There's no reason why anyone who has Vue 4 or 5 would need Easel, as both versions inmport .pz3s and pack a heck of a lot more features. IIRC, the final update to Vue 4 enabled P5 .pz3 import. Vue 4 and 5 are much more robust ... Easel is meant to be sort of an affordable "entry level" version of Vue for people who mostly want it for its rendering power. If you want to do more in the Vue realm, you'll need Vue 5 d'Esprit, at least. It seems strange to me that e-on discontinued Vue d'Esprit 4 while retaining versions 2 and 3 for sale, but I'm sure they have their marketing reasons. Maybe a couple of years from now we'll see version 4 on CG magazine CD-ROMs. :-)

One thing to be aware of is that Vue doesn't translate Poser 5/6 procedural shader trees into Vue materials, so if you want to create scenes in Poser 5 or 6 to export to Vue, you'll have to use P4 or ProPack-style texturing options. (EDIT: Alternatively, you can choose not to texture specific material zones in Poser at all, and simply finish them in Vue. You should probably always do this with reflective materials.) Not really such a big deal, since Vue comes with outstanding procedurals and enables you to create your own. The Vue Forum here at Renderosity is the best online resource for advice regarding technique.

There have been numerous Bryce vs. Vue threads in the past few years. It appears that most people who have used both prefer Vue, as I do, but you'll definitely find plenty of people who swear by Bryce as their preferred app. The guy who was my biggest early inspiration in the Poser-based world did all his rendering in Bryce. You can do amazing things with Bryce if you really learn how to use it ... get into the Deep Texture Editor, for example. Most Bryce users never do. Vue's GUI and controls are easier to learn and work with IMHO. The two apps yield a different "look and feel," but both can be mastered to create beautiful results without backbreaking effort.

In response to some evident misunderstanding, Bryce 5.5 can import Poser 5 and 6 .pz3's (again, with old-fashioned texturing, not Material Room procedural trees) via its DAZ Studio integration. However, this works more efficiently in Vue, which doesn't rely on a third/integrated app.

There is a comparison graph at the e-on Software website that shows the feature differences between the current versions of Vue.

Message edited on: 10/14/2005 15:14