I wish there were a 'General Discussion' forum where I could post this. But since there isn't any I thought I might just as well post it here.

At issue is the exaggerated emotional bond that CG artists develop with their favorite 3D app, to the point of not tolerating any negative comment about it.

In technical terms this behavior is called Infatuation.

The infatuation for a 3D app isn't just specific to Carrara. All users of 3D apps show infatuation symptoms. Sometime the infatuation is mild and sometime it's so strong that it's alarming.

For example go to the 3DS Max forum and post a comment like: '3DSMax is an outdated behemoth that is crumbling under its own weight' and you will see the kind of hostile reactions you will get.

It's almost as if the infatuation with a 3D app gets established at the level of CG artist's DNA. It affects the artist's behavior so badly that it makes any kind of productive talk very difficult.

By comparison you don't see people develop emotional bonds with Microsoft Word to the point of not tolerating any negative comment about it.

Same thing is true for, say movie editing apps. You don't see a Sony Vegas user or an Adobe Premiere user starting a fistfight because someone made a negative comment about these apps.

Same thing for music production software like Sonar or Cubase. You don't see hostile reactions from the users of these apps, because you dared to say that they are outdated or that they need long overdue improvements.

Actually you rarely see anybody infatuated with an industrial product. You don't see someone brandishing a sword and screaming proudly that 'I am a Fordist' or 'I am a Nissanist' or 'I am a Kodakist' or 'I am a Sonyist'. And if someone behaves in this manner, he would be immediately laughed at and will be told to behave rationally.

I think CG artists should be made aware that becoming infatuated with a 3D app is not a healthy attitude. They should be taught in Art School to come to grip with themselves and not allow their emotions run wild about the 3D app they are using, even if that 3D app puts food on their table or turn them into an award-winning artist.

3D apps are just tools to get the job done. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. Those who point-out a 3D app weaknesses are not enemies of mankind.

The next time someone talks negatively about your favorite 3D app, be it 3DS Max, Maya, XSI, C4D, Lightwave, Modo, Shade, Carrara, or whatever, don't pull-out your sword to bring him/her to justice. Just think of how you would react if the negative comment was about Black & Decker tools, or GE washing machines, or Samsung refrigerators, or Sony cameras, or Ford cars, or Boeing airplanes, or any other industrial products that you use in your daily life, and try to behave the same way, i.e. stay indifferent. What's the point of even reacting?.