Hi, I am wondering if Carrara has the following features as it really isn't clear to me. Also, how good are some of the new features.

• I know no symmetry mode exists for modeling from scanning some of the threads. Is there a way to replicate this like in Maya maybe, where one side of the mesh can be duplicated with instancing on in -1 on the x axis - effectively ensuring dynamic symmetry?
• Is it easy to set mesh smoothing on a per object or even per polygon selection?
• Can you perform multiple render passes with full alpha channel support?
• The character tools look ok. Can you perform IK/FK blending?
• What are the UV editing tools like? Are there some easy UV editing tools to aid the workflow like in other packages? Can you relax UVs for example?
• How does the vector renderer compare to something like Swift 3d output?
• Are there any set driven key like animation tools? Or maybe a script editor where you can push the animation?
• Can particles enable self collision?

Sorry for the long list of questions, however, I see a very capable application here for a fantastic price and I am just wondering how advanced the feature are as I consider a purchase.

I can answer a couple of these: First I'll mention you can download a demo of Carrara from http://www.eovia.com/resources/download.asp 1. You could simulate symmetry the way you describe it, but it's not ideal because you always have to go into a separate modeling "room" to edit the master object. So you can't edit the master and see the instance update right next to it in real time. The lack of adequate symmetrical modeling is one of the great mysteries of Carrara. Digital Carvers' Guild http://digitalcarversguild.com offers a $30 plugin called Project Gemini that fills this void (although I haven't used it). Nearly every Carrara user has at least one Digital Carvers' Guild plugin - they're indispensible. The ShaderStyle bundle on Eovia's web site is all Digital Carvers' Guild pludins. But Project Gemini is not among them, so I digress. 2. You can set up mesh smoothing on a per-object basis. You can turn off smoothing for a polygon by creasing its edges, but you can't vary the amount of smoothing from one polygon to the next in a single mesh. In Carrara 5 you can specify a moderate level of smoothing in the modeler and higher-resolution smoothing for the renderer, which effectively makes the workspace much faster than it was in Carrara 4. This makes me happy. 3. Yes, you can perform multiple render passes, and in addition to alpha channels you can generate other "Gbuffers": Fragment Color (RPF) Fragment Distance Fragment Coverage (RPF) Object Index Surface Coordinates (UV) Normal Vector 3D Position I admit I don't know what most of these mean. But you can render all at once into a multichannel PSD image and compare them. 4. I'll skip this question 5. This too 6. Carrara's vector output requires a $99 / 99 Euro plugin (VectorStyle, http://www.eovia.com/products/carrara_addons/vectorstyle.asp ). I can't say how the results compare to Swift 3D's in terms of efficiency, but they look just as good to me, and more importantly Carrara is a really nice modeler, while Swift 3D is the worst modeler you can buy at any price. 7. Not sure what set-driven means; No scripting. 8. Particles can collide with objects; not sure about each other (someone else can pick up this question). -Joe

Wow, thanks very much for the rapid response to some of my questions. If anyone can answer the others please let me know. I have to admit that Carrara is looking a very attractive option. I still have some concerns though as outlined in my questions, essential workflow for modeling is symmetry. What about Subdivision surfaces? I know Carrara has them, but are they easy to use / can you turn them on and off for example?

yes you can turn on and off sub-d's. as a relative newbie to 3d modeling, discovering sub-d's and how powerful they are in carrara 5 was a huge boost to my (somewhat limited) productivity in my newly discovered 3d realm. I often turn them on and off many times while working to see how the underlying mesh is shaping up as well as applying different levels of smoothing to see what settings look better.

Shilts, Yes , you can turn on and off sub-d very easily . With regards to symmetrical modeling , carrara can do this fine and I don't see why some people complain about this. You can see the updates in real time to the opposite side of the model.Here is how you do it. - Start to model one half of your object. - In the assembly room click your object and Duplicate with symmetry in appropriate axis. - place this duplicated object in relation to your other half of your model. - Now double click one of the objects - make sure you click "edit the master" object . Now every change you make to your model is reflected in real time on the other side. You can see this in the scene preview window .Almost everything I have modeled was done in Carrara using this method. Mike

Thanks for the reply Mike, that seems to be a bit like what you do in Maya. Sounds like quite a few people don't know about this technique?

I have mentioned this method several times . I forgot to mention in my previous post that you have to weld the 2 halves together once you are done modeling. There is also a plugin "gemini" would help out with symmetrical modeling. Mike

I haven't used Carrara since I bought 1.0 the week before Metacreations went wacko... But I remember this symmetry being in the version they shipped me then, and I was very suprised in reading this forums to find it was now 'gone'. So its good to know that does not appear to be true. My copy of Carrara 5 (regular) arrived in the mail Friday, and I hope to have some "this isn't Vue" posts up in my gallery soon. From there I wil (attempt to) learn modelling, but first I want to see if I can match what I've been doing in Vue with this new thing.

Welcome back to the Carrara group, arcady. I remember you from back in the day. (I was AzChip then, I moved to San Francisco, hence the name change....) I am remembering that I read somewhere that Inverse and Forward Kinematics both are possible in Carrara, but I haven't used them, so I can't say so for sure. I've also not played much with the UV mapper in C5 -- but I found it to be effective, if not terribly flexible in C4. There will be some funky "why can't this do that" kind of moments with any software, and Carrara is no exception. Particularly since it's coming at the 3D world from its more-or-less hobbyist roots of RayDream. That said, I've been using Carrara for professional broadcast work and for an independent Science Fiction film now, for years, and have been pleased as punch with its capacities.

Thanks sfdex. Well, I have downloaded the demo and am working my way through it bit by bit. There are certain nice little workflow helpers that I am noticing, such as the Universal manipulator and the simple (but now almost standard) Alt + Mouse navigation. Overall, it is feeling quite comfortable overall. Rendering feature set looks really impressive, but I haven't tested much yet. Seem to be certain things missing though: 1) UV editor looks way underpowered (though admittedly this is early days and I haven't had time to explore it fully). Can anyone tell me any different on this? 2) OpenGL performance is not as quick with high res mesh as other apps. Is there something I am missing here? 3) Dynamics look cool, but I haven't used them much yet. Are they easy to use? 4) Are there any edge creasing / subD weighting capabilities? Thanks everyone for your responses so far. I must say that Carrara is a real discovery for me. It is surprisingly competent for such a price - I am intrigued with it. I may have some more questions though soon :)

1.) I feel this is true. Are there tricks it can do I am not aware of, probably because I am new to Carrara. 2. OpenGL could be better, however, I am betting a patch with bug fixes will help improve this.Actually DAZ Studio has an awesome opengl preview. 3.Physics? There are some things missing here, but depends on what you compare it to.(fur, hair, cloth)these are things that can give you trouble.They are not difficult to use tho. Someone who has used physics more can comment further. 4.yes and weight painting(pro)

Thanks ren_mem. Are there any solutions out there for hair, fur and cloth? I know Poser can do these things on a small level. I am wondering about Carrara inbuilt solutions via plugins? A lot of my comparisons for Carrara are coming from C4D and Maya. C4D seems to be equally easy to use - but I just cannot afford the XL bundle at the moment. C4D also seems a lot more powerful than Carrara, but again the price probably reflects that. I use C4D in work and love it's workflow. Carrara seems to have some shortcomings in comparison, but it's price is really tempting me to use at home.

There's a great fur (and much more) plug available from Digital Carvers Guild (www.digitalcarversguild.com) called Anything Grows. It can be used for fur, hair, object distribution and all sorts of cool things. I'd definitely check that out if you're needing fur. As for cloth, Carrara doesn't do much with it, but it will import the dynamic cloth from Poser -- with the Transposer 2 plug from Eovia (that's included with C5 Pro).

You have to do a demo with Agrows. Anything grows is nice, however, it's not the same from my experience as the dynamics in the packages mentioned.You can make static fur(or animate), but it won't react properly. The particle system has been improved and allows for some nice affects. For clothing and hair dynamics most use poser as stated, however, Blender, which is free just got some very interesting dynamics that are worth a look also.There has been success importing these. I would expect C6 to see improvements here.Carrara also has good file support as well as great rendering.Carrara is just a little quirky in the workflow area, but it's not a big issue.