We have a young friend who is also in the same field you are in, he works in Viz also. We suggested to him Vue 4, but that was before Vue Pro came out. If he was here now, I would definately suggest Vue Pro to him. Also, I am assuming you will be doing animation and this is really the best for that. Can't tell you the size of the plant models, but the quality is exceptional, terrains can be edited by the top and sides, mapping would be I am assuming from the top. Very stable if you have a good computer. The rest unfortunatly I can't answer but someone will. Hope this helped. Sharen