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Why Carrara is still LOVED, Any thoughts?

Samuel S.Samuel S. Posts: 322
in Carrara Discussion

I think Carrara is still loved and is living because of its ease of use (UI/UX and workflow) and encapsulation of complex areas such as VFX (Physics engine, powerful yet easy particle system, etc.). It is still very affordable and comes with a perpetual license. Other free and perpetual license-based ones appear a little bit difficult when compared to Carrara. One of the other powerful features is its nice integration with older versions of Genesis such as Genesis 2 Creature Creator.

Any thoughts?

 

Comments

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,232

    Yes, agreed.  I've mentioned before that I have used Carrara so much for so long that its second nature.  I don't have to think how to do something, I'm free to decide what I want to do.  This is important when doing the 48 Hour film contest, where time is of the essence.  The other 3D program I use is VUE (even paying the annual fee) mostly for its great landscape scenes which I have purchased.  I don't use Carrara's particles since I very much like Particle Illusion, available as a free standalone but I bought the Vegas plugin perpetual license. Here is an example, mostly done in Carrara, with a VUE landscape @ ~1:08, plus Particle Illusion @ ~ 4:13.

     

  • KhoeKhoe Posts: 309

    my thoughts on why Carrara is still popular.
    As already described, the comprehensibility of the program. In addition, somehow everything is compatible. Even the Genesis 8 and 9 can be imported and used with a little reading :)
    I also haven't found anything in other programs that I can't implement in Carrara. Vue is now available for free with a plant catalog and Creator, but it doesn't come close to Carrara's usability.
    Somehow Carrara was ahead of its time, unfortunately it was never really used to its full extent. It's a shame that it isn't being developed further.

  • FettbemmeFettbemme Posts: 319
    edited May 25

    Why Carrara is still LOVED

    So much so, that I bought the 64 bit version of Carrara 8.5 alongside Cinema 4D and Blender and to my already existing License of Carrara 7 Pro, 3D World edition. I think that tells a story on why Carrara is still loved. With the cudos out of the way, let's try the juicy side of Carrara where the meat is.

    Carrara falls easily in the category of a cheap allrounder. But because of the quality Carrara has to offer, it never got stamped off as a jack of all trades but a master of non. That what Carrara has under the hood doesn't fall short of usability to make a 3D-Artists life easy. In fact, it has so much to offer, it takes years to master everything there is to it. That is not, because Carrara is a difficult piece of software like Maya, but it wants us to dig deeper in the software. To be creative and curious about what we can achieve with it. It's interface may be a little outdated from the visual appeal but it actually is 100 percent perfect if you know how to make it work for you. And here also, Carrara will let you configure some aspects of the graphical user interface which make it look fresh once you tried. 

    It would be belittleling the power users and enthusiasts to list all the fancy of Carrara. But let me instead list a few things that Carrara still misses in the ever growing 3D world. That is a Shader channel for Luminance. I don't understand why this feature hasn't made it in the 64 bit version of Carrara. Another is something similar to Blenders Geometry Nodes or Cinema 4D MoGraph. And lastly VDB support. And to be able to handle big 3D data with improved loading times.

    That will wrap it up with a big Thanks to the eovia guys and DAZ 3D to give Carrara a second chance.

    Thanks for reading guys.Thanks Carrara.

    cheers

     

    Post edited by Fettbemme on
  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,232

    Fettbemme said:

    Carrara falls easily in the category of a cheap allrounder. 

    Good point.  I am not a modeler, preferring to buy the very high quality models available from the talented vendors at affordable prices, typically less than $10 on sale.  But I very much like having the "Model" section available in Carrara (unlike, say, VUE), in my case allowing modifications of purchased models.  Chopping off a piece of something, creating a new shading domain, etc.  Very handy.

  • tsaristtsarist Posts: 1,614
    Carrara is still loved because it's so versatile. It renders quickly, interface is intuitive. Animation is easier to do than in anything else. It uses Gen 1 - 6 Natively. Plus you can use Poser people up to Power 8. I still load newer Power buildings in C8.5. I truly love Carrara. It's a good old friend
  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,232

    tsarist said:

    Carrara is still loved because it's so versatile. It renders quickly, interface is intuitive. Animation is easier to do than in anything else. It uses Gen 1 - 6 Natively. Plus you can use Poser people up to Power 8. I still load newer Power buildings in C8.5. I truly love Carrara. It's a good old friend

    Well said.

  • mingle47_ee72c8b871mingle47_ee72c8b871 Posts: 1

    All of the above. Now I have some spare time I am getting back into C8.6. A big bonus os that most (all?) of the commercial plugins that extend Carrara are now available at no cost. Certainly a wealth of modelling and rendering options in an easy to use interface. I also work with Bryce and Poser.

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,232

    mingle47_ee72c8b871 said:

    .... I also work with Bryce and Poser.

    I used to for a long time, but not much anymore.  You might want to consider VUE, which is now free and VERY powerful.  There is also a tutorial series by the venerable GeekAtPlay on using Daz Studio with VUE.  With Carrara, Daz Studio and VUE, I feel I have the tools I need.cheeky

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,544

    I have 80 items in my DAZ Poser directory, from Poser 11, various variants of DAZ Studio, Vue, and associated programs.

    I keep returning to the trusted Carrara for my renders and scene setups, have only rendered about 25% of the models that I have collected, still got plenty of renders to go !!!

  • therixxtherixx Posts: 120

    Fettbemme said:

    Why Carrara is still LOVED

    So much so, that I bought the 64 bit version of Carrara 8.5 alongside Cinema 4D and Blender and to my already existing License of Carrara 7 Pro, 3D World edition

     Fettbemme, I envy you ;-) because I tried to find that issue of 3D World but was never able to put my hands on it. It also included Mimic for Carrara, if I recall correctly, which now for some reason is unavailable and inactive in the Daz store

  • therixxtherixx Posts: 120

    Bunyip02 said:

    I have 80 items in my DAZ Poser directory, from Poser 11, various variants of DAZ Studio, Vue, and associated programs.

    I keep returning to the trusted Carrara for my renders and scene setups, have only rendered about 25% of the models that I have collected, still got plenty of renders to go !!!

    Carrara must definitely have something. In my computer I still have Bryce 2, 5.5, 6, 7; Daz Studio 2, 3 advanced, 4. Poser 9, 12; Vue; Blender.
    All nice, valid or wonderful programs. But To me Carrara remains the most pleasant to use.

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