Likes: 1) The render engine - fast and realistic, what more could you want? 2) The shader tree structure - I at least find it intuitive and easy to make complex shaders 3) The interface - I can't believe this still attracts review comments like "Awkward rooms metaphor" - if you even think of changing it, then how about offering a simple preference for "Carrara Classic" or "Normal confusing 3D program"? 4) The new animation tools 5) General stability and reliable patches Would-likes: 1) Improved particle system (interacting with other scene elements, "intelligent" particle behaviours, built-in "point at" modifier, perhaps even some particleIllusion-style sprite setups. 2) Subpoly displacement in the shader tree/render engine. It's the only place where the high-end renderers (and - ulp! - even Poser 5) have an edge over the Carrara engine. 3) Volumetric shaders (granted we have Primivol now, but I have lots of occasions where I'd like to put a volumetric effect onto a normal object...) 4) Don't want Julien to lose out (and I have already bought Replica), but the functionality of Replica is one plug-in that really should be built-in (ideally as a modifier). 5) Some kind of scripting/formula system to open up custom behaviours, deformations, and shaders to the masses. Again not to do any plug-in makers out of work, but there are as many custom requirements as there are Carrara users, and there will never be a plug-in for everything... (For instance, I've never seen anyone offer extra deformations as a plug-in...)

Sorry to take time getting back on this - not got them installed on C4 pro yet so had to go back to C3. Potentializer can behave in slightly odd ways, IMHO - It works out the deformation as soon as you finish typing in the settings, so if you don't get them in the right range you might not see a deformation happen. A quick way to get it to rethink the deformation is to click the 'permanent' button on and off. For animations, where it's most effective, just move your source object relative to the terrain, and adjust the Potentializer animation slider in the end keyframe. Having said this, the first time I tried to set this up, I got nothing, so I had to open a new file and put it together (probably something I missed, I'm sure...) Metamesh is a lot simpler. The main thing is to keep the mesh size setting small (about 0.1 often works for me) and set the 'mesh visible' checkbox. Mesh value affects the size of the blobs, and Range factor controls the distance over which blobs affect each other. Smooth angle affects the smoothness of the mesh. The only thing you may need to do is scrub the timeline back and forth if you change the settings in order to make Metamesh redraw. Hope that helps!

Ooh - it's my first post on Renderosity (be gentle with me!) Gweb, one workaround I've used to get some physics influence with an IK chain is to set up a helper object in the scene - just a normal cube, positioned in the same place as the IK target object (in C4P), and with the target object turned into its child. You can then apply physics to the cube and the IK target will follow it - just make the cube invisible for the final render. Got the same thing to work using the last bone in the C3 IK chain before my upgrade arrived. I've not experimented with anything more sophisticated than this, but that's my thought - let us know if it leads anywhere and if you find out anything else useful...