I'm curious... I have worked with Poser 5 for some time and was curious about which scene generator is better before I spend my money. I know most of you are Bryce fans but any opinions would be greatly apreciated!

G

Ok - here's the deal...

There's a lot of fantastic commercial 3d apps out there like Vue, Hexagon, Lightwave, and 3D Studio Max.

They are ALL terrific - but they do share a downside - well, actually two:

#1 They sometimes have a steep learning curve for newbies (novices) to 3d apps,

#2 They are very pricey to folks who are on limited budgets...

High end graphics apps are very expensive. With copies of Poser going for $200.00 + dollars, and some copies of the newest Photoshop incarnation selling for around $400.00+ dollars - you can see that unless you use them in a business fashion - good graphics programs can be very expensive hobby tools.

Being as how I would like to get Poser and cannot yet afford it - I have instead turned to DAZ STUDIO - which is in some respects easier - and in other respects more difficult to work with - but it gets me by...

For modelling I use ANIM8TOR 9 and WINGS 3d. Both are free 3d modelling progs that do great, have a simple learning curve, and export objects in "universal" .3ds and .obj formats - which import into Bryce nicely. I also own a copy of the one of the latest freeware versions of BLENDER - but haven't dived in yet. All of these programs have pros and cons to deal with when compared to their high end commercial "buyware" cousins - but they are excellent alternatives for the budget artist.

BRYCE 5.1 only cost me rough $50.00 U.S. - and that's pretty inexpensive. I am planning on getting 5.5 (or 6 when it is released) which comes to around $99.00 - which is - trust me on this - really NOT bad at all either pricewise.

The question that you have to ask yourself is "Can I get an app for free or on the cheap that does basically what I need it to do - instead of spending big bucks on a commercial "buyware"app that has a lot of extra bells and whistles that I may seldom, if ever, use - aside from the capabilities that I need ?"

It depends on what you want to do with it and how large ur budget is. It also tends to be a bit of a matter of taste. Myself I use 3dsmax and I'm loving it, but it's also quite an investment if you dont intend to use it professoinally.

C4D is a popular app for people who want to continue to a program that has good modelling tools and advanced render and material options. Another pro for C4D is that u can purchase it in modules, which means you dont have to spend THAT much extra money in one go and could collect the modules over time, or ofcourse simply leave out those u dont use.

Lightwave i've heard has an easy modelling workflow. But i found it quite a lot more difficult to get to grips with it then with 3dsmax.

Vue 5 top 'o the line goes for over $500 as I understand. Check the vendor's site for detail. I think the top model can do some things Bryce can't, but it's your dime..;)