The attached image gives a better example of what I am talking about. The image is mapped to the front of a cube. Lets say I want the image to be smaller on the cube. How do I do that? With a layer and then resize the layer? It is much simpler to have a control for the size of the texture, rather than having to actually go in and resize the layer. Besides there maybe another texture I want on that layer and I may want the layer to be that size, so again I have to resize the texture externally to make it work. This is a very simple example, the possibilities are endless when you have control over the translation of the texture. Ok, this is the last I will harp on this. Just seems strange that something that, like I said is included with even basic 3D game editors is not present in Carrara. Donnie

Even with layers you still cant scale a texture from what I can tell. So in the example of the cube, if your texture was smaller than you wanted it to be, you would need to scale the object up, which is not desirable in most cases. Or you would need to redesign the texture, which is a waste of time. I always make a point of modeling to scale, makes things easier when positioning and animating. However, I dont want to have to figure the exact size of a texture I need before modeling or generating textures. Even most game editors have provisions for setting the scale, rotation, and positioning of a texture on an object. This is fundamental and it baffles me there is not an option anywhere within Carrara for this. Again, the only reason I am so surprised at this is because at this point in Carrara's life it seems to be a quickly maturing application with some big time features for the money and very nice output. I am really impressed with many of the features, this coming from a Lightwave user of several years. I guess I can put this in the wishlist for 3.5. kaom, I actually was an Infini-D user up until version 4.5. I was a beta tester for version 4.0. Which was terrible. The speed was horrendous compared to version 3.5. Myself and many of the other beta testers for the Windows version (I had just switched) told Meta about this, they did not listen. This was shortly after the transition to MetaTools, before it became MetaCreations if I recall. When Specular had it, it was by no means a powerhouse, but it worked as advertised. I left ship and went to Lightwave for a few years. Still using it, but I find some of the features in Carrara intriuging to say the least. The plant generator is top quality for the cost. Carrara is from my understanding a mix of ID and RayDream. So I share your pain with regards to version 1.0. I have done beta testing for several companies over the years. How Carrara 1.0 made it past the beta testers is beyond me. But when it comes to money and getting something out the door. It sometimes happens. At any rate, this is turning into a long thread. Thanks to all who replied with suggestions. Hopefully this is something that I can solve with ShaderOps or Eovia listens and implements this at some time. It is a huge time saver. Cheers, Donnie

Yeah I have worked with the shading domains which do come in handy. What I am talking about is actually much simpler than that. Insert a plane in the scene. Now apply a texture map. Notice that it automatically scales the texture to the object. The texture always assumes the size of the object, no matter how big it gets. With texture transformation controls it would be easy to place the texture in the upper left corner of the cube or the lower corner, etc. You have complete control of the size and location of the texture. If you had a company logo rendered on a background(not a great example). Lets say you want to apply it to a cube with the logo centered on the face of the cube. But then afer importing you decide you dont like the size of the text with relation to the BG. So what do you do? Right now, it appears the only option is to regenerate the texture with the text larger. It would be and is much easier to just scale the texture on the face of the cube, so long as you dont get larger than the original texture resolution in screen units. Now the text is larger, but still clear, because we didnt exceed the original texture resolution. Layers will allow this, but it is a lot more work than just going to the texture button within the shader and specifying location or scale. Hope that explanation was clearer. It really is a great time saver. Why have to think that far ahead when it comes to texturing. If I make a floor, I shouldnt have to worry if the texture I imported matches it perfectly. The tile pattern (imported) should line up with the wall I create, but if it doesnt I shouldnt have to remodel things or go into the modeler at all. I should be able to reduce the scale or increase the scale of the texture until they match up. Also, hope this doesnt come off as sounding me sounding really upset. I am just at a loss that a program that does so many things I like very well, doesnt do the most basic of texture operations. I hope that ShaderOps can solve the problem or Eovia decides to add this functionality someday. Donnie

I see that Shader Ops is included in the PowerPack. I will try the demo tonight and see ho it goes. I was planning to purchase the PowerPack anyway. Also, just wanted to say that I think your prices are very reasonable for what it appears your many plugins are capable of doing. Hats off to you for that. Donnie

Thanks Eric. I know this may sound bad, but I dont understand why it is necessary to purchase a plugin to do something that is basic in most other apps. I realize Carrara is not a Power app, but it has GI, Caustics, Bones, Plant generator. It does these things and does them very well. Why something as basic as texture placement is not addressed I dont understand. I think if other Carrara users were able to see how useful being able to place textures can be, they too would be asking these same questions. The texture dialog does allow you to rotate the texture, but only in 90 degree increments. The example I cited before is a good example of the value of this feaure. If you place a procedural on an object and then you change its position, you can animate this change. The only way I see to do this now is to move the object through World Coordinates. Which changes its location within the scene, which is hardly useful. Having said that, I will take a look at your plugin tonight when I get in from work. Sounds like it might do what I need. Thanks for taking the time to respond here and to my personal message. Donnie

Eric, BTW, after taking more time to look at the new plugin it is even more impressive than I thought. Looks like it could solve a lot of interesting problems with regard to bump mapping. Looks good enough from a distance to simulate true displacement mapping. Really gives more depth than standard bump mapping. I am referring to the examples using the filter shader. Nice work on that one. Donnie

Yeah I saw your announcement about the new plugin. Looks very nice. First on my list of things to purchase is the PowerPack. After that I will look into getting the new plugin. As far as global coordinates with bumpmapping I know its not impossible for it to be done. Lightwave does it. Must be something that is harder to program or requires a different approch to the renderer as you suggested. There are some situations where it comes in handy, cant remember when I have used it, but I know I have. But for now I will just work with local. Either way, if it doesnt work, they should remove the button from the options. Donnie

Thanks for the response Eric. Do you know how long this limitation has been known? Seems strange that it only affects the bump channel. Thanks, Donnie

Thanks again TJ. I will work on the textures later this evening. Wife says supper is ready, so I will work on it later. Donnie

Thanks TJ. I've been having a blast learning Carrara. Thought I would try something that would be fun to create and still help educate me with regards to Carrara.

I agree with goofball. That sounds funny. The atmosphere and depth of field really help to sell the shot. I too have been messing with the terrain editor in Carrara. Almost as much fun as the tree generator. This is a very versatile program. I'm liking it more and more each day.

Hi Brian. Yeah custom leaves will be great. I keep discovering more and more good things in Carrara. This weekend should be good for me and the program. Supposed to rain all weekend. I was supposed to start work on our new patio, but looks like that wont happen. Actually Im hoping to get a call from the studio before the end of the week, I would love to try Carrara out on a project. Of course I hope its one that needs trees. :) I have Vue 4. It has decent plants, but you really cant edit them. You can with the Professional version, but it came out not long after I purchased Vue and I wasnt willing to pay the upgrade for something I just bought. So for the weekend, I should actually get something done with the program or end up with a bunch of new plants. Either way it will be fun. Donnie

Thanks for the advice Mark. Guess I purchase that after I spend some more time getting to know the main program. Only have limited time each night to mess with the program, for some reason I keep playing with the plant generator. lol Donnie

Thanks Mark. I think the price is wonderful. I realise the limitations with pixel effects, thats why I like the idea of generating real geometry. This will allow reflection and refraction of fur effects. I have a lot of idea already that I can use it for, much more than fur as you also mentioned. I was wondering though, is it better to go ahead and get the Power Pack at $99? I think I will want Grooves too. Together they approach the price of the Power Pack. Donnie

Hi Steama. No, I havnt decided to shelve LW just yet, but I am getting more comfortable with Carrara each day. I should have a project coming up soon for the studio. One of their clients, a local car dealer, usually has a theme for each month. So, for that project I intend to try Carrara since they are usually fairly simple. There are very few things I have done over the years with Lightwave that Carrara couldnt handle. Mainly Hypervovels. Modeling is a different story though. The modeler will be the hardest for me to wean myself from. I can see some things in Carrara that I would loved to have had for some past projects. Namely trees, and the explode deformer ( I like to run it backwards to "build" a logo from fragments). The other deformers are cool too. The rendering speed and a few of the things I mentioned above are the main reasons I was interested in Carrara, that and as I mentioned before, sometimes its good change software. Sometimes the challenge alone of learning something new and exploring its capabilities sparks some creativity. With that said, if I were a power user of Lightwave in a production environment doing lots of character animation or I was tied to a dedicated pipeline then I wouldnt even consider changing. But, for what I do Carrara can handle it and it has a lot of other stuff that I want to try, and of course the speedy rendering engine. Donnie