All-in-One 3D Solution Whether employed as the centerpiece or as the 3D workhorse within the designer's creative suite, the highly-affordable Carrara 6 lavishes speed and power that enables users to create more freely and deliver high-caliber results under even the tightest deadlines. Finally, there is a single solution for realistic figure posing and animation combined with advanced modeling, terrain-building, physics, and rendering that is readily compatible with such a large array of 3D assets.
… More
Edit
With the new Wakoopa reviewing system, it is easier to give specific points to specific areas. For me the result is rather boring. Only 4 stars for everything that could be improved but is great (version 7 is due), 5 stars for price/value. Myself and Woest score big points with the output from Carrara.
A really versatile one-stop-shopping 3D program, that might look a tiny bit playfull compared with the big names, but has greats depth, right under the surface. It is in the top 10 of 3D programs worldwide, with a strong user base of Mac users, because it's first incarnation, RayDream was one of the first 3D apps.
For a multichannel designer like me it is the best you can get if you want fast results and good quality for motion and print. Soft body dynamics and fluid simulations are the only things lacking for now, take a look at the site to see what great features you get for a surprising price.
The plugins are mainly shader oriented, but also very affordable.
I Carrara all the time, for photorealistic renders, technical illustrations, vector images, flash images and animations, non-photorealistic rendering, fast sketching and because of the tight integration with Poser for rendering of human figures for lots of uses.