"What I'm saying is... will the 5.5 upgrade be worth is money."

Ah, slightly different question. :-)

It's something I've been thinking about over the last couple of days. There's several ways to look at it, and the answer depends on combinations of factors.

First off there's the question how the 5.5 update weighs in against, say, its nearest competitor's upgrade. According to DAZ, Bryce5.5 will feature:
**>**Faster version of current renderer
**>**Advanced OpenGL work window
**>**Interaction with DAZ Studio ('Poser' figure editing on the fly)
**>**Additional import/export formats (including Poser .pz3)
**>**Some "extras" and "surprises"
Barring DAZ's various 'spend-to-save' options, this is going to cost 99 Dollars, whether you have Bryce5 or not. No upgrade for previous users.

Now look at the Vue4 to Vue5 upgrade:
**>**Global Illumination
**>**Radiosity (including in 'infinite' scenes)
**>**Real HDRI and image based lighting
**>**Procedural terrains (non-polygonal with infinite detail)
**>**Metaballs - but with all primitives
**>**3D Text editor
**>**Advanced OpenGL work window
**>**Advanced procedural texture editor
**>**Integrated post-processing and animation camera switching
**>**Quite a few other enhancements
There's some big stuff in there - and the upgrade (yes, a proper upgrade) costs 149 Dollars.

Comparing the two makes DAZ's update to Bryce look extremely poor value. Of course, Vue is a bit of pig in more ways than one; otherwise we'd have nearly all moved over ages ago. But that's not the point here. On a comparison of content plus cost plus route, the DAZ offering looks a little silly.

But then there is the not insignificant factor of what the 5.5 improvements are actually worth to individual Brycers, in isolation from other programs. After all, unless reports come flooding in that Vue5 is the first stable version of Vue to exist - ever - I'm not going to be banging on their door to get it. The Vue upgrade could include integrated Wings3D and the entire REM Infografica model library and I still wouldn't buy it if it didn't work properly.

So, assuming you're going to stick with Bryce, what are those 5.5 improvements worth to you? Is it worth $99 to have a render finish in half a day instead of a day? Is it worth $99 to have a work window reasonably represent the final render? Is it worth $99 to adjust your 'Poser' stuff within Bryce? Are these things, individually or together, worth $99 to you? It is very much a personal call, and the only 'right' answer is the one that's right for you.

Then there's the factor of how the improvements actually pan out; and if there's a downside to program stability.

Say, for instance, that the ability to adjust your 'Poser' stuff from within Bryce means that on return the textures from Studio override any Bryce changes you've made to them after import - how useful is it then? If every adjustment means going back through the figure mesh and applying your Bryce texture changes, maybe it would actually be quicker to gain the discipline of sorting the pose in the first place.

How fast will faster be? Dan Farr said almost twice as fast; Bryan Brandenburg said at least twice as fast. Bryan said that only those improvements that still provide a pixel identical render to Bryce5 would be permitted, so I guess it depends on that. And will the speed benefit remain useful if processor design changes?

On a complex scene, the primitive Bryce5 OpenGL work window can become very sticky (assuming it updates, as on my installation). How useful will advanced OpenGL rendering of 'everything' be in a complex scene?

Only when the release happens will we get to find out how good the improvements actually are. By that time, Vue5 will have been out for months and a comparison can be made with how good their improvements actually are.

And for some, like me, there's the factor of how much DAZ have got up your nose.

When I read this on their site:
"The only way to get version 5.5 at an upgrade rate is to purchase this bundle"
it really, really grates.
I can't help it but that does make a difference as to whether 5.5 is worth it to me. It means I have to suffer a financial insult I wouldn't otherwise endure because DAZ can't operate like other software companies. Everything and its mother gets caught up in their 'spend-to-save' gimmicks. Will there be important Bryce improvements only available via some 'spend-to-save' option?

And I have to consider how much the DAZ mentality will infect the Bryce "community", since that is one factor in my use of Bryce. Already, two prominent Bryce artists are going to be selling their expertise via DAZ. It's a way of sharing, I guess, but not one that's a big part of Bryce so far. Now it will become the dominant way.

So, there's quite a lot to consider in the question of whether Bryce5.5 is worth the money. It'll be an easy move for some, most I suspect; but a head-scratcher for others.
I'm still too busy being annoyed at DAZ to be able to make a rational decision on 5.5's merits alone.