i've got an animation to do that involves a city street and small park. Carrara ver 1 came with a cd full of simple models. Since i am do for an upgrade anyway (perhaps ver 4)..i would like to know do they come with a cd full of models and if not where can i get some? (many of the 3D modeling sites sell models in maya or max..which carrara cant read)

They do include a CD still, but the models haven't changed much, (if at all.) You'll get a new copy with the upgrade.

It's basically the same set of models that came with Ray Dream -- just each catagory is about half again as big, and there are a dozen or so new catagories added. Just bought the Baument CD myself for my building needs. Unfortunately they are unmapped 3ds (I've got a bit of work to do to make them the way I like them).

For city scapes and stuff there are a lot of different ways to skin the cat too, you can use photos or backdrops and just build the geometry that you need to for the 3d effect and often times this can produce some stunningly nice renders. Also, if you get C4 or C5 you can model the stuff yourself and do some nice shader work to make them convincing without a whole lot of hassle. p.s. I think C4 reads max. (I think)

The models on the carrara 1 content CD are the same as the ones that come with Carrara 5, except that in Carrara 5 they are not on the content CD, they are part of the base install so they show up in the browser.

Message edited on: 03/09/2006 19:11

Attached Link: http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/design/all/facts/03805.htm

There are also two great book's by Taschen called 500 3D objects (volume 1 and 2) -- they include two CDs with models in the 3DS format with textures (that sometimes get a little wonky in Carrara, but for the most part work exactly right, right off the disk). They're about 30 bucks each and worth every penny. They have all sorts of public works stuff (street signs, bus shelters, etc), and a lot more. Here's a link to Taschen's site for one of the volumes: http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/design/all/facts/03805.htm Enjoy!

Vol. 1 got such a beating on Amazon. Does Vol. 2 correct the problems?