Howdy! I'm Kixum, Coordinator for the Carrara Raydream forum here at Renderosity. Member Since 4/22/01 Roles I have played at Renderosity.
Carrara/Raydream Coordinator January 23, 2011, (used to be Moderator 3/17/2002 to 11/17/2006 but work required I take a break)
Carrara/Raydream Resource CD Manager (a long time ago in a dream world long gone).
Amapi Moderator here and there.BIOIn real life I'm an engineer who hasn't decided yet to quit his day job to become a computer 3D artist. My work here at Renderosity started when I began the Carrara Raydream Resource CD project. That was around October 2001. I've been a member since April 2001. My life in computer 3D artwork started a long time ago when I purchased the Corel Draw 6 package which contained Corel Dream 3D. This was a poor mans version of Raydream. As time progressed, Raydream picked up more features which I followed. Eventually Carrara entered the scene and finally, after a long dry stint, Eovia got it's hands on it and now we're swimming through the package while in the care and feeding of DAZ. 
DAZ has been pushing the software but mostly in the direction of DAZ figures (people) etc. (what a shock).  Not to say that DAZ hasn't added some other pretty cool stuff (like bullet physics etc.) but in general, Carrara's advancement has been focused on Poser type features since Daz took it.
I think it's a natural evolution for the software as it was needed to bolster it's value and viability.  What will be next?  I don't know but I can certainly think up a list of things that could take into the next category of proffessional high end packages.  We'll see if that happens!
Renderosity has pushed me quite a bit as a Carrara user plus, the users here are very cool, helpful and insightful. Maybe someday I'll graduate to having models of people in my work but I haven't broken down to that part of 3D art just yet. Star Wars and Star Trek stuff are clearly two favorite things I like to work on. I'm also moving more into organics but very slowly. The Carrara texture engine is very powerful but also challenging to learn and master. My images are taking on more life and depth as time progresses. I've stuck my foot into the animation waters and have had reasonable success. If I ever get my first big major animation project completed, it will be very cool and a personal triumph. My love of photography also continues to grow and I enjoy it more and more as I go photograph some of the incredible places in the world.
With the death of Amapi (mostly), I've decided to delve into Rhino.  As a general rule, I'm really a modeler.  Carrara is actually a pretty good tool for modeling (better than people think) but there are a few limitations which require me to work with other stuff.  Rhino will be a big learning curve and a departure from my comfort zone.  We'll see how that goes!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around!
-Kix