After spending a few hours working with V5E, I'd say, skip this toy and go for the full version if you intend to go beyond gawking at the samples created with Infinite. If you have ever worked with any of the previous versions of VUE and want an affordable update to an even remotely usable 3D landscape program go for Bryce. A few no no's in Easel: The same materials used on the same objects using the same settings will not always produce the same results. More than 2 materials onscreen and the Material Editor starts to stutter and slows down to snailpace. Gave the Metablob thing a try, 2 cylinders, 290 polygons, rendertime 8+ minutes in preview mode. The most positive I can say is that as a 3D landscaper it's cheap compared to Infinite or Worldbuilder, but try using Windows Notepad for a while to do run your business administration and you'll know the feel. And ofcourse I do have to mention that it doesn't crash on boot.