I have posted the same problem. I currently use bryce4 and poser. 2 months ago I purchased Ray Dream for basically nothing for modeling but it exists no more so support is harder to come by. I have narroed my choises to True Space4 or lightwave6. From what you have told me True Space is your best choice for the main reason that its easy to learn on and it has a very good render engine. I have been getting alot fo good feedback from True Space users, but since I am currently a student and I can get a good discount I will be getting Lightwave in the comming months. I have found educational version of lightwave for $780 online and True Space for about $300. Since I want to get into 3d animation and modeling I decided to get Lightwave because of it's great rendering engine and capabilities. Good luck on the search, Lilmikee