I first discovered Bryce when I happened across Orbital's gallery here at Rendo. His series of pictures featuring a balloon (which have sadly been deleted) really touched something in me and I had to find out out how Joe had made these wonderful images  - hence my discovery of Bryce. So, I think Bryce chose me, rather than the other way around! I had no idea about other 3D rendering programs: Bryce was all I knew.

I was amazed it was so cheap to buy (V5.5) considering what it was capable off, so its always seeemed such great value to me. Should a 3DS Max, or C4D afficionado pick it up, they probably would dismiss it as just a toy, but for me, Bryce always amazes me. It can be incredibly intuitive in many ways (the main screen is so well laid out for example, like how an artist would work at a canvas), but frustrating in other ways (so many high end functions are hidden away such as how to selectively turn off anti-aliasing for a particular object). Bryce, I think, has grown organically, whereas more 'professional' apps have been designed from the ground up to be scalable and efficient....

....yet that is the very source of Bryce's appeal! (at least for me anyway) Through its very design as an application, it promotes creativity because it isn't restrictive - its easy to use and allows the novice to experience the joy of creating their own 3D worlds. It's this accessiblity which is at once both Bryce's power and its Achilles heel that has unfairly led to it being labelled as non-professional. I've tried Vue v5 Esprit, worked my way through the tutorials to learn and understand it (not that difficult as it operates in a similar way to Bryce in terms of its feature set), but yet for me, it just doesn't grab me, doesn't inspire or excite my creative passions in the way that Bryce does. Perhaps its the user-interface, perhaps its the traditonal menu/icon method of navigation, but Vue just doesn't 'do it' for me. I think that most professional applications are designed to produce product, yet Bryce, through its quirkiness, is still designed to produce art.

So, Bryce is definitely not a toy, yet neither is it a professional level 3D production house, but its a tool for allowing the production of art. Its far from perfect, yet I love it anyway! :-)