“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 Pog’s link above clearly indicates. The plugins that come with or are coded for these packages uses the modeler’s 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 Bryce’s primitives. That would give you some idea of what it entails.<< I know what it entails. :-) And that's not primitives. The link that Pog posted shows how the artist created his mountain in Max - really quite a simple process. But my point is that you you use basically the same process in Bryce AND you get a better result. My friend objects to modelling terrains in Max, because he can get a better result in Bryce. Anyway, I decided to give it a rest, because I obviously cannot change their minds and I really stay mad for long. I could object to some further silly statements there, but there's no use.

-- erlik