is it any good?
I think it absolutely rocks. It has all the features one could think of (maybe it lacks some things in the vertex modeller). The GUI is a bit arty and not that intuitive, but the modelling, texturing and animation capabilties are topnotch.
If you ever wanted to buy a 3D Modelling suite, this would be the one.
Greetings,
Superdisk
I downloaded the demo version of Carrara 2. Rendering especially Global illumination, Caustics and material system are cool. The render is fast. A sky editor (like in Bryce) is included.
but i don’t like the modellers… to me, amapi (V5 is bundled with Carrara), blender and wings3d do a better job. Subdivision Surfaces in C2 work the same way like in blender: every mesh can be subdivided; resolution can be ajusted on the fly. I haven’t tested physics and bones (including automatic attachment of bones to existing models) yet, but the examples in the pdf-docu show that these features a very powerful.
Something about the C2 concept: the program has several editors. That pretty strange if you’re used to work with programs like blender, where all editing is done at one place…
i will purchase Carrara: It’s pretty easy to get a nice results. For complex models I’ll use external editors.
-sportivo
where can i download the demoo for C2?
when i went to the eovia website the download options
were limited to C1.1…
unless i missed something.
EXACTLY
you’re right.
The C2 download was available last week for only one day. I downloaded immediately… The user interface is the same like in 1.1. Only a few buttons added 
SDS is (like in blender) available for all polygon meshes and therefore in the properties dialog of the vertex modeler. Like blender, C2 applies SDS always to the whole object (with one resolution).
Until the demo is available, you may join the carrara mailing list at groups.yahoo.com. In the file area users have posted some animations and pictures demonstrating the new features. At renderosity.com 's picture gallery are also C2 pictures.
-sportivo
How big is it?
the Carrara 2 demo is up again! www.eovia.com
you may check out www.rustboy.com to get an impression whats possible with Carrara…
-sportivo
BTW: I tested the bone feature last night: very nice feature.
hmm… very… unintuitive
Well, unintuitiveness has always been a huge issue with Blender, and everyone who got used to it could deliver some very nice results. This is also the case for Cararra, although i find it not unintuitive at all, it just requires some practice in getting things done.
Investigate the Spline modeller for instance, it may take a while to get the hang of it, but then you have a vey powerfull tool available for creating very complex models. It even supports importing of Illustrator files ( which was on a lot of peoples wishlist for Blender).
Also very powerfull are the modifiers (animatable), to get some funky effects quickly.
I’d say give it a chance