Also, what is the practical difference between 'Importing' a 3ds model and 'Open' the same 3ds? I find that Import seems to give me a less "confused" and more workable model to save as .car. What am I missing here?

Many thanks - hope someday to contribute to actual answers here instead of just beginner questions.....

Rivers

One way would be to simply change the shader itself. It should flow through the document. However, if you're working with an imported model, the exporting program may write a different shader for each object. If that's the case, you've got a little time ahead of you to fill ;) I try to avoid importing models. If I want to add a model to a scene that is already in progress, I'll open it separatly and drag the model to the Object Tray. Then, back in the scene I need it in, I can just drop it from the Object Tray and avoid the problems that importing models can sometimes create. Sorry if this didn't provide anything you didn't already know. Mark www.MarkBremmer.com

Raydream certainly had this specific issue beat. This is another little trick and trap that I would like to see C inherit in the future. -Kix

There is a similar problem when importing Poser figures as filename.obj. If you import them using defaults, all the separate groups come in with their textures, so you get dozens of sub-groups with the same shader, and they all have to be modified individually. But if you import the obj file as one group, a texture (shader) can be modified for all its sub-groups at once.

Thanks for all the suggestions here. I think I'm having trouble now with the video card as well - an ATI Radeon. It would not co-operate with Truespace either. Are there known issues wth this card and Carrara too?

Anyway, Ive tried quite a few combinations of importing 3ds and even obj models with little success in terms of sorting through the shaders. Mostly there are just no shaders in the sequencer tray - there are spaces and numbers for the surfs,just no shaders and none after I assign something from the browser or shaders room.....

Most strange of all - I 'select all' then de-select the default light in a new scene and then 'group' so that I can have some control over then many very small parts of the model by jumping in /out. When I group it, the bounding box is HUGE - much bigger than seems necessary and gets in the way of any other selections in the scene such as trees etc.

I'm just trying (finally getting around to) to use Carara as a renderer for some architectural projects. The interface works well for viewing for my purposes in (assemble room) sketch and rendered mode. But I cannot seem to get past these first few barriers. Unfortunately I have to import from other more precise architectural modeling programs and from Rhino.

Wonder if others have run into any of this or is it an ATI video card issue as well. (Mark B. ?)

Many thanks....Rivers

I don't know if the card is the issue. I have an ATI card and I don't see your problems. The OpenGL libraries (or other system software) work with the card to allow more-or-less rapid refresh in various preview modes, but it sounds like your problems are related to insufficient RAM and possibly excessive use of special characters or bad names in the shaders/textures in the imported files.

If you are somehow selecting lights or cameras with "Select All", I can see how the box would be huge. So you could try selecting various items in the sequencer tray instead, either by collapsing a sub-list or by drag-selecting.

You might check to see that you didn't import a whole new "universe" with the objects that you imported. Sometimes you end up importing extra distant lights and/or univers "spheres" that are huge. I have an ATI RageProII card & it's OK. Not that the "Metacreations Software" is better to use then the OpenGL software for renders (according to Antoine Clappier).

Is there ever a simple 'fix' for computer issues? No prob with ATI here. I've never had files import consistently from one program to another. Even though you'd think that all 3DS files or any other file formats should be the same, how they record data is different in little ways that can drive you mad. I remember reading a post that even 3DS saves it's file data different if you export as 3DS rather than do a Save of the same file. If you have Amapi, try using that as an interpreter between the CAD programs and Carrara. (import from CAD to Amapi, save-as Carrara and then open in Carrara) Occasionally, it's worked better for me to have files saved as IGES or .stl instead of 3DS. There's no consistent rule though. Large bounding boxes. I hate those. Usually there is nothing out there but coordinates. I just go to the timline tray and group eveything that was imported except the top level of the group, move my group out and delete the what's left of the imported group. Good luck. Mark

Again, thanks for these tips and insights - all so good I just printed 'em out. I do have Amapi 6 and will try Mark's suggestion ASAP. (Yet another interface to try to remember....actually I finally got to like Amapi last year...) I did just order a 64mb MX2 card and will try it soon as it arrives but I imagine it is something else - at least for Carrara. I know there is a problem with Truespace and the ATI card. I do want to Use Carrara because of the better interface. Wondering what might be wrong with my machine here.... Thinking more large scale now, it is sometimes very slow to do some simple tasks in windows (win 98) and has begun to freeze/crash and loose the connection when using a 3Com webcam. Should have plenty memory and power. Missing DLL or Active x or .... It is an IWill Mboard, Athlon 1.33 gig processor, 384 mb PC133 memory, plenty HD space and so on...... These symptoms were once due to vid card in another machine.... Any input would be greatly appreciated, Sincerely, Rivers