On question that I do have about Carrara: Does it have something along the lines of Maya's 'set driven key' functionality? What about proxy rigs?

Someone more knowledgeable than I will hopefully post a better answer, but I didn't immediately know what either term meant.  A quick google search of 'set driven key' makes me think (if I'm understanding it correctly) that this would be similar/same as Fenric's ERC plugin for Carrara (http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-enhanced-remote-control is the product page at daz, which has more details) Proxy rigs when I googled, I didn't really understand, looked like there were a lot of possible definitions there.  Can you share what you are trying to accomplish or what the purpose of a proxy rig is?  That might better guide an answer, everything I could find on the term made me think this should likely be something Carrara can do, but I may be completely misunderstanding what you're seeking.