I want to start modelling for Poser & 3D in general, both these apps are priced the same & Carrara 2 seems to look the best all round while being easy to learn, while Amapi seems advertised as a more professional package. Can anyone ease my choice & give me some advice? thanks Brian

Hi Brian, I'd go for Carrara 2 if i were you . First, you get modellers to make your models for Poser (vertex, spline, and even Amapi 5) . Second, you also get a good and fast renderer, for stills at least because there is no animation import from Poser . Carrara is much more easy to learn than Amapi, though less productive . Its modellers are good enough to make lots of things . But take note that i'm a bit biased because i only use Carrara and i can't get anything from Amapi :P litst

Thanks

You're welcome :) I hope you'll get more opinions to help you make your choice .

Also, there's not really an earth-shattering difference between Amapi 5 and 6, and since v5 comes free with Carrara, you'd be crazy NOT to buy it. And this comes from a die-hard Amapi fan! Also, Litst is being very polite here: Amapi has an incredible modeling toolset, but the renderer SUCKS! Carrara, on the other hand, has middling tools but great rendering (downright incredible in v2), not to mention stuff like terrains, particles, bones in v2, and a ton of other great stuff. Plus, Carrara can use plug-ins, which makes its potential almost limitless. The Digital Carvers Guild has some great plug-ins, like Anything Grows (hair/fur), Anything Grooves (displacement), and a bunch of others, some of which come free with Carrara. And, of course, you can always upgrade Amapi at a later date if you really want the extras v6 offers. I did.

Cheers x2000, i've now got both demos to have a play with but that's great to know. What's the learning curve? I have dabbled with Max & ...well...over my head, too much info there to take in...lol

Oh, forget about Max ... A real gas factory ! Good for the "working men of 3D" but not for artists and creators . If fun is an important factor for you, avoid it ! ;) X2000, i wasn't polite about Amapi . It's a modeller, and even if it has some rendering/shading/animations options, its strength is in modeling only . All functions that are not closely related to modeling are just a little plus, nothing more .

I wouldn't say Amapi's renderer 'sucks' (poor Amapi), but it just can't match the gorgeous, mile-deep colors of Carrara, which are as beautiful as any I've ever seen.

Amapi is designed to be a great modeler which can import into almost any application. This is it's strength. If you are considering using any professional 3D animation application in the future - Lightwave, 3DS , Maya etc., building all your models in amapi is essential even if you decide to buy Carrara.

It's funny, I got the upgrade to Carrara, and instead of jumping right in to it I have been messing around with Amapi, and I am very pleased to say that it doesn't have a very steep learning curve, it's just very different from any other tool that I have used. I am hooked on it. I would buy the upgrade to 6.0, put it doesn't run on OS X natively and that is a must since I am almost exclusively running on X all the time. As soon as EOVIA announce that AMAPI 7.0 will be coming out for OS X, I will place my order. Productive is the key word in this modeler. But like very one says here get Carrara and you get AMAPI.

I dissed Amapi for a year or 2. But there was somethng compelling about the interface and I kept trying. One day it just "clicked" for me. It really is fast and good. It is, however, still a little bit flakey. SAVE OFTEN IN AMAPI. Then save more than that. rivers

Thanks guys, I think I will probably invest in Carrara 2 & get the best of both worlds. It sounds like both are fairly user friendly & easy to learn & that's essentially what I need...I just want to learn to model but not take 10 years to learn a huge complex app like Max (aside from the financial side...lol)