Hi all, Antoine Clappier from Eovia has posted this message on Yahoo groups : --------------- Dear Dreamers, So it is June 1st (actually the 2nd since it is 2:12AM) and there is no Carrara available! The good news is that I have in my hand the first Carrara Golden Master still warm from the CD burner. I can tell you it is a special moment for the team: Carrara is back and this time it is ours! After a weekend of final testing, the CDs will be duplicated, boxes printed, built, shrink-wrapped and then shipped. Unless we run in a problem at the last minute, all of this should take a little more than two weeks. It is now time for the Carrara Team to go get some sleep! I will keep you updated on our progress. Antoine Clappier ~~~~~~~~~~~ President & CEO Eovia Corporation http://www.eovia.com --------------- So we'll soon be able to buy Carrara ... I personnaly did a long time ago ;) litst

Litst, You beat me to it. I was going to post Antoine's message when I saw your post. I assume he is talking about the patched & repackaged (Eovia) Carrara 1 and not Carrara 2? The timing on this is great. I'm leaving for a 3 week vacation in the mountains of Colorado and when I get back I'll have the patch. Keith

So this means a patch for current owners right? Or is this just the Eovia rebranded edition? Please let there be a patch!!! Jared

Well, not to disillusion people, it's my experience that no one has ever created a Gold Master just for a patch. The one and only Carrara patch was 835Kb - hardly worth the expense of a Gold Master. So, indirectly we know where Eovia's efforts have been directed - a new version of Carrara. The post does not indicate if this is version 1 or 2 - pardon me if I'm not optimistic, but I suspect it's version 2. Antoine's line: "Carrara is back and this time it is ours!" maybe happy news to people who never had Carrara. But as far as I'm concerned, the version of Carrara that I have, has never 'left' and it's 'mine' and already paid for. Eventually, I'll find a suitable modeling program (not Carrara 2 or Amapi) and Carrara will be gone from my hard drive. Antoine also says: "It is now time for the Carrara Team to go get some sleep!" and most likely well deserved! Except for those of us who are still waiting for a patch - are.... well... still waiting for a patch! By my rough calculation, it's been 18 months since Carrara was released, and I'm still waiting for a patch. Even the Energizer Bunny would be running low on optimism.

Just like I suspected all along. No new patch? Why would I buy Carrara 2 when I still can't get Carrara 1 to work right? All my bitching and complaining was not in vain, Just out of curiosity, how much is the Carrara 2 upgrade going to cost for registered Carrara 1 users???? If it's not super cheap, I'm not even going to consider it, as I suspect many others won't be either. How come I still don't feel any better about the state of Carrara? Gee,I can buy a new version of a program that doesn't even work? What a deal. WE ARE STILL NOT SATISFIED MR.CLAPPIER! YOU PROMISED US A PATCH A LONG TIME AGO, WHERE IS IT?

That's right, we don't know yet what version of Carrara Eovia will release . Their projects were to release a rebranded version of Carrara 1 (without the bugs ) before they work on version 2 . Have they change their mind ? Nothing makes me suppose so ... Technically, a patch could change our old version into a new version, so the release of a new version of Carrara doesn't mean we won't get the patch ! I guess Eovia will communicate about their plans soon, so we'll get more information than in Antoine Clappier's post . The next step : the press release ? litst

I had a feeling when I first saw this post that there were going to be a lot of upset people! I'm one of them too! When Eovia purchased Carrara from Metacreations they took over their customer base and therefore the obligations that come along with it. I personally believe that Eovia's upmost priority should remain with it's current dissatisfied customers! However, they obviously see things differently that I do. I too have grown very tired of hoping day in and day out for a patch to this INCREDIBLY buggy program...I have seen way too many websites with "work arounds" for the bugs, but you shouldn't have to have work arounds! A program shouldn't leave the coder's computer until it is virtually bug free! Sure there are generally minor bug fixes out there for all programs, but the amount of critical bugs in Carrara is enormous! I believe that I too will look for other avenues to release my creative needs...I have already purchased 3DS Max 4, and while it is MUCH more expensive than Carrara, the money that it saves me from buying Tylenol or Acetaminophen will soon make up for it. Jared

I still think they will make good on their "free" bug-fix regardless if it's version 1.1 or version 2 from a gold master. They must! Their only form of advertising is by good press. That means they must get a new, working version released to be reviewed by magazines & expos first for free exposure. Then, they must take care of it's current user base and their good will. Without any of these things (free press, working product & happy customers) they will have nothing to sell. They don't flood the market with ads in magazines & direct mail like MC did so this is their only option.

We all like to get paid, It is a fact of life in our society, that we need to make money to survive, and the crew at Eovia is no exception. There first priority is to get Carrara out in the market so they can get a return investment on the money already invested in there business. Metacretions decided to stop developing consumer level software, so they didn't give a rats ass what happened to there customers since we no longer are there customers, but Eovia would make a big mistake by not delivering the patch, because we are still there customers. If they don't have a patch soon, It could potentially piss off a lot more of there already sold customers, and we are there loyal customers that would potentially buy Carrara 2.0 if we though it was worth it. Hell we already know the program. If Eovia does not fix what Metacretions didn't, then how is it expecting to make any money selling Carrara 2.0, it would be like trying to sell a 1.0 package with no legacy, to new customers and potentially losing all there old experienced, faithful customers. The more I think about it the more I realize that they were probably fixing the Carrara 1.0 code, so that they could build Carrara 2.0 on top of it. Now the real question is if Eovia is willing to gamble on not releasing the patch and jumping to Carrara 2.0 and try to extort money for a product that was initially released in beta form? I think it is a risk they can't afford. What make me nervous is the lack of communication Eovia as had with us. If it is already developed then just come out with all the news and be done with it, whatever they do in two more weeks, (Carrara 1.X fixed and a patch or simply Carrara 2.0 and we have been swindled with 1.0) would not make a difference either way on the final out come if we have the info now instead of in two weeks.

This is the debugged version of carrara that Antoine is talking about.Antoine posted to the egroups list that he would release a debugged version of carrara (for free to registered Carrara users) before the Carrara V 2 comes out.This is just a rebranded , bug fixed version of Carrara.So a patch should be on their website soon. Regards Mike Moir

I am as certain as I can be that Eovaries will will be releasing Carrara 1.0.1b in two weeks. This is Carrara FIXED and NOT Carrara 2. I am not sure what people are expecting from all of this. I personally just want to put it through the paces of things which didn't work and verify that they now DO work. It is rebranded and supposedly fixed. This means that when you boot up the "2nd patched" version it will no longer have that Metacreations logos, links etc anywhere within it. This doesn't mean that you are going to find yourself with this really neat new tool, chamfer, bevels, bones, caustics etc etc etc... It simply means you "might" get what you paid for nearly 2 years ago. I would have to guess that this will be available as a DL from their "never updated site" in 2 weeks. In the meantime... back to max.

I know they need to make money. But we've been ripped off, buying the original Carrara which was NEVER production-ready, dies constantly, and has dozens of major bugs and missing functions that are advertised in the manual but do not work in the program. Eovia owes a HUGE discount (say 75% at least) on Carrara 2.0 to any of us current owners. They wouldn't have a business at all if it weren't for us suckers who provided the original money...

75%? More like a 95% discount needs to be offered to current Carrara users! But I doubt that'll happen, they'll probobly give us a coupon for $5.00 off! They still can't be honest and face the facts, and tell what we're in for as far as a patch, or the upgrade price. They have no idea what they are up agaist when it comes to dealing with all of us old Carrara users(we're a feisty bunch, aren't we?) and with good reason, we've been pissed on by MetaFu#*ations, and jacked around by Eovia teasing us with a patch. They must think we were all born yesterday. Let's hear some more!!

I believe that most of the people here wouldn't be NEAR as angry with Eovia if they would have just told us straight up when the patch was going to come out! Honesty is the best policy after all! But teasing us with 1.0.1 and then not releasing another patch until who knows when, just isn't very nice! Especially since they said that the patch would be out a couple of days ago! I'm glad that Eovia does have a new version of carrara out, wether it's 1.x or 2.0, this at least means that they are going to continue to work with the software and that it hasn't "died" quite yet. I just wish my version would quit crashing when I do a simple Boolean or other basic modeling procedures!!! Oh well, the patch should be out soon now that they have the "Gold Master", hopefully Eovia's idea of soon and everybody else's are somewhat the same...my personal idea of "soon" was about 4 months ago though! Jared

Well, I may be in the minority, but I've been patiently awaiting the new, fixed, whatever Carrara, and hoping for some desperately needed bug fixes. Being a long time user of RayDream 4.1 and 5, I had waited for awhile before getting Carrara, and was rewarding myself with purchasing it, only to find out that literally the day after I purchased it (and spent all night oohing and ahhing), that Meta had split up, essentially skipped town, and Carrara was floatin' (and Carrara owners) in the breeze with an expensive and obviously flawed program. It took a while, but when Eovia actually took CONTROL of the future of Carrara, I knew it wouldn't be an overnight fix. The Mac Version (I have a G$/500, so I have plenty of machine to work with) has some horrible bugs, which are a major downside to otherwise beautiful software. I know all too well of crashing out when trying some complex operations, or trying to do some complex textures in the shader editor. Well, that and having problems even saving stuff..... grrrrrr..... I know there are a lot of you who feel like we got shafted, and yeah, it sure seems like Eovia was dragging its heels. But I have learned to think about this like DIA (I live in Denver) - it took MUCH longer than anticipated to get it finished, and even then there were still some bugs to sort out, but it was a lot better than leaving it where it was when it was first produced. Well, that, and I'm looking forward to the download. I never got a chance to even register my software in the first place! BTW: does anybody know if it's been optimized for the G4? Sure hope so. Nancy

ncloos, I live in Denver too, your right about DIA, but just wait for TREX to begin, I-25 will be a nightmare, the people that run this city need help, by the way don't come to Colorado, we're full!WELCOME TO BEATIFUL SUNNY COLORADO! NOW GO HOME! I hope they make a patch, but we may be in for a new Carrara 2.0 or whatever number they give it. They still won't say if we actually get a new patch, I don't want to have to spend a dime, unless version 2.0 is so amazing I just gotta have it. I just hope we get a patch, or a 95% discount on the upgrade.

Well, please keep in mind, Carrara was launched just prior to Metacreation's demise. I thinkn they pushed it before it was ready, because they had already put 90% of the work into it, and they hoped that a company could swoop in and finish the debugging. Incredibly fortuante, eovia picked it up. Don't knock eovia to much, they DID choose to try taking a program that wasnt their's, to have and to hold, and debug. Remember, they werent as familiar with Carrara's source code as the fired MC employees were, so they had to learn the code from scratch. eovia was very cool to buy a fatally flawed program, but with much promise. Remember, though some of you could just turn to 3DS or Rhino, Mac users like moi are stuck with C, Bryce, LW, or Maya, and LW/Maya are a little expensive and complex for mid-level modellers like me. So dont knock our savior down too much (-: Nebula Supernova Studios

In fact, Eovia's main team is composed by the creators of Carrara, Nebula . If you look at the credits in Carrara by clicking on the "M" icon at the top left of the screen , you'll see the names of Antoine Clappier (CEO of Eovia) and Charles Brissard (who is in charge of the programming now, from what i've understood ) . Some others ( like Philip Staiger ) come from TGS . So, they were fired by Metacretins and they know the software better than everyone else ! Carrara is in good hands :) There are cheap alternatives to Carrara : Animation:Master by Hash, Blender (free), Realsoft 3D ... But no software package have both the ease of use of Carrara and its features . litst

Nebula There is also Cinma4DXL for the MAC which is optimized for dual processors and altivec, the render times look impressive on a G4. Also, don't overlook the free version 3.6 of Pixels3D which is a very powerful program that has nurbs, sculpting, animation, transparency export for 3dmf, animation, particles, shaders akin to Carrara etc, etc. Get it here: http://www.pixels.net/newweb2/support/downloads.html