Normally I don't break radio silence with posts like these but I have to say - I highly recommend when at all possible, budget yourselves an annual subscription of 3D World magazine.

While the articles and tutorials are really decent, it's that damn disc you get every month that really makes the subscription worth it!

Typically on the jacket they'll tell you the "Value" of what's included on the disc for free.

This month the disc's value was $1446.

What did they include for free - a full commercial copy of Carrara 7 Pro with a coupon for $25% off Carrara Pro v8. Then they also threw in Mimic Pro for Carrara, Digital Painters shaders for Carrara, plus a couple of hours Carrara training to get you going!

Then there's the usual butt-load of models, regular and HDR textures, sound fx files, Gnomon training, Vue v8.5 PLE (well you can get that directly from e-on) that they typically include...


It wasn't a CD this month, it was a double sided DVD!

Again, I'm posting cause I know a couple of you were looking for decent, inexpensive render packages and the fact they just gave away Carrrara v7 Pro shocked me when I looked at this month's contents - you can't go wrong with a subscription to 3D World magazine... ;-)

-Will

WillBell. I have seen this.. Very cool. Thanks

The same can be said for the new 3dArtist magazine that also just gave away Carrara 7Pro.

Wow! Good thing i checked in on the board. Ran over to the nearest book store and picked up my copy of 3D artist. I like Carrara.

-Dooki

That's what's up! :-)

Yeah, I've noticed that I've been peeking at 3D Artist magazine also - I'll have to check out an issue or two!

-Will

Awesome. It is free but it doesn't load the scene preset. You need the app disk for that. No biggie.....it's free after all!

-Dooki

FYI, you can copy (or move) the presets & shaders folders from the older version to the new version. When you relaunch v7 you'll be good to go!

-Dooki

True, the presets haven't changed all that much since v5 or v6.

I'd hope this was an accident and not on purpose by DAZ. The presets are really what makes Carrrara shine.

If a serial number is provided, perhaps registering it at DAZ and then resetting your downloads will provide the option to download the latest (any v7 Pro updates along with the full installer containing the presets.)

Or perhaps mention this at the forums and see what they say - perhaps they'll provide a direct download link.

-Will

Whoah! that's a good deal for the pro version!

I imagine they get more exposure this way?!

I've tried a couple of times to get around polys in the past without great success.

I've been tinkering with Silo recently and kinda like the approach, I find it easier to pick up, being dedicated to modeling.

Marc

Silo is a truly excellent SDS modeler, it was a cruel and sad day when the developers decided to abandon focused development on the product and remove themselves from access by the customer base...

With a couple more features and perhaps a 64-bit version, it would have been the modeler of choice for a large group of people!

-Will

To add this, another magazine offer the same version.

3DArtist, issue 17 has a copy of the Carrara 7 Pro too.

http://www.3dartistonline.com/

Speaking of Carrara... is there ANY form of trial or demo for Carrara 8?

(is it similar in function and interface to Carrara 7? Because I can find a trial for that...)

I'd kinda like to test it out... I'm looking for a new renderer (really hating Blender's terrible interface, and 3ds Max is too expensive at $4,000)...

So far I'm thinking Modo. But perhaps I should consider Cinema 4D or Carrara?

Just get one of the magazines and you can try v7. V8 did not add much in the way of rendering that v7 did not have.

Hi NightCabbage,

> So far I'm thinking Modo. But perhaps I should
> consider Cinema 4D or Carrara?

Any of those would be good. But Carrara v7 has quite a lot of rendering functionality in it and is pretty easy to use, so you may want to just pick up one of the magazines that has it and get that one for free!

- Michael

That sounds good!

I wonder where I can hunt down the magazine in Australia - anyone know if it's commonly sold at newsagents here?

Hi NightCabbage,

These magazines are sold at Elizabeth Shopping Centre (Adelaide) so I'm guessing you will be able to get it. At the moment though, I can only find the July issues (we seem to be behind). I want to get it too.

For rendering, Kerkythea has an excellent scene editor and high quality renderer. Not much development on it these days but that doesn't stop it working as well as it always has, which is very good indeed for a freebie.

Although Simlab Composer isn't the knockdown price it was, it is still good value and the features keep coming. One of the handful of purchases I've made that I'm well pleased with.

> I wonder where I can hunt down the magazine in Australia

Borders bookstore has it.

Cheers

Thanks :)

Hmm, Carrara 7 seems to be much easier to use than Blender so far...

Maybe I won't need to buy Modo just yet?
(and Cinema 4D is a bit too expensive with all the modules I'd want)

Hi NightCabbage,

> I wonder where I can hunt down the magazine in Australia - anyone know if it's commonly sold at newsagents here? <


I've seen & bought the magazine several times at the local Newsagents in Berwick, Victoria where I live.
The other day I noticed the current issue available on stands seems to be July, but sometimes they'll have "The Very Latest" issue.
Those "Very Latest" issues are typically Air Expressed to Australia, all sealed & specially marked, so they usually cost about $20+

As your down in Tassy, not too sure what your Newsagents would be like...maybe try one of the bigger ones in the City?

HTH, Colin