Owning both, I use both, they're differing tools and I love them both. The most common reason I've come across for Bryce being regarding as a hobby product is that it's lacking in mesh modelling ability. However the light engine in bryce does some great things that are a nightmare in Max (realistic sunlight, true ambience, caustics...) As stated earlier in the thread it's not the tool it's the artist that makes the difference.

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Toolset: Blender, GIMP, Indigo Render, LuxRender, TopMod, Knotplot, Ivy Gen, Plant Studio.