The Carrara Interface
The main Carrara interface (figure 1) is jam packed with options, tools, and widgets. Tools are available along the left and top edge of the interface by default, but the toolbars can be floating or dragged into another position easily. The tools that are available are context-sensitive depending upon what you're doing. The centerpiece of the interface is the Document Window where you'll be creating your Carrara scene.
Figure 1 - The Main Interface
Wrapped around the Document Window are what Eovia calls Trays. Along the bottom is the Sequencer Tray where you can create complex (and wonderfully realistic) animations easily. The right side of the interface provides the Properties Tray where you'll have access to not only the properties of objects, etc., but also to a preview window and more. A convenient slider between these two sections is draggable so that you can choose how much of each is visible.
 Carrara's interface prevents beginners from being overwhelmed by too many options in the interface, and it gives pros a pleasantly workable interface that is uncluttered and efficient.
Carrara is broken up into "rooms" so that you can work efficiently without a cluttered interface. Switching to a room is as simple as clicking one of the icons in the upper area of the interface. The hand icon switches you to the Assemble room, the wrench (selected in figure 1) to the Model room, the pencil to the Storyboard room, the paint brush to the Shader room, and the strip of film to the Render room.
Carrara's interface is well-suited to beginners and pros alike. It prevents beginners from being overwhelmed by too many options in the interface, and it gives pros a pleasantly workable interface that is uncluttered and efficient. I have to admit that I've always loved Carrara's interface, and version 5 makes many subtle improvements on it. The interface is so workable that it's fun just to dabble in it even when there's no serious work to be done.
The Model Room
Figure 1 shows the Model room. When you switch into the Model room, Carrara shows options and tools applicable to the modeler that is appropriate for the object you have selected. Carrara offers a wide range of powerful modelers; a spline modeler, vertex (polygonal) modeler, and a metaball modeler. Each has a unique set of tools and capabilities.
 Perhaps the greatest enhancements in version 5 are in the area of the vertex modeler, now called the polygonal modeler. Eovia has added new selection tools (figure 2) to make modeling more intuitive. There is also a plethora of new modeling tools including curve tools, a new and improved Boolean tool, edges and surfaces tools (Pro version only), etc. Eovia says that they borrowed some of the technologies from their highly acclaimed Hexagon modeling application and put them into Carrara 5. After using Carrara 5 for a week or so, it's obvious how powerful the polygonal modeler is thanks to that decision.
Figure 2 - The Polygonal Modeler Selection Tools
Carrara's excellent spline modeler is also available as shown in figure 3, as is a capable metaball modeler. Carrara's Spline Modeler has been the best of its kind since version 1 in my opinion. It's incredibly easy to model complex objects and Carrara lets you easily control the trade-off between object complexity and render times.
Figure 3 - A spring being modeled in the Spline Modeler
The Spline Modeler allows you to take a 2D share and extrude it along a path. Carrara offers both translation and pipeline extrusions and you have full control over the extrusion envelope, allowing you to extrude an object in different ways along different planes. You can start a model in the Spline Modeler and then convert it to a Vertex object for editing in the Polygonal Modeler easily. This makes Carrara's modeling approach as versatile as you need it to be.
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