I have Poser 4 and Bryce 4 as well, but both do not work perfect together : Bryce is good for it's own, but rendering Poser figures is lousy. The colors are grayish (unless you change light colors), the shadows are harsh. Poser renders good IMO, but the composition of a scene is somehow crude. So I'm looking for a program to do as follows: - rendering with shadow maps (soft shadows) - positioning of props is easy - mapping of textures like Bryce - Poser exports work good - volumetric lights would be fine And the price should be moderate (< $ 500). Any ideas? Ralph

Vue @ $187 or Carrara @ $164ACAD/$335REATIL according to cnet.com Vue renders more photographic like. Like a picture taken outdoors most often. Carrara is considered good for 'indoors'. Vue is a replacement to Bryce (scene builer/renderer) and Carrara is a replacement to Ray Dream Studio (3D modeller). Both have galleries here at renderosity that you can check.

I like 3D Stidio Max, though I'm new at it. Personally, I love the way Bryce render look better than most, but MAX is close. Vue also does a good render provided you set the highest settings for it.

Bonestructure, I know 3DS too and to me Bryce rendering is much more easier, but 3DS is too expensive for me. What I like is that shadow-map-rendering Poser does (just like 3DS) apart from its very basic composing abilities. I still wonder if it is better for me to purchase Vue or Carrara (my needs are good renderings as well as a good modeller). Or both (my poor accounts...) R.

If it's a choice between Vue and Carrara, I'd go with view. It has great models and textures, and the high end rendering is very good

Sounds good, any demos available??? Ralph

I still have only Vue 2. Is Vue 3 much more improved? I've put off upgrading because, although I like the trees and plants better, I don't care for the interface, the objects are hard to place where I want them, and the colors always seem strange to me. Also, when I import objects, they come so huge, I have to scale them down about a 100 times smaller to make them fit the scene. Melanie

I believe a limnited demo is available. I don't know the website but I'm sure someone here can tell you. It's very limited but it should give you an idea. I don't know how much Vue 3 is improved. I'm basing my judgement on renders I've seen posted in the gallery. They've impressed me, and I'm not easily impressed

I would go with 3d studio max to create models bryce to put together a scene and poser and 3d studio for characters.

I have to agree with that. Call me crazy but I really love the way Bryce renders, even if the one I'm working on right now is taking an intolerably long time

Yup, apart from it missing out on some advanced features the more expensive (and/or specialised) programs have, you already have an excellent renderer in Bryce. The thing is, you have to make Bryce do what you want it to (and the program makes this so easy :-)). Not pushing the program away from its default settings is like buying a car and never getting out of first gear. 'Nice comfy seats, but it doesn't go very fast.' ;-) Have a look at the few offerings on my site (not updated in years). Most relevant here is the stuff in the 'Natural' and 'Weirdly Other' sections: http://www.pfulford.dircon.co.uk/ Even though a couple of these have been post edited, it was for errors, not for applying filters and changing the contrast, etc. The various lighting qualities and effects you see are from Bryce. I'm not offering these as high art, just as a basic illustration that the program can produce an array of effects without image processing. (Not that I've got anything against post editing, I just like the fun of doing it in 3D when I can.) All programs will use techniques and have limitations that put some kind of 'signature' on the renders they output, especially when used close to their default modes. But most of the time when you see people waffling on about the 'Lightwave look', the 'Max look', the 'Vue look', etc, it's basically their own lack of appreciation of the programs' full capabilites they are talking about. You only have to consider the range of quality you see produced by people using Poser. Poser has an archaic render engine by modern standards, but that doesn't stop some enthusiasts from creating absolutely stunning pictures with it. I don't think buying a program because you like the way it renders by default is a good idea, especially if the effect you like is an aspect of 'low quality', i.e. scanline rendering and shadow mapping. You could save yourself a lot of money and push your current program to give you the look you're after. I'd recommend exploring the potential of Poser and Bryce before spending lots of money on a program that will most likely deliver its own set of frustrations and headaches. Gosh, bringing attention to my ancient site prompts me to get off my duff and make something for an update! :-)

Hi PJF, thank you for your detailed answer. I am using Bryce since years, and I agree: there are still new things to find for me in Bryce. I've tried the array lighing you mention on your homepage, too. That can look pretty good, but the rendertime is almost endless if you have (say) 20 omnilights or more. Ok, that can be done over night, but the arrangement of the lights is a question I still have. Where can I find some tutorials about that theme (e.g. petersharpe has nothing about it or did I overlook it)? I know that shadow mapping etc. is not state of the art, and call me a lamer but: I really like the output. Ralph

I'm not too experienced with Poser yet, but I have to agree, if you learn to make it do what you want, it can get sone good results. I've seen poser renders on here that amazed me, like Mike Az's stuff