I purchased Bryce 5 a while back. I've never really gotten into it. It just didn't do it for me. Now, I've been hearing great things about Vue. I'm trying to decide if I should give Daz's Bryce another chance or should I get Vue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I do plan to buy one of them, and I really don't care about the deal at Daz if Vue is a better product.

If money's no object then either version of Vue 5 would be better. I have Vue 4 d'esprit, which is nice but slower than Bryce! It does import P4/5 scenes from a pz3, which is why its handy for me. It was also cheap. Bryce 5.5 is a little faster for some renders than 5 but its selling point is the in interface with DAZ studio. You can import a figure but return to Studio, make some changes and then have the Bryce scene update automatically.

I like Vue heaps better than Bryce myself, but it is more expensive, especially if you want the high end versions (I use Vue Infinite after getting in the upgrade stream by winning Vue 4 Pro in a competition).

BTW, I have a copy of Vue 4 (not pro) that e-on told me I could sell if anybody wants it. (Especially any Aussies out there that want it - postage is cheaper within Australia).

Former Bryce user. Pleased to find that Infinite imports Poser 6 ANIMATIONS with textures (requires minor tweaks for transparencies and bump maps) natively; lush environments can be rendered quickly with optimum settings (rendered three DAZ Mil 3 figures in under ten minutes with radiosity); so far I've seen "Ecosystems" render almost 1,000,000 Mil 3 figures (totalling 141 billion polygons); granted it's pricey but you get what you pay for.

Message edited on: 05/14/2005 05:26

Bryce has been untouched almost all the time that Corel owned it; DAZ is just now restarting development on it, and many of the features in 5.5 (discounting the integrated Daz Studio) were actually things that the old Corel team were reported to have been working on. Vue is the better value, as it has been in constant development, and is the flagship product of E-on. If you are only planning to do stills, then Vue5ProStudio would probably be best; it is cheaper, and you can select the modules you want to add. If you are animating, then save up for Infinite (or buy a cheaper version, get Infinite on the upgrade price, and sell the other one to a friend...just make sure you keep a copy of the install code. E-on keys things to your various serial numbers, and an upgrade version will ask for the App code you upgraded from as a verification). Download the Infinite show reel. That was animated by Phoul with Infinite, Poser, assembled in After Effects 6.5 and sound added with SonicFire Pro. Those futuristic cityscapes are the Dystopia models by Mobius 87 (the Poser version). The marching droids are the Dystopia Trooper sold at DAZ. But with the newest versions of Vue you get GI, IBL, HDRI, metablob primitives, and all sorts of goodies.

Personal experience: Bought Bryce 5. Paid in advance for the future discount on version 5.5. Tried Vue 4. Dumped Bryce, bought Vue4, then upgraded to 5. Never looked back.

Vue - even Vue D'Esprit 4 is much better than Bryce 5!

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com

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.

Depends how much you'll use it for. I think Vue is amazing and can produce results that make Bryce look like Microsoft Paint compared to Photoshop. If you can afford Vue, I would definitely go for that. It's features are amazing and the quality greatly surpasses Bryce.

I agree about the vue/bryce comparison... Isn't vue 4 pretty cheap compared to vue 5 infinite? That might be a good starter option...

Bryce is ancient.... even Bryce 5.5 is outdated already. Vue is very up to date and implements the latest rendering technology. It has many more features then Bryce has. Vue is a much better choice since Bryce is so far behind that I doubt it will ever catch up. Why settle for outdated stuff if you can get the best for just a little bit more? Even Vue 4 ($69) is better then Bryce 5.5 ($99) and by now Vue 4 is cheaper then Bryce......

Thank you all. The information is very helpful. I'll download a demo of Vue and play around with it. I have Bryce 5 already, and I've only played around with Daz Studio a few times. I user Poser the most and I like the fact that Vue imports and works well with Poser.

"Download the Infinite show reel. That was animated by Phoul with Infinite, Poser, assembled in After Effects 6.5 and sound added with SonicFire Pro. Those futuristic cityscapes are the Dystopia models by Mobius 87 (the Poser version). The marching droids are the Dystopia Trooper sold at DAZ."

I gotta check that out. IT SOUNDS HOT

Ok, I just saw the "Infinite" show reel. VUE Infinite, is a beast.

Yep, but I have yet to hear from anyone how bad render times are.

http://www.e-onsoftware.com/Order/ProductList.php?sid=1f16b57e1c58a9f279296e7b501bf429&l=1&producttypeid=6

"I have Bryce 5 already"

Cool, check out the offer at the link above ;-) Sorry, I could not paste the link into the URL box, it always cut off the last few signs.

"I think in 2 years time, we've seen:
Vue4
Vue4 pro
Vue 5
Vue 5 pro
Vue 5 infinite
Vue5 studio.
Mover 5"

Gareee, you do not need all this versions.

Vue 5 is the upgrade for Vue D'Esprit 4

Vue 5 ProStudio is the enhanced version of Vue 5. It contains lots of extra modules. Those modules can as well be added seperately to Vue 5.

Vue Infinite is the upgrade of Vue 4 Pro and it includes all the extra modules like Botanika etc. by default plus the EcoSystem and other neat things.

There is a version for everyone and for everyones pocket.

Render times, yeah. Good point, Gareee. Vue renders a whole hell of a lot faster than Bryce for a similar quality scene. It does slow down a lot if you use things like radiosity or GI, but then you get much better looking results with those too.

Punt, I do understand that you don't need all those versions. (but it's goo that you pointed that out, since that was not my intended messages.) The point I was making, was that purchasing ANY of them, except the new vue5 infinite, would have lead to very quick "planned obsolecence" because of the newer versions. Yes they would still do what you wanted them original to do, seeing that many versions released in only 2 years time (wasn't vue 4 released around the holiday season 2003 or so?) Plus every time a newer version is released, the older versions drop in price. Granted, that's a fact of life in the PC world, but NOT that many versions in so short a timeframe! If you average them, that's a new major version every 4-5 MONTHS! (6 main versions over 28 total months total guesstimate) Ajax: I expected vue would render faster doing the same type of scene, but for one of those really cool infinite scenes, how long are we looking at for rendertime, say, for a large desktop image, say 1280x1024? I know how bad lightwave gets in similar situations, and I also know how impatient most poser users get with render times. Coming from commercial apps, longer rendertimes are always expected, but I've yet to see any render times for any of the really lush infinite scenes I've seen. (Granted I don't really peruse the vue forums, so I'm quite out of touch.) And just for the record, I'm not dissing Vue's abilities at all..they are making some amazing things available in the 3D world creation market. But Eon's marketing strategies are what I'm questioning. (That said, I just got lightwave 8.3.... 3 new updates, with fixes and new features over the course of the last year, and there was no cost involved at all.. all those updates were free.)

Render times in Vue can be extremely fast or very slow, depends onw what render settings you use. I've played with Bryce 5. Made a scene including Poser figures (after lots of trouble I finally got those Poser figs in Bryce), rendered in about 2 hours. The same scene in Vue 4.5 Pro: Poser import was quick and easy, needed some time to correct the materials, rendered at the same quality as the Bryce render in 10 minutes. At higher quality (soft shadows, distributed raytracing) render times went up fast, the slowest render I ever did in Vue 4.5 Pro took over 24 hours. There's a lot you can tweak in Vue, which will affect render times. Switched to Vue 5 Infinite two months ago. Vue 5 Infinite generally renders somewhat faster, but has new advanced options (global ambience, IBL) that slow down render times. I ditched Bryce. I usually render at 1600x1200 or bigger. Renders almost always contain multiple Millenium 3 figures with hires textures, lots of props, landscapes and so on. I always try to render at 3200x2400 and then resize in Photoshop to 1600x1200. In Vue 5 Infinite I usually use Final quality: more than good enough, and still relatively fast. A complex 1600x1200 still renders in less than an hour on an Athlon64 3500+, 4 GB RAM, 10,000 RPM WD Raptor drives.

Thanks for that info!

I've used the demo version of Vue and loved it, but I have this to say for Bryce. I found it much easier to make my own models in Bryce than in Vue. Mind you, the lighting and atmosphere you can get out of Vue d'Eprit is gorgeous.

...I admire your loyalty to daz, Garee, but you're grasping at straws trying to put Bryce in the same ring as Vue...

I'm not, Tunesy. There's a huge price difference between Vue5 Infinite, and Bryce. It's like comparing Poser, and Lightwave 3d, or Max. And again, I'm not dissing Vue in any way shape or form. It's currently the world render champ. If money's no object, I'd recommend Vue 5 Infinite in a heartbeat as well, but based on their developement marketing history, I'd also say to expect 2 newer better versions sometime this year, with more features, and a higher cost.. so expect to not only spend the $550 for V5I, but also plan on some upgrade costs this year as well.

...dollar for dollar the cheap version of Vue blows away the more expensive version of Bryce. I wasn't talking about Vue 5 Infinite at all. Upgrade costs? Well. Every piece of software I've bought in 20 years has had 'upgrade costs' if one decides to buy the upgrades ;) Aside from the odd patch, is daz planning on upgrading Bryce at no cost to the customer?

what's the learning curve like in Vue infinite?..I've been on the verge of buying it for a while but am worried I'll spend too much time learning the in's & out's seeing a few thousand Drone troopers animated in full march on the Vue demo vid sold me on Vue infinifte.not to mention the lush ecosystem

Learning curve is always a matter of oppinion, but I found Vue very straightforward - certainly lots easier than Bryce.

I've been playing with the Vue demo all day and it pretty straight forward. The interface is a lot like Bryce and Carrara. I think if you can use those applications you can handle Vue

"... but based on their developement marketing history, I'd also say to expect 2 newer better versions sometime this year, with more features, and a higher cost.. so expect to not only spend the $550 for V5I, but also plan on some upgrade costs this year as well." Well, Gareee, I just can't bring myself to let that go unanswered. To be fair, let's give Bryce the same treatment shall we? In the space of about 9 months, DAZ has released: Bryce 5.5 Boxed Version Bryce 5.5 Hi-Bandwidth Bryce 5.5 Lo-Bandwidth Bryce 5 Boxed Version Bryce 5 Hi-Bandwidth Bryce 5 Lo-Bandwidth Turbo Import for Bryce 5 BETA (note that even though that clearly says it's a beta, you still have to pay $30 for it) So that's seven versions of Bryce (using the same definition of version you seem to have used for Vue) and they've only managed to go up half a version number. If you're going to have to buy as many again of those over the next 9 months, imagine what that's going to cost. Unlike E-on, DAZ charges for point releases and beta versions. With the most basic version of Vue out there, you can smoothly import Poser content for still pictures. With Bryce, you have to buy the Turbo Import Beta and all it does is import DAZ Studio stuff (and that's still a beta program - DAZ Studio doesn't even exist yet as a real app yet). Yes, listing all the different delivery options for Bryce is a ridiculous argument, but no more so that listing the hobbyist, intermediate and professional versions of Vue as though they were successive upgrades. With Vue, you choose which level you want and over the last two years you would have bought two versions, just the same as you would for Poser. It's just like the three levels of Shade, where you choose the one you want for your budget and needs and get that. Personally, I got Vue for $100 using a Poser 5 owners' discount way back when. I've only needed to upgrade it once since then. The upgrade cost me less than $200, even after postage of my lovely boxed version and I'm now a proud Vue Infinite owner. I personally spent only $5 on the most recent Bryce upgrade after all the discounts and vouchers I had, but I'm inclined to think the $200 Vue upgrade was better value.

The difference in the Bryce versions are boxed you get the boxed version shipped to you, Hi Bandwidth you download with a fast connection and Lo Bandwidth you download with a slow connection. So there has only been ONE upgrade of the actual product. Don't confuse folks with type of purchase as opposed to actual upgrade. I have both Bryce and Vue. I started with Vue 3 and now own Vue Inifinite, awesome program. Just picked up Bryce 5.5 because it was inexpensive to upgrade from 5 now. Vue is a higher end program so if you can afford it you might want to get it instead. I would suggest going through the Vue tutorials with the demo, look through the galleries as well and see if it will suit your needs. Marque

"Don't confuse folks with type of purchase as opposed to actual upgrade." Yeah, that was pretty much the point I was trying to make, Marque.

But Ajax, wasn't vue4 pro, vue 5, vue 5 pro, and now vue infinite all upgraded versions of the original vue4? And Mover was an add on for vue 4 that later became included if memory serves. Not sure where in that list vue 5 studio belongs. I just remember every time a new version was released, people complaining that they had just bought the "latest greatest", and it was now being surpassed. That's not the case with the various Bryce flavors. They are all the same, but have various access options for people with lo bandwidth, high bandwidth, oir people who just HAVE to own a box. And as much slamming I've read about bryce's landscape renders, browsing the bryce gallery here and at Daz show a pretty decent landscape program. And yet again, I am giving Vue credit where credit is due.. Vue 5 infinite creates amazing renders. But I also believe that there's a place for Bryce 5.5, Mojoworld, and 3d world builder as well, just like there is a great use for poser native landscape props, like IC3, and Microcosm, and poser plants and trees.

The most commented image here on 'rosity is a Bryce image by Flak. And it's amazing. It IS possible to do fantastic images with Bryce. It isn't the tool that makes the art, it's the artist. That said, Vue is a better tool IMO. Easier to learn, more powerful options, better Poser import, better user interface. A gifted sculptor can make a brilliant statue using only very simple tools. The same gifted sculptor can make the same brilliant statue using modern power tools in 10% of the time. That's the difference between Bryce and Vue. As for the e-on products, they have two lines, the "standard" line and the "pro" line. In the standard line, you have these products: Vue 4 d'Esprit Vue 5 d'Esprit Addons for Vue 5 are Botanica and two others. Vue 5 Pro is just Vue 5 d'Esprit plus all three addons. In the "pro" line you have these products: Vue 4.5 Pro Vue 5 Infinite All Vue versions can import Poser stills. Importing Poser animations, dynamic cloth and dynamic hair requires Mover 4/5. The Mover 4/5 software comes with the boxed versions of Vue, but you'll have to purchase a license to be able to install it.

"But Ajax, wasn't vue4 pro, vue 5, vue 5 pro, and now vue infinite all upgraded versions of the original vue4?" No, not really. It's certainly true that there was a time when Vue only came in one flavour, but when the pro stream was introduced, it was as a new stream, not an upgrade from the old one. Yes, e-on is sensible enough to offer you a discount if you decide you started in the wrong stream and you want to change, but V4P isn't an upgrade to V4, it's a pro version. Mover is an add-on that still exists. It's roughly the equivalent of Bryce Turbo Import, except it imports Poser animations (stills can be imported without it). Obviously not every Vue user is one of the dozen or so Poser animators, so having it as an optional extra for the non-pro version is sensible enough. It's the same sort of strategy a lot of companies use (and DAZ says they're planning this for Studio) - optional add-ons sold separately so only the people that need them have to pay for them. "I just remember every time a new version was released, people complaining that they had just bought the "latest greatest", and it was now being surpassed." Those would be people that don't like to read, I guess. E-on were very up front about what they were planning. They e-mailed the info to customers on the mailing list and they posted the press releases on their site. They even went as far as saying in advance that if you were in the professional stream and you were torn between the instant gratification of getting the hobbyist Vue 5 and the desire to hold out until the professional Infinite was released, they'd give you an extra discount to buy both. There was a HUGE amount of info available on the release strategy for anybody that looked and naturally it was all over the relevant fora, including Renderosity. Yes, there's a place for Bryce and it's a perfectly valid and even much loved application. I just don't understand why anyone would criticise a company for actually working to improve their product. It really sounds like you're slamming e-on for adding new and better features at regular 2 year intervals. I got my first Bryce four and a half years ago and in all that time it's only managed to go up one and a half versions and hasn't changed very much. I guess that if you're afraid learning new features, that would be a good thing, but most people seem pretty keen on having their software keep up with the times, especailly given how fast 3D rendering technology is changing.

stonemason; Getting back to your question, the learning curve in Infinite is throroughly dependant on just how far you intend to push. The interface is pretty straightforward, and the manual is thick enough to qualify as a lethal weapon. The layered output is pretty self explanatory, as is the basic terrain editor, and older material manager. The complexity starts to ramp up a bit when you get into animation; Vue in general and Infinite in particular makes extensive use of time spline graph functions, for instance. The node based material editor has a learning curve I can't comment on, as I haven't gotten into that one yet (more due to time lack than fear of complexity), but the material blending is one of the key tricks in creating complex ecosystems. Ecosystems in itself is easy; and most of the tricks used to date are even easier (like using black and white images to create areas where the ecosystem -doesn't- place items...creating roads, patterns, whathaveyou). And oh, that multi wave fighter flyby was an ecosystem as well, with the base geometry set to invisible. The network rendering is almost obscenely easy to set up (and Infinite comes with Mover 5 integrated, so the only added packages for sale at this time are RenderCow add-ons. You get 5 nodes with the package, and the add-ons come in 5 and 25 node lumps. And there is no apparent upper ceiling to the number you can have). And it works very well. Both Vue4Pro and Infinite allow you to mix Mac and PC clients on the same network, so you have more options there. Oh. You -do- still have to buy the liscences for the extra vegetation available at E-on. The actual plants are in the add-on folder on the install CD, but need a liscence number to be useable. There are teething problems with the P6 import at the moment, but over all it works very well (I did set my P6 to -not- use external morphs, and decompressed the whole magilla, to keep things compatible content-wise), and E-on is pretty aggressive in the service update department. (some bitch about the number of patches, but I'd much rather deal with a lot of patchs than not enough). In a nutshell, you can get a good meal straight out of the box with a few mouse clicks and no experience. But the banquet awaits for when you probe below the surface...

What Dale said. Vue is about the easiest 3d package I've ever used. Much easier than Bryce, Poser, D|S, etc. You can get up and running in no time, with scenes that are perfectly usable. And if you want to look under the hood instead of just turn the key, there's enough there to keep you busy for a long time. A few minutes to learn, a lifetime to master. :)

I haven't been confused by the Vue updates. There are two different tracks, a pro and a consumer. Of course if one is updated, then the other will be, too. It would kind of suck if people who bought the cheap version got an upgrade, and those who bought the pro version didn't. Mover is a plugin for Vue, and naturally would be upgraded when Vue was. Regular updates are not a flaw, IMO.

Can you really sell your older versions of Vue, even if you upgrade? I have Vue Infinite now, and copies of Vue 4, Vue 5, and Mover I'm not using. I figured I could sell Mover, since I didn't upgrade from it. But what about Vue 4 and 5? I upgraded from those.

Ajax wrote: "I just don't understand why anyone would criticise a company for actually working to improve their product. It really sounds like you're slamming e-on for adding new and better features at regular 2 year intervals. I got my first Bryce four and a half years ago and in all that time it's only managed to go up one and a half versions and hasn't changed very much. I guess that if you're afraid learning new features, that would be a good thing, but most people seem pretty keen on having their software keep up with the times, especailly given how fast 3D rendering technology is changing." I'm not slamming them at all, and a number of times I've said they are THE 3d world app out there. Since I'm not on their registered user customer list, I don't heard about new versions or changes until they are released. (I tried following thier own forums a while, but there mainly seems to be issues complaints or questions that were never answered.) But from the "outside" seeing 8 versions released in only 2 years does seem excessive, whne some of those versionsa could have just been free updates, like Poser 5 sr1,2,3,4, or Lightwave 8.0,8.1,8.2,8.3 I'm sure I'll take the Vue plunge some day, but I've been waiting for some stabalization of versions, but as I previously mentioned, every time I look, there yet another new version literally 2-3 months away, so I become discouraged in buying the current one.

But from the "outside" seeing 8 versions released in only 2 years does seem excessive. Compared to what, plodding along at daz pace with Bryce? ...hmm? If you're "not on their registered user customer list" then how did you "tried following thier own forums a while"? Their own forums are restricted to registered e-on software users only according to their forum login page. Since youre not slamming them at all and yet you claim there mainly seems to be issues complaints or questions that were never answered. at the forum that you cant even access lets take a look at a few results from searches of various forums. I took the first quotes I found that specifically referred to both products: (From Vue forum here at Rosity): Vue4 IMHO....is much better than Bryce. I'd go with Vue4...very stable & lots of goodies around for it. I used it for a couple years & never had a skip/miss. You can't beat that price :) Well, there have been various discussions about this, but at this point, since the advent of Vue Infinite, there is no comparison... Even vue 5, there's no comparison... Vue is a better product... The problem is that Bryce has stood still for various years while Vue evolved. Had both..... Bryce is outdated and DAZ just mnade one big mess of Bryce 5.5 as far as I'm concerned. I'm getting rid of it after one day already. Get Vue 5, it's much much better and far more advanced then Bryce 5.5 It's well worth the extra investment. Just for laughs, you might want to take a little look-see over at the Bryce forum. Looks like all is not peaceful in paradise these days. Do you get Value for your money? Yes. This program (Vue) actually works and works well. You'll never look back. The grass is greener on the other side. Walk into the light ! I agree to go with Vue 4. I have bryce 5 and all its doing is collecting dust. For me Vue is way ahead of Bryce. Sometimes cost is not everything. It depends on what you going to use the applicaation for. go with vue, atleast it gives you a future roadmap when you do get more money, and e.on always has nice upgrade prices. nothing wrong with bryce but its not better then vue and the development phase is alot slower as weve all noticed and since it isnt cheaper i realy dont see the point in picking up bryce before vue, an slightly inferior product for the same price with a much worse upgrade path..... (from daz forum team at daz Bryce forum): The things that Vue does weren't implemented in a short six month period. They've had four years to add these features during the same time Bryce was sitting on the shelf and they've taken good advantage of that lead. Catching up in six months on that much of a lead - that's impossible and expecting it is being extremely unrealistic. We have to be realistic about what to expect given the time DAZ has had Bryce and whether 5.5 should have been a patch or not is a moot point and not worth arguing over. (from CGTalk): All in all, I love this package! (Vue) It has given me the ease of use that I thought 3DS would but didn't. There are SO many helpful people out there. I find all the Vue communities to be a bit nicer than the 3DS or Bryce communities (yes, I was a Brycer from the very begining [KPT Bryce]). Bryce vs vue, yes they are focusing on the same market segment, but bryce has not kept up with vue for years, and neither features, rendertime or quality in bryce is up to par Had Vue for, hm 2 months, jsut got Infinite, so learnign with it Used Bryce for years, but...sigh hugs poor bryce Yikes. Didnt intend post to be this long, and it could be much longer. Sorry. Ill clip it here ;) Do your own forum search and youll find similar results. Its hard to find a post from a user with Bryce and any version of Vue that voices preference for Bryce besides the daz folks themselves. But, I cant really blame them for trying to sell their product ;)

Tunesy, have you actually read any of my posts at all >completely

Oh, I used to use Bryce as well. Started with 4 that a friend loaned me (he was getting into Max at the time), got 5, and nearly had raptures at the ease of Poser content import that Vue4 and Mover 4 permitted...

Using DS and Bryce is actually pretty nifty now.. import a figure, hit a button, and bam! it's in Bryce. Hit the DS button, and BAM! It's back in DS for reposing or adjustment.

...Gareee...pious remarks like "I'm not slamming them at all" followed immediately by cracks like "I tried following thier own forums a while, but there mainly seems to be issues complaints or questions that were never answered." is double-talk. It's aslo silly. The average reader can see that. The average reader can also see that Bryce is a very distant also-ran to any version of Vue regardless what the daz spinmeisters would like us to believe.

Get of your Daz hating kick, Tunesy. That suit ill fits you, and is worn down to mere threads. And that reduces any arguments you have of Vue Vs Bryce down to just more Daz hating. (I owned bryce about 2 years before I ever even HEARD of Daz, BTW.) And it's VERY funny.. Bryce has been around HOW long, and yet EVERYone who thinks it still has some merit is a Daz spinmeister. Go jump into the Bryce forum here, and tell the same tale, and see how well it is received.

I dunno...I looked in at the Bryce forum recently, to see if there were in any reviews of 5.5. Someone posted a "Vue or Bryce" thread there, much like this one. And the results were similar. People told him to go with Vue. I was kind of surprised to see that in the Bryce forum. I fear Bryce is years behind Vue, through no fault of DAZ's.

Bryce IS very far behind Vue.. but the new 5.5 makes using poser content VERY easy, and there's no fiddling with textures or such, so long as they aren't using P5 or 6's advanced nodes. I see Bryce more as better version of things like Micrcosm, then as a replacement for Vue. Check out the bryce galleries here and over at Daz.. there really is some amazing things people have done with it. I think I spent a total of maybe $30 or so tops for the bryce 5 update last year, the temp poser content plugin they had, the 3d starter bundle with all the characters, and the new 5.5 update, and just the 3d starter pack alone already got me the $30 value back (Getting the new skeletons for $2 didn't hurt at all either! ;)

"temp poser content plugin they had" You mean the DAZ studio content plug-in? They still have it and it's still in beta (probably because DS is still beta).