PC version of Carrara 1.1 is dropping some of my shaders! Everything looks fine but when I open a file some of my shaders are simply gone, they don't appear in the master shaders tray and the objects are grey. Esp troublesome are my shaders that use reference shaders. I have all my shaders saved of course, but having to remember what went where is a pain, esp for complex shaders.

Ok, ok, ok if I save all textures internally it works. What I don't understand is why before (I think I was using the defaul "Use local settings" in the save dialog") that it would save some but not others? And what does "Use local settings" mean? I understand external, I understand internal, but local? At first I thought perhaps it refered to some setting in Preferences, but I find none. Does "local settings" refer to "last used" or what? I'm am throughly confused.

Local settings means use what you pick in each individual Texture shader. So one Texture shader you might pick internal, another external. Local settings allow that to work. Save all internally or Save all externally override the "local" settings of each Texture shader. Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild Freeware and commercial 3D extensions http://digitalcarversguild.com

Wow, that's really cool, but how do you set the options per shader? I can't find a way to do so. Thanks

When you use a Texture shader (actually when you use a texture map anywhere in Carrara: backdrop, gel, shader), there is a save option down at the bottom for External or Internal. External is nice when you want to keep your CAR file small or want the ability to update the texture file and everything gets the change. Internal is nice when you want to package the whole thing up and send it to your buddy with the quad Xeon render monster. Not sure why you would ever mix and match. Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild Freeware and commercial 3D extensions http://digitalcarversguild.com

Right! Ok, thanks.