Attached Link: The news is here!

Eh. Something happened...

They kept a secret very well: http://www.3dXtract.com

I already preordered my copy of the Pro version.

Okay. Now I will go and find my jaw. Must be somewhere around here, under the desk.

Message edited on: 08/31/2004 03:16

Attached Link: Eovia's announcement

What I'd really like to know is if there is render-time displacement mapping. The enhancements sound good but there aren't many details as yet... and the 'Pro' version, including Transposer & CADStyle & Amapi Designer licence for $199 upgrade makes me wonder why I bothered buying any of those...

Well, let's say that I am very happy I didn't. I think they should include an extra offer for people who did buy them. Because this time you get the whole bunch for just 70 dollar more... This comes as a bit of a surprise, doesn't it?

Well, yes it does rather. If I wanted CADStyle now (which fortunately I don't) I'd have to pay 299 euros... What's also odd is that to upgrade from C4 standard to C4Pro is $300... It doesn't say that these are pre-release prices but perhaps they are?

It might be a way of showing that if you ever think about upgrading to PRO, you better buy the PRO version all the same. The prerelease offer is more about some extra bonus material. I think the prices will stay the same. For 208.90 euros the pro version will come to my front door (including a t-shirt, a book with tips & tricks and I think I qualify for the Mdelaflor book as one of the first 50 preorderers...). I am lucky enough to use it professionally, so I did not give it a second thought. Now I really have to learn Amapi...

yeah,i cant wait to play with carrara 4 pro.i bought lightwave 8 last week and im very happy that carrara 4 supports the lwo file format.i just pre ordered carrara 4 pro 5 minutes ago.:)

Message edited on: 08/31/2004 04:48

Looks good, however, I'm a little miffed that I already have Amapi Designer 7 and transPoser. And yet, it doesn't look like there will be any price breaks for that. I wonder if anybody wants to buy a copy of Amapi Designer 7 and transPoser? (If that's allowed) I really wish I had waited a couple of months. I only upgraded to Carrara 3 in June. Oh well, live and learn.

Eovia Introduces Carrara 4 Press Release For Immediate Release - Two new versions allow greater accessibility and affordability while expanding rich toolset - Apple Expo 2004 Paris, France August 31, 2004 Eovia Corporation, developer and publisher of leading 3D animation, modeling and rendering software, today introduced Carrara 4, the powerful, approachable, complete 3D solution. This new release replaces Carrara Studio 3 and will now be available in Pro and Standard versions. Carrara 4 Pro delivers an enhanced breadth of capabilities and power that professionals demand. Carrara 4 Standard provides the same approachable interface at an even more affordable price for non-experts. The dramatic enhancements to Carrara 4 provide greater options both for advanced users as well as newcomers, said Eovia CEO Philippe Richard. Our goal with this release is to provide a solution that not only invites more designers to consider 3D, but also supports professionals with a powerful product that puts no limits on their imagination. Eovia Carrara 4 software provides powerful tools for motion media, print, and the web. Additionally, this release complements every designers creative suite by providing improved interchange with industry-leading design applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Corel Painter, web tools such as Macromedia Shockwave and Flash, and video editing and effects software such as Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress, Premiere and After Effects. New features in Carrara 4 Standard include a terrain editor and scene manipulators, and improved IK, motion paths, timeline support, and more. Carrara 4 Pro software adds multi-node distributed rendering, vector and 3D motion blur, extended file import, and more. Eovia expects to ship the new release in October. Carrara 4 Pro software will be competitively priced at US$599, with Carrara 4 Standard at US$299. Customers who purchase Carrara Studio 3 between August 31 and November 30, 2004 will be eligible for a free upgrade to Carrara 4 Pro. Eovia is also accepting pre-booking of the Carrara 4 upgrade on the Eovia e-store. Users can upgrade from Carrara Studio 2 or 3 to Carrara 4 Pro for US$199 and to Carrara 4 Standard for US$129. About Eovia Corporation Eovia Corporation is dedicated to providing unique solutions for creative professionals as well as those just starting their journey into 3D. The companys award-winning 3D modeling, animation, and rendering tools offer superior versatility, affordability and unmatched ease-of-use. Eovias Amapi and Carrara software families deliver improved productivity to design and manufacturing environments by providing exceptional interchange with industry-leading applications. Founded in November 2000, Eovia has offices in both the US and Europe. Eovia Media Contacts Worldwide (except France, Europe) Karen Smyth karen@eovia.com +1 (650) 938-0515 x101 Europe Stefan Blomberg stefan@eovia.com +33 (0) 5 56 13 71 53 Copyright Eovia 2004. Eovia, the Eovia logo, Amapi Designer, Carrara and Carrara Studio are registered trademarks or trademarks of Eovia Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Just go for the Pro version of Carrara4 guys. It has tons of stuff and saves you lots of money. Ringo

I did. But it would have been nice if the fresh CAD style, TransPoser and Amapi buyers could get some kind of refund... I am all excited, all day. But I will have to practice some patience...

yep,that would be very cool,cause i have transposer and amapi 7 and pro too.

Yea, Amapi 7 Pro here too. I will have to say though, the full whammy with Pro Nurbs is worth something. Once again, this version fixes two of my biggest pet peeves which is blurry reflections and motion paths! Now, we get a translucency channel in the next version, Kix will be cool. I'm ordered up and I'll be bragging all day to my buddies. -Kix

-Kix

I've been bragging to a lot of people. The only reaction I get is a raised eyebrow though. Even through the phone. I guess it is a kind of personal joy...

Sad, sad... :-)

model with Silo, and render with Carrara... sounds ok to me, just wish the price reflected this sort of scenario a bit better is all... ;)

I have been thinking of getting Amapi Designer 7, now Eovia has made it simple. Just get the pro-version. Network rendering? I guess that means I can't sell my G4 when I order my G5 some time next year. I like the fact that Eovia illustrates this network rendering feature with 3 G5 sitting side by side. I wish I could get that setup. At least $200 is not that steep, considering that that's the price I was indenting to spend on Amapi. I do agree that Amapi users should get a discount, at least $150 upgrade price would be a start.

Am I the only one that was expecting a bit more from this release? Version 2 to Version 3 was a big jump. Apart from adding some bundled plugins to the package there isnt much here that is that impressive. It seems more like Carrara 3.5 then Carrara 4 :( Mabey it is just Eovia understating how much is in their release is like they sometimes seem to but I have not been impressed yet.

I had the same reaction. After all they did between 1 and 2, or 2 and 3, this seems more like a point upgrade. For a hefty jump in price, too. Looks like they have given up on modelling in Carrara native -- going to concentrate on Amapi instead. Which is probably a lot more sensible but that was one of my attractions to Carrara; that it is simple to get around in (and to us old RDS users, familiar as well.) Maybe when the full list of features is posted, we'll see if there's some fixes to the UVmapper (to make it more closely match the rest of the UI and to improve selection within it), the metaballs modeller (ditto), and some of the other fixes and minor enhacements we've talked about here.

You know, even though I have Carrara 3 Studio, it would be slightly cheaper for me to upgrade again if allowed; and then receive Carrara 4 Pro free. (Probably not allowed).

I think as a new buy, pro is okay value but as an upgrade I am not yet convinced. I also dont like the idea of pro and standard versions. It smells of a company trying to make an extra buck out of the customers instead of trying to give the customers the best value for money. This is the reason I got Carrara 3 because it was a great product with amazing features added and if this pace of development continued then it would be an amazing pro level application in no time at all. I really hope they are keeping the best fetures underwraps till the release date is near.

what I really want to know is : are there any improvements to the bones? I see the IK stuff - but the weight mapping is a huge pain, and you cant load or save custom weightmaps.

I have the educational version of Cararra 3. Does anyone know if they're offering a pre-order for the educational 4 Pro upgrade yet? I can't wait to learn more about the new landscape improvements. Looks exciting!

Yah...there's just tantalizing hints on the preview pic of the landscape thingy. I find myself hoping from some of the labels that it is a geomorphic proceedural engine. I might not make any images with it, but I find the whole concept cool as heck. In general what they seem to have done was bring up various levels of the program, mostly the import/export stuff, up to where it could play nice with the big boys -- so they could then hang the "pro" label on and re-stage it as an intro and a full function, akin to those big boys.

What about particles??? :( It would be great if they would collide with something other than the floor (ground). I agree -to few facts so far and seems like a .5 upgrade.

ok i have a question...ive been seriously looking at Truespace 6.6..some of the deals they offer are hard to pass up and it seems like Truspace with all the potential plugins may be the better of the 2 packages to consider... anyone have any insight? ive been trying to check out reviews of Truespace to make a decesion..id be grateful for any experiences... i just bought Mimic 3 for Poser5..but damn..im getting all these programs and not a lot of time to learn all of them...i like Carrara, but if itd be better for me to just concentrate on Truespace...or even 3DSMax then...

I have both trueSpace 6.6 and Carrara 3. Although trueSpace has a lot of power, it isn't as usuable to me. I just can not get a grip on the interface. Don't get me wrong, trueSpace can produce some great models; just not from me. If you have a choice of Carrara or 3DS Max, I would go with Max. I just can't justify the cost for my uses.

Well first Todd71 you are talking about some pretty big price differences (tSp vs 3DSMax). It all depends on your needs. Are you a Pro or hope to be one? What do you want to do in graphics (3D)? I have tSp 6.6, LW 8, C4D 8.5, CS 3, and a few others. I'll sell you my tSP 6.6 & my ProTeam membership if you want. I personally prefer LW. Don't get me wrong I like C4D alot, but when you compare features and cost...LW is hard to beat. Even with the new cloth system, interface, and new render features of C4D...it's about $1900.00 US. Heck, right now LW 8 with tons of learning materials is only $1600, and it's got dynamics too. With C4D you have to pay about $2300 to get dynamics. Ok I know C3 is actually probably harder to beat in the features-to-cost ratio but there are some things like full dynamics, particles, hypervoxels, dopesheet, full featured graph editor etc... that C3 doesn't have (and it doesn't seem like C4 does either). Again, just my opinion. With tSp you need to really try the demo for a while because you need to make sure you can deal with the interface. Some love it, some don't. I actually don't mind it for short term projects, but anything longer and I get annoyed. Ok, so this is a CS forum. I think as a new user C4 is a great deal. As an upgrade...I'll have to see what details come out...to vague yet. I also agree it stinks if you have the CAD and TransPoser plug-ins, or Amapi Pro...you should get alittle more of a break.

Attached Link: http://www.eovia.com/carrara4/product_intro_car4.jsp

There's now something more than the press release to look at on Eovia's Web site.

what i dont like in truespace is that it has obj import but no export,i also dont like the interface but the particle effect system looks interesting.

yeah i was looking over C4 and the announcement, but i want an 'all inclusive' package..if i want to animate, it should be able to do all of that...i want to do character animaion and multimedia stuff...basically do short movies... i like C and the way its laid out, but i just re-enrolled in school, so ill be able to pick up some of the academic version of software cheaper... i keep getting those great deals from TS and they seem to do everything...yeah i was reading about the interface thing too... theres so much out there and every group generally has its opinions its hard to find any biased reviews with everything at once...lol..

todd71 I am not sure if they have a TS Demo, but that would probably be the best way to see if you can handle the UI. I have heard a lot of criticism on Carrara's UI, some like it some don't. I guess it kind of looks to KAI for some people, but and the end what matters is not so much what others think, but what you think, so a Demo comes in handy.

Demo everything possible :)

yeah i try to demo stuff before i buy it...C was a good step for me cuz i started out with the Metacreations stuff so it was at least familiar for me...lol... but its like i dont have enough hours in the day to try everything...lol...i generally end up buying a bunch of stuff i never use...arrgh...lol.. thanks for all the advice guys...

I think TS seems like a great app but the impression I get is that there are lots of half implemented features that dont really work as well as you would expect. Instead of developing features properly it seems like they have spread themselves too thin and made an app that covers a lot of ground but not with much depth. I wonder what 7 will be like.

Count me among those who are kind of disappointed with the new features. I'm just a hobbyist, so the pro version is out of reach for me. And a feature I've really wanted, blurry reflections, is being "held hostage" by the pro version. I think my wishlist is pretty different from most people's, though. Everyone wants loads of features for animation, landscapes, and PoserPoserCharacterPoserPoser. Those are the three things I'm least interested in. So I guess I should be happy they've done SOME of the things I wanted (like the manipulator)

I may demo that Amapi and see if I can finally get into it. The versions I've tried before combined the counter-intuitive icons of a Kai interface with the bugginess of Poser5.0.0, under the banner of ESL menus and options that made less sense than the dubs on my favorite chop-socky flick.

see..im so sick of poser..i like that idea of it, but its too specialized for its own good...if C had Posers capabilities..or vice versa, then thatd be something... C with the character animating capabilities of poser would be awesome...

The inclusion of Designer is a good idea for those that dont have it. It looks like a great application.

count me amongst the sick of poser as well... I was really wishing for better bones in this version.

The thing is what exactly is so pro about the features that they have included in the pro version? Blurry reflections are avaliable in Bryce (nothing really pro about this), Transposer is only useful for people with Poser (again not many 3D pros are poser users) , Cadstyle is just a set of import filters. I think that the Inclusion of Amapi Designer is a great idea and my hat goes off to Eovia for this. The network rendering is definately a pro feature. With Amapi the split between pro and designer felt natural because not everyone would want nurbs or be willing to pay for them. The pro and standard versions of Carrara feel very artificial. It is almost like they did not have enough reasons to justify the split so they threw in some plugins to justify it. The core application does not seem to have changed enough to warrant an upgrade.

i agree..the pro and standard versions just just 'feel' right...i thought the new version was supposed to be targeted more toward the animation areas...ill have to put my 2 cents in with the rest that dont think its all it should be..

Renderer: I agree with you. I am also a hobbyist and I can't justify paying $70 more to have blurry reflections. I loved the upgrade to Carrara3, it was full of new features and enhancements. Carrara was following a path that was exciting and had a bright future. The biggest problem that I see now is going forward. I am sure that all the cool and neat new features in future releases will only be available in the pro version, where they will charge big premiums, leaving a stale standard version that will start looking mediocre as 3D development moves forward.

Eovia doesn't know its customers.

It thinks its existing hobbyist users are interested in doing CAD work and buying plugins/apps they already have.

Eovia's marketing department could have pushed for two different products consisting of a real pro version of Carrara 4 that has everything upgraded in it (not just tossing in Amapi 7 and slapping "Pro" on the box), and a bundle of their CAD plugins (along with a Carrara render engine) as a seperate product for sale to CSi's concepts2D and concepts3D users that Eovia is trying to lure.

www.shonner.com

Message edited on: 08/31/2004 21:06

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

As soon as I saw network rendering, I was hooked. That has been my big pet peeve. Raydream used to have it, then Carrara lost it. Now it's back! :D Sound support: Anyone doing character work NEEDS sound support, and from what the screen capture shows, it drops right into the timeline allowing for lipsyncing the easy way... hell.. the POSSIBLE way! I tried it before WITHOUT sound... ARGH! UGLY! Another plus having that. Motion paths: I hope they REALLY fixed these! So many little animations, fly-throughs and the like, are a BEAR to do with keyframes and tweeners, but with a motion path? Easy peasy! :D I just hope that there is a new tool for simply DRAWING the path in the assembly room. The old way stinks! CADStyle: I couldn't justify it before, now it's included? Great! Transposer: Same here! But lets add the BVH and FBX support. Now the standards of the motion capture industry are available! YEAH! :D Alpha channel support in textures: one word... DUH! This has been a LOOOONG time needed. Why have to make multiple copies of your textures to get simple transparences... input one file for both! :D Scene manipulator: a simple add (from what I can see,) but well worth adding. Terrain editor: Another LOOOOOOONG overdue addition. The old way? Stunk! I hope the new way is more intuitive and allows for DEM support and the like. That's it for my rants... for now! My overall feeling? Yeah! I put MY money down! :D

the network rendering was a must...id have had to have given up if it hadnt been in the new version, but still...there should be more... 2 of the additions were already available (Transposer and CAD), so thats no real bonus..plus Transposer is only a bonus to people who have and use Poser... CAD...what am i going to do with that?..lol..id rather have the export to Flash available to me... Amapi was already available and theyre just upping it to 7..i got 6 i think when i got C3... ive got it, but its just too much to learn and not enough of an animation package for me to want to use... Terrain is nice...but still waits to be seen if something like Bryce wont do it better and let you import it... so out of all the new stuff the only thing i can see thats going to be sooper useful to me is Nework Rendering and the sound support (but that still remains to be seen)...and morph targets will be nice to be able to help animating things... what i want to be able to do is character animation..walk cycles..etc..scenes, movies, etc...the trees are nice but id like to be able to deform them a bit more in the tree maker...lol..maybe thats too much to hope for.. with the IK itd be kind of nice to have some preset joints..like 'elbow' or 'arm' and then i could tweak it from there if it didnt do exactly what i wanted... so for 200.00 ive got pretty much the same thing i had before only i can render it a bit faster and have blurry reflections...? im just not seeing the confetti parade yet...lol..i was excited more when there was the talk about it moving more toward the animation enhancements...maybe im just not seeing it...

I have an amapi designer tutorial cd (at 3dcommune--I dont have it here because I cant have the downloadable version here as well [too large]) that totally details all of the tools in designer...gives tips and tricks, and shows you how to model thru step-by-step tutorials (that actually occur onscreen) to show you how to use designer. cPro is the way to go here...especially if you want to model as well..and designer is quite a modeller.

:)
BT

Message edited on: 08/31/2004 21:41

Yeah CPro is going to be the ONLY way to go (im still confused why theyre doing a standard version)...lol..thanks for he heads up brycetech..looks like for those of use that dont use Amapi now we're gonna need help...:) maybe we should have a hostile take over of the Amapi forum so we only have to go to one place for all of our info...hmmmm....;)...lol..theyd never suspect it...i hear theyve gotten fat from sitting on the couch eating bon bons and watching their soaps all day...this may be the best time for as surprise attack...;)

The Amapi forum should start picking up speed again when schools resume in the next couple weeks. Lots of students can afford Amapi Pro 7 now using academic pricing ($125). www.shonner.com

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

dont most students go for lightwave or 3dsmax tho? the school im going to attend is having us buy 3dsmax i believe... i wouldnt think amapi and carrara are especially well known...

I'm talking about young students. Hobbyists in highschool or junior high playing on their dad's computer. Colleges aren't going to teach Eovia software to those wanting a career in 3D animation. Those students look for certified schools that emphasize on MAX or MAYA apps. Some art schools go with ZBrush. Photography and graphic design schools go with Lightwave and Photoshop. Even most adult education schools are pushing Lightwave and Poser as minimum apps to use in their 3D classes. www.shonner.com

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

I really see this whole thing as a great opportunity gone mediocre. The whole C4 Std and C4 Pro thing...what other software has done that successfully. Look at Inspire and LW. Not to mention what will become of Carrara Basics? Trying to appeal to everyone is admirable but often difficult in the marketplace. It seems a better approach would be to fine tune and fully develop the tools in C3. If you want to have different levels of your software than go the Maxon (C4D) approach. Adding awesome modules as needed. Maxon is one company that has not only listened to its' users but embraced their opinions. One more note before I get off my pedestal, can software companies come out with true updates instead of "point" updates that really don't add much for the consumer but does add $ to the companies pockets? Stop incorporating existing plugins and calling it an upgrade! [Jumps of pedestal] Maybe they will listen for C5, or C4.5 :)

ok, so for those in the know..how does Cinema 4D compare to Carrara?

Try the demos. While Carrara does have more features, C4D outshines C3 on the ones they both have. Compare the features, see what you do need and then try the demos. Actually one important "unlisted feature" of software is the community and support. Check out the different forums and available tutorials and training materials. Great features are only great if you know how to use them.

great advice..thanks...:)

yep,try demos,this the best way to see what is the best for you.
cinema4d is a cool program but it only rocks if you have all plugins and that is to expensive.just my 2 cents.:)

Message edited on: 09/01/2004 01:12

I'll probably get modo for my next new system. I've been watching the videos of it at www.luxology.com

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

Well, I think modo appears to be a little epensive if I got it right from their website. And Carrara? I will wait until all you enthusiastic people will have bought it and report the first big bugs contained in the software. I really like Carrara but sometimes this progy is strange. Version3 has still to many bugs which will be substituted by new bugs in version4 I believe. And I agree with some others here: If you sell a pro version than include all of the important plugins and not just cad style (which I do not need) and transposer (which I do have but which needs improvement). Eovia tries to make much money (which is sort of ok) but we users should be careful, try the demo first and report our experience with the demo to the community. pre-ordering a software because you can get a free t-shirt like one person here reported seems to be a little stupid.

Marcus Lutz Weblaboratory

emell.eu

Isn't right that Carrara was born from the Raydream and Infini-D? Well, i Just open my old Infini-D 4.5 to doble check and I was right: By that time particles use to collide with objects other than the ground. Where is it now? Eovia should bring it back as "New PRO feature". ********* what about Beta version for pre-orders? **********

Claudiomil, Thank you........I agree 1000%. Personally, I would love to see C4 as a new updated version of Infini-D. Infini-D was (is) an awesome program. Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! Infini-D 5 !!! :)

modo is very cool,i waited long for the release,but 895,-us dollar only for a poly modeling program is to expensive,i like the morph tools but modo is to expensive.a price between 200 and 300 us dollar should be fair for modo,anyway amapi is my favorite modeling app and has more import and export options,amapi supports many file formats,modo only 4,i think.

I think Amapi Pro is a more of an all round modeller then Modo. Modo is part of the SDS Nendo/Mirai winged edge craze that is going on at the moment. I don't think Modo does Nurbs at all. I think Modo was created to fill the gap that was left in the Market when Mirai disappeared. That being a VERY powerful but easy to use modelling, texturing and animating tool with a nonlinear work flow. Since Mirai many apps have emulated its feature set (Wings, Silo and some of the big name apps have borrowed ideas). One interesting application that is on the way is Madsie Freestyle. No real demos are avaliable at the moment but the developer seems to be on a similar path to Modo albeit he wants to release a freeware version and also make a pay version that is not too expensive.

$695 (the introductary price) for modo doesn't seem too bad. It looks like a solid modeler with a customizable GUI. What sold me though with CPro4 was the special upgrade price. And the simple fact that you can now move, stretch, and rotate objects in a scene properly now. It's kind of sad in a way that Eovia's marketing team uses this as a selling point on their site. It's like they're only marketing C4 to RayDream/Carrara users and not the world. Eovia needs to show why their software is different/better than everyone else's for the price. But then there is the alternate universe where Eovia thinks only professional CAD users are interested in their software. www.shonner.com

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

i thought the introductary price for modo is only till the end of august.i wait and want to see more about modo and what users will say about the tool.and yes,modo is only for polygon modeling,no nurbs. im going to check Madsie Freestyle out if i can find it.but at the end, i dont want to buy another modeling tool,cause i have amapi 7/pro(my favorite),silo and lightwave 8(for animation). btw,Mirai is not dead,there is mirai 1.5 in the making,maybe it will be released this year.

You have Silo and Lightwave? modo would be over-kill for you. I have ZBrush and Amapi D/P 7, so modo wouldn't add much more to that for its price. But I am still on the lookout for a better NURBS modeler that doesn't dish out red "-" marks after each chamfer or boolean cut. www.shonner.com

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

Im not gonna rush for this UG as i think its somewhat limited for the price, Blurry Reflections, 3d Motion Blur and Vector Motion Blur should be in a V4 upgrade wether you buy pro or not as I already own Transposer and Amapi 7, plus the Landscape and Sky look a lot like the old plugins from the raydream days. Where are the improvement's to the shader and render setting ie subsurface scattering etc, particles not even touched. Plus the cost. Standard Upgrade 105 for less than 10 additions or Pro for 162, with XSI and 40hrs of tutorials now only 350 (yes 200+ difference) its getting harder to go for these Ugrades take into account that Carrara will need to get to ver 6 before we see resonable cloth and hair inc. FWIW im not going to abandon Carrara as Im very happy with version 3, Amapi 7 and Transposer, V3 is one of the best apps on the market for its specific market but a V4 tag needed more possibly a 3.5 would have been a better title.

Is the Yahoo Carrara group making similar posts about C4? Or is that group still just a pep rally for people that work at Eovia?

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

hey SHONNER,i have and use zbrush since last august,makes a lot of fun.:)

It's because of ZBrush that I'd like to know if C4 has render-time displacement mapping... Even Poser has render-time displacement mapping. :-)

I'd be happy if a Greeble plugin was made for Carrara. Maybe Digital Carvers Guild will make one. Then we could all be rendering Deathstar surfaces.

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

sub pixel displacement and normal mapping would be cool.anyway,the zbrush displacement maps are working with anything grooves very well.

The UG is now in beta phase, I understand from the Yahoo list. The complete list of features will be available later. I agree that with the current information a 3.5 title would have been more appropriate (fixing issues instead of opening new realms), but the total Pro Package is an unbeatable deal!

What is normal mapping?

Attached Link: This is where this knowledge comes from

mmm, maybe that the map shows up where you expect? Only joking ofcourse In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping is a more advanced version of bump mapping. While bump mapping uses grayscale variance, normal mapping uses the three color channels (RGB) for the three normal axis (XYZ). Like bump mapping, it is used to add details to shading without using more polygons. How it Works: To calculate the light on a surface, the vector for an incoming light source is dotted with the vector normal to that surface, and the result is the intensity of the light on that surface. Imagine a polygonal model of a sphere - you can only approximate the shape of the sphere, and how good your approxmation looks depends upon the number of polygons you use. Each triangle on the face of the sphere will have a specific light value, and this light value will be uniform across that entire triangle - giving the sphere a rather jagged look. With normal mapping, instead of just one normal vector for each triangle, there's a multitude of them, and thus the shading on the sphere looks much more realistic - from a a distance, it doesn't seem to be made up of individual triangles.

Attached Link: http://www.monitorstudios.com/bcloward/tutorials_normal_maps1.html

Interesting.. . thanks. I found more detailed info here. . . I'm still not quite getting it, but I will look a little more. Markd

So do you want to use CS to GENERATE this kind of thing, or are you trying to display them? Or something else? I think it might be possible to do a shader that modifies the normal based on RGB to XYZ mapping. . is that what you are looking for?

Have you seen what a nice blurry rendering one can do in Carrara Studio 3? Look what FWTempest posted 1 September in the Carrara Gallery... I think that there must be more workarounds for thinks like motion blur and soft clouds. And would you start a renderfarm with Carrara? It is a shame that there was no sound editing and better motion paths in Carrara already as in the likes as Truespace and Animation Master.

WOULD I start a renderfarm with Carrara? I have before by using multiple computers at crunch time. Using the batch render option and telling each computer to only render so many frames as sequential stills. Then dropping them together onto a video editers timeline. Render and voila! Added sound and everything. BUT... it was a pain to manage, if a computer went down, figuring out where to restart, etc... A true renderfarm has a computer parse out the work and do all the managment of files so that when it is all said and down it is completed as FAST as possible, and everything is in one place instead of spread out all over the network. I, for one, am looking forward to that one feature alone! :D

Think of upgrading to Carrara Pro 4 as just buying a few new plugins for your Carrara 3. It is worth getting for the special price right now (I'm not sure what I'll do now with two copies of Amapi Designer 7 I won't use). A new user paying $599 for it would seem insane, though. And that's probably why Eovia is offering it for free to people buying C3 right now. I wonder if buying another copy of C3 is a cheaper way of getting CPro4? :)

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 13:02

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

Is this 5-node network rendering limit a limitation of the software? Or is it a licensing limit on the Pro version and we'll be able to buy additional licenses for larger renderfarms?

sorry for my late answer about normal mapping. i dont want to generate normal maps in carrara,i want to use them in carrara,it would be a cool feature but it is not a must.:)

Carrara needs a new content CD with models made by Carrara instead of the same old RayDream models.

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

I just looked at the XSI hompage and I cant even figure that out! It is soo complicated. Man, I dont think I will ever enjoy using those huge complicated pro apps.

xsi is a beast but i think you need much time to learn it.:)

Daigoro- From what I could tell, using them is only useful in real time graphics, where the GPU can help out. . . how would this be useful in CS? Markd

XSI does require a lot of time learning just one feature of it. It is a tweaker's paradise, though. Give it time and it will have plenty of online and printed resources like Max, Maya, and Rhino enjoy.

I just ordered a book from Amazon that explains how to make morphs for Poser 5. I'm going to use Amapi Pro 7 to do the modeling. I hope the learning curve is short there.

Message edited on: 09/04/2004 21:01

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

@mdesmarais,i know,i just thought about game models and stuff like that.:) @Shonner,your right,i have the learning edition of xsi,it was in a magazine but im not interested and i will stay with what i have,what is more then enough.:)

I really belive that a lot of these "upgrades " should be more of an UPDATE and be free to those who already bought this program. the only thing i see here for the most part is improvements of whats already there and for that they are only fixing what is wrong with it in the first place and these upgrade prices are getting way to much and I for one am done with getting any more upgrades of carrara ! and many other programs as well, I really think these companys are getting out of hand with all of these pricey updates

yup... I agree... Wings3D, C4D CE, and Carrara Studio 2 is all I require :D

I sent an email to Eovia expressing my concerns about the pricing for current owners of transPoser and Amapi Designer 7; and got a reply. To paraphrase, they took it into account that people would have already bought transPoser, else the upgrade price would have been much higher. They stand by their decision. Basically, it tells me they don't care about their customers. I am really going to have to think very hard about doing business with a company I no longer trust. /rant off

I just want to point out something about Amapi 7 in Carrara 4 Pro. The upgrade between CS 2 and CS 3 was $169. The current upgrade price between CS 3 and CS 4 Pro is $199, so the difference is only $30 and not only did we include as many new features but for those $30 you get Amapi 7, TransPoser, CADStyle. So are you expecting a $10 discount for each of those products that you already own ? Besides you still own your copy of Amapi 7 or TransPoser even if you buy the upgrade to Carrara 4 Pro meaning that you can still sell them to someone else... Charles

Who are you going to sell them too if everyone already has them? Im thinking a choice of upgrade options are expected, so we get some use out of what we buy...maybe a 'Pick 2' option... its about customer service..giving the customer what THEY want and not what the company wants..that way the company makes money and creates consumer loyalty, SO the customers dont discuss different upgrade options that include switching to the competition...

I am curious. What do you really expect ? If we had an upgrade for $169 which did not include Amapi 7, TransPoser or CADStyle, would you be happy ? Is that a $30 discount you are looking for ? Charles

im expecting some form of customer service and a level of support from companies that doesnt really seem to exist anymore... more than a feeling of...'yeah we know you may not want this stuff, and a bunch of you have already bought it, but oh well'... if they had an upgrade for 169.00 and didnt offer anything else..that would be fine..BUT the fact is they are offering something else...and have come across like 'oh well'... its coming across as another company...trying to be in a competitive situation...but then disregarding what their customers are saying and asking for... its great to bundle everything with it..heck..they could even bundle..Carrara 1, 2, 3...InfiniD..and Ray Dream 1-5.5....and a Yugo..would that make the offer any better? Id say no..youre giving me a bunch of stuff i wont use and dont need..when you have a few other products that i just might get some use out of and are on the same price level as what youre offering... so why not cater a bit more to the people who are going to buy the product and offer several options...if you already own Amapi 7 you dont necessarily want another copy of it..if you dont own it then theres a reason...maybe you dont want it... its all well and good to give me CAD style...but i wont use it..i dont use CAD..id rather have VectorStyle..that i could probably get some use out of... or whatever...what good is a Tshirt to me??!!...other than to look like a huge fanboy...lol..give me a six pack of crew neck Haynes tshirts...those i can use... a deal isnt a deal if youre getting a bunch of stuff you wont ever use... it comes down to..were you really selling that many copies of something else that giving a choice of a substitute would cut down on profits sooo much that youre going to be feeding your family cup o soups for a year..or maybe it just might create a better sense of loyalty among your consumers that will ensure them coming back and purchasing your productsi the future.. heck, it doesnt even have to be a package thing you offer forever..make it a special introductory deal... when youve got how many competitors out there wanting you to come over and use their stuff and are willing to give you everything and throw in a trip around the world and a price at a fraction of what they normally sell their stuff for...id do all the PR and goodwill i could to keep people coming back and trying to sway them over to try out my product...

My main concern here in my situation, is that I had just recently bought transposer at the full price, just a month before. Now I find out that I wasted my $129.00. Not only does it now come free with Carrara Pro, but it does have a bug that Eovia support admits, but seemly is doing nothing about. I sent a poser file that wasn't importing correctly to Eovia support, and the gentleman at Eovia support looked at it, and confirmed the problem was with transPoser and he would get back to me. It has been a month, and haven't heard back yet. I guess this has colored my vision some. I just don't like wasting that much money.

i agree...Carrara is going through some company wide changes and is just starting to get the software on track...cmon, now more than ever is the time to listen to what the customers are saying and asking for...and not just say 'oh well'... if Eovia comes off as uncaring there are plenty of other places to go...