I know some purists may hate me for saying this, but if you find the modeling room to be a bodge job in some aspects - Carrara does a completely fine job of importing. There are a number of modeling apps that are very good, and some of them also happen to be free. I recommend the ubiquitous .obj format for exporting from elsewhere and importing to Carrara. Then you use the Carrara modeler for morphs/UV/shading domains and other touch-ups. (Import to vertex mode, or convert later if you plan on tweaking from within Carrara.) Finding the right complementary software actually can make Carrara a more powerful tool and save time, so don't be afraid to look outside the box.

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Barbequed Pixels?

Your friendly neighborhood Wings3D nut.
Also feel free to browse my freebies at ShareCG.
There might be something worth downloading.