"Is Carrara worth buying?" - Your views please! by PhilW
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Hi All, I've not posted much recently but I'm still alive and kicking. This is for two reasons, I've been working on images for the sleeve and booklet for the next album by my band Manning, and also I've been playing with the trial version of Carrara.
I had tried earlier or cut-down versions of Carrara before and hadn't been too impressed, but I have seen some remarkable work done by Carrara artists recently and have been pleasantly suprised by this latest version. This picture is the first I have done entirely in Carrara - not perfect but not bad considering I haven't really looked at the manual!
So my big question to all users of Carrara is - given that I already have Poser 7 and Vue 6 Studio - is it worth investing more money in Carrara?
I can see advantages - it reads Poser content (are there issues with this?) and has a quality renderer with good indirect light. But there are things missing (e.g. cloth sim) and it would be yet another app to learn. So all views really welcomed on this.
Thanks for looking and for your feedback - have a great week! Phil

Comments (45)
Beautiful! I heart cararra
Gorgeous realism
Excellent pose and an awesome expression!!! I saw your latest pic first and again am impressed with what you're doing with Carrara!
She is very pretty Phil! Have the Carrara express thinghy on my pc and think I should spend some time finding out how it works.. But the Vue renders catch my eye over and over again.. So I might try that someday.. For now I will stick to D|S, I know my way around in that app a bit..
Carrara seems to be alright and I've seen a number of pretty impressive renders from it - yours certainly turned out beautifully. I have to admit, that I haven't done much with it. I suppose it mostly a matter of being familiar and comfortable with other programs.
Nice render! I use Carrara 6.2 (Standard) and I love it, personally. My suggestion would be to use it as much as you can during the 30 day trial, and if you like it buy a copy. I've been pretty happy with it.
It looks to render really great!
Well, I love the image and I just downloaded the trial version of Carrara (the real fur for Millennium dog and cat are very tempting!). I think Carrara renders look as good as Vue, but I don't know how hard they are to achieve. I want to use Carrara for the modeling and dynamic hair functions. If you are going to stick with human models, stay with Vue, it's a beautiful program and very versatile. My two cents! Great render!
I hate manuals too- I just work at a problem and find a way around it then it sticks more tan most manuals can input. This render carries much more realism than a Poser one can, similar to Vue. I dont rely on Poser renders anyway, they are (for me) usually a first step on the way to creating an image. But I really appreciate those who get these results in Carrera and Vue. Excellent image and a niclely blurred out background. Dave
nice!
Great light and texture...5+++
sorry but I can't help here because I don't know anything about Carrara.....about the work is great ...lighting and model are excellent!
wonderful portrait
I can only speak from an observer's viewpoint as I don't have either product. I've seen top-notch scenes with both products, but the one that consistently takes my breat away (especially for landscapes and seascapes) is VUE. Well-done Vue renders really just blatantly stand out from the crowd. Every so often (like just recently) I get fed up with D/S and toy with getting another product - and I've vacillated between Poser and Vue. Poser is an obvious choice for someone moving from D/S - but all the wonderful Vue stuff here really gives me pause. (BTW, I like this render, but the skin looks a bit "cool" to me: Maybe use a peach or pink light on the model to heat it up?) My 2 cents - worth every penny LOL!
Very good, looks like it would be perfect in a video game.