Bryce is like one of the Golden Arches to CG 3D Heaven, along with Poser, Carrara! They were all owned by the same company at one point, Metacreations, which is where they all got thier User Interaces. Dollar for dollar none of these programs have any competition. And Renderbrant is right, you can find older verions of these apps in readily available past issues of 3D Mags. Even the Super Learning Curve of each of those past appliccations would still take you a year to learn actually! Honestly I think the communities for these applications are the largest by far, you can find plenty of useful knowlegde and tutorial information freely distributed. Most archives go back several versions, and are updated frequently! = )