Just for fun, does anybody have an interest in having a Linux version of Carrara? I would suspect it would be a lot faster than a Windows version? The graphics interface may be a tad tricky though as I have zero experience in that area, I can't determine how hard or easy that might be. -Kix

Kix, I can't imagine that a Linux version of Carrara would be signficantly different in performance vs. a windows one. Most of the work Carrara is doing is transforming coordinates, calculating vectors, etc. given the same cpu, memory, etc. X * Y is the same speed no matter what the OS (unless you have a really dumb compiler). I did a benchmark back in the RD 5.x days comparing Win9x vs. NT and found that 9x gave you a slight boost, maybe 5%. I wouldn't expect any more difference than that. If you are just interested in running Carrara on your linux box, has anyone tried Wine? Another option is VMWare which does run Carrara very well. The UI isn't quite as responsive, but render speed is almost 100% of what it is running natively. Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild Freeware and commercial 3D extensions http://digitalcarversguild.com

i would defintely be interested in a Linux version of Carrara! in fact it is programs like Carrara and Poser that have kept me from migrating to Linux already. i am not "upgrading" from Win2K to XP. so when the software stops working on Win2K i am not buying. greg

In general, most applications which are signifantly numerically intensive (which the rendering engine is) runs typically 30 to 50 percent faster on a linux box. For insane people like me who do really large animations, this could cut many many days off of computer time.

I use Linux and the various Windows incarnations, and I find that a little hard to believe. What application comparable to Carrara was ported to Linux and showed a 30 to 50% boost in speed? Who did the benchmarking and where are the results?

I'm not saying that a Linux version of Carrara would be a bad thing, though it would be another two platforms I'd have to support (assuming there would be an intel and powerpc version). I just think that the Linux cause would be better served by not setting unrealistic expectations and a 30 to 50% boost in speed over the Windows version is a seriously unrealistic expectation.

Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Freeware and commercial 3D extensions
http://digitalcarversguild.com

Most of my experience comes from heavy duty C and Fortran codes I use in my work for simulation analysis. These are cases which sometimes take several days to run. Overhead with Windows is simply aggravating at times.