Maya is powerful, as regards modeling. Rendering a finished scene is terrifically complicated, because you have to have a pretty good understanding of nodes and things that relate to materials. Once you understand it a bit better (and I still don't understand it super well), they way materials are handled is pretty nice. Meanwhile, the use of all the various animation tools and being able to pipe your scene to a variety of renderers is mighty nice. Learning the terms they use? That varies from app to app. Bryce's interface is just the most intuitive around, so it is still easier to learn. The jargon is not all that important when using Bryce, but, with Lightwave, for instance, you'd better know what term to use, because everything is text on the buttons now. Blender is similar, only it is so convoluted, to me, that it is just a bit more of a pain than I'd like to sustain. Bottom line. What's the end product? Orbital and Rochr can turn out amazing things, and some of us aren't any slouch either. Who uses the product is what really matters most. Period. The more I learn to use Bryce, the better photorealism I'm able to achieve. If I were going to go into a studio, I'd have to be proficient at Maya. That's all there is to it. Rhino is great, and they do use it in some studios, but the ones who really make it sing are those who do models for die casting, engineering, jewelry design and so forth, not to mention sculpting and, more and more, architecture. Enjoy what you have. Make it sing. Use it to your ends. Have a great time. Happy rendering.