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Carrara F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2026 Jun 30 12:55 pm)
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Subject: Is now the time to buy?
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the best resource for carrara is here,if you need something to know then here you will find it.softimage is an interesting tool but look for yourself,i have the training edition and i thought it is nothing.read everything on the softimage site,not only the price is reduced and read about the upgrading,i think there is something not alright.
Get both. Then use the one with the fewer bugs.
Message edited on: 10/30/2004 13:30
www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG
Really you can have all the learning resources you want, but I've used Softimage, and it bogs down your system (mine is a 2400+amd with 1gig ddr, 128mb vid card and it still bogs) which is why I decided not to purchase it, even having a cube loaded in the scene started slowing the performance even more. Plus it crashed on me twice. Granted this could be just my system, but I've used it on another computer (intel 3.0 ht, 2gigddr, 256 vid card) and it had similar problems. I have yet to really bog Carrara down, and I put it through some rough tests. And saying that there are no resources out there, shows that you need to do a bit more research, as the others have said, there is 3dxtract.com which releases a monthly e-zine, vizualds with tips/tutorials, this forum, 3dxtract forum, yahoo list, 3dcommune forum, etc etc. My advice is seriously demo softimage before you decide, having used both myself, I decided on Carrara. The community is much more outgoing and friendly, and the company actually communicates with its users. Brian
$495 is for the core system, foundation. If you want network rendering and some other whistles like Soft Body Dynamics, you need to spend $1995 on the Essentials package. And if you want more nodes for rendering, more cpu support, hair and fur, and compositing, you need to spend $6995 for the advanced package! So in view of the other options Carrara is a steal! And Softimage XSI only runs on PC based systems not on Mac... Maxon did the same thing with Cinema 4D, you can get the basic package for $695, which seems to be not much more then Carrara. But if you want all the bells and whistles that make it shine, you need to spend a bit more, like $1400 more. Bottom line, compare all the versions of a particular app and then compare against the other apps. I find Carrara easier to use then the "Big Boys" especially for a hobbyist... Cheers. Paul
Yeah I am with you guys. I did my homework on XSI. There are few other things I found about XSI. It is not right for my projects. Carrara have alot of hope and I am sure that someone or I will make particle and soft body dynamics plug in. It is very simple algorithms really. Carrara is awesome renderer and very productive with simple interface. To make particle system plug in: Every object with metamesh/metsball need a list with options to not to collide on specific object(s). For example 2 sphere with metamesh plug in should not collide to each others so that it may act like water. It is all it need to make true particle system. To make Soft Body Dynamics plug in: Make a IK on soft skin region with spring physics applied on IK. For example breast or stomach, when a character run, the IKs in it moves like spring because the center is still linked with the body bone system. So whats up with Eovia? How come they are downsizing?
Attached Link: http://www.softimage.com/products/Xsi/v4/comparison/
You would be hard pressed to compare a $2,000 movie studio producing special effects and animation software with Carrara but there are those who will plea their case. There are drastic upgrade pricing with XSI due to the cost dropping on their Foundation version. If you want more you will have to pay more. This is true of all software packages. As soon as you buy Carrara they want to sell you plug-ins to give the product more features. I don't think Digital Carvers Guilde is going out of business because of Carrara 4 Pro. The question you have to ask yourself with adding features is are you really going to use then if you get them and secondly is it worth it to get them? Most of the features included in the more advanced versions of XSI are not something I really need. The Foundation version covers just about all the features I will use and if I want more I'm sure it would be cheeper to get the third party plug-ins just like with Carrara. The exception to this is the hair and fur simulation which I wish was a standard feature. The cloth simulation comes standard but there is a more advanced cloth simulator in the Advanced version if you want to produce Van Helsing, Hidalgo type movies. But be prepared to script that trigonometry you learned in High School. These high end programs give you the power to produce but they don't give you the knowledge or the talent. You have to supply that. There is a lot of talk about Foundation being a nothing program and is just a ploy to lure you in and then slap you will stiff upgrade pricing. I say nonsense. Look at the comparative chart between the three and see what features Foundation is missing and see if these are included in Carrara and I mean the Carrara Pro version. Then look at the features included in the Foundation version with those that are missing in the Carrara version. Look at the movies Van Helsing and Hidalgo and compare rendering quality. Then ask youself dollar for dollar which is the best value? Really we all will be defensive no matter what. But honestly I think with Amapi Designer included you get the same quality modeler. And as far as Carrara goes, its getting closer and closer to the big boys. Why do you think they dropped the price so radically? One reason I know for a fact is because they have been having financial difficulties due to lack of purchases. Brian
financial difficulties= thats right and the only reason,most companys are using maya,lightwave and max. I have lightwave but for modeling it is a pain in the a..,you know what i mean,there is no better and faster modeling app on the market then amapi designer and pro(you just have to know how to handle it,then you will have no probs),it has some bugs but you will also have some bugs in maya and softimage xsi or whatever. if you want to buy softimage foundation then why are you bothering the carrara forum.
And one thing that you don't want to forget about Carrara, it was made to be approachable and easy to learn/use. You cannot say that about Maya or some of the other Big Boys. Yeah they use them to make movies, but of course you pay a whole lot more to get that ability, and the learning curve is usually a lot steeper. Just play with Maya PLE and tell me that it is as easy to jump in and create a nice render without reading a manual. It has menus upon menus and you are not going very far without a tutorial or manual. XSI has some impressive features, and for some things, you simply would be hard pressed to perform the same on Carrara, although I have seen some amazing things that would compare. But you also get the Big Boy price. Of course on a Carrara forum, people are going to defend their favorite tool to the bitter end. ;-) Paul
Oh yeah, on a Carrara forum, we are biased towards Carrara. I see these messages once in a while, that so and so is almost as cheap and has this and that and Carrara doesn't. Don't get me wrong, it is what you like, and there are obviously pluses for every software, and of course everyone has an opinion as to what they like. I have several 3D apps including Cinema 4d, XSI EXP, Amapi, Vue, and others. They all have their place and are very useful. Overall I find Carrara the easiest of the lot, but that is just me. Someone else that has more time to devote to 3D, and perhaps uses that to make money, might feel the same about Maya or LW. I am far from a pro, so my opinion doesn't mean much I guess. ;-) At the same time if you are posting a message about switching to XSI on a Carrara forum, you will get more people then not defending C and pointing out the strengths and weaknesses. Use what you like and as someone else stated, try before you buy... Just my 2 cents... Paul
yep GWeb,thats what i think too. carrara has a very powerfull renderer and with carrara studio 4 pro and the new features you can make a really cool movie.sure you cant make all the cool stuff other programs can do but most of the time there is a solution to fake effects or other things in carrara without the use of other highend packages.
It was funny when someone else brought up MentalRay vs Carrara's renderer in Vue forum. The thread were locked and did not have an opporunity to post below. I am satisified with Carrara's renderer and texture room it works like MentalRay. Someone made awesome plug-in for texture room and I am considering to purchase them. So the point is that Carrara can do pretty much like MentalRay if you know how to use it.
Watch the XSI tutorials. You'll see that setting up the same type of scene in Carrara is easier. I mean setting up GI in XSI is crazy, and you get the same results as you would with a few clicks in Carrara. Infocentral can be a bother all he wants, he just wants people to get all tiffed up, I love Carrara, and each version gets better. So I'm sticking with Carrara. Pro is on its way:)
I used to get involved in this type of dissuasion. Although not about 3D software but rather platform choice. Mac Vs. PC. I find it kind of a wast of time now and days since people that use PC are familiar and conformable with there choice and usually dislike Macintosh, if anything, just because it's deferent and they are not proficient with them. I use both platforms on daily basses and will always stick with the Mac. But I have learned that the tools don't make the artist, and in the end, people are the ones that drive these tools. Just take a look at what Brain Taylor has accomplished with his low-end tool set. This is a perfect example that just because you spend a lot of money on something, it doesn't translate in to better quality work. It's rather the dedication and talent that count. He is not using Maya, not even Cinema for that matter. Even Maya, with all it's belles and whistles can produce crappie work when used by untalented unskilled hands. Take a look at the Maya Gallery, I am not impressed at all by a lot of the work produced their. The reason I like Macs is the same reason I like Carrara, they are easy to use.
you are right about Brian Taylor he is a real artist and it is really cool to see how he makes his work.btw,i love the rustboy book. iam a pc user and i played with a mac and i can say that i want one. @Bluetone,the voices in my head also said it was okay.:) anyway,i think infocentral is someone from softimgae/avid. Cheers Dominik
Pinklet, what do you mean Macs Vs. PC debate? There isn't much of a debate there, Macs are better! ;-) LOL! Wahahahahaha. Please don't flame me that was a joke. Actually I too use both platforms, and I won't be selling my P4 2.5 or DPG5 anytime soon. Now I will be selling my 15" Aluminum Powerbook 1GHZ, so I can pay the rent this month! ;-) Dam tech jobs, I hate them. I'll teach you to lay me off and close the doors... Oopsie did I type that out loud? :D Ciao, Paul
They come and they go... hehe Yeah, I will definitely replace it, as it is a great tool in my side business when I have to recover files from a PC infected by 12,000 viruses. So easy, network them together, copy over the non infected files and not worry about getting any of those pc only viruses. hehe Yeah the dual core look cool, I am hoping that they get the dual core G5's, that are rumored to be coming out, into a PB... Paul
Yeah, and I heard that InfoCentral was actually a space alien send to earth to destroy Carrara because they dont want true to life renderings made of them in Carrara and then redistributed throughout the whole earth! Then the whole earth would know they are out there. No here! Oh no, Im getting in my bomb shelter now. Leave us alone InfoCentral Another weird thing about InfoCentral. You noticed that this message thread has like 40 messages and InfoCentral has only posted 3....waitno one of those was just a pointer to the first message....has only posted 2 messages. Very strange indeed. And who is InfoCentral to talk about the changing costs of 3d software applications; he doesnt have a gallery. You know, with the costs of 3d applications dropping rapidly. And now you have professional 3d applications costing less then consumer 3d applications. I wonder if now is the time to buy? Oh who cares! Back to the bomb shelter because you know they are out there. Wait, no here! Bye...
"It was funny when someone else brought up MentalRay vs Carrara's renderer in Vue forum. The thread were locked and did not have an opporunity to post below."
LOL! You're funny, Gweb. I gave you multiple links to MentalRay's renderer specs in that Vue thread, and even posted them to the thread itself, but you simply refused to look. No matter what anyone says, Carrara is the best to you, and that's fine. I have no problem with Carrara personally, and I think it's a great program.
However, comparatively speaking about MentalRay, here's a couple questions I would ask you:
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Can Carrara render out user-defined frame buffers from G-buffer channels like specularity, reflections, diffuse, ambient, Z-depth, and shadows in a single render pass for assembly in a post-processing video FX editor like AfterEffects, Combustion, etc.? This provides extreme control over every aspect of a CG animation in post. For example, if your director decides after the render is complete that he would like to adjust the specular or diffuse color on some objects, you don't have to re-render the scene... for instance, you can accurately adjust ONLY the spec or diffuse layers, or change the color of shadows easily in post without affecting any of the other properties of the render. By saving the Z-depth info, you can save valuable render time by applying DOF or fog, etc. to your animation in post, rather than rendering it out. Things like this can prove very valuable to pros when they're working on something in a limited timeframe.
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Can Carrara's GI solution be saved to a file, and re-used in an animation, so that when the camera moves, only the necessary photons are mapped to the existing pre-calculated solution, allowing MUCH faster GI rendering in an animated scene, since the renderer does not need to re-calculate the GI for every frame from scratch. Renderers like Brazil, Vray, and MentalRay have the ability to cache the intial photon map, and add to it incrementally on a frame-by-frame basis.
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Can Carrara render micro-triangle displacement like Mental Ray?
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In MentalRay, "incremental scene echo" allows streaming of scene data in .mi format such that only differences between successive frames are sent. What's that mean? Faster rendering of complex scenes, and better memory efficiency.
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Is motion blur in Carrara visible in reflections/refractions and through transparent objects? Are caustics and global illumination cast by moving objects or moving lights correctly motion-blurred?
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Can Carrara create on-demand loading of object files and on-demand procedural object creation using geometry shaders: in MentalRay, geometry is not created until it is needed, the geometry cache maintains only objects currently or recently in use to reduce rendering times and concurrent memory requirements.
These are just a few of the things I would ask you about Carrara, when insisting it can do what MentalRay can do.
Again, I'm not here to start a war, I'm just trying to point out some things, and perhaps even enlighten myself and others about the subject.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... in my opinion, Carrara is the best value for the buck, and is definitely the best mid-level 3D app you can buy. It certainly is capable of producing movies and high quality results... but high-end pros need certain levels of control in a renderer/application that Carrara may not be able to deliver like the high end apps can. I'm sure most people here realize that. :-)
Message edited on: 11/04/2004 14:43
Tools : 3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender
v2.74
System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB
GPU.
The answer is "yes", I think, to the first question for #5. The rest are still "no".
www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG
A big warning if you guys are thinking about getting Softimage. Intend on upgrading your PC or MAC, they have fairly average min. requirements, but my system which is well above those requirements really bogs down on the simplest thing. I did find out that its likely my video card which is ATI. I contacted support and they stated its a known issue with ATI cards, and its something unfortunately that you can't fix completely. Also, know that while the non-foundation versions will receive maintainence releases, foundation will not, I'm not sure if they just plan on upgrading, and charging or what. But no patches etc. This is directly from Softy tech support. 5) Is motion blur in Carrara visible in reflections/refractions and through transparent objects? Are caustics and global illumination cast by moving objects or moving lights correctly motion-blurred? Yes this is now in Carrara. 1) Can Carrara render out user-defined frame buffers from G-buffer channels like specularity, reflections, diffuse, ambient, Z-depth, and shadows in a single render pass for assembly in a post-processing video FX editor like AfterEffects, Combustion, etc.? This provides extreme control over every aspect of a CG animation in post. For example, if your director decides after the render is complete that he would like to adjust the specular or diffuse color on some objects, you don't have to re-render the scene... for instance, you can accurately adjust ONLY the spec or diffuse layers, or change the color of shadows easily in post without affecting any of the other properties of the render. By saving the Z-depth info, you can save valuable render time by applying DOF or fog, etc. to your animation in post, rather than rendering it out. Things like this can prove very valuable to pros when they're working on something in a limited timeframe. Carrara can do this. 2) Can Carrara's GI solution be saved to a file, and re-used in an animation, so that when the camera moves, only the necessary photons are mapped to the existing pre-calculated solution, allowing MUCH faster GI rendering in an animated scene, since the renderer does not need to re-calculate the GI for every frame from scratch. Renderers like Brazil, Vray, and MentalRay have the ability to cache the intial photon map, and add to it incrementally on a frame-by-frame basis. This can be partially done with Baker, in combination with Environmental lighting. 6) Can Carrara create on-demand loading of object files and on-demand procedural object creation using geometry shaders: in MentalRay, geometry is not created until it is needed, the geometry cache maintains only objects currently or recently in use to reduce rendering times and concurrent memory requirements. Not exactly. But kind of Anything Grooves for instance doesn't render show at full resolution until rendering time, Anything Grows functions the same way. Also you can turn SDS off and on, so you can animate without SDS and then render then turning SDS on. Don't get me wrong I've demoed Softy, thought about purchasing it. But the complexity level, and slowness of the software was negative to me. And I am pretty sure we all know why Softy dropped in price. They don't have as big of a market share as they used too, and they need to regain it back. They lost there place up with the big software back when they were purchased by Microsoft (I believe it was them) and when they relaunced they have yet to gain the ground. And with C4D, CS4, HASH, etc at very good prices with similar feature sets its been hard on them. They have a great program, and do yourself a favor don't smash something until you do the research.
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Attached Link: http://www.softimage.com/home/
I have recently been thinking about upgrading to Carrara Pro. As a matter of fact the only reason why I didn't last week was when I went online to buy, the upgrade no longer included the T-shirt and book offer. I'm glad now that I waited. I still have Carrara 3 and I wish there were better resources available to learn it (1 book).Carrara Pro Cost $579, about $189 if you upgrade which I am entitled too. I picked up the recent 3d-World magazine and found out that SoftImage/SXI has been reduced from $1995 to $495 and that includes about $300 worth of training DVD's and learning material (limited time promotion offer). That brings the cost of the professional movie studio grade 3d software at the same cost of the Carrara upgrade. Ummm, let me think about this...
Message edited on: 10/30/2004 05:35
Message edited on: 10/30/2004 05:39