I believe that C3D basics was around the time of Carrara 3 (or maybe 4), so it has many of the same features of the full Carrara, but many of the features are missing. It's like the old RayDream 3D that was released -- many features, but missing many.

I think it doesn't have a vertex modeler, so you learn to run with the spline modeler pretty quickly. It can be very effective, and if you're interested in getting your feet wet, it's a great wading pool. When you're ready to dive in for more, then you can jump to the full version of Carrara without much headanch.

In short, it's a pretty powerful entry package.

Hope that's helpful!

• Dex
  www.pandemoniummovie.com