Is is possible to select polygons symetrically?

After naming a selection...as either a shader domain or 'name' - I've sometimes lost these named selections.  Apparently if I modify (add/delete/weld) a vertex within the named selection area the name/domain gets lost?        Is there a way around this so I don't have to reselect and rename if I need to modify vertices?

thanks

Hope that eventually they will get around to fixing this bug. My experience is that it isn't an all-or-nothing; the names vanish about one edit out of three -- perhaps more often if the operation is a delete, less often if it is weld or tesselate or something. I have never had Carrara eat the shader domains, though, so that is a decent work-around. Does mean that after you've gotten everything built you have to run around changing shading domain names to group names (and hope Carrara doesn't act up at that point). Or if you are doing a model for export to some other software (like Poser), you can convert shading domains to groups in a text editor with a simple find-and-replace routine.

Oh, you mentioned symmetry above. Carrara is much better now (version 5 pro) but it still manages some sort of quantum entanglement of duplicates in the vertex modeling room. I have had the habit from several version numbers back of selecting the duplicate and hitting "detach polygons" a couple of times. And jumping into the Assemble Room as well, where inverted normals (another common problem Carrara has with duplicates) are easier to see, in case I also have to hit "reverse surface normals."

Thanks for the feedback.... re .....convert shading domains to groups in a text editor with a simple find-and-replace routine

That would be great... Can you explain how to do that?

thanks

Lemme see if I can make it simple. Lightwave "Obj" format is an ascii text file. As exported by Carrara basically in three sections; list of vertices as a long table of numbers in sets of 3 (the xyz world coordinates), a description of faces as a staggered list of vertices in the face, and a list of surface normals. The list of faces is interrupted by two kinds of delineators; these take the form of a short line or pair of lines. Everything after one of these lines takes on the property described, up until another line of the same form changes that property. The two properties we are concerned with are "group" and "materials zone." The former has the format "g (name of group)." The latter has the format "usemtl (name of material)." Okay, sounds more complicated than it is. Say you are making a Poser item; say, a pair of men's two-tone shoes. As you create the item in Carrara you will have four materials zones, which you might name "rFootTan, rFootBlack, lFootTan, lFootBlack." Export. Now in a text editor, do a search for "usemtl." When the search turns up "usemtl rFootTan," change it to "usemtl tan." Now right above it, insert a new line reading "g rFoot." Continue searching down. If the next thing you run into is "usemtl rFootBlack" just edit it to "usemtl Black." The "g rFoot" will automatically continue through this change of materials. Alternatively (depending on the order you modeled things in), if the next item your downwards search turns up is "usemtl lFootTan," then change that line to "g lFoot." Since the last material named was "usemtl Tan" that material definition will continue to cover this new group as well. Does this make any sense? Sorry, but my morning coffee is still in the filter, and not yet in me. Trust me....it sounds much more complicated than it is. If I could find a really simple obj file to show you I'd do that instead. Let me add. If you do as above and create a Poser figure using that edited obj file, you will have two body parts (lFoot and rFoot) and two Poser materials (Tan and Black). The actual materials definitions are found elsewhere; these are just handles for the area that takes that named material.

Thanks and enjoy your coffee.   I am comfortable editing cr2s and doing search/reaplces so i think I'll figure it out with your instructions.

And thanks again for the info about the known bugs...I'm still new to Carrara and have wondered if if I was creating/inflicting these problems upon myself..   Especially re the 'lost group names every third time or so' - that was real frustrating ;-/    (until now;-)

Welcome to the small group of people making Poser content in Carrara....the group that seems to have gotten completely left out of the beta-testing process. Seems like there are several annoying problems that just don't get mentioned in forae or, as yet, addressed in any patches. Annoying because outside of warped UVmaps, lost group names, flipped normals, mystery vertices, and a handful of other things Carrara is such a wonderful jump-in-and-throw-some-polys-together modeler.

Found a new way to get the "Case of the Vanishing Names" problem. Selected an edge loop, then used the edge tool to extract and drag it along a cylinder. Pop! No more polygon groups on that mesh. Sent in a bug report along with a copy of the file (after the names had vanished...what they will do with it, I have no idea). Is the general DAZ feedback email the only place to send in bug reports, or have they something else? I hunted around for about fifteen minutes and didn't see any other options.

You want to sign up for the Daz Bug Tracker...
http://www.daz3d.com/bugs/login_page.php

Good to know. I had heard that there was something of the sort. I could not find it anywhere on DAZ, or with a variety of searches in the DAZ store, forums, and general web searching.

Yes...it is tricky to find.  I put it on a list I keep... http://www.geocities.com/dazcarrara/

I have a bunch of updates for this list...so you may want to check back there in a few days.

I'm glad to see several items from my long list are there already ....many of them seem to be platform-independent, too. On the other hand, according to bug tracker they've now fixed......three bugs. May take them years to work up to the stuff we're sending in now. Also oddly enough, it is some of the Poser-rendering crowd that has put in some of the annoyances I've had, but didn't find it worth going through the effort of bringing up; such as the slow GUI redraw in the texture room, and the annoying habit of the texture preview window of resetting itself to default camera position.

Oops. Let me correct. A slightly more careful reading reveals that NO PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED since 5-11-06 (the earliest date of an entry on the current bug tracker display). The only issues that are recorded as "resolved", the resolution was "unable to duplicate problem." This is particularly annoying since I have had at least one of those problems myself (precisely as described by the OP, but on an entirely different OS!) But of course I am not one of their tech staff. I think this is a sop. I am unconvinced that any strong effort is being made to clear bugs.