IMHO I would wait until Carrara 2 is offered to the public. You have some great packages to learn with. Bryce has a great render engine and you can easily pull you rposer objects into it to render. But I would difinately hold off any purchase right now. Carrara 2 may surprise us all,a nd then again it could be a flop. Animation Master has some nice qualities. I would stick with it until we all know better about C2.