I will never repeat it enough, and Daz has confirmed it too, that Carrara development is dead. End of the story.

So what are Carrara users supposed to do? Fortunately there are many good replacements for Carrara. One of them is Lightwave. Many will argue that Lightwave is dead software. From what my researches have shown me, Lightwave is alive and kicking. Its last release, Lightwave 2015.3, isn't even 2 years old. This isn't what I call 'dead' software. Lightwave has been used in numerous Hollywood blockbusters too. So for me, small-time hobbyist, it's a guarantee that I will never outgrow it.

Here is a listing of Lightwave's great features that make it a very exciting product, even if it's a bit aging.

1. A powerful modeler which I will personally never use.

2. Cameras, with so many adjustable parameters, they will turn you into a professional photographer, or a professional filmmaker.

3. Lighting abilities so advanced that it's like a dream come true.

4. 2 texture editors. 1 basic, the other node-based that you can use for more complex situations.

5. A Bullet physics implementation particularly thorough and complete.

6. Special FX'es to blow you away, based on what I have seen on youtube.

7. Python scripting, in case you want to go into some detailed programming of your animations instead of using a GUI, which is actually my preferred method.

8. Animation tools, dope sheet, timeline. The whole 9 yards.

Etc., etc.

But Lightwave, with its humongous amounts of features, can be a bit intimidating to learn. Fortunately you don't have to go very far to find excellent tutorials. Our 'own' Daz3D has a set of excellent tutorials called 'Lightwave 4 Beginners', See Link. At $35.- it is really a great investment to get you started and, if you are lucky, you can get them at a steep discount (I got mine at 1/3 that price). The great point is that the tutorials cover the importing of Daz characters into Lightwave, although it covers Victoria 6, not Victoria 7.

At $695.- Lightwave isn't exactly cheap, but considering its wealth of features, it is well worth the price.

Another "great" program as a substitute for Carrara? Seems you can't decide yourself. As long Carrara runs on my machine, there is no need to change.

I got Carrara last year it is an good program I will keep it up and running till the cows come home

EddyMI posted at 3:02PM Tue, 09 May 2017 - #4304864

Another "great" program as a substitute for Carrara? Seems you can't decide yourself. As long Carrara runs on my machine, there is no need to change.

Agreed. I've used Lightwave and its a fine program, but that was long ago. I use Carrara on a daily basis and will for the foreseeable future.

Many years ago I was at an trade show Lightwave on running full steam ahead but for some reason they made all the demos at very low light renders or under water or deep space yes it did make great spaceships they looked very big or water being boiled not every one wants spaceships

Isn't light wave as out of production as Carrara?

The last version of Lightwave is 2015.3 which, obviously, was released sometime in 2015. If before the end of 2017 a new version is released, it makes it a 2 years release cycle for Lightwave which, for a 3D app, is perfectly acceptable.

You're right. Carrara is totally dead and has been dead for years. There will be no further development. But don't try saying that on the Carrara board over at the Daz site. Everyone there is in a very deep denial. They all think a new version is just around the corner and that Daz is hard at work on it right now. Forget the fact that they've been saying that for the for about four years and there hasn't been a new version in more than seven years. As for the price you quoted for LightWave, $695 is a bargain. At the hight of its popularity it was nearly $2000 and at the same time it was Carrara Pro that cost $600. Now I think they practically give Carrara away over at the Daz store. How things have changed.

manleystanley posted at 5:56PM Sun, 21 May 2017 - #4305272

Isn't light wave as out of production as Carrara?

Even it it is no longer in development (I don't know if that's the case so I can't say for sure) LightWave in terms of it's capabilities was always light years ahead of Carrara. The last version, as pointed out, was from 2015 which is pretty current. Even if it's the last one, Carrara's last real release was v8 in 2010. I don't count the v8.5 that was released in 2013 as it was mostly bug fixes for things that should have worked three years earlier. So even if they are both out of production LightWave is still way more current.

I tried posting the status of Carrara in the Daz forum. The reaction was nothing like predicted above. I posted that the last known official info was that Daz was not currently developing Carrara according to customer service. I pointed to the thread to that effect here.
1 - no one denied it 2 - the mods did not delete it

In the meantime, I still enjoy using Carrara, including new 3rd party resources such as the VWD bridge and G3 compatible characters.

RE: LW - the people who claim LW is dead discount LW releases for similar reasons to why the 2013 C8.5 release was discounted above. I claim no expertise on the matter, just reporting what others say.

You can read griping about LW similar to the above griping about Carrara in various posts in this Blender thread. https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?415295-What-Killed-Lightwave

diomede posted at 3:24PM Sat, 27 May 2017 - #4305656

I tried posting the status of Carrara in the Daz forum. The reaction was nothing like predicted above. I posted that the last known official info was that Daz was not currently developing Carrara according to customer service. I pointed to the thread to that effect here.
1 - no one denied it 2 - the mods did not delete it

In the meantime, I still enjoy using Carrara, including new 3rd party resources such as the VWD bridge and G3 compatible characters.

Perhaps they've finally accepted the truth. That Carrara development is dead (and therefore so is Carrara) and that there will never be a version 9. Maybe not. I still see posts like this:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/169021/carrara-vs-daz-studio

Fourth one down. People still getting bent out of shape if you state the truth, that Carrara is dead.

Some people still use Carrara. I visit the Carrara forum to exchange tips, ask questions, get answers, etc.. I harbor no illusions about Carrara's future development. But I am still using it now and still have questions that other people can still answer. Posts by people who no longer use Carrara, or never did, bury the threads that have actual questions. They steal my time. I hope those posts stop. People who no longer use Carrara or never did should go to the forums for the software that they do use. See you there when Carrara no longer meets my needs.

Note - my frustration with posts that waste everyone's time has nothing to do with being in denial about Carrara's future. My frustration with those posts is no less than your apparent frustration that I still use Carrara and still have questions, and still visit the Carrara forums to get answers.

IT IS ILLOGICAL TO ATTRIBUTE DENIAL TO PEOPLE WHO WANT THE CARRARA FORUM TO BE DISCUSSIONS OF CARRARA.

So forget other people. I, me, myself, - I get bent out of shape when people who no longer use Carrara, or never did keep posting on the Carrara forum, Why? Well, it has nothing to do with whether Carrara has a future or not. Now, in the present, during the current time period - I have questions that Carrara users can answer. That is why I visit the Carrara forum.

So, in that post you linked to - what was the Carrara tip, trick, function, or question? Nothing. The whole discussion was to waste the time of people who still use Carrara.

In the thread that you linked to, I told the OP that I had a thread in another forum for another software and invited the OP to join me in discussing that software in the place that was more appropriate. That is not being in denial. That is not being bent out of shape.

Oh, then all off topic posts should be banned?

No - people who obsess about the death of Carrara on the Carrara forum are intentionally trying to sow discord. That is not the intent of every off topic post.

definition - internet forum troll

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional ...

For all of you who believe Lightwave is dead, here is a solid proof that it isn't. See Link.

I have been playing with LW's demo version for the past few weeks, and it's truly impressive. All the features that I always dreamed to have at my fingertips, that Carrara was lacking, including a thorough 2,300+ pages manual.

As far as I am concerned Lightwave will be my next purchase.

And buy also the Fenric's "MDD" plugin to to jump between LW and Carrara, it's cheap and very usefull!

I used Lightwave before switching over to Blender. It's a good software, but the last version was originally released in Nov. of 2014, not 2015, so that puts the revision cycle on more than just two years. Most high end software is updated every year. Just look at products from Maxon or Autodesk. New versions are put out on a yearly basis, which may be too soon for some users, but that's about the standard for the big companies.

If you are an animator, btw, you should really know before you order the software that you will be severely handicap by having only ONE undo in the layout interface. You can set multiple undos in the modeller interface, but not the layout. That is a huge limitation. This means you can't experiment with motion modifiers or anything when you're working on a scene, or else you have to go all the way back to your previous save. So basically you should save multiple scenes when starting an animation so that you can go back to any point in the history you want, because you won't have an undo history to work with there.

Eventually, all these programs will be dust, even 3DS Max and Maya. We ought to enjoy whatever programs we're working with. The future may be..... Sketchup? And on a phone or tablet?

The last version of Lightwave was released in August 9, 2015, according to this link. And according to this link, there was a LW 2016 in the works.

If by end of 2017 there is a new LW release, I'd say that it's alive and kicking.

dr_bernie posted at 1:48PM Thu, 15 June 2017 - #4307444

The last version of Lightwave was released in August 9, 2015, according to this link. And according to this link, there was a LW 2016 in the works.

If by end of 2017 there is a new LW release, I'd say that it's alive and kicking.

According to the Wiki you linked to, the 2015 version, which is the last version, was released exactly when I said it was. "On November 24, 2014, NewTek released Lightwave 2015." The follow up releases were point releases to fix issues with bugs and add minor features. There was not a new major release since then.

If there is a new major release in 2017, it needs to be quite significant, because LW has fallen far behind the curve of other software in its class. I'd say it's do or die for it at this point.

I don't think we will see the death of major software like C4D or Maya or Max any time soon because of the tablets or mobile devices. Tablets can not render 50,000 frames of animation or do the kind of special effects required these days to replace desktop workstations. Desktop class workstations will exist well into the future, although they will become much more powerful and perhaps look a lot different. Who really knows, we are all just speculating though.

Well, regardless of what date you consider for LW last release (I personally stick with August 9, 2015), Siggraph 2017 is very near and we should hear some 'revelations' about LW's next release.

Lately I have been watching some of the gazillions of LW's tutorials on Youtube, and many of them are truly eye-popping. Although if you are a Mac user, my recommendation for a Carrara replacement would still be Cheetah3D, not Lightwave.

Lightwave 2018 is out since 2018-01-01, there is a 30 day free trial https://www.lightwave3d.com/try_lightwave/ Full commercial version is 995$, upgrade from any older version is 295$, educational new 195, educational upgrade 95. New render engine, among other news: http://static.lightwave3d.com/marketing/lightwave_2018/release/index.html

Really steep learning curve compared to Carrara, but I'm finding Lightwave 2015.3 to be pretty awesome. Pretty sure I will pitch in for the 2018 Lightwave now. I really like the renders I get from my poser files using the poser fusion plugin too.

wscottart posted at 12:55PM Fri, 09 February 2018 - #4324053

Really steep learning curve compared to Carrara, but I'm finding Lightwave 2015.3 to be pretty awesome. Pretty sure I will pitch in for the 2018 Lightwave now. I really like the renders I get from my poser files using the poser fusion plugin too.

Am I correct that to use Poser content for animation in Lightwave via Poser Fusion, the animation has to be done in Poser? That is different from Carrara, which seamlessly loads Poser content directly for animation without Poser.

@ Steve K:

You don't need Poser anymore, although you can still use it). Daz Studio can export animations to Lightwave, with the added benefit to handle Genesis 1, 2 and 3. See This Tutorial. It's in Spanish, but it's easy to follow through and understand. You will need the free Autodesk FBX converter whose link is in the tutorial description. HTH.

dr_bernie posted at 8:14PM Sun, 11 February 2018 - #4324229

@ Steve K:

You don't need Poser anymore, although you can still use it). Daz Studio can export animations to Lightwave, with the added benefit to handle Genesis 1, 2 and 3. See This Tutorial. It's in Spanish, but it's easy to follow through and understand. You will need the free Autodesk FBX converter whose link is in the tutorial description. HTH.

OK, I think. But it still sounds like Lightwave cannot animate Poser content seamlessly, like Carrara. I really do not want to use DAZ Studio, whose animation capabilities are limited I've read, and in any case "exporting animations to Lightwave" is not what I want. Just use Carrara, which animates Poser content natively, no export, no PoserFusion, no nothing. It just works.

I still use Poser 6. So I pretty much still use all the renderers that can import Poser 6 and its animations into them.

Carrara dead huh?

I believe I mentioned this some YEARS ago.

And now you think another near death program is a viable alternative? Seriously?

Either you're all gluttons for punishment, enjoy throwing money down the toilet and have money to burn on outdated and dying software, or enjoy being perpetually 5-10 years behind everybody else - I don't know which.

It's almost funny to watch, and sad in a lot of ways.

Titanic401 posted at 11:27AM Tue, 27 February 2018 - #4325229

Carrara dead huh?

I believe I mentioned this some YEARS ago.

And now you think another near death program is a viable alternative? Seriously?

Either you're all gluttons for punishment, enjoy throwing money down the toilet and have money to burn on outdated and dying software, or enjoy being perpetually 5-10 years behind everybody else - I don't know which.

It's almost funny to watch, and sad in a lot of ways.

Carrara and others are fine for making renders to upload on galleries here. No one here is uploading renders from the work they've done at ILM or PIXAR. And you have no renders here. You're not even trying.

Carrara and others are fine for making renders to upload on galleries here. No one here is uploading renders from the work they've done at ILM or PIXAR. And you have no renders here. You're not even trying.

Agreed, and I would add animations. I use Carrara Pro 8.5 on a daily basis for short animations, and don't feel deprived at all. Most actions have become second nature, and the bottom line is seamless support of the massive amount of Poser format content out there. Here is a one minute Carrara animation that some folks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3oyjgMk4I

From the little work I have done with a demo version of Lightwave, any amateurish render done in Lightwave beats any professinal render in Carrara hands-down. It;s just another level of photo realism.

In my experience, Lighwave is actually easier to learn than Carrara, considering the vast amount of features it offers.

Where is that "ignore" button ... ah, here it is ...

dr_bernie posted at 5:13PM Sun, 04 March 2018 - #4325280

any amateurish render done in Lightwave beats any professinal render in Carrara hands-down. It;s just another level of photo realism.

That's pretty much always been the case.

Titanic401 posted at 5:14PM Sun, 04 March 2018 - #4325229

And now you think another near death program is a viable alternative? Seriously?

LightWave released LW2018 in Jan. Hardly near death. In fact, not near death at all. Also, not 5-10 years behind.

dr_bernie posted at 5:09PM Mon, 05 March 2018 - #4325280

From the little work I have done with a demo version of Lightwave, any amateurish render done in Lightwave beats any professinal render in Carrara hands-down. It;s just another level of photo realism.

In my experience, Lighwave is actually easier to learn than Carrara, considering the vast amount of features it offers.

each engine lacks of something and you have to tweak lights or materials to fit the result to your needs; if you wanna test lightwave, load a couple of samples from megascans library and see if it comes out instantly like the image below, rendered in carrara 8.5

After months of hesitations, I finally bit the bullet and bought the latest and greatest version of Lightwave, i.e. Lightwave 2018. At $995.- Lightwave isn't exactly cheap, but it isn't that expensive either, considering its wealth of features, and the quality of the outputs you can get from it.

As a beginner Lightwave user, I cannot show any jaw-dropping work, at least not yet. But you can search Youtube for Lightwave demo reels, and see for yourself, if you haven't done so already.

Though one thing I can already say about Lightwave, from a beginner perspective, is that it is rather easy to learn and use. The thorough on-line documentation and the countless number of tutorials, are enough support materials to make you feel comfortable.

Lightwave has its quirks, and you must be willing to put-up with them, but it's well worth the effort. The integration with Daz/Poser contents can be achieved through either Poser Fusion or through FBX imports.

Comparing Lightwave to Carrara would really be unfair to Lightwave, because LigHtwave is a top-notch professional 3D tool used by prominent production studios worldwide, while Carrara is only a nice hobbyist toy. The best incentive for a hobbyist Carrara user to switch to Lightwave is the vast horizons in 3D art that can be explored with Lightwave, horizons that are totally inaccessible to Carrara.

Based on previous release dates, the next major release of Lightwave will probably be in 2021, i.e Lightwave 2021. This makes LIghtwave far less of the abandonware that some people try to make us believe it is.

More on Lightwave later, if I have time.

A 3D app, no matter how good it is, needs plugin to expand its features and performances. From this perspective, Lightwave is particularly well-endowed See Link. The Lightwave plugin database is homongous. There are many free plugins, and many plugins you must buy.

Among all the Lightwave plugins, there is one that is truly jaw-dropping. It's called Turbulence FD (FD for Fluid Dynamics). It's a plugin to simulate Fluids and particles. It produces broadcast quality results. It's a bit expensive, but compared to similar plugins for Maya or 3DS Max, it is a bargain. See Link.