Yeah the good news is that Carrara principles will apply better to other program's also. The bigger 3d programs, that is. The manual is helpful, but certainly can leave out stuff. Many people don't read the manual tho. I do recommend a scroll thru or reference to certain features because it usually will explain the concept behind the feature. This may not solve a specific problem, but will let you understand what is going on much better.

No need to think outside the box....
    Just make it invisible.