I would think it's more a question of price, and what your goals are. If you just want to add some still local environments, hills, mountains, a few trees, and use poser plants, I think the bryce/DS combo is a great low cost solution. If you want animation, more realism, and have a high power system for elaborate high quality more realistic renders, then I think the Vue upgrade path is the way to go. My concerns with Vue, have been dicey importing on new releases, and the plethora of versions that have been released in the last few years. I think in 2 years time, we've seen: Vue4 Vue4 pro Vue 5 Vue 5 pro Vue 5 infinite Vue5 studio. Mover 5 That's a LOT of constant upgrading every few months. If Eon/Vue had just stuck with "VUE" and done upgrades, or lower cost add-on packages/plugins for their base product, I'd have probably jumped on the vue bandwagon, but when I've always been JUST about to finally take the plunge, I hear of another new version about to be released, putting the older versions to shame for one reason or another. Vue5 Infinite looks killer, but bryce 5.5 cost me $15 tops, and vue 5 infinite costs like $550... that's a HUGE difference, and I've used even bryce very little. 3D world software has always been fasinating to me, but I've always found a steep learning curve, and too many shortcomings, and frustrations in every single package I've gotten. That's why I upgraded Bryce for the 5.5 price.. I know I will get $15 worth of value from Bryce.. I don't know if I'll ever get th $550 value from Vue 5 Infinite, I don't know if the opengl will work on my system properly, and I don't know, if by the time I learn it, if I'll have to dump another $200-$300 in another new upgraded version of it.

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.