Hey everybody, to those of you who remember me, I have been very busy and havn't been around in a while. I'm thinking about Carrara 2, and I want to hear it from the horses mouths. Is it worth it? I don't do much character stuff, so the bones aren't a big deal to me. My main concern is the rendering, is the quality noticably better, antialiasing quality and quality are very important for me. I'm an old RDS/Carrara user, and really want to know your opinions about it. YOU WILL INFLUENCE ME IN MY BUYING DECISION! Because you guys are the real users. P.S. Is it realitivly bug free? kaom

kaom,

Below are a couple of the things I really like about Carrara 2.

1. Renderer, besides the obvious GI renderer, the AA is much better in the old renderers too. Since my focus lately is been Anything Grows, I've really noticed the better quality while working with fine strands.

2. Display speed in the 3D View using Software mode is shockingly faster. Again because much of what I do is large meshes from Grooves and Grows, this was a very noticable improvement for me. It was like a free performance upgrade for Grooves and Grows that I didn't have to code!

As far as bugs go, it's better than C1.1, though a few of my pet peeves are still there, like non-working master groups.

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

I forgot to mention - at this point, I think the new features of the product outweigh the bugs which I am sure will get resolved in the upcoming patch.

My gut reaction is that you're going to want the new GI renderer. You're also going to want the new smoothing option in the vertex modeler. There's also other little tids and tads here and there that are useful so eventually, you're going to get it. I'm not using 2.0 until the patch shows up. I've been disheartened with the loss of the particle generator and the botch ups with the soft shadows. Regardless, you're going to need it to learn the new stuff eventually and the patch will be free so I'd get it if I were you. -Kix

Hey Kaom! Glad to see you are still around! Anyway, I think you will like 2.0. As has been stated, the new GI renderer is awesome, as is caustics support. As was mentioned the increased performance is very noticable. There are a few pesky bugs, but they seem to be less severe for some people. Eovia has gone on record to state that the first patch will be available soon. I would say go for it! Welcome back! Hope to see you around some more, with updates on some of your art. Regards, -Paul

Thanks for your views. So, the Global Illumination is really good? I've never had any experience with it(That I know of). And if the Antialiasing is smoother, that alone gets me. In Carrara 1.1 I had to render at resolutions and scale down in Photoshop to get really smooth Antialiasing, being able to get the result I want straight from the render would be nice. And how about the Caustics, I don't think I've had any experience with it either, does Bryce 5 have caustics? I can live with a few minor bugs, after living through the hell that came when I bought Carrara 1.0 from Metacreations when it originally came out, so if it's as stable as 1.1 was, then i'll be happy. Do you still get all the plugins and shaders with it in the upgrade? And another question, I bought Anything Grooves, Thor, LHS Power Pack, MB Grooves, and a few other things for Carrara 1, will they all wotk with Carrara 2, or will I have to buy new ones? Thanks guys, I appreciate your opinions and help, I really think I want to get Carrara 2, but want to make sure before I buy anther thing that I can't really afford. It's good to see, some of the oldschool members are still around and doing their thing, and it looks like renderosity has grown since I was here last, there are more users online, and the site has expanded, jeez....se what I miss when a disappear for a half a year..............good job people! kaom

kaom, Anything Grooves is a free upgrade to the c2 version (just download it and continue to use your same serial number), LHS Power Pack is included with C2 as part of the smart pack extensions, and I think that zenstar offers a free upgrade on Thor to c2 version. Best regards, Eric Winemiller Digital Carvers Guild Freeware and commercial 3D extensions http://digitalcarversguild.com

I use Bryce 5, and yes, Bryce 5 does have caustics, though I use them sparingly. Eats up much render time (Bryce ain't known for its fast rendering you know!). I have ordered CS2 and so I should have my hands on it in about 10 days. I have been fighting with Ray Dream Studio 5.5 until now and have grown tired of its bugs. Alduin

Alduin, your right, I guess I have used caustics in Bryce 5, thought i hardly ytouch Bryce anymore, it's Carrara and Rhino for me these days. But I still use Bryce for outdoor stuff and some architecture work, it's a cool little program, although I've got some problems with Bryce 5 , it can do some cool things. Hmm.........So it looks like I'll have to get Carrara 2, I know that I can't find anything to beat it for the money, that's for sure. Thanks kaom