I'd love to see the final comercial Please put a quicktime version for us Mac Folks : ) Good luck!

Patrick is right: You could have a great chrome shader but an environment map or atmosphere is essential to get the reflections you want. I'm showing you an image which is basically the same object (and same shader) but with diffferent background images (I'd recommend some clouds pictures or some abstract swirls..) Also a good tip that always helps is to bevel your object so you can get some highlights. I used a shader called "anodized aluminum" from a shader collection called "Real World Carrara Metals" The one from the banner in the top of the page. I'd recommend you buying it. It's affordable (10 or 15 bucks, I don't remember...) But It really has a lot of shaders that you can reuse or analize for making your own. You won't regret getting them. I use them for almost all of my projects. Good luck. Hope this helps

Great info. I just added it to my Carrara tips. Buy why is this (and a lot of use ful info, like making transparent masks work) not in the manual....? Please.... Eovia should release a PDF or viewlet to all registered users with useful tips and ticks (or some really basic stuff) that is not included in the manual.... Here's my current score People from the List 5 - Eovia 1 : )

Thank you very much Dex. VERY useful info. I used to use Premiere a long time ago. But software keeps getting more complicated with each version , more and more option ,ja! and less time to learn it... I remember when you could just start using it and leave the manual in the box and figure everything by yourself The new version look pretty good. Is Premiere your choice of software?

Attached Link: http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/pdfs/ps_to_pre.pdf

Thanks. Here's what I found, so far... Adobe has just announced premiere 6.5 and there's a very useful document in PDF with some of the answers that I was looking for. We'll it's a start.. It talks about standard TV resolutions and using Photoshop stills, but I can get some info from that, since I was thinking in incorporating PSDd into the project, anyway I guess you are right and I should experiment. I'll have to try the interlaced video option and see what I get... Sincerely, FJV

Jim: Great work! How long did it took you to model it? Just one comment, since you asked opinions. I guess this is personal test but the numbers look a little weird,,, maybe it's that they are rotated... 'cause the wing is not straight, but I'd make them a little smaller.. or better yet put a star or other symbol (space academy.. space rangers logo, clan markings ,stripes or whatever you come up with.... They also look too nice and crisp. Maybe you could make them a little faded, worn.. so the space ship doesn't look brand new... Some dirt or battle scars? Any way, great work!

Attached Link: http://www.velarde.com

Thanks Eric: I knew I could count on you. I'll give it a try with the AnythingGrooves. I'll probably buy anything grows. i just need one paying job to justify it and i'm all set. Keep up the good work with the extensions! P.D. I think your ShaderOps is the most misunderstood (ugly duckling) of your bunch. I've never understanded exactly what it does... (the name doesn't help I guess) : ) anyway... Let's see more entries in the Wheels Contest! c'mon

Thanks for the time guys: Just one more question . Should I use several lights (for shadows) or just global iluminations (does it projects shadows...?) Or try for a balance of both? a little GI and one or two lights? Is global Iluminations supposed to be used instead of the ambient light? Every book that I've read says I should turn that one off and rely on lights that I create, Again thanks.

Great images. Simply amazaing. I was watching them all and was leaning towards the Cinema 4D guys. Theres a 3d louvr winner in there. (carles P. ) But then I have to say that TOXE's images look pretty good too. Check out "Irruption" It looks like the real thing.... You should enter this contest http://www.3dluvr.com/content/ What's the secret? Texture maps instead of procedurals?

I do web design for a living. Has anybody actually used this webXport for a site? What we really need is a Flash export (plug-in). That would be useful, a la Swift3D, Vecta 3D I started this thread in the Yahoo Group and Antoine Clappier responded, but he just said they were going to look into it.... But I remember a loooong time ago that they were going to incorporate Flash in the next release of Carrara, and i guess I'm still waiting. : ) Just a little pressure to get the features I want. Maybe Carrara 2.2 or something

Looks great Eric. How about a mini tutorial, like the Creeping Vine? Thanks and great work. Any time estimates when we''ll get your extensions rewritten for Carrara 2?

mmh, good point I also began to feel the slowness after some minutes. I thought it was my computer (iMac). I switched to a g4 now and CArrara 2. The renders are faster but i guess I still get a slowness when the scene begins to build up.... With simple primitives there's no problem. Buy I haven't made real tests.... I made some robots that i wanted to animate. but when the two are together in the same scene Carrara begins to slow down... and i haven't even started to build their set... I guess its the the software limitation... (Not being really a pro tool) I don't know... I guess it is good for stills and simple animations (with not to many object) . Anybody else has an opinion?

I have Carrara and Mac OSX. What should I look for? I don't think I'm having any problems... I choosed the OPEN GL rendering option in one of the windows and no problem so far... Should I try the particles? is that the problem? Let me know how I can help Good luck

mmmh... I just checked the help files and there was a tutorial about GI, and the other new functions (bones, caustics, subdivision). They were quite good.. I stand corrected. manual so so. Tutorials good. Any way. Check them out they are quite helpful especially the two for character animations.

Congratulations. I also like image 31 better... Great texture work! The pavement and sidewalks textures add a lot of realism to the scene. Did you make them yourself or are they pictures?