Let me start by saying, if you are new to 3D and money is tight then you really need to download the Carrara demo and play with this one. If money is no object and you want to play in the deep water then check out Lightwave, or 3D Studio Max. Ok, now that I've got that off my chest let's take a closer look at Carrara 1.1.

Carrara is perhaps the oldest "new" 3D application on the planet. It has it's roots in Raydream Studio and Infini D, both of which were distributed by Media Creations. The interface owes a great deal to Bryce which was also in the Media Creations stable betfore the company sold off all of it's award winning applications to concentart on who knows what. What was the Forest Gump quote "stupid is as..."? When Carrara 1.0 was introduced, many years ago, it created quite a stir due in no small part to it's radical interface. Now two years later Carrara has finally reached version 1.1 under the tutalgage of it's new owner Onvia. to it's creadit Onvia stabalized the once buggy application and added a ton of new plug-ins, models and even a full version of the modeler Amapi.

The Interface

figure 1

Yes, it's a little strange, but Carrara's responsive interface is blast to work with. The tools, windows, and trays can be moved anywhere on the screen which provides a tremendous sense of freedom in the creation of a custom interface. Property controls, models, shaders, and animation controls are stored in fly out trays along the sides of the work area. I can be a little annoying to have to always open a tray to get to something, but thanks to the highly customizable interface trays can be left opened provided you have a large enough screen. The interface is divided into rooms for assembling scenes, modeling, textureing, story boarding, and rendering. Control buttons at the top of the workspace allows the user to switch from one room to the next.

Modeling

figure 1

Yes, it's a little strange, but Carrara's responsive interface is blast to work with. The tools, windows, and trays can be moved anywhere on the screen which provides a tremendous sense of freedom in the creation of a custom interface. Property controls, models, shaders, and animation controls are stored in fly out trays along the sides of the work area. I can be a little annoying to have to always open a tray to get to something, but thanks to the highly customizable interface trays can be left opened provided you have a large enough screen. The interface is divided into rooms for assembling scenes, modeling, textureing, story boarding, and rendering. Control buttons at the top of the workspace allows the user to switch from one room to the next.

Textureing

figure 1

Yes, it's a little strange, but Carrara's responsive interface is blast to work with. The tools, windows, and trays can be moved anywhere on the screen which provides a tremendous sense of freedom in the creation of a custom interface. Property controls, models, shaders, and animation controls are stored in fly out trays along the sides of the work area. I can be a little annoying to have to always open a tray to get to something, but thanks to the highly customizable interface trays can be left opened provided you have a large enough screen. The interface is divided into rooms for assembling scenes, modeling, textureing, story boarding, and rendering. Control buttons at the top of the workspace allows the user to switch from one room to the next.

Animation

figure 1

Yes, it's a little strange, but Carrara's responsive interface is blast to work with. The tools, windows, and trays can be moved anywhere on the screen which provides a tremendous sense of freedom in the creation of a custom interface. Property controls, models, shaders, and animation controls are stored in fly out trays along the sides of the work area. I can be a little annoying to have to always open a tray to get to something, but thanks to the highly customizable interface trays can be left opened provided you have a large enough screen. The interface is divided into rooms for assembling scenes, modeling, textureing, story boarding, and rendering. Control buttons at the top of the workspace allows the user to switch from one room to the next.

Rendering

figure 1

Yes, it's a little strange, but Carrara's responsive interface is blast to work with. The tools, windows, and trays can be moved anywhere on the screen which provides a tremendous sense of freedom in the creation of a custom interface. Property controls, models, shaders, and animation controls are stored in fly out trays along the sides of the work area. I can be a little annoying to have to always open a tray to get to something, but thanks to the highly customizable interface trays can be left opened provided you have a large enough screen. The interface is divided into rooms for assembling scenes, modeling, textureing, story boarding, and rendering. Control buttons at the top of the workspace allows the user to switch from one room to the next.

Conclusion
Shade's incredible rendered output comes at the price of convention or in this case, one of the most unconventional 3D interfaces I have ever encountered. The Shade interface feels like a curious mix of a 2D Mac Draw application and an Atari-based 3D program.

Summation
Good news! Version 5.0 has already been released in Japan and the English version should be out by the end of the year. If I could speak Japanese, I would give you a comprehensive list of the new features on 5.0. :)

Truly ETShade is a mixed bag of tricks. If the output is THE THING, and I think it is, then ETShade has to be the best of class, and perhaps best of show. Even with its quirks and unusual interface, I keep coming back to work with this application again and again. Don't just take my word for it though. Download the free demo yourself and play with it. Who knows Mikey, you might like it! And let me say that when ETShade finally catches on with the English speaking audience, it should make quite an impact. Let the invasion begin!

Product	Shade Pro R4/E
Cost	US $ 1,399
Developer	ExpressionTools, Inc.
URL	http://www.expressiontools.com/index.html
System Requirements	Windows:	Windows 98/Me/NT4.0/2000 Pentium-class or other compatible processor
	Mac	MacOS 8.6 or later (compatible with MacOS 9) Power Macintosh/Macintosh clones with PowerPC