A separate question, but related to the one below: Is the Carrara Bible worth the money, especially to a Carrara Studio owner? I understand that it was written about the previous version, so I'm wondering how valid it is when it comes to the new version. I'm new to Carrara and know nothing about the old version or what features may have changed in the new release. Are they very different? And is Carrara Bible just a rehash of stuff in the manual, or does it cover new ground (like answering my shading domain question, for instance)? I mean, you've got books like Real World Bryce 4, which I have found to be invaluable, and then you've got books like, well, any Poser book I've ever come across, which seem like a damn reprinting of the manual and a big waste of money. What do you think, people?

I don't know how version 1.1 is, I still haven't installed patch 1.1 because firstly my Carrara 1.01 works fine enough for me (I'm on Windows), and secondly, 1.1 needs to be executed on a fresh Carrara installation, and I don't want to do a total uninstall/reinstall now, since I'm not far away from my next salary when I'll be finally able to upgrade to both Carrara Studio boxed version (with Toon!) and Amapi. Having that said, I own the Bible and it has been of great help to me with regards to version 1.0. It's well organized into logical compact chapters and is much better than the MC manual with its neverending references, and especially better than the MC tutorial booklet which is bugged with errors. The only minor critic I could make to the Bible is that it could have had a couple of tutorials more. But it's still a great help for a Carrara user, so I would definitely recommend it, always keeping in mind that books are a subjective matter, and what I may like, you may dislike.

I agree with Orio. Its a pretty good book. Its a nice 2nd reference to have on hand. Clint

While I am still very new to Carrara, I am learning Studio 1.1. I got the "bible" while trying to understand the free download before purchasing the full version. It was a great help at that time, but I'm not so sure it is very much more useful than the new manual that comes with the boxed 1.1 studio. Both seem good to me except read below about the many things the boxed manual does out. I cannot find any reference at all about the 'shader domains' you mention here and below. For what the "bible" does have in it, I do find it useful for 1.1 studio without a lot of changes from old 1.0 - maybe the 1.1 is just less buggy??? Amazon.com has several of the books listed as 'used' which is where I got mine. It came as New with the goodies CD still sealed on the back cover. They are from $ 10 to 15$ less than new usually. For a newby it is a very good reference - for someone with experience already it might be a bit redundant. But whaddaIno? Riv

I don't think there's much difference between the old and new versions of Carrara besides a lot of debugging, but I've never used the old version, so I was just hoping someone who had could confirm this (or correct me if I'm wrong). And my main concern with the Carrara Bible is if it does indeed touch new ground and answer questions the manual doesn't. I'm no expert with Carrara, but I've studied the manual long and hard, so I'm not entirely a newbie either, I guess. Unfortunately, if it doesn't even mention shader domains, it probably doesn't answer my other questions, either. Guess I'll just have to keep bugging the experts here at the forum ;) Thanks for your input, though, everyone. And yeah, Amazon is the place to go for books, no doubt. If only my local Barnes and Noble carried more 3d books so I could check them out myself and see if they're helpful...

For me the Carrara Bible works great with 1.1, 1.1 is really pretty much the same program, it just works better. I would definately say it's worth the money.

I had Carrara since it was originally released, I bought the Bible and it has proven to be a great asset towards learning Carrara. The original Manual and Tutorials had huge mistakes and they proved to be extremely frustrating. They would omit a little curtail peace of information that would mess every thing up or stop you on your traks. The Bible makes a lot more sense and is well written. All the information in it is still very relevant to the newest version of Carrara. The only complain I have is that the CD could have some more goodies like sheders/models and stuff.