I was wondering if there is any way of importing a picture into the vertex modeler to trace or use as a reference. For example, similar to "Photo Modeler" or "Canoma" where you could place vertices on the photo to create your object? I haven't worked with the vertex modeler much, and when I do, it seems a bit painful to get good results.

I don't think so, not in Carrara. Amapi should let you do that, if you installed it. Good Luck

chuckerii, This is not a feature of Carrara, but there is a workaround.Map your pictures to the appropriate planes in the assembly room. Go to the vm modelling room then click on the scene preview window,then click the texture preview icon.(one of the round ball icons) You should now see your mapped image all the time in the scene preview window . Hope this helps. Regards Mike Moir

Chuckerii , I forgot to say you have to create these planes and positions them appropriatly around the item you want to model. Any questions let me know. Mike

Thanks Mike... I'll give that a try. Chuck

Other work around:

1. Open picture in 2D vector graphics editor (Illustrator, FreeHand, Painter, PhotoShop, etc.).
2. Create vector outlines (paths) along the contours of the object. Export as Illustrator file (EPS).
3. Go to Carrara, create new spline object. Import Illustrator file to Spline Modeler.
4. Take spline object to Vertex Modeler. Delete the "thickness" of the vertex object. Now you have polylines of your model's contours.

That's pretty slick, VK. I'm going to give that one a try. In fact, I think this would make a great "15 Minute" Challenge. What say you all?

Actually, the file format should be *.AI on a PC. I don't know if CS for Win imports .EPS extension. The supported formats are listed somewhere in the user manual.