Going from Carrara 1 to now Carrara 5 is like night and day. Carrara 5 has improved in so many ways and it has remain very easy to use. Creating models is now much easier than in version 1.0 and in Carrara 5 you can import poser files directly with out the need to have poser installed. Yes any model that you create in C5 can be exported to be use in Vue but I once you get C5 I don't think you will be using Vue very much. Carrara 5 can handle some very fancy terrains and scenery. It also has one of the best and fasters renderers out there. You get alot of value for your money. you may also visit http://www.eovia3d.net to see some of the stuff that people are doing with C5.