Greetings every one. Since i'm an amateur apassionate in the world of 3d, I Wonder if you could answer me wich 3d program is the best, Carrara or 3ds max?

These two programs are really different, but not having tried any new cararra, well I have only tried ray dream and dream3d ( corel 8 suite ) your answer would be Max.

MAX has more toys, but if your willing to spend big bucks get LightWave or XSI, more bang for the buck...

Really though, your best bet is to try demo copies of the various 3D programs and see which one suits your "style" the best... having a wiz-bang 3d program is meaningless if you don't like/have trouble using it...

Agreed with the above ... Max is definitely better than Carrara, but it's also probably ten times the price. The upgrades alone are somewhere in the vicinity of $800 a year .. more if you skip versions. I also agree that LightWave has more bang for the buck ... have also heard great things about XSI.

Not to devalue the contribution Carrarra has made to the world of 3D, but MAX is behind an enormous amount of what you see out there, particularly in gaming. It's got a ridiculously steep learning curve, but is well worth it once you know it, and I've seesn an awful lot of job offers, mostly from game designers, for people who know MAX. Can't say I've seen any specifically for people who know Carrarra. Better? Subjective. More respected? By far, Max. However, I agree with the above about LightWave. IMO, better and easier than MAX, and probably just as powerful, if not as popular.

Thank's you all. So max it is.

I'm a hardcore MAX user, and love it, but I also have immense respect for Lightwave, and it would be my second choice of programs were MAX not in the mix and had I not already invested years in learning it, a constant struggle. I would definitely suggest Lightwave as the best choice for a high end program for the beginner.

There is actually another factor that has only been touched on briefly ... There are actually quite a few excellent modeling programs out there. If you are a hobbiest and want to remain a hobbiest, then you might want to try something free like Wings (which seems to be very popular). $3500 to $4000 (which Max costs) is an awful lot of money to invest for a hobby. A lot of Poser content creators seem to like LightWave, and I am among them. You don't have to deal with scaling things up and down; LightWave is able to import Poser figures in correct position and scale. Max doesn't like Poser's minute scale, so you have to scale it up. If you are someone who is looking to learn 3D software with the intention of it becoming a profession, then you'll have to do more research in the area you want to get into. For example, a lot of game developers use Max, but there are others who prefer Maya or SoftImage. My feeling is that if you're looking to move into a specific area, it would be worth the time and investment to learn the software that is predominant in that niche area.

and as always, before making a final decision, use the free trial versions of the apps, find the one that suits you. if may fits you better than any other, then use it, you can use your preffered tool for game development, specially for animation sequences, as it's the rendered animation that is going to be used, not the mesh. if it's to create the meshes for game models, most of the apps will export into most formats, so again, the specifc tool used isn't as important as how well you do the work. spending a few thousand to get an app, then finding that it's entire method of operations would be a waste of money, as if you work better with a lower priced app you only have to buy it.