You can yet modelise with Carrara but it's not a very easy way because his learning curve way for modeling is some long :)
but for rendering it is one of the more easy and efficient (if a renderer can be easy :)
About moi, it's a nurbs modeler so very precise for all subject who is not especially "organic" like a monster but you can with make all very smoothing forms :)
Perfect for the rest : design, architecture, mechanic etc...

Hi,

I'm not a Carrara user, but I think that the basic render you're after is certainly not difficult. It's just a matter of assigning a color to your object, creating a few lights (with or without shadows), maybe a ground and background.
Then you'll probably go to the render settings and tweak a few parameters and there it is. :-)
Basically, it's the same process in all applications.

For what concerns modeling, there's a big difference between MoI and Carrara, as MoI is a Nurbs modeler and Carrara is a polygonal modeler. Modeling techniques are quite different. I suggest you to browse this forum and maybe a Carrara forum (there's an active Carrara community at www.polyloop.net) to see the differences. As Frenchy mentions, Nurbs are more suited for hard surface models while poly modelers are good for organic modeling (well, not only that...). Nurbs modelers are very good for boolean operations and fillets.
As you mention you've some knowledge of 2D software, I will make a comparison (It's very simplistic, take it for what it is...) and say that you can compare MoI to a vector application (Illustrator) and polygonal modelers to bitmap application (Photoshop). At a certain moment, if you want to use your vector art in a bitmap application (that does not support vectors) you have to rasterize your art.
That's a bit what you do when you export your MoI object in a polygonal format (like OBJ) to render in a third application.

I think that most of us use more than one 3D application so there's no "problem" using MoI together with Carrara. It's a matter of personal choice. Some people prefer an "all in one" package (modeling, texturing, rendering and even animation) but these are usually more expensive. You just have to find the application(s) that work for YOU. (try demo versions)

MoI is easy to learn, simple to use but also incredibly powerful. And it's FUN ! Something really marvelous !

As for modeling, different packages offer different toolsets for the surfaces us modelers use. As you learn how to use these surfaces, like Polygon, Subdivision, NURBS, and Solids, you will begin to think of them almost as a traditional artist would think of materials. For example, if I were to make a non-digital model I would have to stop and consider which parts would be sculpted from polymer clay, cut from plastic, carved from wood, or bent from wire. As a Photoshop and Illustrator user you may want to paint something using Photoshop brushes to create an object with a soft and painterly look, or you may want to use bezier curves in Illustrator to create an object with smooth, precise curves and gradient colors. This is akin to deciding whether to SubD or NURBS tools for a particular model.

If you model with Polygon or Subdivision surfaces you will most likely encounter a workflow based on sculpting, which is great for creating organic creatures and living things. However, as your model gets more detailed the number of vertices you have to deal with goes up dramatically and the types of tools designed to manipulate high numbers of vertices, like brushes and deformers, although well suited to organic modeling, are not well suited to hard-surface modeling.

This is where MoI comes in for me, hard-surface modeling. I would not attempt to model a human with NURBS and Solids, but would for a building, vehicle, or any other props. My main 3D app has a NURBS toolset, but does not even deal with Solids modeling techniques. Some apps like Lightwave and Modo do not have any NURBS tools at all. Also, I find the drafting or vector style drawing approach of MoI for modeling to be much better suited to creating hard surface models.

MoI has the best NURBS/Solids to Polygon conversion tools I have seen, and I have been trying out a lot of NURBS/Solids modeling application demos the past few weeks. This is important because a lot of people use a primary app as their animation and rendering tool, for you that would be Carrara, but they use many "satellite" apps for content creation. For example Poly/SubD modelers like to use apps like Silo, Modo, ZBrush, Mudbox, and Bodypaint for modeling, detailing, and texturing. Now modelers have another tool to consider, MoI.

My advice wold be to try out MoI, the beta is free. As an Illustrator user you may like the curves based workflow a lot. Create something simple like a vase based on a revolved curve. Get it into Carrara and follow a rendering tutorial to get that image created and post it up here for us to see! You have to get that first project out of the way.

"after looking at some of the gallery pics here (especially by Grendel), I am a little (okay, a lot) confused"

I think we can work this out ;)...

You're right MoI is just a modeling program and it uses NURBS instead of polygons to define it's surfaces. As pointed out NURBS strength is accuracy, which lends itself to more mechanical/hard surface objects. Polygon modeling often makes use of a smoothing algorithm to soften the edges of shapes and make them more "organic' or soft. This is not to say that you can't do either in each type, alot of crossover can occur and people naturally lean toward one side more than the other.

As to using MoI I use it for it's strength, mechanical/hard surfaces which lend to easier materials when trying to render them. Most mechanical objects have the same material properties for components and are constant, meaning they dont have freckles and blemishes unless you try to make them appear aged. So how much work goes into after a model is made is very dependant on how good you want it to look. If it's for a quick idea then not alot, if it's for a photoreal prototype add then alot more.

Here is a comparison of two hard surface models, one in MoI and one in Hexagon using polygons(but can be done in Carrara as well). The end render result is the same but the tools used to get there were completely different. Nurbs can be very fast and analytical while polygons are more open to interpretation(creative?) to get the result, kind of like left vs. right brain thinking.




Carrara or many other render software will serve you fine for producing a good image. As for lighting and rendering in Carrara it comes with a large number of scene presets and shaders(materials) use those as a starting point and then experiment with changing the settings. Also as said earlier www.polyloop.net is probably the best site for learning Carrara, but I'm a moderator there so I may be biased a little ;)...