Digital Art Zone

I just started using Carrara a week ago, and this is possibly the most unreliable app I have ever used.

It seems as if I have to save a model as a new file every time I make a change, or I will lose it. I can save a file, close Carrara, open Carrara, and none of my changes is there. Further, Carrara will simply stop working about every 20 minutes, and has to be quit and restarted.

I realize that this is supposed to be Carrara 8, but it seems like Carrara beta.

Hi PhoneyBaloney

Welcome to Carrara. Sorry to hear you’re having trouble.
What kind of computer are you on? PC or Mac?
How much Ram?
Are you using Carrara 8 or the new Carrara8.5?

This information can help us get someone with great Carrara experience the info they need to help you.

Oh ye of little experience…

many times I have thought that carrara stopped working but it was just proccessing next time go get a cup of coffee and see if its realy hung up or that your proccesor is just slowing down the program. this might help.

Carrara will simply stop working about every 20 minutes

.....that would
make it un-usable for anyone.

Carrara has been very stable for me over the years on different computers using Win Vista
or Win7.

What OS and build # of Carrara are you using?

Sorry I don’t have an answer for you, but I’m sure someone here does.

Good luck…..don’t give up on Carrara.

It is rarely a wise decision to deride a software you only recently started using. Most likely there is some sort of user error occurring. I too use Carrara and though it has crashed on me, it is far from the most crash prone software I’ve used. However, I use a PC so I am in a better position to avoid crashes than a Mac user.

I find that most tools in most apps must be used in a specific manner or they will not function. This doesnt mean the tool doesnt work, only that the user has not yet gotten to grips with the specifics of this tool. Fortunately, the forum is generally very helpful.

Though many say that Carrara is intuitive, that doesnt mean that every tool works as one might expect right out of the box.

In terms of saving, yes, you need to save manually. This is not a bad thing in any way. Most people dont want to copy over a good save with a potentially bad one, so most users will only save changes once they are sure they really like them. Autosaving can sometimes trash good stuff.

Give Carrara another chance, I am sure it will win you over.

Rashad Carter - 23 July 2012 11:52 PM

It is rarely a wise decision to deride a software you only recently started using. Most likely there is some sort of user error occurring. I too use Carrara and though it has crashed on me, it is far from the most crash prone software I’ve used. However, I use a PC so I am in a better position to avoid crashes than a Mac user.

I find that most tools in most apps must be used in a specific manner or they will not function. This doesnt mean the tool doesnt work, only that the user has not yet gotten to grips with the specifics of this tool. Fortunately, the forum is generally very helpful.

Though many say that Carrara is intuitive, that doesnt mean that every tool works as one might expect right out of the box.

In terms of saving, yes, you need to save manually. This is not a bad thing in any way. Most people dont want to copy over a good save with a potentially bad one, so most users will only save changes once they are sure they really like them. Autosaving can sometimes trash good stuff.

Give Carrara another chance, I am sure it will win you over.

Ya! What he said.

Well, I am actually relieved to hear that I am wrong. I must admit that I am having less trouble with Carrara now, perhaps because I save as a separate file on almost every single change I make.

I was not deriding the software. I was just staggered that the thing would crash at the drop of a hat. I have reduced the incidence of that by never using Cmd+W to CLOSE a file, but rather always using Cmd+Q to QUIT Carrara, and then restart it. Also, I never have more than one model open at a time.

I am running

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB

Graphics cards

Intel HD Graphics:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Total): 288 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x0046
Revision ID: 0x0012
gMux Version: 1.9.22
Displays:
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 512 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0a29
Revision ID: 0x00a2
ROM Revision: 3560
gMux Version: 1.9.22

are you using Lion OS ? Carrara doesn’t work on Lion . even the latest beta crashes most of the time . I wouldnt waste your time as the software is geared to PC. Cheetah 3D is pretty good but basic, mind u it never crashes !

If you install bootcamp and windows then Carrara works a treat!

PhoneyBaloney - 22 July 2012 02:07 PM

I just started using Carrara a week ago, and this is possibly the most unreliable app I have ever used.

It seems as if I have to save a model as a new file every time I make a change, or I will lose it. I can save a file, close Carrara, open Carrara, and none of my changes is there. Further, Carrara will simply stop working about every 20 minutes, and has to be quit and restarted.

I realize that this is supposed to be Carrara 8, but it seems like Carrara beta.

You’re going to find this is the typical use case on Mac OS. I used to be kind of a regular here but after 8 versions of Carrra and endless frustration, I stopped putting my time and money into Carrara. I stop by now and then to see what’s happening since I think Carrara has such vast potential, but I can’t see that potential ever being met. Last time I discussed Carrara critically on the forum I was met with hostility, very few near-silenced dissenting voices like my own and a couple people admitting that Carrara is worse on Mac than on Windows (so I moved from bad to worse when I switched, but I’m not going back to Windows).

If you have trouble now, step away. After 8 versions, I’ve learned that those who have problems won’t ever see them resolved and will leave the forum so that you’re surrounded by nothing but users who have no problems and therefore cannot empathize with those who do.

Admittedly, I find the state of affairs on Mac 3D software to be abysmal across the board. The Mac version of Modo has astoundingly egregious bugs (the same “yeah it’s worse on Mac” commentary there from the community), Zbrush was only recently ported and the license isn’t cross platform (though the Sculptris beta is fun!), 3D Studio isn’t present, Maya is unrelentingly unapproachable and Blender is… Blender.

I see too that the forum doesn’t like carriage spacing between paragraphs (I’m on iPhone 4, iOS 5.1.1).

Good luck!

EDIT: PS: Lightwave is a disaster on Mac OS as well. Then again, Lightwave might be a disaster in general these days.

I have had to re-rig my model multiple times due to accumulated quirky behavior in it. And to those who say, “Well, you are just learning the software,” Look at this:

This is my skeleton model in a rest position.

This is making a tiny adjustment to it.

This is the typical bug-happy Carrara nightmare when I click “undo”:

I hope that the Windows users are having a good time. For Macintosh users: Stay away from Carrara. I have been using it for 1 month, and have probably had to quit and restart it 400 times. I am not exaggerating one bit. Learning 3D modeling and animation is difficult enough without software that changes the rules on you every 15 minutes by crashing, not responding, not saving, and arbitrarily refusing input from either mouse or keyboard or both.