Modeler 3. GI & it's ease of use to get good results quickly 4. New realistic sky (getting very close - but not quite there) 5. Runs on a Mac! Things I'd like to see: 1. 3D texture painting in real-time (Similar to the old Detailer/Painter 3D Apps or today's BodyPaint) 2. More rendering options for Previewing animations (faster/better preview renderers that not only show movement but texture/lights/etc... that are fairly similar to what final render will look like) 3. More features/tools to the Spline Modeler 4. Easier/better landscape creation (similar to Terragen) 5. Re-design MetaBalls (something similar to Amorphium?) where modeling would be more like molding clay. Thanks for listening! Chuck

Things I like: Price- Even with the new 'Pro' marketing versions, bang-for-the-buck is great! Shader Room- SOOOOO much depth can be had, with multiple layers of modifiers to a few colors to create a great many things without having to rely on texture maps alone. Quality of renders- Someone said it earlier: just a couple clicks and a prety picture comes out the other side. And when you need control, it's there too. (Better tutorials on how to use the advanced features would be helpful.) SDK- Thank GOD for plug-ins! Simple things ilke Replica really should be in Carrara allready. Same for Swap and some others... BUT, when you need something different, and there are people who have the ingenuity and patience and coding skills... Thank you Eric and Julien! :D Things I dislike: Metaball Room- What is this useful for? I haven't tried it in 2 versions, since others have told me it's the same... Storyboard Room- I do my best to NEVER hit this button! If I do, it brings my computer to it's knees, and my computer is NO slouch! I like the idea of it... BUT it takes forever to have it fill up the panels with veiwpoints. Things I'd like to see: Particles- They need to interact with other objects... and maybe physics as well? (Wind-blown sand/rain/snow, contrail behind jets that spreaad out to 'wind' force, etc.) Dynamics- Soft-body, cloth, hair, soft body, rigid body Animation- A graph editor for animations would be wonderful. Animation Master, Maya, Lightwave, they all have some version of this and it allows for a great way to edit cyclic things MUCH better then the 'Tweeners' can. All this said, I've tried a few others and Carrara is where I stay and put my money down. :D

The things I like the most about Carrara: 1. Price 2. Easy rendering engine setup, for great rendering results. 3. Flexible and powerful shaders. 4. Number of features at hand (trees, terrains, sky, NPR, physics, etc.) 5. Did I say Price/Features? Things I would like to see in Carrara 5: 1. All features of the program should have the same user interface and commands, this would greatly improve workflow. Examples of things that don't follow the same interface and commands are: Metaball modeler (UI), Shaders (Cut,Paste,Copy), UV mapping. 2. 3d paint tools (existing ones are very primitive) 3. Translucency and Subsurface scattering 4. Soft Body Dynamics and Fluid Dynamics 5. A way to blend textures between shading domains. Basically some kind of gradients that are applied at the border of shading domains so that the transition between shading domains is not abrupt but gradual. Thanks for soliciting input and listening.