Yes, I too am saddened by what has happened to the Carrara platform. When I first got into 3d, Carrara was a MUCH cheaper alternative than VUE and consistently turned out images nearly on a par with that expensive platform. My original platform WAS Daz Studio and it was great for what it was at the time and I loved it: A free, forgiving to noobs, easy to use 3d platform. When I was finally ready to step up, there was that beautiful Carrara with dazzling features and renders. And I loved Daz content as it was universally high quality and bulletproof - it just plain worked. That was then.

So where are we today? Studio is now so bloated it is no longer the great entry-level tool it was. And Carrara is all but ignored. And as you point out, Carrara no longer works with everything Daz is releasing today. I've pretty much given up on using any Genesis-era figures and props because the vast majority of it just does not work with Carrara. And yes, I'm kinda chapped by being forced into CMS too - I have my runtimes organized the way I want them thank you very much.

The way things are going, I figure I'll use C8 as long as I can, then will look at other options when Daz lets it die. And I'm thinking Studio is going to be a ways down the list because I just don't want to feel manipulated on one hand and ignored on the other by this vendor. Call it scar tissue.