I simply can't believe NO ONE is mentioning the user-defined G-Buffer output it has. That alone is a HIGH END feature, folks. I'm not sure how extensive it's G-Buffer capabilities are, but I know of no other mid-range software that can do that. Sure, most 3D software can save files with alpha info(targa/TIFF), but that's a far cry from being able to render specific G-Buffer channel info in your render pass. THAT is power, because you have ultimate control over the render in post that way (especially for animation). I noticed everyone seems enamoured with the "eyecandy" stuff like GI and caustics, but while these are nice to have, even in high end apps that stuff is usually faked anyway (for animation at least). Even if calculating the real thing on a powerful renderfarm only costs you 30 seconds a frame (hypothetically), most pros are going to think "why render each frame in 30 seconds, when we can fake the result convincingly and get each frame cranked out in 10 or 15 seconds?" When you think of a 20-30,000 frame animation, those seconds saved rendering each frame add up! Anyway, that's my take on it from an outside point of view. ;-)

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.