i'm a beginner in 3d art.
help me please.
why sould i pick carrara 5 pro over cinema 4d r9.6 ?
trying to decide which one to get..

With Cinema4D I presume you are looking at the low end price version.

Carrara5Pro for example you will probably find more comprehensive in what it can do. I think you will find it a much easier programme to learn. And it has a range of plugins available -WOW stuff-that are far far cheaper than other apps.

Have a look at what the high end versions of Cinema do. What can't you do in Carrara5Pro?

have about $3000 to spend

It depends on where you're headed. If you're targeting an animation career in Hollywood or Game development, C4D may be a good choice - expensive - but good. You'd be wise to get some training (costs money) to fully realize the benefits of C4D and become fluent in it. If you want to get more than the C4d Modeler, you'll need to pick up C4D studio - $3400 which has the hair, a renderer and a couple of other plug-ins/modules. And be prepared for a learning curve and the cost of upgrades to remain current. Additional plug-ins are pricey. Kinda blows the budget if you're trying to stick with $3000. :-/ As a counterpoint Carrara is very robust and can do many things quite well but for significantly less. I use it every day doing realistic and stylized stills for print and animation for brodcast and HDTV. The plug-ins are excellent and inexpensive. The skills you pick up in Carrara will translate directly to other 3D apps. Be prepared for a learning curve. It's just not as steep as C4D's ;-) That's it in a nutshell. If you'd like more info, just post back. Mark

My first 3D program was Vista Pro back when I had an Amiga and since have purchased many different 3d products one being Cinama 4D v6 xl which I still use today.

I have Carrara and use it the most because it feels comfortable for me, if you are willing to take the time to learn 3d any program will do I would suggest a smaller package like Carrara 5 std or pro until/if you out grow it.

There are a lot of great products out there (Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave ...).

Try the demos and don't get caught up in the hype everyone has the best product on the market, thats for you to decide.

Regards;

Well if you aim to use carrara or C4D with poser then I'd go for C4D as it's easier to use the runtimes and posing with C4D and to switch materials. I have the sketch and toon module and i can toon everything without having to adjust each item of clothing for tooning as I do with carrara using toonpro. Love esther