Absolutely, from the very beginning it became obvious that Bryce, as good as it is, is limited in rendering all the desire lighting and color physics needed. And in some cases even if it could, the render times are often extreme. From very early on, myself and others mentioned that as much as we loved Bryce, it was limited. And that all other outside graphic software was but another tool to be used to bring your artistic image to completion.

Basically it remainsas a fundamental Bryce artist, try to do as much in Bryce as you can but know when Bryce has reached its limitations. At that point, use your graphic toolbox and add YOUR personal flare to your image.

There have been times when Bryce Purists said if you cant show us exclusively using Bryce, it isnt Bryce. And we had the Bryce Purist wars. And we would be amazed at all that Bryce artists put into their creations and it all astounded us, their creativity and improvisation. But time has gone on and weve seen that not too much has been happening with Bryce development and as all inspiring and as ingenious as Bryce artists became to propel their software of preference ahead, weve been left behind while all others surpassed us into the future.

So yes, we need other tools, tools that Bryce cant or hasnt provided or tools that Bryce can provide but take forever to render. And thats where programs like Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, Painter, UVMapper, Wings3D, Blender, 3DMax, Maya, Lightwave, C4D and all others come in. to pick up where Bryce is reluctant to thread.

Layering is a very powerful way of making your render do what you had intended it to do from the beginning. It gives you more liberty with your creation with more hands on than leaving it solely to the final render. After all, it is your creation to do with as you see fit.