Outstanding everyone, if there ever is an answer to a Carrara riddle it is always here. Cutcopypaste thanks for the start. Tkane18 I used you technique on the project and it is working just fine. Thanks for the additional image Mark. And yes that is exactly the type of image I am looking for. Is that one spline? I cannot see the seams where they connect at the corners. Is it difficult to bow out the edges? As promised good karma is now being sent out to all. happy holidays memaci

I have had the same problem however with the Mac version of the program. I don't need to restart Carrara, I do need to close the file I am working on (after saving, of course) and reopen it. memaci

Thanks to all for the info. I did have all the settings checked off and it seems AzChip's dilema in Ray Dream is similar to my problem. I am eliminating the plastic window in the pack just to get the project off my desk. Thanks again memaci

Hi johnj First which OS are you using? If your using 9 or ealier I can suggest the following. Go under the "Get Info" file in the operating system and up the ram allocation for the Carrara application. To do this first quit Carrara. Second find the Carrara App. file and click once on it and leave it highlited. Then go to the "Get Info" command you can find it under the "File" command when you are in the Finder (desktop). You will see three options, click on memory and make your adjustments. Give it as much ram as possible while not choking off the OS. I used to run Carrara with 128 megs of ram just fine on a 300mhz G3, but it is always great if you can get more ram. I hope this helps, good luck. memaci

Kix. Thanks for the input. I did build the models myself. I know many of the details are way off on the ships. For the Enterprise I used a tiny 4 model I have of it at home and for the reliant I put the movie in my VCR and pressed pause at key moments and made some quick sketches. Consider both ships needing an accuracy refit! I have seen your work in the gallery Kixum, excellent details and proportions, I am a fan. What do you use for reference material when building your ship models? memaci

Thanks to all for your help. But I must move back to the stable 2-D world for awhile. I am going to assume that I have a system problem and that it is not a problem specific to Carrara. Good day to all. memaci

Thanks for the info Miss Nancy. As for specifics I do have Carrara version 1.1, Mac OS 8.6, 600+ megs of ram (Carrara gets well over half of it), 300 MHz G3 and I do not run virtual memory. I will check the OpenGL and other extensions. I dread to even think it but could I have a corrupt system. Should I call Dr. Norton? memaci

Thanks to all for the fast feedback. I will try all those techniques very soon. I have to finish some traditional 2-D freelance projects before I get my hands back into my 3-D projects. I've mostly been a silent participant for a few months reading all the postings at this site but I wanted to say thanks to all, it is a very helpful and very inspiring place to gather info for Carrara. I also wanted to say thanks to litst, I believe you are the creator of Real World Metals. Not only has this shader pack helped numerous images I have worked on but disecting the shader trees has helped me to understand better how the Carrara shaders work so I can create my own shaders. Again - many thanks memaci

I think number 2 is closer to my dilema. When I create a scene for new packaging as an example. There are times when I want to bring an older model into the same scene. I have tried importing and pasting the older model into the scene and the model imports or pastes into the new scene fine. It will even render properly with all the textures and shaders in place as long as I don't close the file. The problem is when I save the file and then close it. When I re-open the file to do more work all the models that I have pasted into the new scene get the new scenes default shader. But if I follow what your telling me, I have to save the file with shaders saved internally. Thats sounds logical, thanks for the info, I'll see if that works.