Paloth,
Subdivision smoothing is the Carrara equivalant to what your looking for. You can design your object in a very low Poly version then ad subdivision levels to create a more organic flow. Yuow will continue to operate on the lower poly "cage" until either you "Convert" the object OR if you export it as a .OBJ file the exported object will automatically convert to the higher poly version, saving a .CAR will not convert the subdivided object. The object will look like the subdivided object in both the "Assembly" room and when rendered in Carrara without being converted.

Other tools relavant to these oberations is the "Crease" tool which will create hard edges and the "bevel" tool which will create rounded radius edges.

mike