I tried Carrara and was disapointed a lot with the vertex modeler. Vue is a superb software but it crashes continually if you don't have a recent video card with always the latest drivers and because of the anti-pirating programming in the software.
The company is out of its mind asking 600,00$ for a software with no modeling except boolening as Bryce.
At this price, I would buy Cinema4D who can do all Vue & Bryce can do: modeling, landscaping, importing Poser characters and objects, animating. And the rendering is one of the best at this price.
There are thousands of tutorials in many languages and many forums. You can have version 6 for free and the version 9 (demo) at Maxon.
And it's one of the easiest to learn...
Excuse my english
Michel