Carrara's future isn't just uncertain. Carrara is dead. There may be a few more iterations of Carrara 8.5.x.x, all poorly-tested-bug-ridden-done-by-inexperienced-interns, but the dream of a flashy Carrara 9 loaded with new mouth-watering features is an impossible dream that will never materialize.

For a hobbyist 3D artist who already owns a Mac, the $99.- Cheetah3D (C3D) is a must-have. The wealth of features that this 'entry-level' app offers is jaw-dropping. If you don't own a Mac already, the buying decision may be more difficult to justify.

There are right now three affordable 3D apps for hobbyists with faiirly good suppoprt for Daz/Poser contents:

1. IClone: Importing Daz/Poser contents requires a separate quite expensive program and you must adjust the skeleton structure yourself. Not for me.

2. Shade 3D: Very nice program with an outstanding native renderer. But its design is aging and its UI is quite quirky.

3. Cheetah3D: Loaded with advanced features and an almost seamless support for Daz/Poser content through export/import. This is my preferred choice.

If you intend to use Genesis 3, or any of the Daz Studio specific contents, in your workflow in the near future then Carrara is a dead-end.

The points that I stated above are the reasons that made me switch to C3D. I do not have any emotional bonds with Carrara and I am not regretting my decision.

In fact I believe that Daz should encourage Its Mac Carrara user base to switch to Cheetah3D, because it will be a great opportunity to sell Genesis 3 or Studio specific contents that will never be supported in Carrara.