Throw us a poser bone already... I mean wtf, you guys know for how long we've been waiting for this update, how much we begged, pleaded, and we got a dodgy deal in which you promised December and finally came out with 'later' and corpo-speak about how your continued dedication for Bryce is the hallmark of your work. Cool, but at least show us a bloody screenshot. The guys doing beta-testing haven't spoken a word, wrapped tighter in NDA-s than [insert dirty joke about the virginal celebrity of your choice here]. You're all diseased. If I don't get Bryce 5.5 by my birthday, I'll do terrible things with myself. Like party and stuff, instead of waiting around glued to the computer screen for news. Drac (win/win all the way)

gluteal tuberosity..sounds like a new forum..;) as long as you don't stop making models and meshes..do what ye like..;)

Damn you! I got really excited for a minute. I like the Ferris Beuller tight-ass joke "so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond" But it's not 2005 yet. SO I'm still holding out some hope. When's your birthday, so we can scrape $1.50 together for a card?

Happy Birthday, Drac!

oh..and i so did hope..... and think...what a lovely way to wake up in the mroning! then.... when's yr bday?

Supposedly there's been a sighting somewhere in a mountainous region of Utah... I think it's called Area 5.5. LOL!

Which will come first??????? Bryce 5.5... Pro Render...or the year 2006.....I'm betting on what has been consistent year after year after year.

Hahahahahaaaaa Just wait Drac...All of you will be Pleasently surprised...And I have seen DAZ comment on why the Betatesters are not showing or talking is because of that Darn NDA...And plus do you blame them for not wanting to talk when they might get a chance at Betatesting Bryce6,7,8,9...?

For possible liabilty purposes and budget cuts, Bryce 5.5 has been shortened to merely Ryce 5.5 ... What? It could happen!

Um, 5.5 was supposed to just mainly optimize the code and speed up renders, wasn't it. I recall seeing an "official" statement somewhere that said the GUI wouldn't really change much. Except, of course, for the giant Insert Poser Model button. ;^)

(laughs at Xenic!) I think it's time we took this all into our own hands. We need to reverse-engineer Bryce 5, that is to say, what we REALLY need is something totally different to go with it! I was thinking Bryce 4.5, or maybe AmateurRender 1.0? Progress, schmogress!

You could do a Spinal Tap and create Bryce 11 ?

I still have my doubts about the whole thing,........I'm going back to "I'll believe it when I see it" !

I'll delurk long enough to say that I agree with sackrat, I'll believe it when I see it. And I'm still miffed that Daz decided to give Bryce4 away, just a couple short years after I paid good money for my copy.

I'm also afraid they'll break Bryce up into several smaller apps so that they can sell each piece seperately (the last time I wanted to purchase a Daz item for Michael it required the purchase of no less than four additional items, aside from the Michael model itself). I can't afford Daz, and I'm afraid I won't be able to afford their version of Bryce either.

Don't flame me, this is just one man's opinion.

and right you are, A_A

Funny thing about people saying, "That's just your opinion, Atomic!", is that it's obvious that it's YOUR opinion, considering YOU obviously typed it! I have nothing against DAZ really, I think that Studio was a great anti-poser step. Having just started using Maya, I'm very much looking forward to uninstalling Poser 5 someday soon. Nothing against Poser, but there isn't anything you can do in Poser that you can't do in Maya, and there are a million things you can't do in Poser that you CAN do in Maya. Maybe even a billion! But after seeing Pendulum's proposal for Bryce 6, I can't imagine anything LESS than that as a reality. If DAZ doesn't at least incorporate HALF of what he was considering, then I'll probably just skip Bryce 6 and stick with Maya 6 and Bryce 5, with Rhino and Photoshop for input-output apps... Of course, I didn't buy Maya 6 all by myself, and Bryce 6 is something I could actually afford, but sometimes it's really hard to justify being loyal to one program when you've been let down so many times. If all they do in Bryce 5.5 is decrease render speeds, I'm afraid I won't be buying it at all. And if Bryce 6 isn't done in six months, I'm afraid I'll have surpassed any of it's potentials with Maya by then and Bryce 6 will be totaly useless to me. Again, there's nothing that Bryce can do that Maya can't, already, and if they don't change that somehow it doesn't make sense to me to invest any money in something that won't get me a job or make me any money back. When looking for a job, you will never find a position for Bryce Artist, but there are dozens for Maya animators, because it is very difficult to use but very powerful. Bryce is a great program, though, and I DO love it dearly! I even finished a ten-second animation this week, made me a quick $350 in less than ten hours of actual work!

Atomic_Anvil, many companies give away older versions of programs. It gives people a chance to try an older version and hopefully decide to upgrade. That's how I got Painter 5, Vue 2, trueSpace 2 & 3, Cinema 4D CE6, and more. I now have Painter 7, tS 6, and C4D 9, none of which I'd have considered if I hadn't received a free version first to try out. DAZ is not going to break "Bryce up into several smaller apps so that they can sell each piece seperately". They've said this several times. Bryce 5.5 is going to decrease render times and allow you to bring in figures from DAZ Studio much easier and modify them later if needed. There are also some other new things but we haven't been authorized to talk about. And remember folks, when you make changes to software code, either to add features or optimize code, there are things that may not work right and that has to be tested and fixed. That may affect some other feature, which has to be run down, fixed, and tested. Draculaz, there are no major changes to the GUI so screen shots aren't going to show anything. Give them time to make sure the program is stable before releasing it to all of us Bryce addicts.

I'm with Jelisa on this one

Yup, all correct. no real GUI difference. The differences are pretty much ALL internal. (speed baby, speed) The splash screen looks a little different as of right now, but that's a given with ANY new program version, so no secret at all there... *Bryce 4 for free; It's about time! (imho). DAZ told me at Siggraph (in august) that they were getting ready to do that, it was definetely time. (hey, I bought Bryce 4 also. ;o) It's just a great move for helping promo Bryce@DAZ, and Bryce in general. *Breaking Bryce up. Nope, it's just not gonna happen. I know you're scared, but fear not. *Bryce 6.0 release? - A major guesstimation; this time next year(?) With what they would LIKE to give to 6.0, you have no idea what kind of work it will take... AgentSmith

Aye, I understand that it would take a lot of work, AS. But somehow Maxon releases a new Cinema 4D every year, and Lightwave does it like every HALF a year... Still, Maya has been around longer than any of them, and it's only on version 6. I much prefer quaity over quantity....

If DAZ can put what they would like to see in 6.0, it will be an evolution in Bryce, not just an upgrade. Seriously. It's easier to build upon an more established package, like C4D, Ligtwave, etc. Not that those programs haven't seen major upgrades in the last year, they have. Yet, IMHO, if 6.0 is all it can be, it will be more in common with higher end packages, than it would with its former versions. (Especially if they add in all the stuff I have bugged them about, lol) Wait/hope and see. AS

Thanks for the update, AS!

"it will be more in common with higher end packages, than it would with its former versions" Does that include the price ?

I'm sure a "Super" or "Pro" version of Bryce would cost more than the normal, past Bryces, but I don't think DAZ would get too carried away by price. It might fall in line with say Vue Pro, which goes for $400. (all just guesstimation on my part, but it seems kinda logical) AS