I dont understand all the hoopla. From what is posted here concerning this sites rules for entry into their contest, it seems to me that they are asking that all entries be created in a real 3D modeling package. It seems they dont want out-of-box, pre-fabricated objects and Bryce terrains and Poser figures are just that. Bryce is a terrain-generating package and Poser figures are figures that have been created by professionals and are altered by the end user. I dont see whats so complicated about that. They dont want to compete with professional, out-of-box, pre-fabricated objects. It seems to me that they want the artist to exercise his modeling creativity and mastery of the software package, not simply to compose his image from other professionally produced sources. It is not an unreasonable request to me since here in this very forum, we often pose in our challenges the restriction to use Bryce only with no importing of outside objects or postwork from other sources. These other packages can do that with help of plugins. Not necessarily, although it can become quite an involved operation, within these other packages you can create any model of real-life objects including terrains not using their handy plugins, as Pogs link above clearly indicates. The plugins that come with or are coded for these packages uses the modelers own features and code to produce their magic much as the Bryce Terrain Editor allows you to alter a terrain. Your friend may cringe at the thought of creating a terrain model in 3D StudioMax because it may be labor intensive to build a realistic looking terrain from scratch. Think of not hitting the create terrain button in Bryce and trying to build a realistic terrain from Bryces primitives. That would give you some idea of what it entails. I thought i is the end-result that counts, the progress you show, the ideas and stories behind. Having expensive software does not automatically mean that you are creative, you have to show that creative process and participate. And at that point i fail to see how Bryce can be an unfair advantage. Everybody is concerned with the image, not how you came to it. That is not what Im coming away with in this post. Im understanding that some people have taken issue with the sites contest entry requirements and the use of pre-fab, pre-packaged objects from outside sources. I dont think that this post is discussing the moot point and rhetorical question of which software package is capable of producing the most esthetically stunning images because it should come as no revelation that it is the artist and not his tools that decides that outcome. We here at Bryce set our own challenge requirements and would be outraged if someone from outside our domain would question those requirements to better suit their personal inclinations. Would we not?