100 MacDirectory
REVIEW | CREATIVITY
CARRARA 6 PRO > 3-D YOUR WAY
In the realm of 3-D modeling and anima-
tion, Carrara 6 Pro from DAZ Productions
offers perhaps the best combination of
ease of use and reasonable bang for the
buck. For the price of $549, C6P provides
such features as in-scattering, gravity,
dynamic hair, collision detection, displace-
ment modeling, and network rendering,
while providing a sequential, room-based
approach that is user-friendly and effective.
Building on the notable advances found in
version 5, the latest release offers more
improvements than could be described
here, but a random sampling of new or
improved feature includes non-linear
animation, an ocean primitive,
transparency with absorption, custom
particle objects, and wizards for start-up
scenes and landscapes. For the complete
picture (featuring an abundance of TR
impersonators and buxom elf maidens),
you might want to pay a visit to
.
Carrara 6 Pro is equally at home on a
hobbyist's desktop or in a corporate media
department and is an excellent choice for
such tasks as designing trade show exhibits,
creating animated product previsualiza-
tions, and serious CGI video projects. Its
import/export capabilities provide compa-
tibility with most leading 3-D applications
as well as exporting of such things as light-
ing and camera moves into AfterEffects.
For this new release we used two test
machines: a G5 dual 1.8 with a 256 Mb
Radeon 9800 Pro and an eight core 2.66
Mac Pro with a standard 256 MB Radeon
HD 2600.
On the G5 things ran very smoothly, if a
bit slow. On the Mac Pro things were
generally much faster and it was great to
see all eight cores cranking away during
renders, but we noticed a variety of slow-
downs, including a lag of six to seven
seconds when redrawing all the icons in
the textures window and dead-slow render
times for images using a combination of
sky shaders and complex terrains.
Presumably, an upgrade to the Nvidia
GeForce 8800 or another more powerful
card would provide the needed kick, but
one wonders why there would be an issue
with icons.
For rapidly creating beautiful landscapes
and environments, Carrara is fast and easy,
as is the creation of complex yet
manageable atmospheres. Carrara's
support for all DAZ 3-D content, including
human and standard models, morph
targets, materials, rigging and the like is a
boon. Complex animations can be created
rapidly and object animations can be
reused and duplicated. Lights can be
ganged and operated from a master.
Textures can be streamed from disk during
rendering. Modeling features such as
symmetrical modeling, edge extrusion and
the sculpting tools greatly enhance the
process. The list goes on.
Of course, Carrara is not perfect in all
things. For example, the tree editor, while
quite capable, is not the best on the
market, vertex editing can get a touch
messy in certain circumstances, and fluids
are on the list for further enhancement,
but when viewed as a whole and within
the context of its price point, it is hard to
find a deal-killer in this application.
As in earlier editions the interface is
intuitive and, in most cases, quite logical.
On the other hand, the browser for
shaders, objects and the like is hard-wired
to the bottom of the screen, sharing a
tabbed drawer-style window with the
timeline. This makes it easy to view
thumbnails, but since there may be a large
number of items in a vertical browser list,
this forced horizontal configuration quickly
becomes an issue.
Considering the extended desktop multi-
ple monitor support built into the Mac Pro
and all laptops, one would hope that DAZ
would abandon the single window /
drawer approach and allow users to make
good use of the extra screen real estate.
Carrara 6 Pro is not a 3-D giant killer, but it
is perfectly at home in a good variety of
professional settings. It offers an easy
learning curve so 3-D novices can quickly
get up to speed, yet provides advanced
tools that are usually found in applications
costing three times as much and, within
certain parameters, is able to exchange
files with the leading 3-D applications.
There are a few minor issues here and
there, but it is easy to recommend Carrara
for a broad range of users and projects.
WORDS BY TREY YANCY
Product Carrara 6 Pro
Made by DAZ Productions
< www.daz3d.com >
Price $549 / Upgrades $160.95 –
$459.95, Standard version
$249.00
Pros Easy to learn, pro-level
capabilities, wizards
Cons Very slow on stock Mac Pro,
minor interface issues
Rating
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