| Page 1 - What's New and the Overview 
Carrara Studio 3 is the latest version of Eovia's comprehensive 3D graphics package which allows the user to create models, apply textures to them, then render the result either into a still image or into a full animation. For this review, we are going to focus on some of the highlights in Carrara Studio 3, with a special emphasis on the new additions. To speed up the download time for this review, it has been broken up into six pages. A navigation bar is provided on the bottom of each page. In addition, some of the images used in this review act as links to larger versions of those images. Just click on the image you're interested in, and a full sized image up to 1024 pixels wide should open in another window. If this larger image doesn't appear at full size, then let your mouse hover over the image and click on the magnification button that appears. A Brief Overview of Carrara Carrara was originally developed by Metacreations, the company best known for programs like Bryce, Poser, and Ray Dream Studio. It is a medium priced 3D graphics suite for Macintosh and Windows that includes modeling, texturing, rendering, and animation capabilities. In Carrara, the major graphics functions are broken up into five different screens or Rooms. These are the Assembling, Modeling, Texturing, Animation, and Rendering rooms. The advantage of this approach is that a tremendous amount of functionality is packed into a very neat and uncluttered working space. What's New in Carrara Studio 3 New features in Carrara's rendering capabilities include Raytraced Soft Shadows, Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR), High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI), Alpha Channel rendering to produce selection masks for Photoshop, and Gaussian Filtering to improve anti-aliasing. In the Modeling Room, a Tree Maker has been added with 26 fully editable tree shapes. Other new features include the Dynamic Extrusion Tool, Edge Creasing has been added to the Subdivision Tool, a UV Editor has been added to control the way flat texture images are wrapped around the 3D models, and bevels have been added to the Spline Modeler. In the Texturing Room, new additions include the Color Gradient shader, the Fractal Noise shader, and the Environment shader which allows the user to use parameters such as slope, altitude, and orientation to control the shading. A Scene Wizard has been added that provides a collection of basic scenes for use as starting points when making new images. WebXport2 and ShockXport2, which used to be available separately, are now integrated into Carrara Studio 3 for use when generating graphics for the web. What Comes in the Package Carrara Studio 3 comes with two CDs and a very thorough printed manual. The Application CD contains Carrara Studio 3, and the demo for Amapi Designer 7, an excellent modeler. The full version of Amapi 3D V5.15 is also included. The Content CD contains 860 pre-built models with a catalog that makes it easy to find what you want. Also included is a large variety of sample textures and scenes, including high resolution planet images and HDRI images. Review Navigation |