Bwtr --

I don't think that Carrara is lacking here.  I believe that the original question is asking something that Bryce does in a specific way, but that Carrara handles in a different way.

I provided a couple ways to get clouds into a scene.  It's just that Carrara does not create clouds by producing a textured plane.  In my opinion Carrara's method of producing clouds looks better than a textured plane.

If you wanted to use a hammer to put a screw into a piece of wood, and someone suggested that you should use a screw driver, instead, does that make the hammer a lesser value?  Nope.  The hammer can still be used to join two pieces of wood, but it is best used that way it was designed to -- with nails.  Someone is trying to use a hammer to drive a screw, when the best approach would be to abandon the idea of using a screw and use the nails that came with the hammer.  That's all that's going on here.  Hammers and screw drivers.....

 - Dex