http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/58113/

quote from thread . Feel free to input your data there if you can :)

Hya,

With the recent addition of Genesis 3, which by all reports, will not work in Carrara, it seems like Daz has lost even more interest in Carrara users. This is reflected in the last two polls they have sent out which I believe did not have Carrara listed as a choice in ‘the ‘what software do you use’ question.

Could that be because they feel we don’t buy enough content.?

** Yet I am a Carrara user and have 56 pages in my product library!**

So my questions to you:

1. How many pages do you have in your product library?

2. What is the primary software that you use with these products?

3. Would you buy Genesis 3 products if they worked in your primary software?.

Hopefully some one intelligent from Daz will sit up and listen.

my answers:

1. 56
2. Carrara
3. Yes

Thanks Headwax for this thread. Here are my answers:

1. 28

2. Carrara. I am trying my lucks with C4D too, but it's too hard to learn for the limited time that I have.

3. No

But let me give some statistics about my purchases from Daz and from Renderosity, broken down by year. I will not disclose the dollar figures, only the number of purchases made every year from 2007. Also please note that these are the number of purchases, not the number of items purchased, because there could be many items in one purchase.

Year Daz RO 2007 5 None 2008 19 None 2009 33 None 2010 17 None 2011 10 None 2012 81 1 2013 124 40 2014 8 38 2015 12 19

And, one more statistic: Total of Genesis or Genesis related items purchased so far: 0

As you see, my purchases from Daz are going down, while my purchases from RO are going up. Reasons for this:

1. A lot more interesting items at RO than Daz.

2. Items in Daz store are more and more 'Studio only'. Even non-Genesis items, like props, are not guaranteed to work in Poser or Carrara.

3. RO's store is way better organized.

4. RO's sales are no 'string attached' but Daz's are. When an item is on sale at RO, it's on sale, period. When an item is on sale at Daz, it's only if you buy another item at full price. Sometimes Daz's sales become so confusing that I just give-up trying to understand how it works. It's more like a Jeopardy game.

5. RO sales dates are clearly stated for each item, Daz's aren't.

To Daz credit though:

1. Searches in Daz store work a lot better than in RO's.

2. 'Related items' are easier to find in Daz store than in RO's

But, everything considered, I am mostly a customer that Daz is about to lose, while RO is getting most of my dollar purchases.

Just missed you in point 1, headwax ;-)

1. 55  (btw RO is 224 items)

2. Carrara (what else?)

3. Maybe....

Thanks to both of you for replying :) ! It's an interesting time for carrara, I think it's stand up and be counted or go the way of such greats as truer pace in the end . Still , carrara will always be there, as long as it works in the latest Microsoft windows version ( or mac version) ! 

Read  that as true space ! 

Genesis and G2 support for Carrara took its time too. Maybe we will see an new version 'soon'.

I perhaps will disappoint some of you, but I always remain with my older characters and some stuffs which I accumulated a long time ago…
The only things which I look at now, they are the free stuffs and I build the maximum in Carrara and Marvelous Designer.
I'm not interested at all by these Genesis, for the moment in any case, because series 3 and 4 work very well for the style of animations which I carry out.
If I were a fan of synthetic pinups, perhaps that would interest me but it's not the case (I said “synthesic”, not the real ones !).
For me, Carrara + Poser + MD, it's the best association, DS is deleted from my computer.

Told ya.

How long have I said DAZ doesn't give a rat's ass about C or it's users? That's why Carrara went to shit, because DAZ just didn't care enough to keep it relevent.

Would you believe me if I told you the programmers are as frustrated as the users? 

I'm sure that it's the case, but certainly not for the “Great Thinkers” of DAZ…

Went over and added my voice at DAZ.

I gave up totally on DAZ last year after not being able to figure out the cost to me of anything in the store. It does feel like "spin the wheel" on pricing. I have almost forgotten about DAZ altogether.

1. 50

2. Carrara

3. yes

MarkBremmer posted at 8:29AM Wed, 24 June 2015:

Would you believe me if I told you the programmers are as frustrated as the users?

The DAZ programmers?

Are you saying that you have actually been able to communicate with the reclusive DAZ programmers?

Do you have to meet in a dark corner of a parking garage, wearing disguises?

I can't remember the last time that I saw an actual post from one of their developers in the DAZ forum (if ever). And the few times that I was actually able to communicate directly with one was in the now discontinued bug tracker.

An interesting aside about the bug tracker; Almost every time that I had a successful exchange with a DAZ developer that resulted in the actual resolution of a bug, that developer would mysteriously vanish from the bug tracker's users list, their user name being replaced with "user#00027" or some such thing. It was as if they were being punished for having worked directly with a customer to solve a problem. Now, I don't know if they were fired, quit, or given a pair of cement overshoes, but I never saw them again.

Well, that problem is a thing of the past now, with the discontinuation of the bug tracker. Which I believe was done, at least in part, to prevent the developers from speaking directly with customers.

The business which is DAZ is such a black-box that any discussion of their intentions is pure conjecture. And those who actually know someone on the inside who is willing to talk, is probably sworn to secrecy least more heads roll from the DAZ compound.

At any rate, for what its worth, I added my usage to the DAZ Carrara thread.

 ...  carrara will always be there, as long as it works in the latest Microsoft windows version ( or mac version) ! 

Even after that, I plan to keep an older machine to run Carrara, as I do now for Adobe PageMaker in WinXP.   Here are my answers fro the DAZ forum:

1. 47
2. Carrara
3. Probably not.  I’m interested in creating short animations, and the content collection I have - from DAZ, and many other websites that continue to bring out new items that are Carrara compatible - is more than adequate.  My experience with DS, Genesis, DUF files, etc., has been very poor.

 I find I've spent far, far more money at Rendo than I have at Daz.  I'm not sure how I can view how many items I've purchased but I have 191 orders and most of the time I tend to purchase 5 - 10 items per order.

They have good content here at Rendo for M4/V4, which is still my main goto figure, and the sales here are decent too (and I can understand the sales here, as opposed to Daz, where I need a tax attorney and an astrologer to figure out how many of X I have to purchase before I get Y number of 'special points' to apply to my super-duper punchcard and while hopping on one foot on the 2nd Tuesday if I add it to the cart just right... etc etc etc)

 thanks for replying everyone. :) I see a lot of stuff in the store that I would like to buy, but I don't because I'm not sure that it will work seamlessly in Carrara and I don't really have the time to try it out, and I am sure that situation will get worse in the future , guess we are all saving a lot of money !

 ...  carrara will always be there, as long as it works in the latest Microsoft windows version ( or mac version) ! 

Even after that, I plan to keep an older machine to run Carrara, as I do now for Adobe PageMaker in WinXP.   Here are my answers fro the DAZ forum:

1. 47
2. Carrara
3. Probably not.  I’m interested in creating short animations, and the content collection I have - from DAZ, and many other websites that continue to bring out new items that are Carrara compatible - is more than adequate.  My experience with DS, Genesis, DUF files, etc., has been very poor.

 

great idea, problem is my computers crash and burn after a few years because I buy high powered ones from a cheap supplier :( 

1.  52 pages

2.  Studio 4.8 (still learning my way around Carrara

3.  No.

 ...  carrara will always be there, as long as it works in the latest Microsoft windows version ( or mac version) ! 

Even after that, I plan to keep an older machine to run Carrara, as I do now for Adobe PageMaker in WinXP.   great idea, problem is my computers crash and burn after a few years because I buy high powered ones from a cheap supplier :( 

Long ago I bought Dell desktops, but I think their quality has fallen off.  Now I buy Toshiba laptops, and have desktops built by a one man shop here in Houston, all Core i7.  He uses top quality components and of course is available to fix the machine.  And he can fix the laptops, also.  Both have dual hard drives (altho I think Toshiba no longer offers that), with "Casper" backup software that creates a bootable copy of the working hard drive.  Carrara runs fine on both under Win7, so hopefully I can run for a good long while regardless of what MS and/or DAZ do.  And yes, I realize I should not make statements like that ... 

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/58113/

1. How many pages do you have in your product library?

104 Pgs

1. What is the primary software that you use with these products?

Carrara 7Pro

1. Would you buy Genesis 3 products if they worked in your primary software?.

YES

 thanks tsarist :)

Would you believe me if I told you the programmers are as frustrated as the users? 

I very much would believe you. Wouldn't be any less disappointed, though, because the end result is the same. The only real surprise to me, given its development progress, is "programmers" — plural.

I have been visiting Rendo, DNA & Hivewire a lot more this year than previously even posting more in these forums..

I have only bought 5 items from DAZ this year & they were props or PS brushes and even more recently the desire to visit DAZ is dwindling...

I find their discrimination and dictatorship is over the top and a real put off and the recent interest here by Rendo in Carrara is a welcome breath of fresh air.

If Rendo & Hivewire keep playing their cards right they will aquire a lot more Carrara users in the near future I would imagine.

as the saying goes look after your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.. DAZ has lost quite a few pennies over the past few years.

Thanks Mark B for your continuing interest in Carrara here at Rendo :-)

@ Territan: 

I agree with you. The Carrara dev team consists of only one (part-time?) programmer. He/she 'appears' to be an entry-level kid who is getting on-the-job training.

It won't be long before even this junior developer will call it quit, because nobody wants to waste his/her career on a dilapidated piece of code like Carrara.

So we can all pretty much consider Carrara as dead, just as dead as Bryce and Hexagon.

I have been visiting Rendo, DNA  ... a lot more this year than previously even posting more in these forums ...  the recent interest here by Rendo in Carrara is a welcome breath of fresh air.  ... they will aquire a lot more Carrara users in the near future I would imagine. ... Thanks Mark B for your continuing interest in Carrara here at Rendo :-)

I agree.  DAZ's decision regarding Carrara and even Poser format content is pushing people away, myself included.  Even worse, they seem to feel no need to explain anything to their longtime customers.  E.g. they asked for a paid update to Carrara V.8, then also for 8.5, having never delivered the updated documentation promised since V.7.  I complained ... a lot ... and all I accomplished (besides a lot of nasty comments from DAZ' defenders) was getting them to change the Carrara documentation page from "Coming soon!" (which it showed for several years) to "TBD".  What did DAZ offer to make up for the promised product that was never delivered?  Nada.  So now I am "Poser format" only (and Carrara of course), not "DSON Importer" or "DUF", all of which seem to cause problems in Carrara.  Or whatever they come up with next.  And that means moving over to Rendo, etc. 

@ Territan: 

I agree with you. The Carrara dev team consists of only one (part-time?) programmer. He/she 'appears' to be an entry-level kid who is getting on-the-job training.

It won't be long before even this junior developer will call it quit, because nobody wants to waste his/her career on a dilapidated piece of code like Carrara.

So we can all pretty much consider Carrara as dead, just as dead as Bryce and Hexagon.

-We must add tools and opportunities to vertex modeler? -No, we do not use it
-We don't asking about metaball and spline modeler, you do not use it right? -Yes
-Want dvanced shader, we need to do a full SSS? -No, we simply use the texture
-You need atmospheric effects? -No, it will slow rendering speed
-Perhaps you want to get a quick physic and cloth simulation engine, or a ragdoll? -No, no, no, we do not need all of this, we want Genesis3!
-Then your choice of DAZ Studio

I use Carrara since version 1, before I saw a very cool work to do in Carrara, I have seen the level of skill that was not achievable then for me, maybe you've seen a picture of a robot or animation with Lara Croft, this work made a reputation for Carrara motivated to explore opportunities, that we see now, that we can see in the gallery. I'm sorry but it is not DAZ killed Carrara, it made passive Genesis3 users.

I don't understand why DAZ can not find a few people who will make a few high-quality pictires that will attract new enthusiast and bring back old users. I do not need Genesis 3 or 303 , I need the Evolution and Progress of the Carrara, handy modeling, easy texturing, advanced shader, etc, because it is Carrara not DAZ Stusio. 

I haven't nor will I be buying anything from Daz for the foreseeable future, they want to say FU to long term customers, well I can say FU to them, I have enough stuff I can use even if it is V4/M4.

If Daz want to use Genesis 3 which can only be used in DS (at this time, without issues) to monopolize the market for themselves that is up to them, doesn't mean I will help support them while they do it

It's simple really. If a sector is no longer bringing in revenue, EG Carrara, DSON Poser support, must a company continue to support it and focus their energy there? Does it make sense to support a sector that is not financially viable anymore? No it doesn't. These days you have to be very careful where you place your time and resources. What worked in the past doesn't always work today. Peoples interests and usage needs changes. Daz's focus is Studio and the Genesis platform because that is where the bulk of their revenue is coming from. Don't like that? Then continue using whatever makes you happy. A company is not going to change their business plan just to cater for your preference and lose money doing so. 

Carra isn't a small community, and they could easily sell it to someone who does what to support it. People just dont buy content to use in Poser or Daz

And when Carrara content is sold in the store next to nobody buys it. So again, why spend time developing for it? Yes there are a few passionate and dedicated content creators that do it for the love. For others who need a viable income, they will choose to go elsewhere. If Carrara was really a huge community, don't you think there would be more content developers creating content for it? Most developers go where the money is, regardless of loyalty, or passion. Those things do not pay the bills unfortunately. Carrara is a fantastic app. But it was bought under the old Daz management and the current one is stuck with it. Should they sell it off? Maybe, but who would be willing to buy it and want to start from scratch building a market when it's ship has sailed?

Carrara content isn't bought? I buy near all content, so this BS from Daz that Carrara ppl don't buy stuff is crap, if Daz wont support Carrara then obviously ppl wont make for it, so its a circular argument, if Daz has no desire to support Carrara it should just come out and say it.

You buy content. Good for you and your support. But are you the entire market? One customer is not a reflection of the entire sales trend. Companies have to look at larger revenue figures and not individuals. If that number as a whole is not reaching it's targets, well then it's not reaching it's targets. It is understandable people get angry. Hell I was a HUGE Sega fan and bought a Dreamcast and bought nearly every game that was available. But Guess what, sales overall was low and the game system was discontinued. Shit happens.

Did i say I was the entire market? No, but there are a lot out there like me, they may not be vocal but they are there, if Daz wants to go DS only they should have the guts to tell people so they can decide what to do and move on if they want to, Daz has never been the most forth coming and they wonder why people speculate about their motives

Why should they have to explain themselves or say what they are doing? They used to do that in the past and people just constantly bitched and moaned. Perfect example, just look how people respond in the forums. It is why they do not make their decisions public anymore. They do what they feel is the right business decision in taking the company forward. Don't like that decision, then you don't have to show support. But always remember, there are plenty of new users who will like the new direction and support them.

 

 

 

 

It's simple really. If a sector is no longer bringing in revenue, EG Carrara, DSON Poser support, must a company continue to support it and focus their energy there? Does it make sense to support a sector that is not financially viable anymore? No it doesn't. These days you have to be very careful where you place your time and resources. What worked in the past doesn't always work today. Peoples interests and usage needs changes. Daz's focus is Studio and the Genesis platform because that is where the bulk of their revenue is coming from. Don't like that? Then continue using whatever makes you happy. A company is not going to change their business plan just to cater for your preference and lose money doing so. 

end quote:

 

If you bother to take a look at the thread on Daz forum, that Carrara is, in fact, bringing in a substantial amount of revenue.

If you would like to disagree with that fact, please do the maths first,

Here's an example of how to approach the maths:

 

Before our data collection survey Daz knew this:

1. How many people own Carrara.
2. How many people 'own' Daz Studio.
3. How many people own both.
4. They (probably) knew who had actually downloaded the above software.
5. They knew what percentage of products people 'purchased' for free at the Daz store.
6. They knew how much each member spent in the daz store.
7. They also know the changes in the buyer's habits over time.

However, Daz did not know the answers to one of the questions at the beginning of this thread:

Paraphrased, that question was:

1) how much was spent by people who were primarily Carrara users - as those users might own other software - eg Studio.

Initial results of the survey

I havent had enough time to count the sample size in this thread but....

Simple statistics tell us:

If the sample size is approximately 70 then, given a confidence level of 95 percent, that gives us a confidence interval of around 12.

A confidence level of 12, means that, regardless of knowing the population of users who buy content soley for use in Carrara, Daz can

look at the content figures here and extrapolate that, for every Carrara user, their content numbers/pages will be between plus and minus 12 percent

of the average amount of content/number pages revealed in this survey.

That means that Daz can use those figures to detemine, within a 24 percent margin, how much the Carrara users who have not contributed to this thread have spent.

Variables that are irrelevant here are:

1. the number of free items a user owns in his content list - because Daz already has that knowledge.

2. the number of Blender downloads per minute - as this will not effect the historical data we are giving Daz.

Variables that Daz knows that we don't.

1. Numbers of Carrara software purchased.

2. Numbers of people downloading updates.

Variables no one knows.

1. Number of users using free Carrara software (obtained from dvd on mag) or pirated Carrara software - still relevant if they buy items to use in Carrara from Daz.

Initial Conclusions

We have given Daz enough data to make a reasonable estimate of the amount of money they will lose by not supporting Carrara into the future.

Daz needs to determine is it's Carrara user base by taking into account:

1. Maximum User Base: given by number of Carrara purchases.
2. Minimum User Base: the number of users who have downloaded updates.
3. Possible Sales Base: the number of individuals visiting this forum on a regular basis

Course of Action

Daz can use the statistics here to extrapolate historical data within 24 Percent error with a 95 percent certainty.

That to my mind is a great improvement over their previous lack of data.

 

 

 

There is a difference between app sales and content sales. I am focusing on content. If Carrara content sold more, there would be more people making for it and it would be supported more.

Perfectly true.

We are in a situation to show Daz that, if they support Carara then, judging by historical data, then Daz can expect 'x' amount of sales of content.

For some reason people illogically decide  that, because Carrara users arent buying content specifically marked Carrara, then they are not buying content.

Of course Daz has not included Carrara as a choice in several of its last surveys, and that would indicate that Daz has already made up  its mind to discontinue supporting Carrara.

If they have, well, to be honest, that's fine by me.

Carrara is perfectly usable as it is.

I sell enough of my digital work that I make with Carrara to keep me happy.

But we have given Daz a new light to look at  Carrara by - if they choose to open their eyes,

In the end it's all a storm in a tea - cup  :) 

"There is a difference between app sales and content sales. I am focusing on content. If Carrara content sold more, there would be more people making for it and it would be supported more."

The whole point is that Carrara users don't only purchase 'Carrara' specific content.  Carrara natively uses 99% of Poser and Studio content as well.   Yes, there is also Carrara-only content (like Howie Farke's nature scenes which are so reknowned), but for the average Carrara user the vast majority of content we purchase is content made for use in Studio or in Poser.

 Would it surprise you to learn that I've purchased several products from your Daz store, yet I never ever ever use Studio for anything?  This is because Carrara can natively use both Genesis1 and Genesis2 (although most of the stuff I've bought from you were shaping morphs for Genesis1, if I start using Genesis2 more seriously then I might very well purchase stuff like Shape Shift and Growing up and Aging morphs for G2m and G2f.

But you know what's never ever going to be on the menu for me if Daz doesn't take the time to make Genesis3 compatible with Carrara?  Any product you make that is for Genesis3.

Yes, Carrara as an application does cost money, and yes Daz does make some money from each Carrara 8.5 sale, (which is more than the $0 that Daz makes from those who use Studio), but this is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money I spend on content.  I went ahead and totaled it up, and it made me vaguely sick to my stomach to realize how much money I've spent at Daz over the last few years since I started doing this hobby ( $5,931.22 USD for me at the Daz site, and I know I've spent much more than that here at Rendo as I purchase from Rendo much more frequently).  And yet according to the statistics that are appearing over in that thread, I don't have nearly as much content purchases as many of the other Carrara users; I'm not an anomaly, in fact many Carrara users spend more than I do on content.

 The whole point is to make sure Daz understands  that Carrara users do buy content, a lot of it, and not simply Carrara-specific content only.  For a Carrara user, Daz makes money from a) the Carrara application sale, b) any Carrara-specific content we might buy, and c) the massive amount of Poser and Studio content we purchase and use in Carrara.  We're trying to shine a statistical spotlight on the fact that c) is the largest by far segment of our spending.

There is a difference between app sales and content sales. I am focusing on content. If Carrara content sold more, there would be more people making for it and it would be supported more.

Just a quick and simple thought/response here. I used almost everything I buy in Carrara (including your Genesis/Genesis 2 products which are great). Unfortunately, other than Howies stuff, I have made very few Carrara specific purchases (5-10 items, most of which are plugins). Why? Because for many things, such as shaders I can do my own, and I tend to look at the versatility of a product as a very important part of my purchase decision. I also use DS as well, so Items that can be used in both products will quickly rise to the top of the list. If there are other Carrara users like me, then determining the the value of Carrara based on sales of Carrara specific content would be way, way, way off the mark. In my case alone it is easily at least 99 "DS" products to 1 Carrara (more likely though, it is probably approaching 1,000 to 1).

DustRider -

Indeed.  I have a hard drive dedicated to 3D content (and a backup, of course).  Some statistics:

Carrara Format Items: 15 GB, 125 Individual Items.  DAZ Purchases: 13 GB, 93 Items.

Poser Format Items: 121 GB, 2300 Individual Items.  DAZ Purchases: 102 GB, 1600 Items.

I use Carrara for all the Poser Format items, I do not use DAZ Studio.  Or Poser, except to get Poser 7's Runtime into Carrara's browser (the first thing I do after a reset).

Today I cancelled my multi-year Platinum Club membership at DAZ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEG3iv0YKsw

 yes mine will be going too,

....... it's funny how Pa's often blindly stick up for Daz without thinking things through 

at least my friend Dart has stopped doing it ;)  

My answers.

Carrara 8 Pro

No

I am an extremely unusual Carrara user.  99.995% of everything in my renders I built myself.

Content is of zero consequence for me.  I want better modeling, lighting, and rendering tools.

Will that happen?  I don't know.

I was in a hurry to catch a plane so my WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) was a bit off (OK - WAY off) because I didn't do a quick check of my guesstimates (and the flight ended up getting delayed to the point that I just canceled to trip/flights - it's been one of those days). So I did a quick check with my new unscheduled freedom (fairly easy when you aren't a huge content buyer).

Of the 1,450 products I have in my DAZ 3D product library - 31 are Carrara specific (including my actual Carrara purchases/upgrades). There are also approximately 25 products that are DS only. That gives us approximately 1415 DS/Poser items in my product library that I got with the primary reason being for use in Carrara (with secondary use in DS, and tertiary use in Poser). So for every 1 item I have in my product library that is specifically for Carrara, I have 45.6 items that were designed for use in DS or Poser, not Carrara, yet I got them for use in Carrara. I think this may be the type of information that DAZ 3D simply can't get from any sales data analysis. It would look like I purchase virtually nothing for use in Carrara (31 items in 10+ years), when virtually all of my purchases were for use in Carrara.

I thought I might be an unusual case, but the post by Steve K. make me think otherwise.  So where a simple analysis of sales data may indicate that DAZ 3D doesn't make many content sales for use in Carrara, the truth may be that Carrara generates nearly equal sales per dedicated user compared to DS. Because Carrara is able to easily "consume" non-Carrara specific content, poor sales of Carrara specific content may be because the universal availability of the high quality content for Poser/DS makes the sales Carrara specific content quite difficult.

 Well said Dustrider, exactly why Daz needs to sit up and take stock

 and thanks Kixum :)

It's simple really. If a sector is no longer bringing in revenue, EG Carrara, DSON Poser support, must a company continue to support it and focus their energy there? Does it make sense to support a sector that is not financially viable anymore? No it doesn't. These days you have to be very careful where you place your time and resources. What worked in the past doesn't always work today. Peoples interests and usage needs changes. Daz's focus is Studio and the Genesis platform because that is where the bulk of their revenue is coming from. Don't like that? Then continue using whatever makes you happy. A company is not going to change their business plan just to cater for your preference and lose money doing so. 

You just completely missed the entire point of this thread didn't you? Studio in and of it's self makes DAZ nothing, DAZ makes their money from content sales. Carraraest buy DAZ content. Carrara makes DAZ money. Studio costs no less to develop, more infact because DAZ is very actively developing Studio, yet DAZ gives it away. Now if DAZ was really interested in sales they would keep carrara as up to date and content friendly as studio. I stopped buying content from DAZ because it stopped working in carrara. Same with most carraraests, why should we buy content from DAZ when it doesn't work in DAZ's carrara? 

Now you just go ahead and shake those pompoms till the tassels fall off. Wont change the fact DAZ is cutting out a large revenue source by not keeping up it's paid for app in favor of it's free app.

34 pages

Carrara

Yes, right after DAZ takes this knife out of my back and I can actually use Genesis, G2F/M content properly; or at all.

 thanks Man, you had me laughing at your way with words :) You should write a book !

 Hi Zev0, I just realised I have some of your products too which I use in carrara.

Always important to understand who your customer base is I think. 

I bought my first version of Carrara years ago. I'm still waiting for documentation. I waited a year or so for DAZ to release a Mac version that worked with the current version of OS X (was it Lion?!). I wouldn't buy Carrara content if I couldn't use Carrara! DAZ never compensated us for lost time. They just went ahead and charged for updates.

I bought my first version of Carrara years ago. I'm still waiting for documentation. I waited a year or so for DAZ to release a Mac version that worked with the current version of OS X (was it Lion?!). I wouldn't buy Carrara content if I couldn't use Carrara! DAZ never compensated us for lost time. They just went ahead and charged for updates.

Yup.  I complained about the documentation issue, all I got was soundly flamed in the Forum by the DAZ defender posse.  I filed a couple of support tickets, but never a peep from DAZ support, management, etc.

Carrara 5 Pro was written for PowerPC Macs. When Apple released OSX Lion, they abandoned Rosetta, which killed Carrara. It took about 2 years for Carrara 8.5 to be released. Now Carrara again appears to be neglected.

DAZ sells a Carrara video tutorial for $100. You can buy the same product on Amazon for $50!

Running Carrara 8.2 pro on a ppc mac tiger, lol. Hilarious to me that I'm able to use a relatively current version of Carrara without a problem on such an antiquated machine (which has served me faithfully for over a decade now). Also pretty grin worthy that this software has features that are just now appearing (or have yet to) in Poser, caustics for instance. Yeah, I think Carrara will remain relevant as a tool for a while yet. Daz should stop walking into walls and saying "I meant to do that.", the software they are neglecting has a far richer history than DS... not everyone considers vacuous pictures of scantily clad mannikins against gradient backdrops the whole of artistic endeavor.

Just my .02