No I do not have Poser. I just talked to the Chief Financial Officer (wife). I had already budgeted for the upgrade to Lightwave. After running the demo through its paces a little for her she agreed that it would make more sense to purchase Carrara. The upgrade for Lightwave is really not going to improve my work. I am a veteran user, but I am not a heavy duty power user. There are about a 1000 things built into Lightwave that I dont use. So for everything I do need, Carrara seems to fit the bill. Not to mention all the cool "freebies" as I call them. The plant editor comes to mind. So, now I am waiting for them to e-mail me about my previous Infini-D license. I dont have the software anymore, ot the serial number. I know the software has changed companies now, but maybe they might have a record of it. If not, it will cost me an extra $150. But I look at it like I looked at the original purchase of Lightwave. A couple of jobs and it will pay for itself. Donnie

Hi Mike. Not really much of a decision. I have already seen enough, and the cost is such that if it doesnt work out, I wont be out a lot of money. I still plan to use Lightwave for projects. But once I get Carrara I plan to try some projects in it too. Once I get comfortable enough to rely on it solely, I will do so. For now I have some dedicated clients that I have to be sure and fulfil projects for. Once Carrara demonstrates it can (through my manipulation) achieve what I need, Lightwave might get shelfed. Even effects like exploding objects are easy with Carrara. Again, I guess I am very enthusiastic, but after working with Lightwave for so long and having to find workarounds for problems like this, it is a breath of fresh air to see Carrara do it effortlessly.

I would have to agree with you there SHONNER. Been working with it for about a day now, and I am getting along pretty well. This program has so many features for the money it seems like a steal. The plant generator is fascinating all by itself. Sometimes in life you stumble onto something and you think "Wow". For me that has been Carrara. So many features and the rendering is top notch. Like I said, I have worked for years with Lightwave. There are a lot of things with Carrara that Newtek could take lessons from. The lens flare editor is great, but I remember it has been great since the days of Infini-D. The plant generator, again is awesome and fun to explore, not to mention very useful. So many other things I could talk about in comparison with Lightwav, but for now I am too busy having fun exploring the program. Guess I'll get back to working with the demo now. Just wanted to re-iterate how pleased I am with Carrara so far. Donnie

Oh, one other thing. I started with Lightwave at version 5.6. I found I liked the interface, but for many people they either hate it or love it. The interface for Carrara has that Kai cuteness, but I think I can get used to it.

Good points there. Yes Lightwave is very powerful in many respects. But most of that power goes largely unused by myself. Some product shots and a few logo animations a month are all that I currently do. Small market where I am from. So far from the demo, I feel Carrara can do all that I require and a whole lot more if I get to that stage. Of course if I get to that stage I can always go bacl to Lightwave (7.5). Right now though, an update is about to be released for LW. Rendering speed from what I have seen has not been addressed. Physics have and appear fairly complete. But I was impressed with the physics example in Carrara demo. I will continue to play with the demo and then after a week or two make a decision. The cost for the upgrade to LW is about the same as the whole cost of Carrara. But since I dont use a whole lot of the extra features of Lightwave now, I think Carrara will probably be the better choice. Plus like I said, sometimes an app change can get you excited again. Cheers

Thanks for the welcome. I've been using Lightwave for so long it will be hard to get use to the interface and all the "cute" buttons, but as I mentioned before change is good. Sometimes changing programs or finding another tool can spark your creativity. I have tried Amapi before. Been a while though, and at the time Lightwaves' modeler provided everything I needed. But if I start using Carrara too, I'm sure Amapi will be great. Not saying LW's modeler is better than Amapi, just I was already used to it and the modeling tasks I was and have been doing were easily acomplished with it. If I purchase Carrara I will be kind of starting fresh, so I will definitely give Amapi a try then. On the site its says I can upgrade (being a previous Infini-D user). I havnt owned Infini-D since around 1997. Sure wish I had held on to that disc just for this promotion. But even at $399 its still a very good bargain from what I have seen. Donnie

Hello yourself. I must say that after viewing your recent uploads, you too are very talented. I am still in the learning process with Vue. I am a freelance 3D artist. My main tool for the past few years has been LightWave. But I have had the most fun using Vue the past few weeks. (when I have time) Luckily I also have a real job. ;-) Look forward to seeing more of your work. Donnie

I'm that way too, but unfortunately I have to work.:-) Donnie

Try clicking the close button on the finished picture. Then try using the export picture function on the menu. Dont know if it will work, but maybe worth a shot. Donnie

Also, it should be noted that the statement regarding Terragen is not completely accurate.

"This was a refreshing discovery since I half expected a product designed at DD to be one step removed from command line code."

Yes Matt works for Digital Domain, but Terragen's main features were long established before he began work for DD.

Donnie