Linux is not supported for Carrara.  So XP for 64bit is your only choice. Of course, Carrara isn't 64bit, so that won't help you exept being able to supply your machine with more then 4G of RAM.
  I have no idea what Qube is, so I can't comment on that.

Otherwise I agree with the others that a basic fast machine with a render farm would be your best bet. (And I'm envious of your budjet!!)

Good luck and happy rendering! :D

Quote - You could consider changing your frame rate and then restretch the file to the desired frame rate. Let's say that currently you have one second of animation, but you want it to take 1/2 second.  Render the movie at 15 frames per second and then in a video editor, retime the clip to double-speed on a 30 frame per second timeline.  

It's a kludge work-around, but it should do what you're looking for.

 - Dex

It would work, but you would have rough motion. Your frames would jump from one position to another at a rate that you could see and it would look bad. Even using high-end re-timing plug-ins in, say, After Effects would end up being choppy.

Do the "Select all the keys you want to time shrink, and hold down the CTRL key as you drag" suggestion. This will move the keys selected at a different rate then you drag, proportionally shrinking as you go, (or growing if you drag in the other direction.) 
You may need to drag them a few times to find the right timing, but it will do the job. I've used it a couple times to correct for timing errors in my animations.
I also suggest putting a temp keyframe in a un-used objects timeline. If you place it where you want your animation to actually end, and don't select it with the others, you can drag the other keyframes to line up with it and lock to it. (If you click on the button in te timeline editor for "Lock-to")

Hope this helps!! :D

The Carrara file exceeds R'Osity's file size limit otherwise I'd attach it here. If anyone would like a copy, email me your address @ bluetone@verizon.net and I'll send it along! :D

A simple cylinder shrunk down in 2 dimensions and extending it in the 3rd. Give it the preset of sub-surface scattering 'Lava Lamp' shader, then tweaking the transparent a bit, then tweaking the color to suit. Adding Anything Glows (included with more recent versions of Carrara,) and setting the Scene to have both a 3D Aura and Glare effects.

Hope this helps! :D

Only if your pj's are Java enabled... ;)

Since I've only had a chance to get back here a couple times in the past few months (personal issues for me as well,) I hadn't known you had left. But now that I do, I must say (belatedly,) you will be missed! Your help with the newbies (me at one time,) and the more advanced users who need help just as often. (Me again.. ;)  )

Your attention to the details, (shadow quality testing, the intricite details on the Star Wars & Star Trek models, ) have been an ispiration.

Thank you for your time and help! And good luck with all your future renderings! (3D as well as 'Real life'! )

Will there be some way to tell if people are chatting from here on the forum? In the top 'banner' area maybe?

Would that work out of the box with the camera in Carrara? I'm not a programmer, but if it had a control panel to program some simple commands, that might work.

Anyone else doing this?

Thanx for the heads up! Guess I'll pass on it for now...

It was not a change, you used to be able to do it no problem....
File exchange helps many people out here who get assistance from others by sharing the file that's causing a problem, or sharing a solution to a problem.

I think that IS within the spirit of this and other forums. If you disagree, then let's start a new thread and open this idea up to the community. I think it's important to leave this option open.

Actually, that's not altogether true... you can attach a different kind of file, just change the extention, (i.e. ".car") to a supported extention type, (i.e. ".txt") and then you can attach it to a message here. Just let folks know what extention it's supposed to be and your all set.

Quote - You're only allowed to attach images in the forums.  If you want to provide a .car file or shader, you'll need to host the file on your webspace and post a link to it here or you can post the link in the Carrara free stuff area.   

Irene

I would think a Particle object that you then animate it's motion with the particles being bubbles and have them set to 'Free' would work out. Give them plenty of 'Life' so that they survive long enough to work, and set them to have a slight negative 'Z' gravity setting so that they float up in the water.

As far as a wake on the surface, LOTS of people have tried many different methods to create a wake. The best that I know of involves creating a 2d video, then using it as a displacement map on the surface of your water.

Let us all know how it all works out for you!

I would think that the Infinite Plane would not be able to take a Displacement map, so Carrara changes it into a finite plane so it can handle the math. Otherwise it would have to add 'infinity' to all the calculations, and that would crash the machine.

Not so much a bug, but an impossible request that gets converted into something it can handle.

If you have C5, then there is an option in the particle modeling room for setting the particles to start BEFORE your timeline. So, if you want to fill the fountain, set it to start earlier, then you can leave your timeline set at Frame '0' and not worry about accidentily animating an object by adjusting while at the wrong frame. (A problem I have struggled with more then once. :(  I was SO glad when they added a Frame '0' to be able to correct for such Operator Errors!)

I agree! Great ideas here for lightning, volumetric clouds, and translucent objects being lit from within!

Brian-
If you want to upload a file to R'Osity, change it's extension to something R'Osity accepts. Like .txt, or .jpg. Just let people know you've changed the name, and tell them what name to change it back to and it works fine.  When HowieFarkes uploaded his file earlier, he actually posted a link to his own server where he didn't have the same constraints as the R'Osity servers have.

Hope this helps and thanx for the tips! :D