Rating: 
Summary: A truly great reference
Review: As someone that has been playing with Bryce for a year and wanted to venture into the new world of creating 3D objects, I bought a copy of Carrara. Unlike Bryce, you have to actually create the objects in a scene. When I tried to do this, I promptly got LOST. The Carrara manual was no help as it was incomplete and assumed that I already knew how to make 3D objects. This being all I can say is thank you Mr. Sahlin. You have written a book that assumes nothing. This book took Carrara from being a very costly program that took up space on my hard drive to something that is a joy for me to use. Every step in the book is laid out in a manner that is easy to understand and simple to do. If anyone asks, if you have Carrara this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: A truly great reference
Review: As someone that has been playing with Bryce for a year and wanted to venture into the new world of creating 3D objects, I bought a copy of Carrara. Unlike Bryce, you have to actually create the objects in a scene. When I tried to do this, I promptly got LOST. The Carrara manual was no help as it was incomplete and assumed that I already knew how to make 3D objects. This being all I can say is thank you Mr. Sahlin. You have written a book that assumes nothing. This book took Carrara from being a very costly program that took up space on my hard drive to something that is a joy for me to use. Every step in the book is laid out in a manner that is easy to understand and simple to do. If anyone asks, if you have Carrara this is the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: In depth but has a glaring omission!
Review: As with most Carrara users, I waited with high hopes for this book, as the original manual is virtually useless. After receiving the "Bible", I was immediately disappointed because it is written specifically for the PC version of the software. I am using the Mac version. This is not mentioned in any of the advertising literature or reviews, including here on Amazon. All the files on the CD are in PC format making them unusable for the Mac without adding "creator and type codes" to the files either with a resource editor or other conversion software. I almost returned the book, but because I am adept in both platforms' key commands and know how to add creator and type codes, I decided to give the book a chance. Because the program is virtually identical in layout and operation on both platforms, I have been able to get a lot out of the book. It is very in-depth and detailed and has provided me with tips and solutions I thought were not possible in Carrara. I recommend the book to advanced Mac users (if they're not too bent out of shape for not being included) who can deal with key command and file conversions, but cannot recommend it to inexperienced Mac users. I assume a PC user at most any level would benefit from the book. I give the book 3 stars because it has some valuable information even without the CD, but leaving out the Mac and not even including an explanation why or a warning in the advertising literature is very short-sighted. I specialize in cross-platform issues between Mac and PC and know it is not that much more difficult or expensive to create a "Hybrid" CD usable to Macs & PCs and include key equivalents in the text. There is a substantial Mac user base for this program (as evidenced in the various forums and mailing lists) and, in fact, most of the Fractal/Metatools/Metacreations core software was written for the Mac first. I do not believe this book deserves the title of "...BIBLE" because of the glaring Mac omission, but it probably belongs in the library of ANY serious Carrara user.
Rating:
Summary: Fills in the Gaps.
Review: Carrara 1 Bible covers areas that the manual ignored or had misstated due to Carrara's shipping date. A helpful book whether or not the CD is playable.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I bought the Carrara 1 Bible expecting a book of tips and tricks. What I got was a reprint of the manual. I can't say the included CD ROM is worth the $35 since it won't work on a Mac.I'm sending my copy back.
Rating:
Summary: Excelent book for a beginner and nice tech support
Review: I purchased this book, before it was published, and when it arrived i started for the first time on my 3d adventure, the book is quite compreensive but not imediate, gotta keep your eyes open. But i reached a point when i got to the conclusion that cd wouldn't run on my mac, wrote to IDG and within a week the cd arrived. Excellent service, nice book to start with Congratulations to IDG, got yourselves a new customer It is a nice to book to start from
Rating:
Summary: Excelent book for a beginner and nice tech support
Review: I purchased this book, before it was published, and when it arrived i started for the first time on my 3d adventure, the book is quite compreensive but not imediate, gotta keep your eyes open. But i reached a point when i got to the conclusion that cd wouldn't run on my mac, wrote to IDG and within a week the cd arrived. Excellent service, nice book to start with Congratulations to IDG, got yourselves a new customer It is a nice to book to start from
Rating:
Summary: This book really helps
Review: If you have bought Carrara and are frustrated by the awful manual and tutorial book, GET this book. This book will introduce you to all the basics of Carrara very simply and effectively. I am sure you will learn from it as I did. I learned from it how to use the spline and vertex editors (which I never used in my life before). And it is an excellent substitute for the reference help that manual should provide and does not, or at least does badly. Only two flaws: I would have liked to have a lot more useful content (e.g. shaders) in the CDROM, and the colour pictures really do not justice to what Carrara can do.
Rating:
Summary: This book really helps
Review: If you have bought Carrara and are frustrated by the awful manual and tutorial book, GET this book. This book will introduce you to all the basics of Carrara very simply and effectively. I am sure you will learn from it as I did. I learned from it how to use the spline and vertex editors (which I never used in my life before). And it is an excellent substitute for the reference help that manual should provide and does not, or at least does badly. Only two flaws: I would have liked to have a lot more useful content (e.g. shaders) in the CDROM, and the colour pictures really do not justice to what Carrara can do.
Rating:
Summary: Worthless
Review: OK, I should have read the fine print. Nevertheless, I expect cross-platform books for cross-platform software. This book ignores the Mac entirely. I can figure out the Mac commands; that's rarely a problem. But CD won't play on a Mac either, so I have no access to the files I need to follow the procedures explained in the book. What a waste of money!
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